Chapter 2442 Drawn the Clock Closer <TOC> Chapter 2444 The Wait
Translator: SumTLMan
Beyond the dimensions, Angel knew nothing.
He had already set off again, heading towards the central area of the Mist Belt.
After careful thought and weighing the pros and cons, he decided to go see for himself. Because this time, it was not just for locating, but there were other matters to attend to, and other “people” to meet.
With Speedling pushing the gusts, it didn’t take long for Angel to arrive at the area of the reef island.
The place was still calm, even calmer than before. However, this calmness did not bring a sense of peace, but rather made one feel restless and anxious, as if it was the eerie stillness before a storm.
“The air is getting more humid, and the smell is getting worse, I don’t like it, and it’s a bit uncomfortable.”
The speaker was Dangros, who, since Toby had been “sealed” into the bracelet by Angel, had smoothly taken his place, climbing onto Angel’s shoulder.
Having never experienced this before, Dangros was now extremely excited. He treated Angel’s shoulder as a stage, walking back and forth, seemingly trying to breathe in “Lord Toby’s” scent with this method.
Honestly, this scene was somewhat disturbing to witness.
Imagine, a pale severed hand, pacing back and forth on a shoulder, while humming a sharp and discordant song. It was truly a scene of horror and weirdness. If someone were to look over at this moment, their eyes would undoubtedly be drawn to Dangros first.
At first, Angel wanted Dangros to settle down a bit, but then he thought, there were no ordinary people nearby, and he was not using his real appearance, so there was no embarrassment on his part, and he let it be. Besides, Dangros had been performing well recently, providing a lot of help, and Angel was willing to show some fatherly tolerance.
“You’re still following me even though you’re uncomfortable. I told you to go back with my mentor, but you insisted on following me.” Although Angel was complaining about Dangros, his hands deftly took out a small bottle of quenching liquid from the bracelet and poured it over Dangros.
“Ah… Refreshing!” Bathed in the quenching liquid, Dangros, who had been somewhat listless, regained his spirits.
“I warn you, don’t get the quenching liquid on my clothes. If you burn a hole, I’ll deduct the rest of your quenching liquid as a punishment.”
“Don’t worry, I can easily control such a small fire.” After saying this, Dangros even demonstrated by flicking the quenching liquid with his fingertip, turning it into “pearl” shapes, which, even if they fell on Angel’s clothes, slid off like pearls without leaving any burn marks.
From this, it was evident that Dangros’ ability to control fire was indeed quite good.
Such a fire control ability, combined with alchemy, should be quite remarkable… Angel thought to himself.
“By the way, you haven’t answered me, why didn’t you leave with my mentor?”
Dangros, while playing with the quenching liquid, lazily said, “I don’t want to. I want to be with Lord Toby.”
“Toby isn’t outside now, either. How about I also bring you into the bracelet?” Angel sincerely suggested, as Toby, a lone bird in the bracelet, felt quite lonely and dared not venture into the Wilderness of Dreams for fear of encountering Gloria. So, for Dangros to join it inside was truly Angel’s heartfelt wish.
Dangros stiffened, coughed twice, and seemingly nonchalantly said, “No, it’s not a big deal. Occasionally accompanying you, lord, can also be quite enjoyable.”
“Oh?” Angel raised an eyebrow.
Dangros: “I mean, the joy of adventure.”
“Oh.” Angel looked deeply at Dangros and said no more.
Dangros wanted to stay outside, so let him be; it was good for him to have someone to talk to. However, if a crisis emerged later, Angel would still have to bring him into the bracelet. Dangros had agreed to this as well.
While chatting casually with Dangros, Angel finally returned to the center of the Mist Zone, the Mist Belt.
Upon arrival, the air became slightly stagnant, and the immense and transcendent pressure returned.
While it was possible to endure the discomfort with physical strength on the periphery, the closer one got, the slower the pace became, even affecting Speedling. Left with no choice, Angel had to reactivate his right eye’s green rune, opening the domain, and the pressure instantly dissipated by ninety percent.
With the pressure’s obstruction gone, Angel’s speed increased once again.
Soon after, he arrived at the sea area where the laboratory was located. Previously, he could witness Number 00, i.e., the laboratory’s formidable airborne presence. But now, Number 00 had vanished, presumably having descended to the seabed.
Whether Number 00 “returned” to the seabed or “crashed” into it remains unknown. It depends on Number 01’s choice; if he chose to resist, he might control Number 00 to attack Magnificus De Pawel, making the possibility of a crash significant; otherwise, the conclusion would be the opposite.
Angel personally leaned towards the idea that Number 01 would not choose to resist. Even if he did resist, he would not risk Number 00 because doing so would mean completely severing ties with the River Legacy Society. Since the River Legacy Society operates in the Qwest World, Number 01, wishing to use Qwest World as a fallback, would not burn bridges.
Thus, the possibility that Number 00 remains intact is actually quite high, but Angel had no intention of going to see it at the moment.
Because his target this time was Magnificus De Pawel.
Since Number 00 was no longer on the surface, it’s clear that Magnificus De Pawel’s purpose had been achieved. The next target would be… Number 03.
Therefore, he headed directly to Number 03’s location.
As he approached the target location, the sea surface became increasingly restless, and the sea was covered with a large amount of flesh and bone debris, stained with mottled blood, resembling a sea of blood.
These remains all came from sea beasts.
From the current situation, the number of sea beasts had reached an unimaginable figure.
Moreover, more sea beasts continued to converge here from various sea areas within the Mist Zone.
Observing the sea’s surface covered in foam and fragments of red and white flesh, Angel’s expression gradually became solemn. The death of so many sea beasts indicated that the Mysterious Fruit atop Number 03 was nearing its critical point.
Another reason for his visit was to observe how a semi-uncontrollable object ascends, an opportunity he could not afford to miss.
With this thought, Angel hastened his pace.
Soon, he sensed an attraction power emanating from a specific location.
Looking up, he saw that the source of this attraction was an area of tidal waves formed by sea walls.
Due to the distance, he couldn’t see what was atop the sea walls, but Angel guessed that Number 03 was there.
This place was at least dozens of nautical miles from Number 03’s location, yet the attraction had already reached here, indicating that the range of disorder was expanding.
Once the Mysterious Fruit matured and truly became disorderly, the regions affected by this disorder would suffer the first wave of chaos.
This was the concern everyone had for Angel.
It was still possible for Angel to turn back at this moment, but he didn’t hesitate to continue forward. Since he had already made the choice “of the heart,” he might as well see it through.
Moreover, with that person’s presence, it wasn’t certain that he would meet his end.
Angel flew another twenty nautical miles forward. By this point, he could see the silhouette of Number 03 atop the sea walls.
The attraction of the fruit was growing stronger, but with the help of the domain, he could still manage it easily.
However, considering the variable nature of the attraction, which would increase as the fruit matured, Angel dared not take it lightly.
Although he continued to fly forward, his speed had greatly decreased. While flying, he was also calculating the rate at which the attraction increased to avoid exceeding the average and losing control unexpectedly.
As Angel carefully progressed, his figure was noticed by someone.
In the high sky, about a dozen nautical miles away from Number 03, Magnificus De Pawel seemed to sense something and turned to look back.
Reflected in Magnificus De Pawel’s sapphire-like, angular eyes was Angel’s silhouette.
“Lord of the City, the interesting little fellow you mentioned before seems to have come too,” Magnificus De Pawel said with a light laugh. “Shiuro shiuro, I think I’m starting to understand why you found him so interesting.”
Despite knowing the dangers, Angel had returned, showing remarkable courage. Unfortunately, no matter how brave, facing the illogical and unreasonable nature of Mysterious Objects, one could still be caught in a disorderly rhythm from which they cannot extricate themselves.
“Ignore him,” the Lord of the City’s split consciousness avatar, residing within Magnificus De Pawel, said indifferently. To them, a newly promoted formal wizard was no different from the sea beasts swimming in the sea below; he couldn’t affect the overall situation.
“Lord of the City, you’ve mentioned before that he bears the power traces of that world. Shiuro~ Could his arrival signify that world’s involvement?”
“No,” was still the succinct response.
“Shiuro? Why?”
“Because that place itself represents… disorder.”
A world that itself represents disorder, would it continue to pursue disorder? It’s hard to say, but at least Gruz De Weld had never heard before that the beings of that world had ever participated in any struggle of disorder. On the contrary, quite a few transcendent beings have fallen into the disorderly rhythm of that world.
“Shiuro…” This answer was something Pawel had not considered before. It couldn’t help but swallow, feeling a slight chill in its eight tentacles.
“Fortunately, the creatures from that world won’t come; otherwise, the consequences would be hard to predict.”
Pawel muttered to itself, planning to shift its attention away from Angel. However, it suddenly paused, thinking of something: “Right, I just faintly smelled Ziz on this little guy.”
“It’s the shed skin of a Ziz cub, Number 01 has it. It must be something that guy got from Number 01,” Gruz De Weld said.
“Do we need to capture him?”
“No need, I can sense that, aside from that shed skin, the fate of the Ziz cub has not had much connection with that person.”
This actually meant that Angel did not get the shed skin from Ziz directly but indirectly from someone else. Otherwise, the fate between Angel and the Ziz cub would have been deeply entwined.
It was because of this judgment that Gruz De Weld thought of Number 01 right away.
“Shiuro~ Well, okay.”
Even so, Pawel was still very interested in Angel, after all, this was the first human it encountered who was so weak yet had obtained the power of that world.
There was no need to act against Angel, but perhaps it could let the Ziz cub itself deal with him. After all, taking the shed skin of a Ziz cub created a connection. Once the Ziz cub successfully undergoes its phoenix-like rebirth, as long as it still harbors resentment, it will actively seek out Angel.
Of course, all of this is based on the premise that Angel will survive after experiencing this rhythm of disorder.
“Shiuro, foolish human, do you know that person?”
Pawel asked Number 01 at this point.
Number 01 appeared not to be bound by anything at the moment, but he did not move at all, his expression as rigid as a machine’s.
For Pawel, dealing with Number 01 was extremely easy, however, it did not kill him but captured him instead.
“Shiuro? Almost forgot, I didn’t remove your speech seal.” Pawel acted cute, sticking out its pink tongue, and then the next second, “cute” turned into “violent”.
Its tentacles turned into a blur, harshly slapping Number 01’s face.
Number 01’s face was violently struck, resulting in a gaping wound. His flesh was mangled, and his teeth shattered and scattered on the ground.
“Now you can speak, human.”
When Number 01 felt he could move his lips and tongue, he didn’t immediately answer Pawel’s question. Instead, he raised his remaining teeth and viciously bit down on his own tongue root.
“Biting off your tongue won’t kill you, but it will be unbearably painful. So, do you wish to die in agony? Do you think I would allow you to die in such pain?”
Number 01 ceased his self-harm and stared at Pawel with eyes filled with blood.
“Kill me, kill me!”
“You so desperately seek death, merely to escape to the Qwest World at the moment of connection, Shiuro~ it’s impossible.”
Pawel emitted a “shiuro shiuro” laugh, a sound that might have seemed cute under different circumstances, but to Number 01, it sounded like the devil calling for his soul.
“However, if you obediently listen to me, I might just spare you, Shiuro~”
Number 01 fell silent for a moment, weighing his current predicament. Eventually, he abandoned his feigned insanity, directing his gaze towards Pawel, where a floating image displayed Angel’s face.
Number 01 said, “He was sent by the River Legacy Society as our contact.”
Pawel, with a smile, said, “And you think I would believe that?”
Number 01 responded, “What do you want to know, then?”
Without hesitation, Pawel lashed out again, maiming the other half of Number 01’s face: “You should address me as the Great Pawel. Moreover, you shouldn’t lie to me.”
“Heh.”
“Unconvinced? No matter, Shiuro~ If you dare defy me again, I will tear your soul to shreds.”
Number 01 remained silent.
“I’ll give you one more chance, who is he?”
Number 01 said, “…I don’t know him, I only know that he had sneaked into the lab before.”
Pawel gave Number 01 a deep look, sensing that Number 01 was not lying this time; he truly did not recognize that young man.
The exoskeleton of a Ziz cub that was found on Angel could only have been stolen from the lab.
Pawel wasn’t overly concerned about how the exoskeleton ended up with Angel. However, since Number 01 mentioned that he had sneaked into the lab before.
Perhaps, Deep Space knows who he is?
While Pawel was pondering over Angel’s identity, not far away, the Enforcer with white hair also noticed Angel’s arrival.
Chapter 2442 Drawn the Clock Closer <TOC> Chapter 2444 The Wait