Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 3055: Chapter 3056: Encirclement

The time goes back to half a minute ago.

Just as the Witch Sharon had guessed, both the iridescent silk thread and Aex’s reminder were illusions cast by Angel.

Under normal circumstances, Witch Sharon would have noticed the peculiarities of the thread and the sound. However, the special effects of the Art of Nightmare Illusion disturbed her five senses, putting her in a bewildered state, causing her to overlook the oddities.

The reason Angel did this wasn’t to trick her on purpose but to make a final confirmation.

Before this, he had already roughly pinpointed the location of the substitute object, most likely on her necklace, but he had only one chance to act, so to avoid unexpected issues, he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

By warning Witch Sharon to be careful behind her and deliberately creating a bloody illusion, in the chaos, Witch Sharon would inevitably choose to dodge.

And both the method and direction of her evasion were guided by the bloody illusion created by Angel’s illusion technique.

Which is to say that Witch Sharon’s choice to roll away and her direction of evasion were all deliberately designed by Angel.

As Witch Sharon rolled, the necklace on her neck also revealed a corner due to her body shaking... Angel thus captured the micro-carving of two human-faced patterned stone pillars strung on the necklace.

This was the substitute object!

Almost at the moment he saw the substitute object, Angel took action.

At that time, Angel had already turned into a shadow, quietly lying on the ground; when Witch Sharon rolled, she stepped on the shadow that Earl Mi had transformed into, and it was then that Angel took action.

Witch Sharon’s necklace was not an alchemy tool, so there was no anomaly when it was removed, which is why Witch Sharon did not immediately realize her necklace was missing.

...

"So it was you." The man in the suit, Stop, gazed at Angel.

Aex: "Do you know him?"

Stop didn’t answer. Instead, Witch Sharon spoke up: "We saw him at noon in the Starry District."

Witch Sharon paused, looking at Angel: "Who exactly are you? What... do you intend to do with my item?"

In front of Witch Sharon, Angel put the necklace into his bracelet before speaking: "I introduced myself before, and has Witch Sharon already forgotten?"

"Furthermore, I’m just retrieving my item."

Retrieving your item? Witch Sharon was a bit puzzled, but Angel seemed disinclined to explain, instead ignoring her and turning to ask Aex.

"Mr. Aex, you should remember me, right?"

Aex hesitated a bit before nodding: "I remember."

Angel smiled slightly, looking polite and courteous: "I am very grateful for Mr. Aex’s generous protection before... but I am also quite surprised that Mr. Aex would appear here. Could you enlighten me?"

Aex: "Earlier, you said you’re not from the Birlos Family."

Angel nodded: "That’s right, I’m not familiar with the Birlos Family at all. Or, I would say, I don’t know anyone from the Birlos Family."

Aex furrowed his brow: "Since you’re not from the Birlos Family, why care about where I appear?"

"Although I’m not from the Birlos Family, the things you’ve done have not only harmed the Birlos Family. The scope of impact is quite broad." Angel put on a troubled expression: "I heard that the Sky Tower has suffered a great impact. And I, well, have some connections to the Sky Mechanical City."

Sky Tower, Sky Mechanical City. A flash of enlightenment passed through Aex’s eyes. Although it was their first time here in the Southern Domain, they had some understanding of the organizations and extraordinary cities here.

Sky Mechanical City is the largest alchemical trade center in the Southern Domain and also the holy land for alchemists’ practice.

If Angel is connected to Sky Mechanical City, Aex really wouldn’t know what to say. After all, the damage to the Sky Tower Registration Office is an established fact.

At that time, Stop had even chosen the rooftop of the Sky Tower Registration Office as the battlefield, making it impossible to dissociate from the incident.

Aex looked a bit remorseful: "You... we had no intention of becoming enemies with Sky Mechanical City, and the damage to the Sky Tower Registration Office was actually an accident..."

Aex was about to explain further, but before he could finish, Stop interrupted: "No need to say too much, you and Sharon go prepare for the leap transition."

Stop opened his mouth, wanting to argue back, but in the end, he just rubbed his nose and accepted it.

Witch Sharon didn’t resist either, she was silently preparing for the leap transition while glaring venomously at Angel, seemingly intent on memorizing him thoroughly.

At this moment, Stop spoke again: "I’m curious, how did you know about the damage to the Sky Tower Registration Office while you were in Paradise Land?"

Angel smiled but said nothing.

Stop raised his chin slightly, staring at Angel as if he saw through everything: "You’re lying."

"Someone from the Birlos Family contacted you, didn’t they?" Otherwise, how could Angel have known about the situation at the Sky Tower Registration Office while in Paradise Land.

"Your conversation with Aex wasn’t about finding out why he was here; it was to buy time. The Birlos Family asked you to do so."

"And when you said you’re connected to Sky Mechanical City, that’s actually true. Any wizard in the Southern Domain who has no connection with Sky Mechanical City would be lying." After all, Sky Mechanical City is the gold flow hub and the birthplace of mechanical alchemy in the Southern Domain.

Nowadays, railways, steam trains, and steam airships have appeared in most countries of the Southern Domain; these technologies, seemingly invented by Yirong Country, are actually spearheaded by Sky Mechanical City behind the scenes.

The everyday lives of ordinary people are closely tied to Sky Mechanical City, let alone official wizards.

So, in Stop’s view, Angel claiming to be related to Sky Mechanical City was just rhetoric.

Angel, hearing this, shook his head and chuckled lightly: "Although there’s a mistake in every sentence you just said, you were right about one thing: I am buying time."

Angel indeed did not know about the Sky Tower Registration Office incident, nor had anyone from the Birlos Family contacted him... However, the Black Earl did reach out to him.

Shortly after the space sealing shattered, Black Earl discovered Angel and contacted him through an unbroken mind ribbon.

At that moment, Angel, having already acquired the necklace, was preparing to retreat with Dox, never expecting that Black Earl would suddenly speak to him.

After a brief exchange, Angel agreed to help Black Earl stall Stop and the others.

Although uncertain why Black Earl wanted to help obstruct this group for the Birlos Family, stalling for time was no difficult task... After all, Angel and Dox had refrained from lingering before because they couldn’t win; but now that Black Earl was prepared to intervene personally and had brought most of the Birlos Family’s wizards, what was there to fear?

Black Earl had arranged special means outside, ready to intercept this group, and all Angel needed to do was utter a few words to delay time.

Even in the face of real danger, Black Earl had promised to come in and rescue him; naturally, Angel would not refuse.

Angel: "Actually, I’m also curious. You clearly know that I’m stalling for time, yet you’re still talking with me unhurriedly. Why is that? What gives you such confidence?"

"I just like it when people question me." Stop suddenly laughed, looking at Angel with interest. "Why don’t you guess? Guess where my confidence comes from?"

Angel was just casually asking, thinking he was stalling for time, but didn’t expect Stop to admit it openly.

Looking at him, he really doesn’t seem worried about the time issue?

You should know, outside, the Black Earl is presiding over the interception; is he confident enough to leave in front of the Black Earl?

Angel thought for a moment and said, "Just relying on Witch Sharon as a Space Wizard shouldn’t give you such strong confidence. Is it because of Mr. Aex?"

Stop laughed even more happily.

"Did I guess correctly?" Angel raised an eyebrow. The reason he thought of Aex was that he still didn’t understand how Aex managed to cut off his realm using the high-hanging rainbow map and the dangling iridescent silk threads.

One must know that the illusion technique he used was not an ordinary one, as it includes the addition of the green pattern.

The green pattern is part of the Nightmare Realm’s energy system.

This kind of composite energy-created illusionary realm would be difficult for even the Black Earl to break through solely by technique. How did Aex make the illusion disappear so effortlessly? Moreover, Aex seemed completely unaffected by any backlash, which left Angel very puzzled.

"Are you curious about how Aex did it? Why don’t you guess again?"

When Stop said this, his expression showed a bit of loss of control, even exhibiting asymmetrical eyes. This wasn’t impatience but rather a sort of excitement-induced grimace.

Combined with his snug suit, Angel felt as though he was facing a violent man in a suit.

However, this time, Angel didn’t speak.

For one, he truly couldn’t guess; for another, Witch Sharon had already prepared a leap transition gate, and they could leave through it at any time.

Seeing this scene, without needing a signal, the Black Earl had already flashed onto the platform with the Birlos Family members.

"Take action! Destroy the leap transition gate!" said a purple-haired wizard.

As he appeared, he created a giant purple fire bud. The bud opened, and countless purple petals were scattered by the wind, targeting that leap transition gate.

Although this was the first time Angel saw this wizard, he also knew his identity: "Purple Fire" Gailuo.

Along with Gailuo’s action were "Rainforest" Shayina, and the Sea Eagle and Yaji who had previously lost on the platform.

These were the wizards directly taking action to destroy the leap transition gate, but it didn’t mean there were only four wizards.

Figures like the Black Earl, Elder Shu, Elder Yue, Dress, and former Night Tree members... all appeared near the platform and, through some special means, set up a gigantic confining array.

The confining array was intricate, but it was already formed from a broad perspective, which was the result of Angel buying them a lot of time.

When the confining array was completed, Gailuo, Shayina, and other wizards also attacked the leap transition gate.

However, as these attacks were rushed, they didn’t thoroughly destroy the leap transition gate, only creating a slight crack in it.

Under normal circumstances, a small crack wouldn’t affect the use of the leap transition gate.

But at this moment, with the confining array sealing the space, the leap transition gate was already difficult to use; if it was slightly damaged, it would be even more unusable.

It could be said that now Stop and the others had only one path: breaking through by force.

Simply speaking of breaking through by force, Angel thought they might still have some hope... because he had already learned from the Black Earl that their controllable magical creatures were not just the Shallow Sea Strongman; there were also the Isolated Island Strongman and a crocodile-headed monster.

Three Official Wizards plus three Wizard Level Magical Creatures might succeed in breaking through.

However, the price of successfully breaking through was also high; they might have to abandon a few magical creatures at that time.

While Angel was thinking this, from afar, the trapped Stop suddenly laughed out loud: "So many wizards attacking us, it’s really exciting... But, can a single confining array keep us here?"

As Stop said this, he looked at Angel: "Weren’t you curious about our trump card? Now, you have a chance to witness it."

Stop’s sudden mad words did not affect everyone; they knew well that Stop was just a pleasure-seeker, the more they reacted to him, the happier he became.

Moreover, they also didn’t believe that Stop really had a way to leave. The confining array presided over by the Black Earl could not be easily broken, could it?

However, Angel was different from the others. He could see that there was some mental issue with this suited thug, but he always felt that Stop’s words might not be lies.

They really might have some sort of confidence.

Furthermore, Witch Sharon and Aex’s expressions were very calm, which was obviously a bit unusual.

Angel did not speak, just silently watched the other side.

He thought Stop might do something astonishing, like... summoning reinforcements or using some other out-of-discussion method.

But they did nothing, only creating a giant light shield near the leap transition gate.

Everyone didn’t pay attention and let them perform their actions. In their view, Stop and the others were already a turtle in a jar, and any methods they used were in vain.

When the light shield appeared, they didn’t execute any other actions, just entered the leap transition gate one by one.

Clearly, everyone believed the leap transition gate shouldn’t work, but they went in anyway, without any obstruction, as if the confining array was just a joke.

The first to enter the leap transition gate was Aex, who, before entering, gave an apologetic look at Angel, his gaze seemingly saying: We have no intention of being enemies with the Sky Mechanical City.

The second to enter the leap transition gate was Witch Sharon, who also looked at Angel, with doubt in her eyes.

As Witch Sharon entered the leap transition gate, everyone finally sensed something was wrong; Purple Fire Gailuo was the first to rush over. But the light shield created with the combined force of three people couldn’t be broken in a short time.

At this moment, Stop entered the leap transition gate.

He was the last to enter the leap transition gate, and before entering, he made a bow gesture towards everyone, as if making a final salute for this absurd play.

After finishing all this, Stop slowly faded into the leap transition gate.

The door closed, and they were gone.