Chapter 205
Bone Sculpture Deep in Thought
Lars Graham, codenamed “Bone Sculpture,” fell into deep thought. He had been lurking beneath Eivass’s dormitory building for almost half a week. Every evening, he would wait in stealth until dawn. But Eivass hadn’t returned by then. Initially, Lars waited for another half a day before feeling tired and returning to rest. After all, he was already very old; his physical strength and energy were clearly starting to falter. Old Lars had reached a point where he could no longer continue living unless he moonlighted as a Twilight Path professional. Even using elixirs to heal his ailments was useless. His entire body and soul had begun to age irreversibly. This was also related to his failed promotion in his youth, which had damaged his soul.
However, after Lars set his ambush, Eivass, as if triggering some instinct, never returned. Thus, old Lars could only wait until dawn each day before leaving on time. — And today, Eivass finally returned. There was just a small problem. The Grand Arbitrator Meg had returned with him. As a Triple-Path Extraordinary, Lars, despite his aging, still held an advantage over other Fifth Tier Extraordinarys. Even among those of the same Fifth Tier, the gap in strength was incredibly obvious. If he were facing the Grand Guardian, Lars would at least have the confidence to retreat completely. If he were lucky enough, he might even be able to launch a very effective counterattack. The possibility of a kill was slim unless the Grand Guardian wasn’t riding his mount. But his suppressive power over the Grand Guardian was even less than Meg’s suppressive power over him.
The two most troublesome Extraordinarys in Avalon were the Grand Arbitrator and the Grand Judge. Both were also the oldest Extraordinarys, and neither was much younger than Lars. Compared to the Grand Judge, the Grand Arbitrator’s combat power was a whole tier higher. — Absolutely cannot clash with Meg. Lars’s thinking was very clear — clear, and admitting defeat. So he chose to continue waiting. He waited for another two hours before Meg finally left. Seeing that Eivass was still in the dormitory, Lars breathed a sigh of relief. But the old man cautiously decided to wait a little longer… until it was completely dark and the roads were clear.
He had some questions to ask Eivass before assassinating him. For example, was Miss Alistair really Chloe? If so, he might have to kidnap Eivass and force Chloe out. At the very least, he couldn’t give Eivass a chance to send for help. After all, Eivass had already been targeted for assassination three times. Perhaps there were other protectors hidden around him. If he continued to be assassinated, Avalon would completely lose face. From this perspective, it was not impossible for him to be accompanied by Fourth Tier or even Fifth Tier protectors. — As a Fifth Tier Extraordinary, Bone Sculpture considered himself overly cautious. Even when facing a Second Tier Extraordinary of the Path of Devotion, he had prepared for a fight against an opponent of the same level. He would go all out from the start — that was the only way to make the ambush meaningful. If Chloe were as cautious as himself, she would definitely not have any accidents. It was just a shame that she probably wouldn’t see his perfect assassination demonstration this time…
When it was completely dark, Bone Sculpture slightly clenched his staff. A semi-transparent white ghost appeared beside him. “Go in and check,” Bone Sculpture commanded softly. “See if he’s inside, if he’s asleep — if anyone else is inside.” As a high-level Extraordinary of The Path of Beauty, he also possessed the ability of “Artistic Vision.” However, while Anyis, as a painter, could project her sight onto paintings, he, as a sculptor, could only observe others through sculptures. Compared to paintings, sculptures were not only rarer but also had a narrow field of vision. The advantage was that he could animate sculptures over a large area.
From a reconnaissance perspective, it was better to directly dispatch a ghost to take a look for him. The ghost girl, dressed in priestly robes, nodded slightly and transformed into a void that mortal eyes could not directly perceive. She passed through the wall, silently entered No. 14 Ronin Street, looked around, and wandered through various rooms. Seeing Eivass sleeping soundly, she hesitated, then extended her finger and lightly touched Eivass’s lips. Only after confirming that he still had the warmth of a living person and was not an illusion or a puppet did she finally leave. The ghost went to his ear, her lips moving, but no sound was uttered. This was a characteristic inherent to the resurrected dead after losing their physical bodies.
However, through the Path Trait of Bone Sculpture, “Creature Communication – Carving,” he could bypass the opponent’s spirituality, intelligence, and language, and communicate directly with the life he created. This ability was usually used to communicate with animated statues, or bas-reliefs on doors and walls, giving them passwords, having them monitor a specific area, or directly dispatching them for combat. And the spirit servants made by Bone Sculpture himself were, of course, also “works” he had personally carved. “. . . Only one person,” Bone Sculpture nodded slightly, and praised, “Good, very obedient.”
This time, because it was an assassination mission, he couldn’t bring his sculptures with him, and there weren’t many sculptures to animate in this area. Otherwise, even if Meg really fought him, Bone Sculpture would at least have the confidence to escape safely — the knight sculptures at the entrance of the Silver and Tin Hall alone would be very powerful helpers. But thankfully, he had his spirit servants. It was just a shame that he had resigned from the academy long ago. After this, if he wanted to continue making spirit servants, he would have to return to the Iris Kingdom — as the Vice Principal of Citadel University Art College, a true master, he could find many lovely and talented students. He needed more ghost servants, Bone Sculpture thought.
He raised his hand and made a downward motion. Bone Sculpture’s entire body transformed into a spirit form — as if being pulled forward by something, he instantly crossed walls and restrictions, pulled by an invisible force into Eivass’s bedroom, and then reformed. But as soon as he arrived, he froze. — Because the bedroom was empty. Hadn’t he just confirmed it? He suddenly turned his head to look at his spirit servant — but from her panicked and surprised expression, Bone Sculpture immediately realized the problem. He quickly scanned the room and found that a Magic Painting had appeared in the room at some point. The painting depicted Isabel reading in her bedroom. — “Gallery of Art”!
This was “Art” from The Path of Beauty, controlled by Anyis! Eivass should have been teleported to the other end of the painting through this artwork by Anyis! “Long time no see, Mr. Lars Graham,” Anyis’s voice echoed from the air. “Or should I call you Bone Sculpture?” Bone Sculpture turned his head in the direction of the voice and found another ordinary-looking painting. The painting was originally a spring landscape, meant to be hung on the wall as decoration. At least to add some color to the wall. Now, the painting had become a portrait of Anyis. In the painting, she was wearing a large white sun hat and dressed as if for a spring outing, naturally. As if Anyis had always existed in this landscape painting — she turned back from the painting and smiled at Bone Sculpture, “Since you’re here, don’t leave.”
As soon as the words fell, Bone Sculpture felt a suction force emanating from the painting. It was like a vortex, powerfully pulling at Bone Sculpture’s soul — his spirit servant was the first to be affected. His Bone Sculpture staff did not slip from his hand, but the ghost was directly sucked into the painting. As the ghost was sealed, Bone Sculpture immediately felt that his staff had lost contact with her. Her priestly robe instantly turned into a white dress. Her semi-transparent body regained its physical form. She looked like a shy little girl, sitting on the grass, not knowing what to do. Anyis, smiling, pinched her face, making her look at herself. “I’ve been waiting for you until past midnight. You’re wasting my time,” a hearty voice came from outside the house. “You’re really good at squatting — anyway, [shut up for now]. If you want to surrender, raise your hands.”
At some unknown time, Meg appeared outside the window. And a female half-elf, whom Bone Sculpture had never seen before, held a wooden staff almost as tall as herself, following behind Meg. She remained silent, only the staff in her hand glowing faintly. Both she and Meg gained the ability of free flight because of this. Although Bone Sculpture did not recognize her, this tall half-elf exuded a heart-stopping aura. Her pupils were like glowing mercury, shining with dazzling radiance. By elimination, this should be the very mysterious Grand Arbitrator. — What’s going on?
Almost immediately, Bone Sculpture realized he was surrounded — without his full equipment, he was surrounded by no less than three Extraordinarys of the same level, including Meg. There were rumbling sounds of thunder outside, an anomaly caused by the Gryphon releasing lightning power. This meant he had almost no possibility of fighting back, and his previous ambush was meaningless. “…Interesting,” Bone Sculpture was not afraid, merely resisting Meg’s silencing with his powerful willpower and said calmly. — Eivass was merely a trap. A piece of meat placed on a bear trap. And he was the beast who had fallen for it… But a trapped beast was not necessarily fragile. Being of the same Fifth Tier, Meg’s Word Spirit might not be effective. — “My plan should have been perfect, foolproof. Where exactly did something go wrong? At which stage did I expose myself?” Bone Sculpture tightly gripped his now meaningless Bone Sculpture staff and calmly asked, unhurriedly.
Update complete!
By the way, Cat didn’t sleep at 4:30 AM due to insomnia in the usual sense, but because the season has arrived, my rhinitis started acting up yesterday. I had a stuffy nose and sneezed a lot, which was very uncomfortable. I kept getting up to blow my nose… My eyes are still red now, like I’ve been crying, and I have a slight headache.
