Failed Apprentice

Riding an Engel Whirlwind Snail felt like riding in a speeding car. As magic creatures selected and modified through Beast Taming Magic, Engel Whirlwind Snails moved incredibly fast and came with a 0.3-ring cantrip, [Drift].

They could run nonstop for five or six hours while maintaining a very high speed, making them the first choice for Wizard Apprentices of Lilith's Cottage when they needed to move quickly through the city.

Locke looked toward the target of the Patrol Squad's enforcement wizards, and his pupils narrowed slightly. Up ahead was the Dwarf Street he knew well.

But the iron statue of a Hearthstone Dwarf at the entrance to Dwarf Street had already been torn out by someone, leaving behind only a bare stone pedestal.

At the entrance to the street stood a "humanoid creature" with long, rope-like limbs. Its body was covered in extra appendages: a pair of child-sized arms on its shoulders, a pair of adult arms on its back, and two pairs of beastly arms.

There was an irregular hole in its chest that pierced straight through its body.

The humanoid monster was gripping a Third-Class Wizard Apprentice in both hands. With a roar that mixed a savage grin with fury, it twisted hard and crushed the poor Wizard Apprentice outright.

Chunks of flesh and blood exploded everywhere.

Inside Dwarf Street, the panicked Third-Class Wizard Apprentices were stunned by the sight. Most had frozen in place, while a few tried to use magic to resolve the crisis.

But the little Mana possessed by Third-Class Wizard Apprentices had little effect when it struck the humanoid monster.

The humanoid monster pressed onward through the magic, moving through the street like a spider. It stretched out its long arms, trying to seize another Wizard Seedling from the panicked crowd.

"Almost... just a little more..."

"Where did I go wrong? I did nothing wrong. My head hurts so much. Kill... kill... kill..."

"I want to become a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice. I don't want to be eliminated. This is the last year... I don't want to... kill... kill..."

From the head of the frenzied humanoid monster, Locke saw a pair of human eyes. But madness was gradually filling those blue eyes, and the last remnants of reason were fading away.

Captain Bruno Suarez watched the scene calmly and sneered. "How many times has this happened already this year?"

"Damn Blood Curse Court. They send spies to place information on flawed advancement paths before Wizard Apprentices who have reached the end of the road and lost all hope of advancing. They deliberately lead them astray and turn them into monsters like this."

"They do it to crush our morale and make us question whether there is something wrong with the Academy's system."

"Enforcement Squad, listen up. That Wizard Seedling is beyond saving. Its flesh has already been deeply modified."

"Kill it, then collect its flesh for recovery."

The next moment, the Second-Class Wizard Apprentices of the Enforcement Squad leaped down from the snails' backs and activated their Cantrip Models against the mutated monster.

[Lesser Flame Arrow]

[Acid Splash]

[Mage Hand]...

More than twenty Second-Class Wizard Apprentices worked in perfect coordination under Captain Bruno Suarez's command, quickly suppressing the monster modified by Black Magic.

A Lesser Flame Arrow struck, and the humanoid monster's right arm exploded. One of its right arms fell to the ground.

Captain Bruno Suarez uttered an incantation and cast the cantrip [Thorn Whip], controlling the Tifro Rootvine coiled around his right arm beneath his wizard robe.

The Tifro Rootvine lashed out like an iron whip and struck the humanoid monster's back, nearly splitting it in two.

And that was not all. Thorn Whip was an advanced cantrip from the Vine Hand series. Under the spell's effects, the Tifro Rootvine grew barbs like steel needles, stripping away the humanoid monster's flesh in layer after layer.

The humanoid monster let out shriek after shriek.

Just when everyone thought the monster was close to death, it suddenly pulled aside its tattered clothing, revealing the head of a human Wizard Apprentice that had been hidden beneath the cloth over its chest.

Captain Bruno Suarez froze for a moment. Standing beside him, Locke could tell that he seemed to know the head's original owner.

Captain Bruno Suarez said quietly, "The Blood Curse Court truly is a pack of lunatics. Before this, they merely tricked our Apprentices into using Grafting Magic from Death Magic to transplant the limbs of powerful magic creatures, forcibly increasing their Mental Power."

"But now, they are actually deceiving our Wizard Seedlings into transplanting the heads of dead Wizard Apprentices."

"That head... I saw it on the battlefield. It belonged to a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice of the Blood Curse Court. That Wizard Seedling actually transplanted that head onto its own body..."

Locke felt a chill as well. "That Black Wizard's Mana is clearly stronger than his own. With this kind of transplant, did he transplant the Black Wizard's head, or did the Black Wizard transplant his own head onto that body?"

"Captain Bruno, I am also skilled in Vine Hand spells. Perhaps I can coordinate with you."

Captain Bruno Suarez glanced at Locke, who stood behind him. "You're new, aren't you? You're right."

"Even within the Blood Curse Court, Grafting Magic is forbidden magic. It is a dead end."

"It turns people into neither human nor ghost and severely damages their sense of self."

"Newcomer, be careful. Our opponent is no longer just a failed experiment. He is an elite Second-Class Wizard Apprentice of the Blood Curse Court, someone who was already close to becoming a First-Class Wizard Apprentice before he died."

"You don't have much combat experience. Stay at the edge of the battlefield later and watch carefully. It wasn't easy for overseas Wizard Apprentices like you to make it this far."

"There is no need to force yourself."

Captain Bruno Suarez glanced at Locke and said, "I believe in the principle of equivalent exchange. When our Patrol Squad was living well in Lilith's Cottage, you never got to enjoy any of it."

"So there is no need for you to risk your life now."

Locke was stunned for a moment, then understood why Captain Bruno Suarez had been so certain that he had come from overseas.

Any Wizard Apprentice joining the Patrol Squad at a time like this definitely had no background and probably did not even understand the dangers involved.

Since he had come from overseas, it was easy enough for them to guess.

A strange voice, sounding both like a child and an adult, came from the head in the humanoid monster's chest. "Oh, isn't this Bruno Suarez?"

"Hahahaha... You useless trash from Lilith's Cottage who only know how to brew potions, you never expected me to get in this way, did you?"

"This body has already been modified into a perfect vessel for my rebirth."

The head uttered an incantation. "Blood feast is truth, eternal night forges eternity; sin forms shackles, and those who fear the light shall submit forever!"

Then the head controlled the humanoid monster as it began transforming. The four beastly arms on its back started to merge, forming a pair of bat wings.

Its muscles and bones changed as well. Its spine protruded from its back like a spinal worm, and rows of reversed bone spurs pierced through its flesh.

The head in its chest gradually shifted upward toward the body's neck, finally stopping at its throat. The original head moved to its left shoulder.

The head bared a pair of Vampire fangs.

Locke stared at the monster, sensing its ominous, unsettling Mana. "Blood Curse Court... Vampire..."

"No wonder it is called the Blood Curse Court."

"This should be a branch of Spirit Magic, a smaller magical category within the Curse Sub-Path. Through Curse Magic, it transforms oneself into a vampire magic creature."