Vampire Howard frantically fled through the air, darting about like a fly.
Meanwhile, Locke, who was pursuing him using Plant Mimicry Art: Raptor, fired a continuous barrage of Burning Steel Pellet Peas from his Three-Headed Blast Pea.
The blazing flames and terrifying steel pellets seemed to tear through the air.
Howard glanced at the Magic Plant Seed Fire Line relentlessly trailing behind him, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead.
"My master's spells are too precise. The slightest misstep, and I'll be hit."
"Curse Magic only works upon contact. Most curse practitioners wouldn't even be able to get close to my master. What kind of magic plant is that? I've never seen anything like it before..."
"As expected of the White Wizard I, Howard, have pledged myself to."
The next moment, Locke chanted the Splitting Spell, and the three Burning Steel Pellet Pea seeds multiplied into six. These six seeds traced a fiery net in the air, sealing off all of Howard's escape routes.
Bang!
Howard grunted as he was struck down from the sky by Locke.
Locke nodded in satisfaction. He had only used the Three-Headed Blast Pea in half-speed firing mode, with the addition of the Splitting Spell.
If he had gone full-speed with the Splitting Spell, the resulting firepower network would have been even more terrifying.
Even a First-class wizard apprentice vampire with greater mana reserves would likely have been overwhelmed.
Thus, his current combat system was nearly complete:
-
Mid-to-long-range offensive spells:
Metal Frenzy Series
and
Mayfly Firecracker
-
Close-combat spells:
All Plants as Soldiers
and
Vine Frenzy Series
-
Flight and mobility:
Plant Mimicry Art
Additionally, he had auxiliary 0.5-ring spells like Wild Grass Entanglement and Scorched Earth Bomb.
The only weak point was his defensive magic plant, Perseus' Eye, which he could barely operate using the recently learned 0.5-ring spell Moss Shield.
But it was serviceable for now.
The 0.8-ring Mayfly Firecracker could serve as his trump card, second only to the Three-Eyed Tiger Eye Cat bloodline.
The Rot Soil Konjac King and Mayfly Firecracker had immense potential, but their full power had been limited by his mana reserves.
Now, with 500 units of mana, he could finally unleash their true might.
The Mayfly Firecracker had a slow attack speed, but if it landed, it could be decisive.
Even the puppet controlled by Hussein back then had struggled to counter the Fungal Spore Cannonball of the Mayfly Firecracker.
A puppet manipulated by a curse practitioner retained a significant portion of its master's strength.
From Locke's current perspective, the power gap between Hussein—who had fought seven White Wizards alone with a single puppet in the treatment facility—wasn't as vast as he had initially believed.
After all, a curse practitioner's greatest weapon was Curse Magic, and Hussein had already been testing a new Curse Formula against them at the time.
Locke stored the Three-Headed Blast Pea and the Great Green Owl Banana into his Astral Ring before landing on the ground and walking over to the deep crater where Howard had crashed. He tossed a vial of magical creature blood into the pit.
One advantage of vampires was their durability.
Ten minutes later, Howard climbed out of the crater. Locke retrieved a clean coat from his Astral Ring and threw it to him.
Howard took the garment and hastily expressed his gratitude. "Thank you, Master."
Locke glanced at the vampire Howard and asked, "Howard, why did you choose to become a Black Wizard in the first place?"
Howard, who was in the middle of putting on the coat, paused briefly before offering a bitter smile. "Master, I was born in the Black Wizard territory. I came from a commoner family there. Have you ever witnessed people eating people?"
"Also, murder wasn't a crime there—instead, we commoners had to compensate the slave-owning nobles if we died, because our deaths 'polluted' their noble eyes."
"The mortal nations in Black Wizard territory were far more lawless and chaotic than those in White Wizard lands. They still operated under slavery, where most of a nation's population were slaves. The only way for my family to rise above being prey was for me to become a Black Wizard. Then, killing wouldn't be a crime for us anymore—we could become the ones who devoured others..."
"That was my earliest reason for wanting to become a Black Wizard." A flicker of doubt crossed Howard's eyes. "But before you asked me, I'd never really thought deeply about it."
"Isn't it natural for those born in Black Wizard territory to aspire to become Black Wizards?"
Locke gave a slight nod. He had only asked out of casual curiosity.
It seemed there were many paths to becoming a Black Wizard—some, like Howard, were raised that way from childhood; others were abducted from the mortal world by Black Wizards; and a rare few were White Wizards who willingly defected to the Black Wizard territories.
Locke looked up to see a snow-white owl flying toward him. He raised his hand, and the owl landed on his palm. Removing the letter from its leg, he unfolded it, and his expression shifted slightly.
"So that's how it is."
'The teacher has already used her Black Wizard spies to arrange for that Second-Class Dark Wizard Apprentice—the one I implanted with a Grave Spirit—to return to the Curse Formula Research Institute.'
'There are five days left until the planned operation begins.'
'The teacher wants me to leverage this advantage to gather some information in advance. Of course, it seems Teacher Sophia also has her own methods of investigating the institute.'
Just as the Black Wizards had developed moles and sleeper agents within Lilith's Cottage, Locke knew that Lilith's Cottage had also planted numerous spies within the Blood Curse Court.
Closing his eyes, Locke sensed that his connection with the Second-Class Dark Wizard Apprentice named Leoni Murphy had grown faint—almost on the verge of breaking—likely due to the distance between them.
Fortunately, Locke now carried the Bloodline of the Three-Eyed Tiger Eye Cat within him. Using this Bloodline, he strengthened the sensitivity of his Archaeological Spell, stabilizing the signal of the Summon Graveyard Spirit link between them.
"The natural stability of Negative Energy Particles makes them ideal for storing and transmitting information, especially over vast distances. Other forms of magic simply couldn't achieve this," Locke pondered.
At the same time, Locke closed his eyes, focusing all his energy to sense the distant Grave Spirit located within a heavily magically shielded Curse Formula Research Institute.
Locke's vision gradually overlapped with that of the invisible Grave Spirit behind Leoni Murphy, allowing him to directly see what the spectral entity perceived.
Leoni Murphy currently stood in a grand hall whose dome was constructed from the interwoven bones of various Magical Creatures—even human remains. Dozens of mummified specimens, tightly bound in white bandages, hung from the dome by black chains, suspended from above like corpses dangling from the ceiling of hell.
The hall's four walls refracted the air with intricate, ever-folding geometric patterns of active Curse Formulas.
Within the hall stood numerous operating tables, each bearing a naked, living subject. Their bodies were covered in densely inscribed Curse Formula scripts. Among these living sacrifices were dwarves, elves, and humans—all rendered immobile by Paralysis Curses, utterly defenseless.
Before each operating table stood a black-robed Second-Class Wizard Apprentice, their expressions tense as they meticulously carved Curse Formulas into the living sacrifices using Obsidian Priest Knives. They continuously folded basic Curse Formulas upon the victims' bodies, constructing entirely new advanced geometric Curse Formulas.
(End of Chapter)