Chapter 186 - Facing An Illusion Dark Mage!
The highest grade monster here was simply a five horned monster, just as the scorpion queen level at the beginning, before evolving.
The queen wasn't polite, and Arthur simply instructed:
"Wrap things here fast, and I will take my leave now."
She replied with a roar, before she used her tails to kill many mages, sending others flying back, clearing a path for Arthur to escape into.
If this was a normal fight, then Arthur wouldn't hesitate to kill them all, however he knew their main aim was to delay him until the contest started without his presence.
One of the mages here took out a bird's wing, and hurriedly sent a warning to Tony, the one who planned for this attack from the start!
Tony couldn't act before the mages here would finish testing, however they were already about to finish. He just cursed inwardly the incompetence of his allies, as they promised him Arthur's head, or at least his absence from here at the time he would start the competition.
However, the message he received told him that Arthur was already on his way to here, and they were all entangled with a monster that they couldn't beat fast.
He gritted his teeth, while he hurriedly took out a bird's wing, wrote something there, and then let it burn.
He just summoned one of his trusted disciples, one that wouldn't be burdened by the rules of the academy, a dark side mage one!
Arthur didn't know all this, as he kept running, heading straight towards the academy gate, while the sounds of the scorpion fighting the mages there were getting lowered with time.
He thought he would be safe when he escaped this crazy fool bunch of mages, but as he as almost near the huge gathering of the mages at the academy gates, with only three minutes separating him from reaching there, something back jumped in front of him, and the next moment he saw everything around him turn pitch black, with the world he was at right now gone!
"What is this sorcery?" he muttered, as he started to sense everything around him. After a minute, the whole darkness was shattered, and a very shocking scene appeared in front of his eyes!
He was in the middle of the air, where he was in the heart of a very intense battle, with a familiar enemy standing in front of him, burning him with his glaring eyes!
"You came back again, and this time I would definitely kill you!"
Arthur suddenly understood what was going on, as he softly muttered:
"It's an illusion technique, and a very strong one indeed!"
Once recognized, breaking it was very easy. His enemy had attacked him already, delved deeply into his memories, and retrieved the most deadly one of them.
Again, it was a soul based attack, as all illusionists were soul based cultivators, or mages. He gritted his teeth, prepared himself for the pain, before he took out his sword, and stabbed himself in the heart.
Pain! The solution to any illusion was pain, but there was a catch here; the pain must come from true things, not from things made by the illusion.
So, he took out his sword, and stabbed his heart without any hesitation. He knew this wasn't his body, and he wasn't here in the first place, he was still standing in the forest, dazed and lost in the world of illusion.
And now he just smashed that, opened his eyes, and stared at the ashen white face of his enemy.
"If you told me who the hell is wrong with these soul mages, I might consider letting you go!"
He said it with a calm tone and smile, like he was talking to a friend. The next moment, his sword was already at the nape nick of this mage, making him realize he was already at the doorsteps.
One single mistake, and he would be killed by Arthur without any hesitation!
"Kill him, and I will grant your wish when you enter the academy. Don't waste more time, the contest is about to begin."
Suddenly this female sound appeared, out of nowhere, startling both of them. In the next second, that head of this mage was cut smooth by Arthur's sword, before he darted to the area of competition, with a single question ranging in his mind… was she Amanda?
Of course she was, as she received the reply to her question a long time ago from Cesile, clearing everything to her.
Arthur wasn't the one causing this toxin, as he was the one targeted by it! as she kept watching him, she noticed the sudden appearance of that dark side mage, and she didn't know how he did appear in the grounds of the academy.
However, when she glanced deeply at his face, she realized that he was already a disciple of the academy. She was about to kill him, when Arthur broke free on his own from that illusion.
She was startled the moment he did so, as it was a known fact that this kind of attack could even kill masters without being able to break free of it.
As she was puzzled, the words Arthur spoke made her realize a very astonishing truth; Arthur did all this without even realizing what he was doing!
She didn't hesitate to interfere, sending a transported voice command to him, ordering him to deliver justice over this traitor, and promising him with answers when he reached the academy after the competition ended.
After she watched him leaving towards the academy gate, reaching there just in time, she sighed, as she sat on her seat, thinking about one spectacular fact.
"Since when I was so interested in a man?"
She asked herself, while her mind kept spinning searching for an answer other than the truth she knew.
As for Arthur, the moment he appeared in the crowd, his team heaved a sigh of relief, while the face of Tony standing far in the distance twisted slightly, before returning to its normal.