Angel walked in the gusty Earth Cavern.
The increasingly dense death aura seemed to have transformed into shadow creatures, constantly howling, rolling, surging, with the misty black smoke like monster claws repeatedly trying to invade the area around Angel, testing the final threshold.
However, under the effect of the Purifying Field, all death aura was blocked, and no black fog could approach Angel.
Angel passed the rectangular stone platform and slowly walked to the center of the Earth Cavern.
Stepping up the stone stairs, it seemed like there were haunting screams in his ears.
As he reached the top of the altar, the screams grew nearer, as if they were right behind him.
Angel did not turn around.
But if someone were here at this moment, they would clearly see, behind Angel stood a gloomy woman whose long black hair covered most of her face. She tilted her head, her hair slanted to reveal her frightening red eyes.
Staring intensely at Angel, her bony and pale hand, with pitch-black nails, extended, probing toward Angel’s back.
No matter what movements the woman made, Angel still did not turn around, only slightly leaning forward, gazing at the stone slab on the altar.
"Hmm." Angel suddenly let out a sound of surprise.
The woman behind him froze instantly, as if terrified, and immediately retreated into the black mist of death aura, her figure merging with the mist, watching Angel with those scarlet eyes.
Angel reached out to touch the stone slab on the altar, the symbols and patterns on it clearly visible.
"A concentric circle, hexagon... most importantly, the characteristic symbol of the Steven Safety Zone." Angel murmured: "Unexpectedly, ’you’ really achieved this step."
As Angel spoke the term "you," the endless black hair of the woman in the black mist instantly rose, just like a black cat whose tail was stepped on, fur bristling, letting out a piercing scream, enveloping in rolling black mist, rushing, waving the sharp black nails, darting towards Angel.
It was only then that Angel slowly turned around.
Watching the black-haired woman rushing toward him, he showed no reaction. Even when the sharp nails touched his chest, he did not move.
The black-haired woman passed through his body.
Then with a "thud," the mist constituting the black-haired woman vanished instantly. Yet Angel remained unaffected.
Angel sighed lightly: "Your illusion technique is lacking, the undead are composed of mixed soul energy, covering merely with a layer of death aura outside hasn’t created any energy fluctuations, probably can’t even fool David."
"However, better than yesterday’s attempt, at least you understand to accept my advice, knowing that attacking would cause energy leakage, stirring up the death aura."
Angel’s voice spread within the empty cavern, seemingly teaching the illusion technique, but the presence lurking in the darkness didn’t listen at all, staring viciously at Angel on the altar with scarlet eyes.
Clearly only emitting the green light of death aura, yet standing on the altar, Angel was as brilliant as the scorching sun, making it both hate and fear.
Angel’s head slowly turned towards a certain direction, still speaking: "I’ve found you. That gaze wasn’t controlled well, easily discovered~"
Angel looked at the part where the black mist was rolling, clearly feeling that the malicious gaze was coming from there.
"I’ll give you another chance. Hope this time, won’t let me down."
Having said that, Angel didn’t enter the black mist of death aura, but continued to turn his head, watching the patterns on the stone platform.
Though he appeared calm, internally he was actually quite surprised.
Those two bizarre symbols like worms were surprisingly replicated by ’Mirror Grudge.’
Indeed, the presence hidden in the darkness was the captured ’Mirror Grudge.’ And here wasn’t the real Earth Cavern, it was actually a mirrored space created by the Mirror Grudge.
To study the abilities of the Mirror Grudge, Angel brought multiple mirrors to the Earth Cavern, then released the Mirror Grudge, intending to directly experience the capabilities of the Mirror Grudge itself.
Every time, Angel would enter the mirrored space, feeling the atmosphere here, trying to analyze its underlying logic.
In previous encounters, the Mirror Grudge would directly attack Angel, but each time it was easily suppressed by Angel.
Even though Mirror Grudge’s intelligence was extremely low, after being suppressed multiple times, it realized Angel wasn’t easy to deal with and started looking for other methods. Thus, it created various illusions to probe, like the previous black-haired woman which was a manufactured illusion.
While the Mirror Grudge was probing Angel, Angel was consistently exploring the inner workings of the mirrored space.
Today, before entering the mirrored space, Angel had a sudden idea, and in the real Earth Cavern, he put the stone slab back on the altar, wanting to see if the Mirror Grudge could replicate the stone slab through the mirror simulation of the cavern environment.
As it turned out, the mirrored space truly simulated every detail of the Earth Cavern. Even the symbol of the Steven Safety Zone was replicated on the stone slab.
This really surprised Angel. Even Angel using illusions couldn’t restore these two symbols within illusions, yet the Mirror Grudge managed somehow.
Was it due to the mirrored space? Or because of its undead nature?
Angel leaned towards the former.
After all, Frode is also a soul, and he couldn’t remember that symbol. In essence, Mirror Grudge and Frode are quite similar, if Frode couldn’t remember, how could Mirror Grudge?
Therefore, it must be related to the mirrored space.
This was the first capability Angel saw outside of the ’Dream Conch’ that could restore Quest World’s text.
Although many questions remained unanswered, today’s achievement was significant; this is a unique ability belonging to the mirrored space. Gather more data, and bit by bit, analyze, ultimately grasp the true underlying logic of the mirrored space.
Angel observed the stone slab for about three minutes before retracting his gaze.
"I’ve given you some time to prepare. This time, what surprises will you bring me?" Angel muttered lowly, while turning to walk down the staircase.
Thirty-six steps on the staircase, Angel walked very slowly, regrettably, until landing, the Mirror Grudge didn’t take action against him.
"More cautious now." Angel considered: "Is it an improvement in battle wisdom, or the restoration of spiritual body awareness?"
Probably the former.
It’s incredibly difficult for undead to possess consciousness. Not every undead has Mandhela’s luck.