Chapter 2413 Destruction and Provocation <TOC> Chapter 2415 Creature Hidden in the Shadows
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Translator: SumTLMan
Upon discovering the illusion node, the Fire Scale Familiar paused for a second or two, then let out a loud “wow wow” cry, stomping around in frustration.
After sulking for a while, the Fire Scale Familiar began to engage in what seemed like random actions in an attempt to free itself, such as burning the node or crashing around, trying to break out of the illusion. However, all attempts were futile. In the end, it glared at Angel fiercely.
Following another incomprehensible outburst of “wa ya” screams, a few seconds later, it seemed to muster up some courage, clenched the flame spear in its hand, and charged viciously towards Angel.
This reckless behavior was just the beginning. As it approached Angel, it shifted its tactics.
Deceit!
Taking advantage of Angel’s distraction, the familiars stabbed its flame spear into the ground, causing a sky full of sparks to rise, obscuring Angel’s vision like a barrage of flames.
A loud shout came from above, and when Angel looked up, he saw the Fire Scale Familiar leaping high into the air, swinging its spear down towards his head.
With a slight flick, the flame spear in the air was deflected. However, as Angel raised his hand to swipe away, another figure burst through the sky full of sparks, the Fire Scale Familiar swinging its spear towards Angel’s chest.
An overhead slash and a mid-level thrust appeared nearly simultaneously. Angel managed the threat from above but inevitably neglected the middle.
Just as the Fire Scale Familiar was about to succeed, a white energy, forming a tendril-like phantasmal limb, resisted the middle spear and, with its penetrating power, reversed and stabbed into the Fire Scale Familiar’s chest.
However, the phantasmal limb piercing through the chest did not draw any blood. The figure in front and above of Angel merely turned into smoke and vanished.
While the smoke distracted Angel, a sense of threat came from behind.
The Fire Scale Familiar had appeared behind Angel at some unknown time, wickedly swinging its spear towards Angel’s back.
But the back happened to be the easiest place for phantasmal limbs to grow, and a new one quickly formed, blocking the attack from behind.
The Fire Scale Familiar, infuriated, disappeared into the sparks and then, in less than half a second, Angel felt attacks from three Fire Scale Familiars on his head, back, and legs simultaneously.
The eyes of two of the familiars attacking were dull, but the one aiming for the lower body had a sly and lively look.
Without hesitation, Angel sprouted several more phantasmal limbs, two of which dealt with the dull-eyed familiars, and the rest attacked the lower-positioned Fire Scale Familiar.
The upper and middle familiars disappeared into flames upon being attacked, while the lower one, with swift movements, dodged the phantasmal limbs’ attack and, using the rebound force, stabbed towards Angel’s back with even greater speed.
Angel instinctively dodged, avoiding the Fire Scale Familiar’s attack. But at that moment, a flame spear suddenly pierced his eyeball, breaking through his skull!
At this moment, Angel naturally understood. The attack from behind, made by a Fire Scale Familiar composed of flames, was still made of fire, and the so-called lively eyes were fake. The real Fire Scale Familiar was hiding right in front, silently attempting an assassination on him.
Successful in its strike, the Fire Scale Familiar revealed a triumphant smile, leaping and landing not far away.
However, its joy did not last long. Angel, with a flaming spear lodged in his eye socket, slowly turned his head to look at the Fire Scale Familiar, revealing a similarly sinister smile.
It was then the Fire Scale Familiar realized something was wrong!
It paused for less than half a second before immediately realizing it was an illusion!
Without hesitation, it stomped its foot, transforming into a rolling flame that burst into the air, splitting into ten Fire Scale Familiars that scattered in all directions.
The eyes of these Fire Scale Familiars all appeared dull, lacking any liveliness, making it nearly impossible to distinguish the real one at a glance.
Just then, a slightly youthful and unripe voice rang out: “The one running towards us, on the left hand side, that one is real!”
The Fire Scale Familiar that was identified as the real one paused, unable to react to who was speaking or how it had been exposed, when several white, tendril-like phantom limbs burst out from the shadows, binding it tightly.
The flames ceased, and the sparks settled.
It was only then that Angel slowly emerged, standing in front of the Fire Scale Familiar.
The Fire Scale Familiar tried to struggle, but the phantom limbs had it tightly bound, even wrapping around its shriveled head, leaving only its eyes, ears, mouth, and nose exposed.
“It still wanted to attack you, I felt the fire energy gathering in its gaze!”
The voice came from Angel’s shoulder, causing the Fire Scale Familiar to pause and look over, only to see a severed hand with facial features crawling onto Angel’s shoulder.
This strange severed hand, if seen by others, would likely cause a moment of pause as they guessed its nature. However, the Fire Scale Familiar did not freeze; as a fire elemental magical creature, it recognized the identity of the severed hand immediately——it was a fire elemental sprite.
Upon seeing the severed hand, the Fire Scale Familiar understood why its true form was exposed. Fire elemental sprites naturally sense changes in flames.
Distinguishing between a flame avatar and the real body was an easy task for a fire elemental sprite.
“I am Dangros, what’s your name? …Staring at me is pointless, the one binding you is him, and he’s the one you should be dealing with. But, are you really sure that the person standing before you is real and not an illusion?”
During this exchange, Dangros kept a close watch on the Fire Scale Familiar, which always felt there was a strange aura about it, especially when it was dazed and during the earlier battle, this aura was particularly evident.
Facing Dangros’ question, the Fire Scale Familiar was stunned.
The human in front of it appeared lively, with an aura completely consistent with what it sensed, but the illusion it fought with before was indistinguishable, leaving the Fire Scale Familiar still unable to determine whether the being in front of it was real or an illusion.
“Darla, gugu, kuu kill!” A strange sound emanated from the Fire Scale Familiar’s mouth. Although it was unclear what language it was speaking, the familiar’s resentful gaze made it easy to guess that it was likely cursing Angel, the detestable illusionist wizard.
“You can understand Dangros’ words, which means you understand the common tongue.” Angel said, “Shall we talk?”
The Fire Scale Familiar snorted coldly and closed its eyes in a non-cooperative stance.
“It seems you still don’t have the awareness of being a captive.” Angel’s voice fell, and he began to control the phantasmal limb to tighten.
The Fire Scale Familiar’s face was distorted by the strong pressure exerted by the tightening phantasmal limb.
It cried out in pain.
Seeing this, Angel slightly relaxed and prepared to continue questioning. If the Fire Scale Familiar continued to show a non-cooperative attitude, he would have to resort to other methods, such as… nightmare illusions.
But just as Angel was about to speak, Dangros, who was sitting on Angel’s shoulder, suddenly shouted, “I remember now! It has that strange energy we encountered before on it!”
The strange energy from before? Angel understood what Dangros was referring to. When they were searching for the main control node and passed through a corridor, Angel sensed an abnormal energy point there. It was a remnant energy, very odd.
Not only was it mixed, but it also had a weird aura, which Angel had never sensed before.
Moreover, within the mixture, there was a clear presence of spatial energy. Angel, who often used the Gateway of Fantasy, was familiar with spatial energy and could confirm that there was some residual energy from spatial travel.
At the time, Angel speculated whether someone inside the laboratory had used spatial travel, leaving behind some energy. But considering that the magic formation was active throughout, it felt incorrect.
Busy heading to the main control node, Angel did not investigate further and left.
Now that Dangros brought it up again, Angel recalled the event, but he also had doubts because he had not sensed this type of energy on the Fire Scale Familiar.
Perhaps sensing Angel’s confusion, Dangros said, “The flames might have blocked your perception of the energy, and indeed, the energy on it is very subtle. I only sensed slight fluctuations during the battle and when it was distracted.”
“Battle and distraction?”
“Yes, I feel it happens when it is pondering, that there would be these fluctuations. Normally, it’s not noticeable.”
Angel was unsure if Dangros was telling the truth, but he was willing to believe its judgment.
He looked at the Fire Scale Familiar: “You didn’t escape from the Beast Garden? Were you transported here from the outside?”
The Fire Scale Familiar did not answer but instead gave Angel a cunning smile.
Following this, the Fire Scale Familiar suddenly began to swell, but the phantasmal limb bound its body tightly, causing all the expansion force to dissipate into its head.
Its face grew visibly at an alarming rate, as if it were an inflating balloon, quickly expanding by four or five times.
Even as its facial features stretched and deformed, the Fire Scale Familiar’s sinister smile never faded.
Until, with a loud bang——
The head of the Fire Scale Familiar exploded, sending blood, brain matter, and fragments of bone scattering everywhere.
The presence of the Fire Scale Familiar ceased at that moment, indicating its death.
Following its demise, that strange energy fluctuation was finally detected by Angel.
The eerie energy originated from a Misty Shadow that sprouted from the head of the Fire Scale Familiar. It was impossible to see clearly what was inside the misty shadow, but it seemed to flicker with countless points of light, like stars.
“Kikiki, kikiki…” A strange laughter emanated from within the misty shadow, its meaning unknown, but Angel felt challenged once again.
Without hesitation, Angel manipulated the illusion nodes to envelop the misty shadow.
However, the misty shadow had no intention of engaging with Angel, instead, it turned into a semi-void state and dispersed into countless points of light, vanishing without a trace.
“What, what happened? Where did that mist go?” Dangros, sensing through the still lingering sparks around, found that all traces had vanished.
Angel spoke softly, “It has escaped.”
As the creator of the illusion, Angel could clearly sense that the eerie energy point swiftly moved away. Even the illusion couldn’t stop its departure; it was as if the illusion didn’t exist for it. Upon leaving the illusion, it gathered all its energy and disappeared.
“It just ran away like that?” Dangros was incredulous, “Isn’t it supposed to reveal its true form and then turn the tide? Why did it run?”
Angel didn’t bother with Dangros’ expectations, presumably based on some narrative he had seen elsewhere, and instead moved towards the corpse of the Fire Scale Familiar.
As for chasing the fleeing misty shadow, Angel did not pursue, recognizing that its strange form was not material. Otherwise, the illusion would have reacted. Catching a semi-void entity that is not in a material form isn’t something that can be done quickly.
And before catching it, one must first find it.
Finding a semi-void state is even more difficult than confronting it.
It was clearly impossible to find a misty shadow determined to flee in a short time. It would be better to study the Fire Scale Familiar that had been manipulated by that entity first.
Angel crouched down, looking at the corpse of the Fire Scale Familiar, now without a head.
He attempted to find remnants of the misty shadow’s energy within the body of the Fire Scale Familiar. If possible, this could allow him to try and capture the coordinates of the adversary through some means.
However, the interior of the Fire Scale Familiar’s body was exceptionally clean, without a trace of sinister energy remaining.
Though it was a bit regrettable, given the cunning nature of the adversary, this outcome was inevitable.
Angel continued to examine the body of the Fire Scale Familiar and found no other abnormalities. It was Dangros who pointed out that the residual fire energy within the corpse was exceedingly pure.
If the fire energy of the Fire Scale Familiars was this pure, then they wouldn’t be at the bottom of the food chain.
It was certain that this Fire Scale Familiar was an exceptional case.
But whether this exceptionality was innate or acquired through transformation by the misty shadow remained uncertain.
Angel personally believed that the chances of transformation by the misty shadow were higher.
If the misty shadow had traveled through space to the laboratory, then this Fire Scale Familiar must be the one from the Beast Garden. And since Reynolds was quite familiar with the Fire Scale Familiars of the Beast Garden, it definitely wasn’t any special case. Hence, Angel believed it was transformed by the misty shadow.
If it was truly transformed, then judging by the effects of the transformation, this Fire Scale Familiar was quite remarkable.
At least from the previous battle, whether it was the energy level or the cunningness during the fight, this Fire Scale Familiar could be comparable to the top competitors in the Novastar Competition. And the innate strength of the Fire Scale Familiar was probably about the same as Leon’s before he started his training.
In other words, the misty shadow directly transformed a low-level apprentice into a peak apprentice.
This was somewhat incredible.
Was this a unique ability of the misty shadow? Or does it truly excel in biological transformation, energy transformation?
It’s currently impossible to answer, but regardless of which case it might be, Angel harbored doubts in his heart: Why would the misty shadow attach itself to the Fire Scale Familiar?
There should be many magical creatures in the Beast Garden, even powerful sea beasts being bred. Why did it choose to attach itself to one of the lowest level creatures?
Could it be that its possession actually has some sort of limitation?
If there really is a limitation, why would it choose to possess?
Angel whispered softly, “Or is it that, when in a semi-void state, it actually can’t affect the material world?”
Chapter 2413 Destruction and Provocation <TOC> Chapter 2415 Creature Hidden in the Shadows