Warlock Apprentice

When Shadow approached to carefully examine Angor, Toby immediately began to attack him again.

Shadow simply huffed. The bird might be a big trouble inside that mist illusion, but they were now inside a narrow room where speed and flying weren't so much of an advantage.

With a flicker of his mind, Shadow activated his Magma Salamander power again. When his skin was hard enough to withstand Toby's attacks, he reached out a hand to grab the bird.

However, he suddenly felt his heart twitching again. Before he could do anything, the great pain canceled the power of his bloodline just when Toby's next attack connected with his chest.

Caught defenseless, Shadow found himself knocked flying against a wall, where he then landed on a pile of broken debris.

The man moaned painfully. Toby's attack was completely negligible compared to the tearing pain assaulting his heart, which only grew worse and worse as if his beating heart were going to explode.

Toby had no idea what had just happened to his enemy. He only knew that this "Shadow" man was the bad guy who just killed Angor.

When he thought about Angor's death, Toby cried and felt an immense rage building up.

To Toby, if both Greya and Angor left him, he would never have anyone else who would care for him so much.

He recalled the moment he was born under Greya's hands, where the great Gourmet Wizard used the body parts of legendary beasts as "spice" which bestowed different emotions to him.

At that time, Greya never expected that she would defy the primal rule of nature by creating a life form.

Toby didn't show any supernatural power after he was born. However, right at the moment when he came into existence, Greya did feel an overwhelming aura looming around her as if she were facing a legendary wizard.

The great might turned into emotions of sorrow, joy, hatred, and rage; it then sank into Toby's small form.

Greya never understood what she saw. Aside from his above-average intelligence, the bird only acted like an ordinary seafowl during the process of his growth. To be safe, Greya once warned Toby that he should never let any strange emotions loose if they actually showed up.

Yet at this point, Toby could no longer heed that advice.

He felt sad when he was betrayed by his new partner. He felt angry when he saw Eyeless being sold as a slave. He was depressed when he learned the possible death of Greya. Despite that, none of those emotions surpassed what he felt right now.

When he saw his young master died right in front of him, Toby stopped controlling his emotions.

Different sentiments, including something that didn't fit with the situation, began to emerge from his mind.

Among all of the emotions, extreme sorrow stood upon all. As it grew stronger, Toby could feel something physically crawling out from his body.

For a brief and blurry moment, Toby sensed the figure of a great beast looming over an imaginary sky.

When Toby managed to look around again, he saw his feathers puffing out violently, which tore his dress into bloody shreds.

The exploding emotions triggered something inside him; a visible gray aura came surging into the area.

Any seasoned wizard here would be greatly surprised to see the very sequence of gravity showing its physical form in this world.

There was such a lump of energy aura in the center of Sunders' Sorcerer's Garden.

Toby's aura wasn't as thick, but it had begun to approach the level of natural law.

Toby didn't know why he suddenly released the aura, but he clearly knew what it was. Also, he felt stronger; his sequence of gravity had gained a whole new level.

As Toby pondered over the situation, he suddenly heard Shadow's painful moans.

When he looked up at Shadow, his great sorrow immediately became an uncontrollable rage.

Without waiting any longer, Toby began to attack the man on the ground by using his new power of gravity.

Unlike before, he could now unleash the power into a distance, just like a long-range attack.

It seemed weaker compared to his body slams, but with time, Toby could learn how to use such power in different and deadly ways.

However, it was something for later. Now, Toby only used his new power in the most primitive way, which was to attack Shadow by hurling gravity waves like bullets.

…

Continuous shock waves caused bruises for form all over Shadow's body.

Shadow couldn't move while his heart was tearing up in pain, but he couldn't just ignore Toby's attacks either. Therefore, he ordered the Krakoks to defend him for the time being.

Both the Krakoks and Toby were adept at speed, which was quite useless in this small room. They gradually entered into a stalemate.

As the creatures fought, Shadow yelled out loudly to ease his pain, "Why is this happening?! HE SAT THERE ON HIS OWN!! I f*cking warned him!

"Damn you! I can't die here! What's the f*cking deal?!"

There was no doubt that his heartache was caused by Kurna's Pact. He didn't directly cause Angor's condition, so the pact didn't blame him for Angor's injury, seeing how the pain didn't come when the small door torn through Angor's chest.

But why now?

And this was getting unbearable!

Shadow suddenly remembered something and struggled toward Angor by crawling slowly.

When he saw Shadow moving toward Angor, Toby ignored the Krakoks and lashed out at Shadow again.

"Gahhh!"

Shadow's right hand was bent in a strange angle under Toby's kick.

Toby went away to prepare for another attack.

"STOP IT, if you want to see your damn master alive!" Shadow barked.

Toby halted his attack after he heard those words. He slowly fluttered and landed beside Angor's "corpse".

Toby thought Angor was dead since the wound on Angor's chest looked so terrible, but now that he took another close look, he could see Angor's chest still rising slowly… albeit barely.

As Toby regained hope, Shadow had reached Angor and began to examine him.

"Sh*t! He's not dead yet!"

The Kurna's Pact had no problem with the Krakoks' door; it was punishing him for not saving Angor's life.

And the pact was still working because it believed that Angor could still be saved.

Shadow cursed, and despite his unwillingness, he had to take care of Angor's wound in order not to get burned alive by the magic covenant.

"Outta my way, filthy chicken!"

Toby silently stepped aside. He would bear with the verbal assault as long as Angor could come back to him.

"That coat—a built-in level-1 defense cantrip?!" Shadow exclaimed in surprise as he removed Angor's outer outfit. This suit alone would sell for several thousand crystals out there.

Next was Angor's shirt.

"What the hell is this?" Shadow saw a pendant in front of Angor's chest—something that looked like a glazed sphere.

Shadow inspected for a second and regarded it as a common decoration. He then turned to observe Angor's wrist.

"A mid-tier space bracelet… with an extra enchantment?!"

Shadow didn't know alchemy, but as someone who came from Floating Mech City, he was good at identifying magical items.

"Damn… it already got an owner."

Shadow really wanted to question Angor's identity now. These two items were worth at least 50,000 magic crystals if sold on any market.

There weren't many wizards who could carry so much money around. How did a level-2 apprentice get his hands on such great trophies?

Instead of thinking about Angor's alchemist title, Shadow believed that Angor came from someone powerful.

While he endured the great jealousy, Shadow managed to look away from the valuable bracelet and looked at Angor's bleeding chest.

Three ribs on the left were broken, but the heart was unharmed.

Shadow glared at his Krakoks and complained, "Why didn't you move your door just a little bit farther?! Then he'd have died!"

All the bleeding was caused by external wounds. Shadow cast a spell to temporary affix Angor's bones and used Heal to seal the other injuries.

When Angor was stabilized, Shadow found his heartache gone.

"B*tch. I spent all my mana again! I got these wounds from your damn bird, and I still have to look after you!" Shadow kept cursing. "And you only need to sleep!"

When Toby saw Angor was safe, he suddenly felt faint and crashed alongside Angor.

"… And your bird! Just like you!" Shadow picked Toby up. Once he made sure that the bird was simply unconscious, he then tossed him back at Angor.