Not only had Hao Ren seen that figure, but Lily, who had always prided herself on her keen senses, had also caught the shadow flashing between the bookshelves at the first opportunity. Husky Girl immediately sprang to her feet. "There's someone up ahead!"
The group immediately gave chase. They weaved through row after row of bookshelves that towered like maze walls, pursuing the faint, elusive presence ahead. After chasing it past several enormous shelves, Hao Ren finally saw the target's back. It was a petite woman, about the same height as Lily from behind, and extremely agile. Just as everyone was about to catch up with her, she suddenly charged straight toward a shelf piled with scrolls, then vanished right before their eyes.
"She's gone?!" Hao Ren ran several more steps after seeing her disappear before managing to stop. He reached the bookshelf, only to find that it was an entirely ordinary shelf, with no secret passage or hidden mechanism. After the Data Terminal examined the spatial readings around them, it shook itself. "There's no sign of Spatial Teleportation. That was probably an illusion."
"First we got Demon Hunters walking around like the living dead, and now ghosts have finally appeared too..." Izax said gruffly. "Could it be that all the Demon Hunters in this tower have become half-dead?"
"You remember Claude from before, right?" Lily suddenly recalled something. "Could he have escaped from the tower, only to be captured by you on the front lines?"
"...But his condition didn't look like that of a deserter." Izax rubbed his chin and slowly shook his head. Just as he finished speaking, a sudden sound of footsteps coming from nearby interrupted everyone.
A tall figure appeared in the distance as if out of thin air and slowly walked toward them. He was