Chapter 1275: Section 1276: Blood Light Enveloping
Off the coast of Old Earth Continent, a crack suddenly tore through the azure sky.
Three figures emerged from the crack.
The two men leading the way were dressed like nobility, followed a step behind by a youth in a White Bear costume, who appeared somewhat uncontrollably agitated.
These three were none other than Mentor Sanders and his Apprentices, along with White Bear Hobson.
After confirming that Dororo’s visions were almost all related to Eulica, Angel decided to take the White Bear with him.
With the White Bear’s choice, and the recent sighting of Eulica, there was certainly an inner connection between the two, perhaps the White Bear was the key to restraining Eulica’s frenzied madness!
...
“Is that Edge Island up ahead?” the White Bear inquired, gazing at the faint outline of the coast in the distance, “Why… would she come here?”
White Bear was still unaware of Eulica’s true identity, but since her childhood memories had been erased, the person involved must be a Transcendent. And Transcendents, why would they come to this Forbidden Land of the Elemental Wizards?
Although White Bear was not of the Element side, he felt quite uncomfortable even before approaching Edge Island.
“When you see her, you’ll know why,” Angel replied before taking out the Gondola and boarding the vessel first.
Soon, the fantastical silhouette of the Gondola swept across the sky and vanished from sight.
Angel was at full throttle, flying as fast as possible towards Pat Manor. If not for the need to take White Bear with him, he would have even considered using the Gravity Meridian to fly.
The fact that Eulica had gone mad had completely caught Angel off guard. From Frode’s descriptions, Lyon was in low spirits, radiating a sense of fear even in the Wilderness of Dreams.
Angel couldn’t begin to imagine what Lyon had gone through, or what Pat Manor had turned into now.
Seeing Angel’s deeply furrowed brow, Sanders knew what his Apprentice was worried about. He tapped the table lightly, and a crisp sound accompanied by a surge of strange energy entered Angel’s ears, instantly clearing his mind of its troubles.
“Don’t overthink it. You had Dororo make another Prophecy afterwards, didn’t you? So, set your mind at ease,” Sanders advised.
Angel nodded. When they left Illusion Demon Island, he had requested Dororo to check on Pat Manor again for him. This time, however, Dororo’s vision was even more blurred than before. But what he could decipher was that, at least for now, both Lyon and Jon seemed to be unaffected.
“I understand,” Angel whispered. With the help of Sanders’ Spell Technique, he temporarily cleared his troubled thoughts and began to ponder the reason behind the madness.
“Why would she suddenly go mad?” Angel murmured softly. Not including his travels, the last time he returned to Pat Manor, he had stayed there for nearly half a year.
During that time, he never noticed anything wrong with Eulica.
After Suise returned, Eulica showed no abnormalities, and perhaps due to some emotional reason, she even became gentler.
But what was the catalyst that drove her into madness?
According to the Tea Party news from the Kulakuka Tribe’s young girl, Eulica’s change had likely not occurred within recent months. Perhaps as far back as half a year ago, Eulica had already been exhibiting strange symptoms, but since she often stayed alone in the stilt house, few people noticed.
The reason triggering Eulica’s frenzy must have appeared long before, possibly lurking inside her all the while.
“Could it be…” Angel suddenly thought of something, looking up towards Sanders seated opposite of him, “Mentor, if a Wizard’s spiritual power suffered a great trauma, could it cause them to descend into madness?”
Sanders replied, “It depends on the extent of the injury and how deep the frenzy goes.”
Angel looked puzzled, waiting for Sanders to continue.
“Spiritual power sustaining injury could indeed change a person’s behaviour drastically, but it’s not from a fundamental change in their personality. It’s a chain reaction caused by damage to the spiritual power. A frenzied state resulting from such a cause is possible; it’s mostly about feeling mental discomfort and trying to vent dissatisfaction through madness, reckless behavior, and willfulness.”
“For an Official Wizard, such behavioral frenzy can be controlled.”
Angel frowned, “Are you saying that uncontrollable madness would not be due to spiritual damage?”
Sanders nodded, “That’s one way to put it. Of course, this assumes the individual in question is an Official Wizard. Mortals or Wizard Apprentices are not included in this assumption.”
Angel sank into thought. On the day he returned to Pat Manor, he had a conflict with Eulica and realized then that there was something wrong with her spiritual power. Later, when Suise returned, Angel learned from him that Eulica’s mental trauma was very severe. Suise had bought many medicines, and he also concocted some low-level potions himself, but their effects on Eulica were minuscule. Previously, when Angel went back to Flourish Continent, Suise even asked him to help purchase some medicine for mental injuries.
Angel had thought that Eulica’s madness was related to her injured spiritual power, but now it seemed there was no direct connection?
“Although it’s difficult for spiritual damage alone to cause uncontrollable madness in an Official Wizard,” Sanders suddenly said, “once spiritual power is damaged, one becomes much more susceptible to mental assault and various specially targeted mental forces. Due to the difficulty in Warding them off, all sorts of post-injury syndromes can appear, leading to madness. It’s not an impossibility.”
At the unexpected turn in Sanders’ explanation, Angel paused momentarily.
A piece of information flashed through his mind, and he had the nagging feeling that he had overlooked something.
The clue was fleeting, and by the time he tried to recall it, he couldn’t catch its tail. Still, he had a strange sense that something must have happened during his stay in Pat Manor for those several months, something he had not noticed at the time.
Angel got lost in his memories.
On the other side, White Bear listened to the conversation between Angel and Sanders. Although the content of the discussion was actually quite clear, neither of them specified the particular situation or who was involved. This left White Bear unable to interject and feeling anxious at the same time.
He had a vague feeling that the “insane” person they were talking about might just be the one he was looking for.
…
Sanders was leaning on the gunwale, quietly observing his surroundings.
He wasn’t too concerned about Angel’s worries; instead, his curiosity about this continent was growing stronger.
Edge Island was not new to him. He had learned that this place was a Forbidden Magic Land and had come to investigate out of curiosity, but leaving without discovering anything.
Now, returning to Edge Island and sensing the elemental energy that was completely absent around him, he still felt it was very strange.
The “Mystery of Elemental Disappearance on Edge Island” task still hung unfinished in every Witcher Organization’s task list. Many wizards had tried their luck here but all had returned empty-handed, even the Crown Star Church had organized large-scale deductions to no avail.
This shrouded Edge Island in a mysterious veil.
The current consensus in the Wizards’ Realm was that there might be some sort of massive Magical Energy Array underground, draining the elemental energy for its own use. But despite many years having passed, no one had found this so-called “Magical Energy Array.”
Returning to Edge Island this time, Sanders expected to stay for a while and considered exploring the mystery of the elemental disappearance once more.
After about half a day, as the evening’s rosy afterglow gradually faded from the edge of the sky, the Goddess of Night spread out her starry canopy, returning the world to silence.
At this moment, a Gondola streaking through the clouds suddenly came to a halt.
Through the pale mists, they could see a land not far away, dotted with houses.
There lay their destination, Angel’s homeland—the Goldfinch Empire, Yamei Province, one of Waterford’s subordinate towns, Gru Town.
As Angel gazed at his distant homeland, there was no homesickness in his eyes, only concern.
In the imagery that Dororo had sent back then, Pat Manor was enshrouded in a faint blood light. Now, looking closer, he could still see the blood light, and it was even clearer.
Sanders also noticed the blood light and frowned, “This kind of blood light is a bit strange, seems like some kind of seal projection?”
A seal? Angel looked towards Sanders, wanting more explanation, but Sanders did not speak further and instead stepped off the Gondola first.
Angel stowed the Gondola away and, along with White Bear, also descended from the sky.
They landed right on a road, with fields and pastures on either side. Following the road forward would lead them straight to Gru Town.
“There’s a weird energy swirling within that manor; let’s go check it out first,” Sanders said, heading in the direction of Gru Town.
The time was now during the Resurrection Moon, the midst of deep winter.
Gru Town was covered in a heavy snow, and the mountains and forests were a white expanse. The town of Gru in the distance was also blanketed in snow. With strong winds stirring up the snow dust, it seemed as though the world was enveloped in a white veil.
From afar, the pastures echoed with the bleating of sheep.
Angel turned to look and saw flocks of winter sheep stepping through the snow, walking in lines toward the pen, and he could vaguely make out the figures of herdsmen with whips behind the sheep.
Seeing this scene, Angel’s heart was somewhat relieved.
From that corner of the pasture, one could generally observe the situation across most of Gru Town. Since the herdsmen were still at work and the sheep were marching in such an orderly manner, it seemed that the residents of Gru Town hadn’t been affected.
At least, Euilca’s madness might still be suppressed by Suise to a controllable edge.
Soon, they arrived near the sentry post of Gru Town.
“There used to be traces of Illusion Technique around here,” Sanders said glancing at Angel. “Did you do this?”
Angel nodded, “When the Goldfinch Empire was engulfed in war, to prevent the townspeople from being affected, I set up an illusion. After the war ended, I dispelled it.”
Inside the sentry post was a Knight, huddled inside his armor, warming himself by the fire.
This Knight was no stranger to Angel; he was the son of Uncle George, the Sheriff of Gru Town, Jordan.
Perhaps too exhausted, Jordan was dozing off at the post, breathing steadily, in a light slumber.
Angel and the others passed the sentry post without waking him.
The streets in the town were clean, with the snow having been swept to the sides. This also indicated that the townspeople were likely not experiencing anything out of the ordinary.
Since it was deep winter and night had already fallen, most families were staying inside. Occasionally, someone looked out the window and saw Angel and the others but, given White Bear’s peculiar attire and Sanders’s chilling aura, no one dared to come out.