What happened that day?
Angor was not sure about it himself. However, he knew that there had to be someone else who asked Parasite Queen to take his body.
“Professor, do you know about Baroque?” Angor asked something first. Something that he believed to be an important clue behind all this.
“Baroque?” Sunders frowned. “Why? Is he related to the whole matter?”
Angor nodded. “I had four matches that day. But when I entered the lottery pool, the number one fighter at Level 13, which is Parasite Queen, chose my name immediately.”
“You assume that Baroque placed her against you?”
Angor shook his head. “It’s not an assumption. I’m sure of it. That Baroque was secretly controlling my match. The Sky Tower always announce a match that involves the top fighters one week earlier. But my match against Parasite Queen happened so sudden. I mean, it only took one day for the tower to determine my match. There must be something wrong.”
“That’s still not enough to prove Baroque’s involvement. Why, in the first place, would Baroque want Parasite Queen to fight you?” Sunders doubted.
“We’re not enemies. However, it’s likely that he was trying to do something to you, professor, not me.”
Angor had no idea whether this was the case. But from what he heard from Parasite Queen’s emotion, this was very possible.
Since he was sure that Baroque put Parasite Queen against him, Angor really wanted to put the blame on Baroque just to get revenge.
“But why would you say that?” Sunders asked.
Angor slowly explained what he heard during the match. “Parasite Queen meant to take control of my body and soul. When the match began, I was immediately affected by something and fell into a strange state…
“… Later, I sensed Parasite Queen’s emotions just like how I sensed the glutton flowers in the Nightmare Realm. But she couldn’t read mine in return. She came at me because she already knew that you’re my teacher. As for who told her the information…” Angor stopped and looked at Sunders.
Sunders frowned again. “Baroque?”
Angor nodded. “Yes. Baroque thought that nobody knows it. But somehow, I can sense people’s emotions in the strange state, and that’s how I read Parasite Queen’s mind. Her mind cannot lie. Baroque was behind this.”
Sunders frowned hard. Baroque was a very particular figure in Brute Cavern. He was allowed to stay here because of certain cooperation between Brute Cavern and… somewhere. People had been keeping their eyes on Baroque’s movements during these years, and they never saw the old man doing anything special. They would not expect Baroque to do such small tricks behind their backs instead.
It what Angor said was true… then someone was trying to place spies among the core authorities of Brute Cavern.
Which meant… Parasite Queen could well be another special operative.
“Heh… nice going, Baroque,” Sunders sneered in his mind and immediately thought about a countermeasure. “Let’s put Baroque’s matter aside for now. I’ll send someone to look into it.” Sunders smoothened his eyebrows. “Tell me what happened next.”
Angor really wished to learn more about Baroque, but since Sunders refused to say anything further, he had to give up.
“… It felt really weird. I saw Parasite Queen using a strange plant that gave out green pollens. The pollens took over my body and I had nothing to prevent it. It didn’t take long before I completely lost my body,” Angor said with a hint of hatred in his eyes.
Sunders took out a crystal ball and watched the match again.
When it reached the point where Angor suddenly collapsed on the arena, Sunders paused the replay.
“This should be when your body was taken over by the spores of Green Velvet and you could no longer stand.”
“You mean the green pollens? What are those?” Angor asked out of curiosity.
Sunders looked at Angor with a… complicated emotion. “Green Velvet is an extremely rare magic plant. I don’t know what Parasite Queen did, but I can tell you that Green Velvet is very beneficial to the souls of wizards. It… is almost as valuable as the essence of Glutton Flower Lord.”
“So um, the spores in me now…”
“Tell me the story. I’ll answer your questions later.”
After explaining how he lost his body, Angor talked about how he fought for his soul.
But he was not sure how to describe the fight. What was that strange fog? Why did Parasite Queen suddenly disappear?
“… Parasite Queen surrounded my soul with her spores and prepared to strike. I didn’t know what to do, so I tried to release the gray fog from my soul. But it went too fast and I couldn’t stop it. I was almost drained dry… Parasite Queen moved behind me and attacked from my back. I felt itchy first, then Parasite Queen yelled out for some reason and just, gone.
“I don’t know what that fog was. Oh, and the place where I felt itchy on my back was the same spot where I was hurt by the strange stitched woman in the Nightmare Realm.”
The crystal ball showed everything else, about how Angor woke up and ordered Toby to crack Parasite Queen’s head open, as well as how the angry audiences attacked him but were prevented by Dave and Prome.
“I don’t think the body killed by Toby was the real Parasite Queen, and I don’t know whether her soul was defeated. It just, vanished.” Angor’s instinct told him that Parasite Queen did not really die.
…
“Looks like I sensed Nightmare Realm right when Parasite Queen went for the wound on your back,” Sunders spoke. “As for the gray fog… I have no idea what it is either. I’m not really good at this subject. Let me see… I’ll take you to a wizard who studied souls. He should know something.”
It was an order. Sunders took Angor away from Phantom Island without giving the boy any time to rest at all.
On their way, Angor tried to ask his questions which still did not have an answer. Such as the Green Velvet spores. Were they still in his body?
“I helped you repress the spores and forced them back into the core of Green Velvet. Parasite Queen had been controlling that core. With her soul no longer here, the Green Velvet core remained inside you, and I made sure all the scattered spores are back into the core.”
“Green Velvet core?” It reminded Angor of the dream he just had. The green spores in the air were all absorbed by the giant flower bud, which began to bloom and was about to reveal Parasite Queen’s body. Then he woke up from the terrible dream.
Angor explained what he saw in the dream to Sunders.
Sunders chuckled. “The green bud is the core of Green Velvet. It’s still there, inside your body.”
“Why not remove it?” Angor was puzzled.
“I said Green Velvet is extremely valuable, just because of its core. The core cannot survive outside. It has to draw energy from someone’s soul to keep going. If I extract the core from you, it’ll quickly wither away.”
Sunders noticed that Angor still looked worried. He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Calm down. As long as it receives proper care, the core of Green Velvet won’t do anything harmful to you. It can also nurture your soul in the future. You know, it’s considered another great treasure among all wizards. If you’re still not convinced, you can transplant it into someone else’s body later.”
Angor believed Sunders’ words. However, he still felt uneasy about how he had a… plant, growing in him.
Once away from Phantom Island, Angor and Sunders headed to the other end of the Tree of Eternity on the back of a giant Demon Falcon.
“Professor, is the soul wizard we’re going to see Mister Ness?” Angor asked.
Sunders nodded. “He’s the only soul master in Brute Cavern.”
Angor considered and decided not to tell Sunders about what he went through when fighting Saka.
So he had to meet Saka again? Oh god…
Now both of Ness’ students had grudges against him.
Hookdick was not staying in Brute Cavern now so Angor did not have to worry about that one. Saka though… Angor did not really know how to approach this psycho. He only prayed that Saka was not with Ness at the moment.
Still, Angor was sure that Saka would not recognize him at all. He did a good job hiding his identity on the stage.
“Professor, why did I sense Parasite Queen’s emotion ripples when existing as my soul? And back in Nightmare Realm, there were other monsters I came across other than Glutton Flowers, such as Hover Heads and the Blue Tri-Eye Giant. But I didn’t feel anything from them.”
There was more. He failed to sense anything from “Younger Sunders” too, but Angor did not really have the courage to mention it.
“I don’t know. But I have a possible theory to it. That is, you can only sense the emotions of something whose soul is of a lower level than you, like Parasite Queen, or something that’s willing to open up its emotion to you, like Glutton Flowers. Of course, the theory only explained what kind of targets you can sense. As for how you did it… I think it has something to do with your Nightmare Form.”
Nightmare Form?
Sunders considered for a while and continued, “Once we’re at Ness’ place, make sure you don’t mention anything about Nightmare Form or Nightmare Realm. Just tell him about the strange fog in you. I’ll handle the rest.”