Chapter 840 Betrayal
Angel flew towards the magic mirror he had placed on the "Redhead Girl" and quickly came to the surface of the sea. He walked out of the mirror world and landed in the middle of the deck full of alert sailors. He was instantly pointed at by several single-shot rifles and revolvers. Even Elaine nervously drew out a flaming spear until she saw that the person coming was her boss.
"There seems to be a small-scale battle in the center of the island. Are you over there?"
She dispersed the flames in her hands, asked the sailors to continue to be on guard, and then asked in a low voice.
Angel first stroked the "mirror fragment" in his hand that could sense the person in the mirror. His eyes swept over all the sailors, including William, Tia, and even the sea monster Ariel who looked at him curiously in the bucket. He didn't let go until he felt the fragment's vibration in his palm. He breathed a sigh of relief and replied:
"Yes, there were some minor troubles."
She was worried that the "Strange Mage" was observing the "Red-haired Girl" through divination or the witch's magic mirror, so she spoke in an extremely cold tone and quickly ordered:
"Sail the ship into the distant fog and re-anchor at the edge, keeping as far away from the island as possible. Continue to be vigilant for the possible appearance of the 'Man in the Mirror' until I return."
Her different tone from usual made Elaine stunned for a moment, but she quickly reacted and nodded. She did not continue the conversation, but instead directed some sailors in a businesslike manner to pull up the heavy anchor chain, hoist the sails, and slowly set sail in the breeze, heading farther away from the island.
Meanwhile, Angel was pondering his next move.
The most reliable and safest way is undoubtedly to recreate the ice mirror now, bring yourself and the "Red-haired Girl" back to the real world, and then make plans.
After returning to reality, she could contact Klein and have the "weird wizard" equip himself with all the necessary equipment and teleport the puppet to this sea area. When the sunlight penetrated the thick fog again at noon tomorrow, revealing the mirror world, she would then return to the mirror island where the "Fountain of Youth" was located, find the real body of the "weird wizard," and solve this big problem.
The only question is, if we continue to drag it out, will it attract the attention of the "Witch Sect"?
The strange wizard stationed here seemed to have some degree of tacit understanding with those witches. He would hunt wild "despair" witches in order to obtain certain benefits... It was very likely that he caught the "despair" secret doll while lying in wait on the island.
If Angel left at this point, would the other party contact the "Witch Cult" and send a true "Immortal" witch, or even the Sequence 2 angels? If he missed this precious opportunity, when would he have to wait for the next time to enter this mirror world?
Looking at the silent island in the distance surrounded by the sea, Angel silently crossed out this option.
Another option is to stay here and get rid of the "Strange Wizard" and his secret puppets as soon as possible.
In the brief battle just now, Angel had confirmed the sequence of all the opponent's secret puppets that appeared, including the "Black Knight" who herded a "Law Mage", a "Despair" witch, and a blond young man who was very likely to be the "winner".
Apart from the "Winner" who was shielded by the "Secret Holy Symbol" and could hardly interfere with her, the Black Knight and the Witch of Despair attacked and defended respectively. The former restrained Angel at close range, while the latter fought against her disease ability, and cast curses remotely from time to time, pointing out the location where Angel was hiding in the mirror world, suppressing her in all aspects.
Not to mention the "weird wizard" himself who had not taken any action. He just kept pulling the strings of the spirit, trying to make Angel fall into a state of sluggish thinking and difficulty in moving, but he did not personally show up to join the battle.
Of course, for a "trickster", this tactic is very reasonable. The marionettes can use his extraordinary abilities just as well, but he cannot obtain the marionettes' mirror substitutes, full body armor or extreme luck. When standing in a row with several marionettes, the real body may be the weakest one.
However, this cannot explain why the other party did not continue to chase Angel when he left the core area of the island where the "Fountain of Youth" was located.
This doubt became more and more obvious when Angel reviewed all her actions since coming to the isolated island, especially the strange behavior of the "Black Knight" who pretended to invite Angel to the center of the island and did not launch an attack until she left the dense forest and entered the edge of the meadow where she could see the "Fountain of Youth". This made her confirm that the "Wizard" was hiding in the center of the meadow.
That is, below the huge rock where the "Fountain of Youth" is located.
It's only about a hundred meters from where the grassland meets the dense forest. So, is the "trickster" trying to lure me to a position where he can personally manipulate the spirit thread and make the most thorough preparations before starting the fight? Is he completely unable to move on his own, unable to even swap places with the marionette?
Angel pondered, and a bold idea gradually came to his mind:
Due to some extremely special reasons, the real body of the "Strange Wizard" can only stay in the "Fountain of Youth" and cannot move.
This seemed strange on its own. Why would a "diviner" demigod linger for so long in the fountain where witches ascended to Sequence 3? He even struck a deal with the "Witch Cult," proactively helping them deal with intruding wild witches and other Beyonders, while sparing only the "desperate" witches of the cult desperately awaiting advancement?
Was it because of a physical condition that he needed to stay alive for a long time through the "Fountain of Youth," or was it because of some kind of advancement? For example, he needed to live for hundreds of years before drinking the "Ancient Scholar's" potion?
Thinking of the name "Ancient Scholar", Angel's mind inexplicably emerged with the "Immortal" promotion ceremony, and his spirituality was touched.
Perhaps both guesses are correct. The "weird wizard" needs to become an "ancient man" before taking the potion to advance, and this requires a long lifespan. Only the "Fountain of Youth" can give him this opportunity. Once he leaves the fountain, perhaps all his efforts will be wasted!
And this was Angel's breakthrough in defeating him.
It was not until the "Red-haired Girl" slowly left the island and stationed near the fog surrounding the edge of the mirror world that Angel made a complete battle plan. She took out the dangerous "Parasite" gloves from her own mirror space, put them on her left hand, and looked at the black leather gloves covering her fair skin. The worry in her heart gradually subsided.
The main reason why she didn't carry this magical item with her was because the "Parasite" gloves had the negative effect of causing her to randomly lose other magical items on her body. Moreover, this was a demigod-level ability and was difficult to avoid. If she wore it for a long time, she might inexplicably drop "Angelica's Blade" in some strange corner.
This is unlike the negative effects of the "Hypocrisy" ring. The problem of long-term wear affecting intelligence can be resisted by her divinity. Even if she wears it for a whole day, Angel does not feel that her IQ has dropped.
After shaking the gloved hand, Angel glanced coldly at Elaine who was approaching again, and went directly into the mirror world, disappearing on the deck of the "Redhead Girl".
Sorry, Elaine... Angel muttered, and quickly returned to the island through the mirror passage, appearing on the beach where he first landed.
She pretended to be unfamiliar with the crew members of the "Red-haired Lady" because she was worried that the "Trickster" would use them as hostages to threaten Angel when he had to leave the "Fountain of Youth" at the end of the battle, or even directly transform the entire ship's sailors into secret dolls as a revenge.
But it's too late to pretend we're unfamiliar with the world now. We might have just arrived in this special mirror world and been spotted by the "Strange Mage"...
She thought helplessly, using invisible silk threads as a means of movement, quickly crossed the dense jungle, and came to the grassland in the center of the island. She stopped 150 meters away from where she suspected the "weird wizard" was hiding.
Silently, the "Black Knight" emerged from behind a tree.
He was still dressed in full black armor, his eyes glowing bright red within his full-face helmet, and his hands were empty, not holding a greatsword.
But Angel knew that as long as he needed it, he could condense weapons with flesh, blood and shadows at any time, or even release the "Law Mage", ignite the fire to summon the "Despair" witch, and start a battle like the one just now.
"Where are the other marionettes? Why don't they show up?"
Seeing that the Black Knight did not attack immediately, Angel took the initiative to speak.
The "weird wizard" hiding behind the scenes must be secretly controlling her spiritual thread at this time, but based on previous combat experience, this process is much longer than Klein's usual attempts to provoke her spiritual thread, so he will definitely let the Black Knight use dialogue to delay time.
"This is our way of expressing 'goodwill,'" the Black Knight's voice, as expected, sullenly murmured from beneath his visor. "After the battle just now, I think you've realized that neither of us can defeat the other quickly, and there's no fundamental conflict between us... Therefore, I've come up with a solution that satisfies both sides."
"You want me to take the water from the Fountain of Youth and keep it a secret from the Witch Cult?"
Angel chuckled and asked back.
"No, it has nothing to do with the Witch Cult. You must keep this secret from the entire world. I don't want anyone to know that a 'Strange Mage' is sleeping here, and the 'Law Mage's' contract can guarantee this."
The agreement between the two will be ensured by the herded arbitrator demigod... It sounds like a good suggestion. If I hadn't been infected by the disease of the witch "Despair" hidden in the dark, I would almost believe it... Angel sneered inwardly and used his "disease" control ability to defend himself. At the same time, he searched for the location of the "Trickster". His expression was moved and he asked with great interest:
"The Witch Cult should know of your existence. How did they ensure that the news was not leaked?"
The moment the question came out of Angel's mouth, she felt herself falling into a state of slow thinking and difficulty in movement. Almost at the same time, a ball of black flame ignited in front of her, and then the flame exploded. The black knight in the distance stepped out of the black flame, and the huge sword in his hand took shape as he slashed straight at her.
"Blade of Soul and Flesh"!
The giant sword that could pass through the stand to strike the real body and even penetrate into the mirror world instantly split Angel in half. As the fragments flew, her figure appeared in another direction. A huge wound deep enough to see the bone appeared from her left shoulder to her chest. The internal wound was smooth and not a drop of blood flowed out, as if the wound was just an illusion.
But Angel felt as if his spirit body was torn apart, his head exploded with a loud bang, and he could hardly maintain the disease that spread to the surroundings.
She gritted her teeth, took off the string of strangely shaped and eye-catching soldier dolls from her belt, and threw them in front of her.
"Reaper Legion", start!
Armored soldiers, no less imposing than the Black Knight, instantly appeared between the two men, holding various weapons and standing in two rows, blocking the former who was about to rush up to finish him off with a huge sword.
Bang--
There was a loud crash, and a reaper was knocked away with his sword, but the Black Knight was also forced to stop. He was surrounded in an instant, and flaming broadswords and spears stabbed at him, turning the Black Knight, who had nowhere to hide, into an exquisitely shaped paper man.
With the help of these "subordinates", Angel finally recovered from the serious injury caused by the "Blade of Flesh and Soul". She fought against the illusory roar that destroyed her thoughts, and looked at the "withered" vegetation in the middle of the grass, at the huge rock, and at the pool of water under the rock.
Through the distribution of other animals and insects, as well as the secret obstruction of the disease by the "Despair" witch, she has confirmed the location of the "Strange Wizard", deep in the pool below the huge rock!
But neither the curse nor the disease could affect the "Strange Mage" himself, who was protected by another witch of the same sequence. Angel could only turn his attention to the Black Knight who used the "paper man substitute" to escape from the encirclement.
At this time, far away from the battlefield, the figure of the "Despair" witch wearing a hooded robe appeared.
She created an invisible plague, which drifted along the wind towards the heavily armored "Reaper Legion", but she found that these lifeless "soldiers" were difficult to be eroded by the disease, and the high temperature of their weapons could dispel most of the germs, making them completely unaffected by the disease in a short period of time.
At this moment, at the edge of the dense forest, a crouching figure appeared behind a tree.
The blonde "winner" glanced at the witch who was holding up the flaming straight sword, and then at his two teammates.
In the battle half an hour ago, he had tried many times to bestow "doom" upon the opponent, but found that it was ineffective. This was not due to the gap between Sequence 5 and Demigod, but rather the interference of some higher-level ability.
Therefore, he can only pass on his "luck" to his companions, allowing them to gain a certain advantage.
In his sight, the Black Knight luckily avoided the siege of three "Reapers" and slashed at the unsuspecting witch with a knife. The "Blade of Flesh and Soul" accurately hit her fragile body.
But apart from a few Reapers staggering a few times, this attack didn't cause much damage!
It's the "connection" of the "Iron Knight"...
The "weird wizard" who controls everything has an inner understanding. She knows that it is almost impossible to severely damage the "despair" witch in this state. Only by stopping this connection through "ban" can the "spiritual and flesh blade" that cuts off the flesh and destroys the spirit completely kill the other party.
In front of Angel, the "Black Knight" drove the shadow under his feet without hesitation, making it stand up shakily beside itself, forming the outline of the "Law Mage" who was completely black.
"This place is forbidden..."
As soon as the majestic ancient Hermes language came out of his mouth, Angel raised his left hand, clenched his five fingers in the black glove, and then twisted them outwards.
Several illusory balls of light appeared before her eyes, flashing rapidly with various colors and auras representing different abilities.
As a "herded" soul, the "Law Mage" only has four or five abilities at this time, and all of them are now left to Angel to choose!
As the contractor of "Balancer" Anne, Angel is as familiar with this path as he is with the "Fortune Teller" path.
She decisively chose the dim ball of light that represented the ability to "deprive" her, and held it in her hand. Then, when the "Law Mage" shouted and severed her connection with the "Harvester Legion" and she lost the power to share the damage, her figure shattered and dissipated, and reappeared in front of the "Despair" Witch.
"deprivation!"
She used her newly acquired abilities to deprive the other person of control over the "disease."
One of the two disease "forces" that had been fighting each other in the air dissipated in an instant, and the other side gained an absolute advantage. The occult disease of death surged like a tide, infecting all the birds, beasts, and insects on the entire island, regardless of whether they were innocent spectators or accomplices turned into secret puppets!
Most importantly, the "weird wizard" who had been protected under the huge rock in the center of the island also contracted a fatal disease.
This mystical connection allowed Angel to immediately find the other party's exact location. She took out the talisman without hesitation and pressed it towards the witch in front of her.
Puff, with a slight sound of flame exploding, the witch's figure appeared next to the "Reaper" with burning weapons not far away, but the next second, her position was "stolen" by Angel and she returned to her original place.
A cold talisman was pressed between her proud breasts wrapped in a robe, and a despairing destructive force instantly surged out.
"betray!"
Amidst the echoes of obscure ancient Hermetic words, the transparent insect body with twelve embedded segments and the talisman that looked like a purple water chip disintegrated, and invisible power instantly surged out.
But at this moment, Angel's eyes blurred, and the witch's body that felt nice to the touch turned into a "winner" secret doll with short golden hair and an expressionless face.
The two marionettes swapped positions!
The "weird wizard" thought that the talisman in my hand was too terrifying to resist, and his other puppet animals died of the disease, so he could only temporarily exchange the puppets, letting the "winner" who was useless in the battle die instead of the "despair" witch, retaining the last hope of fighting the deadly disease... Various thoughts kept flashing through Angel's mind, and he understood the enemy's practice of replacing the puppets at this time.
But to her, none of this mattered.
"destiny!"
She shouted again in ancient Hermetic language, activating another spell in her hand.
That's right, she was holding two talismans, and one of them was the special "Luck Stealer" talisman that Klein made for her, which could lock onto targets with abilities such as disease and curse.
At this moment, deep in the "Fountain of Youth", the location of the "Strange Wizard" who had been included in Angel's perception due to his illness and the "Winner" in front of her suddenly dimmed, like a dark cloud passing by under the scorching sun.
After the dark clouds passed, everything on the central grassland of the island seemed to be the same as before.
Five "reapers" worked together to resist the attack of the "Black Knight". They had no spiritual bodies and were not afraid of the "Blade of Flesh and Soul", but they fell one by one under the "execution" of the "Lawmage"; the "Despair" witch exchanged places with the "Winner" and appeared at the edge of the junction of the grassland and the dense forest. The other "reapers" were rushing towards her with weapons in hand; between the two, Angel stretched out his right hand and pressed it on the chest of the expressionless "Winner" marionette.
But the "betrayal" has already happened.
Angel's right hand slowly dropped down. In front of her, the "winner"'s mouth and nose were constantly emitting hot black flames, and his body was shaking.
The witch of "Despair" was pierced through the chest by a spear from the armored soldier who was rushing in the front. She did not turn into a thin paper man or a broken mirror. Blood gushed out from the tip of the spear, and then she was pierced by more weapons.
The "Black Knight" stopped swinging the giant sword in his hand, and different broadswords, scimitars and spears were inserted in front of his chest and back. The "Harvest" ability was activated one after another, causing the black armor he was wearing to fall off piece by piece, revealing the weathered but still handsome face underneath. His bright red eyes looked forward without any emotion, and slowly closed.
The "Law Mage" he herded turned into a shadow and covered the body of the black knight again. Countless flesh and blood surged up, and the various souls he "herded" seemed to be about to leave his body, and the body left behind underwent unknown changes.
At this moment, all the "secret puppets" were completely severed from their spiritual connections, lost contact with the "weird wizard", and became puppets without any resistance.
Of course, if the magician is given some time, he may be able to re-tie the spiritual thread and bring the secret puppet that "betrayed" him back under his command, but he does not have such time now.
Following a series of violent coughs, a thin and slender figure emerged from the slowly flowing spring water beneath the huge rock in the center of the island. He, no, she was coughing violently, with dark red and almost black blood flowing out of her mouth and nose. She forced herself to sit up, but she didn't have the strength to leave the water.
The "weird wizard" who lost all his secret dolls, contracted a fatal disease, and was even naked, with not even a paper doll left, finally revealed his true identity in front of Angel.
She was about 20 years old, with long bright golden hair casually draped behind her. Her facial features were delicate, and her face shape matched her breathtaking beauty, making Angel feel as if he had seen a high-sequence witch.
No, it was most likely that this female magician had modified her appearance using the ability of the "Faceless Man"... Angel muttered, and did not hold back just because the other party had lost the ability to resist. Instead, he immediately used the surface of the "Fountain of Youth" to flash in front of the woman and raised the "Angelica's Blade" which felt scorching in his hand and had a blue-green flame on the edge of the sword.
"Wait, wait a minute..."
The demigod, severely injured by illness and betrayal, murmured.
At the same time, Angel felt "sluggish" again, realizing that his spiritual thread had been pulled by the other party. After realizing that he had left the "Fountain of Youth", the evil wizard had restored the normal speed of controlling the spiritual thread, and without hesitation he entered the "mirror world", leaving his false substitute to the other party.
The next second, she returned to reality, appeared behind the other person, and stabbed out with a sword, piercing the suddenly rising flames.
The figure of the evil wizard appeared beside the still extinguished black flame of the "winner" in the distance.
She still has energy left to use "Fire Jump"!
Angel looked at the place where the other party flashed away with indifferent eyes, raised his left hand slightly, and clenched his five fingers.
This distance was directly "stolen", and the naked woman appeared again next to the "Fountain of Youth" and in front of Angel.
This time, she failed to avoid the "Angelica Blade" that pierced her heart. The flaming sword tip pierced through her back, and the scorching flames instantly burned the wound without letting a drop of blood flow out.
But with a "crackling" sound that made Angel's teeth ache, a circle of scars that kept bleeding appeared on the other person's fair neck. Then, her neck broke by itself, and her head flew up with a bloody spine. It floated a short distance with difficulty and fell powerlessly into the "Fountain of Youth".
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