391 - 399

Chapter 391: Filtering （2）

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

All right, so that's how it works…. Angele stopped flying. He seemed to already have understood the entire situation.

The organization had arranged it in a way the cores would explode so that all wizards would have the chance of getting their hands on the core fragments. Due to this, wizards who did not have high agility would not be in too much disadvantage. However, the battle for the fragments would become much more intense this way.

Chi!

A core fragment flew by the right side of his face.

Pa!

Angele raised his hand and caught the fragment.

It was a glowing core fragment shaped like a diamond. But then, he could feel that the fragment was trying to move away and was now certain that he ought to put it in a closed container.

The traction of the fragment… It will lead me to the location where there is another fragment…. Angele had completely understood this rule.

He surveyed the nearby areas.

All right, it's still early. I shall now start collecting fragments.

Chi!

His body disappeared from the sky.

In the next moment, he appeared in the area and he was now standing on the peak of a mountain. Angele looked over at an old man in a black robe standing beside the river. The old man had a grim expression as he pulled his hand out of the woman's chest. The woman was wearing a white armor, but there was a large, bloody hole right in the middle of her chest.

"Hand the fragment over to me." Angele raised his right hand. Black and silver pieces of rocks gathered around right in the middle of his palm and took form into an enormous gray greatsword.

The old man glared at Angele, with a tinge of red light flashing in his green eyes and he suddenly tried to capture Angele from the far side.

Ding!

A silver shield materialized before Angele, easily blocking a translucent hand. A white shockwave spread out after the collision and disappeared within seconds.

It looked like the hand had been formed out of thin air and was about three meters tall and about one meter wide. The hand struck the colossal silver shield with immense force to try to break the shield.

Angele held the greatsword in his right hand and executed a vertical slash. The upper half of the stone blade was broken into pieces and hurled toward the old man in black.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Like bombs exploding, the broken stones smashed into the ground near the river one by one and mud and grass were blown into the air.

Angele did not care. He once again slashed forth and created some more broken stones.

The earth was shaking and the empty ground beside the river had already become a mess.

There was some black light flashing in the flying mud and stones at first, but it disappeared quickly and nothing else happened.

Angele dropped the stone greatsword to the ground.

The mud and stones here are full of minerals. I can control them with my forcefield. He jumped down and slowly landed on the empty ground slowly with the help of the green smoke.

The woman in the white armor and the old man in black were both crushed by the stones, but it seemed that they were still alive.

The old man in black spat out some blood. He looked at Angele with a face that had already turned pale.

"I'm sorry, but I think I should be the one to keep your fragments," Angele smiled as he moved his hands near the old man's eyes. His fingers slowly reformed into silver needles.

Suddenly, both the bodies of the woman and the old man became two rays of black light and bolted into the sky like lightning. Three core fragments dropped out of the light and landed on Angele's palm.

"Huh?" Angele was surprised, "So the organization would actually do help the ones who are about to die." He caught the fragments and stored them in a metal sphere.

"All right, next." He looked at the river's surface and walked to the next fragment.

Under the riverwater, there was a man spectating the situation. He let out a sigh with a hint of relief.

*******************************

One day later…

Water was flowing across the river. There was a white string in the middle of the river, of which had been formed by the waterfall from the mountain.

Angele stood on the right side of the river, holding two silver crossguard swords in both of his hands and overlooking the other side of the river calmly.

The green mountains on the other side were deadly silent. White mist drifted in the air above the river.

There were several other people watching what was happening at the river from atop the mountains.

"The Swordsman is fighting against the Night Devil… What do you think?" a man asked softly.

"I don't know about Swordsman's rank, but he has already killed all the people who got in his way. Hino the Thunderbird, too, lost the battle against him, but Night Devil is also one of the strongest wizards in this competition," another man spoke.

"The magic circles set up by Night Devil have killed more than 20 wizards who were after his core fragments, and all of them were at a high rank. I don't think Swordsman can win here," the last man added, "All right, it's not our business. We just need to make sure we can protect our own fragments. Swordsman already knows we're here. He didn't attack us simply because we don't have many fragments in our possession. But Night Devil has two complete cores — Swordsman will not let this chance slide."

The three sighed with mixed emotions. In their respective territories, they were considered to be strong wizards and it was their first time meeting other people who were considered to be in the same caliber as them. However, they soon discovered for themselves that they were weak after fighting against several other elites from the organization. Due to that, they decided to team up in order to protect the fragments they had. The organization had not specifically made it clear, but if they were to fail to collect even a single fragment by the end of the competition — the punishment ought to be far worse than just wiping out their memory…

There were more than 60 wizards in this division, and half of them had already lost during the battles. The remaining wizards knew how strong each other was.

The strongest wizards were called Swordsman, Night Devil, and Deadman.

These noms de guerre were coined by the wizards who were part of the division. The possessors of a nom de guerre were the best of the best within the division.

Swordsman possessed at least one complete core, and the same applied to Night Devil. Deadman was slower, but he had one complete core as well.

Either Swordsman or Night Devil would become the one possessing the most of complete cores after this battle.

Angele was standing beside the river with a calm demeanor.

Zing! Zing!

He was spinning two silver swords in his hands.

He was walking to the other side of the river. The splashing water covered the back of his silver boots.

"Night Devil, huh? That's the nickname they gave you?" Angele walked as he talked. His long, red hair was flying about amidst the gentle breeze. He slightly raised his chin, and in front of his eyes, blue light was flashing.

Angele could not use the lava balls. Although it could deal a lot of damage, all wizards in the central continent would then know who he was once they view him cast the spell. He could only rely on the enhanced metal forcefield and the one-time spell that was stored in the biochip, the Pyroblast.

He never rested on the first day. Angele followed the leading of the fragment and took away the fragments from all the wizards he had come across with. No one could deter him.

There was one wizard who was called the Thunderbird. He left a burnt mark on Angele's right shoulder, but that was it.

There was a total of five cores in the area they were in, and Angele was up against a person that was stronger than the Thunderbird, the Night Devil.

He could feel the traction from the two cores Night Devil had.

The problem was Night Devil's background.

He learned from a wizard he defeated that Night Devil was one of the core members of Dark Wizard Tower and was alleged to have joined the competition because of the desire to obtain the magic circle legacy.

Angele crossed the river while thinking of this.

He stepped onto the muddy soil with his boots. Several white birds flew out of the plant life in the mountains.

The birds departed the area very quickly.

Angele raised his head, watching as the birds flew away. The shadow of the birds brushed on his face, and a white feather slowly dropped from the sky. He caught it and grasped it forcefully, breaking it into pieces.

Chi!

Countless red lines that looked like spider webs appeared on the ground and started glowing right after.

The red light climbed up Angele's feet, attempting to bind him to the ground.

Invisible waves appeared on the mountain's surface, and a pretty girl appeared out of nowhere. She had a pale face and was wearing a black armor. Her chest armor barely covered her chest, but her legs were well-protected by the thick pieces of armor. There was nothing around her waist.

"Swordsman… You have already lost the battle the moment you stepped into my gravity trap." Her long, blonde hair trailing over her shoulders looked like luxurious silk. She looked at Angele the same way as her looking at a dead person.

"The gravity of this land will stop you from moving. Hand the core over to me. You have no chance of winning."

When he raised his hand, he could indeed feel the gravity restricting him from moving.

"So you're Night Devil?" he looked at the girl curiously.

The girl had a pair of black eyes. She was holding a long-reaching weapon that looked like a crescent blade surrounded by black smoke.

"What are you trying to do?" the girl sneered and moved her weapon, leaving a blurry shadow behind. She was targeting Angele right at his waist.

Angele smiled and slowly moved his hand toward the girl. Three silver scars appeared on his face.

Mud and rocks from the land and the mountain around the girl started flying toward her as Angele's hand moved.

Bam!

Clang!

The two struck each other at the same time.

Angele's waist was hit by the blade, but the sound it created was akin to a piece of metal being hit. What was left on his metal barrier was a light scar.

"That's all you can do? How disappointing…" Angele shook his head, "You are too weak… I was expecting better from you."

The girl was surrounded by mud and rocks. Red light flashed around her body, and a black face slowly appeared behind her as a pair of blue wings on her back started fluttering.

Boooom!

Night Devil had cast three of her strongest spells before she finally blew all the rocks away.

Blood leaked out of her mouth. She was now looking at Angele in pain.

"How dare you…"

Chapter 392: Approaching and Striding (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

"What can you do if you can't move!" Night Devil spoke cryptically while she was trying to compose herself.

The girl raised her right hand. As she did so, rays of red lit up out of the magic circle drawn on the ground such that it surrounded Angele in the middle.

Angele could only stand amid the magic circle quietly. He could not move freely due to the effects of the magic circle, which rooted him to the earth. The rays of red light were like oil climbing up his body.

His field of vision had been overlapped by the red light, so he could not see anything else. It felt like he was standing in a pot of boiling oil.

Blue light flashed in his eyes, but it disappeared seconds later. Disappointment took over Angele's expression.

"Not bad. I didn't expect that you could set up such a trap. It's impressive," Angele smiled and spoke aloud, "You can actually bind…"

Bang!

A towering stone fist bashed him from behind, hindering him from saying anything else.

The fist had a black-brownish color and the size of a wheel. It had been formed out of the deposits of rocks and mud.

Angele could sense another oncoming attack from behind. It was the feeling that something was about to strike him really, really hard. He frowned and tried to turn to where he was being attacked from, but the stone fist was much faster than his reflexes.

Thud!

Immediately, the strike landed on him. Angele knew, of course, that the fist had already hit him without him having been able to completely turn around.

Crack!

The stone fist cracked and reverted to countless rocks mixed in with mud as it dropped to the ground.

Chi!

A silver string drew a line in the air and disappeared into the red light at the back.

Following the attack was a roar that sounded like it came from a beast's, coupled with the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground.

"An earth golem?" Although Angele's eyes were still blurry, he could hear the roar from behind, one that he had already heard of many times during the time he was back in the laboratory.

"That's a high-rank golem. Why would you waste it here?"

Angele did not even look back.

Pa!

With a flick of his finger, black rocks of varying sizes floated up above the ground.

All of the stone pieces slowly reshaped into shards that were completely sharp and were seemingly aiming at all angles.

A trace of silver light flashed on the scars on Angele's face.

Chi! Chi! Chi!

Like droplets of rain, the stone shards darted toward all angles. The red light was affected by the explosive shockwave his relentless attack caused.

Angele was fully concentrated on listening to the noises around him.

Ahead of him was a sound similar to that of a stone hitting the surface of the mountain. By his left side, the stone had not seemed to have caused an effect. The same thing could be said for the one by his right side. However, when the stone struck toward the river, he heard the girl grunting in pain.

He remained standing at his original position, while at the same time, many silver needles materialized around him.

"Strike!"

Ss! Ss! Ss!

A shower of silver needles flashed toward behind him.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

There was the noise generated by metal hitting an object.

"Damn!" he heard the cursing from Night Devil herself, who was evidently behind him.

Angele's body became lighter, and the red light coming from the magic circle faded out.

"The time limit's reached? Well, it's impressive that you could trap me in this magic circle for so long. I presume that the magic circle should have worked longer if my body was not unbelievably stronger…" he spoke nonchalantly.

Angele stretched his body and turned around.

The red light had already disappeared, and now, there was that girl standing on the river surface. Her right arm had been injured in the battle, while the blade in her grip was broken in half. There was a pair of bloody holes on her right arm, caused by the silver needles.

Night Devil was scowling at Angele with eyes full of hatred. Angele could see a black human figurine in her left hand, but he was not sure what it would do.

"All right, you win," Night Devil breathed deeply to calm herself, "I will give you one complete core, while I keep the other one. What do you say? Or perhaps you want to fight to the death with me?"

Angele smiled gently and innocently and stomped the ground with his right foot.

Boom!

The cracks in the ground looked like a spider web, and Angele had already disappeared from where he was.

Booom!

Night Devil was shoved away by Angele. She then flew up into the air and smashed into the mountain walls with immense impact. Angele soon appeared before her.

Angele pummeled her into the walls of the mountain, resulting in broken rock fragments from falling from the cliff, but all of them were blocked by his energy shield.

"Huh?" Angele stared at Night Devil confusedly, "Your energy barrier is strong." He discovered to himself that the girl was not in the slightest bit injured after being hit.

Night Devil sneered in response and waved her left hand.

Boom!

Green flames burst forth in the air. Angele was blown away by the strong impact that he had to retreat more than ten steps back, just so he would not fall to the ground.

Angele shook his head lightly because of him feeling dizzy. He looked at Night Devil, but the girl was yet to be injured.

"A defensive magic device from your teacher? Why didn't you activate it earlier?" he put forward his questions.

"I wanted to test how strong I am. That is why I said you wouldn't be able to hurt me. I shall give you one core instead, as a proof that I have lost a battle to you. You should know it's impossible if you want to stop me," Night Devil coldly barked in reply.

A gentle smile appeared on Angele's face.

"Believe it or not, the defensive barrier around your body wouldn't be able to stop me if I were to use my true power."

Night Devil narrowed her eyes. She suddenly detected an unusual energy wave exuding from Angele's body.

"This is the core," she threw a black crystal bead into the air as she focused her gaze on Angele. Night Devil leaped away and slowly disappeared into the darkness. The girl did not want to mess with him any longer, as she was not sure what would happen hereafter had she not left.

Angele took a step forward and caught the bead. His attributes were so high that his reaction speed was insanely fast. Night Devil could not damage him no matter what. The girl's attacks were weaker than the Thunderbird's, but her magic circle impressed him still.

Mediocre wizards would have lost their ability to fight after being trapped in that magic circle. Night Devil would then have won once the trapped wizards no longer had sufficient mentality to maintain their energy shields. However, she could not at all do enough damage to Angele.

The black figurine was the girl's trump card, but she did not fully activate it. She seemed to have considered that she did not want other wizards joining the fray once they noticed that she had already become an arrow at the end of its flight. Angele had not been injured by her final strike, so she decided to drop one and leave.

At this moment, Angele now possessed two complete cores and even formed a third core by combining a whole bag of fragments.

He raised his hand, and three eyeball-sized, black crystal beads were spinning atop his palm.

"Three complete cores… But it was not mentioned that I would be able to leave just by collecting the cores…" Angele looked at the sky.

The soft, fluffy white clouds were floating in the azure sky. This place looked exactly just like an area in the main world. Angele would not believe that this was a world rift had he not taken the test.

Angele lifted up his left hand and looked at the amethyst ring worn on one of his fingers.

There was a black vortex silently spinning in the middle of the gem.

Angele focused his mind and observed the three cores in his hand carefully. He noticed that the space around the cores was a tad twisted.

The twisted forcefield surrounded Angele's body, but it covered a radius so small that it could only fit one person.

So that's the benefit of the core — the forcefield will lead me to the coordinates and protect me from harm once the world rift completely collapses. I should be safe if I can protect the cores that will guide me back to the main world , Angele guessed. The only thing I must do now is to find a safe place and await its coming.

He probed the surroundings, then he walked to a hill and started his ascent.

Angele arrived at the hilltop minutes later. With a wave of his right hand, he created an empty field on the hill and sat down with his legs crossed to begin his temporary stay.

There were about 20 different energy waves around the hill, and it came from the wizards who had spectated the fight between Angele and the Night Devil. They were trying to ambush the loser of the battle, but no one had been severely injured.

The outcome of a battle between wizards mostly was reliant on their instant cast spells, talent spells, and magic devices or magic items. A battle like this would often conclude within minutes.

The difference in power between Angele and Night Devil was indisputable. Angele had walked straight into a trap, yet Night Devil failed to cause injury to an immobile wizard. That was the reason she accepted her loss without having the magic device fully activated.

Angele sat on top of the hill quietly, and time was passing quickly.

It was becoming darker and darker. Once the night descended, the area visibility had become low.

Fissures slowly manifested at the edge of the dark sky. It looked like paint being torn apart, and its cracks were the gates to the endless abyss.

The thin airflow was drawn to the sky, being taken away from the world rift.

Angele was still sitting on the empty ground and was surrounded by the forcefield produced by the fresh air. The forcefield was sending in fresh air to him.

His eyes opened as soon as he detected the sudden change in airflow. Angele lifted his head and gazed at the fissures in the sky.

Boom!

Explosive noises came from a hill on the other side. A translucent serpent raised its head as white smoke appeared and roared at the sky.

It was a white serpent more than 10 meters long and it was moving its body around the hills.

Angele could see a person wearing a white-gold clothing flying around the serpent, releasing black smoke from his hand. It took form into human-like shadows and hit the serpent's body.

Every time the shadows hit the serpent's body, the serpent would struggle and roar in pain. Meanwhile, the man had easily dodged all of the serpent's attacks.

Several minutes later, the serpent crashed to the ground, causing mud and water from the river to be splashed away.

Angele leaned down his head and stopped viewing the fight. It might have looked like a major fight, but the damage they could deal was lower than 200 degrees. A battle like that could easily be won by him.

Chapter 393: Approaching and Striding (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu

On the other side of the valley.

The serpent fell to the ground and the man in gold slowly landed on its head.

He was a young man with a blank expression, wearing a white-goldish full body armor and a pair of black leather gloves. On the back of his gloves, there were two parallelogram engravings.

"It's over, Kevin," he spoke in a calm tone as he stood beside the serpent's white eyes.

The serpent opened its eyes, revealing the dark space inside.

A man in black climbed out of the serpent's right eye, his body covered in wounds, and fell to the ground right away.

"Where are the fragments?" the man questioned in a deep tone.

The man in black chuckled and opened his mouth. "Too late, I've already handed them over to Puppet. You can try to take them from the puppet if you want."

"The Puppet…" The man in white's expression turned serious. "Was that what you were planning?"

"We knew each other for years but I didn't expect to see you here. Why should I save the fragments for you if I already know that I can't win the fight against you? I'm not dumb."

The man in black sneered and disappeared into the cracks in the sky after turning into a ray of black light.

"Fool." The man did not watch the black ray leave, he turned around and headed to where the next fragment was. "You'll lose everything if you don't keep the fragments for yourself. Dark Wizard Tower will not waste their resources on erasing your memory."

"Puppet…" the man muttered and his expression turned even more serious.

He followed the lead given by the fragments and increased his speed.

After about half an hour, he finally arrived at the indicated location that was near the river.

He turned several times and arrived at a small canyon.

The man gasped as he stepped into the canyon. A man in brown was fighting against four other wizards just by himself.

Rays of black electricity-infused flames were splashing everywhere. Translucent energy waves were appearing and disappearing from time to time; the wizards were attacking the man like it was a tag match.

Every time the four wizards tried to prepare a strong spell, they would be interrupted by the man in brown. However, they decided to cast the spells one by one so the man had to defend against their strikes.

The whole canyon was full of the noise made by the electric pulse and fire explosions, the wind created by the wind energy particles, and the furious roars from the elemental golems.

The man in gold recognized the man that was fighting against four wizards immediately, it was Puppet.

"Alright, time is up." There was a mysterious smile on Puppet's face as he suddenly raised his right hand.

The four suddenly stopped moving, they could no longer cast spells and looked scared.

The four wizards were hit by a black fireball released by Puppet.

*BOOM*

Four rays of black light soared into the sky after the explosion.

Puppet waved his right hand—the black fragments were drawn into his palm and quickly formed an incomplete core.

"Reveal yourself, Insect!" His voice turned serious, yet Puppet was not talking to the man in gold, he was looking at the other side of the mountain.

Suddenly, translucent waves appeared on the mountain and a human-shaped shadow stepped out of the waves as his body quickly solidified. It was a creature with the head of an insect and the body of a human.

Insect's head looked identical to a caterpillar's head. There were two green tentacles on top of its head and its eyes were reflecting a light purple color. Those eyes looked like they were taken from a humongous fly.

"How did you detect me?" Insect sounded confused, his voice was deep and hoarse.

Puppet chuckled but he did not answer the question, he just stared at Insect.

The atmosphere got heavy as the two stopped talking.

"Insect, what's the point of ambushing me? You're a strong wizard and you should go for Albatross, I'm sure he has more fragments than me." Puppet narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth again.

"Albatross? Why don't you ask me to go for Swordsman?" Insect sneered. "I prefer a quick death than a slow one."

"Well, go ahead if you want to." Puppet shrugged.

The two stopped talking again after finishing the conversation; they feared each other's power but they were still trying to find the best moment to start the battle.

The canyon was deadly silent; the only noise was made by the wind.

The man in gold breathed slowly and started backing off—he knew that he could not win the fight against any of the two strong wizards.

A translucent wave appeared in the sky above the canyon when the three were about to act.

The wave had a diameter of five meters and was slowly expanding. It looked like an enormous glass plate.

*CHI*

A human in white slowly stepped out of the wave.

It was a woman wearing a tight white armor. Her body was slim and there were six white bones lining up on her back. They looked like a pair of bone wings without any feathers.

Puppet and Insect raised their heads at the same time. Their expressions changed quickly, it seemed like they already realized what was happening.

"A strong wizard that just jumped through the divisions!" Puppet spoke in a deep voice. "She probably has more than four complete cores if she can jump through the divisions. I'm sure she's the strongest wizard in her starting division!"

"The translucent wave was the rift wave and she used the cores to break the walls separating the divisions!" His expression turned serious.

Insect knew that the situation changed, he exchanged eye contact with Puppet and they decided to finish off the outsider first.

A strong wizard from a different division was not here just to visit, she was here to collect more cores.

They knew that they would not be able to win the fight against her alone and they had to work together.

"Now!" Puppet swung his arms and countless white strings flew toward the woman in the air.

Insect stamped his feet and a black shadow of an insect appeared on the ground, charging toward the shadow of the woman that was floating in the air. The shadow was moving without releasing any energy waves and it was deadly silent.

It almost looked that it was not the first time the two worked together.

The woman looked at the two and narrowed her crystal-clear eyes.

*WOO*

The next moment, everything in the area stopped moving.

The white strings in the air, the black shadow on the ground, Puppet's arms, Insect's mouth, and the man in gold's right foot...

The river stopped running and the air flow completely disappeared.

The color also disappeared from the space.

The river, the mountains, and the objects in the area, they all turned black and white.

With a flick of the woman's finger, three rays of white light were released from her fingertips and landed on the three's foreheads.

*CHI CHI*

Two rays of black light shot into the air and the black fragments gathered on the woman's palm.

The woman collected the fragments and scrunched her eyebrows. The color finally returned to the area several seconds later.

The only thing left on Puppet's original location was a pile of wood dust. He was escaping on a large wooden bird.

***

Puppet's face turned pale and the wooden bird's speed was increasing. He saw that there were still wizards fighting below him.

The woman in white was flying toward him, increasing her speed. The wizards she passed by were all hit by strings of white light and turned into black light. The fragments from the area below were all collected by the woman.

It felt like the woman was a reaper and no wizard could escape from her strike.

White bubbles were coming out of Puppet's mouth; he used a secret technique to escape, but the technique severely injured his body. Although he was a strong wizard, he could not activate the secret technique consecutively.

Several other wizards noticed the situation and started escaping. Some were riding their magic pets, some were assisted by their wind golems, some were accelerating using the pure power of the energy particles.

All the wizards were trying to move at the highest speed they could reach.

The wizards that were moving slowly were all finished off by the woman.

Rays of black light stroke into the air and the woman was still collecting the fragments.

"Let's head to Swordsman's location!" someone shouted.

"Damn! Where did this woman come from?!" a wizard with a fractured arm shouted while flying in the air at full speed.

"Yes, go find Swordsman! This woman is from another division and Swordsman is the only one who can stop her!" Puppet shouted as well. He knew that his mentality was running low. He escaped the first attack using the scapegoat and his injury was slowing him down.

"I'd rather give all my fragments to Swordsman! If all the fragments in this division are taken away by her, our rank in the organization will all be lowered!" he kept shouting.

The woman in white suddenly stopped and watched the wizards flying away like an army of bees.

She slowly landed on top of a mountain.

The woman raised her hands and formed a longbow with the white light.

*CHI*

She pulled the bowstring to the full as a white flame appeared in her right eye. The woman's sight went over the mountains and rivers, falling upon an empty ground on top of a hill.

Angele suddenly opened his eyes and two exchanged eye contact despite the distance between them.

Chapter 394: Winner (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Both of them knew that they were confident in their abilities after their exchange of eye contact.

Angele slowly stood up and scanned the other side of the area.

A white light was flickering on top of a mountain.

Although the two were far away from each other, Angele could feel pressure in the middle of his chest. It seemed that the woman was aiming at his chest.

Ka!

Angele heard strange noises.

Suddenly, he felt something weighing him down increase.

In the middle of his chest, a white cross appeared, flashing. It was the sign of an incoming attack.

The mark penetrated my energy barrier and forcefield shield… Then it landed on my body as if nothing happened…. Angele's face became dire.

Yet for some reason, the energy wave from the cross seemed familiar to him.

Angele lifted his hands and conjured two silver crossguard swords. He executed forth a cross slash, leaving a silver cross in the air.

At this point, Angele decided to rely on his high attributes since he was not sure if the spells he knew would work on this opponent of his. Some of the opponents he had fought knew much stronger spells than him, yet they still lost.

With that in mind, he elected to use spells that would augment his physical skills, coupled with the metal force-shield.

Angele leaped forward with both swords in hand and jumped down the hill, descending into the river. He leaned closer to the ground and started running toward the woman at full speed.

He knew that the woman possessed incredible marksmanship just by seeing how she locked onto her target. He needed to reduce the distance between them.

Although Angele possessed the aid of his biochip, he would not be able to triumph over an archery face-off without a good longbow. The only solution he had was to get closer to the woman and initiate a close-quarters combat.

Angele was like a black dot moving between the mountains and rivers. He was traveling so fast his body became a blurred shadow.

The wizards that were flying in the sky passed by, like birds. Seconds later, all the other wizards had escaped the area. Angele and the woman were the only ones who remained here.

Angele could hear the loud noises generated by the wind and all the surrounding objects become unnoticeable to him. The only thing he could clearly see was the path ahead.

Suddenly, after some time, white light flashed from the top of the hill while he was making a beeline for it.

Chi!

A sharp and strange noise was approaching him, and it was becoming sharper and sharper every second.

Angele's eardrums hurt just from listening to the noise. He knew he had to defend when he witnessed the white light flash.

A layer of silver materialized before him, followed by a transparent shield, and then the two swords in his hands.

Booom!

The impact that hit Angele's body was so great that the metal barrier was destroyed in an instant, along with the energy shield from the crystal scorpion.

The white light that had an appearance of an arrow broke through his two crossguard swords easily and smote Angele's chest fiercely.

For a second, Angele stopped breathing when the arrow landed on his chest.

Everything around him was surrounded by the white light, and his ears were ringing.

Warning. Warning. Metal forcefield has been destroyed. Repairs are required. Zero's mechanical voice echoed in his ears.

You have been hit by an unknown energy strike. Damage: Over 500 degrees. 0.42 percent of your body is damaged. Time required for recovery: 2 seconds.

Angele retreated more than ten steps back after being hit by the arrow. He looked at his chest after the white light disappeared.

A nail-size wound was left in the middle of his chest, revealing the pink flesh under the skin. However, the wound was healing at an inconceivable rate.

This was not the first time Angele learned what his high attributes could do for him.

Angele could not transform into his true form, but his Stamina was already higher than magic beasts'.

He picked up the pace and rushed toward the mountain without an ounce of hesitation.

The woman in white looked baffled as she checked her longbow. Yet, she did not know why Angele was not severely injured after taking the attack.

There was a black dot moving along the river, approaching the mountain at full speed.

The woman pulled the bowstring again.

Chi!

A transparent arrow was conjured on the bow, and the woman uttered an incantation in a deep tone. Seconds later, the incantation was completely invoked.

"Mu! Bul! Kul! The Twisting Arrow of Fate!"

Strangely, several sharp arrows took form on the bow one by one. The arrows were made out of white light and lined up quickly. All the arrows were targeted at Angele at a strange angle.

Dozens of arrows were on the bow, looking like a line of terrifying sawteeth.

White flames appeared in the woman's right eye again.

"Strike!"

Chi!

Countless arrows disappeared from the bow and drew multiple curves in the air, flying toward Angele from all angles.

At that instant, the entire sky was covered in translucent arrows.

Just like stars falling down from the sky, the arrows started raining down when approaching their target.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

All the arrows landed on the target.

The arrows began exploding after landing, and white light covered the area with the light as the only thing visible. An arrow would explode every time a white light flashed.

The woman did not stop; she dropped the longbow immediately.

It disappeared into the air after it turned into a streak of light. She then lifted up her right hand.

"Tals!"

"Tals!"

Wooo!

A large, white plate that was about two meters tall slowly appeared behind the woman. On the plate were five blinking runes, each representing a gear or a weapon. These runes formed a dark circle in the middle of the plate.

"Minge!"

"Minge!" The woman lightly beckoned with her right hand.

Crack!

The white plate began spinning, and one of the runes stopped near her right hand.

Chi!

A golden axe appeared in her hand after a flash.

The white plate evanesced after the axe fully materialized into a solid form.

Including the length of its handle, the golden axe, overall, was about two meters long and was greater breadth was larger than the woman's body. It looked simple yet mysterious and like an axe normally wielded by a normal infantryman.

The woman held the axe tightly and watched out for the black shadow that had just jumped out of the area covered in white light. She wasted no time as she jumped down the mountain and slashed forward.

Angele was seeing the woman jump down the mountain when he escaped the arrows' onslaught. The woman was merely brandishing her axe, but he noticed the unusual energy wave coming from that weapon.

Clank!

It sounded like metal striking each other. The strike ripped his black robe open and left a white mark on his right shoulder.

Angele immediately ceased his advance after taking damage. His body was burning bright amid the white flames, and white light was glistering everywhere. It almost made him look like he was being devoured by an enormous — more than ten meters in height, approximately — white fireball.

The woman silently stared at it, with her still grasping the axe.

"It's over," she uttered under her breath.

****************************

Outside the battlefield, in the Sky City.

In a secret chamber of the city.

At the dark chamber grounds, there was a large screen that displayed the multiple battles happening in different areas.

The large screen itself was a division of five shell-shaped, smaller screens, and battles from five different locations were being directly broadcast live.

There were five black chairs surrounding the screen.

The surface of the chairs was slightly damaged. Furthermore, all of them were engraved with monster and plant figures. It looked like someone tried to repair the chairs and filled the surface cracks with special alloy.

Five human-shaped shadows were respectively seated on these chairs. Black smoke encompassed the shadows, and the mentality waves they were emanating could twist light and space itself.

"The 4th rift is finished, and Hunter has jumped to another rift. I think she'll become the winner of this competition," the shadow at the leftmost part spoke, whose voice sounded like an old man's.

His eyes fell on one of the shell-shaped screens.

In the broadcast, a young woman in white armor was standing near a river before a mountain and peering at a burning ball of white flames. Within the fireball was her opponent, the strongest wizard in the particular rift she was now in.

"Yeah, Hunter inherited and has successfully activated concept gear. She only needs to use the sealing ability of the concept gear when battling normal wizards. When facing a strong wizard that can't be ensnared in time, she can still use the special ability of the gear and then use her power as a rank 3 wizard to win. I don't think anyone in that rift can survive a battle against her," another shadow concurred, but this one sounded like a woman.

"I don't think Swordsman will lose so easily."

"Yeah, I agree."

Two other black shadows of the five had a different opinion, however.

The last one of the black shadows sat in his chair, feeling hesitant.

"We shall not conclude so early. Let's just watch," he spoke in a low voice.

Things escalated as soon as he finished speaking.

A man wrapped in white flames jumped out of the fireball and, transforming into a white shadow, charged toward the woman.

"I knew it. Swordsman likely possesses the strongest physique among the participants, so he will not lose so easily," one of the black shadows that had a contradicting thought laughed.

"Hunter will never lose. I won't take my word back," the female voice muttered.

*****************************

The white flames around Angele's body had burnt his clothes to ashes and his pouches too had completely disintegrated. He was, right at this moment, running buck-naked.

His metal forcefield had been destroyed, and he could no longer rely on Metal Mastery. Although his body was absurdly sturdy, and the destroyed forcefield would not be a problem, he was trapped in a difficult situation.

However, that was not what enraged him — it was the pouch that did so. In it, there were far too many rare spell materials and potions significant to him, including the summoning potion of the Blood Giant. It was a potion he had spent a huge chunk of time on developing, and he had only used it once, in the Nightmare Realm.

Angele's body transformed into a white string, rushing toward the woman at his greatest speed. The woman looked shaken up. She, after all, could not believe what was happening.

"How dare you… My pouch…" Angele bellowed and closed in on the woman and then he tried to grasp the woman's face. He was certain that — if the strike could land — the woman's head would explode because of his absurd might that was too powerful.

The woman quickly had doused her panicked state. She was witnessing Angele charging toward her, but her facial expression did not change. She was looking at Angele as she would a corpse.

Pa!

With a flick of the woman's fingers.

Time itself stopped.

Color itself disappeared from the world. Everything turned monochromatic.

Angele felt surprised when he noticed himself becoming trapped in time. His hand was only about a centimeter away from the woman's nose, but now, he could not even move one inch forward.

Chapter 395: Winner (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

"That's…" Angele immediately realized what was happening. After all, he had seen this kind of situation several times already. "Concept gear?!"

Green light appeared on him, and he could now move again. He wasted no time in aiming at the woman's head in retaliation.

Bam!

An explosion of light occurred between the two. The large axe landed on Angele's forehead, causing him to be blown away. Making good use of this chance, the woman successfully leaped away.

The woman was so fast Angele failed to see what she just did. He felt dizzy after taking on the attack.

"Didn't expect you to know about concept gear," the woman slowly walked toward Angele with the axe in tow, "However, you're up against a person who not only knows about concept gears… You will lose and never touch upon the secrets of the cores."

Weng!

She lifted the axe up high.

"It's over. Fissure of Despair!"

As if it was just a normal strike, she chopped down.

Intense light streaked in the air, engulfing all things within its encompassing area.

**************************

In the secret chamber.

"That's it. Fissure of Despair has a similar damage output to a spell cast by a rank 4 wizard. The damage it can do is terrifying," the female voice echoed in the room.

"I don't think Swordsman can withstand the attack from a concept gear even if his body is strong," another black shadow sighed and chimed in, "Sadly, if it wasn't Hunter who had invaded this rift, Swordsman would have won easily. He's just unlucky."

The two other black shadows shook their heads, too.

"Yeah, there wasn't much he could do."

"What do you think, Descartes?" one of them looked at the one who hadn't given their opinion.

Descartes was that man who thought that Swordsman would not lose so easily.

He was focused on the screen. Although white light had covered the broadcast image, it seemed he could see through it.

"I think Swordsman is still in. I trust him."

"Huh?" the other looked surprised upon listening to his reaction.

"Let's just watch how it goes. The winner is either Swordsman or Hunter. They have so many complete cores on them, and the only thing we need to do is to wait. The rule is simple — the wizard who carries the highest number of cores will win," Descartes spoke in a meaningful tone.

*****************************

It was still amid the explosion of light, and the earth was continually shaking. The river water had evaporated, revealing a dried-up riverbed. The mud, grass, and rocks had all since disintegrated before the white light.

Several minutes later, the light faded away.

What remained at Angele's original location was a deep, dark fissure.

The woman stood beside the fissure and took a look, but there was nothing but darkness there.

"He must be severely injured, or dead." Holding up her right hand, the axe transformed into a streak of light and vanished.

"Tals!"

The white plate reappeared behind her and spun. A rune flashed and flew into her hand, turning into a white longbow — the same bow she wielded earlier.

"Arrow of Light." The woman lightly pulled the bowstring.

The dark fissure was gradually being illuminated by the arrow-light, and it almost looked like the light had coated the walls of the fissure.

Booom!

The earth shook again when the light was brought to it. Then, a white shadow jumped out of it and tried to attack the woman with his fist.

The woman quickly leaped away in retreat and dodged the strike. When she looked at the white shadow, her expression turned for the worse.

It was the man who had taken several attacks from her head-on. But right now, the man was bare-naked with his long, red hair covering his private parts. He was gazing at the woman before him with complete focus.

She could see the fractured bones through the deep wound in the man's chest, but it was healing at an incredible rate.

Angele gazed at her gravely. This experience where he had no way of fighting back was his first, and all his clothes were burnt to ashes.

His chest wound had been in a worse state several minutes before, but after hiding in the fissure, it was now looking much better.

The woman's equipment and spell level were much stronger than his. When he used his bloodline merging technique, all of his bloodline power aided him in transforming into his true form, but he could no longer activate any bloodline power after that. And although his lava ball technique could contend with wizards at a similar level as him, it would not work effectively the same way on the woman. He was certain it would just be a waste of energy, so he had rather used the energy to heal.

Before he could possibly do anything, the woman would definitely take this chance to stop him. In addition to that, the crystal scorpion and the Metal Mastery stood no chance against her.

I have to utilize my body wisely.

Angele planned things out in his mind and then he took a stomp forward and left a large hole in the ground.

He charged with his fastest speed. At first, he considered holding back since he desired to know where she obtained the concept gear. However, when he discovered that she was in a whole different league, he decided to utilize all of his energy and power. Angele struck at the air with his fist, releasing an invisible energy-fist toward the woman.

Bam!

A huge crack appeared on the mountain; mud and rocks splashed everywhere.

But, the fist missed.

The woman's body blurred for a second and disappeared from the original place. In the next second, she was already behind Angele.

"How are you still alive! How about this?" She switched away her weapon, and a wavy, white dagger appeared in her hand. The dagger-tip was coated with a white flame.

This flame looked a tad unalike compared to the other white flames she used. It was much denser and stronger.

The woman lightly flicked the dagger, and the flame on the dagger-tip became even much denser. Her face, however, had turned pale due to this skill costing a great amount of mentality.

"Die!" Her hand and the dagger being held suddenly vanished.

The next moment it appeared, the dagger had already sunk into Angele's back completely.

Angele didn't have enough time to react. The woman had been so fast he had no idea what had happened, and there was nothing Zero could do for him.

His attributes were high, but the dagger had easily stabbed his back as if it was stabbing butter.

Yet, no blood came out of the wound.

Angele looked down, only to see that the dagger had long since pierced through him. And due to an unusual power, he could not move an inch and could barely think.

The woman in her white armor blinked away once more, moving to the peak of a small hill more than 30 meters away while she watched Angele get penetrated by her dagger.

Chi!

A white light-cylinder fell from the sky and landed on where Angele was. It was more than 10 meters wide, and almost seemed like the sky and the land had connected.

The world regained its color after the light-cylinder appeared.

The river continued its flow and the air regained its circulation. The wizards who were spectating finally gained the chance to watch what happened.

"That's my strongest skill, Purification Judgment…" the woman muttered, "You'll be purified and gasified within 10 seconds…"

"Ugh!" She suddenly covered her mouth when she coughed out blood. White light-dots were mixed in the blood.

**********************************

Inside the secret chamber.

"Now it's over. There is nothing Swordsman can do anymore."

"All right, Hunter shall be the winner of this competition."

"Now we only need to wait for the final results from the other divisions."

Four of the black shadows were having a brief chatter.

Descartes faintly sighed. He had thought Angele could find a way to make a comeback. "I never knew Hunter could use Purification Judgment… She's almost rank 4, I think. Damn…"

"Wait…!" Suddenly, one of the black shadows shouted, "What's going on?!" He pointed at the screen with a startled face.

The rest of the black shadows heard him and quickly turned to look at the screen. They suddenly became bereft of speech.

In the live feed being broadcast, a blurred shadow jumped out of the white cylinder and charged toward Hunter.

"H-He's still alive!" a black shadow spoke with a shaky voice.

The man had taken so many attacks and sustained grievous injuries, but he was still alive and actually had escaped the Purification Judgment…

The chamber was, at present, deadly silent. When they saw Angele charge toward Hunter, they could feel chills running down their spines.

***************************

Angele's upper body had been burnt black, and there was a gaping bloody hole in his chest. There was barely any flesh left on both of his arms, and a large part of his waist was missing.

The man seemed to be a burnt zombie, but he was still charging really fast as if nothing had happened to him.

Hunter was still puking out blood, her face pale. She immediately turned upon seeing the man rushing toward her and moved about 10 meters away from where she originally was in a breath.

Because she did not have much mentality left, she almost fell. However, she turned and tried to flee again.

Chi!

Red hair locked onto her right arm and pulled her backward, preventing her from fleeing.

"Run?" Angele shouted hoarsely. His long, red hair could not be affected by the light-cylinder. It was swiftly expanding as it headed toward the woman.

Chi! Chi!

The woman was lifted up in the air like a puppet, and his red hair formed a huge web that ceased any further movements. The rest of his hair was still flying about in the air.

Angele walked to her and saw her still vomiting blood.

"All right, now it's over," he spoke in a low voice, "You are the first person to injure me to this extent."

There was despair amid her helpless eyes, as she looked at the burnt zombie quietly. At this moment, her huge chest, long legs, and slim waist looked strangely enticing when she was lifted up by his hair.

"Haha…" Angele chuckled.

He approached her — the wounds on his shoulders had already healed.

Angele grabbed her by the chest with both of his hands.

Psshhh!

Blood and innards splashed in the air.

From the middle, the woman's body was torn apart.

Angele stood in the rain of blood and dropped the corpse to the ground.

The woman transformed into black light and streaked into the air. Meanwhile, six black cores flew toward Angele and began revolving around him.

This was the hardest battle he had ever fought since recently. He had no way of retaliating, and had the woman been a rank 4 wizard, he would have died. The one reason he won was due to the woman having no enough mentality left in her.

Chapter 396: Teleportation (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Angele caught the six cores.

"Only six?" Angele was kind of confused, so he quickly checked the location where he left the woman's corpse.

The woman's corpse had already disappeared together with the black light, and the only thing that remained on the ground was the deposit of black mud and grass that was within the explosion.

A technique like projection, maybe? Angele wondered.

His wounds had nearly fully healed while he was checking the surroundings. However, only a small amount of the energy reserves was left in the biochip. Had the woman cast one or two more spells of considerable power, he would have been the one who had lost the battle.

Angele needed energy and blood to aid in his healing process. If there was no ample amount of blood, he had to rely solely on the energy stored in his body and the biochip.

Even though the healing process did not consume too much energy, this time he had taken too much damage.

Angele wiped some of the dust off his body before he traveled to a small hill.

"Get out!" His long, red hair expanded and stabbed into a giant bush beneath the hill, easily capturing a thin man wearing a white mask.

"Take your clothes off," Angele spoke in a low voice.

The man's face turned for the worse upon noticing the killing intent exuded by Angele's eyes and decided to keep his mouth shut. He hurriedly undressed his coat and pants, throwing them at Angele after.

It was a black leather coat.

Angele caught the coat and the pants before he let the man leave.

But he frowned when he put on the clothes.

"It's a bit too small…"

The coat and the pants were both too small. On Angele, the black coat looked like a tight suit. Obviously enough, the clothes barely fitted Angele's body.

Some of the wizards who witnessed the fight were plotting an ambush, certain that Angele would need time to heal. But upon seeing that just now, they immediately gave up.

The wizards nearby hurriedly fled from where Angele was at, and the place soon became deadly silent.

Angele walked down the river wearing the leather coat. He hesitated for a moment before he tied up the cores using his dark red hair. He had, after all, ended up with ten complete cores.

The composition of the cores was abnormal. The cores neither floated on the surface, nor sank completely into the riverbed, but only lingered between.

Angele jumped into the river and began swimming. The water gradually washed the bloodstains off him.

His long, red hair spread out in the water. The cores that were tied up were wrapped in a light-purple glow. It bore semblance to mysterious and luxurious hair accessories.

Angele swam slowly in the river; it had been a while since he had taken a dip while being in such a peaceful environment.

Because he had collected enough cores, he decided to take a breather in the remaining time.

The woman in white had six cores, and he had four. Angele was assured that he would be the winner, considering how there wasn't much time left.

Besides, it was impossible for him to discover how to travel to other rifts in time, so he was now merely waiting patiently for the results to be announced.

There were no living beings in the river — no fish and no freshwater plant. The only thing he could see through the clear water was the riverbed.

He floated on his back in the water and looked at the sky.

The black crevices amid the blue sky were becoming larger and larger.

He could even hear the noise from the cracks that were produced by intense gusts.

Air was surging into the crevices, and the gravitational force in the rift was gradually reducing.

Even though he now nearly looked so relax as though he had fallen asleep, Angele was actually using the biochip and his mentality wave to survey the nearby surroundings.

Finally, a deep male voice came from the sky after a long time of waiting.

"Time is up. Wizards who failed to obtain a core shall be deemed failures, while those with cores shall be teleported."

Appeared on the ground were columns of black light that streaked into the heaven and sent into the crevices in the sky as soon as the male voice ceased. Those who were sent out into the crevices were the wizards who failed to acquire a complete core.

Following that, white light also descended from the sky, turning into columns of light.

One such column appeared above Angele and surrounded his body.

He was still afloat in the water. The white light brought warmth and refreshment to him that he was no longer tired. Apart from that, water droplets were in it.

It seemed as though these water droplets were weightless as they descended from the sky and sank into Angele's skin.

The water droplets were refilling his energy, and his body was lifted up high by the power in the column of light.

"Wait…" his expression changed. The column of light reminded him of a particular fountain from tales and myths. "The 'Fountain of Rebirth'?"

"If this is really the Fountain of Rebirth…" he hurriedly glanced around.

While floating in the air, he saw more than ten columns of light and with it the wizards who obtained a core in the rift.

All of them were injured at the very least. Some had fractured limbs while some had holes in the heads or necks, yet no matter how serious their injuries were, all of them were healed in and by the white light.

Angele even saw a female wizard — or rather, half a wizard — whose bottom half of her body was missing, but she was nonetheless healed by the light. The bottom half of her body regenerated within seconds.

"Terrifying… If this is the real Fountain of Rebirth, then what's behind Dark Wizard Tower must be…" Angele's expression hardened.

Within the light, his body continued to float upward, and everything under was coated with a thin layer of the white light.

He approached the crevices in the sky minutes later and entered one of it and arrived in a dark space.

Everything was in the air afloat since there was no gravity in this space.

An egg-shaped exit appeared before him after a while.

The white light immediately took Angele to it.

Angele was blinded temporarily by the light due to him having stayed in darkness for too long.

His eyes adapted to the brightness outside the exit seconds later, and he could finally see where he was.

He was in a spacious, luxury bedroom. The main tone of the room was gold, and there was a queen-size bed in the middle. The sheets, walls, and carpet — everything — was painted dark-gold.

Angele was the only one inside. The room had no door, but there was a square window on one of the walls.

It was half-open, so he could hear water and birds flying outside.

"What is this place?" he glanced around and confirmed that the window was indeed the only way out of the room. He quickly walked to the window to peek outside.

What was beneath him was an enormous canyon that also had a river. But the water seemed to be boiling and splashing everywhere.

Angele immediately took notice that the room was built inside the trunk of a towering and broad tree and was surrounded by a black forest that had lofty mountains. A herd of deer and a scurry of squirrels could be seen jumping and frolicking around the rivers running down the mountains.

He stood beside the window and recited an incantation.

Then, with a flick of his fingers, a wisp of dark flame flew toward the forest.

Baaam!

It exploded and transformed into a flaming eye that was directly looking at him.

The scene before the Eye of Fire was transmitted to Angele's vision.

Light from the setting sun passed through the thin mist and painted everything beneath pale yellow.

It was a canyon of a sea of trees and rocky walls. There was a dark, deep fissure in the middle of it.

The towering tree was located on a large cliff by the edge of the fissure.

Water was flowing down the branches of this towering, dark brown tree. It flowed into the river beneath the fissure, making the tree as though water had come from it.

Its trunk was filled with windows. White and orange light emerged out of the windows. Standing in the rooms were wizards who had differing facial expressions.

Though some of the windows were closed and no light coming out of it.

"So the wizards who participated in the competition and obtained a core have all been teleported to the tree. That must have cost them a lot of resources…"

The eye-shaped amethyst ring on his left hand was not damaged even after all those battles, and he was still wearing the clothes he extorted from that certain wizard.

His pouch remained destroyed utterly.

"Were all of those just projections, or did I actually enter the world rift?" Angele was kind of perplexed, "If it actually was only a projection, my outfit and my pouch should not have been destroyed."

He checked the texture of the coat he was currently wearing; it was leather. Angele leaned and checked the ten purple cores tied to his hair. They looked like hair accessories made out of gems.

"It wasn't an illusion. Although I can't activate my ability, I can still distinguish reality and illusions with my merged bloodline.

"Wait, but if it's not a projected, the wizards who were killed should have died…" he recalled the moment he ripped that woman apart. "It's nearly impossible for anyone to survive with a broken body like that…"

Angele thought for a while, yet he still did not find the answers he was seeking. There wasn't enough data in his database and so he had to give it up.

He went around the room and decided not to leave through the window. Angele lay on the bed instead and rested.

There must be a reason as to why they had sent them to a room like this, so the only thing he should do was to wait.

After about two hours, from the window, he heard something flapping its wings.

It was a golden bird reflecting the sunlight, which slowly landed on the windowsill.

Chirp~

The golden bird jumped several times and spread out its right wing, dropping a tiny, green seed onto the windowsill.

The seed immediately took root on the windowsill. It looked like a sharp needle stabbing into a wooden plank.

Chapter 397: Teleportation (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Within 10 seconds, it grew to become a palm-sized, green plant wherein a green bud the size of a fist developed on top of it.

Crack!

It broke open then from it flowed transparent, slimy fluid that fell on the carpet.

Intense stench immediately diffused in the air.

This caused Angele to jump up from the bed and look at the plant frowningly. Once the golden bird saw Angele already awoken, it flew away from the windowsill after fluttering its wings.

Cough! Cough!

The broken-open green bud started coughing as if it was a person. The plant soon leaned down and acted seemingly as if it choked on the slimy fluid.

"I apologize for interrupting your nice dream," an old woman's voice came from the bud, "Did you notice recovering faster than usual while you're here in the heart of the tree?"

Angele avoided the slimy fluid and stood in front of the bud, his brow still furrowed.

"Who are you?" he questioned in a whisper, "Is this plant a tool for communication?"

"I'm your contact. I think all of you right now have the same question. Sadly, this is a one-way message. I won't be able to receive your feedback. Your lunch shall soon be delivered, so help yourselves. After lunch, you shall know how depressing this place is and… Damn it, Newbass! The only thing you know is eat! Come back! Come back…"

Chi! Chi!

The voice soon became noise, and the message stopped there.

Angele looked at the slimy fluid on the carpet—speechless—and the room smelled like it had been soused with disinfectant potion.

He massaged his temples several times.

"Fine, lunch… The strange message explained nothing… but whatever." He waved his hand, and the slimy fluid floated up high, becoming a transparent ball and flying out of the window.

Angele returned to his bed for the opportunity to take some more rest. He noticed that the room was indeed aiding in his recovery—mentally and physically. The old man said that this place was called 'the heart of the tree'. Perhaps that ought to be the reason for his fast recovery.

Angele could hear faint noises coming from outside as he continued to lie down. It sounded like many children doing menial jobs.

"Move! Let's go! Move!" they were shouting, and their voices were getting nearer.

Angele sat up and looked outside.

"What's going on?" He looked out the window with a flabbergasted face.

Beside the green plant, at the edge of the brown-wood windowsill.

A group of crème-filled, black biscuits were lined up and climbing up the window with their short legs.

In the hands of this biscuits grasped black spears that were as though they were made with flour.

"For justice!" the biscuit-leader raised up its spear and shouted with a cute, child-like voice.

"For justice!"

"Gourmandism shall fall!"

The other biscuits, too began shouting, though they were only yellow random things.

The biscuit-leader started giving out orders, "Now! Biscuits of the Helios Family, line up! Biscuits of the Julie Family, line up! Rest of you, follow me!"

The biscuits divided into three groups after finding out their positions.

The biscuit-leader turned around and watched Angele stood up.

"Damn it! Brothers! Attack!" he pointed toward Angele his black, long spear. "You, ultimate evil! For the peaceful life of the biscuits! You shall fall!"

"Go!"

"Defeat him!"

Angele walked to the windowsill tongue-tied. The scene where biscuits were running to him was amusing, and he did not know how he should react to it.

The food delivery was here. He finally understood what the voice was implying.

"So that's how the food is delivered… The biscuits are probably my lunch then."

With a flick of his finger, a fireball materialized and floated above the biscuits.

"Oh! No! I'm being roasted!"

"My heart… my heart!"

The biscuits fell to the ground and the cream in them began to melt. Attractive, milky fragrance wafted in the air.

"Well, sorry, I guess." Angele deeply exhaled. He picked up one of them when they stopped moving and sent it into his mouth.

The combination of the crisp of the biscuit itself and the creaminess of its filling was refreshing. There was just right about enough sugar content to make it tasty.

"Oh! God! God! Damn it! What have you done! You're a murderer! It's a massacre!" a plump bread roll climbed up the windowsill.

It started crying and wheezing upon seeing what transpired, but its 'tears' were just powdered white sugar.

"The cream biscuit families are wiped off the land in just one day? God! No… it's not real…"

Angele didn't care; he caught the bread roll and sent it to his mouth.

Chomp!

He bit the bread roll in half, and it stopped talking instantly.

"It's good." The bread roll was lightly toasted, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, and the sweetness from the wheat flour and white sugar were perfect.

Angele was satiated after eating up all the food that climbed up the window.

There was not much food, but they were surprisingly sating.

He rested a bit more after having lunch. Soon, on the opposite side of the window, a rectangular door gradually appeared on the golden wall.

Creak!

The door opened, revealing an arched hallway within.

The hallway was built out of brown wood. From time to time, there were people passing by.

Angele stood up from the bed and walked to the hallway and looked around.

His room was located amid the wall of a large, ball-shaped hall.

The walls were painted black and covered with small doors. A long spiral staircase connected the rooms, which led to the lower level of the hall.

Angele stepped out of the room he was in. It was quite noisy in the hall.

On an empty area beneath the staircase were several tall chairs mantled with red blankets.

The chairs were well arranged. People were already seated on some of them.

The whole time, people were walking out of the rooms. They walked down the flight of stairs and took a seat in one of the chairs as if they were waiting for something.

Many people were talking to the people they were familiar with.

However, some of them were strangers and were checking the surroundings constantly. Angele saw several familiar faces, and some of them came from the same rift as he was in.

He stood by the door without a noise. Seconds later, a person wearing a white maid uniform approached him and bowed to him.

"Welcome to the heart of the tree. The winner of the competition will be announced soon. Please take the cores with you and wait in one of the seats." The maid's voice sounded like a young girl.

However, Angele saw the maid's face filled with wrinkles and her skin as dry as barks. She was an old woman who looked like she was nearly dying.

Angele stayed calm and nodded slowly, "Understood."

"And, this room shall be yours whenever you're in Dark Wizard Tower. Please memorize its location," the old woman advised.

"Sure."

"All right, let's head down the stairs." The old woman started walking to the left side of the hall.

Angele accompanied the woman. There were still people stepping out of the rooms, also guided by maids in white. They went to head down the staircase as well after listening to the explanation.

Angele blended into the crowd and quickly arrived at the bottom level. He made sure there was no restriction on the seat selection and sat down on a chair at the front-left corner.

"Commander Lion is here!" a loud voice echoed in the hall.

At the back of the hall, three people emerged out of nowhere in front of a closed black gate.

The three's gender varied. The one in the lead was a tall man with a thick beard, and following him, there were a man and a woman. Both of them were blond, and all of them had attractive characteristics.

The tall man looked around before he walked to one of the chairs and sat down with a blank face alongside his company.

"Commander Kaelyn is here!"

A short, gray-haired man wearing a luxurious black tuxedo appeared in front of the black gate. He pursed his lips into a gentle smile and sat down on a chair quietly.

People slowly quieted down, and they focused on a small platform at the front of the hall.

Three golden light-columns landed on the black platform seconds later.

The light-columns were not intense; they brought a hint of warmth to the hall.

Three people appeared in the golden columns one by one.

"The ceremony is being supervised by Count Hosla and hosted by the head of the change department, master Sando!" the voice echoed in the hall again.

Two women and one man were standing in the light columns—all of them wearing golden hemmed, white outfits.

At the front-most was a beautiful woman who had long, green hair and a few wrinkles on the corners of her eyes, her light-blue eyes shining slightly.

When the voice mentioned master Sando, the woman nodded at the audience and smiled gently.

Count Hosla was standing at the right side of Sando and nodded at the audience as well. He was an old man whose hair had already turned white.

Meanwhile, at the left side of Sando was a young girl who had a deadpan face. She was likely just Sando's assistant, considering how her name wasn't mentioned.

The three people on the platform successfully drew the attention of the audience.

Chapter 398: Truth (1)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

Sando slightly held up the skirt of her white dress and looked around. She waited until all noises disappeared before she once again opened her mouth.

"I am honored to host this awarding ceremony. My name is Sando. I think some of you have already heard about my name while the rest have not, but it's fine." She released the grip from her dress and conjured a platinum wand in her hand.

She waved the short wand in the air, which released a white beam. It landed behind them, on the wall of the platform, and materialized into a large, egg-shaped screen of light.

The scenes of the wizards fighting steadily revealed in it.

There were barbarians and archers, ranged spells and summoning spells, and even a showdown of basic spells.

Without making any noise, the audience was watching the moving visual images on the screen.

Angele sat on his seat while looking at it and saw the most intense moment in the fight between him and the woman clad in white armor.

'He' 1 charged out of the white light with wounds all over his body, but even that could not hide the madness in his eyes.

Aside from that, many fights between other wizards that had happened were also recorded.

The moving images slowly stopped, pausing at the scene where a barbarian was lifting up a horned helmet in the air.

There was an emerald in the middle of the man's chest, which was sending green energy into his body then transfusing it to the green vines twisting around his body.

"So, the one who wins the title of Beyond the Rift is…" Sando took out a blank paper and began reading, "Uramon! Please come here and accept the award!"

A man about two meters tall stood up from his respective seat.

Thud! Thud!

With loud footsteps, he walked straight to the platform.

He looked exactly like the barbarian in the video highlight. Angele could sense the excitement from the man's emotionless face.

Sando pointed towards the man when he arrived at the platform. Blue light flickered around the barbarian for several seconds.

That must be the mark for the reward.

Angele heard people whispering near him.

"Only two people will be awarded this time, and they will be invited to the platform. The rest of us have to stay in our own seats, but I don't know who the other one is."

"First is Uramon. There is another one who obtained a lot of cores but failed to move across the rifts."

Angele maintained a calm demeanor as he listened to others gossip.

"Next, the one who obtained the greatest number of cores in his respective rift but failed to travel across it!" The highlight shifted again and stopped right at the moment when Angele charged out of the light-cylinder. " Angele 2 , from the City of Sky!"

Angele stood up as soon as Sando finished speaking. He noticed that the wizards near him stopped chattering instantly and multiple people were scowling at him. Such a thing was an unpleasant experience.

He left his seat and walked to the platform from the left side.

The three people on the platform seemed kind of different. They were looking at Angele with gentle faces, seemingly as if they were just here to see him.

Sando waited until Angele walked to the front and pointed at him with the short wand.

A white beam landed on his body and disappeared before he could feel anything.

"Wizard Angele, is this your first time visiting Dark Wizard Tower's headquarters?" Count Hosla pursed his lips to a gentle smile.

Angele nodded, "Yes, it's my first time here."

"Would you like to join the department of change?" Sando asked curiously.

Angele could see Sando not jesting, and the young girl's eyes also fell on him. Both of them were waiting for an answer.

Count Hosla did not say anything else, only observing the situation with a smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, but… what exactly is the 'department of change'? Thank you for the offer, but I need more information," he responded politely, thinking that it was impossible for him to join a department he only knew the name of.

"No worries," Sando nodded in satisfaction. "To be honest, the director of the wizard department wants to take you in as his student, but Descartes is not here at the moment. Using a projection too isn't a good idea, that's why I'm asking if you want to join my department.

People started murmuring after they heard the wizard department's head's name be mentioned. There seemed to be something special about the spell department.

Besides that, Angele noticed the change in Count Hosla's expression as soon as he heard the name.

"All right, go accept your reward. You can pick a location to set up the circle, but the location can't be changed once it's built," Sando advised.

"Thank you, master," Angele nodded.

"I'll speak a bit more since this is your first time here. I have already placed the mark of permission on you. Someone will assist you in selecting one of the magic circle inheritances prepared for the winners, and if you decide to build the circle in the energy pool of Dark Wizard Tower, its safety is guaranteed. One more thing, you're now allowed access to the truly rare resources provided by the organization," she added.

"Thank you again, master."

Angele placed his right hand on his chest and bowed slightly and then stepped off the platform.

He saw a tall guard in a black steel suit waiting for him as he left the platform.

"Please follow me, master Angele." The guard spoke meaningfully, "It's your first time here, so please stay inside the heart of the tree. The outside world is completely different. Please be careful."

"Completely different?" Angele was kind of astonished but noticed how the guard was withholding what he knew from him. "Is this a world rift, too? Is the outside world somewhere in a different realm? Or are you just telling me that the outside world is dangerous?"

But the guard did not reply. He turned to his left and moved up the flight of spiral staircase.

Even though Angele didn't get what he wanted to know, he wasn't mad at him. He only continued to walk behind the guard.

While walking on the stairs, Angele watched as Sando awarded the other winners and saw someone familiar to him. It was the woman in white armor, the woman who had been torn apart by him.

She stood at the front of the audience's seats, along with the other winners, and received a tree-shaped badge from Sando. But then, she turned her head and saw Angele walking up the stairs. Her face changed, now as though she was planning on taking revenge. The outcome of their final battle was disgraceful to her.

Angele returned the woman's glare. Both of them knew how intense the battle at that time and how cruel it ended. Accepting her loss so easily was nearly impossible for her. She should have been the one to obtain a magic circle inheritance if Angele hadn't been in the rift she last invaded.

Angele moved his gaze away and instead followed the guard to a tiny door on the right.

Behind the door was a dark hall, which had walls that seemed to have been built with boiling mud, and the air stank.

The wet mud underneath Angele was roasted dry by the fire energy he exuded.

The guard before him didn't seem to care about the environment they were in; he just stepped on it.

They quickly reached the end of the hallway and found a small door before them.

The guard pushed the door open and invited Angele in.

Angele discovered an unusual thing when they left the hallway. It had only taken them about 10 seconds to reach the end, but when he turned around, he couldn't find the first door he saw. The only thing he could see was pure darkness.

A spacious hall was behind the small door.

The floor was built with black marbles as smooth as mirrors. The ceiling was embellished with black and white, checkered pattern. Meanwhile, the candle stands hanging on the walls looked like the heads of random monsters.

The dim light from the lighted candles was flashing.

They walked for about half an hour to reach the wall.

Angele and the guard stood in front of the marble wall. The guard took out a black quill and a small bottle containing red ink and dipped the quill into it and then drew an arched door on the wall.

Creak!

Accompanied by the noise, it opened and revealed a wooden staircase leading upward.

"Please, the master is waiting for you," the guard turned to him and said.

Angele nodded and stepped into the door.

He noticed the guard stopping by the door as if the man would not move until Angele finished his business.

Angele stepped onto the stairs.

Ka-ta! Ka-ta! Ka-ta!

Several minutes later, Angele finally reached the end of the staircase and saw a wooden door that was half-open.

Two lit-up torches were placed in the holders on the wall. The noise it generated was akin to boiling fat.

Angele lifted up his hand, about to knock on the door.

"Come in," a voice from behind the door came. It was spoken by an old man and in Metia language, the common tongue of the central continent.

"Excuse me." Angele opened the door and let himself in.

The room was an average-sized study. He could smell the scent of the leather-bound books in the atmosphere in the room.

Amid the dim light, he could see a wooden table painted red and surrounded by unorganized bookshelves.

A wrinkly-faced old man was sitting beside the table. He had a beard more than three meters long, placed over his left shoulder.

"Nice to meet you. I'm the vice director of the wizard department." The old man was searching around the table and found his pair of glasses under the books. Finally, he could see Angele's face clearly.

"The director is busy and doesn't have time to meet you here. So, I'll be the one handing the reward, and you'll become his student." The old man stood up and walked to Angele. "I'll be honest, the director has high expectations for you. Your battle skills have impressed the directors of numerous departments. They are thinking that the talent you possess is related to the ancient metal race."

"Metal race?" Angele had no idea what the metal race was. He was certain he was a human being.

"Yes, those of the metal race had terrifyingly high magic resistance—able to resist damage dealt by the majority of spells and bodies that can heal from injuries at an insane rate. The problem was, the food they relied on to survive was scarce, so the entire race became extinct due to starvation…." The old man took out a magnifier and put it over Angele's face and quickly checked Angele's entire body.

Goosebumps arose from Angele's skin.

"Master… can you tell me where my reward is?" He retreated one step.

"The reward is right here, don't worry." The old man returned to the table and put down the magnifier, then took out something black from the drawer.

"Put this on." He threw the black item to Angele.

Angele carefully caught it and saw that it was a shoulder armor piece. It looked just like the last reward he got, but this one had double the size.

He wore the armor on his left shoulder.

Clink!

Chapter 399: Truth (2)

Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe

The armor piece was a perfect fit for his left shoulder, and he could sense the surge of information being transmitted into his brain.

It was the information related to the magic circle inheritance.

"Can you feel that? That's the advantage of having a magic circle inheritance set. Dark Wizard Tower is one of the most powerful organizations, but even we can only build several of those sets. Can you imagine how many resources were allocated into this?" the old man whose name was Medisa chuckled as he explained.

"And this," he threw Angele a white ball, "this is the seed of the magic circle inheritance. Plant it in the location you have selected, and the only thing you need to do is to wait. Make sure you're the only one there when you plant the seed or there will be trouble."

"Got it." Angele carefully grasped the white ball. "Can you give me a durable and stable pouch? Mine was destroyed during the competition."

"No problem." Medisa fetched a small black pouch from the drawer. "This is something I used when I was young. Made out of dragon skin, I'm sure it won't break in a normal battle. I watched how you fought in that battle. I like your style. You know, the director has three students, but I like you the most. I'll give it to you for free just because of that." Medisa gave Angele a thumbs-up.

"Is it a tradition for a director to take the winner as their student?" Angele queried.

"It's a rule that a director of a department can take the winner in as their student, but it doesn't have to be the wizard department. Dark Wizard Tower does not host competitions often, you see. The director of the department of change invited you to hers, didn't she? She probably likes you, too," the old man explained, "I know what you're thinking. You're wondering about the benefits of becoming a student of the director, right? I can tell you one thing—you will be able to protect everything important to you in the chaotic times about to come…"

The old man showed a meaningful smile.

"Huh? So you will give me power? Or authority?" Green (Angele) remained calm for he knew he was getting closer to the secrets of Dark Wizard Tower.

"Authority and power come hand in hand. However, you can't protect anything with just mediocre authority and power. You need to maximize them. Something terrifying will soon come, but for a wizard like you to become stronger, you need at least hundreds of years," the old man shrugged, "We don't have much time left."

"Huh? Who exactly are you asking me to protect?" Angele's expression changed, and he took off the armor piece and kept the white ball in his pouch and attached it to his belt.

"Let me explain that to you, Green (Angele)." A voice sounding like it was from a middle-aged man came from near the door.

"Juventus, you again!" Medisa's face hardened, and he seemed to have lost interest in the topic. He returned to the table and took a seat. "Fine, I'll let you explain. Every time you're here, you just…" He did not finish his sentence, but the old man seemed to be annoyed and frustrated at the person named Juventus.

Angele turned around to see a bearded man in white outfit standing by the door. He looked just like an average human male. There was a stack of yellow-leather paper in his papers, which were covered with messy handwriting.

"Medisa, I wrote a few new poems today. Can you read and help me improve them? I assure you it's different this time! I've improved a lot! A lot!" The man smilingly barged into the study and approached Medisa's table.

"All right, all right, put them down first. Tell Green (Angele) about the truth of Dark Wizard Tower. I'll read your poems later." Juventus was giving Medisa a headache. "Green (Angele) is the only one who's normal between you three… He knows what he should do, and he works hard…" Medisa said as he picked up the stack of papers, but it looked like he wasn't at all impressed.

"Just explain the truth to Angele…." The old man waved his hand.

The bearded man turned to look at Angele but became irritated right after. It was because he was slightly shorter than Angele.

"Damn! You're taller than me? I hate people who are taller than me!" he muttered.

"All right. Angele, let me tell you the truth of the Dark Wizard Tower. You're now a core member of the organization."

"Huh?" Angele looked at Juventus—he had always wanted to know more about Dark Wizard Tower.

The bearded patted his own chest, "Let me introduce myself first. My name is Juventus. You can just call me Juven if you want."

"Okay." Angele nodded.

Juventus cleared his throat and finally started explaining, "Dark Wizard Tower isn't only a powerful organization in the central continent but also in other areas of the world. But, we have no relations with any of the three Wizard-lords." His expression became serious.

"Do you know the true identity of the two persons accompanying Director Sando at the ceremony?"

Before Angele could say anything, the man had already begun answering his own question.

"The woman with the emotionless face is Director Sando's student and also the winner of the previous competition. Count Hosla…" he stopped for a second, "is a noble of the Fairy Realm."

"Fairy Realm?" Angele narrowed his eyes. "Does Dark Wizard Tower have relations with the Fairy Realm? I thought everyone was trying to seal the portals. How did he come to our world?"

"Yeah, the relations between our world and the Fairy Realm is complicated, but the Count Hosla you saw was just a projection. Do you know why the majority of the portals were first discovered in the central continent instead of the other areas of the world?" Juventus grinned. "We spent more than 100 years to study and modify the magnetic field. Now, we finally have access."

"I was told that the Fairy Realm is extremely dangerous. As a member of Dark Wizard Tower, I don't think that's a good idea." Angele felt fearful once he recalled that day when he encountered the woman in black and the flying dragon.

"Not a good idea? Ha, that's the biggest problem." Juventus chuckled. "Dark Wizard Tower is equivalent to the First Empire in the Fairy Realm."

Angele was surprised, "That's impossible. It has been years since the last wizard discovered the means to travel to other realms. Don't tell me the fairies never left our world after the invasion."

"You're right. No one can travel to other realms. The truth is, the most prominent members of Dark Wizard Tower are those who entered the Fairy Realm during the ancient times. Almost the entire First Empire of the Fairy Realm is being controlled by our wizards. In other words, most 'fairies' you said are human beings." Juventus's words were hard to absorb.

Angele realized he was in the same boat as the organization after he learned the secret. If he decided to leave the heart of the three, he would be eliminated immediately.

"The most prominent members are trying so hard because they want to return to the Wizard World," Juventus smiled, "The balance formed by the three Wizard-lords shall soon be broken by the Empire. That moment shall be the moment when glory and honor return to us." He retrieved a flame-shaped platinum badge. "Take it. It will prove you're a student of the wizard department."

Angele received the badge and looked at it.

There were words engraved on its surface—

"The Suran Empire. The abyss that shall never be defeated. No one shall thwart the Empire from advancing."

It was written in the ancient language.

"Order shall be rebuilt when the Empire returns to this land," Medisa spoke in a low voice, with pride written all over his face.

"The three Lords will not let this happen so easily." Angele shook his head.

"The three Lords do indeed know of our existence. They are trying to hinder our most prominent members from entering this world, hence they formed the Central Council since no one wants to share their authority with a… stranger ," Medisa chuckled, "Our return will aid the wizards in regaining the power of the ancient wizards; no one can stop us!"

"Is that what you were referring to when you mentioned having the power to protect? It solely depends on who we are?" Angele finally understood the situation.

"You're right. We are of the core members, so we're allowed to save our friends. As long as your relatives or friends in the Wizard World don't try to fight, the Imperial Army will not attack them," Juventus explained.

"That means if you're a core member, you and a strong being from the Fairy Realm will be given the authority to lead an army. You will be the one to decide who to attack, that is how you save the ones close to you in the chaos that is about to come," Medisa added, "But the problem is, since the Fairy Realm can approach our world during the coming of chaos, the other realms can, too."

Juventus nodded, "I have already visited the World Tree. Aside from the Fairy Realm, only an empty Sand Realm is approaching. It is one of the weakest realms, so there's nothing to worry about. Still, the other dangerous realms may also do the same. Chaos Realm, Oblivion Realm, and the most invasive realm... Nightmare Realm—those realms are relatively close to the Wizard World, but, if the Nightmare Realm arrives…"

They stopped after mentioned the name of that realm. Their faces turned grave.

"It can't be those horrifying monsters…" Medisa muttered.

"If what the historical records say is true, there should be a countless number of realms around our world. The Nightmare Realm is but one of them. We can't possibly be so unlucky." Juventus waved his hand in dismissal.

"You will also become a commander of an army. When will you learn taking things seriously?" Medisa's face loosened up, and he sat down.