Chapter 145: 81. It Hurts, Right?
In the bizarre transformation of the room just now, everyone in the fourth-floor room, except for Carlo and Prince Losang, had sat down on the ground. The sense of weightlessness caused by the shifting room easily led to falls, but Carlo had learned rich combat skills before becoming an artificial sorceress, so her combat ability was still a bit stronger than the others.
Father Dek behind her nervously stared at the silver mirror belonging to Kasio in the center of the room, fearing that the movement of the room might disturb the taboo of this relic, causing dangerous magic to suddenly leap out from within. It would be quite laughable if they were not killed by monsters but ended up being taken out by their own relics.
“Mother, protect us, Mother, protect us.”
Like every follower of the Mother God, Carlo activated the traditional skill of praying to the Mother God when faced with indecision. Since distancing herself from the Sorceress Research Society, she had scorned this kind of practice, as during her hardest days, the Mother God she fervently believed in did not give her any response.
After being constantly tortured, her once fervent faith gradually diminished day by day and ultimately turned into the indifferent demeanor she displayed today.
She pouted and cautiously watched the surroundings of the room. The barrier spell Carlo had set up had completely disappeared due to the room’s reversal and change, which meant they were once again exposed to the eyes of that bloodthirsty group of monsters.
Prince Losang, next to her, noticed her small movements. For some reason, this girl, who seemed to speak a bit roughly, unexpectedly drew his attention.
Perhaps it was because her appearance was indeed nice, or perhaps it was that night when she held the kitten that left a deep impression on him?
Prince Losang thought that the girl before him, though appearing rough on the outside, was extremely soft on the inside, quite similar yet different from other girls, leading to some extra attention towards her, but it was still merely a bit of extra attention.
“Do you not believe in the Mother God?”
“Believing in her doesn’t solve any problems. I prefer thinking about how to truly resolve practical suffering. Speaking of which, we have been trapped here for several hours. Has no one outside noticed anything strange?”
Rationally speaking, even if there was a magic barrier set up that was overlooked at the beginning of such a high-standard academic meeting, wouldn’t the absence of people for several hours have alerted them?
Are the members of the New Party in Nali all curly-haired baboons?
Prince Losang did not respond to her remark; it was Roger, the beleaguered magic professor sitting on the ground, who spoke.
He pointed at the layers of spatial magic outside and then raised two fingers, one higher and one lower, explaining,
“It’s not that the people outside haven’t noticed after such a long time, but rather that for them, the time is too short. If the magic was set before we entered, then the flow of time inside and outside is probably different. It’s like two parallel lines of different lengths; we could have spent several hours here while only a minute passed outside.”
Then, he lowered his fingers, looking a bit regretful as he said,
“But in the current situation, it seems our flow of time is much faster than theirs; otherwise, they wouldn’t have failed to notice what’s been happening here.”
Carlo, hearing this, exclaimed in surprise,
“Time flow can be different?!”
“The power of magic is the resonance that pries at the world. Have you ever thought that if the power of the world can be pried, it signifies that its structure is incredibly complex? Spatial magic vividly demonstrates the complexity of the world’s structure. Many scholars even believe there exists a world purely composed of magic power, which would be the Spirit Realm now after this meeting.”
“Spatial magic often distorts the space of the regular world, which is also a manifestation of intense ‘resonance level,’ and as for the thirteen-ring spatial magic, we may currently be in some corner of the Spirit Realm where any ordinary rules no longer apply; magic is the only truth here. Of course, this is merely speculation from the academic world.”
After Roger finished speaking with a sigh, he turned to see everyone around him, except for Selina, looking at him as if they were hearing some kind of scripture, appearing to have understood nothing at all.
Well, after all, most of the people here are anti-magic scholars, saying these things have no meaning whatsoever.
If Fisher were here, he would definitely have common ground with him. At this thought, Roger suddenly felt a bit eager for Fisher to return quickly.
“I’m not trying to give a magic lesson here; I’m just explaining why we haven’t been discovered by the people outside yet. If the time flow discrepancy is vast, by the time they notice something’s off and work to break the magic, our ashes would have been scattered three or four times. So I propose we think about ways to save ourselves.”
Just then, the building outside began to tremble slightly again, and the roar of countless monsters echoed from outside. Now, the barrier magic they had arranged had vanished, and they had no extra time to set up another one.
Carlo frowned, and with no viable options, she reluctantly acquiesced. Prince Losang listened to the sounds from outside, staring at the ground, seemingly deep in thought.
“So what do we do now?”
Everyone turned to look at Prince Losang; he was their backbone now.
“We wait here for Fisher to join us. Until then, we must ensure everyone stays alive. Any remaining gentlemen, except for the elderly, all of you must pick up weapons. If anyone hesitates, I guarantee the first to die will be your family. Even if the monsters don’t act, I will.”
“Yes!”
“And, Father Dek, since the relic cannot be moved, let’s borrow its power and have it unleash magic.”
“Although the church doesn’t allow this, the situation is special now. I believe the Mother God will forgive me.”
After receiving confirmations from everyone, Prince Losang stood at the door of the room alongside Carlo.
Since the room had just been reconstructed, not only did it have a door in front, but there was also a large hole in the back. They had to guard the front and back.
“As for me and this lady, we will guard the front door.”
“…”
Carlo did not respond but raised her dagger to indicate her acquiescence.
The two stood at the front door, the tension in the room palpable. The shrieks and roars of the monsters outside grew ever closer. Losang’s ring glowed, suddenly asking,
“I forgot to ask, what’s your name?”
“Carolina.”
Carlo paused momentarily after stating her original name, perhaps to better disguise her identity or to prevent the prince from suspecting her strange name; anyhow, she eventually gave the new name the Sorceress Research Society had bestowed upon her.
She is the Undying Sorceress, Carolina.
“Carolina, what a beautiful name, it matches your beauty.”
Hah, such a cheesy pickup line. I could easily woo any lady in the past; this low-end rhetoric genuinely makes me want to laugh.
Carlo did not reply, thinking this in her mind, her earlobes turning red. Fortunately, it was dark in the room, so no one noticed anything amiss.
“They’re coming!”
With a warning, countless Human-Worms that had been climbing on the walls burst forth from the darkness. Carlo and Prince Losang guarded the entrance. At this moment, the ring on Losang’s hand shimmered with a deep red light, and following that, a phantom lion’s head appeared on his arm, resembling a fist wrapping around his hand.
Shivali relic, the Lion’s Fist.
This relic can transform both hands into lion heads capable of tearing at enemies. After striking an enemy with the lion head, it becomes even more frenzied, increasing damage with each swing.
Losang shed his clothes, revealing his robust physique. With a roar, he slammed the Lion’s Fist towards the charging Human-Worms, crushing their fragile bones and bodies. Beside him, Carlo spun her dagger rapidly, delivering finishing blows to enemies that Losang had overlooked.
Behind, Father Dek reached out towards the silver mirror, which rippled with waves. Soon, a magic circle based on “Flame” quickly appeared on its surface.
Five-ring magic, Flame Serpent Roaming.
Twisted flame serpents surged out from in front of the mirror, but like blind ones without direction, they shot toward the nearby young man. Although he dodged in time, he couldn’t prevent the flames from burning his trousers.
“My butt!”
Seeing that the flame serpents were difficult to control, Bishop Dek didn’t care about violating the church’s prohibitions anymore. In any case, it was already releasing magic. He turned the silver mirror around to face the flood of Human-Worms coming in from behind.
The mirror unleashed its power like a rapid-fire gun, blasting countless Human-Worms who clutched their burning skin in anguish, pushing more flames onto other monsters.
At that moment, as Dek watched the enemies engulfed by countless fireballs, a sense of pleasure surged from his heart. He rolled up his black church robe, revealing his fair arms, and shouted, seemingly bewitched by the intense firepower,
“Shoot them dead!”
In his mind, even the loving Mother God began to raise a rapid-fire gun; clearly, he considered this to be the Mother God’s guidance.
But in the next second, because he recklessly moved the silver mirror without the proper ritual, the magic on the mirror instantly dissipated and transformed into another magic based on “Ice.”
Three-ring magic, Ice Freeze.
Before Dek could enjoy himself enough, he felt an icy chill wash over his hand. He lowered his head in panic and, in the next moment, his entire body was covered with a thin layer of ice.
Because the ground was uneven, the icing Dek began to slide towards the others. Principal Ken, who was also nearby and terrified, quickly grabbed his slippery icy surface but unexpectedly, the magic on the silver mirror instantly changed, becoming a two-ring magic, Cyclone.
“Bang!”
Subsequently, both Ken and the large ice sculpture were blown away by the airflow released from the silver mirror, crashing onto the ground.
“You bastard! Die!”
“No! A monster has grabbed me!”
After Dek’s series of mishaps, the entrance that had so many people guarding suddenly began to falter, even worse than when just Carlo and Prince Losang were defending.
Carlo abruptly turned around and saw countless hands grabbing at a screaming young man’s body, trying to drag him outside. Gritting her teeth, she charged out, using her knife to sever the hands gripping him, then quickly blocked the entrance alone while shouting back,
“Quick, fix that silver mirror!”
Who could have known the first magic they cast would need a target manually locked on, the Flame Serpent Roaming. Bishop Dek, to avoid the spell harming others, had to operate it manually, resulting in the silver mirror going out of control.
But as Carlo turned back to shout, countless claws tugged at her clothing, ripping apart her servant’s attire and exposing the tightly wound bandages beneath. The claws pierced deeply into her fair skin, blood flowing down, but thanks to Carlo’s good recovery ability, her body healed even as the claws seemed embedded within her, sending waves of excruciating pain.
Her characteristic has a side effect; while it’s difficult to die, the pain from her recovery increases tenfold, and this recovery is uncontrollable, sometimes even a slight injury can cause her to feel half-dead—let alone such current pain.
Prince Losang turned back, looking at her painful yet silent demeanor as large swaths of her beautiful body were soaked in blood. She continued to grit her teeth and persist, for some reason, it felt as if Prince Losang’s heart stopped at that moment.
He turned around, with the blood-stained lion head opening its mouth with a roar. That roar emitted a wave of golden light that landed on Carlo, precisely shattering the claws embedded within her without hurting her.
Then, Prince Losang dashed back, delivering a punch to the approaching Human-Worm and killing it, using brute force to fold its corpse and block the entrance tightly.
“Come here, use your bodies to block it!”
Following Prince Losang’s order, Roger gritted his teeth and approached, using his body to hold against the smelly corpse, creating a wall to separate the inside from the outside.
Prince Losang embraced the pale Carlo, her clothing disheveled. Due to the rupture of her bandages, large sections of her fair skin were revealed. Losang extended his hand to wrap her with the clothing he had just removed, and Carlo instinctively tried to push him away. However, noticing her rapidly healing body, Losang paused and quickly averted his gaze.
He simply said,
“It hurts, huh?”
This simple sentence made Carlo pause slightly, a sense of grievance suddenly bursting forth from her heart, as if after all these years of torment, finally another person understood her.
However, she knew this was just an illusion. Although she pressed her lips together and said nothing, she no longer rejected Losang wrapping a piece of clothing around her.
After Prince Losang finished covering Carlo with the clothing, she finally struggled free from his embrace, picked up the nearby dagger, and gave a faint yet noticeable thank you,
“Thank you.”
Prince Losang smiled slightly, storing the scent of her body in his heart. He turned to look at Bishop Dek, who was still chanting spells on the ground, clearly suffering. With each incantation he uttered, that eerie silver mirror finally quieted down once again.
“Mother, protect us, Mother, protect us, I no longer have to defile you with guns.”
Fortunately, no serious consequences arose.
But why did he come to help at the back door yet no monsters surged through?
Just as he was puzzled, Roger, blocking the “monster door,” shouted towards the front,
“It’s Fisher and the others! He brought the students down! The monsters have all gone to them! They’re by the washroom!”
It turned out that all the monsters at the front door had been attracted by Fisher and the others coming down from upstairs. The number of monsters there was significant. Previously, Losang and Carlo could barely defend the door, but now they had to face so many outside, which was extremely dangerous.
Losang raised the Lion’s Fist in his hand and ran outside,
“I’m going to help them. Carolina, you keep everyone safe here!”
A new month brings a new spirit, setting a flag; for every 500 monthly votes, there will be an extra update.
The last three days will all have triple updates, to repay the previously set monthly vote target, nearly seven to eight hundred monthly votes have charged in the past two days; I’m really… I’m crying.
Lastly, I beg for votes, tips, and support, as this is extremely important to me.
A thousand thanks for the support!
(End of this chapter)
