Gabby sat inside the carriage, having hired an ordinary human coachman.
This way, she wouldn't have to pay the expensive Magic Stones—just a few Golden Dragon Coins to this ordinary man would suffice.
The Golden Dragon Coin was merely a currency issued by the Golden Dragon Empire, the largest dominion under Lilith's Cottage. Its purchasing power was limited, and to wizards, it was practically worthless. But for ordinary humans, it was the most valuable trading currency besides Magic Stones.
At that moment, however, the human coachman abruptly brought the carriage to a halt, forcing Locke's carriage behind them to stop as well.
The three Centaur coachmen frowned in confusion. "Why has the wizard's carriage ahead stopped?"
Meanwhile, Gabby was also puzzled. She lifted the carriage curtain and glared impatiently at the human coachman. Unlike her friendly demeanor toward Locke, Gabby had no patience for mortals. "What's going on?"
The next moment, the coachman turned his head—his right eye flashed with a crimson glow, while his left burned with madness.
Gabby was so startled by the man's frenzy that she froze, forgetting even to chant a spell. Then, the mortal lunged at her, screaming, "Die, you monster!" before tackling Gabby Montoya and pinning her down.
Gabby's first reaction wasn't immediate retaliation but confusion—What's wrong with this man?
He was just a mortal. His attack meant nothing to her.
But the moment the coachman pounced on his employer, a series of clanging sounds erupted from beneath the carriage. Vampires burst out from the ground, terrifying the draft horse into rearing up with a panicked whinny.
Five Blood Curse Court wizard apprentices emerged, their eyes gleaming with calculation and lethal intent. Laughing wildly, they extended their blood-stained claws and charged at Gabby, their words rapid and mocking:
"These White Wizards from Lilith's Cottage really are useless! Just hypnotizing a mortal was enough to scare her out of chanting!"
"What's the point of a wizard apprentice who can't fight?"
"Killing this kind of apprentice is easier than slaughtering pigs! Hahahaha!"
"Kill her first—use her head to intimidate that Second-Class Wizard Apprentice Locke Augustine! Then we'll take his head just as easily!"
The five vampires hurled threats one after another, further paralyzing Gabby with fear. Stunned, she failed to utter a single spell.
At the same time, these apprentices—who had transformed themselves into vampires—were deliberately applying psychological pressure on Locke in the carriage behind them. In this fleeting moment, they sought to sow panic, hoping to make him falter, misjudge, and stumble into fatal mistakes—all so they could kill him at minimal cost.
But in the next moment, the five vampires moving so fast their afterimages blurred together suddenly screamed in alarm. Looking down, they discovered that the Mandala Vines covered in blood-red patterns had somehow already coiled around their bodies, immobilizing them.
"When did this happen?"
"Impossible! If those useless wizards from Lilith's Cottage had cast a spell, with our combat experience, how could we not have noticed?"
"Break free quickly! These magic vines are fragile."
Yet when the five vampires' blood claws struck the Level 7 Omen Mandrake Vine, their efforts proved futile against Locke's magic vines.
The Omen Mandrake Vine could sense hostility. The moment it detected enemies nearby, it had already locked onto the hidden wizard apprentices from the Blood Curse Court underground. As they launched their attack, the vines had silently coiled around them using their invisibility ability.
Simultaneously, Locke's Magic Pressure spread through the Mandala Vines, affecting the two Second-Class Wizard Apprentices and three third-class wizard apprentices.
The faces of these Blood Curse Court wizard apprentices instantly paled.
An invisible pressure weighed down on every inch of their skin.
That was Magic Pressure!
"It's Magic Pressure! He's not a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice—he's a First Class Wizard Apprentice!"
"How is this possible? Nine months ago, he was still a second-class wizard apprentice."
"Run! The intel was wrong. We can't kill him—we're just delivering ourselves to death."
A flash of violent emotion—induced by the Crimson Echo Potion—passed through Locke's eyes. "Trying to run now is far too late."
"You're all staying right here."
So these were Blood Curse Court wizard apprentices lying in ambush to intercept and kill him. This was indeed the only route back to the faction's headquarters.
He had been extremely cautious, yet he hadn't expected the Blood Curse Court to still target him.
From their knowledge of his situation nine months ago, he deduced they must have been watching him since his time in the patrol squad. Back then, he had left the squad after obtaining his Breeder Assistant Certificate, forcing them to wait nine months without finding an opportunity to strike.
Only recently, when he accepted a Magical Plant Investigation mission and left headquarters, had they finally found their chance.
'I was already so careful. I never imagined the Blood Curse Court would attempt to intercept me just because I advanced within a year.'
'Thankfully, Teacher Sophia warned me to leave the patrol squad early. If I'd encountered them nine months ago, I truly would have been in danger.' Locke realized.
At that moment, the two vampire Second-Class Wizard Apprentices—relying on the extreme speed and blood claws granted by their vampire Bloodline transformation, along with their excessive combat experience—barely managed to sever the Mandala Vines' restraints. They then fled in opposite directions.
Locke smirked coldly, noticing his Mandala Vines remained deep red. If they had genuinely wanted to escape, the Omen Mandrake Vine's patterns would have faded significantly without sensing intense hostility.
Yet now, the Omen Mandrake Vine still glowed a deep, violent purple-red.
These Black Wizard apprentices are truly interesting. Faced with such a significant power gap and intelligence discrepancy, they still maintain such strong combat resolve.
In comparison, Gabby, one of the traditional wizard apprentices from Lilith's Cottage, falls far short in combat performance.
The two Second-Class Wizard Apprentice vampires, while fleeing, utilized their innate vampiric speed to rapidly change directions over a dozen times, appearing as if they were genuinely seeking an escape route.
Yet suddenly, the two exchanged a glance across the distance.
Madness flashed in their eyes—so what if it's just one wizard rank higher? In the Blood Curse Court, they'd killed White Wizards above their level before. Back then, they were merely third-class wizard apprentices who'd relied on combat experience to slay second-class White Wizards.
Every wizard apprentice from the Blood Curse Court had clawed their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
If they could eliminate Locke for the Court, they would receive immense rewards from their school—perhaps even be recalled from their expendable undercover roles!
This was their hope for survival!
The next moment, the two vampire apprentices abruptly pivoted mid-feigned retreat and lunged at Locke.
Their reasoning was simple: as a newly promoted First-Class Wizard Apprentice, Locke must lack an extensive spell repertoire and wouldn't possess true first-class magical capabilities. Since Locke attacked with magic vines, they'd be at a disadvantage in mid-to-long range combat with no means to retaliate.
Thus, their only chance was close-quarters combat!
Through deception, they'd close the distance, then rely on the enhanced speed and strength granted by their second-class vampire Bloodline transformation to decide the battle in melee.
Yet their hearts sank as they realized Locke showed no surprise or panic at their maneuver—as if he'd anticipated this exact move.
"Hypnosis belongs to the Enchantment School's spells," Locke remarked. "You have Enchantment magic, and so do I."
The Omen Mandrake Vine's ability to sense hostility was fundamentally a School of Enchantment trick.
In the next instant, Locke's Mandala Vines severed the heads of all three previously trapped third-class vampire apprentices. The vines then channeled necrotic energy toward the severed heads!
Skull Explosion—kill one, gather one's death energy, cast one spell.
Originally, this spell required direct physical contact with the skull. But First-Class Wizard Apprentices wielded Magic Pressure, which could transmit through the air. This meant many of their spells no longer required direct contact.
The Magic Pressure traveled along the Mandala Vines, conveying Mana and death energy into the three freshly harvested vampire heads, which Locke then hurled at the two vampires.
The three skulls pulsed with eerie green light before emitting piercing shrieks—the first wave of psychic damage that momentarily froze the two second-class vampire apprentices mid-motion.
Then came the second wave: a tightly compressed explosion of negative energy.
The blast sent both vampires flying.
One lost a leg. The other, half his right arm.
Both were covered in blood.
They hadn't expected Locke to use the third-class wizard apprentices they had brought as spellcasting materials right on the spot, launching an attack against them.
Were these still the 'kind and gentle' White Wizards they knew?
Locke's Mandala Vines swiftly followed, transforming into drills that severed their limbs, further reducing their combat capabilities.
At the same time, Locke softly chanted an incantation and cast Poison Berry Catapult at one of the vampire apprentices. Amid the explosions of over twenty deep-purple raspberries, the vampire burst into uncontrollable laughter, rolling wildly on the ground.
He couldn't stop himself at all.
Locke glanced at the vampire. 'Skull Explosion is only a 0.3-ring spell. Even when I cast it, its power barely reaches 0.4 rings. Plus, they're vampires—immune to the third wave of corpse poison and resistant to the second wave of negative energy damage. That's why they didn't die from my spell.'
'But the laughing spell poison I developed clearly works on vampires too. Though these two apprentices-turned-vampires seem to retain much of their human physiology, so that might be why it took effect.'
Locke turned to the other vampire apprentice and said, "My spell poison causes unbearable itching in every muscle and nerve. No matter how much you scratch, the itch won't stop. You'll laugh until you die—a very painful death."
"However, if you're willing to tell me whether you have any other accomplices in Lilith's Cottage, I might let you live… for now."
The vampire apprentice's eyes had already filled with terror.
Though Locke's combat skills were still somewhat unrefined, his methods—undead spells, spell poisons—made it feel like they were fighting a First-Class Wizard Apprentice from their own academy.
It was pure torment.
This was nothing like the 'kind and naive' White Wizards they knew. By now, the Second-Class Wizard Apprentice had long abandoned any thought of killing Locke for merit, replaced only by sheer dread.
"I… I'll talk… N-no… I can't! The faction placed a special restriction on me—"
The vampire apprentice, who had already cracked under fear, suddenly turned red-eyed, then began howling like a madman.
Locke sensed a surge of negative energy particles converging toward the apprentice's heart. At the same time, his Level 7 Mandala Vines detected a deep, malevolent presence.
It was the malice of a First-Class Wizard Apprentice from the Blood Curse Court.
For a moment, Locke felt an eerie sensation of being watched—as if a First-Class Wizard Apprentice from the Blood Curse Court was observing him through the curse they had placed on these Second-Class Wizard Apprentices.
"No! I don't want to die! Please, my lord, spare me! Spare me!" the vampire apprentice screamed with his last shred of sanity.
The next instant, Locke hurled both captured vampire apprentices away.
In less than half a second, two massive bursts of blood mist erupted midair.
A powerful shockwave blasted outward, sending dust and debris flying in all directions.
The mortal coachman and three mortal centaurs on the country road were flung away by the force.
Even Gabby could only press himself to the ground, clutching his head.
Only Locke remained standing. He used Green Cleansing Grasp to rapidly grow the leaves and branches of the Mandala Vine, forming a canopy that shielded him from the shockwave.
Locke's wizard robe fluttered violently in the wind. "This was... a Corpse Explosion Spell at around 0.5 to 0.6 rings. If my Mandala Vine hadn't detected it at the very last moment, I would have definitely been caught within the blast radius."
"To actually implant such a delayed spell on a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice of their own faction, turning them into human bombs—triggering the explosion the moment they lose their usefulness and are about to betray the faction, launching a suicide attack against the enemy..."
Locke shook his head slightly.
The society of Black Wizards was truly deranged.
Locke thought of the hypnosis spells vampires cast on mortals. The timed activation mechanism of the Corpse Explosion Spell was likely achieved through hypnosis magic.
By implanting hypnosis in the minds of those apprentices, the explosion would trigger the instant they genuinely intended to betray the faction and acted on it.
Locke recalled that First-Class Wizard Apprentice who had observed him remotely through a spell. But it didn't matter—after all, he was also a First-Class Wizard Apprentice now. He had nothing to fear.
As long as he stayed within the faction's headquarters, it would be difficult for the other party, as a First-Class Wizard Apprentice, to infiltrate Lilith's Cottage.
The difficulty of a Second-Class Wizard Apprentice sneaking in was nothing compared to that of a First-Class Wizard Apprentice.
The traces of Dark Magic on a First-Class Wizard Apprentice were far too heavy and conspicuous. Moreover, they might even be key surveillance targets for Lilith's Cottage, making infiltration nearly impossible.
So, being targeted by that First-Class Wizard Apprentice wasn't too big of a problem.
Locke glanced around, confirming that the Mandala Vine had returned to its deep purple hue, and remarked, "What a gruesome scene."
"The side effects of Crimson Echo are intense. After the fight, I still feel an exhilarating thrill, as if some long-suppressed nature has finally been unleashed. That can't be my own emotions—it must be the potion's side effect."
"I am not a Black Wizard."
"I am a White Wizard. Hmm."
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