Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 439: A Glimmer of Hope

In the last blink of second before Isabella’s attack connected with Angor, Angor suddenly lifted his head. A strange voice echoed from his mouth, “Isabella.”

It sounded too sharp to be a man’s voice.

Such action surprised everyone on the scene, including Bogula, who had escaped somewhere else by teleportation. Everyone gazed at the young man who appeared to be fearless in the middle of Ritual of Blood.

Upon hearing “her voice”, Isabella froze up in the air. Her spell was halted for a moment.

“Professor Isa—”

How could this damned kid speak in HER voice?

Soon enough, Isabella removed her unnecessary concerns and continued her spell. She assumed that Angor just used some kind of trick to mimic Isabelle’s voice, which meant she had all the more reason to kill this apprentice who dared to ruin her teacher’s name.

Angor only gave Isabella a determined look.

Bogula shook his head as he admired the bravery displayed by Angor. The boy didn’t back down in front of a wizard-level attack at all.

This Angor would make a promising wizard… if not for his unfortunate fate.

Despite their assumptions, Angor wasn’t showing any emotions on his face. He simply spoke in an extremely calm tone, “Lady Isabelle is now back at the southern wizarding region.”

Those words forced Isabella to stop her action again.

People were trying to figure out what the boy wanted to do. Isabelle? The very pioneer who established a brand new era for wizards a thousand years ago was back? Really?

“Are you serious? Say it again, slowly this time!” Isabella finally lifted her spell, but she did not cancel it. The spell was now hovering in the air.

Angor was still looking at Isabelle with unchanging composure. “Lady Isabelle has returned to the southern wizarding region.”

Illusion ripples suddenly emerged from Angor’s body, which slowly changed his appearance into that of a girl with white hair and cold gaze.

“Venees?! No… You’re—professor?” Isabella was using her lie-detection spell just now, and she found no lies in Angor words. Angor’s body now looked exactly like Venees but with different hair and eye color.

“Venees” was showing the particular aura that Isabella would never forget; it was Isabelle’s aura.

Upon realizing that Angor meant his words, Isabella couldn’t contain her excitement. She trembled.

A thousand years… Isabella was willing to submit her ego to someone she hated just to leave Fey Continent and look for her professor elsewhere. If her professor was really back…

Meanwhile, Angor felt greatly relieved when he noticed that Isabella had stopped her blood ritual.

I did it!

When his death was imminent, Angor recalled Shadow mentioning some interesting facts about Isabella, such as how she copied her name from Isabelle, as well as how she mimicked Isabelle’s title, “Sundown Sultan”, by using “Sundown Queen” instead.

Someone might believe that Isabella was simply using her teacher’s fame to gain profit, but Angor believed that this was because Isabella was obsessed about following her teacher’s way.

Shadow also mentioned a rumor back then.

“People said that Isabella had been secretly showing her love toward her mentor, which grew so uncontrollable that she actually forced Isabelle to leave the region.”

Angor was never interested in such gossip, but when he thought about how to force Isabella into giving up on killing him instead of him running away, he suddenly got an idea.

He then brought up the “gossip” that he learned from Shadow.

Isabella was visibly trying to bear with her emotions when she asked again, “How did you know it?”

“I met with Lady Isabelle.” Angor ignored the sudden fatigue that assaulted his spirit and cast another illusion, which recreated his encounter with Isabelle back in Dark Castle.

Inside the illusion, Isabelle sat in darkness and said to Angor, “The ‘Spirit Mantra’ I told you is a skill I learned this way, by trading with a peculiar race who called themselves the ‘Kirigakure’…”

Angor only managed to replay a small part of the conversation, which was enough to get Isabella to go agape again.

Isabella also knew about Spirit Mantra, as well as where such art came from. What Angor just showed to her, including Isabelle’s looks, manner, and small details when she moved, looked exactly the same as before.

That IS Professor Isabelle!

There were tears lingering around Isabella’s eyes.

The other people remained silent as they sized up the situation. Telling from Isabella’s reactions, Angor was speaking the truth? Only this conclusion would explain the sudden change in Isabella’s attitude.

To others, what Angor just said was actually more important than the life and death of Angor himself. If those words were true… How powerful would Isabelle be right now? What would she bring to Fairy World or the southern wizarding region? It was true that Isabelle left a thousand years ago before she could perform any drastic deeds, but at that time, she was the real controller of Fairy World.

Would her arrival bring peace or warfare to Fairy World?

Angor, who was currently the focus of everyone’s attention, had exhausted the last bit of strength after casting the illusion. The urge to survive helped him fight against his wounds and overworked brain. Now, the act of casting the previous illusion was the final blow that finally knocked him out.

Seeing the boy collapsed, Isabella canceled her Ritual of Blood and dispersed it into the air.

Shadow too, sighed in relief.

However, Isabella wasn’t going to get friendly in any way. To acquire more info, she pulled Angor up by his neck and demanded, “Explain everything you know or die!”

The violent act didn’t help Angor feel any better. What remained of his lingering consciousness was snuffed out, as his head tilted to one side.

Isabella noticed Angor’s condition and prepared something in one hand. She was going to forcefully wake the boy up by burning away his life energy.

Upon noticing Isabella’s plan, Shadow quickly yelled while walking away from the woods.

“Stop it! Angor saved Lady Isabelle, you can’t do this to him!”

Angor saved who?

Those words attracted three presences on the scene—Isabella, Bogula, and Talos.

Usually, no one would believe that an apprentice could save the life of a wizard. However, after they considered the situation, they partially believed in Shadow’s claim.

Now the question was, how and why did Angor help Isabelle? Did this mean Isabelle was in a bad condition right now?

Realizing this, Isabella’s expression darkened.

“I’ve been with Angor. I know everything he knows! Ask me if you want to know anything!” Shadow yelled again.

Isabella glanced at Shadow’s limping form and decided to give him a chance. “Good. If you tell me what I want to know, I can give this thing back to you.”

Naga’s head appeared in Isabella’s hand.

“But if there’s even one false word from your tongue…”

Shadow suddenly felt joyful. Originally, he only planned to help Angor again. He didn’t expect to receive an extra reward.

Isabella simply tossed Angor away as if she were throwing junk away. She still had her doubts, but what if Shadow meant it? Telling from how Angor learned Spirit Mantra for real, it was likely that the boy did do something good to Isabelle.

Isabelle always repaid her debts to anyone. Previously, the father of the Krakok priest assisted her, and Isabelle rewarded the Krakoks with Soul Genesis Garden; she also forbade anyone from invading the Krakoks’ new home.

This was why even though the Soul Genesis Garden had sat in the middle of Midworld for a thousand years, nobody dared to claim it.

Supposed that Shadow spoke the truth, that Angor did save Isabelle in some way, killing the boy meant earning a bad impression from Isabelle. Isabella would not want this to happen.

With this in mind, Isabella dropped Angor back on the ground; she no longer intended to kill him.

With a swift move, Bogula caught Angor in his hand, which didn’t attract any hostility from Isabella this time. She had been maiming people with blond hair and blue eyes in order to thin down Bogula’s “beauty candidates”. Now that she might find Isabelle in the southern wizarding region, she no longer had to bow down to Bogula.

Shadow made sure that Angor was only unconscious before he looked at Isabella with a determined look.

Shadow wasn’t going to hide what he learned about Isabelle at all. He’d answer anything Isabella was interested in. However, this would only be limited to facts—he would not tell any assumptions that he heard from Angor.

Such assumptions included the current nature of Isabelle’s presence. They didn’t know whether Isabelle had returned for real or if it was only a fragment of her soul inside Dark Castle.

Revealing this would only cause trouble. Isabella had to ascertain her teacher’s condition herself later.

“First, how did Angor save Isabelle?” Isabella asked her number one concern.

Immediately, a dozen spirit feelers from different wizards appeared around them—Bogula and Talos, as well as a number of other wizards who were aware of the incident, would like to eavesdrop on precious clues.

Isabella quickly saw through their attempts, but she didn’t do anything. Normally, she would drag Shadow to somewhere private to talk. However, she couldn’t do anything harsh to Shadow when Bogula was looking. Besides, Angor, the possible “savior” of Isabelle, was in Bogula’s hands. She couldn’t act all imperiously right now.

For this reason, Isabella chose to speak with Shadow out in the open and without any means of protection.