Just as Angel finished saying goodbye, he heard the crisp sound of footsteps coming from the stairwell.
Turning back, he saw Tullas walking up quickly.
"Sir, there’s a lady named Cindy Cummings outside looking for you, saying she was sent by Wizard Ferro."
Angel paused and looked at Nis.
Nis and Angel exchanged glances, and a hint of surprise flashed in their eyes: they hadn’t expected that the moment they finished talking about Wizard Ferro, Ferro would send someone over; what a coincidence.
Nis quickly said, "Invite her up."
Angel sat back down, quietly waiting for the appearance of this Cindy the Witch.
Before long, a woman dressed in black leather trench coat, her black hair cut in sharp and cold edges of the dark style, appeared before them.
"Lord Nis, Lord Pat, and... Ironclad Granny," Cindy greeted respectfully, initially struggling to recognize Ironclad Granny’s identity, but upon confirmation, a trace of humility flickered across her previously indifferent expression.
"Look up," Nis examined Cindy, clicking his tongue a few times, "You, I remember you’re with Wizard Ferro’s team?"
Facing the lecherous look from Nis, a trace of disgust was apparent in Cindy’s eyes, but she managed to hold her expression in check and replied with lowered eyes, "Yes."
"Then..." Nis reached out and stroked Cindy’s smooth hand, "Then I’m curious, what have you discovered?"
Cindy wanted to pull her hand away, but the renown of Nis restrained her, and she ultimately bit her lip and remained still.
Angel glanced at Nis, then lightly pressed his index finger against the desk. Accompanied by an invisible ripple, with a series of cracking sounds, a chair formed by a Nightmare Illusion appeared before him.
Pushing the chair gently near Ironclad Granny, he said to Cindy, "Have a seat and tell us."
Cindy’s eyes lit up, and she nodded slightly to Angel, "Thank you, sir."
Seizing the chance, Cindy withdrew her hand and sat on a chair five or six meters away from Nis. After she sat down, Ironclad Granny, smiling, poured her a cup of rose tea.
Nis wanted to say something initially, but seeing Angel and Ironclad Granny’s protective demeanor, he quickly quieted down.
"I didn’t even do anything, do you have to be like this..."
Angel and Ironclad Granny couldn’t be bothered with Nis.
Ironclad Granny smiled kindly at Cindy, "Why didn’t Ferro come himself and instead sent you to convey the message?"
Cindy was initially in a daze, feeling as if she were dreaming when such a distinguished figure as Ironclad Granny poured her tea. It wasn’t until Ironclad Granny inquired that she recovered her senses and replied, "It’s because Lord Ferro temporarily left and hasn’t returned. The rest of us discussed and decided it was best to report to Lord Nis first."
Angel: "Ferro left? When did he leave and where did he go?"
Cindy: "He left two days ago, saying he would first go to that place to investigate."
That place? Which place? Angel initially wanted to ask this question, but upon thinking about it, he refrained and instead said, "Start from the beginning, from when you landed on Sidro Mist Island."
Cindy nodded and recounted everything that had happened in the past four days.
Four days ago.
Under Ferro’s leadership, a group of people finally landed on Sidro Mist Island. Next, they began searching on the island, looking for energy traces left by the group with numerical tattoos from before.
With a general range known, knowing it was along the northern sandy coastline of Sidro Island, the search wasn’t difficult, and soon they found a vast area obviously affected by energy blasts.
Where there is retention, there must be traces. Not to mention, the topography here had changed, making it very easy to find traces.
Ferro used a Level 1 Spell Technique—Breaking Delusion, to review the reality that had occurred from the remaining clues. Then, using the True Sight and dispelling the mists, he traced the route all the way off Sidro Island.
Finally, they ventured into the famously misty belt of the Devil’s Sea.
"After entering the mist belt, we encountered several dangers consecutively, even a massive sea beast over a hundred meters long, but under Lord Ferro’s leadership, we managed to come through unscathed."
"However, the energy field inside the mist belt is different from outside. Although we followed clues to get here, the leads began to lessen and were even eroded by the mist until they vanished."
"In the end, we didn’t find a specific location, only searched within a range for any other clues as indicated by Breaking Delusion’s retrospection."
Nis: "Did you find anything?"
Cindy: "You could say we did, but it wasn’t a clue we found; it was a soul."
"A soul? Is it fallen? Alive or undead?" Nis asked out of habit as it pertained to his domain.
Cindy: "It wasn’t fallen. As for whether it was a living soul or undead, I didn’t pay attention, but Lord Ferro should know."
"Whether it’s alive or dead doesn’t matter," Ironclad Granny interjected, "Since you said you found a clue, does that mean this soul knows something?"
Cindy nodded, "Yes, the reason we suspect this is because this soul has a tattoo on its face. An ’X’ on the left and a number ’1’ on the right."
Given that Ferro set out to find those with numerical tattoos on their faces, the tattoos on this soul’s face clearly indicate a connection to the Earth Cavern Sacrifice and the whereabouts of the Night Butterfly Witch.
Consequently, Ferro captured this soul and brought it to a nearby uninhabited island for interrogation.
At this point, Cindy glanced at Angel, "Right, while heading to the uninhabited island, I kept observing this soul, constantly feeling it looked familiar, and upon confirming its identity, realized my intuition wasn’t wrong."
"I’ve indeed seen this soul before. I reckon Lord Pat might also know of him."
Angel looked over: "Oh? He is..."
"Number 1."