Chapter 42: Confrontation

When Charles walked out of the Withering Shadows department, the sky was bright as silver, and the hot north wind was blowing the heat straight into his face. Inhaling the hot air, Charles walked on the muddy road and then went to the Life Church in deep thoughts.

'My life is in danger? Who is after me? Addie Baker?' He furrowed his brows for a moment and soon sighed.

'I just stared at his house for few seconds. But he seems to have sensed something... Wait... Is he the [Astrologer] class Mystic? No, his skills seem to be mind-related ones. He must be a [Dreamer] or a [Psychatrist] Class Mystic. Maybe a sub-class? It is possible. If not, how did he find out about the change in his fate?' He paused for a moment and soon thought of another possibility.

'He might have some 'Fate' related artifact. Earlier, Team Leader Emilia also used a strange artifact to peek into my future and finds out about the upcoming threat. Thankfully, Team Leader is following me from behind as a backup. From now on, I need to think twice before acting.' He thought to himself and then entered into a dome-shaped building.

As usual, he walked on the aisle with light footsteps, stopped in front of the Goddess Nira's statue, clapped his hand together, and then started muttering a strange 'Praising' incantation. After a minute of long chant, he inhaled deeply and then bowed his head towards the statue.

"Life is Eternal." He said in praise.

After that, he turned around and then walked out of the Life Church.

He went to Ivy Street's end, walked into a small gloomy alley, found an abandoned house nearby, and then walked in.

A few minutes later, a black-haired woman walked out of the abandoned house and then moved to another gloomy alley. She wore a pleated white shirt, flared black skirt, high-heeled black shoes, and held a bell sleeve jacket in her right hand. She had deep-set jade eyes, an oval face, tan skin, and looked around 25-years-old.

She was none other than Edith.

After reaching the end of the gloomy alley, she stopped in front of the one-meter tall compound wall and jumped over. Her black skirt fluttered in the air as she landed on the other side and then started walking towards another dark alley.

It was a shortcut route from Ivy Street to Gold Street. Within a few minutes, Charles, in Edith's appearance, made a few turns and soon reached Gold Street. Unlike the last time, he noticed that Gold Street looked gloomier and showed an unsettling expression on his feminine face. At this time, there would be at least tens of citizens pass by his side, but today, there was none in the street. It was as if someone had already cleared the citizens and was waiting for her to walk through.

While Charles was in deep thoughts, a silk-curtained luxurious carriage came from the opposite direction and soon stopped a few feet away from him. Wearing the bell-sleeved jacket over his white shirt, Charles turned his face solemnly and stared coldly at the carriage.

A second later, a rough hand opened the silk curtain and revealed a human's face to Edith.

In the meantime, Charles's gaze swept past the opened silk curtain and soon landed on a red-haired man, who was looking at him in confusion.

He looked around 30-years-old with a slightly obese body and had crimson eyes, an oval face, skinny eyebrows, and strange bluish teethes. He wore a tight blue suit and appeared very familiar to Charles.

"Get in." The red-haired man stared at him for a moment and then ordered.

Charles's mind suddenly entered a half-conscious state at this time, and he felt that some invisible power was trying to control his emotions. Unlike the last time, Charles noticed that he could resist the other party's ability for the next three to four seconds and went on a battle mode.

'Addie Baker.' As he identified the red-haired man in an instant, he didn't hold back any longer and cast [Burning Thoughts] on him.

A moment later, Addie felt a sudden burning sensation in his mind and got puzzled by his current situation. He suddenly couldn't understand why he came to Gold Street and became utterly clueless!

Meanwhile, Charles woke up from the half-conscious state and got relieved.

Grasping the opportunity, he pointed his finger at Addie Baker and cast the [Incinerate] spell.

A condensed ray of red fire appeared from his forefinger and soon went towards Addie in a blink.

At that moment, Addie's crimson eyes suddenly shone in red color as he moved his hand a little and blinked his eyes twice.

A heartbeat later, his body blurred for a moment and soon disappeared from there!

It was his unique skill called Escape Danger.

When the user was in danger, this skill would activate its own and forcefully teleport the user to another location. This skill would trigger even if the user were in an unconscious state. But there was a restriction, though. The distance of the 'Teleportaion' would be based on the user's understanding of this skill.

Meanwhile, the ray of fire directly tore through the air and soon landed on the carriage seat.

Within a second, the raging fire began to spread from the seat and burned the carriage fiercely. Unfortunate for the butler-suited coachman, the fire directly devoured him from behind and completely absorbed him into the crimson flame. In two seconds, the luxurious carriage burned, no! It disintegrated into ashes!

Although the coachman cried to seek help from his boss, it fell into deaf ears.

Charles, on the other hand, clicked his tongue and then looked around in wary eyes.

'Where did he go?' He furrowed his brows and soon cast [Crimson Robe] spell on herself. As he cast this spell, a tangled fire symbol red robe suddenly appeared on his clothing and completely enveloped him. Simultaneously, he took out the Starfall Codex Magic book from the void pouch and flipped the pages in a fast manner.

He soon stopped his hand on the fourth page and started muttering few words in a Runal Language. Three seconds later, he curled his lips upward as he locked his gaze on a particular area and smirked.

It was a Rank-1 spell called, Spatial Sense!

Once the user cast this spell, they would sense the surrounding areas for a brief moment.

In a second, Charles's look changed from a normal to a mysterious Fire Mage!

Even Addie Baker, hiding thirty meters away from Charles in his concealed form, became stunned for a moment and soon got tensed up.

Meanwhile, Charles took a step forward as he held a black-covered book in his hand and began to walk in Addie's direction while muttering another strange incantation. But whenever he took a step forward, some fire sparks would appear around his shoes and began to intervene with the space law itself!

Charles's every step decreased the distance between him and Addie by a great margin!

Addie also sensed the seriousness and took out a strange gold coin from his pocket.

Before Charles could reach him, he tossed the coin upward and muttered a word in a strange tone.

''*******.''

A spatial ripple appeared behind Addie in the next moment and soon formed into a bluish vortex. After that, two bony hands suddenly appeared behind his back and began to pull Addie into the vortex.

Of course, Charles wouldn't allow him to escape. As the bony hand started pulling Addie into a void, a strange illusionary closed-eyelid appeared on Charles's forehead as he ended his chanting and soon began to open the third eye!

But this time, he didn't aim at the Addie Baker, though. Instead, he locked the third eye's gaze on the bony hand and opened the vertical black eye!

A moment later, a strange purple bolt of lightning came out from the illusionary eye and directly landed on the bony hand!

The purplish lightning disintegrated the bony hand in the next moment and soon disappeared into the bluish void.

Before long, the other bony hand also retracted into the bluish vortex and soon disappeared. Addie Baker also noticed the failure of the long-ranged teleportation method and grew solemn. But he didn't lose his calm, though. Instead, he let out a cold laugh and then clapped his hand.

With a slight vibration, a black-lined icy spear began to form in front of Addie and soon moved towards Charles faster. Charles's [Sixth Sense] skill also sensed the impending danger and warned him to dodge.

'It looks like [Crimson Robe] spell won't be able to block this spear.' He frowned for a moment and then took out an Arcane Card from his void pouch.

"Addie Baker, you really have some guts to attack my team member." Before Charles could activate the Arcane Magic Card, a cold female voice came from the nearby dark alley, and soon a grey-robed female, around 40 years old, with a slightly wrinkled face, walked out from it.

Simultaneously, hundreds of white icy threads popped out from the muddy ground and soon formed into a wall-like shield in front of Charles. A banging sound echoed as the spear crashed on the icy-wall-like shield and soon broke into many pieces.

"Team Leader!" Charles breathed out a sigh of relief as he noticed Emilia's arrival and soon warned her in a pleasant female voice.

"He is a [Psychiatrist] class Mystic, and also has the ability to created Ice spear, so be careful."

"Heh, that's interesting." Emilia arrived beside Charles as she locked her gaze on Addie Baker for a moment and then sighed.

"A double Class Mystic, huh. He is really a troublesome opponent to face alone." After saying those words, she glanced at Charles and said.

"Save your strength for now." Once she finished those words, she took out a silver card from her void pouch and crushed it a little.

A second later, the space around Addie Baker began to fold strangely and soon sealed him in a cube-like space. On the other hand, Addie raised his hand a little, placed it on the cubic space's interior, and then created a foggy mist inside the space.

Before Charles and Emilia could understand the reason behind his action, the cubic space shook and soon broke into multiple pieces like grasses, creating a strange black void in return. Upon noticing the appearance of the strange void, Emilia furrowed her brows and soon spoke gravely.

"Be careful of any sneak attacks."

After that, she controlled her Ice net spell and moved those icy threads in different directions. Within two seconds, she curled her lips upward and pointed her finger in a random direction. In a second, a golden ring in her hand began to tremble slightly and then released a ray of pure white light.

An instant later, the white ray of light traveled at an unimaginable speed and soon landed on an invisible shield-like thing.

The white ray then divided into multiple rainbow-colored rays and soon attacked the invisible shield from all directions. Within two seconds, the shield couldn't hold off those rainbow rays and then broke like glasses while exposing the red-haired Addie to Emilia and Charles.

But instead of smiling, both of them turned their faces solemnly and took a step back in unison.

In the meantime, Emilia also controlled her 'Ice Net' spell and made a wall-like shield in front of them.

But before those icy web-like threads tangled together to form a wall, a chilling ray of ice came from Addie's hand, directly tore through the Ice Net-like wall, broke the Crimson Robe, and soon landed on Charles's shoulder!