"Who is targeting me?" Before William could even finish, his eyes widened in terror.
Right before his eyes, a stream of beams killed the three people instantly.
William's hair stood on end in terror as the ominous feeling intensified.
Without glancing back, he sprinted as fast as possible.
In the spot he previously occupied, a network of vines emerged, as if attempting to ensnare William had he not evaded swiftly.
"Damn it, that brat ran away," Walter said in a cold tone. He started to slowly walk again, dragging his feet. His body had grown even older now; however, in just a step of his feet, he disappeared into thin air.
William ran at the fastest speed he could, feeling the danger getting even closer to him. His eyes widened with terror the more he thought about it.
"Lily, is that being, still following me?"
"Yes, master, and it is closing in on you quickly. The person is a peak tier-two wizard; however, his vitality seems to be very weak," Lily replied in a serious tone.
William hesitated for a long time before he finally decided, determination flashing in his eyes.
"Lily, can you defend against the man if I allow you to take over my body?" William muttered while increasing his pace to the limit, his footsteps leaving a trail in the snowy ground.
Though he had strengthened his body to a certain limit, making him slightly immune to the cold, unlike Aur, who practically didn't feel anything, he was still slightly affected by it.
"Yes," Lily replied decisively. Although the chains constantly ate away at her strength, she strangely discovered that the more she helped William, the restrictions on her seemed to be slightly lifted.
"Yes, master, and it is closing in on you quickly. The person is a peak tier two wizard; however, his vitality seems to be very weak," Lily replied in a serious tone.
William hesitated for a long time before he finally decided, determination flashing in his eyes.
"Lily, can you defend against the man if I allow you to take over my body?" William muttered while increasing his pace to the limit, his footsteps leaving a trail in the snowy ground. Despite having strengthened his body to a certain limit, making him slightly immune to the cold, he was still affected by it, unlike Aur, who practically didn't feel anything.
"Yes," Lily replied decisively. Although the chains constantly ate away at her strength, she strangely discovered that the more she helped William, the restrictions on her seemed to be slightly lifted. At most, fifty percent of her strength was taken, and although the process of regaining it was slow, it was better than nothing.
Now, the chains inside the golden text didn't immediately sap all the strength the moment Lily gained any semblance of strength.
As William continued to sprint through the snowy landscape, he could feel the ominous presence drawing nearer. The air itself seemed to thicken with tension, and the sense of impending danger loomed over him like a dark cloud.
However, as she looked at the golden text, Lily mused to herself, "Is the power of the golden text weakening or..."
In the material world.
If you looked carefully at his mental space, filled with colourless mana that almost filled his huge mental space—almost two times bigger than Aur's mental space at least—there was a bead of ball-sized purple mana floating in his mental space.
All the energy from the entire book went into the purple mana, making it grow bigger and bigger in size.
Instantly, the purple bead of mana exited William's mental space, serving as fuel for a spell that reflected in William's eyes.
A barrier formed around William, covering him like a domain.
Bang!
The ray of heat collided with the barrier.
The barrier began to fracture, akin to shattered glass, and the ground around William became scorched from the intense heat melting the ice with it.
Lily could only use every ounce of her strength to generate this barrier; this was her hope to save her master's body.
Although she could finally gather some of her strength, the time hasn't been long, and her accumulation of strength was already spent on releasing that holy beam and creating the shield that covered her entire body.
Even after a short time, the ray of heat was still there, constantly attempting to penetrate the shield, and the shattered shield became even more apparent as time passed.
Finally, under the horrified gaze of Lily, the shield shattered like glass, forming countless spiderwebs.
However, the initial power of the heat ray had diminished by at least ten times, reaching no more than 10 percent of its original strength.
Bang!
There was no surprise; the heat rays directly hit the centre of William's brows.
He fell to the ground, unconscious, his situation unknown.
The burnt mark on his forehead, with brain matter visible from the scorched hole, pretty much confirmed that he was dead.
Walter huffed and puffed in anger as he finally calmed down, but his eyes suddenly seemed to have opened in realisation.
As he hurriedly moved towards William, his body grew even more weary, and his white beard fell to the ground, his wrinkles deepening even more.
Now, he looked like an old fossil that had already taken one foot in the grave and would take another foot with any movement now; his skin extremely skinny, stuck to his bones with no muscle, and hunched back.
With hard effort, he finally made it to William; however, his eyes widened with despair upon seeing the miserable condition of him. For Walter to have even a slim chance of taking over the body, William must be alive, and this simple condition wasn't fulfilled now.
His withered countenance trembled as he fell to the ground, a small tear escaping from his eyes.