Chapter 182: Exploration (1)

The dark twisted tunnel extended ahead. Angele increased his speed and the only noise in the place was from his footsteps and breathing.

A ball of yellow flame floated on the left side of his head and brightened up the area around him.

'Strange, the route here is a mess.' Angele was running at full speed but his head was still clear.

It felt like the tunnel was shifting by itself. Angele ordered Zero to create a map of the area when the tunnel first appeared in front of him but he already encountered two unknown exits on his way here. Without the tracking spell, he would have already lost the two in front of him.

He ran as he reconsidered the situation.

'Based on Belem's dying words, this ruins is the territory of the Two Head Sect. The sect's name probably comes from its members' appearances. The wizard we saw earlier had two heads over his shoulders. However, Melissa and Ainphent have visited the ruins many times already, I don't understand how they didn't find anything about the Two Head Sect's secret plan... There're probably many things I still don't know about.'

Angele suddenly stopped as he turned at a corner. There was a bright ray of sunlight shooting down the roof in the area ahead.

The top of the tunnel was cracked, and the golden sunlight was dazzling.

Angele slightly narrowed his eyes and walked into the sunlight.

He raised his head and tried to peek outside through the gap.

The clouds that covered the blue sky were no longer there, and Angele embraced the warmth of the sun.

He carefully removed the cracked stone pieces from the gap and two green vines dropped right in front of him.

Angele's sight fell upon the place where the vines were in contact with the edge of the gap.

The surface of the vine was scratched, revealing white plant fibers.

"They escaped through this gap..."

Angele visualized the scene of the two-headed wizard climbing up the vines and leaving the tunnel with Kuirman on his back.

He quickly grabbed the vine in hand and pulled on it hard. Angele then quickly stepped back and raised his head.

*CHICHICHI*

A trap was triggered and some black items dropped to the ground from the gap. They drew a straight line below the vine.

Angele shook his head and pursed his lips.

It was a line of black needles. They stabbed into the slates, and their shapes looked identical to those used by Kuirman.

"Not a surprise."

Angele sneered and raised his right hand. A thin metal string twisted around the vine and pulled it several times.

It seemed like the needles were the only trap they had set up here.

Angele stepped forward and grabbed the vine.

He quickly climbed out of the tunnel through the gap.

Above the tunnel, it was a sea of trees. They were tall and vibrant, their roots strong and bushes around them thick.

Green grass covered the land and there were several white flowers mixed in.

The distance between each of the trees was about four to five meters, and the black mud was covered with broken pieces of white stones. It looked like white sesame seeds spread on a large piece of black cloth.

Angele moved out of the exit and saw a humongous tree right beside him. The sunlight went through the gaps of the branches and dropped to the land, while the tree's root was covered by green vines. Inside the forest, there were no insects or animals. The only thing Angele could see were the plants.

The mud under his feet was wet. Angele went around the bell-shaped root and straightened his robe. Before he could observe the environment, two men appeared in his sight.

They were the two-headed wizard and Kuirman.

Kuirman had already woken up and was chanting some incantation in a low voice, the left side of his body already merged with the two-headed man's.

It almost looked like Kuirman was trying to get into the man's flesh.

There were no five sense organs on the two-headed man's face, his skin clean and smooth. He was not resisting what Kuirman was doing to him, just standing there and waiting for Kuirman to finish the incantation.

Kuirman heard Angele's footsteps and turned his head around. He gritted his teeth but Angele could see the fear on his face.

Kuirman stopped chanting the incantation, knowing he had no way to finish the spell, and it was possible that the unstable mana would kill him. However, it seemed like the pausing of the spell did not impact the effect that had already happened.

"Can't you just leave me alone?" Kuirman asked in a deep voice. Half of his body had already disappeared, his arms and head were on the back of the two-headed wizard. The scene gave Angele an unpleasant feeling.

He sneered. "You gave up?"

"You have no idea... I spent years collecting the cursed power and you destroyed it all! There's no point for me to run anymore. I'll show you what I'm capable of." The fear on Kuirman's face disappeared and he stared at Angele. "Now my power has returned... Don't expect to defeat me easily..."

"Huh? Interesting. Show me what you can do then."

Three silver metal scars slowly appeared on the left side of Angele's face.

Kuirman laughed through his nose and clapped his hands, then his body and the two-headed man's body completely combined.

The shape of the two-headed man's faces shifted and the next moment he looked exactly like Kuirman.

The two-headed version of Kuirman was half naked, only his lower body covered by a blue blanket. He was about two meters tall, looking strong and ruthless.

Kuirman drew his cursed scimitar again and coated the blade with the familiar green aura.

"Die, insect!" Kuirman charged toward Angele, the scimitar in his right hand spinning so fast that it blurred. "How many heart bombs do you have?! Huh?" he roared out while slashed forward.

Angele shook his head, then the sleeves of his robe, and four heart bombs appeared on both of his palms. All of them were covered in a red glow, ready to be detonated.

He raised his arms and aimed at Kuirman.

His opponent's confident expression was replaced by fear in a second. He quickly turned around and tried to escape.

"F*cking hell! Where do you get so many heart bombs?! You're crazy!" he yelled as he started retreating.

Kuirman had assumed that Angele had used up all of his heart bombs in the tunnel, not expecting Angele to have hidden so many of them under his robe. It was an extremely risky behavior as the heart bombs might explode during battle.

*BOOM*

A shell-shaped area in front of Angele was covered in flames.

The sky, the trees, and the land disappeared from Kuirman's sight, and instead, he saw the furious fire trying to swallow him.

The pressure brought by the explosions squeezed Kuirman's body and the high temperature vaporized his defensive barrier in the blink of the eyes.

"Ah!"

Kuirman roared in pain but the only thing Angele could hear was the burning fire. Kuirman's eyes perished in the flames, his nose and ears were destroyed by the explosion. In the end, there was not much left of him.

The flames streaked into the air and ignited all the trees around. The enormous tree trunks fell to the ground as the fire sparked.

Thick white smoke permeated the air.

The grass inside the explosion's radius all turned to ashes in seconds, and waves of heat spread out in all directions.

Angele was caught in the center of the explosion and was blown away. He created multiple thin silver metal strings and shot them toward the trees on the sides to reduce the impact. Eight large trees were pulled down before he dropped to the ground.

"Four Fire heart bombs and each of them had at least 50 degrees of power... Incredible..."

It was the first time Angele had used four heart bombs at the same time, and he was surprised.

The location he was standing at had turned into a sea of fire, the glowing red Fire energy particles mixed in with the burning plants covered the light from the sun.

Kuirman was struggling and trembling in the flames. He tried to escape, but he was surrounded by a circle of furious fire. He was dying, no longer able to hear or see anything, but he was still trying to find a way to survive.

Angele was more than ten meters away from the edge of the burning area, but he could still feel the heat, and even the metal layer that covered his skin started melting. He had to back off several meters more.

"It's over."

Angele sighed and watched Kuirman burning in the flames. He used one-third of the heart bombs he had during this fight.

He recalled the day he had killed two hundred-eyed monsters outside the ruins of Ramsoda, one heart bomb made from the glowing elephant's heart was all he had needed. However, the monsters had been way weaker than Kuirman—he had almost recovered from the injury done by several heart bombs.

Kuirman's burning body started melting from the heat. He was still moving, but it seemed like there was no way for him to recover from this.

*BOOM*

Suddenly, Kuirman's body exploded and his organs splashed everywhere.

A spinning scimitar drew a long arc in the air, surrounded by flames.

*CHI*

The scimitar stabbed into a tree's trunk beside Angele, the blade was still smoking. The remaining heat on the metal left a deep burnt mark on the surface of the trunk.

Angele turned around. He was surprised that Kuirman's weapon was still in a good shape after the explosion. There was not even a dent on its blade.

Angele walked to the tree and stopped by its trunk.

There was a silver glint on the scimitar, but the coiling green aura was no longer there. The wavy blade looked like a silver snake twisting its body.

The handle of the scimitar was made from black metal, but Angele did not see any hilt. Its handle had the style of the short daggers used in rituals.

Angele put his hands on the handle. Many blue light dots appeared in the air. They gathered around the handle and turned into a water beam.

*CHI*

Thick white steam rose from the handle.

After several seconds, the steam disappeared as the blue light dots vanished into the air.

Angele grabbed the handle of the scimitar and pulled it out of the tree trunk.