Chapter 2681 Plunged into the Void <TOC>
Translator: SumTLMan
“Why did they go explore the void?”
Daus returned from his “corpse run,” only to discover that Angel and Kael had ventured off into the void. The “rage” performance he had prepared was now of no use, so he simply set aside his emotions and inquired of the others why Angel had done so.
Vai shook his head: “I don’t know. He only said he wanted to try something…”
Vai did not conceal anything, giving a rough account of what had happened before.
After hearing the explanation, Daus felt even more confused.
Exploring the void was already odd in itself. The Hanging Prison Stairs were situated in an alternate dimension space, and this void was separated from the real void, bearing signs of human intervention. It basically lacked any true value for exploration.
Moreover, if one truly wished to explore the void, why choose this exact location? It was obviously riddled with spatial rifts, signifying instability. Knowing full well the myriad dangers, why actively step into peril?
“The only sensible explanation is that maybe he found some clue that compelled him to go this way.” Daus voiced his guess.
He then glanced deliberately at the Sovereign of Wisdom. His words were, in fact, directed to the Sovereign of Wisdom, because only the Sovereign of Wisdom might know what was out there in the void.
At first, Daus’ gaze was subtle, merely a “hint.” But when the Sovereign of Wisdom simply ignored him, he grew bolder. His hint became an outright “blunt suggestion,” nearly culminating in him walking right up to the Sovereign of Wisdom and pointing at his nose for answers.
Irritated by Daus’ increasingly blatant looks, the Sovereign of Wisdom finally responded: “Apart from the endlessly appearing and disappearing spatial rifts, I’m unaware of anything worth noting there.”
“So you’re saying there’s nothing at all? Only danger?” Daus stroked his chin, muttering: “That’s strange.”
Not only did Daus find it puzzling; everyone on the scene felt the same. Even the Sovereign of Wisdom was baffled as to why Angel would suddenly want to examine that region of the void. The continual formation of spatial rifts suggested there was little of value within.
While everyone was full of questions, Kael, who was seated at some distance, suddenly opened his eyes.
“How come you woke up first? Where’s Gold?” the moment Daus saw Kael stir, he went over to ask.
Kael took several seconds to come to himself. When he finally did, rather than acknowledging Daus, he turned to look at Angel across the way.
Seeing that Angel was still not awake, Kael wore a complicated expression, a mixture of worry, lingering fear, and urgency.
“What’s on your mind?” Daus asked once more. Only then did Kael turn to him, prompting Daus to quickly repeat: “Where is Gold?”
Kael shook his head: “We ended up in an area rife with newly formed spatial rifts. He protected me as we withdrew, then parted ways and went back into that dangerous zone alone.”
“That determined, eh? Is something in that danger zone drawing him?” asked the Black Count, who had been silent until now.
Again, Kael shook his head in bafflement: “I don’t know. He told me nothing, he just wanted me to guide him around those spatial rifts, getting as far as we could.”
The Black Count: “He wouldn’t head into a hazardous place for no reason. Something external must be driving him forward.”
But what that “external driver” could be remained a mystery to the Black Count. For most people, it would be “profit,” but Angel might not be swayed by ordinary gain.
If there really were something inside that perilous zone attracting him, then perhaps the Sovereign of Wisdom hadn’t been entirely truthful?
While the Black Count was silently speculating, Kael raised his voice: “He’s back, he just returned!”
Turning around, the Black Count saw Angel had indeed reopened his eyes. His complexion was pallid, and fatigue was clearly visible.
The Black Count: “Your mental power… is injured?”
Angel nodded: “I had bad luck and ran into danger. I had no choice but to abandon part of my mental tendril.”
The moment Angel finished speaking, both Kael and Vai looked at him in concern.
Kael’s worry likely stemmed from guilt, whereas Vai’s concern was harder for Angel to fathom. Nonetheless, their feelings were sincere.
Realizing this, Angel added: “No need to worry, I’ll be fine soon.”
He truly did recover quickly. In under two minutes, his cheeks regained their color.
Looking better again meant Angel was essentially out of harm’s way, no longer suffering dizziness from the loss of mental power.
However, the mental power he had sacrificed could not be retrieved, so while Angel appeared fully recovered, his actual strength had diminished somewhat.
But for Angel, that amount of mental power loss was negligible. The decline in ability was minuscule, and with merely two or three hours of meditation each day, he would be back to normal within a week at most.
Hence, he was quite sincere when he said: “Don’t worry.”
“Why did you go investigate the void?” Daus immediately crowded closer when Angel seemed recovered, curiosity brimming in his eyes.
“I was testing something,” Angel replied, as noncommittal as before.
Unrelenting, Daus pressed on: “What exactly were you testing?”
Rather than answer him at once, Angel first indicated to Kael that they should be on their way, then turned and started heading back the way they’d come. Only then did he address Daus: “Testing the void exploration here.”
“Why explore the void here? Couldn’t you have chosen somewhere else?” Daus caught up to him at once.
Angel’s tone was calm and measured, as though he had already prepared his explanation: “The more spatial rifts there are, the weaker the shackles of the magic formation become, and the more I can uncover. So I chose a dangerous area, there’s a chance I might glean something.”
He was clearly hinting that his objective was to analyze the fundamental laws of the Hanging Prison Stairs’ magic formation.
On the surface, that sounded reasonable. Most people present accepted it, having witnessed Angel’s formidable grasp of magic formations along the journey. Angel might indeed hope to probe the bedrock of the Hanging Prison Stairs’ magic formation and gain the upper hand.
Under that logic, Angel’s conduct seemed justifiable.
However, the Sovereign of Wisdom refused to fully believe it. It wasn’t that he dismissed Angel’s magic formation skills; he simply saw no reason for Angel to dissect the Hanging Prison Stairs’ magic formation.
He found it implausible that Angel could fully reverse the situation. Even having the entire blueprint for the Hanging Prison Stairs’ magic formation would not allow him to become its master, because it was interconnected with the outside labyrinth. Only absolute control of the entire underground sewer’s magic formation would give Angel that capability.
Moreover, Angel’s true objective was to locate the Wood Spirit, and the Wood Spirit did not operate under the command of any magic formation. Even taking over this particular formation would not guarantee discovering the disguised Wood Spirit.
For instance, the Sovereign of Wisdom himself was more or less in control of the Hanging Prison Stairs’ magic formation, yet each time he set foot in it, he had to search from scratch for the Wood Spirit.
Thus, the Sovereign of Wisdom felt Angel’s words rang hollow.
If that was not the truth, however, what was Angel doing in that hazardous zone?
As Daus had concluded: “Only dangers lie at the end, no opportunities.”
Under such circumstances, Angel would have no reason to enter a danger-laden area unless he had a death wish.
The Sovereign of Wisdom longed to voice the doubts in his mind, but he suspected he might be overreacting. Perhaps Angel’s real aim was simply to create confusion and disturb his composure?
With these thoughts, the Sovereign of Wisdom decided to hold his tongue and observe. From his perspective, analyzing someone’s thought processes and behavioral patterns to deduce the truth was often more reliable than relying on their own words.
His silence took Angel by surprise. Angel had intended to come clean, it wasn’t a big secret.
At worst, being duped might bring ridicule. But if he laid everything out, he could then openly ask the Sovereign of Wisdom what exactly the staff had resonated with.
After all, he still had not reached the final limit. Without Kael’s sense of space, if Angel ventured alone into that hazardous area, he would have to rely on pure luck to navigate. Fortune wouldn’t favor him forever, and in the end, he had been crushed by a newly formed rift and had to stop before the goal.
Yet, to Angel’s greater surprise, the Sovereign of Wisdom did not pursue the matter, and everyone else took his statement at face value. Angel silently wondered: “Could my lying have improved so much that a careless fib ended up fooling them all?”
Since nobody seemed to doubt him, Angel dismissed the idea of elaborating.
He might not have minded being teased, but if he could spare himself the embarrassment, why not?
…
They returned to the fork in the passage. Previously, they had gone left; this time, they could only go right.
“If the Wood Spirit really is on the right side, then your staff’s guidance was quite accurate.” Standing amid the fork, Daus recalled how Angel had tossed the staff here a short while earlier. Though it had pointed to the right, Angel went left instead.
“By the way, why did you choose to go left back then, when the staff pointed right?”
Angel glanced behind them to confirm that the staff was no longer heating up or resonating. Only then did he reply: “Because I don’t entirely believe in fate.”
“? ? ?” Daus looked thoroughly perplexed.
“That’s why I decided to go left first.” Angel shrugged as he spoke.
Daus paused for a moment before grasping that Angel was saying the staff’s direction symbolized “fate,” and he simply refused to follow it, so he went against it.
Although Daus understood the words, he failed to see the sense. It sounded like a rebellious child defying a parent for the sake of it.
“Are you brushing me off?” he asked, though his tone betrayed his certainty.
“You can guess,” Angel replied, neither admitting nor denying it, striding forward and leaving Daus behind.
Angel’s “infuriating behavior” brought Daus’ memories of feeling helpless before him rushing back, turning Daus into a raging sandworm who started grumbling nonstop at Angel’s side, assailing him with accusations and complaints.
It lasted about a minute before Daus realized he was suddenly unable to speak.
To be precise, it wasn’t that he couldn’t speak, his voice seemed to be filtered through a thin membrane, completely failing to reach Angel’s ears.
Yet Vai, the Black Count, and the Sovereign of Wisdom heard him loud and clear.
Furthermore, Daus’ tone no longer varied with distance; it directly hammered into their hearing as though he were speaking right into their ears, because, in reality, that was exactly where Daus stood.
“…He’s stripped away your sound illusion node, so now when you speak, it’s not inside the illusion but plainly in the real world.” The Black Count paused and warned Daus through their mental connection: “It would be best if you keep quiet. I do not wish to hear you shouting in my ear. Or do you crave the experience of being muted in reality, too?”
Faced with the Black Count’s threat, Daus felt aggrieved but had no choice other than to comply.
Since he couldn’t speak aloud, he tried bombarding them with messages through the mind connection. Angel and the Black Count, however, had already muted him there as well, and even the Sovereign of Wisdom, who had been eavesdropping before, quit the connection because of Daus’ unrelenting chatter.
Hence, the only ones who could hear Daus’ venting were Vai and Kael.
Though he was disgruntled, Daus knew his limits. He might rant without bounds at Angel or the others, but talking to apprentices required restraint, especially with the Sovereign of Wisdom right next to them, and Daus had no desire to let slip more information than necessary.
Yet he still felt stifled. If he couldn’t speak, then he would plant himself by Angel’s side and stare at him like a watchful fox, eyes half-narrowed.
Angel initially found it awkward to have Daus hovering around him, but soon disregarded it completely. After all, this was only an illusion; Daus could do nothing substantial, so Angel simply treated him as a movable decoration.
With that notion in mind, Angel thoroughly ignored Daus and directed his thoughts elsewhere.
Initially, the staff’s resonance had come from the left corridor, which was now confirmed to be an area rife with ever-shifting spatial rifts.
If the Wood Spirit was responsible, did that imply it intended to lure him into a trap there, hoping he might perish in those rifts? Then why had the Wood Spirit later changed its plan and shifted the resonance to the right corridor instead?