When Lucian realized he was habitually running toward familiar places, he thought of the "dark crimson bracelet" and "iron-black dagger" buried in the black forest across from the River Masol after killing the Fire Wolf.
The internal structural models of these two magical items had been thoroughly analyzed over the past few months by Lucian, who had begun studying the *Book of Stars and Elements*, and he now understood their respective capabilities. One was a third-tier high-level magical item called the "Weaver's Bracelet," and the other was an apprentice-rank enchanted weapon, the "Cold Iron Dagger."
It was precisely because he had confidence in the third-circle spell "Fireball" and the second-circle spell "Sunfire Shield" attached to the Weaver's Bracelet that Lucian dared to have Natasha draw away the Great Knight while he stayed behind to deal with the ordinary knights. As it turned out, only one Second-level Knight—Allen—had followed, but he was extremely cautious, forcing Lucian to slowly feign weakness before he could find an opportunity to land a killing blow. The delay cost him nearly a minute more than expected.
But Lucian never imagined that Natasha would return in roughly two minutes, seemingly having witnessed the entire process of him retrieving the Weaver's Bracelet—and she even called out the word "Professor," which he had invented himself!
…………
Thirty seconds before Lucian retrieved the Weaver's Bracelet.
Natasha was gradually turning the tide, pressing Todd back step by step. Todd excelled at defensive combat, and with his entire body capable of turning to steel, leaving no obvious weak points, he held his ground with steady, unhurried steps. He believed he only needed to withstand Natasha's furious onslaught for a few more minutes. Once her potion's effect wore off, he could win easily. Yet Natasha's aura—growing more concentrated and oppressive by the moment—gave him a persistent bad feeling.
After flickering between silver-gray and purple several times, her two iris colors gradually merged together. Natasha's aura, will, and body seemed to fuse into a single entity. With a wild, exhilarating shout, she surged forward and brought the "Thunder Sword" down in a savage cleaving arc.
The shout struck Todd's ears like a tremendous, devastating boom, drowning out all other sounds. His body, which had previously been able to withstand the Thunder Sword's deafening effect, could not cancel out Natasha's battle cry.
But the ringing in his ears didn't prevent Todd from executing a thorough defense. His left hand, transformed into a square shield, rose to block Natasha's attack, while his right hand swung the blood-glowing longsword in a horizontal slash—attacking in place of defending.
Yet before the sword had completed half its arc, Todd was startled to see Natasha's body before him seem to turn transparent. The descending blade appeared as though it came from another world. A phantom, vicious crack materialized without warning upon his shield and spread toward Todd's body with unstoppable momentum.
"You—?" Todd's body, cleaved in two, let out a final, terrified question. Then, with a few sharp cracks, it fell to the ground along with the bisected blood-glowing sword.
Natasha gasped heavily several times, then, without pausing to adjust to her body's condition, hurried back to help Lucian kill the Dark Knight.
A dozen seconds later, Natasha returned to the black forest where the ambush had taken place. She saw Lucian on the ground, Allen thrusting the black dagger from the right side. In her worry, she was about to rush to his aid—when she was stunned to see Lucian pull a dark crimson bracelet from the dirt and unleash a "Fireball" that killed Allen.
"When was a decent magical item buried here?"
"This bracelet looks familiar. Isn't it the 'Weaver's Bracelet' mentioned in the materials the Church compiled about the 'Professor' killings?"
"This is the black forest across from the River Masol. Just beyond it are the underground ruins where the Silver White Horn once hid."
Countless memories surged into Natasha's mind, each detail of the operation to encircle the Silver White Horn resurfacing one by one. Many details that had seemed unremarkable before now revealed another face—such as the potion Lucian used to activate his bloodline power, the Silver White Horn cultist who had been monitoring him and then disappeared, the prison guard who had failed to kill the hostage…
All these details strung together pointed to only two possibilities: either the Professor was closely enough tied to Lucian to risk his life for him, or the Professor *was* Lucian and Lucian *was* the Professor. Judging from the fact that the Professor had fled in a panic when pursued by a mere ordinary-knight-rank Night Watchman, Natasha leaned toward the latter. After all, the seemingly powerful magic could well have been apprentice-level spells employing special principles—there were several such examples in Holm.
Most importantly, the scream Long Sang Allen had let out in his final moments before death seemed to be that very word—"Professor"!
…………
Natasha's beautiful eyes were like a purple lake caught in a storm, waves rising and falling, completely betraying the emotions within—shock, astonishment, disbelief, along with anger, sorrow, and pain.
"Will she strike?" Lucian gripped the Weaver's Bracelet, ready at any moment to activate the "Sunfire Shield" and "Fireball." Though against Natasha at her current fifth-level strength, they were unlikely to be of much use, Lucian's character meant he would never simply give up without putting in any effort.
And while tense, Lucian was not panicked—he even maintained a strange sort of calm. "Stall for time. I have to say something to stall for time. Once the three-minute effect of the 'Vampire Blood' wears off, everything will be resolved."
So, after a brief silence, Lucian weighed his tone and prepared to fabricate yet another story.
But then Natasha's eyes returned to their calm, fathomless depths, and with a slightly hoarse voice, she uttered a few words: "Go to Holm."