A dull longsword and a heartbroken villager

A noble mage? You can't see any trace of the word "noble" in this guy.

"Huff..." After fighting for an unknown amount of time, Kasim finally stopped swinging his fists, and then a tired sound came from the ghost's body.

He gripped 112's head tightly with his hands; if he were strong enough, he would definitely have tried to crush the thing.

However, Qasim could only dream about it; he didn't have the strength for it.

After beating him for a long time, he still couldn't kill 112.

His attacks could barely offset the weak restorative power of "Heavenly Fox Tears".

"Never mind, business is more important." Kasim thought for a moment and gave up on continuing to torture the powerless 112.

No matter how much time he wastes, he still can't kill 112 now.

Rather than doing that, it would be better to obediently go into the old house to find the person.

Finding Angela or his wife is a good thing for Qasim.

Qasim's body floated up gently and walked slowly into the old house.

The door to the old house was already open.

“Angelia—your father has returned.” A sinister aura emanated from Qasim’s body, accompanied by an eerie voice. Qasim abandoned 112 and went into the house.

Although he didn't have a direct way to find Angelia, he did have a way to find his wife.

After all, he could remotely use his wife, who was the mother, so finding her would be relatively easy.

However, Qasim also wants to find his daughter.

Only after finding both can Qasim explore how to use the Matrix to achieve immortality.

As long as Qasim experimented on many people, they all perished because they could not withstand his powerful life force.

Extreme growth will eventually lead to death.

Qasim tried on his own and almost didn't make it back; the only one who succeeded was Angelia.

“Hmm—” Qasim looked up. This familiar house was exactly the same as he remembered.

No, saying they are exactly the same is not accurate either.

This house is much older than it used to be; it used to be much more magnificent and luxurious.

And for some reason, there are paintings inside the house that weren't there before.

"Have you come to like the paintings?" Qasim glanced at the paintings and asked casually.

It seems that over the years, my daughter has cultivated some artistic interests.

Of course, none of that matters; something more important is underneath the house.

The area below was originally where he conducted research; now it's used to hide the mother.

That's perfect, it saves me the time of searching around.

Relying on his memory, Qasim skillfully made his way to the door to the basement.

The basement door was secured with several heavy locks.

“…” Kasim’s face turned ugly upon seeing this.

The already ferocious expression became even more terrifying.

It's locked?

Qasim kept banging on the door, but the door didn't budge.

I never imagined that Angelia would put so many locks on her to protect her mother.

Doesn't she know that there is absolutely nothing that can threaten her mother's safety?

Even if it were split in two, her mother would be safe and sound; it wouldn't take any effort to put on several locks.

"I'll have to go find my dear daughter first." Kasim looked at his thin arms and his legless lower body.

To be honest, Qasim was very unwilling to be "resurrected" in this manner.

But it doesn't matter. As long as he has some time, he can get himself back to a healthy body. This inhuman appearance won't last forever.

He was a nobleman and a mage; how could he tolerate this situation forever?

---

“The tremors outside have stopped,” Diman said to Angelia beside him.

Angelia hid with Diman in a dark room in her room.

This dark room was added later; Angelia vaguely remembered that it was built not long after her father passed away.

In fact, Angelia herself had forgotten the original purpose of building this secret room.

However, judging from the current situation, this dark room is quite well constructed.

“Yes, there’s been no movement.” Angelia said softly, sitting on the stool.

This dark room contained the necessities of life, and even books to pass the time.

But Angela wasn't in the mood to read.

She was waiting for 112 to come back. If 112 had resolved everything, he would definitely come back.

But now all the noise has disappeared, and Angelia can no longer wait for 112 to stand in front of her.

She felt a little uneasy, but she had no way to go out and verify the truth.

All Angela can do now is wait quietly.

"Mr. 112, is something wrong?"

"I don't know, you can't predict anything in this world." Although Angelia answered Diman this way, she certainly hoped that 112 was safe and sound.

"But if something happens to 112, we'll have no choice but to wait here."

“Even though this seems no different from sitting and waiting to die, we can only wait,” Angelia said helplessly.

This is a fact that leaves one feeling helpless.

Even assuming 112 failed to stop Qasim, Angelia couldn't do anything else.

They could only hope that the other party would never find them, or that reinforcements would come from outside.

“To be honest, if you escape, Diman, you might be able to find reinforcements for me,” Angelia said slowly.

"I'm sorry." Diman's expression immediately fell; she was right.

He insisted on staying, but in the end, he accomplished nothing.

“There’s no need to apologize. After all, I’d be bored if no one was around,” Angelia added.

If Diman really goes to find help, Angelia will probably be even more lonely staying here alone.

Perhaps they wouldn't be able to remain as calm and composed as they are now, and their inner fears might be magnified infinitely.

As the two were talking, a cold wind blew from not far away.

Almost at the same instant, Diman suddenly stood up.

Because he heard the sound of the cabinet used as a hidden door being pushed open.

Angelia, of course, heard the sound as well.

"Quickly, take the back passage," Diman said to Angelia. There was another secret passage on the other side for escaping.

This was to prevent the darkroom from being discovered.

Angelia didn't waste any time and immediately pulled Diman away.

However, Angelia soon realized that something was wrong.

"A hallucination?" Angelia's expression turned serious.

"Yes, Angelia, it's an illusion."

“It is an honor for a father to be able to hold his daughter’s hand.” Kasim’s hollow voice reached Angelia’s ears.

Without saying a word, Angelia shook off the hand she had been holding.

She looked with disgust at the right hand that had touched Qasim.

“You actually built a secret room in your mother’s bedroom. But your intentions are easy to guess, my dear daughter,” Qasim said.

"So this is how you were resurrected, in this inhuman, ghostly form?" Angelia looked at Kasim's face and felt utterly disgusted.

Qasim was very handsome during his lifetime, otherwise he and his wife would not have had such a beautiful daughter, Angelia.

But his heart was so twisted that it was worse than that of a beast.

Now that his appearance has become as ugly as his heart, it actually fits the description more closely.

While talking to Qasim, Angelia tried to find Diman.

"Are you with that man?" Qasim chuckled sinisterly.

He's right in front of you, can't you see him?

“Ah, that’s right. You probably can’t see it, since you’re under the influence of my spell,” Kamsi said. Finally, his spell was useful against non-combatants.

He really dislikes guys whose intuition is like that of a beast; those guys' illusions have very little effect.

“Right here.” Kasim pointed with his dry, chicken-claw-like hand to a spot less than half a meter from Angelia.

However, Angelia could not see anyone.

"What exactly do you want to do..." Angelia touched the wall behind her, only to find that she couldn't even find the back door. Angelia was now trapped, with nowhere to retreat, and had no idea what Diman's situation was.

Was he injured? Or was he hallucinating like I was?

"What's wrong, my dear daughter? You look quite unhappy," Qasim said, stretching his stiff knuckles.

“You haven’t answered my question yet,” Angelia said in an unfriendly tone.

She didn't have a good impression of her biological father, and her character was basically cultivated by her mother.

This man cared nothing for anything except his research, including his wife and daughters.

"You have the key, right?" Qasim thought for a moment and asked directly.

"You went to the basement!?"

"Of course, do you think I can't find your mother just because you hid her there?" Qasim sneered.

If his plant henchmen hadn't inexplicably withered and died, he wouldn't have even bothered looking for the key to open the door; he could have just smashed it open.

"In fact, that's where I found you the easiest to hide, just like when you hid in your mother's bedroom. I guessed it so easily." He had always thought Angela was too naive, and her thoughts were too easy to guess.

Even after living for over a hundred years, he hadn't grown up at all, which made his father feel very tired.

“I don’t have the key,” Angelia shook her head.

"Only 112 has the key."

“My dear daughter, you’re not suited to lying.” Kasim reached out, wanting to slap Angelia’s beautiful face.

However, Angelia casually waved her hand away.

"Since that's the case, I don't want to be too gentle."

“You know, it’s possible to manipulate people’s minds with magic—if you’ve read the books I left behind,” Qasim said unhurriedly, as if he wasn’t afraid at all that Angelia would run away from him.

“…” A bead of cold sweat trickled down Angelia’s forehead.

She knew very well that Qasim wasn't exaggerating, because she herself had used the magic left behind by Qasim to erase others' impressions of her.

"Miss Angelia, run!" However, the previously invisible figure suddenly appeared in front of Angelia.

"Is this an illusion?" Angelia was momentarily filled with doubt because she was facing Kasim.

Besides, if she wanted to run away, she couldn't leave the old house, so where could she run to?

“I know what you’re thinking, but you still have to run!” Diman said urgently, his body crashing heavily into Qasim’s ghostly form.

Qasim was knocked down and drifted a distance away.

Unlike ghosts in the conventional sense, Qasim is largely affected by physical forces.

"Shouldn't you be fast asleep?!" Qasim looked at Diman in disbelief.