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Chapter 556: Same Kind (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Angele inhaled deeply and stored the silver necklace in the mirror. "That's a useful tool. Six-arm snake race, huh? I'll remember this name."

The snake woman nodded. "Alright then, you don't have enough energy to keep this spell going. How long do you need to collect all the metal weapons?"

Angele thought for a second and responded, "60 000 tons of metal weapons… I'll need some time. Can I refine the weapons so it'll be easier?"

"Refine? What do you mean?" The snake woman was a bit surprised. "You mean increase the density of the metal?"

Angele heard the question and nodded.

The woman hesitated for a second and responded, "It'll be great if you can refine them. I hope you'll have the weapons prepared the next time we meet."

"I'll prepare everything in 1000 years," Angele promised.

"Sounds good." The snake woman was satisfied with what she heard. "One more thing. Take this with you. I don't want you to die before you finish your job."

She threw a finger-sized golden key to Angele. The handle of the key looked identical to the upper body of the snake woman.

"This is a Doomsday Key, only activate it when absolutely necessary. It'll help you in a life-threatening situation but there'll be consequences."

Angele caught the key and observed it carefully. He cut his chest open and inserted the key into the wound quickly.

The wound was bleeding but healed within seconds. The whole process surprised the snake woman.

"Maybe you don't need this key after all…"

"Maybe." Angele knew that the woman noticed the power of his bloodline and smiled.

*CHI*

The snake woman disappeared into the air and the space in the rune walls became empty again.

Angele patted the key in this chest calmly. The pain from the wound was barely noticeable to him.

"It's about the time to cast my last summoning spell of this period… I'll have to wait for the next tidal moon if I want to cast the summoning spell again."

He started chanting the incantation again.

Dark light flashed on the platform.

*WOO*

A white-goldish rune circle that was made of countless triangles appeared inside the rune walls. The rune circle was spinning at full speed and looked like flowers with sharp edges. The noise came from the sharp edges rubbing against each other.

Angele's expression turned serious after seeing the scene.

"Such a strong realm reaction… The target is from somewhere far away from the wizard world…" he muttered as he made several rune gestures using his hands.

The smoke that was dark like ink was charging into the rune walls and became part of the rune circle.

The light from the rune circle was getting more and more intense. A golden oval appeared in the center of the circle, its surface glistening.

The strange vibration noise was making Angele's body numb.

"Still going? How far does it have to be for the summoning process to take so long?!" Angele was getting excited.

The summoning spell Angele created had random target. It was possible that he could summon a strong being like the snake woman again but it was also possible that he would get a pebble. It all depended on his luck, the distance between the realms was not what decided the outcome.

Angele covered his eyes with some red light to defend against the eye-blinding white light from the rune circle.

*CHI*

He finally heard the familiar noise as the white light disappeared from the basement. Everything returned to normal.

Angele blinked his eyes to adapt to the change of the light and looked into the rune walls.

He was a bit surprised after seeing the result. The creature in the walls was extremely weak.

It was peaceful inside the walls; there was a young woman that was about 20 years on the platform. The girl had an average face and was slim.

Angele found it hard to believe after seeing the woman's outfit. She was wearing a white t-shirt with a pair of jeans and there was a pink hairpin on her head.

"Love" was printed in the center of her t-shirt and it was eye-catching.

"What a realistic dream it is!" The woman rubbed her knees and slowly stood up. She started checking the environment as she put her hands on the rune walls. A black box fell out of her pocket as she straightened her back.

"Ah, my communication device…" The girl lowered her body and picked the box up.

Angele's brow furrowed. "A communication device?" The girl reminded him of the Earth.

Everything was handled by biochips before he reincarnated into this world. Communication devices were used before the biochip revolution but it was possible that the woman came from somewhere similar to Earth.

Angele started thinking. He was not concerned that another person from the Earth could achieve what he had achieved in this world.

His achievement was not solely due to the help he got from the biochip and he doubted if another person from the earth could reach his level using the same method.

Angele's biochip had been upgraded multiple times and he survived countless dangerous battles. He also explored many ruins and collected many strange items. The biochip helped him to progress faster than others, however, it was not the only reason why he succeeded.

Suddenly, Angele recalled how he reincarnated into this world. He realized that it might not be just luck. It was possible that someone summoned his soul and threw it away since his soul had no power. His soul then entered a dead person's physical body who died not so long ago.

He thought of many things and it took him about half an hour to conclude everything.

Strangely, the woman was still in the rune walls, Angele thought that she could not last that long here.

Angele pursed his lips. "Maybe she's too weak and the rune circle did not even treat her like a living being.

"Hey, who are you?" The woman waved her hand and she was curious. It seemed like she thought she was having a dream and she was not scared at all. Although Angele could not understand her words, he still managed to analyze the meaning of the sentence using his mentality.

"Which country are you from?" Angele suddenly questioned back using the mentality wave.

"Which country? I'm from United Morrigan!" the girl responded. "Look at my hair and my pupils, pure black, and my skin is yellow. I'm from Ming An City and I'm a student of Ming An University. My name is Xinrui Li, what's your name, handsome?"

Angele's brow furrowed as he looked at the woman. She was average-looking, she was weak, and she did not seem very intelligent. The woman was useless to him, Angele would not get a lot even if he traded the woman for something else with a wizard. However, he would not kill a human being that might be from another Earth.

"Can I have a look at your communication device?" Angele's sight fell upon the black box in the woman's hand.

"What?" The woman sounded a bit anxious. "This is a privacy invasion! Hey! Come on, what are you doing?!"

The black box left her hands and landed on Angele's palm.

Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes as he pressed the buttons on the device. It took him seconds to figure out how to operate the device.

He also scanned and analyzed the device using the biochip.

"She's from a world with a low technology level…" Angele played with the communication device in his hand. The thing looked like a smartphone but it was powered by a diamond-shaped stone instead of a battery.

The diamond-shaped stone was releasing heat.

Angele could easily figure out how the device worked.

He knew that the evolution of technology was different for different realms and he was in a world that a strong Individual would be recognized for his talent.

"Their technology is not as advanced as the technology from the Earth." Angele felt a bit relieved. He did not want another human being from Earth, however, he also realized that he might be able to return to Earth someday. The problem was strong wizards or strong beings could destroy everything on the Earth if they wanted to.

"Young one, what if I tell you that this is not a dream and you won't be able to return to your world… What will you do?" Angele put down the communication device and looked at Xinrui Li.

"Seriously…" Xinrui looked at Angele, she was still in shock. "The dream is almost too realistic…"

"Wake up, young one. I have something else to do and I'll come back for you."

Angele grabbed the communication device, turned around, and left the basement.

*CHI*

He pushed the lid open and saw a pair of a woman's feet by the staircase right away. The only things he could see were her feet, her upper body was blocked by the staircase.

Angele stared at the woman's feet and his expression slowly turned serious.

"You're crossing the line… I guess I'll have to find a way to deal with you…" he muttered as he landed on the floor of the living room.

He was still staring at the woman's feet.

The strange thing was that he could see the woman's feet through the gaps of the staircase, however, there was nothing above the handle of the staircase.

It felt like that the area above the handle and the area below the handle were two different realms.

Angele's sight moved, he could only see the woman's feet when his head was above the handle and he could not see anything if he changed the angle.

*PA PA PA*

The woman turned around and walked upstairs. The noise gradually disappeared.

Angele just stood there until the woman's footsteps completely disappeared and felt relieved.

He hesitated for a second and walked to the handle of the staircase. He reached to the area above the handle using his hands.

A strange thing happened.

He looked at his hands from a lower angle and they just disappeared.

It felt like that his hands were no longer in the house, they went to a different dimension.

*BAM*

Chapter 557: Same Kind (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Suddenly, something grabbed Angele's hand, dragging him to the other side.

Angele was caught off guard and hit the handle hard.

It felt like there was a pair of hands that were dragging him to a completely different realm.

"Die!" Angele narrowed his eyes and released some dark smoke from his right arm which quickly turned into the claw of a scorpion.

*Crack*

It sounded like the claw cut something into pieces and he could finally move his right arm again.

Angele quickly took two steps back and looked at the handle quietly.

"Such power… It's…" He recalled the day he met the woman for the first time. The woman traveled using the tree trunks like she was at another dimension.

"I need to take her out as soon as possible…"

Angele's right arm was surrounded by dark smoke again and it quickly returned to normal.

He walked upstairs and entered the room that was opposite to the room with the painting in it.

Everything was calm and peaceful. He picked up a crystal orb from the bookshelf and rubbed it several times.

The white crystal orb started glowing.

"Green, I'm sorry about the wedding. Fir said that she wanted to delay the wedding because she needed some time to get prepared." Vivian's came from the crystal orb. "The wedding will be delayed for two years. I think I should give you two some more time."

The voice repeated after the sentence was finished. "Green, I'm sorry about the wedding…"

Angele sighed. "I guess she didn't say she wanted to cancel the wedding because she didn't want to disappoint Vivian… She was scared." He put down the crystal orb and the white glow faded away from the orb.

　　*************************

Angele stayed in the room with the painting most of the time for the next ten days. He also delivered food and water to the girl in the basement daily.

The woman finally understood that it was not a dream and felt depressed. She would still do what she had to do to survive but she did not say anything else.

Angele was not concerned, he spent most of his time studying the painting. He also visited the elders and Vivian from time to time.

He tried to see if there were any mineral resources around.

He found a large iron mine in a hill around the town; it took him two days to locate the mine.

The only thing he needed to do was mining. Angele spent some time and developed a perfect metal force field to help with the mining procedure. The iron ores would be refined by the force field as well.

The two realms finally started separating after a couple months.

　　**************************

It was summer. The chilling wind was blowing over the trees in the forest.

Angele was writing something down on a pile of yellow leather paper in his reading room.

The only noise here was made by the pen.

Angele's shadow leaned on the floor under the bright light from the candle and his shadow was waving in the wind.

He suddenly stopped writing. Angele raised his head and looked out of the window, the night sky was dark.

"Finally…"

A dark-red glow surrounded his eyes and a large shadow of a scorpion appeared behind him slowly.

*WOO*

A red wave suddenly appeared in the night sky and expanded to the endless sky. It felt like that the red wave was scanning the whole sky.

"Phoenix, we'll be going back now. Are you coming?" Bone's voice was sent to Angele through the energy waves released by the realm power of Nightmare Realm. "Fly back in your true form if you want to leave with us. The realms are separating and the realm power will be pressuring you again."

Angele smiled and responded, "Don't worry about me. I have something else to take care of."

"Do whatever you want. You can come back when you want to anyways." Bone was not concerned. "I wish you were with us. The lords of the northland were pushed back into the dimension tunnel and Vapor slashed the tunnel in half. We almost created a dimension vortex. Thanks to you, we finally defeated them once, ha."

"Well, we were just lucky." Angele chuckled but he did not say anything else.

Their conversation ended as Bone's voice slowly faded away.

Angele put down the pen and stood up.

A strong pressure appeared and moved to Angele as he stood up. The pressure was coming from all angles.

He released some black smoke but it quickly disappeared under the pressure.

It felt like that there was a mountain over his back and he had to use all his force to support the mountain.

The feeling was familiar but he had not got used to it yet. Angele shook his head; although he still had the power of a rank 3 wizard, the power was from his bloodline, and it was impossible for him to fully activate his true form. However, it was still possible that he could release a strike with the power of a rank 6 wizard once.

"The dimension channel to the Nightmare Realm is disappearing…" he muttered and looked at the sky. It felt like that he could see the entrance to the dark channel closing slowly.

"The good thing is that I have a lead on how to handle the realm power." He turned around, left the reading room, and walked downstairs.

He opened the lid and entered the basement.

The woman he summoned was still surrounded by the rune walls in the center of the basement. The woman looked excited after she saw Angele.

"Hey! When will you let me go? Why do you even keep me here?"

Angele glanced at the woman and waved his hand.

The runes walls slowly disappeared and the girl was finally released from the prison.

The girl ran to Angele and she looked a bit scared.

"Are you a mage? I've read about something like this."

"Mage? What's that?" Angele chuckled but he was not here to check on the woman.

He walked to the corner. There was a T-shaped rune circle on the wall; the white runes inside the circle were crawling slowly, looking like strange white insects.

Some silver liquid was dripping down the bottom of the rune circle.

The liquid was collected by a small hole below the circle. There was already a good amount of liquid in it.

Angele nodded slightly as he was satisfied with the result.

"Hey, can you teach me some magic skills?" The woman named Ruixin Li opened her mouth again. "Like… like the thing you just did. You waved your hand and the light walls disappeared. Can you teach me that?"

Angele glanced at the woman and scanned her using the biochip. The woman's body was weak and she did not seem very intelligent.

"Aren't you scared? I could kill you."

"You won't, right?" Xinrui chuckled and took two steps back. "You summoned me because you thought I could help you with your research, right?"

"You're just the waste of a failed experiment." Angele was just being honest.

"Well…" The smile disappeared form Xinrui's face.

"If you were not a human being, you'd end up in there." Angele pointed at the garbage disposal tunnel. The woman came from a place like the Earth and Angele kept her alive because the woman reminded him of the old days. Also, he would not waste his resources if the woman was not a human being.

Xinrui pursed her lips and took several more steps back. "What are you going to do to me then?"

"It depends." Angele smiled. "You're a student of a university, right? What were you studying?"

"Country Structure and Society…" Xinrui responded in a low voice.

"Huh?" Angele was a bit surprised. He suddenly reached to the woman's head as his eyes glowed. His red eyes looked like two clean rubies.

"What are you doing?!" Xinrui leaped away and she stared at Angele anxiously.

"Huh? My illusion spell didn't work?" Angele sounded surprised. He was going to trick the woman using illusions and read her memory, however, the spell failed. "That's interesting."

Angele was interested, he walked around the woman and observed her body.

"I think there's a problem with your body. I was going to help you. Why are you scared? Do you really think I'm interested in your weak body?"

Xinrui was still anxious.

"Well, whatever. I'm the one who summoned you so I'll give you some advice. The world is dangerous, if you dress up like this, you might be considered as a witch and you'll be burnt. It'll be better if you can stay in the town that's not so far from here or you can just stay at my house. I'll clean the storage room for you. Don't use the living room," Angele explained. He noticed that the woman was a bit different.

"Also, no one can understand your words. I can help you learn the language for a price and it'll only take a second for the process to complete."

"Seriously? You can teach me a language in a second?!" Xinrui got excited again, it almost felt like that she was mentally unstable.

"Of course, for a price." Angele showed the woman one finger. "Ten years. Work in this house for ten years. Clean the rooms, wash the clothes, and cook the food. If you think it's a good deal, come find me in the reading room on the second floor in three days. Also, I need to leave for a while, you can find the food in the kitchen."

"Ten years?!" Xinrui was surprised after she heard the word because it sounded like ten years was nothing to Angele.

"One more thing, the reading room, kitchen, and the storage room are the only three places you have access to." There was a gentle smile on Angele's face and he looked a bit curious as he looked at the woman.

Chapter 558: Reunion (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

"Seriously?" Xinrui's expression changed after hearing those words.

"Yeah, I suggest that you spend some time in the reading room. You can read all the books there and it's a test to see if you can become my student." Angele smiled.

However, it seemed like Xinrui misunderstood these words.

"I understand! It's a test, right? I'll try my best!" Her expression looked serious.

Angele nodded as a red glow surrounded his eyes. Some translucent black smoke flew to Xinrui, however, it did nothing to her.

'Alright, the illusion spell doesn't work and the bloodline ability did nothing…' He had a general idea in mind. 'She can check the painting for me since that's the only thing she can do right now. I'll turn her into an apprentice if she survives.'

It seemed like Xinrui recovered from the depression after the conversation and started asking about the runes again.

Angele answered some of her questions as he led the woman to the living room.

The woman was excited, she was running around while screaming.

Angele sat on the sofa and started thinking.

Angele was almost certain that the painting was not a soul form, it might be a strong being from a different realm. It was possible that the being could travel through dimensions.

He was not sure what the painting was trying to do, however, he knew that there was a secret hiding behind the painting. It was from the nature of his strong bloodline.

It was the reason why he decided to keep the painting. He thought that the secret might help him and the soul forms. The secret might solve everything for them.

"It's time to pay the Nightmare Realm a visit…" He picked up the brown wooden cup from the table and took a sip from the green fruit tea.

Angele tapped on the surface of the table slightly using his right hand.

*PA*

A ball of black smoke was released and splashed everywhere.

The black smoke coated the doors of the rooms excluding the reading room and the storage room. The kitchen had no door so the woman could still access it.

*BAM BAM BAM*

The doors were closed and sealed.

Angele locked the rooms he wanted to lock and was satisfied with the result.

"What happened?" Xinrui walked around the living room carefully.

"Nothing, just do whatever you want. I have to go now." Angele stood up and stared at Xinrui in the eyes.

"Remember, this is a test, I'll take you in as my student if you can pass the test."

Xinrui nodded with a blank expression on her face.

*BAM*

Angele's body turned into a ball of dark flames and disappeared into the air.

　　********************

The sky was dark and there was thunder rumbling.

In the dark-red plain under the sky, a ball of dark red flames appeared on top of a small hill and it quickly turned into a human being.

The man was wearing a black robe, his long red hair trailed over his shoulders.

"I need to find out the truth about the sealed forms" Angele overlooked the Doomsday Eye Tower on the far side of the plain.

There was an enormous black shadow that looked like a human being standing by the black pyramid; his body looked like a cracked rock. It was a shell made by the mud and sand.

A ball of black smoke rose from Angele's feet and he quickly flew to the black shadow.

*Rumble*

The thunder rumbled again and the noise was lowered gradually.

At the waist of the giant shadow, there was a white eyeball. The eyeball rolled and stared at the approaching black robe.

Two men in black armor with black edges bowed to Angele. They turned into golden light and disappeared into the sky.

A ball of black smoke stopped in front of the eyeball as the two men left. The black smoke vanished into the air, revealing Angele's body.

"It has been a while, Eye Devil." Raising his head, Angele looked at the giant eyeball.

The eyeball rolled and Angele's appearance was reflected on its surface.

"I'm preparing for the next auction right now. I already invited two sealed forms that just woke up and Storm. It's great that you're back, Phoenix."

Angele smiled. "I'm here to ask you an important question, a question about us."

Eye Devil's pupil retracted slightly for a second. "I knew you would ask about this sooner or later."

Eye Devil stopped for a second and continued, "it's a question that every sealed form wants to solve. You want to know why we sealed forms are sealed, right?"

Angele nodded. "Yeah, we're strong and we have long life expectancies but why are we sealed? Are we sealed by someone else or do we just seal ourselves?"

Eye Devil was searching through her memory and did not answer the question immediately.

The two remained silent for a while.

It took a while for Eye Devil to organize the answer.

"Phoenix, you're not born as a bloodline inheritor so you don't understand… We have the power and the long life expectancy when we are born. It's like you're born in a rich family with a strong background, everything is ready for you. We conquered many realms and we defeated many strong beings, however…"

Eye Devil stopped for a second before she got to the point.

"The stronger the bloodline is, the more problems there will be, in another word, our power is limited."

"Problems?" Angele's brow furrowed. "I knew it, you won't seal yourselves for no reason."

"Yeah, we seal ourselves for a reason," Eye Devil agreed. "The power of bloodline came from the realm and the support from the realm power is the main problem. With the support of Nightmare Realm's power, we're undefeatable, however, with the support, the bloodline power will consume our souls. The bloodline power needs the support of realm power, it'll drain the life energy from our souls when the realm power is not present.

"So, we seal ourselves when there's not enough realm power," Eye Devil continued. "That's the cost of having such strong power. We can't leave our realm. We can conquer as many realms as we want, however, we're trapped in the Nightmare Realm."

Angele's expression turned serious as Eye Devil explained.

"Do you mean that you have to seal yourselves when there's not enough realm power even if you're in the Nightmare Realm?"

Eye Devil confirmed, "We can only be woken up when the realm power is active. There'll be no support from the realm when the realm power is inactive so we have to seal ourselves. The situation will be the same for you. You'll die if you don't seal yourself when the time comes."

"Is there another way to handle it?"

"Extract the power from the souls you collect and you'll be able to delay the process." It was also the reason why the sealed forms loved to collect souls. "Also, souls will increase our life expectancy."

Angele inhaled deeply, it was not the result he wanted. The people he knew would all be dead because he would be sleeping for thousands of years when sealed. He wanted to stay with Vivian until she passed away but it would be a problem if he had to seal himself.

"The power of the Nightmare Realm is the source of our bloodline power, but at the same time, it trapped us in this realm. Without the support of the realm power, I'd be dead. That's the truth I've been looking for." Angele was certain that Eye Devil was telling the truth after thinking for a while. "How long until we need to seal ourselves again?"

"We can enjoy our lives for around 3000 years every time we unseal ourselves. We'll seal ourselves again after the realm power becomes inactive. It's still early so you can enjoy your power with nothing for you to worry about." Eye Devil chuckled.

"I'll enjoy my life more if I don't have to seal myself from time to time." Angele shook his head. "Haven't you guys found a way to bypass the rule after all those years?"

"Well, there's a way, but it's hard to accomplish." Eye Devil chuckled. "I can tell you the method for free since many people already know about it."

"What's the method?" Angele listened carefully.

"Our bloodline power is supported by the Nightmare Realm's power; no matter which realm you were from, you're now part of the Nightmare Realm. Nightmare Realm's power will be strengthened if a bloodline from a different realm is accepted by it. However, the realm power will become your enemy if you try to break the restriction. If you can handle the realm power by yourself, you'll no longer be restricted by the rule." Eye Devil stopped for a second and continued, "You can also find a way to hide. If the Nightmare Realm can't find you, you'll be fine. However, this is just the first step."

"After that, you need to make sure that your life energy is not drained completely by your own bloodline power. The easiest way is to seal yourself, become a guardian of a different realm, or collect souls. The best way is to become a strong being that's at a whole different level." It seemed like Eye Devil had a big goal. "Become a strong individual like the ones you heard about in the legends so you can fight the realm power without any problem, like Ancestor Sella of Chaos Realm. Ancestor Sella was the Water Ancestor, it provided water to five different realms after it left the Nightmare Realm. Ancestor Sella represented the purest water source."

"Ancestor Sella, is it at the same level as Light Ancestor?" Angele wondered.

"Yeah, you know what you need to do now." Eye Devil explained everything and stared at Angele.

Angele calmed down. "Why don't we just give up the bloodline power?"

"We can't. Sealed forms are considered as part of the Nightmare Realm. It's like your body; you don't want to cut your own limbs off, right? The Nightmare Realm won't let you give up the bloodline power," Eye Devil explained.

"Understood… I'll validate that by myself."

"You have the scorpion woman's bloodline and you should be able to travel through the realms. Maybe you'll become the third sealed form that escapes the Nightmare Realm. I would suggest that you check out a realm that is at the same level as the Chaos Realm." Eye Devil closed the eye and stopped talking.

Angele narrowed his eyes. "So, it's possible to escape the Nightmare Realm. Can you tell me their names and experiences?"

Raising his hand, some red light shined upon his palm and turned into a red bead.

"Thanks." Angele turned around and disappeared into a ball of dark flames.

Eye Devil opened her eye again after Angele left.

"He might be our hope… The last one who escaped also had the bloodline of scorpion woman…"

　　***************************

Angele checked the wooden house after leaving Doomsday Eye Tower and the woman in black already left. She left a letter and said that she had somewhere she wanted to visit.

He was not concerned, the woman could barely do anything for him after he became Lord of Terror.

Angele organized the house and received a message from Eye Devil's service. The servant reported that they found people at Angele's old place so Angele headed to his home right away.

It took him five days to get to the mansion by the river.

The white walls and the fences were covered with green vines. There were many dried yellow leaves on the plated path. The rusty gate was half-open and Angele could see the footprints on the ground.

'Maybe Frey and Freia are back.' Warmth filled up Angele's mind. He spent years with them and he already considered them his own children.

He recalled the day Frey left the mansion and the dedication in his eyes. He still remembered Freia's cute face.

Angele stopped thinking and slowly walked into the rusty gate.

*Crank*

The gate made some noise as it was pushed open.

Some birds flew away after hearing the noise. The white, black, and red birds left the mansion and quickly disappeared into the sky.

Chapter 559: Reunion (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Angele checked the footprints and noticed that there were more than one people here.

'Many people entered and left the mansion.' Angele confirmed his assumption.

Suddenly, the door of the main building was slowly opened—a group of human beings wearing tight white suits appeared. Their leaders were a man and a woman, they were both around 35 years old.

The man and the woman looked surprised after they noticed Angele's presence.

"Green… Green?!" the middle-aged woman shouted in a shaky tone as she stared at Angele's face.

Angele's sight fell upon the woman's face and he realized that the woman looked familiar, although there were scars on her face.

"Freia and Frey?" he wondered.

"Green! It's really you!" Freia rushed into Angele's arms.

Angele opened his arms and hugged them. They were much taller than he remembered. He recalled the day Sando left the two children to him; they had already grown up.

Freia's was trembling in Angele's arms. Angele rubbed her head as a smile appeared on his face.

"Alright, come on, you're not a kid anymore, stop crying."

"I thought we would never see you again…" Freia said in a shaky tone.

Frey had two swords on his belt and there was a crystal band on his head. The man had some mustache, he slowly walked to Angele and looked at Angele respectfully.

Angele patted Freia's back. "Alright, let's enter the building first."

"It looks like you're doing well. Are you a leader now?"

Frey nodded politely. "Yes, I'm a judge in Colin's Church of Hunter now."

Frey always knew what he wanted to do and he was talking like a leader. He did not waste any time on saying meaningless words.

The rest of them remained silent but they all looked like experienced warriors that were good at ambushes. People like them were perfect for random encounters.

Most of them were young and their gender varied, however, it seemed like they were wondering who Angele was.

Angele entered the building with others but he was speechless after he saw what happened.

The decorations in the living room were removed and there was a white platform in the center. On the platform, there was a tombstone.

'Rest in peace, Green.' The sentence was engraved onto the surface of the tombstone.

Angele looked at Frey and Freia after seeing the tombstone.

"Green, we tried our best to find you, but… So we thought that you already passed away…" Freia quickly explained.

"Green, we've visited your mansion many times over the years, however, we never found you," Frey explained; his voice was a bit hoarse, and it seemed like there was a problem with his throat.

An armored woman on the side exchanged eye contact with other team members and left the building. The other members quickly left as well, they wanted to create the space for Angele, Frey, and Freia.

They stood in front of the tombstone. Angele asked them about their experiences.

Freia and Frey became famous in the territories of the human beings but almost died during the small-scale wars that were going on. Frey became a representative of the young generation in the church and later the judge of the church after some political wars. With the help of Frey, Freia successfully survived the wars and became the commander of the church's elite team.

Angele told them a fake story, he said that he was just exploring the realm and described the scene of Eye Devil's plain.

Angele was smiling while speaking. Freia could feel the warmth climbing up her heart just by looking at Angele's face. She knew everything would be fine if Angele was with them. However, she wondered why Angele's appearance never changed. 20 years had passed but he did not age at all.

Freia made sure that the other team members left and asked, "Green, it has been years but you still look the same. It almost feels like that time stopped for you…"

"A drug I took would keep me young and my life expectancy is longer than average because my body is slightly different," Angele explained. "I think you should remove that since I'm still alive."

Frey and Freia chuckled. Although Frey was a judge and Freia was a commander, they acted like children when they were around Angele. Angele was the one who took care of them when they were young, after all—he was like their father.

Frey quickly grabbed the tombstone and put it down.

"Have you created your own families?" Angele asked a random question, however, Frey lowered his head after hearing the word and Freia remained silent.

"Alright, I won't force you to answer my question. You must have your reasons. I think you're not here just to visit my grave." Angele pointed at the tombstone and laughed.

Frey hesitated for a second but he still decided to tell the truth. "The biggest hidden base of the human beings was detected and we need to eliminate the monsters that are threats so the relocation operation will succeed. We passed by this area so we decided to visit the mansion."

"Monsters?" Angele was a bit surprised. "There shouldn't be any monster in this area. What exactly do you do in the church? Tell me."

Frey nodded and explained his duty in the church, he also told Angele about the basic system of the church.

Time passed. Angele only asked several questions. Frey was doing the talking most of the time and he told Angele how hard it was for the human beings to survive.

"The church is in charge of our people's safety. We need to find safe places to build farms or shelters. However, there were traitors who became servants of the lords; our work is to find and hunt them down."

*BAM*

Before he finished these words, something made a loud noise outside and the whole building started shaking. The dust fell from the ceiling.

"It's Viktor! Retreat! Everyone!" A young man's voice came from outside.

"Damn, how did it catch up?!"

"Stay in your formation and prepare the hunter's blade!"

Noises made by metal weapons and exploding bombs followed after the voice.

Frey and Freia's expressions turned serious, they charged out of the door right away.

The hunters were attacking an enormous white caterpillar. The caterpillar was chubby but strong.

The hunters were holding dark scimitars in hands. A large piece of flesh would be cut off the caterpillar's body every time it was hit by the scimitars.

"I didn't expect Viktor to be so fast. Retreat, everyone, retreat now!" Frey drew his swords and charged forward. His body turned into two shadows and he quickly struck the caterpillar on both sides of its head.

*CHI CHI*

Two large wounds appeared on the caterpillar's body and white blood spurted out of them. The caterpillar was screaming in pain as it struggled.

*BAM*

The caterpillar exploded and the white blood splashed everywhere.

Ten more caterpillars appeared in the forest, moving toward the humans at full speed. There was a caterpillar that was more than ten meters tall behind the smaller caterpillars and it was also moving toward the human beings slowly.

There was an upper body of a man on top of the largest caterpillar's head. The man's body was connected to the caterpillar's body.

The man was bald and naked. The color of his skin looked identical to the color of the caterpillar's body.

"Insects… We finally found you…" the man spoke. His voice sounded like the noise made by the caterpillars.

Frey took two steps back; he looked anxious. He exchanged eye contact with Freia and she quickly sent a signal to the team using a hand gesture. The whole team started moving away from the caterpillars slowly.

"King of Viktor… I thought you would only send your servants…" Frey looked to the right before finishing the sentence.

A monster with the head of a snake and the body of a human being slowly stepped out of the forest.

"Snake Shadow Demon…" Frey's expression changed. "You're fast."

"I've been following you for six days. I'm going to capture you all, ha. It's hard to meet the judge of the church." The snake man sneered.

"Step back, arrogant bastards!" someone behind Frey spoke in a deep tone.

Angele stepped forward and his eyes were covered with a red glow.

"Which lord are you working for?"

"How dare you talk to me like that…"

The snake man's sight fell upon Angele.

"Green!" Frey stepped forward and stood in front of Angele. "I'll take care of this, don't worry!"

"It's fine." Angele smiled.

*CHI*

Raising his hand, Angele released some black smoke toward the snake man and the caterpillar man.

The black smoke turned into a snake and hit the invisible barrier in front of the snake man's body before he realized what just happened.

*CRACK*

The barrier broke into pieces.

*ROAR*

A shadow of a monster appeared behind the snake man. The monster had the head of a snake and the body of a bird.

"I'm the Lord of Dire and my name is Unora, who are—"

*BAM*

The black smoke snake turned into a large hand and crushed the shadow, penetrating the snake man's body.

The shadow turned into black smoke along with the snake man before it could finish the sentence.

"I've informed the lords that this is a restricted area… I have the right to kill the creatures that invade my property…" Angele lowered his hand and looked at the caterpillar man.

Chapter 560: Time Flies (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

The caterpillar man was scared and quickly took several steps back. He turned around and started escaping without saying a word.

The man's body hit the tree on the roadside hard and he was hit by some black smoke after running for a while.

It looked like the black smoke was ignited—the caterpillar's body was covered with dark flames. Several seconds later, the caterpillar's body started shrinking like a balloon that was hit by a needle. His body turned into a ball of black smoke and quickly absorbed by Angele's body.

Angele released some more dark smoke and took care of the other caterpillars. He then turned around and checked the situation.

Frey was staring at Angele anxiously, his muscles were tightened and it seemed like hew as ready to fight.

"Who are you?! Are you really the Green we know?"

Angele's power surprised him, he thought Angele was lying to them.

Freia and the other team members also looked at Angele after hearing Frey's word.

"Yeah, I'm the Green you know." Angele sighed slightly. "I did lie to you about the drug that could keep me young, however, you should've wondered why the mansion was never attacked when I was here."

He turned to Freia and stared at her. "Girl, the sunflower never blossomed, right?"

Freia hesitated, she looked at Frey with confusion in her eyes, but her sight quickly returned to Angele, and it seemed like she was wondering what she should do.

Frey remained silent for a while before opening his mouth again.

"Can you show us the strange golden device you used a lot when we were young?"

Angele chuckled, he took out the Light of Thorn from the mirror and activated it using his mentality wave.

*CHI CHI CHI*

Rays of golden light landed on the ground, opening several burnt holes that were smoking.

"He's the real Green, only the real Green can fully activate this thing!" Freia quickly confirmed Angele's identity. "Also, there's no point for him to lie with such strong power."

Frey slowly loosened his expression. "Sorry, Green, too many things happened recently…"

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

"I underestimated your power, I think. You survived in this realm for so long and I don't see any wounds on your body… It's nearly impossible for a normal hunter to do something like that…"

The other team members slowly loosened their expressions as well after hearing the word.

Angele walked to Frey and patted his shoulders, he could understand why Frey questioned him like that—it meant that Frey had been in similar situations before. They had similar height, however, Angele looked a bit strange since he looked younger than the middle-aged man. Angele was much older than Frey, but it looked like a young man was patting a middle-aged man's shoulders.

"Alright, leave this place now. You don't need to worry about me anymore." Angele smiled.

"Aren't you leaving with us?" Freia sounded a bit anxious after she realized that Angele would not join the team.

"Sorry, I can't go with you, but you can make this mansion your shelter. I'll know when you're here and I'll come back for you," Angele responded.

Frey wanted to say something but he did not. Frey raised his right hand and waved.

"Let's go!"

Suddenly, a female member stepped forward and spoke loudly, "Sir! I have something to say!"

"Don't! We need to leave now!" Frey stopped her as he knew what she was going to say.

The female member had short green hair, she was about 15 years old but she looked like an experienced soldier. Although her body trembled after she was yelled at, she still did not move an inch.

Frey decided to give her order again but Angele stopped him.

"What do you want to say?" He looked at the girl curiously.

The girl with green hair bowed to Angele slightly.

"I know it's wrong to interrupt your conversation but I have a question I must ask. With such strong power, why don't you contribute to the human organization? You're a human being too, right?" The girl chose her words carefully but she was still questioning Angele's decision.

"Great power comes with great responsibility! As a relative of our judge and commander, you should join us and fight for our future!" the girl with green hair kept asking.

Angele smiled and shook his head. "I apologize that I can't help you."

"Why?!" The girl looked surprised as she stared at Angele's face. "Do you understand that if a strong being like you can help the human beings, we will have a much higher chance to survive?"

"I understand but I still can't help you." The gentle smile was still on Angele's face. "There are too many things to explain if I have to convince you so I'll keep it short. Frey and Freia are the only two human beings I care about in this realm. It won't really make me sad if all other human beings die," he responded in a cold tone.

"You!" The girl was enraged, she stepped forward while breathing heavily but another female member behind her quickly stopped her.

It seemed like Angele's word reminded Frey and Freia of something.

"I understand." Frey stepped back and bowed to Angele. "We'll leave now, Green." He was not angry at all. Frey patted the girl's shoulder and the girl returned to the team, however, she was still sad about what just happened.

Freia kissed Angele's left cheek and said, "Goodbye, Green."

"Goodbye." Angele rubbed Freia's cheeks just like what he did when Freia was young.

Frey and Freia knew what Angele was trying to tell them. They quickly disappeared into the forest with the team.

Angele just stood there without saying anything else.

He wanted the local human beings to understand that he could not protect them forever. Also, if Angele decided to join a low-level conflict like this, the lords might become his enemy since the low-level creatures usually worked for certain lords.

What they did in the wizard world already made the lords from the north their enemy. The fight between lords would greatly impact the lives of the low-level beings. It would be a disaster for the human beings if they were caught in the battle.

If Angele did not inform the lords from the south about Frey and Freia, they would not even make it to the mansion, and it would be nearly impossible for them to survive in the south.

The mansion was Angele's territory so he could help them defeat the caterpillars and the Dire Lord would be fine with that.

Also, the human beings in the Nightmare Realm were not related to Angele, he offered the help because Frey and Freia were in the team.

He made sure that the team left and looked at the main building with white walls.

"The situation is still the same. I want to meet you again, but…" Angele muttered and disappeared into red flames slowly.

　　************************

Red light flashed and the scene became clear again.

Angele shook his head and checked the living room. It was quiet and clean.

He could not detect any movement in the house. The orange light from the setting sun landed on the floor and illuminated the whole living room.

The air smelt like burnt toast.

"Xinrui?" Angele shouted and his voice was slightly buffed by his mentality wave.

No one responded.

Angele's brow furrowed, he was in the center of the living room and he decided to check the second floor.

*Ka-ta Ka-ta*

He stepped on the staircase and he could see the edge of a white dress by the corner on the second floor.

"Xinrui?" he shouted again.

The white dress moved back and it was quickly blocked by the wall.

Angele had a bad feeling about this. He quickly walked to the second floor and turned left, heading to the reading room.

He stepped on the wooden floor; the noise echoed in the house.

The door of the reading room was half open, Angele pushed the door and entered the room.

"Ah!"

He heard someone screaming and it sounded like a woman that was groaning.

Angele was surprised by the voice for a second.

The voice quickly disappeared. Angele glanced around but he did not find anyone in the room.

There was a black desk, a black chair, two red wooden bookshelves, and a tall candle stand. The painting was on the left and it was still covered by the blanket.

Angele's expression turned serious. 'The voice wasn't an illusion, it must be the playback of someone's voice.' The voice sounded like Xinrui, the woman he summoned.

Angele already tested that his illusions spells did nothing to Xinrui and he doubted that someone else's illusion spells would work on her.

He left the reading room and checked other rooms on the second floor but he did not find anything. He then walked down the stairs and started checking the rooms on the first floor.

All other rooms seemed fine except the storage room.

The storage room looked normal but Angele could smell the stink as he stepped into it.

The storage room was small and dark. Many wooden planks were pinned on the door from inside and bloody handprints were left on the wooden planks, there were also some bloodstains on the floor.

Closing his eyes, Angele released some gentle red light.

*CHI*

Some blue smoke slowly appeared in the storage room and he could hear a woman screaming from the smoke.

"It's Xinrui, she's dead…" Angele pursed his lips. "It means the painting is not using illusion attacks and its attacks can deal actual damage."

Angele wanted to find Xinrui's soul by tracking the remaining of her soul, however, the remaining of her soul was the only thing he found.

He checked the blue smoke carefully and found some new information.

"I can track the path of her remaining soul to find the truth…"

After talking to Eye Devil regarding the disadvantages of the sealed forms, he noticed that maybe it was his bloodline that made the decision to keep this painting. If he could reach a whole different level, he would be freed from the realm's curse. He would not keep such a dangerous item in his house if he was the one who made the decision.

Angele left the storage room following the path of Xinrui's soul. He quickly reached his bedroom and noticed that the bronze handle was destroyed and the white door was also covered with bloody handprints. He did not see any of those before summoning the soul.

He remained quiet as he checked the handprints. After checking everything, he followed after the smoke again.

They stood in front of a large vase at the corner of the living room.

There were some green plants, white and yellow flowers in the vase. The flowers were beautiful and vibrant.

The blue smoke moved to the other side of the vase through the gaps among the leaves.

Angele pushed the leaves away and his pupils retracted after seeing the thing behind the base.

On the white wall behind the vase, he found a painting. There was a woman on the wall, staring at Angele with a smile on her face.

The woman was Xinrui, who probably suffered before her death.

She was wearing the jeans and the t-shirt. Her outfit was clean and organized.

"How's that even possible…" Angele muttered. He reached to the painting but his sight blurred for a second.

The painting quickly disappeared and the only thing left was the white wall. It was almost like that he was seeing illusions.

'I'm sure it was not an illusion.' Angele was certain. 'The ability is nothing like an energy attack… Only an individual with power that's greater than my true form can accomplish something like this… If I can analyze this ability…'

He realized that the painting might have an answer to his problem.

Angele put his hands on the wall; the wall was cold but his heart was filled up with warmth.

Chapter 561: Time Flies (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Angele spent most of his time studying the painting after that. He tried many different methods when experimenting and it would take him at least half a day every time he decided to do something different.

The mining rune circle was successfully developed and he kept refining the iron ores he collected, turning them into refined iron ingots. He just needed to collect the ingots once every couple of weeks.

60 000 tons of metal weapons were not a big problem for him, he could easily get loads of iron ore from the mine. Although he needed to refine the iron ore, it would only take him several years to finish everything, and the six-arm snake race could craft the weapons by themselves.

However, he was having trouble activating the dimension locator, it seemed like he had to wait for the next month of the tide to come so he could contact the six-arm snake race using the power of the tide.

Studying the painting, collecting the ingots, checking the dimension locator, and spending time with Vivian, those were the main things that Angele needed to do.

Vivian was living like a mortal in the town. She developed several hobbies, and gardening was one of them. She almost turned the empty ground around her house into a colorful garden.

She would visit the merchants that visited the town from time to time with Angele and go collect flower seeds in the hills. She also spent time with other local women. Vivian enjoyed the tea time and reading time.

There were barely any energy particles in the air so the wizards would have trouble collecting them after casting spells, so they only cast spells when necessary. Most of the wizards were living like mortals in the town—Angele could still cast spells due to his bloodline power, however, the story was different for other wizards of the Elemental Hand.

Fir ended up refusing to marry Angele and Vivian found him several other girls, however, nothing worked out. The mortals could barely breathe in front of Angele because of the weak mentality wave he was releasing. Xinrui was the only one that had no problem with his illusion spells and mentality wave.

Vivian gave up because of that, she thought that Angele had a long life expectancy and he could take his time.

Time flew, ten years passed in the blink of an eye.

Some of the wizards moved out of the town to stay away from the mortals, they thought that the mortals would find that the wizards were different sooner or later.

The First Elder and the Second Elder also moved to two different towns that were far from here.

Angele and Vivian were still living in the same town. They stayed in the shelters the wizards built for several years and changed their appearance slightly so the residents of the town thought they were children of Angele and Vivian.

The life was nice and peaceful. Angele was still studying the painting and the dimension locator while waiting for the next month of the tide to come.

However, nothing happened in the next 30 years.

100 years had passed when they returned to the town for the third time as the relatives of Fenrir Family.

Angele's thoughts and mind changed slightly after living in a peaceful environment for so long. He learned a lot after all the studies he did and reassessed all the power he had.

He noticed that wizards and strong individuals with bloodline power shared one similarity. They would all reach a whole different level after they broke their power limitation.

Angele named the power limitation as Ancestor's Limitation and the level above Ancestor's Limitation as Siva State. In the Chaos language, "Siva" meant "Eternal".

Siva State represented the extreme power—after reaching Siva State, it would be nearly impossible for him to be defeated and he would be able to affect the dimensional movement. Angele's refined true form was very close to the power limitation, which meant that he was one step away from Siva State.

However, he needed the support of Nightmare Realm's power to maximize the power of his refined true form. The other lords were all at the similar level, the only difference was how close they were to Siva State.

After reaching Siva State, it was no longer about utilizing the rules of the realm. He would become the source of pure power—just like Ancestor Sella, who provided water to numerous realms.

Siva State could not be accurately defined and understood since it was a mysterious power level that was never mentioned. Siva State itself was just a concept so Angele barely learned anything about it after analyzing the information he collected for over one hundred years.

Siva State was not just about power and energy.

However, Angele was getting closer to finding out the secret of the painting; also, the month of tide finally came again…

　　********************

*CHI*

The orange light from the candle appeared in the reading room.

Angele put down the flint stone, walked to the wooden window, and pushed it open.

It was night and it was dark outside. The wind that blew through the window was cold.

*Hoot*

He could hear the owls making noise in the forest and there were several glowing flowers on the ground.

There was a black mustache on Angele's face and his body was slightly stronger than before. He was wearing a silk shirt with long leather pants and boots. He looked a bit like his father in this outfit.

Angele inhaled deeply, the air was wet but refreshing and it made him felt much better.

He pulled out the chair and sat down by the table. There were test tubes, metal beakers, and some other lab equipment on it. There was also a rectangular box with a silver scorpion engraved on it.

Angele pressed the lid of the box slightly.

*PA*

With the noise, the lid opened by itself. The box was filled up with broken pieces of ice; there was white smoke rising into the air.

In the center of the broken ice, there was a red ball with the size of a finger nail.

Angele grabbed the ball and closed the lid. He took out a metal plate and put the red ball on it.

The red ball melted as it landed on the plate, revealing the dark dust inside.

Angele's expression turned serious. He released some black smoke using his mouth which quickly surrounded the dark dust.

"100 years passed… I checked the dust that was from different parts of the painting but there's one thing that I still don't understand…" He sighed.

"The barrier from the six-arm race can only help me temporarily, I need to advance to the next level so I can solve the problem completely. I hope that the study is worth my efforts…"

The month of the tide was coming and he could finally solve the problem temporarily. Angele was excited since he had been battling the realm power for over 100 years.

Angele calmed down as blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes. His red pupils retracted slightly as he stared at the dust on the plate.

*CHI*

His sight blurred for a second.

'Modifying the magnification…' Zero's voice echoed in his ears.

'Magnifying… 246 310 000x magnification…'

Black, white, and blue dots flashed in front of his eyes. It felt like there the light dots were flying by Angele and he could barely see anything.

Finally, the magnification stopped after about ten seconds.

A platform with countless diamond-shaped substances appeared in his sight; there were so many of them that they looked like a sea of diamonds.

Angele quickly found the diamond he observed the last time and started checking the diamond behind it.

'Magnify it and scan for unknown movement.'

'Magnifying…'

Angele's sight blurred as the diamond was being magnified. The surface of the diamond was also made of countless small diamonds.

'No unknown movement detected…'

Angele was not depressed at all, he just switched to the next one.

Time passed.

Finally, Zero said something different when he checked the 3005th diamond.

'Unknown movement detected…'

Angele was going to switch to the next diamond but his expression froze after hearing those words. It was the first time he heard a different response from the biochip after all those years.

He tested all other methods but it seemed like only the basic observing method worked.

'Was it a false warning?' He quickly stopped what he was about to do.

'Unknown movement detected… Keep magnifying?' Zero questioned again.

'Yes, magnify it now!' Angele gave the order before Zero finished its words.

The diamond was being magnified again.

One side of the diamond moved closer and closer. He could see that there were countless black diamonds on the surface just like other ones. One of the diamonds on the surface was magnified again.

The process repeated numerous times.

It felt like that process could be repeated forever, the only things he could see were seas of black diamonds.

Finally, Zero reported back again when Angele was about to get impatient.

*DING*

'Maximum limit reached…'

Angele had no time to listen to Zero's word.

He could not believe what he just saw. He was so surprised that he had to hold his breath. Angele wondered if he was seeing illusions.

The magnification was completed.

The surface of the black diamond was no longer a sea of diamonds, it was nice and smooth.

It almost looked like the surface of a marble tile.

Also, there was a hole in the center of the surface.

The shape of the hole was irregular and it looked like an entrance to an unknown realm.

He could even feel the chill that was coming out of the hole.

Also, Angele found several pale fingers by the edge of the hole.

It seemed like the owner of the fingers noticed Angele's sight and the fingers quickly disappeared into the endless abyss.

Angele recognized the fingers immediately, it was the from the arm that tried to drag him into an unknown realm.

'Does it mean that this is the secret of the painting? It's an entrance to an unknown realm?'

Chapter 562: The Tide (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Angele looked at the black hole and asked, "Zero, can you move a bit closer?"

Zero remained silent, the only thing he could hear was some static. It felt like that the noise was from a TV with no signal.

Several minutes later, Zero finally reported back.

'Unknown interruption detected… Blocking…'

Angele looked at the black hole and controlled the magnifier manually, he slowly moved away from the hole.

The hole was getting smaller and smaller in Angele's sight and quickly disappeared into the sea of diamonds.

'Biochip recovered, system recovered, debug completed.'

Angele closed his eyes and opened them again; everything returned to normal in his sight. The dust was lying on the plate quietly and the flame of the candle was dancing in the air. His shadow was also waving under the dim light.

"Damn…"

Angele took a deep breath and stood up. He carefully sealed the plate and returned it into the black box to keep it cold.

"Finally, something new…" Angele stood in front of the window and the chilling wind was blowing over his face. He was happy that he finally found a clue.

*Crank*

Suddenly, the door behind him opened slowly, revealing the dark hallway. It felt like that the door was opened by a living being since the wind was not strong enough to do that.

A woman in a white dress slowly passed by and disappeared into the darkness.

Angele turned his head around and looked into the hallway.

"Again?" He had already got used to the strange scene over the years.

He stored the painting in the mirror when living with Vivian so the woman would not appear. He would observe the strange scene carefully when Vivian was not around.

*DOO*

The noise coming from outside sounded like children yelling. The pitch of the noise was changing to high from low and it just kept going.

"Doodoo bird's voice… The sun is about to rise…" Angele was not concerned about the door. He turned his head back and looked at the sky.

"It's time to visit Vivian."

He put the box back into the mirror, turned around, and walked to the door. He also took down the black cotton coat from the hanger and put it on.

The coat almost looked like a large cloak and there was some white fur around the neck. He locked the door and put on a pair of black leather gloves.

*BAM*

The candle was extinguished as the door closed.

As Angele was walking in the dark hallway, the wooden floor made some strange noise. The wooden floor was still holding up after all those years.

*Ka-ta Ka-ta*

He walked down the stairs; the noise was extremely loud in the quiet house.

Angele tightened his coat and walked to the door on the first door. He carefully pushed it open.

*BAM*

The broken wooden door fell to the ground.

Angele was a bit surprised. "Again?"

Shaking his head, Angele stepped out of the house. He was not concerned about the damaged door.

He entered the forest and quickly disappeared into the darkness.

　　************************

"Miss Vivian, have you prepared your flowers?"

In the town, a young man with a cart was shouting at a two-level house with red walls loudly.

The sun was still rising and the doodoo birds were still making noises. There were several chubby women walking on the street with baskets in their hands. They broke the silence of the early morning.

Behind a fence, a young woman with clean skin was carefully cutting the fresh flowers in the garden.

The woman was wearing a white dress; the dress had a reflective coating, its texture was similar to silk. Her long black hair was tied up but there was still some of it trailing over her shoulders.

Under the bright morning sunlight, the woman's large breasts and slim waist were eye-catching. Her legs were also reflecting the sunlight and they looked like they were made of white jade.

The woman was Vivian and she had been living in the town for over 100 years. She dyed her hair black and looked just like a local woman. Also, the expression on her face was no longer cold; maybe the garden work changed her.

Vivian straightened her back after hearing the voice, she put down the red roses in a small cart on the side.

"Almost done. Ram, you're too early. Do you want some breakfast? I have pancakes here."

Vivian pushed the cart to the iron gate, she opened the gate and stepped out from behind the fence.

The young man with a cart was wearing gray linen outfit and had short brown hair. He blushed and lowered his head after hearing Vivian talking to him.

"Miss Vivian, your flowers are so good that I won't be able to get them if I'm late…" Ram responded; he sounded shy.

Vivian quickly pushed the flower cart to Ram, who helped her push the flower cart onto his cart. Ram then took out a small piece of paper and stuck it on the flower cart. The paper was just a label.

They wiped the dust off their hands quickly.

"Alright, Miss Vivian, I need to collect flowers from some other families." Ram rubbed his hands, it seemed like he was cold.

"Take this." Vivian took out a yellow paper bag and gave it to Ram. Ram could smell the fragrance of the warm pancakes.

Ram wanted to give the bag back but his stomach made some noise right after he smelled the pancakes.

Ram lowered his head and said, "Thank you…"

"Alright, go ahead, young man." Vivian rubbed Ram's cheek and smiled.

Ram nodded, he turned around and walked to the cart. He suddenly turned around after he realized he still had something to say, however, he was still too shy to look at Vivian's face and just looked at Vivian's boots.

"One more thing, Miss Vivian, do you know that there's a ghost house at the east of the town?"

"A ghost house? You mean the old wooden house on the hill?" Vivian hesitated for a second and realized what Ram was talking about.

"Yeah, I know. What happened?" She looked at Ram.

Ram lowered his voice. "Don't go near there. I heard that there was a strange person living in the house. He walks like a ghost and wears a black coat all day. That man might be a wizard…"

"Huh? A wizard? That's impossible. I heard that the empire had already eliminated all the wizards." Vivian chuckled.

"I don't know the details but just don't go near there. My grandpa told me that the people who entered that wooden house all died or disappeared," Ram continued. "Alright, I need to go collect the flowers. I'll talk to you later!"

"Sure." Vivian nodded. "Thank you for the information."

"My pleasure." Ram bowed to Vivian slightly, it felt like that he was trying to show the respect like a knight but he did it in the wrong way and it was quite amusing.

"Go!" Ram shouted and the bull in front of the art started moving. They slowly disappeared into the morning mist.

Vivian stood by the gate and waited until the cart disappeared, then looked at the shadow on the left.

A tall man slowly stepped out of the corner. He was wearing a black hat, and although Vivian could see the man's mustache, his face was barely visible due to the mist.

The man took off the hat. It was Angele; he was smiling.

"Do you need help?"

"Of course." Vivian smiled and raised her hands.

"Alright, just give me what I needed."

Angele took out a purple potion from the pouch on his belt and threw it to Vivian.

"This will be good for a month. You can use it on any flowers in the garden."

Vivian caught the potion and checked it carefully.

"Great, it seems like you found some good materials this time. The quality of this potion is great."

"Yeah. Alright, I need to go and open my shop. I'll see you at noon." Angele waved his hands and disappeared into the shadow.

"See you at noon." Vivian shook the potion bottle several times and returned to the garden.

Angele walked on the street slowly and the white steam coming out of his mouth merged into the thin mist. He found several milk delivery guys running around on the roadside.

He walked passed two streets and reached the south side of the town. There was yellow light coming out of the old buildings that varied in height.

On the twisted street that was covered with mud, there was a vendor offering milk tea. The vendor was trying to get people's attention.

"Famous Duban milk team! Only five bronze coins per cup!"

The vendor's voice was a bit hoarse but it was still quite loud on the street.

Angele purchased a cup of milk tea and took a sip from the cup that was made of the tree leaves. The milk team was creamy and fragrant. He could also taste the apple juice in it.

He walked to the end of the street and stopped by a small shop.

On the right side of the shop, there was a small river, and there was a grocery shop on the left. The door of the shop was covered with gray wooden planks.

Angele finished the milk team and dropped the leaf cup. He then quickly moved the wooden planks to the side.

There were not many objects inside the shop.

A red wooden counter, an empty showcase with multiple slots that were separated by wooden stripes, and nothing else.

Angele jumped over the counter and pulled a small black wooden bed out of the counter. He flattened the bed and sat down on it. He then took out some strange items from a locker under the bed.

There were square stickers that looked like herbal plasters, glass bottles with yellow dust inside, dried herbs, and some colorful beads or badges. They looked like a bunch of low-quality products.

Chapter 563: The Tide (2)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

Angele lined up the items on the counter and took out a complete set of rusty armor. The silver armor was covered with orange rust, it also came with a broken axe and a dirty crossguard sword.

He rubbed his chin after everything was put down on the counter.

"I think something is missing…"

He thought for a second and took out several poem books from the mirror. He quickly put them on the right end of the counter.

This pawnshop was Angele's only source of income in the town. He purchased the valuable items that others no longer wanted and sold them for a higher price—the price difference would be his earning.

Angele had a long life expectancy and collected many things that he did not need. The pawnshop was a perfect disguise for him.

He lay down on the bed and covered his eyes with a random book after everything was done. He quickly entered the biochip's database and started simulating the controlling of his bloodline power. Angele did not waste any time over the last 100 years, he had already improved the spells using the bloodline power. Only the sealed forms would know if he was using the bloodline power or just casting wizard spells.

One of his recent goals was to maximize the power and the controllability of his spells.

He organized all the damage spells he knew and abandoned the ones that he did not need. Angele ended up with three battle styles that fitted his three talent abilities: Golem, Lion Man, and Light Form.

He had to cast the spells separately before; after turning the spells into battle styles, he could easily switch to the best battle style during the fights.

The battle style system was extremely helpful for Light Form. He needed to control his energy accurately and efficiently when Light Form was activated. Although Angele was still one step away from Siva State, he still wanted to figure out a method that could help him maximize the efficiency.

He covered his eyes with a book because he did not want anyone else to see the blue light from the biochip.

Time passed.

More and more people appeared on the street. There were also carriages and teenagers who were heading to the training ground. Dogs, chicken, and ducks were also just left on the street by the farmers.

The dogs were barking from time to time and the chickens were also making noises.

"Hey, I'm here to do business!" A young boy with freckles on his face stepped into the shop. The boy's eyes were big and his face was handsome, however, there was some dried mucus under his nose. There was also an egg-shaped birthmark on his forehead.

The boy was breathing heavily as he entered the door, it seemed like he ran to the shop from home.

"Hey, Andre! Are you here?" The boy raised his voice since Angele did not respond to him. He quickly tapped the surface of the counter several times.

Angele slowly moved the book away from his face and stood up.

"Tom, you again… What do you want? Marbles or snail shells?"

"I saved a lot of money this time! I want the crossguard sword!" Tom pointed at the sword.

"This is a legendary sword that has served Knight Uris for years. Knight Uris eliminated 18 empire knights on the battlefield during the war and the price for such a rare item is…"

"188 silver coins!" Tom interrupted before Angele finished the word.

"You know it already… Do you really want this sword?" Angele questioned.

Tom nodded several times.

"I, Tom Lori, will become a knight one day! This legendary weapon will be perfect for my journey! It'll bring me the glory!"

Angele's cheek twitched slightly.

"Fine…" He grabbed the crossguard sword and tried to clean the blade using a piece of cloth. He wiped the blade several times and the white cloth quickly turned dark.

Angele felt guilty that he was pretty much taking all the pocket money from the kid. Tom was the only son of Lord Lori, the one who controlled the town.

He grabbed the leather pouch from the kid and checked the number of silver coins. The leather pouch was quite heavy with all the coins in it. He then carefully handed the crossguard sword to Tom.

"Congratulations."

Tom held the crossguard sword like holding a treasure in hand.

"I'll become a strong knight one day…" he muttered. It sounded like he was talking about his dream and cheering himself up.

Tom turned around and headed to the exit with the sword in hand. He suddenly looked back before leaving the shop.

"Andre, Vic said that there was a letter for you so you better go pick it up. Also, my father said that several knights from the church came to the town so you should hide your armor."

Angele nodded and smiled. "Thank you, the letter is probably from Becky. I owe you one."

"How about a gift?" Tom returned to the counter and smiled.

Angele watched Tom grow up. He wondered into Angele's shop when he was around two years old and found many things that attracted him. Tom treated Angele's shop as his treasure trove and found many "legendary" items here. He was almost 13 years old but he still liked those random items.

Angele's smile turned gentle as he thought and he tried to pat Tom's head.

"Don't touch my hair! Akasha did my hair this morning!" Tom blocked Angele's hand.

"Well, take this." Angele thought for a while and grabbed a book with a red cover from the book, throwing it into Tom's arms.

"You're turning 13 soon, dress or battle skirt, you decide."

Tom checked the book, it was a legendary journey of a nameless knight. It seemed like he liked the book a lot.

"Thank you! That's a great gift!" He turned around and rushed out of the shop, it seemed like he was afraid that Angele would take the book back.

Angele chuckled as he watched Tom leave.

Tom was actually a girl and she loved knight stories a lot. Also, Tom was not afraid of Angele. Angele only had several regular customers, Tom was one of them. Young boys would be treated like girls and young girls would be treated like boys, this was a tradition in the town.

The red book Angele gave Tom read like a story but was actually written by Angele. He recorded the battle techniques on the book, his physical skills were stronger than Grand Knights' and he had hundreds of years of experiences. The book would be a treasure to any knight that wanted to reach a higher level.

However, Tom needed to read the book page by page, Angele hid the techniques in the story.

Angele knew what it meant when the knights from the church visited the town.

The church hated the wizards the most and could eliminate all the wizards they encountered. They were not here to play games. They were probably here for Angele and Vivian.

The church treated rumors that were related to the wizards seriously.

Angele lay down again and rested for several hours.

He stood up and organized his coat. Angele wanted to have some lunch but Tom rushed into his shop again.

Tom changed his outfit, she was wearing a tight leather suit and it seemed like she was proud of her breasts even though there was barely anything there.

She was also wearing a pair of brown leather boots and a short gray skirt. Angele could see her slim waist and legs. She was quite attractive for her age.

She looked nothing like the boy Angele met in the morning.

"What do you think, Andre? Am I attractive to you?" Tom turned around, her head was around Angele's chest. "Don't fall in love with me."

She looked excited. "Look at my legs, my skin, my breasts! I'm sexy, right? I've been treated like a boy my whole life and I can finally dress like a girl. Can you give me another gift? Look how cute I am."

Angele was speechless. "Well, Tom, no, I think I should just call your girl name, Fra… I'm not interested in kids, you know."

Fra was surprised, the smile quickly disappeared from her face.

"Ah!" Fra screamed, turned around, and rushed out of the shop, disappearing into the crowd.

Angele laughed and closed the door. He sealed the door using the wooden planks.

He suddenly looked to the center of the town before leaving.

An invisible energy wave was spreading in all angles—the energy wave was so invasive that it was pushing all the energy particles away but there was barely any energy particles in this area.

"The church…" Angele blinked his eyes and thought for a while. He just realized why the density of the energy particles was so low in this area.

　　**********************

In the forest outside the town.

There was a group of people traveling in the thin mist and they were heading to the town at full speed.

They were wearing luxurious silk cloaks and they were riding horses in the shadows.

The noise made by the hooves were deep and loud. Those people covered their faces with their hoods and lowered their bodies on the back of the horses. They were traveling so fast that their cloaks were flying in the air.

The knights in the front slowed down; there was a total of six people in the group. The hooves were still making noises.

"Loria is in front of us and I can feel the holy power of Alice," one of the black cloaks spoke in a deep tone.

"According to the intel, there are two evil wizards hiding in the town, we need to eliminate them. With the help of the knights, it shouldn't be a problem. Also, we should capture them alive so we can find more wizards!" The black cloak had a hoarse voice and he was speaking in a strange tone.

"Understood!" The rest of the team quickly responded. There were males and females in the team. They were all young and strong.

"Let's go! The god is watching us, we shall not let any wizard escape!" The leading knight increased his speed and charged to the town.

The rest of the team followed the knight and quickly disappeared into the mist.

Chapter 564: Ambush (1)

Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu

*Knock Knock*

Angele walked through the garden and knocked on the brown wooden door. The surface of the door was rough and cold.

*Crank*

The door opened. Vivian, who was wearing a white silk dress, checked the surroundings and asked Angele to enter the house.

Angele followed Vivian to the living room. He could hear the fire burning in the fireplace. The flames were dancing and brought warmth to the room.

He took off the black coat and hung it on the hanger.

He loosened the collar and spoke in a low voice, "Did you notice that?"

Vivian nodded and poured some flower tea into the cups on the table. The orange liquid in the cups was nice and warm.

"The church finally came… I wanted to spend the rest of my life here if I could…" She looked a bit depressed as she grabbed the wooden cup. The steam from the tea surrounded her face.

Angele put his hand on the back of Vivian's hand.

"Mother, don't worry, I'm sure you can still live a couple hundred years." He stopped for a second and continued, "I'll take care of the church. The life has been too peaceful for me and I need some exercise. We can still stay in this town if I can get rid of them."

He grabbed Vivian's hand and kissed her forehead. "Trust me…"

A gentle smile appeared on Vivian's face.

"I know you'll do anything for me but I don't want to bother you too much. You're still young, you should go out and explore the colorful world."

The conversation paused here, they were both enjoying the family moment.

They suddenly heard some noises made by the metal, it seemed like some armored knights were passing by.

Angele stood up and walked to the window. He moved the dark curtain to the side and looked out of the window.

A team of knights in silver armors was moving slowly on the plated road. Their horses were also equipped with silver armors and were carrying long silver lances on their backs. The bright sunlight reflected on the sharp tips of the lances.

There were people looking at the armored knights on both sides of the street and the children were no longer running around. The knights were feared and respected by the residents.

The noise made by the hooves slowly faded away as the knights disappeared by the end of the street.

Angele moved the curtain back, turned around, and looked at Vivian.

"The loyal knights… The church has the right to order the knights, we both know they're here for just one obvious reason…"

"We should leave." Vivian stood up and her brow furrowed. "Our power is weakened on this land. I can't even restore my energy particles by absorbing the energy particles in the air. Also, the energy particles in my body are disappearing slowly. If we kill them with our wizard power, the church will send more knights here. They are like bees who are looking for honey."

"I don't have to use my true power." Angele smiled. "Just leave it to me, I'll take care of it by tomorrow. Alright, let's talk about something else. How are the elders doing? And how's Fir?"

"I haven't heard from First Elder and Second Elder for a while… Fir and the other wizards are traveling in different regions. They said that it would take two years for the letters to be delivered in the last letter I received." Vivian took a sip from the cup and sighed.

"First Elder probably expected this when he decided to leave the central continent. The future of the Elemental Hand is in the hands of the wizards who decided not to leave the central continent."

Angele already prepared the chessboard when they were talking. There were black dots and white circles on the chessboard.

"It's still early, why don't we play some chess?" He picked up a white pawn that looked like a horse.

　　*************************

In the center of the town, a large grass ground was surrounded by some white fences. The grass reflected the sunlight and looked like a large emerald.

In the center of the grass ground, there was a gray house with yellow walls. The paint on the walls was old and some of the white bricks under the paint were revealed.

On top of the house, there was a bronze cross; a girl in a leather skirt was lying on the red roof beside the cross.

The golden sunlight shined upon the girl's body and was reflected off her clean skin. Without the birthmark on her forehead, the girl would be even more attractive.

The girl was Fra Loria, she was the one who visited Angele's shop. The girl had her hands on the back of her head and she looked like a lazy cat that was enjoying the sunlight on top of the roof.

"How long do I have to wait?" She yawned.

"I thought the loyal knights and the church's holy knights will be here but I've already waited here for so long…"

The sunlight was getting intense, Fra closed her eyes and had a nap. She suddenly heard some intense noise made by hooves below and quickly woke up. She turned around and slowly moved to the window of the attic.

After the noise, she heard metal objects hitting each other and some intense footsteps from inside the house.

"Alice, the food and the tea are prepared. The rooms and hot water are also ready. Do you want to…?" A high-pitched male voice appeared. It was Fra's father, the Mayor of the town.

The knights jumped off the horses and quickly entered the house. There were more than one knights here as the footsteps were loud and intense.

"Don't worry about it," the knight named Alice responded in a cold tone. His voice was strange, it was hoarse but attractive, and no one would know if it was a man or woman just by his voice.

"Did you check all the residents here? Did you find the people I need?"

"I'm still working on it… Please give me some more time…"

*BAM*

It sounded like the Mayor was hit by a fist.

Fra's heart was racing, she moved closer to the window and looked down.

In the spacious living room, her father, the Mayor of Town Loria, kneeled on the carpet, and there was saliva dripping down his chin. The Mayor covered his stomach with both hands and there was a tall man with gray hair standing in front of him.

The man was wearing a black eyepatch and his face was covered with scars. His right hand was on the handle of his hammer and he was staring at the Mayor.

Suddenly, the man noticed that there were two beautiful women looking at them with their mouth covered by hands—the two women were standing behind the railings on the second floor. They screamed after they noticed that the man was staring at them.

A hint of cruelty flashed in the man's eyes.

"I didn't expect to find such beautiful women in a small town like this… Gray, I think the Mayor is assisting the wizards! There might be female wizards in his place!"

He turned to the knight behind him and ordered, "Draw the circle and show the white flag!"

"Sir." The young knight looked confused. "He's the Mayor of a town that is owned by the country…"

"What are you afraid of? Do as what I said!" the man named Alice spoke in a deep tone.

Three of the knights in the team also looked at the two women, the female knight was just drawing a cross in front of her chest, it seemed like she was used to a situation like this.

"Master! You can't do something like this! I'll show you the results as soon as possible! I just need a bit more time!" Fear was written all over the Mayor's face and he tried to stop Alice by grabbing his leg.

*BAM*

He was kicked in the stomach by Alice. The Mayor rolled twice on the floor as blood spurted out of his mouth.

"I… I didn't assist any wizard!" The Mayor was begging the man, he did not care that there was blood all over his face. "Master, please, don't do this!"

Alice stepped forward and drew his sword.

*CHI*

The crossguard sword went through the Mayor's chest and the Mayor's white outfit was soaked in the blood from the fresh wound.

"Ah!"

People on the second floor screamed and they quickly locked the doors.

A terrifying grin appeared on Alice's face.

"I want one of them, you can have the other. You know what you need to do after everything is done."

He suddenly turned around and waved his hand.

*PA*

A male servant behind the staircase fell to the floor. His head was hit by a silver dagger and he died before he could say anything.

The two knights sneered and left the room.

Fra covered her mouth on the roof, she watched her father die, and there were tears running down her cheeks. Her body was shaking and trembling.

"Ah!"

*BAM BAM*

Men were laughing and women were screaming in the house. Fra also heard something fell to the floor.

Fra knew that she would be in big trouble if she made any noise. This was probably the worst event she had ever witnessed and everything was done by the knights she admired. She was desperate and helpless.

There were several workers and a female guest in the house besides her father and her mother. It was her mother and the female guest who were screaming.

It was no doubt that she had no way to save her family.

The two women finally stopped screaming after a while but their throats were cut open right after. Fra could smell the blood although the window was closed.

"Mother…" she muttered and huddled herself up with her head above her knees.

The female knight searched the house and reported back, "Sir! We found a painting here, I think the Mayor's son is not here."

"Don't worry, we can make his son a wanted man. The church's force is arriving soon, we need to hurry!" Alice responded in a cold tone.