"It seems I have to take her out first!"
Leilin's expression was blank as he pointed at the ragdoll still covering its face.
The matter of the two of them abandoning Leilin earlier seemed to have been selectively forgotten by all three.
Leilin understood perfectly well that turning on these two now would be entirely counterproductive.
Against the wraith doll, only through joint cooperation could they defeat or even kill it.
As for what had happened earlier—there would be plenty of time to settle that score later!!!
"Fire! Alice hates fire the most!"
At that moment, the giant cloth doll before the three of them had already smothered the pink flames on its face.
The once-pretty face of the ragdoll was now marred by a swath of charred blackness, and one of its eyeballs was even missing.
But the doll still smiled: "Let all three of us play together!"
With a wave of its hand, the tables and chairs in the room began hopping about. Lamps, wardrobes, and other furnishings sprouted two small legs of their own, singing nursery rhymes as they danced, gradually closing in around Leilin and his companions.
"Shadow Hand!"
"Corrosive Flame!"
"Acid Splash!"
...
Leilin and the others continuously cast spells at the approaching tables and chairs, but there were simply too many animated creatures. Killing one or two made no real difference.
Moreover, even using magical items to attack the ragdoll's main body left at most a few superficial scratches—utterly useless.
In the end, the three apprentices stood back to back, hemmed in by the dolls within an exceedingly narrow space.
"There's no other way!"
Bosain looked at the deathly pale Jiamen and Leilin, a flash of ruthlessness crossing his face.
"I have a powerful spell that requires time to prepare. Buy me some time against the monsters!"
With that, Bosain pulled a grey scroll covered in strange patterns from inside his robe. He sat cross-legged on the ground and began chanting an incantation.
A glimmer of hope appeared on Jiamen and Leilin's faces as they mustered what spells they could to hold back the monsters' assault.
"So he's finally been forced to use it!" Leilin thought to himself.
Jiamen's weakness was genuine, but Leilin had been feigning his. Still, the situation moments ago had been dire—he had nearly been forced to activate the Falling Star Pendant's defensive mechanism.
But in Bosain's eyes, both Leilin and Jiamen were newly minted Third-rank Apprentices whose spiritual power and mana had been pushed to their limits.
Even Jiamen had already used his magical item several times.
As for Leilin? A mere apothecary apprentice who had managed to hold out until now was already somewhat beyond Bosain's expectations.
He had no idea that although Leilin had only recently advanced, with the aid of potions, his spiritual power was actually slightly superior to that of a veteran Third-rank like Bosain who had already met the criteria for promotion to
He had even hidden a defensive magical item in reserve.
"A healing talisman, used up earlier. One offensive scroll, one contract scroll, and one magical item that can shift into any form—those are my usual offensive and defensive tools!"
Leilin tossed out a potion while chanting a spell, occasionally gasping for breath.
"Even though Bosain comes from a major family, he's still just an apprentice. The fact that he has these things is already quite extraordinary!"
Under the cover of the intense magical fluctuations, Leilin silently calculated Bosain's remaining strength.
After several tens of seconds, Bosain finally completed the activation of the wizardry scroll. The originally grey scroll now floated in midair, radiating rings of crimson light.
"This level of fluctuation! It's a First-level Spell! No wonder it took so long to activate!"
Leilin's pupils contracted. The powerful energy waves emanating from the scroll not only forced the strange creatures surrounding them to retreat, but also made it difficult for Leilin and Jiamen to breathe.
Bosain's family had actually given him a scroll sealed with an authentic First-level Spell as his final life-saving trump card!!!
"As expected of one of the Academy's three great families—flush with resources!"
A scroll sealed with a First-level Spell not only required extraordinarily expensive materials—comparable to what a formal Wizard would need to cast a First-level Spell dozens of times—but also demanded the intervention of an alchemy master well-versed in wizardry arrays. Every single one was worth a fortune.
The value of each such scroll was at minimum a hundred thousand Magic Stones!!!
The high price, the cumbersome activation process, and the fact that formal Wizards rarely had need of them—all these factors meant that such scrolls were exceedingly rare. Only large wizarding families like the Lillitelle Family would keep one or two in their vaults.
Having paid such a steep price, the scroll's power was correspondingly terrifying!
Rings of crimson waves radiated outward as the scroll spontaneously combusted within the glow.
Within the bright yellow flames, a magnificent golden three-legged bird materialized.
The three-legged bird preened its feathers with its beak in an extraordinarily lifelike manner, occasionally letting out a few clear, resonant calls.
It looked exactly like a real bird, and from its dark eyes shone a glint of intelligence, as though it possessed genuine sentience.
"Go!!!" Bosain's face was snow-white, his lips cracked in several places, and beads of sweat rolled from the corners of his eyes. But his gaze burned with fierce excitement as he pointed at the cloth doll opposite them.
It seemed that casting an authentic Wizard Spell ahead of schedule had given him an immense sense of satisfaction.
"No! Don't come over! Alice is scared!"
The cloth doll stumbled back three steps, an expression of fear appearing on its puppet-like face—like a little girl encountering a stranger.
But Leilin and the others were unmoved.
At Bosain's command, the flaming three-legged bird spread its wings—bright yellow feathers wreathed in fire—and circled once around the three apprentices.
A few bean-sized sparks fell onto the animated furniture around them.
BOOM!!! Blooms of bright yellow flame erupted, and the various tables, chairs, and benches were reduced to heaps of blackened ash and cinders within the fire.
"Chirp chirp!!!"
The golden three-legged bird let out a soaring cry and flew across the space, landing directly in front of the cloth doll.
Its hard, crimson, cone-shaped beak pecked once at the cloth doll!!!
"Ahhh!!!" The cloth doll Alice let out a terrified scream as bright yellow flames ignited across its body.
"Save Alice... Alice has been good..."
The doll collapsed to the ground, extending one hand toward Leilin and the others, its voice trembling with pleading.
Leilin and Jiamen turned their heads away. A flicker of something morbid crossed Bosain's eyes as he continued to drive the flames.
The bright yellow fire burned on until it had consumed the entire cloth doll, reducing it to ash.
"It's done!" Bosain turned back to face Leilin and Jiamen, a smile of ambiguous meaning on his face.
Leilin's heart lurched, and his hand instinctively moved to the area below his neck.
"Chirp chirp!"
At that moment, the three-legged bird let out a cry and transformed back into the original grey scroll, falling to the ground.
CRACK!!!
The grey scroll crumbled into fine ash and dissipated into the air.
Seeing the scroll's power spent, Bosain's expression turned exceedingly ugly, but he still forced a stiff smile: "Alright! The monster's been dealt with. Let's find a way out..."
Just as Leilin was about to say something, another tremendous rumble shook the air. Behind the cloth doll, the wall suddenly bulged and split open, revealing a straight passageway.
On the wooden planks of the wall, a line of elegant script in the Ancient Byron Language appeared: *The heir who reaches this point will have the opportunity to receive my legacy—Noko Gulatu Fasel* "Noko Gulatu Fasel... is that the name of the Wizard who left this legacy?" A look of reverence and curiosity appeared on Jiamen's face.
Meanwhile, Bosain murmured Noko Gulatu Fasel's name over and over, a flash of wild elation in his eyes that was quickly suppressed.
But Leilin, who had been secretly watching him, caught it—and he now knew that Bosain must have recognized who this name belonged to.
"I think I've heard this name somewhere before, but it's very hazy!" Leilin scratched his head, putting on a look of confusion.
"Whoever it is, he must be a formal Wizard! His legacy! It will definitely let me advance!" Jiamen's face was alight with excitement as he charged straight into the passageway.
"After him!" Bosain and Leilin hurried after Jiamen.
Beyond the passageway, Leilin and the others arrived in what resembled a study.
Tall bookshelves lined every wall, but not a single book remained on any of them—Leilin silently lamented the waste.
In the center stood a large desk, upon which sat a black box, arranged neatly.
Behind the desk was a chair and a strange oil painting.
The painting depicted an eerie heraldic emblem—countless arcane runes forming a black serpent. The serpent bit its own tail, creating a circular pattern!
"This emblem... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before!" Leilin felt a twinge of doubt, but quickly brushed it aside.
"It seems this is where the Crimson Great Wizard set up his legacy. This Wizard Lord was rather merciful—the traps he laid were all below the level of a formal Wizard. Otherwise, if he had increased the difficulty even slightly, we would all have died here!"
Leilin felt a measure of relief that he had brought Jiamen and the others along. On his own, he could never have made it this far.
"Wasn't there another Wizard called 'Wono'? What happened to his traces?" The question flickered through Leilin's mind, but was quickly pushed aside.
Because the situation on the ground had undergone a dramatic change!
Upon seeing the black box in the center of the desk, Bosain and Jiamen's breathing grew heavy.
BANG!!!
A silver-white longsword suddenly appeared in Bosain's hand, slashing toward Jiamen.
Vine armor sprouted across Jiamen's body in defense, but the longsword still carved a gash through it, blood gushing from his arm.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!!!
The three of them immediately scattered in different directions.
"So in the end, it always comes to this?" Jiamen clutched his arm and let out a bitter laugh.
Watching Jiamen like this, Leilin suddenly recalled that when they had set out together, Jiamen had never asked them to sign any contract—it seemed he had anticipated how things would end all along.