The Snipe and the Clam Fight, the Fisherman Profits?

"Are you crazy?"

Miguel's incredulous cry echoed across the ruins.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could also see the thick black smoke and flames outside through the Zambadista's Spatial Isolation Barrier.

If Dean Henry Gedimidis hadn't exhausted his life force to unleash Geoffrey Monk's scarlet eye...

Flames would erupt wherever he stood, sending up thick, black smoke.

The Wild Hunt, those Skeleton Knight, are, as legend has it, an ominous sign that brings disaster and destruction...

No!

They are disaster and destruction itself!

"I'm not crazy!"

Senne crouched down and gently turned Lian over.

The blurry bloodstains and dust could not conceal his youthful appearance, and his chest rose and fell evenly.

"He just fainted."

He breathed a sigh of relief, took out a bottle of potion from his wide sleeves, gave it to Lian in small sips, and then stood up to look at Miguel.

"I'm not crazy," he repeated. "The day before yesterday, I was even further ahead than you. I was among the first to engage those monsters, and also among the first few wizards to be defeated by the Wild Hunt's magic, yet still manage to survive."

"Then you should know very well..."

"I know very well," Senne interrupted, "That each of their spells is no weaker than a master's, and their spell structure is even more stable, balanced, and refined than any master-level spell I know, just as the spells they cast represent the ultimate form of elemental combination."

"You... how could you see so clearly?" Miguel stared in astonishment, "While fighting those monsters, you still had the energy to analyze the composition and structure of their spells?"

"I had no strength left," Senne said with a wry smile. "I was thrown through the academy's protective wall and buried under the bricks, then I observed from a crack in the wall..."

"Like a coward."

"That's why I survived."

Miguel gently patted his shoulder and comforted him, "I was trembling with fear at the time, my mind went blank, and all I knew was to put a shield around myself."

"It was only after Dean Henry Gedimidis made his move that he suddenly realized what was happening..."

It's hard for someone who hasn't experienced it to understand, but he knows Senne feels.

A sea of light composed of multicolored spells swept down from the sky, obscuring the sun.

The intense fluctuations of the elements alone were like a cold hand gripping the heart, suffocating the senses.

At that moment, he felt like an apprentice who hadn't even learned the art of illumination, unable to even hold the staff firmly in his hand.

Escape!

That was the only thought that flashed through his mind.

"But that's no reason for you to send people to track them down," Miguel said, recovering from the shock of the previous day, pointing at the male wizard on the ground. "You knew the danger, and you even witnessed the power of those monsters firsthand, so why did you send people to their deaths?"

"It's not suicide," Senne denied. "The reason the Wild Hunt was able to rout us before the Dean intervened wasn't because they were truly gods, demons, or legendary calamities or omens..."

"No! They are not! They are just like us, a group of sorcerers. They also need to chant incantations, make hand gestures, and mobilize their Divine Power..."

"Moreover, a large portion of them are even less Divine Power than you..."

Miguel frowned. "Are you sure?"

"I see it very clearly." Senne took a deep breath. "The reason they are so powerful that they seem invincible, like gods, is simply because their magic is more sophisticated, can better unleash the power of the elements, and has some mysterious way of replenishing Divine Power."

"It's like..."

He recalled the various scenes from that time:

"It's like when we face those wild sorcerers..."

"That's right!" Senne grabbed Miguel's hand. "It's like when we're dealing with those wild sorcerers who can only learn from hearsay or buy incomplete spells on the black market and figure it out on their own."

"With potions and more powerful, less costly spells, we can naturally defeat them, and one Ban Ade warlock can take on a whole group of wild sorcerers."

The more Senne thought about it, the more convinced he became of his guess, and his tone grew increasingly excited.

"But even if Ban Ade's sorcerer is stronger than those wild sorcerers who haven't received formal sorcery training, when ambushed, surrounded, or even encountering a wild sorcerer with exceptional talent, he will still flee, fail, or even die..."

"Wasn't it just like that when the dean suddenly appeared the night before last?"

"Joffrey Monk's single, crimson eye opened and closed, and even the legendary Wild Hunt suffered heavy casualties..."

"The heavy casualties are debatable," Miguel shook his head. "The Wild Hunt didn't leave behind a single body, not one."

Senne countered, "Perhaps it's some kind of magic we don't know about. At least they escaped, didn't they?"

"At first, they tried to force us to hand over the Ade Gais Gate, which has not yet been discovered, but in the end they stole things from the Dangerous Experiment Alert Warehouse and scattered."

"Perhaps, beneath their full-body steel armor, they too are severely wounded and coughing up blood..."

Miguel remained silent for a moment.

Senne waved away several apprentices who had slipped out of the dormitory after realizing something was wrong.

"Is that why you sent people to follow them?" Miguel asked.

"Aren't you curious about such a powerful enemy, the legendary Wild Hunt?" Senne countered, pointing to the ruins outside the academy. "They're already powerful enough to destroy a city in an instant, so why are you still searching for that thing called the Gate of Ade Gais?"

"After suffering such severe damage, why did you still desperately try to steal the dangerous experimental subject... the one you mentioned, that relic of Jens?"

"What exactly is it that deserves their attention?"

"In addition..."

Senne paused. "And will they... come again?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Miguel couldn't help but shiver.

He has refused to think about this issue for the past two days.

"It was originally just to investigate the stolen relic, but now..." Senne gripped Miguel's shoulders tightly with both hands, "The Dean is old and is currently in seclusion to heal his injuries. I don't know how long it will take before he can come out and take charge again."

"It's estimated that the college will have to rely on us for a long time."

"Given the current situation, it's unlikely that the nobles of Kedwen can offer us any help, but the women of Aretuza, the Circle of Druids, the Cult of Cliff... are all eyeing us covetously, waiting to replace us..."

"Perhaps that stolen item will become the only bargaining chip for the academy's restoration, and may even become a hope far surpassing the past..."

"But..." Miguel looked at the wounded Lian on the ground with a strange expression.

Senne followed his gaze, and his high spirits, which had even excited him, instantly plummeted.

yes...

What's the point of saying all this now? The only wizard who knows the whereabouts of the stolen test subjects is lying right in front of them.

Even if he wakes up, so much time has passed, the Wild Hunt should have already escaped far away.

The ruins of the library fell silent.

I don't know how much time passed.

"Cough cough~"

Lian, who was lying on the ground, suddenly coughed twice.

"You're awake." Senne and Miguel knelt down almost simultaneously and helped him up.

After a moment of dazedness, when his pupils dilated and he saw Senne, Lian immediately screamed, "Lord Senne! I've found them! Those monsters are in a cave not far from the confluence of the River Rixhil River upstream."

"Have they found you?" Senne asked quickly.

"I found it." Lian shook his dizzy head and answered subconsciously.

Noticing the disappointed looks on Senne and Miguel's faces, he suddenly remembered something and reached into his chest to pull out a unique piece of black cloth stained with blood.

Senne took the fabric with delight. "What's the bloodstain on this?"

"This is what I tore off the Wild Hunt. The blood on it should be from that monster..." Lian nodded. "And without them, the monster seems to have gotten separated from its companions... No, wait... several monsters vanished into thin air... When they injured me, there were only two Wild Hunt left in the cave..."

"And they should all be seriously injured."

Senne's eyes lit up immediately.

With flesh and blood as a medium, those monsters were severely injured...

That makes sense, though. If the two Wild Hunt hadn't been injured, Lian wouldn't have been able to escape so easily after being discovered.

"Well done, Lian."

Senne praised loudly, then eagerly chanted a few incantations, summoning an orange-red portal.

"Wait!" Just as Senne was about to step into the portal, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and stopped him.

"I'll go..." Miguel said. "I'm better at tracking, and besides, the people of Ban Ade are terrified right now, so they need you more here."

"Miguel ..."

Senne paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously. Without further hesitation, he instructed, "Don't be afraid of being exposed, bring plenty of men!"

"Yes," Miguel nodded, taking the black cloth. "Don't worry, I will come back with the things."

He then walked toward the portal, but a second before entering, he turned back to look at Lian on the ground:

"Is there anything else we should be aware of?"

Lian was taken aback upon hearing this, thought for a few seconds, and then spoke hesitantly:

"When I was tracking it, I seemed to see..."

"Those Wild Hunt seem... they seem to be elves..."

——

"Ah, it was a sea of light. At first, I thought that Cliff, the master of thunder, had opened the gates of the divine kingdom to the human world. But I never expected that it was not a Valkyrie pouring wine for the warriors who opened the gates, but a demon that would destroy the world..."

A middle-aged gentleman wearing a monocle sat beside a dark oak tree, one hand on his chest, seemingly trying to peel off a fallen leaf, but he fumbled around for a few times without success.

Finally, a slender, delicate hand, with calloused palms, reached out from beside him and helped him by gently brushing away the leaves.

"Thank you," the middle-aged gentleman said, extending his trembling right hand to look at it, and sighed. "Ever since I saw a city of nearly ten thousand people turn to ashes in my eyes, perhaps because of the resentment of those who died in that instant, my hand has never been normal again."

"It could also be a curse from the devil in the sky..."

After speaking, he raised his other hand, which held a water bag, or rather, a "wine bag." He uncorked the bottle and took a large gulp.

"I should be the one saying thank you." The man next to the middle-aged gentleman stood up and brushed the grass clippings and dust off his trousers.

He was a boy with blue eyes who looked at least twenty at first glance, but upon closer inspection, he seemed to be only fourteen or fifteen years old.

That's right!

This boy was Ailin.

In the end, he couldn't resist his curiosity and let the Greater Griffin land.

After all, such opportunities are rare and fleeting.

In fact, he did gain a lot, piecing together almost the entire picture of the attack.

The day before yesterday evening, the Wild Hunt suddenly appeared in the sky above Kedwen, used magic to shout a few words that were incomprehensible (many sources mentioned the syllables "Ade Gais," Ailin guessed that he was asking for the Gate of Ade Gais), and then launched an attack.

With just one spell, the entire city except for Ban Ade Academy was destroyed, and even the nearby towns were not spared.

Compared to this, the incident in Arland was really just a small-scale affair.

Then a blood-red eye appeared in the sky (it could be Demon Source Heng Gedimidis, or it could be some kind of Magic Array, or both), and many black dots (Wild Hunt) disappeared instantly.

The remaining few, probably a dozen or so Wild Hunt members "should" be fighting fiercely with Ban Ad's sorcerers.

This "should" is Ailin's own guess.

After all, those who know the details are either still inside that blue magical barrier or have already died in the fire that burned the city.

The middle-aged man, who appeared to be fairly wealthy, was a nobleman's son from Riedania (the kind without inheritance rights) who was traveling.

According to him, he had just graduated from history in Cowburg and was planning to pursue a master's degree in elven history when his professor gave him a project (Ailin thought was just making him run errands). He came to Ban Ade to borrow some materials, but he never expected to almost die there.

Most of the information pieced together above was heard from him, and apart from some habitual embellishments, it is quite credible.

As for the other part...

Ailin looked up.

Ahead of him, a long convoy of cars and refugees stretched like marching ants from the hills in front of him, seemingly extending all the way to the billowing smoke at the end of his sight.

However, the refugees were actually in good spirits. Although their faces were full of sorrow, they had no injuries. Moreover, there were many village guards with weapons along the way maintaining order.

Overall, they were much better off than the refugees they had seen north of Kedwen.

certainly.

It's also possible that these refugees are from villages around Ban Ade and only chose to relocate because they felt threatened. Those who truly suffered have already been silently burned to ashes and can never come out again.

Ailin untied the reins from the tree; the horse had been bought temporarily from the middle-aged gentleman.

This snow-white horse is too precious and too conspicuous; it's not suitable for him to travel under these circumstances.

Ailin led his horse, but after only a few steps, a middle-aged gentleman suddenly called out from behind.

"You've gone the wrong way; that path leads to the abyss."

"The Abyss? That's exactly where I'm headed." Ailin paused, then turned back and smiled.

Only a dozen or so Wild Hunt remain...

Ben Ade Academy has once again suffered an unprecedented blow...

How can one resist being a little radical?