Translator: SumTLMan
“It seems he truly holds significance for you, shiuro,” Magnificus De Pawel stated with a tone rich in implication.
Efforts were previously made to prevent the Enforcer from contracting the space, all to no avail. Now, merely involving Angel has shown immediate effect.
To others, the reason why the Enforcer values Angel might be unclear. However, Magnificus De Pawel understands that the Enforcer is likely aware of Angel’s mysterious talent. Being part of the Orderly Guild, it’s only natural to strongly recruit Angel. To protect Angel, the Enforcer thus attempts to block Magnificus De Pawel’s advance, even willing to halt the spatial contraction.
Magnificus De Pawel is fully aware of all this, but now it must pretend ignorance. Angel is a goal it aims to achieve; revealing its intentions too soon and alerting the Enforcer is the last thing it wants.
As for Angel’s opinion… well, does it matter?
Magnificus De Pawel’s thoughts are unknown to the Enforcer, but he is aware that Magnificus De Pawel must have misunderstood something… The sudden halt in spatial contraction was not his doing.
His Domain of Distortion merely served as a cover for Angel’s green rune domain, which actually dictated the size of the space. Now that the green rune domain has abruptly stopped, his Domain of Distortion naturally ceased as well.
However, the Enforcer is puzzled as to why Angel would choose to stop at this moment, making it seem as though he was influenced by Magnificus De Pawel to halt.
Although the Enforcer doesn’t mind being misunderstood, he still finds it quite awkward, especially under Magnificus De Pawel’s strange gaze, making him even more uncomfortable.
But he could not offer an explanation and could only silently glance at Angel, sighing helplessly in his heart.
However, on reflection, the Enforcer feels that Angel would not have stopped the spatial contraction merely because of Magnificus De Pawel’s remark.
Perhaps Angel had always intended to contract the space to this extent, and Magnificus De Pawel’s comment was merely coincidental?
If this were true, then his decision to limit the domain to this size must hold some significance.
The Enforcer surveyed the size of the domain.
Coincidentally, the domain’s size comfortably accommodates the three of them. Moreover, if Magnificus De Pawel were to retract its eight tentacles a bit, there could even be room for one more.
That means, at most, it could fit four people comfortably. Any smaller, and it would become crowded.
The Enforcer believes that Angel’s series of manipulations, including deliberately encompassing Magnificus De Pawel and the seemingly arbitrary reduction of space, all follow some internal logic.
The space, accommodating up to four people, must also be part of his calculations.
From the details, it seems that Angel’s series of manipulations were not aimed at the people present, but rather at the “descender” mentioned by Magnificus De Pawel, with Angel deliberately leaving an “empty spot”.
The Enforcer developed a speculation: perhaps, all of Angel’s actions were for that descender?
To the Enforcer, this speculation felt utterly absurd, as although Magnificus De Pawel did not specify who the descender was, it was certain that their strength would not be inferior. Being above the legendary realm was a given.
Was Angel targeting someone above the legendary realm?
Merely entertaining this thought was like a comical joke.
The Enforcer wished to dismiss this “joke” with a laugh, yet the signs were so vivid, leaving him slightly perplexed.
“Perhaps, I’m overthinking,” the Enforcer shook his head.
“What are you overthinking?” Given their close proximity, Magnificus De Pawel naturally heard the Enforcer’s muttering.
The Enforcer gave Magnificus De Pawel a cold glance, without saying a word.
Magnificus De Pawel didn’t mind, continuing on his own: “I read a research report in —The Fibopol Fisherman’s Journal—, stating that Enforcers deployed by the Orderly Guild to various worlds could develop various hysterias due to long periods of isolation and excessive loneliness. The most typical inducement being overthinking, colloquially known as worrying over nothing. Shiuro?”
The Enforcer responded indifferently, “You still have the leeway to jest, it seems I can still reduce your space a bit more, don’t you mind?”
As soon as these words were spoken, Magnificus De Pawel felt the surrounding Domain of Distortion shrink a little more.
Magnificus De Pawel was alarmed, thinking that if the space shrank any further, there would be no room to stand upon the Lord of the City’s arrival, which would be problematic.
Quickly changing its tone, Magnificus De Pawel’s sapphire eyes flashed with an uncommonly pleading light: “Shiuro shiuro~ I just wanted to ease the tension. Since you think it’s inappropriate, I’ll stay quiet. Yeah, quiet.”
Its tender octopus tentacles covered his pouting mouth, presenting a self-sealing appearance.
The Enforcer snorted coldly.
The Domain of Distortion also timely stopped contracting, seemingly in response to the Enforcer.
Watching the Enforcer with a calm and indifferent face, Magnificus De Pawel thought to itself: Shiuro shiuro! Be arrogant now! Once the Lord of the City descends, I will surely ask the Lord of the City to scratch off your nose! Let’s see if you can still snort then!
While Magnificus De Pawel was silently cursing the Enforcer, the Enforcer’s attention was on the green rune domain.
The situation just now once again proved one thing: the green rune domain was being “controlled” by someone.
And this person was undoubtedly Angel.
The Enforcer glanced at Angel, who was still obsessively looking at a distant Mysterious Fruit… Such acting skills, truly unparalleled.
Even the Enforcer cannot see any trace of performance in Angel’s behavior.
Even the Enforcer cannot tell, let alone Magnificus De Pawel.
At this moment, the Enforcer shakes his head, suddenly feeling a bit confused by Angel. Clearly, you are already awake and even know how to use your domain to cooperate with me, so why continue the act? Is it to showcase an acting skill so sublime that it could deceive even legendary wizards?
Or is it because Angel feels that upon ‘waking up,’ he would be questioned about things he doesn’t wish to answer? Such as, why did the green rune domain suddenly become so strong, capable of resisting the disorderly rhythm? Or, his insights at the moment the Mysterious disorderly object was born?
He doesn’t want to answer these questions, so he intentionally entered the state of a master performer?
The Enforcer feels like he’s understood the truth.
This cunning kid is quite cautious, guarding himself closely. The Enforcer curses in his heart, but he still appreciates Angel’s cautious attitude because… if Angel really were to come back to his senses now, he really couldn’t help wanting to inquire about the matters of the green rune domain and the insights into disorder.
This is too rare, even for the always calm Enforcer, whose inner curiosity has been inadvertently piqued.
No matter what the Enforcer and Magnificus De Pawel are thinking at this moment, their thoughts are paused in the next second.
Because the shell in the distance has once again shed.
And this time, the shell has almost completely fallen off. The ‘flesh’ inside, due to the massive shedding of the shell, has finally revealed a bit of its true nature.
Although the majority of the fruit part is still obscured by the blood-red mist, a part of the mist is thinner, allowing one to vaguely see an interior that seems to be made of a metallic weave.
Because only a small part is revealed, one cannot glimpse the whole picture, but from this small part of the metallic weave, the Enforcer is reminded of many years ago, when he was still a stable boy in a noble estate, and the noble’s servants carried metal-weave lanterns during night walks.
At that time, in the country where he lived, there was an abundance of gold mines, and a culture of extravagant gold usage among the nobility prevailed, even to the extent that the lanterns carried during night walks had to be made of gold in a net-like framework, with silver candles burning inside. There were lanterns of various shapes, square, triangular, and of course, mostly round.
And the small part of the metallic weave of the fruit, if one were to imagine it fully, seems like a round metal net-like framework.
Although it’s strange for the Mysterious Fruit to become something made of a metallic weave after becoming disordered, Mysterious Objects are inherently a collection of all sorts of absurd and unrestrained elements. Not to mention a metallic weave net, even if a creature were to jump out from the flesh of the fruit after the red mist disappeared, they wouldn’t be surprised.
Setting aside the true nature of the disorderly object, the shell has now fallen off by almost ninety percent. Naturally, its attraction is also increasing, but what is odd is that the three people in the Domain of Distortion do not feel much pressure.
For Magnificus De Pawel, this makes them even more impressed by the Enforcer. If it were just it alone, it might feel a great deal of pressure. But thinking that the Lord of the City would soon descend, Magnificus De Pawel didn’t mind the Enforcer’s strength. No matter how powerful, in the end, he is still just a tool.
As for the Enforcer himself, he is now even more curious about Angel’s green rune domain. Angel… what is his relationship with that place?
Due to the influence of the green rune domain, their attention to the Attraction had significantly diminished. What concerned them more was whether the effect of traction changed after more shells fell?
If it still only attracts universal energy and the range just expands a bit, then naturally, that would be the best outcome.
However, if it attracts special energy, like spatial energy, then it would truly be a disaster.
To confirm what they suspected, they closely watched the Mysterious Fruit.
Soon, they saw the space around the Mysterious Fruit suddenly darken.
This scene was like a complete blue sky puzzle, suddenly missing a piece from the middle. The dark void immediately became the focal point of attention.
And this was just the beginning.
The fall of one puzzle piece caused other perfectly fitting pieces to loosen. The second piece logically fell. With the first and second pieces gone, a chain avalanche followed, with a massive amount of pieces falling, leaving behind a huge black cavity.
Reality mirrored this, with everything around the Mysterious Fruit turning pitch black, the sky disappearing, and the rolling waves entering the black space, also vanishing.
“This is… a spatial collapse,” the Enforcer said with a grim face.
The worst outcome had occurred.
Magnificus De Pawel also looked grim, because according to the small calculation in its heart, after the Lord of the City descended with his powerful ability, he would swiftly take it away from here. Along the way, he could also take the Mysterious Fruit.
But now, it seemed, even if the Lord of the City’s split consciousness arrived, taking away that Mysterious Fruit would be virtually impossible.
With even spatial energy being attracted, this disorderly object, once fully formed, would surely be terrifying.
Placed anywhere, even in the void, it would become a horrific disaster. The difficulty of containment would skyrocket to infinity. Or rather, it would be uncontainable, only to be exiled.
“We can’t stay here any longer.”
The Enforcer looked at the last small piece of shell near the fruit. This tiny shell temporarily restrained the full emergence of the disorderly object. Once this shell fell, the rhythm of disorder would completely break through.
According to the experiences of predecessors, once the rhythm of disorder was completely released, the effects of disorder could exceed the current state by ten times, even a hundred times!
In other words, when that last piece of shell falls, their location would be instantly covered by the attraction power, leading to spatial collapse, elemental breakdown, energy disintegration… And with the presence of attraction, they would have no chance of survival.
The Enforcer turned to look at Magnificus De Pawel: “That reinforcement you mentioned, when will they arrive? When they arrive, are you sure the passage is safe?”
Magnificus De Pawel was aware of the urgency of the situation and stopped joking around: “In no more than a minute, the passage will surely be secure. When he descends, we can leave through the passage.”
The Enforcer nodded, his exterior calm but internally, he was worried.
It wasn’t that he doubted Magnificus De Pawel’s words, but rather, he was concerned about Angel.
He had always felt that it wasn’t the Mysterious Fruit that sealed the surrounding space, but rather Angel’s green rune domain that did.
If it truly was Angel, and he still hasn’t lifted the spatial restriction, waiting for Magnificus De Pawel’s reinforcements to arrive, could it be that his previous guess was correct?
Angel, what exactly are you planning to do?
After hesitating for a moment, the Enforcer couldn’t leave Angel’s situation unchecked and decided to have a chat with him.
——Whatever your plan is, we should at least leave first.
In the Enforcer’s vision, Angel was ‘performing’ an act of indulgence. He wasn’t planning to directly expose him but intended to use some covert methods, hiding behind a distorted domain, secretly sending a message.
However, just as the Enforcer was preparing to send the message.
Between the Enforcer and Magnificus De Pawel, a spatial rift suddenly opened.
The Enforcer instinctively thought it was the descender mentioned by Magnificus De Pawel, slightly moving aside to give space for the arrival.
At first, Magnificus De Pawel also thought it was the lord descending, but it found it strange since the lord had said there would be a warning when descending. Why did it suddenly happen without any signs?
After thinking, Magnificus De Pawel inwardly said, “My lord?”
Before Magnificus De Pawel could continue, Gruz De Weld directly said, “The one arriving is not me.”
“The lord hasn’t descended yet?”
“Half a minute.”
Magnificus De Pawel’s heart skipped a beat. If the spatial rift wasn’t opened by Gruz De Weld, then who opened it? Who had arrived?
And moreover, how did they choose the safest location in this area so precisely?
While Magnificus De Pawel was in shock, it saw the spatial rift in front of it… quietly close again.
Shiuro?!
Why did it close? It hadn’t even seen anyone enter.
An inexplicable opening, followed by an inexplicable closing? Could it be, someone was playing a prank?
Magnificus De Pawel looked towards the Enforcer, only to see the Enforcer with a puzzled expression, looking in the direction where Angel was.