Chapter 2708 Three Treasures <TOC> Chapter 2710 Childlike Heart Younus
Translator: SumTLMan
“How about it, do we take a detour?” Vai asked.
“A detour? How, if it’s hiding?” Daus scoffed: “To detour you first have to spot it. We don’t even know what kind of concealment it has, so any plan is completely up in the air. And even if we could detect it, if Younus is squatting on our only way forward, say, at the gate of the Wise One’s Grand Hall, how are we supposed to go around?”
Vai wanted to argue, yet had to admit that Daus’ scenario was not only possible but highly likely.
If that mysterious “She” truly intends to deal with them, how could She leave such a glaring flaw? There’s no way She’d give them the chance to detour. Wherever Younus takes up space will be a stretch of road they absolutely cannot bypass.
Angel added: “From what I know, on the way to the Wise One’s Grand Hall there are side paths, but they’re all dead ends. To reach the Hall, there’s only one road.”
In other words, detouring is impossible.
The group fell silent again. They couldn’t defeat Younus, yet they still had to face that eerie creature head-on, and they couldn’t even skirt around it. The situation really was uncomfortable.
“Only one road, but you said there’s a fork?” the Black Count suddenly asked.
“Yes.” Angel nodded, recalling his earlier experience in Nightfall City in the Nightmare Plane: “There should be only one fork. I’m not sure whether it’s a three-way split or a crossroads.”
In fact Angel did know the fork’s details; back then he’d been chased all the way there by Sanders, a projection of the Nightmare Plane. He simply couldn’t reveal everything. If his so-called “source” even knew such minutiae, that source would look suspicious, and everyone already found his information dubious enough…
“Only a single fork, then things are clearer,” the Black Count mused.
“Clearer? Clearer how?” Vai was puzzled.
“The location of the so-called ‘trial.’”
At once everyone understood. If the hidden “She” really intends to block them, She will arrange matters so they can’t detour and preferably have no retreat.
That spot is most likely the fork. There they can’t avoid the road and might even be driven into a dead end.
Vai envisioned the scene and shuddered: “If pursuers come from behind and we’re attacked front and back, we won’t even have the option to fall back.”
“Whether the rear will also be attacked isn’t the issue now,” the Black Count said: “At least we’ve pinned down Younus’ location. Even if it hides its form, we can roughly delimit its range.”
“Maybe so,” Daus muttered: “but now that we know where it is, getting past feels even harder.”
Vai and Kael nodded; clearer analysis only made the pressure mount.
The apprentices wore bleak faces, yet the Black Count remained utterly unruffled, analyzing with cool objectivity. Worst case, he would die and his true body would come clean things up.
“Earlier, the Sovereign of Wisdom hinted at a lot, for example, that dealing with Younus requires cooperation from a space wizard, implying Younus’ true body likely isn’t in the real world.
“And he also gave the answer to passing through Younus’ territory without harming Her.”
He turned the slab so his nostrils pointed at Angel: “That answer requires your cooperation.”
Everyone remembered how Daus had asked about Younus’ weakness and the Black Count had replied: “That’s your trial.” Though Daus had asked, the Count had looked straight at Angel, declaring it Angel’s trial.
“The Sovereign of Wisdom’s meaning is plain,” the Black Count continued: “He’s unsure whether we can find the weak point, but you certainly can.”
“Something only Angel can do, illusion? Or… alchemy?” Daus ventured.
Angel paused: “Most likely the magic formation.”
He had pondered the Sovereign of Wisdom’s words: it was Angel’s trial, so it must involve a skill only he had shown.
Illusion, alchemy, and the magic formation were the three skills he’d displayed. Alchemy could be ruled out; the Sovereign had no sense of his level, and turning a Wood Spirit derivative into a staff wasn’t profound, anyone could do it. So alchemy was out, and between illusion and the magic formation, Angel leaned toward the magic formation.
Illusion meant control, deception, psychological games, none likely to faze Younus. As the Black Count had analyzed, Younus needed no pursuit; it could simply wait at the fork and hold absolute advantage. Open its maw and swallow whoever passed.
Confuse it with illusion? First you’d have to find its true body. Angel did know some spatial lore, but the Sovereign didn’t know that. Besides, the Sovereign had said plainly that if you target Younus’ true body, its three offspring will bristle, so illusion was out, and Angel might not locate Younus anyway.
That left only the magic formation.
“Your judgment is sound,” the Black Count said: “Approaching through the magic formation is possible. The entire sewer is shrouded in it, and Younus can’t escape its constraint. But how to use the magic formation to bind Younus, that part is up to you.”
He shot Angel an apologetic glance. In his mind: “She” was after Noah’s descendants, so the trial should have been his to lead; now an outsider had to stand at the fore, and that shamed him.
Angel, however, didn’t overthink it. His desire to reach the ruin site was no weaker than the Count’s, and any obstacle he would clear.
The question was how to accomplish it with the magic formation.
Angel sank into thought.
No one else dared disturb him; they all severed their mental connections and waited in silence for Angel to come back to himself.
Before long, Angel suddenly raised his head and looked at the Sovereign of Wisdom seated directly opposite him.
He had remembered something that needed to be confirmed.
“Sovereign of Wisdom, just now you mentioned that One-Eyed Little Treasure went to you to report our whereabouts?”
The Sovereign of Wisdom had been gazing at the Wood Spirit; hearing Angel’s words, he turned and replied: “That’s right.”
Angel: “Was it through a Voice Transmission spell?”
The Sovereign of Wisdom shook his head: “I never said it was a Voice Transmission spell. He came to me in person… Little Treasure is still at that lively and restless age; unlike his two elder brothers, who hardly move, he loves to run everywhere, which is why he became my link with the magazine society outside.”
Angel: “…” Seriously, there’s no need to explain it again; you only make it look as though you care too much about your pen name.
What’s most important is that Angel had to pretend he knew nothing and could not follow that topic naturally.
Luckily, the Sovereign of Wisdom had not finished speaking, sparing Angel from forcing a reply: “At the time I was with Younus, extracting some research data. Little Treasure knew where we were; it said it had come to report, but in truth it just wanted to see Younus. He’s very attached to his mother.”
The Sovereign of Wisdom briefly explained what had happened. What Angel cared about was: One-Eyed Little Treasure could actually move?
“Are those holes able to move without being restricted by the magic formation?” Angel asked in surprise.
If that were really the case, wouldn’t Younus also be able to roam freely within the magic formation?
The Sovereign of Wisdom immediately caught Angel’s meaning: “Yes, and no.”
Seeing the puzzlement in Angel’s eyes, the Sovereign of Wisdom explained: “Her attainments in magic formations are far higher than mine. To repay Her for helping stabilize the space of the Hanging Prison Stairs, I granted Her partial control of the magic formation. In turn, she bestowed on Younus and the rest of Her subordinates the right to move within the magic formation’s domain.”
“To me that was a good thing as well, since I still need Little Treasure to stay in touch with the outside world.”
At this point Angel no longer wanted to complain about the Sovereign of Wisdom’s repeated emphasis; he just felt a throbbing headache. She actually had control permissions over the magic formation?
How were they supposed to fight Her? Confronting Her head-on was out of the question; if she so much as tweaked the magic formation, they’d be finished on the spot.
Seeing the change in Angel’s expression, the Sovereign of Wisdom knew exactly what was on his mind and went on: “Even so, I still hold the magic formation’s core. When she granted those permissions to Younus and the others, I was present.”
“Originally the rights were divided equally so they could all move within the Hanging Prison Stairs, but Younus, considering Little Treasure’s active nature, asked to transfer Her own quota to him.”
“Therefore, Little Treasure is currently the only hole that can reach the outside. Big Treasure and Second Treasure can move within the Hanging Prison Stairs, while Younus Herself has an even smaller range and is subject to certain restrictions.”
“Besides, Younus’ body is far too massive; even with full permissions she might not move the way Her children can. In this respect she’s weaker than Her offspring, let alone able to roam through the magic formation.”
Hearing this, Angel finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Still, the fact that Younus could move inside the magic formation made him feel it was troublesome.
“Younus is restricted, what kind of restriction?” Angel asked.
But the Sovereign of Wisdom only smiled and said nothing: “That’s your trial.”
Seeing Angel’s speechless yet powerless expression, the Sovereign of Wisdom felt an inexplicable surge of satisfaction.
To be honest, the Sovereign of Wisdom was not deliberately hiding it. The so-called restriction could easily be seen by observing the magic formation around Younus’ location; if Angel couldn’t discover it, then his attainments in magic formations would never be enough to break through Younus’ blockade.
In that case there would be no need to tackle the magic formation; he should think of another approach… As for what approach, his earlier mention of Kael had been no joke.
While the Sovereign of Wisdom was musing on this, the Black Count asked at just the right moment: “Is the space where Younus is located stable?”
The Sovereign of Wisdom felt a trace of surprise; he hadn’t expected anyone to think of that, and at such a coincidence.
“Unstable,” the Sovereign of Wisdom said meaningfully: “Tearing space won’t work, you’d pass straight through Younus’ body and let yourself be caught.”
The Black Count felt a tinge of disappointment. He had indeed been wondering whether spatial teleportation could bypass the place Younus occupied, but now it seemed impossible.
Yet amid the disappointment, the Black Count also felt puzzled.
The Sovereign of Wisdom could have answered with a simple “unstable.” Why spell out his thoughts? Most importantly, his expression was a bit strange, as though he were hinting at something…
If tearing space wouldn’t work, what was he hinting at?
As the Black Count was pondering, he heard Angel beside him say: “We can’t open a planar passage? That’s a pity… By the way, Sovereign of Wisdom, could you give us the spatial anchors for the Wise One’s Grand Hall?”
Angel’s words made the Black Count freeze.
Spatial anchor?!
Angel wanted to…
Before the Black Count could speak, Daus looked at Angel with astonishment: “Don’t tell me you plan to go through with a planar passage?”
Angel nodded as though it were perfectly natural: “Yeah, if Younus can’t dodge it and we can’t tear space, we’ll just use a planar passage. Can she really lock onto a passage’s void coordinates?”
Daus: “No, I mean, that sounds reasonable, but don’t you think you’re being too…”
Too extravagant?!
We’re not even fleeing for our lives, why use a planar passage? Do you buy passage materials wholesale or something? Do you know how many wizards could be trained on the resources burned by a single passage?
It wasn’t only the always-frugal Daus; even the Black Count felt Angel was taking things far too much for granted.
Most importantly… the Black Count realized that from how nonchalantly Angel spoke, he had no intention of paying the casting costs himself. Who would pay, then? Without question, the person she truly aimed to deal with, the descendants of Noah.
The Black Count could afford the price of a planar passage, but they hadn’t reached that point yet… They could still try to crack the magic formation.
If worst came to worst, they could use a planar passage and the Black Count would accept it.
On the other side, the Sovereign of Wisdom had also been startled by Angel’s bold declaration. His earlier mention of Kael had indeed been meant as a reminder that if all else failed they could resort to a planar passage.
But Angel was already asking for spatial anchors, was he planning to skip the trials altogether and go straight to the end?
Wasn’t that a bit too much like cheating?
Besides, the Sovereign of Wisdom had left them that fallback precisely to keep them from real danger.
A planar passage could indeed bypass Younus, but since even Younus couldn’t enter the Wise One’s Grand Hall, the spatial constraints there were extreme, so a passage wouldn’t work either.
When the time came, the Sovereign of Wisdom would certainly put on a show and keep them in suspense before voluntarily lifting the spatial barrier to let them in.
That was meant as the final Countermeasure, truly the last resort.
And you plan to use it right now?
Chapter 2708 Three Treasures <TOC> Chapter 2710 Childlike Heart Younus