Like a house deep in the wilderness.
Though its corners were covered in moss, its walls riddled with worm-eaten holes, and its grass roof leaked rain, having such a house standing in the open wild, surrounded by sturdy walls, with a stove giving off choking smoke, always gave travelers inside an inexplicable sense of warmth and safety.
First University's School Guardian Formation was just such a house.
Granted, this formation was sensitive and suspicious, always making a fuss whenever young wizards and witches played slightly improper games, while turning a blind eye to Lazy Worms and Red-banded Snakes sneaking onto campus. But with such a formation overhead, it was like witches wearing safety shorts—whatever First University's students did, they did it boldly and confidently.
And now, that house had been overturned.
The golden net hanging in midair was punctured by a talisman bullet before everyone's eyes.
Jiang Yu froze.
Nikita froze.
Forty-One and Master Baoyangzi froze.
The hunters in the lakeside corridor, the students from the four academies who had rushed over, and the school teachers maintaining order by the lake all stood rooted to the spot.
Sephrano failed to hold onto the tiny Mount Tai stone in his hand, and it fell to the ground with a smack. Augustus stared open-mouthed into the air, seeming to want to say something, yet unable to utter a word. Lei Zhe seemed to have turned into a statue, allowing a budgerigar that had forgotten to flap its wings in shock to crash into his face.
The budgerigar screeched as it tumbled to the ground, feathers flying everywhere, while the master of Sacred Will could not even think to brush away the scattered feathers on his shoulder.
Of everyone present, perhaps only the "culprit" in midair still retained the ability to think.
"It's...