Angor was halfway through his Spirit Mantra, but he suddenly stopped.
I stole a Mystery item?!
He did possess one Mystery item, which was the Dream Whelk he just obtained an hour ago. He wondered if Jebra was referring to Lucas’ skull, but as far as he remembered, he never got his hands on that thing.
“What Mystery item? What are you talking about?” He frowned and gave Jebra a suspicious look.
Goddammit. You won’t put up that act for too long. Jebra cursed in his mind before he said, “The Mystery item in that secret dimension. You took it, didn’t you?!”
Now Angor was finally sure that Jebra used all these bold moves to keep him here just because of the dark dimension. He did go there and explore but… he never “stole” anything from there. Well, except for Torras’ soul.
Back at Lost Paradise City, Jebra even gave him a lot of precious resources just to be friendly. The only reason Angor could think of that might explain Jebra’s change of attitude, was that Jebra believed he was the one who took Lucas’ skull.
Blimey. Perhaps someone else came and swiped it, and they put the blame on me instead. But again, however did they find me?
Nevertheless, Angor would never admit that he had been to the secret dimension before.
“I don’t know anything about that. Never heard of any Mystery item I could steal from you. We’re supposed to be allies, so I’ll give you a chance to use a truth-detection spell or something similar on me. I’ll not resist. But once you ask a question and find out I’m not guilty, I’ll be on my way. Don’t stop me then.”
Angor already used some of the materials he received from Jebra when crafting Ocean Tuner. He meant to use this chance to even the favor.
And his offer got Jebra really confused.
Jebra noticed that Angor meant to get inspected by a truth-detection spell for real, which meant… Did he really get the wrong guy?
He then tried to observe Angor more carefully, but no matter how he did, he only saw the same cold look.
“What are you waiting for? Changed your mind?” Seeing Jebra’s slow response, Angor was quite sure that Jebra wasn’t certain of his actions at all. In other words, there was no solid proof. Jebra had been asking him speculated questions to scare him into making a confession.
“Since you aren’t taking the chance, I’ll just leave. I’m not taking my offer back though—consider your materials repaid. I don’t owe you anything from now on.”
Jebra was getting more and more doubtful. It was true that they had been going after Angor out of guesstimate. They had nothing to press a charge against Angor yet.
As Jebra wondered if he should insist and keep Angor with him, another man’s powerful aura suddenly descended from the sky.
“Very well. I’ll be the one who’ll use a spell to examine you.”
The distant voice coming from behind Jebra was followed by a giant space rupture, from where a flying stingray emerged. On top of the creature was a dashing-looking young man with long, silver hair, who was giving Angor a cold gaze.
Seeing a wizard here, Angor showed a grim look and immediately made several escape plans.
Even with his enhanced strength, the aura pressure of a wizard would still greatly slow down anything he did. He just needed a small chance to get away from their sight. As long as he had such a chance, his Crimson Aegis would keep him safe from pursuers.
He decided to play it safe while looking for a good timing to make a run for it.
“Mister Wizard,” he said as he bowed politely, “of course, I can accept your spell and answer a question. ONE question, as I agreed to Jebra.”
“One, you say?” Angor’s serious look reminded Sliv of another man he always hated. “Humph. That’s not for you to decide.”
“Please, go ahead.” Angor simply maintained his calm expression.
Sliv swiftly deployed a Detect Truth spell around Angor’s position before he spoke, “Did you take the Mystery item from the secret dimension guarded by Leviathan? Do you have that item on you?”
“That seems to be two separate questions, but it’s fine, I can answer them both.”
Angor gave Sliv a determined look without showing any fear.
“No.”
Jebra looked at Sliv, and from Sliv’s annoyed look, he could tell that Angor was speaking the truth.
Angor didn’t take the item from that dimension, and he didn’t have it. The Detect Truth spell was working properly. Angor couldn’t possibly bypass it without them noticing.
“I don’t believe it! Someone must be controlling you. You have something that disrupts my spell, don’t you? You sneaked to the filthy island, huh?! ANSWER ME!” Sliv’s face twisted as he didn’t wish to accept the fact.
“I’ve answered what I should.” Angor offered to answer one question only just so that he wouldn’t accidentally spill anything that would give him out. And it seemed this was very necessary.
Now, he just needed to remain steadfast and be a little stubborn so that Sliv and Jebra wouldn’t question why he only replied to one single question.
Still under the stress of the aura, he clenched his teeth and put on a hateful look as if he felt very offended.
He didn’t know if his act would work on Sliv. At least he could see that Jebra and Neya already trusted his words.
Truth was, Sliv never doubted the result of his spell. He didn’t let Angor go yet because the whole matter felt similar to when he was being played around Sunders’ fingers helplessly, and he absolutely hated this.
Sliv wasn’t saying or doing anything for the moment—he just kept his powerful aura pressed on Angor due to his rage.
The situation wasn’t so bad for Angor yet. His “projection bloodline” strengthened his body in many aspects, including his resistance against such pressure. After getting away from the aura pressure of a mighty sea monster like the Leviathan, Sliv’s aura of an average wizard was totally tolerable to him.
Still, Angor would like to “play his part” to its fullest. He even feigned some blood in his mouth and pretended that he would faint at any moment.
Sliv saw Angor’s “terrible condition” and suddenly wanted to use this chance to get rid of Angor once and for all.
When Angor saw Sliv’s killing intent, he “painfully” took out a red bead from his bracelet.
There was an obvious interruption in Sliv’s aura because he already recognized the terrifying power in the bead that he always resented.
It was Sunders’ blood.
“You would do this to me just to annoy my professor? I thought a real wizard from a major organization wouldn’t be so shameless,” Angor yelled madly. “You’re not so different from the Centipede Guild after all!”
Sliv was still staring at the bead without minding Angor’s curses. The blood bead meant Sunders REALLY cared about Angor’s safety.
But on second thought, this should definitely be the case. Any individual or organization who knew Angor’s alchemy skills would protect him to the best of their ability.
While it was true that Sunders couldn’t get here any time soon, he could always use this bead to tell what happened to Angor.
If Sliv was to attack Angor like this… he would undeniably enrage not only Sunders but also the entire Brute Cavern as well.