Translator: Leo Editor: Frappe
For a moment, a white, eye-blinding light prevented their eyes from seeing.
Angele and Lyn had stepped into the gate, which felt like passing through a gargantuan ball of slime with their bodies then soaked in a strange, sticky fluid.
They regained their consciousness after several seconds.
On the other side of the gate was a patio of average size. Overall, the place looked to be worn out as there were withered plants remaining on the ground.
At the central part of the patio, there was a fountain which contained no water. The walls of patio were of great height that Angele had no idea what was going on outside.
The sky was gray, the sun blocked by the thick clouds. A rotten, musty smell spread into the air.
Both Angele and Lyn were standing near the patio’s entrance.
He then used his biochip to scan the surroundings.
Stay alert. Something is not right.
Understood.
Lyn nodded but then rubbed her temples.
I do not know why but I am feeling dizzy—I want to sleep—There might be an ancient magic circle that prevents outsiders from entering the garden here.
Feeling sleepy?
Angele was surprised; he quickly read through Zero’s report.
‘No peculiar forcefield…no hypnotic gas…I need to check this place myself.’
Angele walked to one of its walls and observed the entirety carefully.
The walls of the patio were dirty and damaged; the engravings on the surface of the walls were decaying.
Most of them had already lost their original shape.
Angele walked along the gray walls slowly and touched a few of these engravings carefully with a confused expression.
The texture of the engravings was soft and elastic. When he applied pressure on one of the engravings, it bounced back immediately.
That is unusual. Lyn, you should…
Angele turned around; what he saw surprised him.
The rank 2 wizard, Lyn, was standing there with both of her eyes closed. She was still breathing, nonetheless, as it seemed like she was under a sleep-like state.
Lyn?
Angele had gone so much as to increase the volume of his voice with energy particles, yet she did not wake up.
He retreated several steps away, but Lyn continued to follow him as though she was sleepwalking.
Angele’s countenance soon turned serious. He raised his hands and moved her eyelids up.
Lyn’s eyeballs were rolling around rapidly, and her pupils were contracting.
He put his finger into her mouth and acquired a sample of her saliva.
Monti…lion…scrying…
Angele spoke the incantation aloud and pointed in the air with his finger.
A small, dark red magic circle appeared on his fingertip.
In a blink of an eye, the magic circle disappeared and the saliva sample on his finger turned blue.
So she’s having a queer dream.
Angele’s brow furrowed.
Since she was not in a life-threatening situation, he decided to go check the fountain first.
This water fountain had a white finish and had three tiers.
Angele stood beside the fountain and looked down. The only things he could see were white bones and dried mud. The bones were covered with black leaves. It looked like this place had been abandoned years ago.
Suddenly, a tinge of red flashed in his eyes, but it was blocked by the base of the fountain.
Angele quickly walked to the other side—he was surprised.
There were three teenagers lying shoulder-to-shoulder on the ground. The girl’s face was covered in dried-up blood. Their condition was similar to Lyn’s.
Angele frowned. ‘It seems like I will have to fall asleep in order to find the true location of the garden, but I’m not affected by the mysterious power here…’
He turned around and saw that Lyn was still following him.
She was wearing a long, loose black robe with a white outfit that looked like a swordsman’s suit. There was a pair of brown leather gloves on her hands. The tight chest piece showed the outline of her magnificent chest. The long, white battledress failed to cover her slim legs.
Lyn was wearing a black ponytail; her face was clean and pretty. Although she was sleeping, there was still a serious expression on her face.
Angele raised his hand. He could easily touch the girl if he wanted to.
He swallowed hard but then realized something not right.
Wait!
Angele suddenly bit his own tongue. The pain woke him up.
Something is distracting me…
He quickly turned away from Lyn and started surveying the surroundings once more.
On the other side of the patio was a hallway, which emerged out of the shadows, leading to the endless darkness.
Angele noticed that on the black walls of the hallway, there was an enormous spiral engraving which looked like a compass with a radius of one meter.
He quickly stepped into the hall and stood in front of that wall.
The engraving looked like a normal spiral pattern, not releasing any energy wave.
However, Angele discovered, to his surprise, that he could not turn away from the engraving after looking at it for the first time. He just stood there and stared at the center of the spiral pattern.
About 15 minutes later, he still had not found any helpful information.
Suddenly, he noticed that a petal from a black flower dropped to his feet.
The black rose?
Angele turned around and looked at the direction where the petal came from.
The patio was covered with the black rose’s buds and they were slowly blossoming. Angele had no idea when they appeared.
The whole patio was sinking into the seemingly endless sea of black roses. The hallway was the only place that was still empty.
Clean water flowed out of the fountain that was located in the central-most part of the patio. There was no sun in the air but there was still light illuminating the rippling water.
Under the gray sky, there were beautiful roses and a shiny water fountain. The patio looked old but attractive.
Angele licked his lips and stretched his back. Raising his right hand, he conjured a silver longsword with the Metal Mastery.
Kata Kata
He heard intense footsteps coming from the corner where the sight was blocked by the fountain.
It was a woman in a long, silky dress. There was no expression on her pretty face. She noticed Angele’s presence as well.
The woman slowly walked to Angele. She was not releasing any mentality wave.
All the black rose’s buds blossomed as the woman approached. They were quiet and mysterious, almost as if time was accelerated.
The woman stopped walking and stood outside the hallway.
She had pale skin and dark purple lips. The woman just stared at Angele with a pair of deep, black eyes that looked like amethyst.
The woman raised her right hand slowly and reached into the hallway.
CHI
A black lightning flashed on her hand.
The woman lowered her hand when she failed to break through the lightning.
Isn’t this the elemental fairy’s garden?
Angele questioned in a deep tone,
Who are you?
The woman did not react to his words. She just stared at Angele as though she could not hear anything.
Angele was not sure how he should deal with the situation, so he deactivated the crystal scorpion immediately.
Henn, are you there?
He took out the black box.
Yeah? I’m still resting…What’s the matter? Wait…this place is…the Spiral Garden?! What the hell? How did you enter the Spiral Garden? You need to leave the area immediately. This is the portal to the fairy’s realm. Anything can happen. Listen to me, leave the garden as soon as possible!
Henn noticed the situation around Angele. Her voice sounded serious and nervous.
Fairy? I’m looking for those elemental fairies. They should be friendly and kind, right?
Angele asked as he looked at the woman outside the tunnel.
Those are elemental fairies you read from the books! Elemental fairies were created by wizards. Fairies, in reality, feed on human beings since the best snack in the fairy’s realm is human flesh. You really need to read more history books. There had been many times that ancient wizards had to fight against fairy invaders. You are currently in a portal called Spiral Garden. You should be safe for now. It seems like this is a new portal that opened about one hundred years ago…but how…?
CHI
The black lightning flashed again.
Angele quickly raised his head and saw the head of the woman in a black dress fly away from her body; the stretching long neck of the woman looked especially terrifying. The woman opened her mouth, about to bite Angele in the face.
The head was one meter away from Angele and there was a twisted smile on her face.
Angele could smell the fishiness from the woman’s mouth.
Ha…
The woman’s mouth opened like a zipper from a handbag, revealing the white sharp teeth inside.
Her head was trying its best to reach Angele, but it was being hit by the black lightning inside the hallway. The woman’s elastic neck was more than three meters long and its length was still increasing.
The pulses from the lightning formed an electric web that was trying to stop the head from advancing.
This monster…
Angele narrowed his eyes and raised his sword.
CHI
The sword drew a silver arc in the air and slashed through the woman’s head.
However, Angele was hit by the black lightning, causing him to tremble and be blown away by the impact.
BAM
He hit the wall hard and fell to the ground.
Ha…you’re too weak to break the realm barrier…
Henn chuckled.
You thought that that was just an energy barrier separating the hallway from the patio? You need to understand the laws of both our world and the fairy realm to break the realm barrier.
Angele coughed several times, every bone in his body was aching.
Damn! What should I do then?
Wait for her to leave.
The woman was still trying to break through the realm barrier with a maddened expression.
CHI
The woman’s head returned to her body. She looked at Angele and swallowed hard as if she was looking at a piece of tasty meat.
WOO WOO
Suddenly, a noise that sounded like a beast roaring came from the sky.
A large shadow appeared in the sky. Angele could see the creature swinging its wings.
He raised his head.
A gargantuan black dragon was flying around above the patio. The dragon had a long neck similar to that of a snake’s tail. Its eyes were black, and poisonous green fluid was dripping down its sharp teeth.
The dragon looked like a strange lizard that possessed a pair of wings.
