Chapter 341: Storm Is Coming (2)
Angele sealed the entrance with the slate again. He was standing in a mushroom building with a broken roof.
Stepping out of the mushroom building, under the night sky, the entrances to the mushroom building looked like they led to an endless abyss as no light came out from there. The wind was getting stronger and it was bit cold.
Angele rubbed the silver ring on his left middle finger several times. It was a magic device called Light of the Thorn. A strong spell could be released from that ring with just a small amount of mentality.
The power of the Light of the Thorn was no longer strong as it would only deal about 50 degrees of splash damage. Angele’s special ability from the advanced meditation technique could easily deal more than 70 degrees of damage. However, he still carried the magic device with him because it had a low cost and a large effective range.
If 10 mentality and 5 mana were required to cast a spell with a similar damage, using the magic device would only consume 1 mentality.
This was the main advantage of magic devices and enchanted items.
He slowly walked past the mushroom buildings and saw a large group of black beetles marching on the empty ground.
The beetles were moving toward Angele like a black flood.
Raising his left hand, he aimed at the beetles with no hesitation.
"Light of the Thorn," he called out.
*CHI*
A ball of golden light was released from the ring, exploding after several seconds and turning into rays of golden lights. They were flying toward the sea of beetles in a shell formation.
*PA PA PA*
The beetles were skewered by the golden light and they exploded into pools of sticky liquid. The stinky and sour smell permeated throughout the air.
Angele did not lower his hand and, instead, he just stood there and watched the golden light kill the beetles calmly.
The Light of the Thorn could be channeled for half a minute and he was certain that no beetle could approach him in that duration.
"Green! Don’t waste soul stones like that. There are too many of them!" Todd’s voice came from behind.
Angele turned his head around. Todd and his kids were standing behind him and there were blue strings floating in the air. It seemed like he wanted to help. They were not considered as a threat so Zero did not warn him about their presence.
"Take my kids with you. Let me deal with those beetles!" There was a serious expression on his face. It seemed like he was ready to sacrifice himself for his children.
Angele’s brow furrowed. "Come with me. I don’t think I’ll be able to protect your children alone." He wanted to help Todd because the man had potential. Todd was sick and he could still deal more than 100 degrees of damage within seconds. If Todd could recover from the disease, he would be able to aid Angele greatly during the battles.
Angele was the only one who had access to clean water and food supplies in this infected world. He needed someone that was familiar with the realm to help him explore the area.
Todd shook his head slightly. "I know my condition, Green. I’m dying."
He looked at Angele and noticed the serious expression on the young man’s face.
He hesitated for a second and responded. "Well, alright, I’ll leave with you."
"Good decision."
Angele nodded and looked at the beetles again, but he was surprised.
They only talked for about half a minute and the beetles already moved closer. The sea of black beetles was only about 10 meters away from the four human beings.
Angele stopped channeling the Light of the Thorn and raised his right hand, creating a lava ball on his palm.
The head-sized lava ball floated above Angele’s palm, releasing heat waves and rays of red light.
"Do your job." Angele threw the lava ball forward.
It was one of his strongest skills at the moment. The petrification and the bloodline signet were the only two abilities that were stronger than the lava ball.
He wanted to do some simple tests with those beetles.
The lava ball drew an arc in the air and dropped into the black beetles.
"Move!" Angele turned around and tied Todd up with the two kids using the metal strings. He then lifted them up with the force field and started running.
"What the...!?" Todd wanted to say something but they were traveling so fast that the wind was rushing into his mouth and nose. He was surprised by how fast they were moving.
Angele, Todd, and the two children turned into a blurry silver shadow that was moving around the mushroom buildings. They finally stopped behind one of the buildings as Angele could easily check the situation from here.
*BOOM*
He heard the explosion from behind.
Angele dropped Todd and his children to the ground carefully. He then quickly turned around and looked at the location where he dropped the lava ball.
The orange light from the flame illuminated the clouds flowing in the dark sky.
Waves of intense heat were expanding in all direction. The mushroom buildings in the front were swallowed by the fire, and the dancing flames engulfed everything in the area.
Thick smoke filled the sky, and the smell from the burning wood permeated the air. The buildings perished in the flames within minutes.
Angele watched the scene quietly. It was the power of just one lava ball and it could deal a similar amount of damage as an average level 2 offensive spells. The area of effect was why wizards with stage 3 Molten Core River were so strong on the battlefields.
‘That’s why people don’t complain that the skill takes one talent slot...’ Angele had a general idea in mind.
The terrifying area of effect had a radius of five to a hundred meters—depending on the situation—and the spell could be cast instantly. The official name for the lava ball was the Lava Rain.
It was the reason why Molten Core River was one of the strongest advanced meditation technique for wizards with high affinity with fire energy particles.
The lava ball exploded while dropping to the ground, turning into a rain of fire.
Also, it seemed like the Phoenix’s passive ability helped Angele gain better control of the fire energy particles and the lava ball he released was slightly stronger than the ones released by some of the Watchers.
He stood behind the mushroom building and watched the burning flames. Blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes as he wanted to know how much damage the lava ball dealt in total.
Todd and his children stood beside Angele. They were shocked after seeing Angele’s terrifying "ability".
Todd leaned to the side and looked at Angele. He had no idea where the young man hid his crystal card device. However, he knew that he could only use an ability like this once a day when he was still healthy. Angele’s skill level exceeded Todd’s expectation.
The red light from the flames illuminated their bodies and their shadows were waving on the ground.
"Alright, let’s head to my shelter." Angele turned around and the blue light dots disappeared from his eyes.
"Sure." Todd nodded. He felt comfortable staying with the young man in front of him. He had not felt relaxed like this for a long time.
The two kids moved closer to Angele carefully and put their hands on his legs.
There was a gentle smile on Angeles’ face. He carefully picked two kids up, held them in arms, and walked to the forest.
Todd gave the burning buildings one final glance and sighed. He turned around and followed Angele into the forest. He knew that he would probably never visit the place again.
**********************
About an hour later.
The four arrived at the mansion beside the river.
Behind the trees, it was a luxurious looking mansion with white walls and a red roof.
The mansion was protected by a translucent bell-shaped barrier and there were many green vines outside the barrier. There were several red flowers on the surface of the vines. The dark mud on the ground was clean and smooth. The place looked like a beautiful castle from the fairy tales, the only thing missing was the rose with thorns.
Angele walked to the mansion with the two kids in his arms.
"This is my shelter. I have more than enough food and clean water for us." He stepped on the vines.
"That’s beautiful..." The girl named Freia spoke first, "Green, is this our new home?" She stared at Angele and blinked her eyes.
"We can do the cleanings for you!" The boy named Frey said quickly. He patted the girl’s leg slightly as he did not want his sister to say something that would make Angele angry.
Todd had no idea that there was a place like this in the realm. Todd thought that "Green" must have a strong background before the world collapsed, otherwise, it was impossible for him to have such a heavily guarded mansion.
"Of course. I’m counting on you guys." Angele chuckled. As long as he could take good care of the two kids, Todd would probably do anything for him. Also, cleaning the house would be a good exercise for the kids.
Angele was certain that Todd was still hiding something since he survived in the Nightmare Realm with the two kids for so long. Angele was not sure if he could win a fight against a healthy Todd without using the bloodline signet.
Angele spent some time observing the crystal card device Todd had and he had an idea on how to increase the defense of the mansion.
The structure of the device reminded him of something from the Earth: the auto attack system.
Also, Todd told him that the black beetle was not the only dangerous creature in the area. Angele had the feeling that there would be stronger mutated creatures invading the mansion.
If the situation got worse and his mentality wave was interrupted by the energy waves from the battle, he would not be able to return to the main world instantly. Angele had to prepare for the worst.
"Let’s go, have some rest. You’re tired, right?" Angele stepped forward and the vines moved to the side by themselves like they were living beings.
Todd and his kids were scared by the vines. Todd followed after Angele, he noticed that there was some sticky liquid on the ground and the unique sour stink reminded him of the black beetles.
The four slowly entered the energy barrier and stepped into the door of the main building. The vines moved to the center and blocked the entrance again.
************************
In the clean water of the river on the other side of the mansion.
A blue butterfly slowly left the river and the water splashed in the air.
The butterfly’s wings had the size of a human’s palm. No pattern could be seen from the pure blue wings. The butterfly swung its wings slowly and circled above the river.
An enormous blue shadow appeared under the Ness River.
*Blop Blop*
Large groups of blue butterflies started leaving the river and they circled above the water just like the first one. The rotating butterflies looked like pieces of blue tree leaves. The scene was mysterious and beautiful.