Chapter 613: Chapter 613
"I’ve never said this wasn’t a gamble," Angel said, gathering the scattered leftover materials into his satchel. "If I succeed, I’ll reach new heights. Looking back from another level, you’ll find that everything you once did was so insignificant."
"What if you fail?" the demon asked.
"If I fail, according to the pact between the Blood Elves and Hell, they can’t do anything to me either."
"Oh really? Are you sure that pact is still valid? Even the pact between Heaven and Hell has been torn apart."
"At least I haven’t heard of it being torn up. Although that pact might not be very important to Hell, compared to that, I’m even less important. At least I can be sure they won’t tear up a pact just for me."
Standing up, Angel took two steps back, taking deep breaths repeatedly, and slowly stretched out his hands.
The demon watched him silently.
For a while, Angel began to chant the incantation. Barely perceptible dark magic power, like black smoke, oozed gradually from Angel’s fingernails, swirling in the air, gathering, and then slowly falling, merging into the core of the array.
Angel opened his eyes wide, continuing to recite the incantation without pause.
Slowly, the runes written on the burlap began to emit a dim light, forming an identical black shadow above them.
Soon after, the shadow began to move.
Suddenly, it felt like something exploded in Angel’s mind. With a "buzz," he collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide open.
Right after that, countless voices appeared in his head. Some crying, some shouting, some roaring, and some whispering softly—all sorts of voices. Angel felt like his head was about to burst, and he could only grit his teeth and endure it.
The incantation had been interrupted, or one could say it was completed.
The array continued to operate on its own.
"What’s wrong with you?" the demon asked.
Angel did not answer. Unable to stand properly, he collapsed on the ground next to the array, curling up in the dry leaves, trembling incessantly. His eyes wide open, mouth agape. Sweat was pouring from his skin. In fact, not just sweat, but tears and saliva too.
At this moment, his mind was in chaos. All kinds of messy memories and images were crammed together, various negative emotions wildly intertwining: "Help... help me..."
The demon continued watching silently, doing nothing.
"Help me... I can’t hold on... quickly... save me—!" Angel cried out, his head thrown back, convulsing wildly.
In the distance, one of the Vein Council members on patrol turned his head towards Angel’s direction.
"What’s the matter?" another member asked.
"I think I heard something. Did you hear anything?"
"No, I didn’t hear anything. Our shift is almost over, we should go."
"Hmm. Should we inform the next shift that the chairman is there, and they shouldn’t go over?"
"Of course, we have to tell them."
The three patrol Vein Council members took small steps and gradually moved away.
Finally, Angel’s abnormal state stabilized.
Yes, stabilized, not resolved. Or more accurately, it was accustomed to it.
The images in his mind remained, the voices persisted, and the negative emotions continued.
He lay dazedly in the dry leaves, eyes wide open, twitching slightly. As though he had fainted, yet still maintaining consciousness. In his weak convulsions, he began to vomit. The food he ate spilled bit by bit from his mouth.
His eyes shifted slightly, staring intently at the unmoved demon beside him.
On the other side, something seemed to begin forming on the magic array.
Like some kind of black liquid, it gathered little by little, gradually expanding. Until it was as large as a beach ball, countless small holes appeared on the surface of that thing, then suddenly sucked in, swelling abruptly. It transformed into a grotesque creature resembling a slime. The difference was that slimes were green, but this one was black. So pitch-black it seemed to absorb all light.
Angel stared blankly, watching that creature squirm bit by bit, land, watching it engulf the entire array he had drawn, then wriggle towards him, creeping closer step by step.
"Help... help me..." Angel cried out with the remaining strength he had, but his voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
The creature still crept closer, little by little.
"What... are you waiting for? Quickly... save me..." Angel looked towards the demon, simultaneously struggling, trying to reach the magic wand discarded nearby with his almost uncontrollable hand.
"That bastard... stood me up again!" Qili cursed angrily in the garden. "How many times has it been? Is even meeting up so difficult?"
Looking at the barely alive Angel, the demon slowly chuckled: "I told you it was best not to do this, but you didn’t listen to me. Are you regretting it now? It’s too late. Perhaps... this is destiny. You complained that until the end you never knew what the world was about—how pathetic... Now you’re about to experience not even knowing what killed you. Isn’t that even more pathetic?"
"I can’t save you. This was your own decision. Everyone should be responsible for their own choices, including you."
The demon shook his head slowly.
The black creature continued inching towards Angel, its slime-like substance already reaching his body. Like a rising tide, the black liquids began engulfing Angel’s body bit by bit.
"I don’t want to die... I don’t want to die... I still have so many things to do... I don’t want to die..."
"What else do you want to do?" suddenly, a voice echoed in Angel’s mind.
It was a somewhat hoarse voice.
"Who are you?" Angel looked around frantically, seeing nothing: "I don’t care who you are, quickly... save me."
"Why should I save you? Give me one reason. If you can give me one, I’ll save you."
"I... you’re a demon, right? My array is for summoning dark creatures. I don’t know how it summoned this monster. If you’re also summoned, then you’re definitely a demon! Save me! If you save me, I’ll become your ’Demon Envoy’! I’ll obey you! Pledge loyalty to you! Believe me, I’m very capable, save me... you definitely..."
Gradually, the black slime completely covered Angel. It even seeped into his body through his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. He could no longer make any sound, and even the voices in his mind were completely cut off.
In a small tree hollow, only the sound of the black slime writhing remained.
The fireball summoned by Angel, used for illumination, grew smaller and smaller, on the verge of extinguishing. This update ıs available on novel⸺fire.net
Even the demon’s silhouette was fading bit by bit, as if it would disappear at any moment.
Suddenly, the wriggling black slime seemed to freeze entirely, motionless. Moments later, as if the scene was played in reverse, that black slime withdrew frantically, retreating from Angel’s body, spitting out the burlap with Angel’s summoning array drawn on it, floating into the air, and then began to shrink.
All this happened extremely suddenly, its speed countless times faster than before.
In the blink of an eye, the black slime had disappeared without a trace.
The utterly exhausted Angel lay quietly among the dry leaves, staring in weakness at the top of the tree hollow.
A demon, resembling a toad with wings, appeared before Angel, its legs gently landing on the burlap with the array drawn on it.
Looking at the barely breathing Angel, it grinned, exposing its bloody maw: "Heh heh, a Blood Elf using dark magic... that’s really rare. Maybe it has some value for use, who knows."
Oh, it’s an old acquaintance, a high-ranking demon under the Demon Lord.