Warlock Apprentice

Saka soon entered their view when his name was mentioned.

His usual malevolent expression had gone. Saka walked inside with a bright smile.

Ness raised an eyebrow at the unusual display of his student.

What’s the deal? He’s looking for love too? Maybe I should give this succubus woman to him to vent out his desire?

When looking at Saka, Ness noticed that someone else was behind Sunders.

It was a young man with a charmingly handsome look which was amplified by his healthy blond hair and blue pupils. Although Ness was more concerned about the boy’s clothes. He was wearing a black, slim gentleman suit, properly buttoned to the third button in front of his chest. His collar revealed the white linings inside and a wine-red checkered bow-tie.

Such a dressing style was not anything special anywhere else, but it looked really interesting when the boy was placed together with Sunders.

Apart from Sunders’ top hat, walking cane, white gloves, and cape, the boy was wearing exactly the same thing as Sunders. Well, maybe the color was a bit off.

Ness quickly recalled the boy’s name. He saw this one among the recruits on The Savage. This was the new student Sunders found.

Is he trying to mimic Sunders’ style?

Ness pondered. There were many people who loved to do this. Saka once mentioned that someone in the underground market called Blackjack tended to imitate Sunders’ clothes.

Ness’ eyes glimmered when he saw the buttons on Angor’s sleeves.

No… the emblems on the buttons were Sunders’ family emblem. So… Sunders gave his personal attire to his student?

Ness reached a conclusion in the end, that Sunders was really satisfied with the boy. Thinking about this, Ness began to regard Angor in a different attitude.

While Ness went over his thoughts, Saka already reached him. He bowed to Sunders again and nodded toward Angor with a smile.

Angor pretended he did not see Saka’s gesture. He walked closer to Sunders and performed salutation to Ness as a youngster.

This was the second time for Angor to meet Ness. Previously, it was Ness who led the new recruits into Brute Cavern. At the time though, the old man did not tell them his name because he thought these weaklings should not learn who he was.

Ness responded to Angor’s politeness with a smile and put a hand on Saka’s shoulder. “This is my humble student. Do introduce yourself.”

Saka moved toward Angor and reached out a hand, still smiling.

“I’m Saka. Nice to see you.”

His slim hand remained in the air.

Angor’s lips twitched and forced himself to pull on Saka’s hand. “Eh, heh heh. Nice to see you too. Name’s Angor.”

The boy’s unwillingness was plain to see. No one minded it since he had properly responded to Saka’s greeting, and Saka’s smile did not decrease at all.

No one paid any attention to the strange atmosphere. Although Ness still wondered why his student acted so weirdly.

…

“So how’s my succubus gal? It’s yours! I guarantee her techniques will totally satisfy you,” said Ness as he pointed to the naked woman who was still staring at Sunders in a “horny” way.

“No need,” Sunders sneered.

“I knew you’d say that. Flora already told me that you’re just a knucklehead. How many witches in Brute Cavern love you and fear you at the same time? Come on. Try to learn the way of humanity,” Ness muttered his complaint, while Sunders did not seem offended at all. Angor believed that these two was probably good friends in private.

“Since this is the case…” Ness pushed the succubus woman to Saka. “You take it then. You found her soul anyway.”

Saka put an arm around the woman’s waist and smiled gently while the woman winked at him bashfully.

Then, Saka wielded a blade and cut the woman into two halves of bloody body parts. The man tossed the remains into the furnace in the room and pulled her soul into a small vial.

“I only need her soul.”

Ness paid him no mind. The girl was already dead. The soul would only keep that body running for a short time.

Angor was the only one who felt a bit depressed at what he saw. But only briefly.

His moral standard was already lowering especially ever since he came across all kinds of incidents in the wizarding world. He was not sure if he would become one of the merciless killing machines one day.

“You haven’t told me. What brought you here?” Ness looked at Sunders.

Sunders glanced at Ness’ student and his mana quickly covered the area around Saka. Saka was still smiling as if he did not notice anything.

Angor, on the other hand, noticed a faint ripple of illusion around Saka.

“A simple illusion,” Sunders explained. “It’s about Angor, and I don’t want anyone else to know about it.”

Ness nodded in acknowledgment. He already saw that the illusion meant no harm to Saka. It only stopped the sound while making Saka believe that everything was still fine.

Sunders and Ness discussed the condition of Angor’s soul and especially about the “gray fog”. Ness provided his own assumptions while giving Angor strange looks now and then.

A moment later, Ness took out several parchments and began writing something. He probably had a plan in mind.

It took some time, during which Sunders commented on the data Ness was working on. Angor could understand none of what they were talking about, so he kept his attention on Saka.

Or rather, the illusion around Saka.

Angor recognized it as a basic illusion and soon found the magic nodes for deploying it. He calculated something in his mind and reached the conclusion that he could also create the same thing with enough time.

However, the illusion also contained something he knew nothing about. Angor sensed a strange rhythm coming from the illusion as if the pendulum of a clock was moving.

The rhythm was not difficult to understand since it was Melodious Illusion, the basic of Acoustic Illusions. Angor could make something similar with enough effort.

Although… what was the point of the rhythm?

Being able to deploy the Melodious Illusion did not mean that Angor understood its effect on the entire illusion.

He already memorized everything written in Sunders’ notebook, and nothing in the book explained his question.

Angor wished to ask. However, he decided not to when he saw Sunders in a heated discussion with Ness over some kind of formula.

Some minutes later, Sunders came and extracted something from Angor’s blood. He then went back to speak with Ness again.

Angor kept observing the illusion which was simple on the outside, yet difficult to comprehend in many aspects.

If not for the situation, Angor really wished he could try the illusion out himself.

While checking the illusion, Angor also noticed that Saka kept staring at one direction with an affectionate look, as if someone in the illusion really interested him.

From what was seen, Sunders’ illusion had to have given Saka an idea that they were still close to each other in the cave. Considering how Saka had been well-behaving, the illusion probably told him that Ness was still nearby.

So… Saka could see himself, Angor, Sunders and Ness in the illusion… while Saka was staring at someone in an enthusiastic manner. There was no way Saka would look at Sunders or Ness in that way, which meant…

Angor felt a chill on his back.

Saka is staring at ME?

So, did Saka figure out who I am?

“Baron Milk” defeated Saka on the stage. As Angor remembered, when Silvia’s soul spells failed to work, Saka’s previously frenzied expression suddenly turned gentle for some reason.

And he kept mentioning some “precious star” at Baron Milk.

Saka’s current expression was exactly how he looked like on the arena… and it gave Angor goosebumps.

Angor was sure that Saka was not interested in “Baron Milk” since he was fully covered under the robe.

Saka had to have been attracted by his soul.

Angor felt he would never sleep well again when someone was drooling over his soul. That was why he stayed outside Sky Tower during that day so he could find a chance to get rid of this madman. However, he only ran into Chloe Brothers in the end.

Saka’s reaction in the illusion proved Angor’s idea.

This pervert really recognized him.

And this was bad…

Angor even thought about getting rid of Saka right here, when that guy was still trapped in the illusion.

But he could not possibly do this while Ness was still around.

Also, Angor was worrying about whether killing Saka meant the end of it. Saka was a Soul Manipulator after all.

To Soul Manipulators, “Death is only the beginning of all”.

Killing Saka might bring even more troubles. With this in mind, Angor decided to put the matter aside for now.

Besides, Saka was still not on the top of his “enemy list”. The one Angor would kill at all cost now was Hookdick.

Hookdick was also a Soul Manipulator, but that man only joined Brute Cavern half a year ago. Considering how common apprentices usually progressed, Hookdick should only know some basic spells at the moment. Killing his body would end everything.

Angor was not really sure though. As he heard, Hookdick had gone to receive some sort of “soul soil baptism”. Maybe Hookdick could earn something really good from it.

To make sure, Angor decided to go to Cloud Library and look into soul-related spells upon finishing his tower challenges.

…

After making up his mind of disregarding Saka for the moment, Angor began to observe the illusion again.

Several hours later, Ness stood up from his seat.

“Good. I’ve worked out a perfect soul-separation experiment plan according to the data of Angor’s body! Now we only have to get to it!”