Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 2521: Chapter 2522: So-Called Art

Apart from the rope art and eye-searing postures, the entire scene contained quite some meticulous details.

For example, all the ropes were pink, not dull, but glittering, as if inlaid with glowing pink diamond dust.

Another example is this glittering rope not only linked both of them but also connected to a balance beam modified from a chandelier on the ceiling.

This balance beam had a roller mechanism that could respond to changes in the center of gravity below. This feedback included rocking up and down, as well as rotating.

As long as either Bruiser or Golos made even the slightest movement, the balance beam would start operating.

When Angel and others entered, the balance beam was already in motion, rotating in circles. The two rope-bound individuals at the ends of the beam turned along with it.

Rising and falling suddenly, moving forward and backward unexpectedly, alternately getting closer and further away.

Such a design allowed people to "admire" their front, back, and even the underside, all clearly visible.

From this, one could see the designer’s painstaking effort.

Besides, this balance beam device had a most explosive detail. This was also a design Dox kept murmuring about in Angel’s ear.

The interior of the balance beam was hollow, connected to an unknown point above, filled entirely with slender pink blind snakes.

These pink blind snakes would drop down from the holes with the rise and fall of the balance beam, landing on the bodies of the two "lucky ones."

Blind snakes were not quite like ordinary snakes; they were very thin and long, and without careful observation, one couldn’t even tell where their heads were. Rather than resembling snakes, they looked like elongated earthworms.

Blind snakes were not uncommon on the Flourish Continent, and they had a nickname: earworms.

Earworm, meaning burrowing.

Their vision had almost completely degenerated, so they preferred burrowing in moist underground tunnels or slipping into existing holes as their survival means and skills to evade predators in the wild.

And these red blind snakes tamed by the Princess remained ordinary creatures, but their abilities to search and burrow had become even stronger.

Imagine two naked rope-binders overwhelmed by a large number of blind snakes, with the snakes searching for holes.

This design left Dox full of praise; for instance, at this moment, Dox, through the Mind Ribbon in Angel’s ear, commented excitedly and enthusiastically.

Angel without hesitation muted Dox’s voice.

Art, such a somewhat idealistic concept, is really subjective. This scene before him was true art for Dox. But in Angel’s view, it was an absurd monkey show.

If to discuss art, Angel actually felt the specimen corridor on the second floor had more artistic sense in its design.

Of course, that is just the design premise without using real human skulls.

If the skulls were crafted from plaster and colored, then it would really be considered art. From babies to juveniles, youths to elders, different races, different skin colors, all the facets of humanity — joy, anger, sorrow, and joy — all encapsulated in that short corridor.

This was what Angel recognized as "art."

Back to now, art was not visible, but watching the monkey show wasn’t bad.

Especially since the expressions on the two above were very awkward, their eyes transitioned from surprise to despair to emptiness, an amusing contrast.

Moreover, in such an awkward situation, they couldn’t remain still as usual; they were still spinning and moving vigorously up and down. Because only this way could they fling off the blind snakes crawling on their bodies, maintaining their integrity.

The dynamic scene made them even more embarrassed. Angel believed if they could, these two would even want to dig a hole and bury themselves.

After Angel came in, he did not move but looked at the show with great interest.

Lady Melo was shocked, frozen by such an absurd and eye-stinging scene.

This silence lasted at least half a minute.

Until a pink blind snake got flung onto Lady Melo, she then suddenly woke up.

Lady Melo seemed to forget etiquette, panicking, swatted the blind snake off herself, then used her Bloodline Power, directly cracking the floor, the snake crushed into a pulp.

Naturally, Lady Melo wasn’t afraid of snakes, otherwise, she would have had a reaction when seeing Slaikum, the Spirit of the Python, before.

Her agitation was purely because the blind snake had been crawling on someone else, and if it had found a hole... just thinking about it made Lady Melo clench her fists.

However, since Lady Melo possessed excellent etiquette, her lapse was momentary and she quickly returned to normal, apologetically smiling at Angel, then softly asked, "My lord, is there any mechanism here?"

Lady Melo really didn’t want her eyes pierced, so she had to rescue them as soon as possible. But this was the Princess’s room; she worried about other mechanisms on the glowing ropes or balance beam, fearing a mishap could harm rather than help, hence the question.

Angel did not answer immediately, instead, he looked back at the Spirit of the Python: "Weren’t you about to stand on our camp? You answer this question."

Slaikum, looking distressed, opened its mouth, unleashing a strong stench: "M-Master, could you, please remove it first, then I’ll talk."

It was apparent that Slaikum exerted great effort to squeeze out this sentence from its throat.

Angel thought for a moment, snapped his fingers, and the Magic Bread fell out of Slaikum’s mouth.

Slaikum exhaled a long breath: "Great, finally rid of this poop-stained rock... Thank you, my lord, your loyal servant will speak without reserve!"

Slaikum believed that this not overly complicated flattery was quite effective, given Angel’s mouth corner lifted. Smiling meant agreement. Indeed, this seemingly indifferent Official Wizard shouldn’t be flattered like the Princess did, but the flattery should be subtle, leaving no trace.

Slaikum felt he did it right, but he didn’t know Angel wasn’t listening to the flattery, as "poop-stained rock" echoed repeatedly in Angel’s head at the moment.

Daring to describe his Magic Bread as a poop-stained rock.

Very well.

The hand Angel placed behind his back clenched, the smile at his mouth representing not agreement, but contemplating how to punish this unruly door spirit.

Angel wanted to stuff the Magic Bread back into its mouth again, but as Slaikum began answering Lady Melo’s question, Angel could only temporarily spare it.

"Of course, there are mechanisms, including hidden contraptions atop that balance beam..."

Being the door spirit for many years, Slaikum was well knowledgeable about the various mechanisms in the room, speaking eloquently. It took a full five minutes to finish explaining all the mechanisms’ locations.

Lady Melo felt fortunate to have asked in advance, otherwise, attempting a direct rescue would have definitely resulted in those two getting strangled by the ropes to the point of dismemberment.

However, even though Lady Melo understood the mechanisms, she didn’t immediately start the rescue, looking instead at Angel.

After all, Slaikum had been the Princess’s door spirit for years; was this really a genuine betrayal? This obviously needed consideration.

Thus, Lady Melo must get Angel’s approval before truly taking action.

Angel glanced at Slaikum, hissing a snake tongue and acting like a bootlicker, finally nodding lightly: "It’s not wrong, do as it says."

Only then did Lady Melo feel relieved, beginning to dismantle the mechanisms.

As Lady Melo rescued the two Talented Ones, Angel turned to Slaikum: "Your performance was quite good; what you said just now was true."

Upon hearing this, Slaikum was overjoyed, expressing sincere gratitude, and began recounting his years as a door spirit, articulating its hardships, and strongly insisting that it was a good snake, merely forced to become the Princess’s accomplice.

Angel, upon finishing listening, didn’t say much, continuing to smile faintly.

He wasn’t wrong when he said that what Slaikum spoke was true, but... some words were still hidden in its stomach.

If those words hidden were insignificant, it wouldn’t matter, but alas, those words involved the Magical Energy Array affecting the entire Princess’s room.

It was possible to rescue people, but attempting to leave with them would trigger the Magical Energy Array.

This was what Slaikum concealed.

Therefore, Angel regarded Slaikum’s "heartfelt confession" as a joke. Although he seemed loyal, he was actually still loyal to the Princess.

However, since everyone was acting anyway and did not expose themselves, Angel wanted to exploit Slaikum’s remaining value by probing some information about the Princess from him.

Believing his "sincere confession" had succeeded, Slaikum thought he had infiltrated the enemy ranks and naturally agreed to talk with Angel.

Slaikum was probably the person in the Princess Castle most familiar with the Princess.

He knew everything she did, and Slaikum had a lot to say.

However, Angel could tell that what Slaikum discussed were not the Princess’s powers or secrets but rather how she committed her evil acts.

Probably because Slaikum had described the Princess as too malicious in the "heartfelt confession," he could only deepen this aspect further.

Listening to Slaikum’s narration, Angel had already regarded the Princess as a psychopath, and now perhaps even worse.

Things like human roulette, human skin galleries, and specimen corridors were just daily routines for the Princess.

This routine varied every day with new tricks but maintained the same cruelty and bloodiness.

A girl under fourteen, yet inside her resided a darker demon than Gu Yina.

Angel could tolerate Gu Yina, even bringing her into the Barbarian Cave as Gu Yina only wanted to survive.

But the Princess sought nothing; she reveled in these acts.

This was an evil ingrained in her nature.

After Slaikum spoke about the Princess’s evil for most of the day, he suddenly hesitated and softly added, "Actually, sometimes the Princess is still a child at heart; she... after all, is just a child."

Angel smiled and did not respond.

Innocence, he believed. Evil, he also believed. These two can coexist.

"Besides this, is there any other information, like the Gray Crow?"

Slaikum: "The Gray Crow Wizard is the Princess’s guard, from the Falwenrock family. He became a guard in exchange for the family’s continuation. However, the Gray Crow seems somewhat disloyal, and the Princess is well aware of it. Maybe it’s because they signed a contract?"

Slaikum: "The real name of the Gray Crow Wizard is Lydia, which is somewhat feminine, so he prefers to go by his nickname, hmm... he’s also an Elemental Wizard, seemingly from a rare branch that the Princess previously mentioned, called Rolling Stone Sorcerer."

Rolling Stone Sorcerer, a branch of Earth Wizard, plays with rocks and belongs to the strong attack branch. Besides this, there is another renowned branch among Earth Wizards called Desert Sorcerer.

Of course, the taxonomy of Elemental Wizards is not limited to these, and strong attack versus strong control is not absolute, much depends on individual talent and skills.

"The Gray Crow Wizard’s most common ability is to create ravens from rocks. These stone ravens serve both as his senses and can be used for attack..."

As Slaikum spoke, he suddenly paused.

Not only did Slaikum pause, but Angel also froze.

Both of them turned their gaze backward.

In front of the door that had not been closed previously, a figure appeared when they were unaware.

Slaikum initially thought the Princess had returned and was considering how to communicate the information to the Princess, but the newcomer was not the Princess but a cold-looking young girl.

The girl’s long black hair fell on her cheeks, her eyes intentionally feigned indifference, probing the room.

"Siber?" Angel softly uttered the intruder’s name.

Ladies Melo, who was deciphering the mechanism, heard Angel’s voice and turned around puzzledly. Indeed, standing at the door was a young girl—Siber!

The arrival of Siber surprised not only Angel but also Lady Melo; the most shocked were the two Talented Ones hanging above.

Lady Melo saw their miserable state and didn’t mind much, after all, as an elder, she might be knowledgeable and indifferent.

Angel saw their misery but didn’t care either, mainly because he didn’t know them, and they were men.

But Siber was different!

Siber was one of the two female Talented Ones traveling with them, and also the most beautiful.

She and Bruiser came from the same place, and Bruiser was favored by Lady Melo partly because of Siber.

Bruiser often snuck into White Sand Manor to secretly watch Siber. Although they were strangers, Bruiser felt an unprecedented closeness from Siber.

By secretly observing Siber, Bruiser was caught by Lady Melo, which led him to become a Talented One.

Now, Bruiser felt like his head was about to explode; he wanted to die.

Such hideousness, seen by Siber!!!

...

On the other hand, Siber peered through the door, and immediately saw Angel and Lady Melo not far away.

Siber was elated inside, ready to step into the door and join Lady Melo.

But just then, a pink blind snake like an earthworm fell in front of her.

Thus, she slowly raised her head.

...

Siber took only one glance at the two men hanging above, and instantly lowered her head because her expression could no longer maintain the cold indifference!

Too shocking, too astounding!

The visual impact of the two men hung above thoroughly shattered Siber’s previous worldview.

Her demeanor couldn’t hold up, and she had to lower her head, using her black hair to cover the shock and embarrassment on her face.

Yes, not just Bruiser and Golos felt awkward.

Seeing them like this, Siber’s level of embarrassment was no less than theirs. After all, Siber was still just an unworldly young girl. Even with her exceptional intelligence and independent way of handling things, her experience was still too limited.

The first time she saw a man’s naked body was the hanging man outside the prison before. Since he was a stranger, and his face was so flushed that he seemed near death, her attention didn’t focus on gender differences.

But this time was different, acquaintances coupled with embarrassing bondage, and reactions caused by the bondage.

Made Siber immediately focus on the key point.

In such a situation, how could she not feel awkward?

She now deeply regretted her excessive curiosity. Why did she climb these stairs, why did she peer inside the door?

Can she go back downstairs now?

Can time turn back?

Siber lowered her head, her toes in shoes nearly poking a hole with embarrassment.

While Siber regretted coming up the stairs to this place; on the other side, Angel watched Siber with interest, curious as to how she arrived here.

Below, the Rainbow Illusion, though low-level, wasn’t something a common person could just traverse.

How did Siber manage it?