Chapter 253: Behind Them

"Maybe the thing knew that we had relaxed our guard after destroying the brazier, and since you still could not get in touch with Mr. Gaston, we would find out very soon that the thing did not die completely. So, controlling one of us and launching an unexpected attack might be the best way in its mind at that time." Charlie tried to analyze what just happened, "Also, according to Bill's words, this kind of demon comes from negative emotions, and very often they can't control themselves, not to mention figuring out the best tactic."

As his body was gradually absorbing the magic potion, Lucien felt much better, although he still could not run or use magic. Listening to Charlie's words, he slightly nodded, "I know what you mean, Charlie, but I just feel the whole thing is quite suspicious..."

The two ladies were walking in the front. Hearing what Lucien just said, Sandra quickly looked around with great caution, while Susan looked very terrified and her voice trembled, "Mr. Evans... Are you saying that the demon's still alive?!"

In this great nightmare, Susan could bare no more.

"I agree. The demons' contradictory behaviour pattern is quite beyond our understanding." Charlie nodded.

Hearing that, Susan almost fell to the floor.

After a moment's pause, Charlie continued, "However, from many ancient notes and legends, we know that demons are indeed disordered. After all, they come from a place of chaos."

"Mr. Charlie... You really scared me there." Susan could not help complaining a bit.

"That's true." Lucien was totally okay with Charlie putting forward his opinion, "Those pit demons are of various kind. Especially on Skeleton Land, new demon species are being created every day, and of course we cannot recognize them all."

Susan let out a long sigh of relief. She trusted Mr. Evans' words.

However, Lucien then changed his tone, "But no matter how disordered the demon was, it would not give up the chance of killing us. The thing got enough power to kill me, either using Baleful Polymorph or Shadow Well, because I had nothing specifically to defend myself at that time. However, what the thing cast on me were spells that targeted the soul or spirit, although the thing knew that I was protected by Death Ward, so the spells could not directly kill me."

As Lucien was saying, he concluded that his study in arcana was too imbalanced. Although he was very dedicated to the school of Element and Astrology, he ignored other schools, so he did not have enough variety of spells to face the demon. When he went back to Allyn, he would need to branch his study in a wise way.

"Maybe, when it was trying to attack us using the mirror reflection, the demon just could not use other spells except those ones targeting at one's spirit or soul." Sandra had her own understanding, and her comment definitely made sense. When the demon was casting other spells, it wasn't inside the mirror.

"Discussion really helps." Lucien smiled, "Thank you for aswering my questions, but I've still got some: first, why the summoning room looked just like what the rite instruction described, if Mr. Bertren never tried that ridiculous rite? Bill had no right entering Mr. Bertren's summoning room. Second, why the half-burned parchment was there? Why we happened to find it? Why it is just half-burned?"

"Well..." Charlie found those questions quite hard to explain, "For the first question, maybe Bill went back to the summoning room after Mr. Bertren was dead, in order to make his teacher be blamed for it. And the fact that the summoning room looked like that also distracted us and directed us to the wrong direction. And the second one... I don't think Bill wanted to burn the instruction. When they were fighting, the parchment was set on fire by accident."

"Yup, and we just found it." Sandra nodded. Then, they came to the corridor that lead to the power room.

"Then I've got no more questions." Lucien took out his pocket watch and said, "Now it's 5:25 p.m.. In fifteen minutes, the senior-rank sorcerer should be here. Let's be patient."

"Okay." The other three nodded.

Although they had found answers for all of Lucien's questions, those questions still made them feel nervous. Therefore, neither of them lowered their guard. The colourful power spheres were still spinning above Susan and Sandra, and a power absorbing wall was protecting Lucien and Charlie.

When they walked down the corridor, Susan looked at one of the rooms of which had its door open, and she looked a bit confused.

Lucien, Sandra and Charlie also looked at the inside of the room. It was empty. There was nothing there.

"Susan?" asked Sandra, "Any problem?"

Susan frowned a bit and answered, "This is Mr. Bertren's vault. He stored all his treasures like gold, silver, and precious materials here, but now they're all gone..."

Knowing that demons and monsters definitely had no interest in those things, instantly, they all got nervous again!

"Let's not panic for nothing." Sandra was being a bit hesitant, "Maybe... maybe that thing needed precious gold, gems and materials to maintain its existence..."

However, although she was saying so, Sandra herself was still quite nervous, checking the surroundings by looking around.

"I don't think so... Bill was not summoning dragons. Those demons do not need treasures to be summoned." Charlie could not agree with Sandra, "Let's stop moving and just stay here. This place is surely weird, but I think it's because of something else, not that thing. There's no way that the thing can come back again."

Then, Charlie and Sandra started to cast defensive spells around them, and Susan also tried to help, while Lucien was still leaning against the wall, feeling quite weak. Right now his spiritual power was only enough for activating magic items.

Soon the magic circles were all ready. They could finally take a rest there. Anyone or anything that were lower than fifth-circle needed to use at least ten minutes to break their defence, and the two fourth-circle sorcerers behind the magic circles were confident that they could easily make it last until the senior-rank sorcerer arrived.

Charlie and Sandra were standing on each side of the gate, Lucien was leaning against the wall, and Susan was hiding in a corner. They could see their blurry figures in the smooth stone wall surface in front of them, including Sandra's ripped collar, Charlie's torn vest and Lucien's monocle.

Lucien said to them seriously, "The demon might have died, but someone, or something, is behind all of this."

When he was saying it, all of a sudden, he saw that his own monocle-wearing figure in the wall grinned. The smile was not creepy, but more like a victor's smile!

Lucien immediately activated Sun's Corona, although his headache was still very bad. A streak of holy light hit the wall.

"What?!" Sandra and Charlie immediately got ready for another battle, but there was nothing there. Only the light from Lucien's Holy Strike was shining on the wall.

Lucien carefully checked the surroundings. Nothing happened.

He told them what he saw, and then said, "I might be too nervous... I don't know. It can be just my illusion..."

"If the demon was really there, it could have attacked you directly, Mr. Evans, instead of revealing itself in front of you for nothing," said Sandra. Both Sandra and Charlie believed that it was just Lucien's mind playing tricks on him.

Lucien adjusted his monocle a bit and said, "I don't know. Anyway, the senior-rank sorcerer should be here in a few minutes. We shall still remain vigilant."

...

In the apprentice hall, the black, corrosion marks started to wriggle and then suddenly shot upwards. A giant creature with strong body and long neck showed up in the hall. The creature's head looked like that of lizard, and on its back, there was a pair of transparent wings similar to those of a bat. The creature's body was covered with a layer of big scales. In the light of sunset, its scales were shining in a dream-like manner. As soon as the creature showed up, the whole place was filled with a strong, oppressive aura.

This thing was a giant dragon!

In the corner of the hall, the air suddenly rippled, and a figure slowly showed up.

It was a handsome-looking, middle-aged man wearing a fancy magic robe. There was a notebook and a quill in his hands.

As soon as the dragon saw the man, it leaped forward and put its huge front claws on the force shield surrounding the sorcerer, showing its red tongue. The man's shield was cracking, however, he was not scared at all. Instead, he wrote something down on his notebook and smiled, "You're a good actor."

The dragon's nose made an "uh-huh" sound. Clearly, the dragon was quite cheerful and proud. It kept licking the sorcerer's force shield.

The sorcerer stopped writing and read his notes in a low voice, "Cautious, agile, decisive, calm... Facing danger, the sorcerer outperformed most of his peers. Choice of spells and magic combination can be quite problematic, however. Majors imbalanced... A lot of work shall be done to fix this problem..."

After closing the notebook, the middle-aged sorcerer stared at the dragon seriously, "Atforest, you should know that the treasures belong to the Congress. You cannot have it."

The giant dragon was still licking the force shield happily and directly ignored his words.

Observing the rising number of cracks on his shield, the sorcerer shook his head slightly, "All right, all right... You can take part of it, as your reward."

"Huh!" the giant dragon's nose made a happy noise again. Then, to show its happiness, the dragon licked the shield again. This time, its long red tongue licked it into pieces.