Chapter 361: Deadmens Dent

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

A crow with glowing red eyes glided under the dark night and landed on Magicians hand.

Magician removed a small paper from the crows leg before he released it.

[Deadmens Dent, Hollow Wood]

Here? Whats Michel thinking? Magician frowned and handed the paper to Angor.

Since Angor needed Magician to take him to the meeting, he decided to wait at Magicians place. He had been at Magicians place since eight in the evening.

Unfortunately, the message that announced the meeting place only arrived when it was almost midnight.

Whos Michel? Is that a real name? Angor read the paper and didnt recognize the name at all.

I dont know. Hes in charge of telling us the message this time. We use a different man for each meeting.

Wont someone use this chance to set everyone else up?

Magician shook his head. No one will. To us, the meeting is our only chance of improving.

Angor nodded. He a.s.sumed that these dabblers didnt possess anything worth taking anyway. Being alive meant being useful.

Lets move. If not for you, I wont be going to such a place, Magician complained.

Is there a problem?

No, but rumor has it that the place is haunted. I once went there to check and didnt find anything. It smelled terrible though.

Deadmens Dent that doesnt sound good to me.

Of course it doesnt. Thats a huge graveyard! The Hollow Wood is among the Byzan Mountains, and the dent is where the rangers place corpses. Grave robbers, folks killed by beasts They toss them all in there. The dents filled with filth after all the years, Magician said as he scowled.

Angor thought about how Magician described the previous meetings, which all appeared as great feasts. Even if they wanted to stay low, they should at least choose somewhere like an ancient castle.

No wonder Magician looked so disgusted.

They left the city and headed for the Hollow Wood as fast as they could.

As they traveled, Angor began to notice that they were walking on the exact same path from where he came to Water Gra.s.se, and when he finally saw the Hollow Wood, it proved his a.s.sumption.

These woods were what Angor went through after he left the rangers house. He still remembered that he sensed something strange when he traveled in there before. The dense trees covered most of the sunlight. It appeared dark even at the brightest noon. More importantly, Angor sensed a deathly aura among the trees.

He already a.s.sumed that there were many bodies buried under the trees, but now, he knew that his guess was mostly true.

Were here. The Deadmens Dent, Magician said as he pointed to a dark tunnel entrance.

It was located between several lush trees, which were about five or six meters tall. Even though the inside was too dark for Angor to see further in, he could already smell something rotten.

Well, the trees are growing so well thanks to this thing, Magician said as he looked into the tunnel. He really didnt want to go into that stench.

But when he thought about what Angor could possibly provide during the meeting, he still jumped inside, while pinching his nose.

Angor followed suit. He asked Toby to stay alert in case anything happened. Now that he witnessed the terrible gathering spot for real, he realized that something had to be wrong with whoever that made the choice.

Oh f*ck that Michel. Ill let him know how to make better choices later, Magician murmured as he landed on solid ground. He then took out a small lighter.

Wait! Angor quickly dragged the man when he smelled rotten corpse smell as well as dangerous gas.

With a flicker of mind, he cast Light. Soon enough, the area was bright enough for them to see.

There were corpses everywhere. Some already turned to bones, while some were on their way there. Magician jumped a little when he saw a half-rotten corpse right beside his feet, where white maggots and black dung beetles were busy doing their jobs.

Magician kicked the corpses head away. How could anyone even think about eating in this sh*thole? Is Michel trying to annoy us??

Angor glanced at Magician. Hes still thinking about eating?

So we need to go in deeper? Angor saw a path ahead which only led toward more darkness.

Should be, Magician said as he moved ahead. Meanwhile, Angor lowered his top hat to weaken his presence.

Its that Light cantrip, right? Magician asked. He sounded jealous as he continued, Nice you know way more spells than me.

Angor smiled without answering.

At first, Magician attempted to press some information out of Angor to help him learn the cantrip, but since Angor insisted on staying quiet, he simply gave up in the end.

The silence continued until they reached the end of the path.

There was a door, which was already opened. A number of people were sitting around a round table inside where only one seat remained.

Everyone turned around to look at Magician while smiling.

Come on, Magician. Were all waiting on you. A brown-haired young man on the main seat waved a hand.

Magician didnt return the friendly gesture. He only yelled back, What the actual f*ck, Michel?! Why here?

Michel grinned. You arent bored with food and drinks every time? Well, surprise!

Surprise my a*s!

Ohh, nice. Its only half a year, and you learned how to cast Light? Michel didnt mind Magicians anger at all. He left his seat and went to drag Magician inside with the same smile.

Its not Magician tried to introduce Angor, but when he turned around, he didnt find anyone there. The Light cantrip was gone as well.

When Magician was pulled inside, he tried to look back at the door to find Angor, only to see Michel in his way.

Stay for a while, since you already came. Michel grinned in a strange way.

Magician quickly got a worse feeling upon seeing the weird expression on Michel. He looked around the room and saw everyone smiling at him in unnatural manners. It was as if they were forced to do so.

Whats going on here? Vennie? Chief? Long-Ear? Pluto? Magician called their names but no one responded.

Next, Magician looked at someone with a wide-brimmed hat. Shadow?

This time, the man that he addressed made a gesture by removing his hat. My my, its been pretty long.

Whats going on, Shadow? Magician slowly stepped back from the others. He already sensed a terrible crisis approaching him.

But Michel was behind him to stop his track. Also, Michel was still carrying the same stiff smile. It was almost as if he were a stringed puppet.

What do you mean? Come and join our meeting already. Im going to tell you something really good today, Shadow said as he pointed at the only vacant seat.

N-no. I need to attend to something else outside, Magician stuttered.

However, before he could turn around, the thick bronze door of the room shut close with a loud Bam.

Magician reached the door and pulled, only to find he couldnt. Not without a key.

What are you planning? To rob my stuff? I dont have anything you need! Magician remembered Masks words, that someone could use the meeting as a trap. And he just said it was impossible

Wait, Mask! Wheres he? Did he notice the problem beforehand and hide somewhere nearby?

With that in mind, Magician quickly tried to call for help.

Help

A small shadow suddenly came down on him and brushed past his face. Before Magician could react, the shadow pulled Magicians shadow away and stuffed it into a small sack.

With a series of strange giggles, the small figure jumped onto Shadows shoulder and handed the sack to its master. Shadow then rubbed the figures tiny head as a compliment.

What was that? Magician felt faint for a moment. Unlike the other shadowless victims, he did not lose consciousness right away.

This, my friend, Shadow said as he stroked the sack, is my spoil.

Spoil?

Magician quickly looked under himself.

My shadowso it was really you whos been causing the ruckus in the city!

Oh my Shadow raised an eyebrow. When did you find that out?

Magician was beginning to breathe heavily. Blond hair and blue eyes Khabazar and John Junior

Ohh, that. Well, I didnt expect you to be the smart one around here. Let me see to smart people goes the reward.

Shadows stretched his hands. Several white strings were suddenly released from his ten fingers, and the strings rushed into the sack that contained Magicians shadow.

A tiny human-shaped figure was dragged out of the sack.

The figure shared almost the same body features as Magician himself, just a lot smaller and black.

Shadow used his strings to force the small figure to move on the table.

Meanwhile, Magicians body followed the puppets example and slowly moved around while he carried the same dumb expression like everyone else.

A real, living puppet that was manipulated by Shadow.