Sid shrugged as he stepped out from behind the door. He didn’t enter the room, just leaned against the doorfra, arms crossed.
"Yeah, it’s . But how could you forget again—you’re supposed to call senior!"
Saul clutched his chest in pain, face contorted as he glared at Sid.
"You’re trying to kill ? Aren’t you afraid that ntor Kaz will skin you alive?"
Sid chuckled lightly, his face full of disdain. "Who said I was going to lay a hand on you? Clearly just a little infighting between First Rank apprentices. I just happened to pass by and kindly ca to clean up the corpses."
"You think you can fool the ntors?"
"You think the ntors actually care about a few apprentices? Especially dead ones?" He glanced at the ss of lab tables and cabinets, letting out a mocking laugh. "Trying to make an antidote? Not a bad idea, but what’s in you isn’t poison. dicine won’t help."
Saul began dragging himself along the conveyor belt, while Sid just stood at the doorway, not stepping in, nor stopping him.
It seed he planned to wait for Saul to die on his own.
Saul reached the teleportation portal, grabbed the black tassels, and shouted into it, "Senior! Senior!"
The bright fla overhead cast a pale light on Saul’s face.
Sid laughed again.
"You really think soone’s coming to save you? Hayden just happens to be out today. Byron from Morgue One turned thirty a few days ago and has already left the Tower. They haven’t found a replacent yet. So, on the second floor of the East Tower, it’s just you and ."
"What the hell did you do to ?" Saul asked, dragging himself toward the other side, seemingly trying to reach the lab table for useful reagents.
"Told you, it’s not poison." Sid’s smile disappeared, replaced by irritation. "Hurry up and die already, so I can clean up your body."
Seeing Saul still struggling, Sid decided to extinguish his final shred of hope.
"What’s on you is a curse. If your backer Kongsha were here, maybe she could help you lift it. But she’s busy today—apprentice evaluation. Even if you called her, she wouldn’t have ti to co."
Saul froze, looking at Sid, and finally, despair crept across his face.
"Urgh!"
He coughed up another mouthful of black blood.
Trembling, he collapsed.
His heavy body accidentally knocked over the lever next to the teleportation table, and the conveyor belt began to hum.
Saul twitched twice on the ground, then lay still.
Only then did a genuine smile appear on Sid’s face as he quickly stepped into the room.
He wasn’t afraid Saul was faking. He had plenty of ways to control a new apprentice.
What he feared was being too late and letting the diary slip away again.
Sid crouched down, reaching to search Saul’s body.
Just then, behind him, a woman with only half a face slowly erged from behind the black leather tassels of the conveyor belt.
The platform continued to hum, masking a faint, inaudible incantation.
A crystalline ice dagger swiftly ford in midair, larger than the ones Saul summoned with his wand more like a real dagger and stabbed fiercely toward Sid’s back!
At the last mont, Sid sensed sothing and suddenly leapt forward.
He avoided a fatal wound, but the ice dagger still pierced his abdon, leaving behind a bloodied hole that quickly froze over.
Had he not leapt forward, the dagger would have gone straight through his heart.
Sid didn’t have ti to look back—he instantly cast a defensive spell behind him.
A translucent barrier appeared between him and Kongsha, blocking the Lesser Orb of Frost she hurled next.
Frost imdiately crystallized into delicate ice flowers across the barrier.
Before Sid could catch his breath and steady himself, another ice dagger silently appeared to his left.
But Sid wasn’t an easy target—his entire body seed to lt like wax.
The dagger passed through him, slicing off so of the waxy fluid, but the rest quickly reford into a whole Sid.
However, the wound in his abdon did not heal.
This spell clearly allowed him to dodge damage, but not regenerate old injuries.
anwhile, another ice dagger was already forming midair.
Sid’s face turned as pale as a corpse.
What made Kongsha the most powerful among Second Rank apprentices was her ability to ignore a certain level of ntal fatigue and consecutively cast First-Tier spells.
Sid, on the other hand, after using a defensive spell and his wax-lt technique, needed ti to rest and stabilize his ntal energy before casting again.
Otherwise, a small mistake could harm him severely.
Seeing the third ice dagger rapidly forming—its formation accelerated by the frost orb—Sid had no choice but to pull out his trump card.
He lowered his hand, revealing a figurine in his palm.
The mont Kongsha saw it, her expression changed. She imdiately dispersed the forming ice dagger, which caused her brain to throb violently from the sudden interruption.
Within her glass skull, several eyeballs floated into view, all staring unblinkingly at the figurine in Sid’s hand.
"You dare carry an Elf Figurine with you? Aren’t you afraid you’ll suddenly go insane one day?"
Sid took the opportunity to steady his mind. Even now, pulling out the Elf Figurine was a dangerous move.
But he still flashed a roguish grin. "I have my ways. Without this, you’d never even give a chance to speak."
Kongsha had attacked the mont she appeared, followed by relentless killing blows. Sid didn’t even have ti to chant, let alone stop her.
"Kongsha, we don’t need to fight to the death over a servant," Sid said, glancing at Saul. The latter looked deathly pale, black blood leaking from the corners of his mouth, seemingly seconds from death.
Sid felt his plan coming to fruition and couldn’t hide his excitent. "Especially one who’s about to die."
"But he’s useful to ," Kongsha replied coldly. "What did you do to him?"
"A triple-layered curse, that’s all," Sid said nonchalantly.
"Triple-layered?" Kongsha asked, her many eyeballs still fixated on the figurine, none retreating into her brain. "That requires three lives… So those three new apprentices were sacrifices you fed to Saul?"
"Exactly. The kid's ruthless—never hesitates. Although he didn’t technically kill the first one, they died right in front of him. The lingering death aura still clung to him." Sid proudly revealed his thod. "So, Kongsha, are you really going to fight over soone dood to die?"
So of Kongsha’s eyes flicked to Saul, then quickly turned back.
Seeing her hesitate, Sid pressed further. "All I want is this brat’s corpse to vent my anger. Everything else—you can take it."
Kongsha said nothing, seemingly accepting the offer.
Sid, still holding the figurine carefully, kept his eyes on Kongsha as he slowly stepped toward Saul.
On the ground, Saul barely lifted his head, watching Sid draw nearer. He looked desperately toward Kongsha.
But all of her eyeballs were still fixed on the figurine in Sid’s hand, seemingly oblivious to Saul’s silent plea.
Sid, still watching Kongsha, stepped forward again.
Suddenly, his leading foot stomped hard onto the floor, cracking the stone tiles beneath.
Using the rebound force, Sid launched himself backward—abandoning Saul and heading straight for the door.
In the next instant, two ice daggers ca crashing down from above, stabbing through the spot Sid had just been, shattering two more tiles.
"Tch!" Kongsha clicked her tongue in regret.
That Sid was just too cautious. If he escaped today, she might never get such a clean shot under the guise of "self-defense" again.
And with the Elf Figurine in his hand, she didn’t dare go all out with her spells.
A surge of ntal energy could easily trigger hallucinations through the figurine—potentially without her even realizing.
That would be too dangerous.
Sid’s expression twisted with rage.
This escape had cost him a perfect chance to recover the diary!
Luckily, the diary itself looked plain. Even if Kongsha saw the hardcover book that had fallen off Saul, she might not pay it any mind.
He still had a shot at reclaiming it.
Just as both Sid and Kongsha were lanting missed opportunities, a figure suddenly appeared behind the crimson door—and delivered a solid punch that sent the escaping Sid flying back.
(End of Chapter)
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