Warlock Apprentice
chapter-320

Angor temporarily put his concerns aside and asked, "How do I do it?"

…

He proceeded down the path, more assured this time. According to Sunders, the mist-covered area was a peaceful paradise to him as long as he "let his instinct free". Nothing actually harmed him.

The shadows, funny. The strange music, not so bad. Even the misty air felt refreshing after he became determined.

Without his mental burden, he walked a lot faster than before as well. In his view, the entire Midnight Sovereign was a happy city with "clowns" singing and dancing everywhere.

The only problem was that their singing voices were terrible.

But this happiness only existed far away from him. Whenever he approached someone, all the clowns would immediately scatter, putting him back into complete loneliness.

And he didn't intend to chase them again. Sunders said that he simply needed to deal with the root of the problem, and everything else would be solved on its own.

He came into the city through the north gate. In order to reach the "wall entrance" that led to Twilight Well, he had to travel through half of the city. The central main road would be the most convenient. Also, it would take him past the palace, so he decided to visit the palace along his way.

The area around the palace was usually taken by nobles and officials. The manor of Duke Moa was also there.

Angor planned to fulfill his promise by saving the Moas first. He could escort them to the south gate and then return to Twilight Well, which was located not far from the gate.

Without a vehicle, it took him two hours to reach the central palace. And he ran as fast as he could all the way.

The next task was simple enough. The closest and biggest building near the palace gate was Moa Manor.

The manor covered in the mist was similarly dark and quiet. The gate was wide open. He walked inside the structure and quickly heard the strange song again. Several maids in clown suits, as well as another knife-wielding clown, instantly escaped from his sight.

During his long walk, a good number of "clowns" avoided him, either out of fear or some other reason he didn't know about. He was actually glad they did because their twisted movements somewhat disgusted him.

And this was the first time he felt "disgust" since he came here.

Also, Angor got a feeling that the clowns ran away because they knew they appeared disgusting, and they wouldn't show up in front of "Shava". At first, they would still bow to him politely. But now, none of them remained for a single second.

When he came to the Duke Manor, there was completely no living creature within his sight. He checked around for a long time without finding the so-called secret entrance, which meant he had no way to help Hobbiton's father and brother.

He thought about asking Sunders for help. But again, he couldn't control the voice transmission on his end, and he didn't know how to cast one. Besides, he didn't have enough energy to contact Sunders, who was now inside another dimension.

As he struggled through his nonexistent options, he suddenly heard squeaky sound from a room to his right.

He didn't hear any singing voices from there, which meant… someone who wasn't possessed was in that room?

He considered and moved to the door while he told Toby to stay alert. A pair of transparent Hands of Spell appeared in the air and slowly pulled the door open.

Next, he extended his spirit feelers inside and noticed that it was a study. It wasn't "someone" who made the squeaky sound, but a purple floating doll with a really big head.

He knew Lotus placed something like this inside the manor, but he wasn't sure whether he was looking at the right one.

"Lady Lotus?" Angor tried to call out.

The doll floated out of the study while its limbs swayed around in the air.

"Mister Sunders was correct. You aren't affected…" Lydia's voice came from the doll. "Gods. I so want to examine your body."

Some other incomprehensible noises came from the doll. It seemed Lydia was talking to Lady Mirror.

"I didn't find anyone in the manor, Lady Lotus. Can you tell me where Tepikkhu and his son are located at?" Angor waited for the noise to stop before asking politely.

With a squeak, the doll pointed a limb to the study.

"There's a hidden passage behind the bookshelf. Now go."

With that, the doll floated toward the exit of the manor. It seemed like Lydia didn't intend to keep her watch.

And Angor felt relieved by this. He stepped into the dark room and spent some time finding the switch that triggered the bookshelf.

The secret passage was pretty long and dark. He walked for two minutes before reaching the light at the end. There were storage rooms along the path. They were full of daily necessities which were enough to support Domino for half a year if he were to keep hiding down here.

Walking in this underground path made Angor feel as if he returned to the Cave Field again. Except that the secret path was pretty narrow.

He heard people talking. The path ended at a spacious chamber, which had several separated sections behind mirrors. Each section had someone inside. Armored guards, mostly.

A young man who was wearing black fur overcoat sat on a high chair in the middle of the hall as he stared at the ceiling, seemingly in a trance. A servant with sharp and distinctive facial features stayed near him.

Angor's arrival immediately attracted their attention.

In a matter of seconds, the guards in the small sections rushed out and moved around the young man.

"Who are you?" the servant beside the man asked.

Angor only had a loose robe that couldn't conceal weapons well. Combined with his young appearance and sane temperament, the guards didn't make any harsh movement aside from staring at him cautiously.

The "sky-gazing" young man also looked toward Angor when he heard the ruckus.

"Who's Domino?" Angor asked.

"I am," the young man replied. "You are?"

"My name doesn't matter. Lady Lotus requested me to come here and get you out," Angor said. He then turned around before he continued, "You have five minutes to pack your stuff. I'll wait at the entrance of this path."

Domino quickly called out when he saw that Angor was ready to leave. "Are you a wizard, sir? Can… can we leave here at all? There's a disease spreading. Aren't we going to get affected?"

Angor's voice came from the depth of the path. "Since I can get here, I know how to take you away."

Domino called again, and Angor never replied.

Angor already returned to the study outside and took a seat. He felt a bit irritated when he was facing those people. Now the mist spreading into the manor calmed his mind a little.

He already sensed it; normal people bothered him much more. His joyful mood was greatly affected when he talked to them. He would prefer to run into the mad clowns than meeting "healthy" people.

"This is not my true self…" he murmured. He was even more worried now. Something was controlling his emotions. "Shava, Shava…" he sighed and muttered this name. "Who are you, really?"

…

Five minutes later, Angor saw Domino coming out of the secret entrance with his guards following behind him.

It seemed this man was going to rush his chance. They would either get out as a team or die together.

Angor's uneasiness upon seeing them again somewhat disappeared. He admired Domino's determination.

"Are you sure you're taking everyone?" Angor asked. "I can't guarantee to save all of you should anything happens."

"Sir Wizard, as long as Master Domino lives, our lives don't matter," the servant spoke, and all the guards nodded to agree. Angor got a feeling that these people would commit suicide without a second thought, should Domino asked them to.

"The great loyalty of Phantom Servants…" he thought to himself.

"Follow me then. There's one thing you should know. Getting infected isn't completely a bad thing."

He didn't explain the details—that once the parasites were gotten rid of, the victims would actually enjoy enhanced physical properties.

He didn't know whether he could solve everything yet, so he couldn't speak the truth to them.

"Anyone who's fallen ill will die," Domino said as he looked down.

Angor noticed something strange coming from the guards behind. It seemed they intentionally put taller guards in the front to hide something.

He used his spirit feelers and found a body bag being carried by a pair of guards at the end of the line. Also, the bag was moving.

One of the guards said in a small voice, "But how? We just administered a tranquilizer to the duke. He was fine in the chamber, why did he suddenly wake up when we come out?"

"I don't know. If he keeps doing this, the wizard will definitely see us."

And Angor had been looking at the direction all along.

Domino gulped. "Sir Wizard, I—"

Angor simply pushed the guards away and approached the bodybag.

"Sir." The guards looked between the bag and Angor, and they quickly turned pale. However, they didn't let go.

"Open it up," Angor ordered.

When the guards hesitated, Domino quickly joined them. "Sir Wizard, I didn't mean to hide. But that's—"

"Duke Tepikkhu, I know," Angor said as he glanced at the young man. "Get him out. I just need an infected person who can't run away from me so that I can do a little test."