Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2461: Chapter 2462: Dangerous Balance

Due to the sudden mysterious resonance initiated by Angel, the thoughts of both parties on the scene began to undergo a strange transformation.

The Observer was both surprised and pleased; while continuing to focus on the Mysterious Fruit, he redirected half of his attention to Angel.

On the other side, Polo Ye appeared to be entirely captivated by the Mysterious Fruit, but under the City Lord’s command, in reality, ninety percent of his attention was on Angel.

Even though much of their focus was on Angel, for various reasons, they dared not show it outright.

For a moment, the atmosphere felt slightly eerie.

However, this eerie atmosphere did not last long, and what broke it was the disordered progression of the Mysterious Fruit.

96%!

Though they had diverted some attention to monitor the progress of the Mysterious Fruit, they did not anticipate that the final 5% would trigger such an intense transformation.

When the crack on the shell reached 95%, they could feel the attraction strengthening, yet by manipulating the Law, it wasn’t overwhelmingly stressful.

However, just moving from 95% to 96%, an increase of merely one percent, resulted in a terrifying change.

The attraction suddenly doubled!

This 1% progress is much more significant than all the progress from 0% to 95% combined!

This was a result that neither the Observer nor Polo Ye had anticipated! They had initially allocated part of their attention to Angel, but in the face of this sudden surge in attraction, they had no choice but to retract their focus and resist this terrifying pull with all their might.

When they each exerted all their strength, their turbulent thoughts reluctantly rejected the "outside" temptation.

But the outside temptation had not yet reached its limit.

From 96% to 100%, there were still four progress levels remaining, and if each increase doubled as it had so far, even with their strength, they wouldn’t withstand the Mysterious Fruit’s attraction.

"Sho Rao! Lord of the City, things aren’t looking good if the attraction continues to rise. I’m afraid I won’t be able to withstand it," Polo Ye quickly communicated internally, "Should we change plans and retreat first?"

"The decision is yours to make," Gluz Deward said indifferently, "However, I will assess your next citizen evaluation and rating based on the tasks you’ve completed."

Polo Ye had the freedom to choose whether to stay or leave. However, Polo Ye had only completed the task of capturing 01; capturing Angel alive and retrieving the disordered object, which were of higher priority, had yet to be completed. Simply retreating seemed unwise.

Polo Ye pondered for a moment, slowly lifted its gaze, and looked at the figure not far away: "Observer, the attraction of the disordered object is becoming stronger. If we continue to stay here, the outcome might not be optimistic."

The Observer glanced at Polo Ye without responding.

Polo Ye continued, "Even if you don’t consider yourself, don’t you care about the one beside you? Sho Rao Sho Rao? You protect him so much; he must be important to you, right?"

Observer: "Whether you want to stay or leave is up to you. My matters have nothing to do with you."

Truthfully, the Observer was contemplating what to do next regardless of what Polo Ye said.

He initially thought this was a manageable disordered object. Unexpectedly, at the critical moment, the disorder’s upper limit suddenly increased significantly. Although it hadn’t exceeded his psychological expectations yet, if it continued like this, even a couple more increases, even the Observer might struggle to handle it.

Therefore, the Observer was considering leaving. However, he couldn’t help but wonder about another issue: Will the disordered object truly continue to raise its upper limit in such a regular manner?

Disorder itself represents irregularity, and such a regular increase in the upper limit seemed odd.

The Observer wanted to keep watching, observing how the disordered object’s next increase would unfold.

Perhaps next time, it would directly become disordered. After all, the current assumption that the crack progress was 96% was just an imagined figure, not a regular numerical progression.

Jumping directly from 96% to 100% was also possible.

Meanwhile, Polo Ye judged from the Observer’s expression and behavior that he had no intention of leaving.

Originally, Polo Ye thought that if the Observer chose to leave, he could leave as well. After all, his current priority target was Angel, and capturing Angel alive didn’t have to happen in this location.

But the Observer’s decision to stay made Polo Ye quite uncomfortable.

After a moment of thought, he quietly reassessed his own resources before ultimately deciding to stay alongside the Observer for a while longer.

He believed that the Observer’s abilities were probably on par with his own. If he couldn’t hold it, the Observer certainly couldn’t either. Being from the Orderly Guild, the Observer’s judgment concerning the disordered object would be more accurate; if any unpredictable incidents were truly imminent, he should foresee them ahead of time.

Since the Observer hadn’t left, it should be a calculated decision, so following suit posed no harm.

Upon making this decision, Polo Ye began waiting silently.

Waiting for new changes to emerge at the scene.

The wait didn’t last long. Soon, the cracks on the shell started spreading again.

The anticipated transition from 96% directly to 100%, as forecasted by the Observer, did not occur. Instead, 97% arrived as expected.

Nervously, they awaited the emergence of changes in attraction, but after waiting a minute, two minutes... up until five minutes had passed, everything seemed normal, allowing them a sigh of relief.

The attraction did rise slightly, yet the increase was not large. Only about 3% to 5% of the previous total attraction, which remained within their manageable range.

If the subsequent progress continued increasing with a 5% increment, there would be no issue at all. Even if the attraction doubled suddenly at the last moment, a grind of teeth would suffice to endure it.

Thinking of this, both the Observer and Polo Ye slightly relaxed their nerves.

However, their relief was premature.

As the cracks continued spreading, transitioning from 97% to 98%, an unexpected situation arose.

Initially, everything was still normal. The 98% increase wasn’t significant, still only about 5%. However, very quickly, an unforeseen scene unraveled.

A fruit shell area, marred by excessive cracks, suddenly... shed its shell!

In the blink of an eye, the shell in that area completely fell off, exposing the inside that shone with red light, its exact appearance indistinct.

The portion where the shell fell constituted about 30% of the fruit shell.

In other words, at this moment, 30% of the fruit was already exposed to the outside.

And with the internal exposure of the fruit, an extraordinary attraction instantly radiated throughout the Mist Belt ocean area.

Quantifying it numerically, the attraction was now more than twice as strong as before!

With a single increment, the Observer and Polo Ye might be able to cope, but with a sudden doubling, they too began to falter.

"Zhuoo—Luoo—" Polo Ye shouted, his pink skin nearly bursting into a magma-like orange-red, as tendrils of white steam started appearing on his smooth head, the result of evaporating sweat.

Polo Ye exerted all his strength, even mobilizing all the energy stored in his heart core, just barely managing to form a balance with the current attraction.

Balance does not imply equality.

Attraction can consistently maintain high intensity for a long duration, but Polo Ye cannot. The balance he’s maintaining is merely a fragile mirage.

Within this balance, he couldn’t even move, nor could he mobilize any other energy.

As it stands, he was now indistinguishable from an octopus cutout.

Polo Ye now somewhat understood the mindset of the Wizards who didn’t leave in time; he too regretted not having done so. Back at 96% progress, he had already birthed the thought of temporarily retreating.

If he had insisted back then, he wouldn’t be in such a predicament now!

He was merely sustaining a precarious balance now, and this balance could be shattered at any moment. He had hit his limit, yet the Mysterious Fruit’s attraction still had room for increase.

The fruit shell of the Mysterious Fruit hadn’t fully fallen yet; as long as another small piece fell, it would be the final blow crushing Polo Ye!

Polo Ye was truly panicking now; he wasn’t considering task completion anymore—he now only wanted to leave.

To leave alive.

"Lord, Lord..." Withstanding the terrifying external attraction, Polo Ye’s weak inner voice repeatedly murmured a title.

His intent was clear, Polo Ye was using his remaining strength to seek help from Gluz Deward.

Gluz Deward remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking: "Hold on a bit longer, I need to make some preparations for my Divine Thought to descend upon the Material Realm."

Gluz Deward didn’t refuse Polo Ye’s plea for help, after all, his Divine Thought resided within Polo Ye. They shared a state of mutual benefit or harm.

Although the fall of Gluz Deward’s Divine Thought wouldn’t affect the safety of his main body, once the Divine Thought fell, its experiences couldn’t be conveyed back to the main body, and it would cause some mental backlash, needing at least a few decades for restoration.

Self-preservation is paramount, and Gluz Deward didn’t want his inaction to cause harm to his main body.

"If you can’t hold on, you can seek the Observer." Gluz Deward spoke again; he was within Polo Ye and was thus well aware of Polo Ye’s condition. Given Polo Ye’s current state, it was difficult to hold on until he descended into the Material Realm, so he offered a suggestion.

Gluz Deward’s words diverted Polo Ye’s attention briefly; he glanced over towards the Observer.

This look left Polo Ye slightly dazed.

According to Polo Ye’s thoughts, he and the Observer should be in similar straits; if he couldn’t hold on, the Observer must be struggling similarly. However, reality was quite different.

The Observer didn’t seem to be under much pressure, in fact, he appeared somewhat relaxed.

What is going on?

The moment Polo Ye’s doubts arose, he unintentionally faltered momentarily, causing the precarious balance he sustained to ripple.

The terrifying attraction, like a torrent of thoughts crashing waves, directly bypassed the final line of defense, surging towards Polo Ye.

Polo Ye was now like a stranded person on a small rock, with pounding surges threatening to dislodge him from the rock anytime.

When Polo Ye lost himself, a sudden coolness appeared in his mind. This chill extinguished the boiling and confused thoughts, not only helping Polo Ye regain his senses but also calming him down.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Gluz Deward’s voice sounded.

Polo Ye immediately understood that the prior chill in his mind must have been the Lord’s power. Regaining some sanity, Polo Ye didn’t hesitate and spun around, eight tentacles tapping the void, launching himself backward like a cannon.

This was Polo Ye’s method of movement; under normal circumstances, a single propulsion could traverse countless space-time distances. But now, under the pull of attraction, Polo Ye used up almost all his remaining strength yet only managed a few hundred meters.

A testament to the difficulties of the scene.

However, this short movement was enough for Polo Ye. His aim now was to leave the domain of attraction, which was evidently unrealistic.

His only method of self-rescue was to unite with the Observer. And this short-range movement was sufficient for him to reach the Observer’s side.

The Observer also saw the "blazing red" Polo Ye rapidly approaching.

Although the Observer’s pressure wasn’t significant, he could still sense the surrounding environment’s difficulty, understanding Polo Ye’s intention and thoughts.

Yet, whether or not to accept Polo Ye posed a dilemma in the Observer’s mind.

With this question, instead of looking at Polo Ye, the Observer turned to glance at Angel.