Warlock Apprentice

At a small corner of Silent Hill, there was a patch of wasteland without any forms of life growing on it. A lone, strange-shaped wizard tower sat among a number of tattered boulders; the round moon was its only decoration.

The top floor of the tower had a brightly-lit fireplace that repelled all the bone-piercing cold, bestowing potent warmness into the room. Newborn fire sprites chased each other happily while they explored the world around them with great curiosity.

A series of footsteps suddenly scared all the sprites for good. They instantly swarmed back into the fireplace and pretended nothing happened.

The door was pushed open, revealing a man with a devilishly charming look.

He inhaled the warm air in the room and enjoyed it briefly. He then set his gaze upon the fire sprites who were trying to blend in with the fire by keeping their twinkling eyes shut.

“Jaja…” The man licked his lips with a long, serpentine tongue without minding the naughty creatures.

When they felt safe again, the sprites poked their tiny heads outside and looked at a workbench nearby.

But even after several seconds, he still didn’t feel what he expected to feel. Instead, he sensed his body being tossed onto the ground again.

Calmly waiting for his death didn’t mean he’d give up all hope. He would like to stay alive longer, if possible.

The first thing he saw after reopening his eyes was the giant moon hanging in the sky.

Looking lower, he saw Isabella looking at someone with a surprised expression.

It was a beautiful figure who released a golden glimmer under the moonlight. The figure blocked Isabella’s previous attack with a round shield.

Someone saved me?

Before he could think further, Shadow suddenly rushed to his side and dragged him away.

“Now run! We’ll split, and you can use that skill to hide again!”

While not stopping his movement, Shadow looked back at the golden figure who held off Isabella bravely. “Keep her busy, Naga! For as long as you can!”

The man looked determined.

“Yes, Master.” Naga glanced back. Her elegant and stern face contained a small trace of kindness.

Shadow’s eyes watered a little as he kept dragging Angor until they entered the woods on one side of the path.

Angor couldn’t move anything on his body since Isabella had misplaced a good number of his bones. Shadow kept running while casting Heal at Angor occasionally.

Angor felt greatly relieved for escaping imminent death. At the same time, he couldn’t believe what just happened. He thought the only thing that prevented Shadow from killing him was the magic covenant, and he wasn’t expecting the man to save him for real.

“But what about Naga? There’s no way she can…”

“Shut up! I don’t want to hear it!” Shadow screamed.

There was no doubt that Naga would lose against Isabella sooner or later, and there was only one outcome waiting for her.

Shadow inhaled to calm his mind. “Sorry for yelling… Just, don’t speak. Get up as fast as you can, and use your invisibility thing to get away.”

He believed that if what Isabella said first was true, Angor could escape safely if they didn’t use their Spirit Bond.

And since Angor still had hope, Shadow decided to sacrifice Naga to buy some time.

“… Thank you.” Angor nodded and gave Shadow a meaningful look.

“I said I owe you a favor for helping me get Naga, and I’m returning it. We’re even from today and on, ya know?”

Angor didn’t directly help Shadow with the mission, but the man knew that he would never succeed if Angor didn’t get him out of the blood prison or prevent Felicia from destroying his plan.

“Put me down, I’m okay now. Let’s split, now,” Angor said.

“Stay well. Don’t you die on me!”

Shadow began dashing toward the wizard tower of his professor, while Angor activated Infinite Reticence again and moved to the depth of the night.