The dormitory door was knocked so loudly that the apprentice hiding in the room had no choice but to step out, and the others outside arrived one by one.
The Cloud Fog servant brought an order, commanding everyone to search the island for the assailant who attacked the castle.
"Quickly, arm yourselves."
"Find the assailant, and don't disappoint the mentor."
This was an order from Sorcerer Toyennes, and the apprentices had no choice but to comply, regardless of what they thought, nobody dared to lag behind in their actions.
Ivan had just been pondering whether to take advantage of the chaos to rescue Pearney when the figure of someone clad in a sorcerer robe dashed past, instantly banishing any crooked idea from his mind.
"Apprentices, back to your rooms."
As Toyennes ran, he was enveloped by Wind-type energy, reaching the castle gates in just a few steps, only leaving those words for the apprentices in his bellow.
The Cloud Fog servant, dropping the crowd, followed the sorcerer's steps, floating away.
Ivan and the others couldn't help but stop in their tracks, exchanging glances, all at a loss for words, little knowing that it was the little green winged snake that had misunderstood the meaning behind Toyennes' furious outburst.
Seeing quite a few people looking at himself, Ivan casually said, "Let's go back."
Laurie said, "The mentor knows how to be considerate of us, after all."
Many rolled their eyes, too lazy to argue with him, one by one they obediently returned to their dormitory, quietly waiting for the ordeal to end.
Outside the castle.
Toyennes had already arrived at the altar in the jungle, murmuring under his breath, streams of breath gathering in his palm, letting him know immediately who it was that had attacked him.
"Billerie, my dear disciple, it seems you cannot be spared."
Being wounded by someone he never imagined could harm him almost made his nose bend in rage, and he started to contemplate what kind of experimental specimen he would turn his former disciple into.
He casually cast a tracking spell, the gathering breath forming into a mark that shot towards one side.
Toyennes, like a gust of wind, followed hot on the heels of the tracking mark.
A few minutes later, he discovered a figure near the seaside.
Energy surged, intercepting the tracking mark, shattering the mark into particles.
"Billerie, you've really outdone yourself."
Toyennes recognized his disciple and did not rush to attack.
Seeing Toyennes once again, the remaining part of Billerie's face twisted even more, "Disappointed, aren't you? I'm still very much alive. I'm going to make you die slowly under the torture of a curse just like I have."
Upon Toyennes's command, several Cloud Fog servants dived into the pool, but returned to no avail, ultimately allowing Billerie to escape.
Toyennes was not aware that at this moment, Billerie had slipped from the seawater into a spacious underground cave, joining the four-armed ape.
"Hahaha, he certainly can't suppress the curse within him and has suffered heavy injuries. My survival is proof enough of that, hahaha."
Billerie now appeared particularly wretched, with only half a body left, charred and cracked all over as if it might crumble any second, but he didn't care, describing his victory to the four-armed ape with a terrifying smile.
"You're about to die." The four-armed ape still wore an expressionless face.
Moments later, the four-armed ape extended one of its hands, the thick hair shedding to reveal smooth and pale skin underneath, with a distinct blue curse mark on the arm. The index finger of his palm wiggled and detached, flung towards Billerie, followed swiftly by the growth of a new finger.
Billerie swallowed the thrown finger in one gulp; his cracked, scaly skin began to heal, and his charred flesh shed, as a new tail slowly started to regenerate.
The four-armed ape watched emotionlessly.
"Next time, we will kill that sorcerer and cleanse the island of every filthy thing, not sparing any, not sparing any."
After taking special restorative drugs, Billerie's eyes filled with madness. He turned to look behind the four-armed ape, where not far stood an iron obelisk that seemed out of place in the cave.
The iron obelisk was covered in a layer of solid ice, through which one could see dense runes resembling seaweed, spreading upward through the island without discernible end.
"Fine," the four-armed ape responded.
...
As it grew dark, Toyennes lifted the apprentices' confinement, and everything seemed as if nothing had happened.
After dinner, Ivan contacted Pearney, who was detained in isolation, to fill her in on the events that had taken place earlier.
"Are you talking about the deep blue energy?"
"Exactly, it targeted only Toyennes. Toyennes was extremely angry, nearly having us all run out to search. In the end, he ordered the apprentices to confinement, which only ended half an hour ago. It looks like Toyennes didn't manage to kill the enemy."
After listening to Ivan's account, Pearney paced back and forth within the confined room, her expression shifting constantly.
Seconds later, she said in a grave tone, "Ivan, we are in big trouble, that damned Billerie, I knew he was a lunatic who didn't care about anything."
Ivan's heart skipped a beat, and he urgently asked, "What do you mean?"
"That damned lunatic, I shouldn't have come back."
"Pearney, Pearney, you have to pull yourself together, tell me what's wrong."
Hearing the defeatist talk coming from the other side, Ivan felt his unease worsen.
At such a time, the miss on the other end was wallowing in self-pity. Wasn't it too late to be saying this now?