"Your Highness, are you feeling well now?" At that moment, Fennelis arrived near Edith and asked in a concerned voice.
"I'm okay, Lady Fennelis," Edith said with a warm smile while hugging Fennelis and continued with a sad tone,
"We watched you all this time but couldn't meet you due to the Light Church members' prying eyes."
Fennelis arched her eyebrows in surprise and asked in puzzlement.
"You were watching us? Why didn't you guys come out and meet us?"
"We couldn't. We had already faked our deaths and secretly planned to enter this Dungeon. But your arrival almost spoiled our plan. At first thought of contacting you, but soon we noticed that the Light Church members constantly monitored your movements. So we have no choice but to back away. My Lady, the 'Death Cane' is much more important to us, so we didn't want to expose our identities." Edith's expression turned gloomy as she said those words.
"Haa! I almost forgot why both of us came to look for you." Fennelis rubbed her forehead and continued while shaking her head,
"Your Highness, I heard some information from a servant that the whole mission about the appearance of 'Death Cane' is a complete lie. The Emperor wants your whole assassin squad to disappear from this world. You understand he is also a secret Light church member, right?" Her words made both Edith and Rizz freeze in surprise.
But Edith spoke while shaking her head.
"I don't think so, My Lady. I also asked Diviner Heron from the Nature Church before coming here. I'm sure the 'Death Cane' artifact is hidden in this Dungeon."
"Her Highness' words are true, my lady." This time, Abium interjected their conversation and caused everyone to stare at him with confusion.
Edith looked at him again, but she stared at him deeply this time and asked Fennelis.
"Lady Fennelis, can you please introduce this mysterious mage to us?"
"Of course, Your Highness. His name is Abium, and he is also the Baron of Alastall Woodlands. As for his strength, he is already a peak first-tier mage and has many secrets. Although he looks mysterious and sometimes acts ruthlessly, he is a good kid." Fennelis said with an amusing smile and winked at Abium.
'He is the Baron of Alastall woodlands, huh? I did hear that a reckless mage chose a backward territory. But I didn't expect that mage would be so young. Also, I heard Baron is an elf…' Edith looked at Abium with suspicious eyes and soon noticed Abium's ears began to elongate like an elf's.
After a second, those elven ears returned to normal.
'What the heck is that?! It looks creepy! He is an elf! Moreover, he is using some artifact to disguise himself.' Edith looked at Abium with a dazed face and soon gave him a respectful bow.
Meanwhile, Abium began to scratch his head awkwardly and started to speak.
"Your Highness, I don't have any ill intentions towards any of you, so you don't have to be wary of me." He paused for a moment and added,
"As for my earlier words, I knew a friend who is also a Seer, and he already told me that 'Death Cane' is hidden in this Dungeon. Although he couldn't guess its exact location, I know there is someone who knows much about this place." After finishing his words, Abium shifted his gaze toward Cedric and smiled.
Cedric, who had stayed silent all this time, suddenly got goosebumps as he noticed multiple eyes were staring at him.
"M-My lord, I don't know any location." Cedric got extremely nervous and stuttered in confusion.
"I know you don't know anything. But I don't think that parasite Mindworm inside your Sea of Consciousness knows nothing." Abium said coldly and continued,
"Cedric, close your eyes and concentrate on waking up that Dark God's Consciousness. Also, talk to him like you know some of his secrets. I will tell you his name, so you can use it to threaten him. His name is Ringer, and he is known as Dark God."
Upon hearing Abium's words, Cedric nodded stiffly, quickly sat on the ground, and then closed his eyes. After that, he began to send his consciousness to the Mind worm and started disturbing it.
It didn't take long before he heard an ancient roaring voice, causing him to startle inside.
'Who dares to disturb me in my sleep?'
'H-Hello!' Cedric became extremely nervous when he heard an ancient old man's voice and replied with a stutter.
'Who are you, mortal?' That voice paused for a second and soon muttered exciting words,
'So, you are the new seed, huh? Hmm? Interesting! I feel divine powers in the Royal elf's body and that child beast's body. Mortal, if you kill those two for me, I will give you my bloodline and make you walk on the path of Warlock. My bloodline is one of the rarest, and you will not get shackled before reaching Legendary-Tier Warlock.'
As he heard the old man's words, Cedric became dumbfounded and soon replied while regaining his senses.
'Old man, I also know some information about you. Moreover, I already became a follower of that mage, so don't think you can order me around just because you get attached to my head. I learned you are a parasite seeking mortals' help to rise in power.' Upon hearing Cedric's words, Ringer fell into deep thoughts. In truth, he got stunned because he couldn't understand how this Mortal knew so much about him. He stayed silent for a whole minute and started to ask with annoyance.
'You got me, Mortal. So, tell me now, what do you want?'
Cedric smiled in the outside world and replied with a cold tone.
'I want you to give me your Mind worm bloodline, and I also want to know the location of the 'Death Cane."
Ringer became startled when he heard those words and began to think deeply. This time, he finally managed to get an interesting seed. But this one knew some information about him, making him hesitate.
Sensing the hesitation that appeared in the old man's mind, Cedric began to speak,
'Old man, don't worry; I won't find a way to get rid of you unless you try to harm me.'
Ringer chuckled inside his mind and replied without any care,
'I'm not worrying about that silly thing, mortal. I know only a God can get rid of me from your mind, and I don't think you have the power to communicate with a God directly. What I'm worried about is completely another matter. Well, don't try to reject when I'm going to inject you with my Mind worm Blood essence. Although you are a warrior technique practitioner, I don't think it would pose any harm to your body when injecting my blood essence. Take it.' As he finished his words, Cedric felt a sharp pain appear in his mind, followed by complete darkness.
'Don't lose your consciousness, mortal. If you do, you will die, and I will devour your soul.' Ringer said in a chilling tone as he noticed the changes in Cedric's mind.
Meanwhile, Cedric nodded tensely and bit his tongue to stay awake. Soon, countless information about how to cast bloodline spells appeared in his mind and began engraving in his consciousness's depth.
At that moment, Abium also noticed the changes happening in Cedric's body and got surprised.
This guy managed to get his hands on a top-rated Bloodline now. I thought that Dark God would be a stubborn one.' Abium curled his lips upward and asked Azolla to monitor the changes in Cedric's body.
A few minutes later, Abium saw a few dark ring-like patterns appear on his body and disappear.
Soon, everyone saw an illusionary body of a three-meter tall worm with multiple tentacles that appeared behind Cedric's body, giving strong pressure to the surroundings.
A second later, Abium saw a row of information in front of his eyes and grinned.
[Name: Cedric
Age: 35
Race: Human (Mind-Worm Bloodline strength- 0.1%)
Health: Normal
Class: Apprentice Warlock
Affiliation: Lawful Neutral
Divinity: None
Attributes
Strength: 4.2
Agility: 4.8
Vitality: 4.4
Mana: 6.0
Spirit: 3.0
Bloodline Spells (Zero-tier spells): Mind Invasion, Telekinesis (Sealed), Dark Shield (Sealed), Worm Eyes (Sealed), Parasite marionette (Sealed), Memory steal (Sealed).]