Chapter 370 Advancement <TOC> Chapter 372 The Middle World
Translator: SumTLMan
At night, Angel informed Dushana that he would be away for a few days, left some gold coins, and then left once again.
His primary purpose for returning to Watthelmgrass this time was to send a message, as he had agreed to meet with Shadow tonight, with the location being… the Gloomy Forest, Corpse Hiding Cave.
Just as Angel was about to leave on a boat, a solitary crescent-shaped boat approached from a distance.
Angel halted his departure.
Under the soft moonlight, the man’s face revealed his weariness.
The damp sea breeze lifted the man’s slightly whitened hair.
“In just a few days, the Count’s face has aged significantly,” Angel whispered.
The man was none other than Leonrique. Originally, Angel saw him as a vigorous middle-aged man, but in just a few days, Leonrique’s face had grown wrinkled, his temples gray, and his eyes clouded like those of an elderly man in his seventies or eighties.
Leonrique pulled in the oars and boarded the boat, his expression tinged with powerless bitterness.
“Lord Mask…” he hesitated, his voice carrying the weariness of twilight.
“Did you come to find me alone, prepared for the worst?”
Leonrique shook his head with a bitter smile, “These days, I’ve been thinking about what to do. I can’t risk the lives of the entire city in this gamble.”
Leonrique lowered his head: “But I really want to know who that person is. I toss and turn every night, unable to sleep. When I finally manage to sleep, I dream of my daughter Magda shedding bloody tears, accusing me of not being a qualified father. And those who have lost their shadows all crawl before me, criticizing that I am not qualified to be the lord of this city.”
“In this living hell, I decided to come alone. I won’t cause trouble for that Lord, but I want to know his identity, is that okay?”
Angel looked at the tearful Leonrique and understood how conflicted the man before him was, torn between greater good and personal interest. Personal interest wanted to sacrifice the greater good, but worldly morals told him that the greater good could not be sacrificed for personal interest.
If Angel were faced with this dilemma, he might suffer from a guilty conscience, but he would still unhesitatingly abandon the greater good for personal interest. He had a bottom line, but he was also selfish.
However, it was precisely because of people like Leonrique that the peace and tranquility of this city could be maintained, which was what Angel admired most about Leonrique.
“You may. I happened to have contact with him recently. What do you want to know?” Angel felt no guilt about betraying Shadow’s information.
“Why did he steal shadows?” Leonrique asked the question he most wanted to know. If he could help solve that Lord’s problem, could he prevent the citizens’ shadows from disappearing?
Angel organized his words: “Criminals who commit murder generally fall into three categories: those who have no choice, those who are not in control of themselves. Beyond these, there is another type of criminal, whose reason for killing is because…” Angel pointed to his temple: “They are sick.”
Leonrique didn’t understand why Angel was bringing this up, but he still followed Angel’s train of thought: “You mean, murderers who are mad?”
“Mad murderers are also not in control of themselves. The illness I’m talking about refers to those who are mentally sound but psychologically ill. These people can be described with one word: perverted.”
Angel: “You asked why they would steal shadows; you can imagine what the killing philosophy of a perverted murderer would be? They all pursue a reason to satisfy their own psychological illness to kill, specifically manifested as… a sense of ritual or unity.”
Being able to transform the dark atmosphere of Watthelmgrass into a city where everyone is polite, it was clear that Leonrique was not a fool. He immediately understood what Angel was trying to say: “You mean, the obsession with blond hair and blue eyes?”
Angel nodded: “A pervert who has an obsession with blond hair and blue eyes, steals shadows just to satisfy his psychological illness.”
“What… what happens to those shadows then?”
“They probably become some sort of collectible, like some people’s secretive obsessions.”
Leonrique originally thought that if he could help the lord solve the problem, perhaps he could exchange it for “him” to let go of the shadows. But after listening to Angel’s words, he was completely desperate, as a pervert cannot be convinced by worldly values.
Indeed, Leonrique thought about the books he had read about wizards, and they were basically perverted, destroying cities and towns at the drop of a hat… Thinking about this, Leonrique took a furtive glance at Angel. Fortunately, although this lord could sometimes be indifferent, he did not treat human life as worthless; even when Magda had offended him and Tyrell had pointed his finger at his nose and cursed him, he had only imposed mild punishment.
“What else do you want to know?” Angel asked.
Leonrique: “Can you tell me who that lord is?”
With a snap of Angel’s fingers, a faint illusion enveloped the two, and a shadowy figure slowly appeared in front of Leonrique.
“He’s the one you’re looking for.” Angel pointed to Shadow: “I don’t know his real name, but his code name is Shadow.”
Leonrique was startled by the sudden appearance of the figure, but he quickly calmed down and carefully observed Shadow’s physical features.
Shadow’s appearance was extremely handsome, with thin, short hair that was a dark coffee color, and sharp facial features, especially his slanting eyebrows, which gave him a cold, sharp edge. From his appearance, Shadow seemed to have a cold personality. However, in reality, Shadow possessed more of a roguish attitude, which was difficult to express from his outward appearance.
“I give you a final warning; his strength is formidable, just take a look and leave it at that. It’s better not to approach him. You know, perverts are actually quite unreasonable, especially towards ordinary people; he won’t even give you a chance to speak.” With that, Angel left on his boat.
Leonrique looked at Angel, his eyes filled with a hint of pleading. He wanted Angel to save those who had lost their shadows, to save his daughter, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Angel saw this look and sighed softly in his heart, not saying much.
…
When they arrived at the agreed-upon location, the moon was high in the sky.
However, the plants in the Gloomy Forest, nourished by the buried corpses, grew incredibly dense, blocking the sky and hiding any moonlight.
Angel casually cast a light spell and jumped into Corpse Hiding Cave.
Wearing a tall hat with the Purification Field fully activated, the putrid smell was blocked out. Angel stepped on the remains and maggots covering the ground and arrived at the small stone chamber where the extraordinary gathering had taken place a week earlier.
“You’ve finally arrived; I’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” Shadow said with a smile, eight pale-faced puppets with eerie smiles standing behind him.
“Shall we start now?” Angel asked.
Shadow nodded, “Follow me; the magic formation is still ahead.”
Shadow led the way, with the puppets following behind.
Angel thought the end of Corpse Hiding Cave was here, but as he followed Shadow further, he discovered a small opening on the other side, emitting a sinister aura from behind it, dark and seemingly endless.
“The Lost Millennium Magic Formation lies within,” Shadow said, entering first.
Angel remembered the sinister aura that had enveloped Shadow when he had come to the ranger’s cabin that morning, identical to the atmosphere behind the opening. He must have spent these days inside to be so imbued with such a thick sinister aura.
Passing through this opening, the path behind it was deep and dark.
Although this path did not have the stench of rotting corpses, Angel felt it was even dirtier than the maggot-ridden, corpse-covered ground.
Even activating the Purification Field couldn’t entirely dispel the omnipresent sinister aura.
“This hat could sell for seven or eight thousand magic crystals at an auction in Sky Machinery City,” Shadow said enviously, “Could it be that you are a key talent nurtured by the Savage Grottoes? But that’s not right; I remember the Savage Grottoes do not have an elite seed plan, only free-range.”
“Or perhaps you come from a wealthy wizarding family?”
Angel did not respond to this, instead pointing to the puppets behind him and asking, “What will you do with these people in half a month?”
Shadow shrugged: “What can be done? We can’t take them with us, so we can only let them go. Besides, none of them fit my aesthetic standards. If there was a puppet like you among them, I would risk being punished by my mentor’s whip just to bring them back to Sky Mechanical City.”
Angel: “I thought you would kill them.”
“I have no interest in bullying these scum.”
“My enlightenment mentor once told me, ‘Do not despise the poor youth.’ Who knows, maybe one day they will strike back, and you will become a stumbling block for them.” Angel recalled some information from the holographic tablet, noting that the worse the aptitude, the more likely they would strike back.
“‘Do not despise the poor youth,’ I agree with this saying. But if it is applied universally in the cannibalistic Wizarding World, it seems a bit naive.”
After walking for about ten minutes in the sinister atmosphere, the two arrived at a hidden secret chamber.
As soon as he stepped into the secret chamber, Angel felt strange auras rising from the runes beneath his feet.
Angel was no stranger to magical formations; this was a typical activation-type formation. The level was not discernible, but the runes were primitive, probably an ancient magical formation.
“Did you figure anything out?” Shadow asked playfully as he saw Angel studying it intently. He didn’t believe that Angel could see anything, as magical formations were an extremely complex field, and considering Angel’s age, even if he were studying magical formations, he would likely be stuck at the rune stage.
“This magical formation has existed for at least ten thousand years.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The strokes are very primitive, and the engraver may not have learned the ‘Three-Intersection Method of Spotted Paths.’ Many areas could be simplified. For example, this angle, although I don’t know what this magical formation is, the book states that this angle is a typical waste angle, which can be controlled by the six-layer magic power method, changing it into a horizontal stroke.” Angel pointed to one of the intricate angles and spoke confidently.
“Have you studied magical formations?” Shadow asked in surprise. He didn’t know if what Angel said was true, but that’s what made it seem so impressive.
“No, I just read it in a book.”
Shadow took a deep breath, and his gaze at Angel became slightly more solemn. He pointed at the magical formation on the ground and said, “This magical formation was activated by a wizard from Black Castle a thousand years ago when the Kulakuka tribe suffered their greatest disaster. It led the Kulakuka tribe into the middle world, granting them a peaceful life for their entire clan.”