Inside the cavern, the Vampire Magus was directing his spawns into carving the ritual formation on the ground. He was fully concentrated on his task, but suddenly his pale, pointy ears twitched and he looked in the direction of the tunnel entrance that led here.
"What was that?" He muttered under his breath.
He couldn't perceive it properly as he was currently preoccupied, but for some reason, he felt as if there was a faint disturbance in the mana.
Am I just imagining things? A ludicrous thought emerged in his mind.
But soon his eyebrows furrowed tightly. "No, I can't take any chances!"
At this stage, he didn't wish to take any risks. Things were so close to completion, there was no way he would mess things up now. He suddenly looked toward the dark ceiling of the cavern and whistled.
Following that, the sound of wings flapping could be heard. Within a few seconds, a bat the size of an adult human's head flew down and landed on the vampire's shoulder.
The bat's black eyes shone with intelligence as it deeply stared at the vampire, awaiting his orders.
The vampire weaved hand signs, following which one of his left eyes turned black. At the same time, one of the bat's eyes turned red.
Rank 1 Spell: Shared Vision!
"Go, scout the tunnel." The vampire ordered.
The bat flapped its wings and silently flew toward the tunnel.
Seeing the bat disappear, the vampire's eyes narrowed to a slit. "I hope it's nothing. But on the off chance that those Magi have somehow found this place. Then…"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})He looked at the human sacrifices imprisoned within the large cage, his eyes gleaming with cold, murderous intent.
…
The group of Magi and the city guards vigilantly made their way into the depths of the tunnel. Count Hannes looked around in shock.
"I can't believe there was such a tunnel underneath my city!"
Being the lord of the County, by all rights he should have been aware of the existence of such an underground tunnel. But the fact that he wasn't, clearly vexed him.
Could this tunnel be perhaps older than the time my ancestors stepped foot on this land? He wondered, trying to justify the reason for him not being privy to this place.
"We might not even be under Hannes City for all we know," Edward suddenly muttered.
"He's right." Lisa nodded. "That shadowy place that we went through just now, teleported us to an unknown location."
"That shadow thingy had properties related to Space Magic, huh?" Edward asked while rubbing his chin.
Magus Karl chimed in. "But are we sure that the place we came out of earlier has nothing to do with Shadowmuir?"
There was a hint of curiosity traced in his tone. One could tell how excited he was just by speaking about the legendary dark echo of the world. His was the true spirit of a Magus - forever in pursuit of the truth and the mysteries of the world.
Lisa shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know. Although that place indeed had characteristics similar to the Shadowmuir, I can't confirm if it really was that place. After all, that shadowy part of the tunnel only lasted for a few meters, did it not?"
Hearing her words, all the Magi nodded. But at the same time, they couldn't help but wonder, If it wasn't the Shadowmuir then what was it?
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"I'll have to report this to my professors back at the academy. They'll know what it is. Besides, having such a dangerous place unguarded would bring great troubles." Lisa added. She said the last part while secretly glancing at the Count, trying to discern his reaction.
Count Hannes was elated after listening to her. To be honest, he wasn't very comfortable having such an ominous and risky place inside his city. But if someone from the Clover Academy were to deal with it, he would be more than happy to cooperate.
After all, if this place really had any link to Shadowmuir, then it was way beyond his capabilities.
Suddenly, he heard something faint in front of him and instantly became alert. With quick and smooth movements, he grabbed the dagger sheathed at his waist, imbued mana into it, and threw it.
Everyone was taken aback by the Count's sudden actions.
"W-What are you doing?" Edward was the most surprised as the dagger whizzed past his head. He looked at the Count with suspicion, his hand already reaching the hilt of his sword.
THUD!
Suddenly, the sound of something falling came from ahead of them. Everyone turned around and saw that the Count's dagger had pierced something.
"What's that?!" Edward was shocked.
He warily walked ahead and was finally able to see what it was. The others also followed suit and when their gaze landed on the thing, they turned solemn.
"A bat, eh?" Count Hannes crouched down and took back his dagger. He cleaned the blood off of it and sheathed it back.
He stood back up and looked at everyone with a grim expression. "It's safe to assume that the vampire already knows we're here."
Everyone's face turned dark. They'd hoped that they would take the vampire by surprise, but rarely does anything in life go according to plan.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})The Count brandished his great sword and instructed everyone around, "Since we've been found out, we might as well charge ahead." Then, his gaze landed on Lisa and he asked, "What say you?"
Lisa thought for a while and felt that this was the best option they had. She looked back at the Count and nodded.
"Very well." The Count took the lead and ran into the depths of the tunnel. "Everyone, follow me!"
…
Inside the cavern, the Vampire Magus's eye turned back to its usual red. His expression was extremely twisted and his teeth had turned sharp and jagged.
He roared at the top of his lungs, "Those filthy Magi! How the hell did they find this place?!"
The vampire's sudden burst of aura filled with killing intent swept the nearby spawns off of their feet. Their bodies trembled in fear as they laid eyes on their enraged master.
"It has to be one of you!" The vampire glared at his spawns. He wished that he could kill all these inferior creatures in front of him, but now was the time that he needed them the most.
"You, you, and you." The vampire pointed at three spawns and ordered, "Fetch all the sacrifices out of the cage. Now!"
Then, he looked at the other spawns and spat through gritted teeth, "And you useless trash. Go out there and buy me time. Even if it costs you your pathetic lives!"
The vampire spawns showed traces of fear and unwillingness in their eyes, but the next moment, their expressions changed and they replied in unison, "Yes, Master!"
With that, they dashed toward the tunnel entrance, ready to lay their lives for their master. Not a shred of hesitation could be seen in their eyes.
Meanwhile, inside the cage, Adam who was secretly watching everything take place revealed a smirk.
About damn time.
