Chapter 397: Cut Off
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Hey, what are ya thinking about??” Shadow quickly grew frustrated at Angor’s response. “Get this thing off my b*tt. I can’t use my hands right now.”
Angor removed some of Shadow’s restraints. When the man crouched on the floor, he noticed that it wasn’t a “tail” behind Shadow, but an eel-like creature with a slickery body which had its bite on Shadow’s buttock.
“Oh. I thought you’re... pfft.”
Angor was still cackling uncontrollably. He couldn’t help it. Shadow looked so funny!
For some reason, Shadow didn’t seem bothered by it. “Well, it’s not gonna get inside. I’m holding my a*s together real tight! The fish can’t beat my Bloodline-enhanced body. You see, I can even kill it with my b*tt. I didn’t do it ’cause I don’t want a scar on my backdoor.”
Angor had no idea what Shadow was trying to show by those words, and he didn’t wish to continue with this topic either.
Kill a fish using someone’s b*tt... Oh man, he couldn’t “unthink” that now.
“Oof, I didn’t expect you to come for real. I thought you got my message and went to Silent Hill already,” Shadow said. He was sincerely grateful for Angor’s help. “And you came just in time too. This blood stuff has something in it that taints my soul, and I can never get off those chains by myself. A little longer and you’ll see my bones here instead.
“Everyone who followed that old witch is crazy!” Shadow kept cursing while Angor helped him to remove the chains. The man was extremely angry even though he was imprisoned for less a day.
“Message?” Angor didn’t know that Shadow had sent him a letter with the help of the Krakok brothers. However, it wasn’t time to talk about this now. “So, did a wizard do this?”
Shadow shook his head. “She didn’t, yet. But she changed all the traps! When Isabella and my teacher gave me the challenge, they already told me the correct route. But then I ran into all sorts of traps deadly to level-3 apprentices. I was captured. Then I learned that SHE tampered with the traps just to bully me.”
“Who’s ‘she’?” Angor assumed that this unknown individual might be the one controlling the strange butterflies as well as the one who had been monitoring him.
“Shhh. She’s right inside Dark Castle. Mentioning her name will bring her to us. I’ll tell you once we get out.” Shadow suddenly grew confused and asked, “Hey wait... How did you get in here? She didn’t stop you?”
Angor spread a hand and displayed the image of a butterfly.
“Is ‘she’ behind this thing?”
Shadow nodded and widened his eyes. “Don’t tell me you fought her?”
“No,” Angor said as he canceled the illusion. He then described his brief adventure in Dark Castle to Shadow, apart from the part about using his own illusion to trick others.
“You did fight her then. Her butterfly counts. And you actually slipped past her? You should be thankful that she hasn’t used her true power on you, or you’ll be dead before you know it.”
Shadow then looked at Venees. “I’ve been wondering... Where did you learn about your illusions? I never know apprentice Illusionist can trick a real wizard.”
“I’ll keep that my trade secret. Let’s talk about you. What about your plan now?”
“Plan?” Shadow shrugged. “No plan anymore. Let’s get the f*ck out by taking the way you came from.”
“But what about your mission?”
“Let’s run and see. I’ll still try my best to finish that challenge. It determines whether I can finally become a wizard,” Shadow said. He put both hands on Angor’s shoulders as he continued, “Thank you, really. I can’t believe you came to help after reading my message. Just... help me get Naga. Once I’m done, I’ll forget about everything that happened in Deadmen’s Dent, and I’ll pay you a favor instead.”
“I didn’t get your message. I came here for something else, and I’m afraid I can’t help with your quest.”
“Wait, you didn’t? Then why did you come to me?”
Angor briefly explained what he heard from Grand Priest.
“Are you absolutely sure the old man was right?” Shadow looked at Toby.
“I don’t know, but I do know that Toby needs Soul Orbs right now.”
Angor told Shadow about Toby’s condition because he needed to sooner or later. And he hoped Shadow, who knew about Dark Castle, could provide some advice about this matter.
“I don’t know about Soul Orbs,” Shadow said as he considered, “so I can’t tell you where to find’em. You just help me get Naga for now. You said the bird will look for those orbs, right? If it moves again when we’re on our way, I’ll just go with you to find those orbs first. Come on, let’s help each other. We both need it.”
Angor didn’t agree right away. Instead, he pointed at Venees first.
“Let’s interrogate her for what we need.”
“... I suggest that we don’t. ‘She’ is probably watching us right now.”
...
They quickly left the prison area.
Angor decided to accompany Shadow for now. They didn’t know where to go yet, so they might as well keep moving together.
“Oh right, do you have clothes? They took everything from me,” Shadow asked. He was walking behind Angor while being naked.
Without a word, Angor found a random suit and tossed it to Shadow.
Shadow got dressed and used Spirit Bond again so that they could communicate better.
They had arrived where the black-haired woman was bathing. She was still at it. While Shadow and Angor walked past the room with their bodies concealed, the woman was licking at some virgin blood from another corpse.
“They’re trying to learn Queen Mary’s way, but they’re never going to learn the real thing,” Shadow scoffed while speaking through Spirit Bond. “They’re stupid, you know? Mortal blood can’t give them anything.”
“Are you feeling sorry for the mortals?” Angor joked.
“Heh. No. I guess you already knew that I only like blond hair and blue eyes. The others can die and I won’t care a thing about them.”
After the bathroom was long stairs that led upward.
Angor suddenly stopped moving when they were standing in the middle of the stairs. “Wait, the portal is gone.”
He clearly remembered where the entrance portal was, and he couldn’t see it.
Shadow grimaced as well. “Looks like ‘she’ doesn’t want us to leave.”
Since the castle was full of deadly traps and confusing passages... They both thought about turning back.
“Let’s find that woman and ask her to show us the way,” Shadow said. He didn’t want to do this while “she” was watching, but they didn’t have another choice right now.
The way back was peaceful enough. Venees was still unconscious. Shadow moved closer and slapped her face.
Before Venees could realize what had happened, Shadow lifted her up in the air by the neck. “Answer my question or become my puppet. Your choice.”
While speaking, Shadow displayed his puppet strings.
Those inside Dark Castle already heard about Diablo’s plan since Isabella informed them. And they fully knew how terrible these strings were.
Venees almost wet her pants.
“Any... anything,” Venees replied while glancing at Angor. Compared to Diablo, she was more terrified of this silent gentleman, who probably tricked her multiple times.
Diablo stripped the woman’s shadow and placed it inside a small sack.
“This won’t affect you for now. I’ll give it back when I’m done.”
Venees checked the sack and nodded slowly. As a fresh apprentice, she couldn’t hope to oppose Diablo.
“Get us out of here. The portal we came from is closed,” Angor said.
“Y-yes. I’ll lead the way.”
Angor and Shadow activated their invisibility effect again while Venees walked ahead. She thought about asking the woman in the bath for help. In the end, she decided not to, especially when she saw that her rival was ready to taunt her again.
They arrived at the original portal spot.
“It’s... deactivated,” Veenes looked around for a while and said in a low voice.
“How to open it again? I have magic crystals on me if that’s what we need,” Angor said.
“No... Someone closed it from the main control room. Now we can only take the main path to leave.”
“That’s where we’re going then. You first.”
Venees seemed really scared now. “I can take you there. But bear in mind, this is floor B9. And I don’t know if we can walk all the way to the outside at all.
“Because this route isn’t meant for humans.”