Chapter 1229: Section 1230 Strange Transformation
The little girl was very close to Angel, and her attack was as swift as lightning. Even though Angel’s reaction time had greatly improved, it was still not easy to dodge the sneak attack at such close range.
Angel could see the strange, inhuman hand was about to touch him.
Just then, there was a clear, clanging sound.
A crimson chain had locked onto the wrist of the monstrous hand, sparking as it did so.
It was Popota who had made a move, but since his strength had almost dropped to that of a Junior Apprentice, he could only hinder for a moment before being recoiled by a terrifying force transmitted through the chain, sending him flying and crashing heavily ten meters away.
However, the moment Popota intervened created a window of opportunity for Angel to respond.
Not only did Angel successfully evade the sneak attack, but he even took the opportunity to counterattack.
The little girl was kicked fiercely away, hitting a distant tree. The tree snapped at the trunk, and the little girl slowly slid down, falling to a seated position on the ground.
“Are you okay?” Angel, with a light tap of his foot, instantly moved beside Popota.
Popota’s cloak had been lifted, revealing his gaunt, nearly skeletal and unusually pale cheeks.
“I’m fine,” Popota whispered in a low voice.
After verifying with “Detect Injury” that Popota wasn’t seriously harmed, Angel’s gaze then shifted toward the culprit in the distance. Her previously mutated hand had now reverted back to a slender and pale human one, and she looked quite bedraggled while sitting on the ground.
However, that hair-raising laughter was still emanating from beneath her hair.
The little girl’s hair was disheveled, her face not visible.
But that terrifying laugh, combined with the previous sudden alteration of her hand, draped her in a veil of horror.
Angel watched her cautiously. The little girl no longer exhibited the timidity she had when surrounded by Apprentices; instead, she was filled with a bizarre sense of discordance.
Who exactly was she? And what about that transforming hand—was it a transplant, or her original appearance?
A shadow of light flickered in the depths of Angel’s eyes.
Second-Level Trick, Dissolve Illusion!
“Human?” Angel furrowed his brow, the Dissolve Illusion revealing an entirely human aura about the little girl, showing no abnormalities. But the previous transformation couldn’t possibly have been an illusion.
Angel’s gaze moved to the distance. The group of Wizard Apprentices had fled, but some hadn’t gone far and were still sneaking glances in this direction. Angel noticed that when they saw the little girl’s transformation, their eyes were filled with surprise and even a hint of fear—completely different from their previous arrogance.
It’s hard to fake such expressions, meaning that when they encountered the little girl, she hadn’t displayed such mutations?
As Angel puzzled over this, the girl seated on the ground began to move. She slowly lifted her head, and as she did so, the black hair covering her face fell to the sides, revealing an unremarkably plain and clean face.
Suddenly, the corners of her mouth curled up, and then began to split towards the back.
The corners of her mouth split all the way to the base of her ears, revealing sharp fangs and a vague glimpse of flesh and blood within!
Her face wasn’t the only thing changing; her neck also started to elongate. However, her skin elasticity seemed unable to cope with the stretching neck, causing it to split open top and bottom, exposing the flesh and bones within.
Bony spikes burst forth, and her serpentine neck lashed toward Angel.
Angel didn’t retreat but directly engaged her in a tussle.
His plan was to deal with her body first, but her head, like a writhing snake, constantly interfered with him.
Furthermore, during this process, Angel discovered that with every contact, a terrifying force could be felt.
A force he had never felt, even from Zefara.
This little girl’s physical strength was definitely much stronger than Zefara’s!
Moreover, her “serpentine” neck did not hinder her, but instead made her more agile, allowing her unexpected maneuvers.
If Angel was even slightly careless, she would coil around him. Like a white ribbon, she wound around his waist and abdomen; with just a bit of force, he would feel the dangerous illusion of being strangled.
Using “Domain Field” with green patterns, Angel managed to break free from the strangulation.
Angel leaped back, landing several meters away.
“Master, let me cooperate with you?” At that moment, Greerwu suddenly came to Angel’s side, his eyes showing a keen eagerness to try.
“Not now.”
Having said that, Angel slowly advanced, his aura rising with each step, and the golden hair covering his right eye was lifted by a surge of air.
Angel began to channel Nightmare Illusion Breath towards his right eye.
He had always wanted to attempt opening his right eye in battle, and this was an opportunity.
However, just as his right eye began to exhibit a faint glow, the little girl seemed to sense something, a dangerous intuition prompting her to suddenly stand up and retreat several steps backward.
Meanwhile, a thunderous boom suddenly echoed across the sky.
Angel was momentarily stunned, only to see the little girl’s body elongate, her legs transforming into lengthy bone tails, akin to a millipede spanning over ten meters in length!
This scene of her transforming into a centipede was entirely beyond imagination.
In the moment Angel was dumbfounded, she swiftly burrowed into the ground.
Angel immediately went on alert, wary of her bursting from the ground and launching an attack on him.
But to Angel’s surprise, she didn’t move towards him; instead, she headed to the deathly mist filled with a dense deathly aura, some ten meters away.
The ground suddenly became loose, and the fierce and terrifying little girl emerged from beneath, lunging to bite Zefara, who did not make a sound.
What was once a tiny mouth instantly became a gaping maw that swallowed Zefara whole and then without hesitation burrowed back into the ground. As the earth rolled and the millipede moved, a multitude of trees toppled, and she eventually vanished into the distance.
After a long while, Greerwu finally turned to Angel and said, “Master, she… she seems to have left.”
“I saw.”
Confusion was evident in Angel’s eyes. The enemy had suddenly attacked him, then gave up and ate Zefara before fleeing. What did that mean?
Angel couldn’t figure it out.
However, his original intention was to deal with Zefara. Now that Zefara had fallen into the hands of that monstrous creature, his fate was unlikely to be pleasant.
As for the little girl, she was shrouded in mystery. Although Angel was reluctant to invite trouble, since she had attacked him, he had to be prepared for anything.
At the very least, he needed to understand her origins!
Angel tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, quickly covering a kilometer in a flash.
On the ground, a dozen Wizard Apprentices were stumbling outwards in panic. Angel appeared directly in front of them, causing everyone to freak out.
“I bear no grudge against you. Rest assured, I just have a few questions I need you to answer for me.”
Angel’s voice was calm, and having witnessed his strength, everyone knew they stood no chance even if they joined forces. After exchanging looks, they finally calmed down.
“Sir, what would you like to ask?” The only female Apprentice stepped forward, striving to maintain a calm facade, though her eyelids twitched slightly from the strain.
“You saw what happened just now. I want to know, that little girl you were pursuing earlier, who is she?”
After some thought, the female Apprentice explained, “We don’t know her origins either. We encountered her at Thorn Ridge…”
After a while, Angel roughly understood some information about the little girl. She was someone they had come across at Thorn Ridge.
Thorn Ridge was to the southeast, not far from the Ancient Cold Ruins. It was named for the Black Thorns that grew abundantly there.
All these Apprentices had voluntarily stayed back at the Abyss Stronghold City, seeking opportunities for a breakthrough. They had teamed up to train together, setting out from Blackrock City, and had been wandering the Abyss for nearly half a year.
Half a month ago, they encountered the little girl at Thorn Ridge. At the time, she was in the midst of Thorn Ridge, bound by countless Black Thorns, nearly drained of all her blood and looking extremely weak.
For whatever reason, they ended up rescuring the little girl and brought her all the way to the Ancient Cold Ruins.
According to the little girl herself, her name was Isu.
Isu candidly admitted that she had forgotten many things; she only remembered her name. Because she was young and a potentially powerful Bloodline Apprentice, everyone took good care of her.
Everything seemed fine until a day ago, when an incident occurred.
For some unknown reason, they all fell asleep last night, and when they woke up, all sorts of resources had vanished without a trace. Along with these items, the little girl Isu had disappeared as well.
At first, they didn’t suspect Isu of stealing these things, not until someone found traces of Isu outside and saw their Spatial Capsules at her waist, which led to a series of events.
In their account, Angel heard more than once, “Isu has lost her memory,” “She was originally nice,” “No idea why she suddenly changed.”
It was evident they all initially had a favorable impression of Isu. Seeing her change had scared them all.
“Is there anything else you wish to add?” Angel glanced around; everyone shook their heads. His gaze finally rested on an Apprentice wearing a green robe with tree Patterns—the only one from Gravity Forest.
His forehead was constantly beading with sweat; he was pale and kept darting his eyes around.
“What about you? Do you have anything to add?” Angel walked closer and asked by his side.
He immediately shook his head: “I, I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”
At this point, the female Apprentice who had first spoken to Angel interjected, “Sir, he only joined our team a few days ago. He hasn’t really interacted with Isu.”
Angel nodded noncommittally, “Not knowing about Isu is fine. You can talk about other things too, like, for instance, Zefara’s matter?”