The appearance of a Pilgrim of Misfortune set the entire Overwatch Base into an uproar.
After sending the wizards back, Samantha immediately headed away to alert Skyward Island. Meanwhile, Sennefer dispatched a team to keep an eye on where the monster went and prevent careless wizards from taking the same path.
Samantha’s presumption was correct. The Pilgrim of Misfortune indeed traveled to the Veiled Coast and then disappeared into the Veiled Sea.
…
Angor looked at all the people running around the base through a window. Due to the recent change of event, the lively base had turned a lot more gloomy.
“Whatever is this thing?” Angor muttered. He had been fully concentrated on his studies, but the ruckus outside drew him out.
“It’s a monster everyone would try to get away from. Let’s say, even the lord of the abyss can not escape from its curse.”
Angor turned around upon hearing the familiar voice of his professor and saw Sunders’ body materializing behind him.
“You’re back, professor!”
“I am.” Sunders shook some snow off his boots and gave Angor a curious glimpse. “According to Kanter, you didn’t ‘stay put’ these days, did you?”
“I didn’t do anything!” Angor faked his good old innocuous look.
“Heh. If you say so.”
Sunders already heard from Kanter, about the Soft Larva Queen. It might appear as big news in the view of Kanter, but not so much for Sunders, when there were way bigger surprises coming from Angor, such as the dream wasteland.
“I think Ness once salvaged something from an abandoned lab left behind by this ‘Heart of the Swarm’ wizard. I’ll ask him about the worms when I have time for it.”
“Thank you very much, sir!”
“Don’t put your hopes up. Maybe Ness won’t tell us anything. Did you finish your, ahem, homework?”
Angor looked down. He didn’t find any time for it yet because the larva nest kept his full attention.
“I-I didn’t think you’ll return so soon.”
“You can do it later then. Once Samantha returns from Skyward Island, the Overwatch Base should settle down a little since some of the tasks are no longer necessary. That’s when I’ll take you back to the wizarding world.”
“We can go back?”
“Yes. Neither friends nor foes would come here now that a Pilgrim of Misfortune has shown up. This means Monkey’s target will appear at one of the other operation bases. Many people here will be asked to swap to new posts.”
“Is this pilgrim thing so strong that no one can get near it?”
“The curse of misfortune it brings is irresistible. You can also contract the curse by walking on the trail it passed through. This is also why everyone in the base looked glum. They knew that this place is likely to be abandoned.”
The apprentices all stopped working when they heard that they would probably travel to another base soon. This wasn’t exactly good news because making long travels in the Abyss wasn’t safe.
Some of the wizards didn’t feel pleasant either. For example, Vifet was planning to use the tunnel to reach level 4. Now he could no longer do it.
Similarly, Sennefer was frustrated since she just lost her chance of looking for the Sand of Resurrection from deeper levels.
Madelyne, however, seemed to be the only one in the base who was actually happy about the consequence. Her enemy, Dura, was hunting in the deeper levels right now. She would like to see Dura get the curse by coming back using the tainted tunnel. In the current situation, nobody could go and inform Dura of the danger.
…
Angor spent a few days with his professor, during which they further talked about the dream wasteland or Angor’s study.
Samantha came back from Skyward Island, bearing an order from the authorities, that those in the Overwatch Base would remain as they were until the extra defenses at the Demon Castle were lifted. If nothing else went wrong in the process, they would retreat to Port Kodo.
Everybody knew that they were asked to stay just in case their target somehow showed up at the tainted tunnel, even if the chance was very slim.
Instead of tightening their spirits, people in the Overwatch Base all chose to relax, because the base might be the safest one at this rate—no demons would invade it and risk facing the curse.
On the second day after Samantha’s return, every wizard in the base received a secret issue of Moonfrost Periodical. This was a member-only magazine only available to those working in the union. Though it was now a convention that wizards who were working at the front line of the Abyss were also allowed to look at them, no matter which organization they came from.
Sunders was halfway through the magazine he just got when he suddenly summoned Angor into his room with a serious look.
Angor, carrying a glass of golden liquid he just prepared, was badly startled by the event. He was going to enjoy some Milkberry Tree sap in the Gravity Garden peacefully when he was dragged out by Sunders.
The point was, he couldn’t let anyone see his habit!
“Ahem. I just need some juice, sir. All the study got me a dry throat,” he said as he scrambled to get the glass of milk into his storage.
Sunders looked up from the magazine, and his serious expression was replaced by a faint smile after seeing Angor’s silly look.
Seeing his professor almost laughing at him, Angor wondered if Sunders intentionally embarrassed him like this.
“Well, let me show you something.” Sunders showed the page he was reading. “They found traces of Lucas’ Skull.”
“Really?” Angor quickly checked the title of the article.
[Star Reading Reveals Us the Missing Treasure]
In fact, Angor had been wondering where the treasure went after he escaped from the secret dimension. He knew there were lots of truth-finder wizards watching, including “God of Seas” Flunza. A thief couldn’t possibly sneak away with the treasure under their noses.
More importantly, the whole thing almost got him killed because Sliv suspected him.
He kept on reading. According to the magazine, a stargazer named Ivan discovered the clue from the stars.
“It’s not held by a human?” Angor frowned. “Did that Leviathan take it away? No… That many wizards would have killed it in this case.”
“They say that whoever stole the item might have entrusted the item to a familiar or an enslaved monster,” said Sunders. “Also, this person possesses a rare alchemy tool that blocks off prophecy detection.”
Those words got Angor worried because he happened to have something like that.
A familiar has it? Wait, don’t tell me… Toby?!
Toby did have time to snatch the skull when I wasn’t looking. And my Crimson Aegis can protect him as well when he was with me.
Angor looked around to search for Toby but without finding him.
When the area around the base became safer because of the tainted tunnel, and since Toby seemed to like the environment in the Abyss, Angor allowed the bird to take it easy on his own.
“What are you looking for?” Sunders saw Angor’s strange reaction.
Angor decided to tell Sunders his suspicion. “I’m thinking, could it be Toby who took it away?”
Sunders chuckled. “That can’t be. Keep reading.”
