253 Behind Them (2/2)

”Let's not panic for nothing.” Sandra was being a bit hesitant, ”Maybe… maybe that thing needed precious gold, gems and materials to maintain its existence…”

However, although she was saying so, Sandra herself was still quite nervous, checking the surroundings by looking around.

”I don't think so… Bill was not summoning dragons. Those demons do not need treasures to be summoned.” Charlie could not agree with Sandra, ”Let's stop moving and just stay here. This place is surely weird, but I think it's because of something else, not that thing. There's no way that the thing can come back again.”

Then, Charlie and Sandra started to cast defensive spells around them, and Susan also tried to help, while Lucien was still leaning against the wall, feeling quite weak. Right now his spiritual power was only enough for activating magic items.

Soon the magic circles were all ready. They could finally take a rest there. Anyone or anything that were lower than fifth-circle needed to use at least ten minutes to break their defence, and the two fourth-circle sorcerers behind the magic circles were confident that they could easily make it last until the senior-rank sorcerer arrived.

Charlie and Sandra were standing on each side of the gate, Lucien was leaning against the wall, and Susan was hiding in a corner. They could see their blurry figures in the smooth stone wall surface in front of them, including Sandra's ripped collar, Charlie's torn vest and Lucien's monocle.

Lucien said to them seriously, ”The demon might have died, but someone, or something, is behind all of this.”

When he was saying it, all of a sudden, he saw that his own monocle-wearing figure in the wall grinned. The smile was not creepy, but more like a victor's smile!

Lucien immediately activated Sun's Corona, although his headache was still very bad. A streak of holy light hit the wall.

”What?!” Sandra and Charlie immediately got ready for another battle, but there was nothing there. Only the light from Lucien's Holy Strike was shining on the wall.

Lucien carefully checked the surroundings. Nothing happened.

He told them what he saw, and then said, ”I might be too nervous… I don't know. It can be just my illusion…”

”If the demon was really there, it could have attacked you directly, Mr. Evans, instead of revealing itself in front of you for nothing,” said Sandra. Both Sandra and Charlie believed that it was just Lucien's mind playing tricks on him.

Lucien adjusted his monocle a bit and said, ”I don't know. Anyway, the senior-rank sorcerer should be here in a few minutes. We shall still remain vigilant.”

...

In the apprentice hall, the black, corrosion marks started to wriggle and then suddenly shot upwards. A giant creature with strong body and long neck showed up in the hall. The creature's head looked like that of lizard, and on its back, there was a pair of transparent wings similar to those of a bat. The creature's body was covered with a layer of big scales. In the light of sunset, its scales were shining in a dream-like manner. As soon as the creature showed up, the whole place was filled with a strong, oppressive aura.

This thing was a giant dragon!

In the corner of the hall, the air suddenly rippled, and a figure slowly showed up.

It was a handsome-looking, middle-aged man wearing a fancy magic robe. There was a notebook and a quill in his hands.

As soon as the dragon saw the man, it leaped forward and put its huge front claws on the force shield surrounding the sorcerer, showing its red tongue. The man's shield was cracking, however, he was not scared at all. Instead, he wrote something down on his notebook and smiled, ”You're a good actor.”

The dragon's nose made an ”uh-huh” sound. Clearly, the dragon was quite cheerful and proud. It kept licking the sorcerer's force shield.

The sorcerer stopped writing and read his notes in a low voice, ”Cautious, agile, decisive, calm… Facing danger, the sorcerer outperformed most of his peers. Choice of spells and magic combination can be quite problematic, however. Majors imbalanced… A lot of work shall be done to fix this problem…”

After closing the notebook, the middle-aged sorcerer stared at the dragon seriously, ”Atforest, you should know that the treasures belong to the Congress. You cannot have it.”

The giant dragon was still licking the force shield happily and directly ignored his words.

Observing the rising number of cracks on his shield, the sorcerer shook his head slightly, ”All right, all right… You can take part of it, as your reward.”

”Huh!” the giant dragon's nose made a happy noise again. Then, to show its happiness, the dragon licked the shield again. This time, its long red tongue licked it into pieces.