Chapter 2790 Gastly <TOC> Chapter 2792 Total Annihilation
Translator: SumTLMan
「Why did I choose him ah…… it is not that there is no reason.」 One-Eyed Big Treasure stretched two claws out from the darkness, propping up its own round chin, seeming to be pondering what wording to use in order to narrate.
However, it did not notice that, after Angel saw its two claws, his expression became even stranger.
Before it had still only been a Gastly, now it could completely be called Haunter!
How about, later, give it another name?
Angel seriously began pondering the feasibility of renaming.
After a short while, One-Eyed Big Treasure was the first to come back to its senses; it hesitated for a moment and said: 「I chose him, because there is a scent of annihilation on him, and there is also one on you. The quality on you seems higher, whereas he, although the quality is not as good as yours, his whole person is enveloped by the aura of annihilation.」
The aura of annihilation?
For a moment Angel did not understand what this meant.
Only after communicating with Haunter for quite a long time did he understand that what it called the power of annihilation actually referred to…… space power.
For Mirror Dwellers, although they have seen many cycles of birth and death in the Mirror World, they still very much dislike this kind of aura produced when the mirror surface shatters, because every time the mirror surface shatters, it means they must search for a new living area.
The living areas in the Mirror World are already scarce, and there are also powerful Mirror Dwellers occupying them; wanting to find a suitable living area is not so easy.
This is also the reason why Mirror Dwellers dislike the power of annihilation.
However, Haunter is not very sensitive in its like or dislike of the power of annihilation, because the place it mainly lives is still reality. But its mother Younus has told the three children about events that once happened in the Mirror World; when Younus was first born she was also a Mirror Dweller who loathed the aura of annihilation; now, although with the help of Her Divine Highness the Goddess she has come into reality, and even herself possesses space power, she still does not much like the aura of annihilation.
Under the influence of their mother, Haunter also somewhat dislikes the aura of annihilation.
And the reason Haunter grabbed Kael was that, among a group of people, it was only on his body that the aura of annihilation, that is, space power, permeated all over from head to toe.
Haunter, who has always disliked the aura of annihilation, straightforwardly chose to seize Kael and drag him in.
Originally it actually only intended to grab one person. It was just that Kael’s aura was like the stars in the night sky, making it hard for it to ignore, so it simply chose Kael.
As for why it wanted to grab a person?
Haunter’s explanation was: 「I did not capture him, I merely invited him to come here as my guest.」
Angel’s response to this explanation was only a derisive snort.
Invite him into your stomach as a guest?
What do you have in your stomach that can entertain guests? There is nothing but darkness upon darkness, and spiritual power cannot even leave the body; did you invite Kael to come as a guest, or to let him experience being shut in a little dark solitary confinement room?
To put it plainly, invitation is merely tacking a high-sounding label onto 「kidnapping」.
Haunter was still worried that when they passed Younus’ checkpoint they would use a heavy hand against its mother, so it simply first kidnapped a hostage as leverage, prettifying it under the name of 「inviting a guest」. In this way, with a hostage in hand, when Angel and the others dealt with Younus, they ought to be more careful and more cautious.
According to Haunter’s way of putting it, they could not harm Younus in the slightest.
So long as they harmed even a single hair of Younus, Kael would go from being invited as a guest to becoming a hostage to be 「torn up」.
Previously the Sovereign of Wisdom had said that Younus’ three children all regarded their mother as extremely important; at that time Angel had not felt anything particular about it, but looking at it now, it truly was so.
While Angel was sighing with emotion, the One-Eyed Big Treasure opposite hesitated for quite a while, yet still asked: 「By the way, why did you just call me Haunter again? Was it not said to be Gastly?」
「Because Gastly has no hands, one that has hands is called Haunter.」 As Angel spoke to this point, his gaze turned to One-Eyed Big Treasure’s two little claws, and he went on: 「Besides, did you not say that you did not care what name you were called by?」
One-Eyed Big Treasure: …… I do not care about the name, but you also cannot have one in the previous second and then another in the next, right?
「If growing hands makes it be called Haunter, then if it grows legs, grows a neck, grows wings, would there be yet other names?」
Angel nodded, then shook his head again: 「Gastly will not grow a neck and grow wings, but if it grows legs and also grows ears and a tail, then it can be called Gengar.」
Angel described this in all seriousness, and in order to make what he was saying more believable, he even used illusion to simulate a whole series of evolutionary forms of Gastly.
With the blessing of illusion, plus the fact that One-Eyed Big Treasure never realized that Angel was lying, and also that the Gastly and Haunter in the phantasm really were very much like it, apart from it having only one eye, everything else was almost exactly the same.
Looked at this way, Angel suddenly changing what he called it was not completely without reason.
So long as it was not shooting aimlessly without a target, One-Eyed Big Treasure could, in fact, accept this reason.
However, regarding this whole series of changes of Gastly, One-Eyed Big Treasure still felt that Gengar was a bit more mighty…… Thinking of this, it then grew ears out from the dark sphere, stretched out a pair of legs, and as for a tail, anyway it would not turn its back toward other people, so whether it had one or not did not matter.
Just like this, One-Eyed Big Treasure, right in front of Angel: 「evolved」 into…… Gengar.
Although it was a Gengar with only a single eye.
「I do not like names changing back and forth; either you call me One-Eyed Big Treasure, or you call me…… Gengar, yes, Gengar!」 One-Eyed Big Treasure solemnly declared.
Looking at the 「Gengar」 before him, Angel suddenly felt that this fellow seemed a bit simple-minded, actually accepting someone else’s setting for it so quickly?
In fact, the reason was also very simple: of Younus’ three children, One-Eyed Big Treasure was the most steady and also the most reasonable; even though it had some of its own calculations, its starting point was not bad.
Precisely because of its reasonableness, when it confirmed that Angel’s naming was not done carelessly and did not carry any teasing intent, but was truly called out from the depths of his heart.
Then it was willing to listen, to adapt, and to understand.
To put it more bluntly, all of it still stemmed from the fact that Angel was inside its stomach; it could be sure whether Angel was telling the truth or not, and since he was not lying, then it was willing to engage in communication and attempt things.
After Angel fell silent for a moment, he nodded: 「All right, Gengar.」
Gengar: 「Now the issue is evened out, we should talk, right?」
Angel: 「We can, Gengar.」
Gengar: 「Although I allow you to call me Gengar, you also do not need to have this name follow every sentence.」
Angel: 「I know, Gengar.」
Gengar was silent for quite a while, seemingly adjusting its mood, and only after a short time did it open its mouth and say: 「Although your coming in was an accident, since you can represent your team and make decisions, then I can save myself the effort of going back and forth with the rest of you.」
「I hope you will not harm my mother.」
Angel: 「The Sovereign of Wisdom talked with us about this before, and I have already agreed.」
Gengar also knew that Angel was not lying, but this was still not enough.
「Just agreeing is not enough.」
Angel raised his eyebrows: 「Then what else do you hope we will do? Draw up a contract of not harming Younus?」
Gengar nodded, with a look of full approval, and said: 「This can be had.」
Angel said irritably: 「It is of course no problem to list a contract of not harming Younus, but you tell me how this clause is to be written? You must know, we have no intention of harming her, yet she has every intention of harming us. So, if you want us to draft a contract, at the very least you need to tell us how we can avoid touching her and still safely reach the Wise One’s Great Hall.」
Gengar: 「This I have no way to guarantee.」
「If even you cannot guarantee it, how are you asking us to guarantee that we will not harm Younus?」
Gengar: 「If you harm Mother, all of you will die. But if you can manage not to harm Mother, you will be able to live on safe and sound, and moreover, I can also help you take the Gray Merchant’s memories out from the Mirror World…… this is the guarantee.」
Angel: What kind of guarantee is this, this is damn well a threat.
If it had been the Angel from before who did not yet know Gengar’s character and behavior, at this time he would very likely have retorted with a line like 「Do you really think you can definitely kill me?」 and then displayed a bit of his trump cards, to overawe them a little.
But Gengar, after all, was a bit simple, and its mother Younus was its reverse scale; the outcome of going head-to-head was highly likely to be intensifying the conflict. Originally Angel had wanted to talk with Gengar about some of the mechanisms of Younus’ abilities; if the conflict intensified, they would certainly be unable to have that talk.
Therefore, Angel decided to ignore the threat in Gengar’s tone and instead changed the topic: 「I can represent our team in signing a contract with you, but I need to know Younus’ abilities. At the very least you must tell me what abilities Younus has, so that while we avoid them we do not harm her.」
「But…… abilities are secrets, Mother told us that we cannot tell outsiders.」
When Gengar said this, its expression was very troubled, because what Angel said was not wrong either; if they did not understand Younus’ abilities, how could they avoid them? Yet Mother did not allow them to leak the abilities, and this left it somewhat entangled.
Gengar pondered for a moment, and its peripheral gaze suddenly drifted to Kael.
「Right! Does he not have the power of annihilation, you can use the power of annihilation to go around Mother and directly reach the great hall！」
Angel shrugged: 「I have also thought of a similar method, but that person above you does not agree.」
No matter what Angel said, the Sovereign of Wisdom always had various reasons to shirk. Whether it was acting out a play or for the sake of giving Aedannis face, in any case, they simply had to go through this trial of Younus’ stage.
With just a bit of thought, Gengar also understood the Sovereign of Wisdom’s considerations; the Sovereign of Wisdom, after all, did not want to openly fall out with Her Divine Highness the Goddess. Therefore this stage of Younus must be something that Angel and the others would go through once; even if they were acting, they had to act out the full set.
But Mother was a faithful believer of Her Divine Highness the Goddess and would absolutely not cooperate in acting, only exerting her full strength in carrying out Her Highness’ mission; this thus became a difficulty.
In a situation of non-cooperation, how were they to avoid harming Mother and yet still smoothly reach the Wise One’s Great Hall?
Gengar thought for a long time and still did not know what to do.
How about simply letting Little Treasure come over? If Little Treasure encountered someone like Angel, who does not shout or make a fuss but just lays out the facts and argues reason with you, he would not listen at all, would just directly act shamelessly and be unreasonable, and then there would not be all these worries.
Gengar was even thinking of dragging in Little Treasure, which showed that it really had no way.
Angel more or less also saw Gengar’s entanglement and difficulty; after thinking for a bit, he proactively offered a suggestion: 「Since Younus has you keep her abilities secret, does that mean that you have, in fact, inherited Younus’ abilities?」
Gengar nodded: 「More or less. Most of the abilities that Mother has I can replicate, only with a difference in scale.」
Angel: 「Since you possess Younus’ abilities, why not have you replace your mother, simulate Younus’ way of thinking, and ambush us along the way; we can also take this opportunity to search for a method of breaking through.」
Previously, when Angel had the Sovereign of Wisdom call over the One-Eyed family, it was precisely because he wanted to simulate a breakout through the One-Eyed family.
「You should know that this is not a reasonable and fair contract.」 Angel paused: 「However, if we can successfully find a method of breaking through, I am willing to sign this somewhat unreasonable contract with you.」
「This is already our final concession.」
After Angel made his stance clear, Gengar thought for a moment and in the end nodded in agreement. This was indeed a very conceding and very compromise-based solution.
Since both sides had settled on it, Gengar no longer had any reason to keep them locked in the little dark room, and it took the initiative to open the door and let Angel withdraw out. When Angel left, he also conveniently brought Kael back to the outside world.
Originally Gengar had wanted to have Kael be a hostage, but thinking of what Angel had said, that if there were a method of breaking through they would sign a contract, and that a contract was a more secure means than a hostage, it thought, taking him away…… then just let him be taken away.
……
When Angel and Kael came out from the dog hole, it had been no more than five or six minutes since they disappeared.
Seeing them return safe and sound, Vai finally let out a sigh of relief.
Before the others could ask, Angel took the initiative to speak: 「It was Gengar…… that is, One-Eyed Big Treasure.」
Daus: 「What the heck is a Gengar?」
Angel: 「Those things are not important; One-Eyed Big Treasure and I have already discussed it, and later it will use Younus’ abilities to launch a sneak attack on us. I will, in this sneak attack, do my utmost to find a method of breaking through.」
Angel briefly described what had previously happened inside Gengar’s body and also explained the situation of the contract. After all, the contract involved everyone, not just himself alone.
The others had no objections to Angel’s decision; although Daus complained that the contract proposed by One-Eyed Big Treasure was far too unfair, he only muttered about it with his mouth. Compared to the unfairness of the terms, what he actually cared more about was
「So that means, later it will come to launch a sneak attack? Will it only sneak attack you?」 Daus looked toward Angel.
Angel: 「What you mean is, you just want to watch the show?」
Daus rubbed his chin: 「That would not exactly be impossible, it is just that watching the show alone is a bit boring; having Kael use a recording stone to record the whole process would be better.」
Angel said coolly: 「That would also not be perfect; how about I make another shadow box?」
Daus smacked a fist into his palm: 「That would of course be best.」
Angel gave two cold laughs and did not respond.
Only then did Daus seem to sense the solidifying of the atmosphere; turning his head to look at the coldly laughing Angel, he felt a chill run down his spine.
「I was joking, joking, hahaha.」 Daus retreated a few steps and said somewhat awkwardly.
Angel: 「You were joking? I am certainly not joking; I will definitely make the drama shadow box 『very properly』. I only just now heard from Gengar that Second Treasure has some very interesting methods; I think the effect of using them should be very good.」
「Second Treasure? One-Eyed Second Treasure? What methods?」
Angel gave Daus a deep look: 「You will know later.」
When Angel said this, Daus was still completely baffled, but at the side Kael’s face had gone pale.
Was the lord talking about Second Treasure’s methods? That would mean……
Kael swallowed down once and did not dare continue thinking further.