Diverting Disaster Eastward (Please Keep Reading)

"What was that?!"

Richard drew his Greatsword, his breathing shifting into a new rhythm. Behind him, Ellie took a wand from her luggage, faint flashes of magic glimmering in and out of sight.

"Don't attack, it's me! Loken!"

The bloody figure wiped his face, revealing an honest-looking fat face.

"Loken? Didn't you team up with someone? How did you end up like this?"

As he spoke, Richard secretly shot Ellie a look. Understanding at once, she moved beside Richard's luggage and took the Fireball Technique Staff into her hand.

Something was wrong with Loken. It seemed something was chasing him from behind.

Several more sounds rang out from the dense forest. By the sound of them, they seemed to be Magic Missiles.

Loken's expression changed, and a glimmer of light suddenly flashed across his boots.

"It's a long story. Let's talk later."

Then the fat man's feet moved like the wind, and in an instant he burrowed into the woods. Before disappearing, he even shouted at Richard:

"I got the thing! Let's split up and run!"

At that point, even Richard would have known he had been played.

"Friend, I have nothing to do with that man!"

Richard shouted into the forest as waves of heat began pumping through his heart. His magic drained at high speed, replaced by scales constantly growing across his body. Within one or two breaths, black scales covered him from head to toe.

Several voices came from the woods, speaking not in Wizard Language. But then Richard heard something else.

Bzzz!

A humming sound entered Richard's ears. Without a second thought, he swung his sword, the blade striking a streak of blue light dead-on. Behind that streak, several Magic Missiles tore through the Force Field Barrier built into his wizard robe and struck Richard's body. Before Bloodline Alchemy, those missiles would have been enough to kill him, but now he merely grunted and turned to shout at Ellie.

"Attack!"

Ellie swung her wand. Magic flowed through its body into the tip, transforming in an instant into deadly spellcraft.

An orange-red fireball crashed into the dense forest like a meteor, erupting in towering flames.

Boom!

A surging blast wave swept earth and stone toward Richard, but protected by his black scales, those aftershocks did little to him.

"Are they all dead?" Ellie asked, her voice trembling.

This was Ellie's first time seeing Lesser Fireball. Crimson fire, thunderous noise—it all looked like the divine punishment of legend.

The gods punished sinners, and thus sent down lightning and fire.

Flames began spreading through the forest. This was the unavoidable price of using the Fireball Technique.

Richard stared fixedly into the fire. He had a feeling that someone was still alive.

Whoosh!

A figure rose from the flames, accompanied by a violent gale—a gale summoned by magic.

Wind fed the fire. What had been only a small patch of flames rapidly expanded beneath the gale.

Richard stepped forward, his body instantly charging into the blaze.

Scalding air coursed through his lungs like flowing coals, searing Richard's windpipe.

But Richard paid it no mind. His eyes held only the figure who had summoned the gale.

At last, Richard rushed before that figure, only to see a person charred black all over, their gender no longer distinguishable. Intense hatred had made this person rise from the fire and release one final spell.

"I'll send that bastard down to keep you company."

Richard swung his sword and severed the person's head.

The gale summoned by the spell stopped at once, but the forest fire had already become uncontrollable.

"Loken..." Richard gritted out through clenched teeth.

Loken's parting act of diverting disaster eastward had caused all of this.

Back at the campsite, Ellie was covering her nose and mouth, trying to rush out of the fire.

"Hold on tight." Richard pulled Ellie into his arms and said in a low voice.

"Mm."

Richard lifted Ellie and charged straight into the flames. Relying on his astonishing physique and the protection of his scales, he forcibly broke a path through the fire.

"Wizard, this way!"

The moment he emerged from the blaze, Richard saw Old John waving at him from afar.

The old guide apparently had not abandoned his clients.

When Richard reached Old John, he saw a small river.

"Wizard, let's hide in the river. The fire will go out soon," Old John called.

"Go out? How is this fire supposed to go out?"

Richard looked at the ever-expanding blaze. In my previous life, a scene like this would probably require firebreaks and helicopters to handle.

"Heh heh, it seems you don't know the rules of the Black Stone Mountain Range, Wizard." Watching the spreading fire, Old John splashed into the water.

"Our Black Stone Mountain Range has a Guardian Spirit."

No sooner had Old John finished speaking than Richard heard a roar that echoed through the mountains and forest.

An enormous figure flew out from the depths of the Black Stone Mountain Range. It had three snake-like heads, broad bat wings on its back, and scales covering its entire body.

"That's... a dragon?!" Richard's voice trembled.

The monster flew over the fire. Its three heads opened their bloody maws and inhaled fiercely. In an instant, the flames across the entire fireground turned into three torrents, endlessly pouring into the monster's mouths.

"It... what is it doing?"

Old John stroked his beard. "What else could it be doing? Putting out the fire. In your terms, Wizard, the Guardian Spirit is absorbing the Fire Elements from the blaze."

"Fire Elements?" Richard murmured, his gaze unfocused.

In the wizard's worldview, matter's most primitive state was not atoms, electrons, quarks, or anything of the sort. Instead, it was the four elements of Earth, Wind, Water, Fire.

All matter was composed of the Four Elements.

In the wizard's worldview, flame was the manifestation of Fire Elements, while burning released the Fire Elements within matter.

The fireground's flames took the giant beast more than ten minutes to consume. Once every flame had vanished, it flapped its wings and returned to the depths of the mountain range.

"All right, Wizard. Let's head back. If we're lucky, maybe the things I roasted are still edible."

Old John climbed out of the water and wrung the water from his clothes.

"Old John, can you track?" Richard set Ellie down, flames of hatred burning in his eyes.

"Tracking? Of course Old John can." Old John looked rather pleased with himself. "This isn't Old John boasting, but no one can disappear from under Old John's nose in these woods."

"Good." Richard nodded and turned to Ellie. Though Richard had shielded most of Ellie's body when they escaped, a few minor burns had been unavoidable.

"How do you feel?"

Ellie rubbed her head. "A little thirsty. Are you going to kill that fat man?"

"Mm." Richard nodded. "Are you going to stop me?"

"How could I?" Ellie rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not insane. That fat man got us into such a miserable state. Killing him with one slash would be letting him off easy."

"Good."

Richard quietly breathed a sigh of relief. If Ellie had come down with saintess syndrome, he might have had one less friend in the future.

A trace of hatred flashed across Ellie's face. This great fire seemed to have awakened dark memories from her entrance examination.

"Take me with you when you kill him later. I just learned a Curse Magic spell—he's perfect for practice."

"Curse Magic?" Richard was startled.

"Don't misunderstand! I'm not planning to curse anyone!" Ellie hurriedly explained. "You don't go out much, so you don't know. Several curse murders have happened among the new students lately."

"I learned it to protect myself in case someone curses me."

Richard said nothing, and Ellie grew increasingly anxious.

"Believe me! I really learned it for self-defense!"

"Mm, I know you don't want to kill anyone." Richard nodded, then looked Ellie over with a curious gaze.

"Ellie, do you know? Curse Magic isn't learned by people—it chooses its practitioners. Without the Spirituality spoken of by the Curse School, even if you obtain a spell model, you won't be able to use it."

"Huh?" Ellie panicked. "Then didn't I waste my Magic Stones?"

That had been fifteen Magic Stones, all her savings.

"I only read it in a book." Richard looked thoughtful.

The Curse School had always been the most mysterious and least populated of the five great schools. Their spells appeared absurd and unrestrained, yet they could kill without a trace. Legend said that the Truth Wizard of the Curse School had once cursed an entire world to death with a single spell.

"Curse Wizards have rare talent. I hope you didn't throw away those Magic Stones for nothing, Ellie." Richard smiled, then called to Old John.

"Old John, let's go. Today, I'll definitely butcher that fat man!"

At the edge of a valley not far from the fireground.

"Judging by that commotion, those people should all be dead, right?" Loken muttered as he watched the Guardian Spirit fly back into the depths of the mountain range. "Those two were pretty impressive. Just two people caused such a huge disturbance that even the Guardian Spirit came out."

But then he broke into a smug grin, rubbed his hands together, and pulled a notebook from his chest, its cover still stained with a little dirt.

"But no matter how impressive they were, didn't they still become my scapegoats?

An Advanced Apprentice's notes, and written in Wizard language too. If I didn't steal something this good, heaven's law simply wouldn't allow it."

Thanks to Wujun Luohou for the two Monthly tickets (.ω.)