Chapter 364 Overwhelmed <TOC> Chapter 366 Culna's Draft Contract
Translator: SumTLMan
After creating the illusion, Angel collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, with his back soaked in cold sweat.
“I didn’t expect casting an illusion in the Nightmare Domain to be so difficult.” Angel had to squeeze out almost ninety percent of his magic power from his Magic source to barely set up an illusion, and it was a low-level Mist Illusion.
Angel lifted his sweaty head and looked at Shadow in the fog. He saw Shadow spinning around in the illusion, trying various methods to break it but still unable to do so. Although it was difficult to create an illusion in the Nightmare Domain, the effect seemed to be good for now.
Setting up an illusion in the Nightmare Domain was a strategy against enemies recorded by Sanders in —The Mystery of the Nightmare Domain—.
The Nightmare Domain was considered the home field for illusionist wizards because all illusions created within it possessed a prominent feature: no illusion nodes! This meant that the difficulty of breaking through the illusion increased by dozens of times!
The reason behind this was that the essence of the Nightmare Domain was, in fact, a special kind of illusion. Nodes were everywhere and nowhere, so there was no need for illusion nodes to support the illusions; the Nightmare Domain itself could act as a carrier.
However, when Sanders described this method in the book, he did not recommend Angel to use it because Angel’s Nightmare Domain was not mature, and the space within it was quite fragile. If the Nightmare Domain was used as the carrier for the illusion, breaking the illusion would be equivalent to destroying the Nightmare Domain.
The Nightmare Domain was an extremely rare thing, like a shattered mirror; even if restored, cracks would remain.
That’s why Sanders did not mind Angel using this method when the Nightmare Domain was not yet mature. But now Angel had no other means. He initially planned to control Shadow using the parasite in the Nightmare Domain, but upon trying, he found that the parasite had no mechanism to parasitize in areas with a strong Nightmare Domain aura.
Unless the Nightmare Domain was dispelled, the parasite would choose the nearest human host. However, after dispelling the illusion, there would be more than just Shadow around, and it was uncertain who the parasite would attach itself to.
Thus, Angel could only abandon the uncontrollable factor of the parasite and gamble on the illusion.
For now, it seemed that he had succeeded in his gamble, as Shadow had no means to break the illusion.
Angel took a deep breath and took advantage of Shadow being trapped, commanding Toby and the creatures in the Nightmare Domain to continuously attack Shadow in order to deplete its magical power.
It was a cyclical process, with illusory attacks and real ambushes alternating, wearing down Shadow’s patience.
Shadow’s tone changed from an initial angry threat, “I will kill you!”
To eventually pleading, “Don’t come any closer, I can’t take it anymore! Can we talk peacefully?” and “You can make any demands, as long as I can satisfy you, I will!”
Angel did not respond. Making demands now would still be an equal exchange. It was better to wait until Shadow was captured and discuss other matters then.
Angel continued to let Toby harass and attack, while he himself entered a deep meditation. Setting up the illusion earlier had consumed too much magical power, so he had to replenish it as soon as possible.
Time quietly slipped away like this.
An hour later, Angel had recovered most of his magical power.
During this hour, Shadow had exhausted almost all of his energy within his body. Not only that, but he was also covered in wounds. As soon as he healed one injury with a healing spell, another cut appeared from a sneak attack. The floor was covered in his blood, and he could no longer maintain the appearance of a Magma Salamander under such massive blood loss.
Having reverted to his human form, he lay on the ground, gasping for breath.
“Damn it, I must have terrible luck today to have stumbled upon such a formidable opponent!” Shadow cursed inwardly. He had meticulously planned everything, intending to use these puppets to enter the inner world directly. But an unexpected variable had appeared!
At this point, Shadow had one last trump card, but playing it would make entering the inner world much more difficult. Furthermore, the efforts he had made over the years might also be wasted.
Panting, Shadow said, “You damned pretty boy, do you really want to fight to the death?”
Now that Angel had regained his magical power, he was feeling more confident and retorted sarcastically, “Are you joking? Who was the one who started this with malicious intentions? I don’t think I need to remind you.”
“I can apologize and compensate you!”
Angel sneered, “It’s too late for that. If I want something, I can take it myself.”
Shadow retorted, “But can you take what’s inside my head?”
Angel did not respond, and Shadow narrowed his eyes, “What do you want? My knowledge? Guidance magic? Tricks? Or information? I can give you all of these as long as you let me go.”
Angel remained silent, continuing to coordinate with Toby and the Colorful Dragonflies to put more pressure on Shadow.
Shadow gritted his teeth and endured several more attacks. Although the infuriating bird and strange dragonflies seemed to be growing weary, and their attacks were becoming weaker, he knew he couldn’t hold on much longer. His magic reserves was completely empty, and relying on his physical body to resist wouldn’t last.
Shadow thought for a moment and then laid his cards on the table, “My mentor is a guest in your organization. You know who I’m talking about, right? Are you sure you want to fight to the death with me? I’m giving you one last chance. If you want something, I can compensate you. Otherwise, I would rather throw away all my efforts over the years and play my final card. I can’t predict the outcome then!”
Shadow was prepared to explain his “last card,” but surprisingly, Angel’s focus was elsewhere.
“Your mentor is a guest in our organization? Do you know who I am?”
A puzzled look flashed in Shadow’s eyes, “Aren’t you an apprentice of Silent Hill? That can’t be right; within a thousand miles of the surface world, there’s only one wizard organization, Silent Hill!”
Surface world? Silent Hill? Angel searched his memory box, but he could not find any mention of these two terms.
Angel remained silent, and Shadow cautiously asked, “Are you not from Silent Hill? Could it be…you’re from Black Castle?”
Black Castle?! Angel’s eyes lit up, “Are you talking about Black Castle under the jurisdiction of Fairytale Town?”
Shadow paused for a moment, “It seems you’re not from Black Castle, and you’re not even from Fairytale World?”
“Is this Fairytale World?” Angel’s question implied his confirmation.
“Yes, this is Fairytale World. Which organization are you from? Don’t tell me you’re an outsider; I won’t believe it.” Shadow continued to probe, recalling every word Angel had spoken. Throughout their conversation, Angel’s focus was on the location information. Integrating the information from these words, Shadow began to speculate: could it be that he had accidentally come here, without going through the proper planar channels?
Fairytale World, like the Radiant World, is a subsidiary plane of the Wizarding World. It is, in fact, part of the Wizarding World, with its seasons and climate consistent with that of the Wizarding World. However, to enter a subsidiary plane, one must go through the planar channels, which, unlike the crystal barriers separating worlds, can take various forms. It could be a small path that leads to a subsidiary plane or a door, a lake, or a well that needs to be entered.
The entrance to Fairytale World is through a tree hollow of an ancient tree. Jumping into the tree hollow will bring you to Fairytale World, with its boundless seas and seven continents.
To enter any subsidiary plane from the Wizarding World, a price must be paid. These prices vary greatly: some require you to offer a supernatural creature as a living sacrifice, others require you to plant magical plants, while some only require registration. The price to enter Fairytale World is quite moderate, requiring only the payment of 10 magic crystals.
If the other party paid the 10 magic crystals, they would receive a rough map of Fairytale World from the office stationed outside the tree hollow.
So, is he actually a stowaway? Shadow wondered silently.
Fortunately, the subsidiary planes don’t mind stowaways. As long as they are officially wizards, they don’t need to go through the regular channels when using the planar passages. Thus, official wizards can be considered stowaways.
But how did this obvious apprentice wizard enter Fairytale World? Could it be that a mentor opened a planar passage and brought him here?
As Shadow was pondering, Angel recalled some details about Fairytale World.
Fairytale World is dominated by Fairytale Town. However, Fairytale Town is a generic name, not a single wizard organization. It is a large wizard alliance, comprising numerous wizard organizations. For example, Candy House, an organization with over half of the gourmet wizards in the Southern Region, is under the jurisdiction of Fairytale Town. Examples also include Rainbow Forest, Heaven’s Tree, and Black Castle…
However, even though he knew his location, the question of how to leave still remained.
As Angel was thinking, Shadow suddenly said, “Do you remember the Kulakuka that left earlier? They possess the talent to open the grand portal and have now gone to the middle world. They can also open the portal and return.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s no point in this; I just want to tell you that even without revealing my trump card, I can still transmit the information from here, even to my mentor.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“I am merely stating facts. I can tell you whatever information you want to know. If you want to leave Fairytale World, I can take you out or provide you with a map,” said Shadow. “As I mentioned before, you have demonstrated your strength, and I can offer you respect. We can have an equal conversation.”
Looking at the barely breathing Shadow in the illusion, Angel didn’t point out that he had no “equal conversation” value. However, seeing his determined expression, it seemed he genuinely had a trump card, making Angel somewhat hesitant. After all, the opponent might be an elite apprentice cultivated by a large organization, and it wouldn’t be impossible for him to have a trump card.
Angel thought for a moment, “Why should I believe you?”
“I can swear under the witness of the World Will.” After a pause, Shadow added, “I can also sign a short-term equal contract.”
Chapter 364 Overwhelmed <TOC> Chapter 366 Culna's Draft Contract