Chapter 66: The Bamboo Forest

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: The Bamboo Forest

The late-night autumn wind rustled through the leaves, carrying a slight chill that hit their faces. After the conversation ended, the space was left with only the rustling of leaves and an enveloping silence. Lucius also said no more; he simply propped his chin on his hand, quietly gazing at the side of Jeremy’s face, his ice-blue pupils shimmering with complex emotions under the moonlight.

Ten minutes later, Jeremy finished his late-night snack. He cleared the tray on the table and, seeing Lucius still sitting as motionless as a statue, politely stood up and lightly brushed his coat:

"I’m heading back to the dormitory first, see you tomorrow."

Going out for coffee in the middle of the night meant he must have some troubling matters to think about. Jeremy decided not to bother him any further. He shoved both hands into his pockets and took leisurely steps toward the dormitory. However, the person who had just been sitting at the corner table quietly stood up and followed behind him, maintaining a certain distance.

They lived in the same building, so it was just along the way.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow slightly, saying nothing, and just let Lucius follow.

He had originally intended to go back to his room, flip through a few pages of a book, and sleep. But right after leaving the commercial street and stepping onto the gravel path cutting through the dense bamboo forest leading to the dormitory, Jeremy’s footsteps abruptly halted. A pungent, harsh stench of blood hit his nasal cavity.

The dormitory building was built at the back of the Lunar Eclipse Department’s campus, bordering a primeval forest area. The flower garden and the dormitory area were very close to each other, separated only by a bamboo forest. The path they were on was the only way through this forest.

Normally, the bamboo forest always carried a faint, soothing floral scent mingled with the elegant fragrance of bamboo leaves; absolutely no foul smells or strange odors ever appeared. Therefore, this stench of blood was so clear and sharp that it made Jeremy’s entire body instinctively enter a defensive state.

But the smell of blood wasn’t the worst part. Mixed within that rusty scent was a decaying, cold miasma characteristic of a corpse...

In the strictly protected territory of the department, how could this foul demonic energy leak in?

More importantly, the blood dripping on the cobblestones was still glossy and hadn’t coagulated. This proved that the injured person was within a radius of a few dozen meters.

Jeremy’s gaze darted around sharply, while he reached his hand backward, lightly flicking his index finger to signal Lucius to stop.

Lucius didn’t utter a word. He stopped instantly, his tall figure standing silently in the dark, like a sturdy wall shielding Jeremy’s back.

Without rashly stepping forward, Jeremy closed his eyes, his fingertips lightly rubbing the air. A thin but pure stream of magic power instantly condensed into invisible threads, tracing the pool of blood on the ground and slithering deep into the darkness of the bamboo forest.

At three in the morning, the bamboo forest was submerged in a thick pitch-black. The magic lights on both sides of the path were completely powerless against the dense, intertwining canopy of leaves. The pale light of the crescent moon and the faint glimmer from the probing threads could only barely outline a corner of the scenery deep inside.

About a minute later, through the feedback from the magic threads, Jeremy saw a man in a black cloak collapsed, his entire body looking as if he had just been fished out of a pool of blood.

The man leaned weakly against a bamboo trunk, his long, messy blue hair sticking to his shoulders. The fatal wound was located on his abdomen; a deep gash sliced through his flesh, exposing the stark white bone, looking so horrifying that it made the viewer’s breath skip a beat.

Dark red blood poured out profusely, mixed with pitch-black corrosive demonic energy, dripping down his clothes onto the ground, creating a foul-smelling muddy puddle. The man had his eyes tightly shut, his chest heaving incredibly weakly; it seemed his breath could cut off at any moment.

Half of his body was bathed in the cold moonlight, while the other half was swallowed by the darkness, rendering his face blurry. However, the moment he recognized the characteristic hair color and the familiar jawline, Jeremy’s pupils contracted slightly.

This battered man was none other than Mentor Griffin Heirmann, who had vanished without a trace for many days.

Around where Griffin lay, shattered light fragments of a spatial teleportation magic matrix still lingered. It seemed he truly hadn’t been staying in the department these past few days.

Could it be... he had ventured alone into the Wasteland Rift and engaged in a life-and-death battle with mutated monsters? Otherwise, why would he be so heavily injured that even his body was starting to be corroded by demonic energy?

Realizing that Griffin seemed to have lost consciousness, Jeremy turned his head and said to Lucius: "It’s Uncle Griffin. I’ll go over and check on him."

With that, he took long strides toward the glowing magic threads. No matter how eccentric this man’s whereabouts were, he was still their supervising mentor. Seeing a dying person right in front of him, Jeremy couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

When the distance between the two was only a few paces, the purple eyes of the man who seemed to be in a coma suddenly snapped open. Murderous intent flared up in an instant. The sphere of magic power that had just formed in Griffin’s palm immediately dissipated when he realized the person approaching was his student.

Jeremy frowned slightly, stopped in his tracks, and asked straightforwardly: "Uncle, do you need help?"

Griffin let out a hoarse laugh, his chest vibrating, bringing about a fit of violent coughing: "What... do you think?"

He sluggishly extended his filthy, blood-stained hand, signaling Jeremy to come closer, clearly wanting to borrow his strength to stand up. The face that normally wore a lazy, mocking expression was now crisscrossed with deep scratches. If one wiped away the horrifying fresh blood, his skin at this moment was pale to the point of almost being transparent.

Jeremy didn’t hesitate and was about to step forward to support Griffin’s arm when suddenly, his wrist was grabbed by a powerful force.

He turned his head and saw that Lucius had stepped up beside him. Before Jeremy could react, Lucius brushed past him, reached out, hoisted Griffin up by the armpits, and yanked him to his feet.

A flash of surprise crossed Jeremy’s eyes. Would someone with severe mysophobia like Lucius actually take the initiative to touch this muddy pool of blood? It seemed that hidden beneath that cold exterior was a heart that wasn’t too bad.

"I’ll take him to the infirmary," Lucius’s voice rang out flatly, carrying no emotion.

Griffin was dragged up roughly; the wound on his abdomen stretched and tore open further. The bone-deep pain that hit him caused his forehead to break out in cold sweat, his thin lips twitching slightly. He truly suspected this stoic brat was intentionally taking personal revenge.

But this was truly not the time to be petty. Griffin gritted his teeth to endure the dizziness and whispered: "Just help me... to the Research Tower."

Lucius didn’t care where that was, merely dropping a nonchalant sentence as if fulfilling a duty: "Where?"

"Cough... the forest behind the dormitory." Griffin gathered his last bit of drained magic power, condensing a small sphere of light that floated in front to lead the way.

Lucius didn’t say another word. Taking long strides, he half-supported, half-dragged Griffin in the direction of the light sphere. The two were roughly the same height, their figures staggering forward.

Jeremy watched them thoughtfully. After a moment of consideration, he decided to follow behind.

Griffin’s injuries weren’t limited to the deep crater on his abdomen; they were also crisscrossed all over his muscles. Furthermore, the purity of the demonic energy seeping from the wounds indicated that the attacker was definitely a high-tier pureblood monster born from the Abyssal Rift, completely different from ordinary low-level demons or magical beasts.

Unlike physical damage, the demonic energy left behind by pureblood monsters possessed a brutal corrosive nature and endless destructive capability. Even draining a Holy-tier Potion wouldn’t be able to cure it completely; the divine power of the Purification element had to directly intervene to hope to close the wound.

Jeremy had never heard of the Research Tower, nor had he ever set foot on the mountain behind. But if Griffin insisted on going to this place even if it killed him, perhaps there was a Healing-element mage hiding there capable of saving his life.

He had originally thought so.

Until the three of them crossed the bamboo forest and ventured deep into the desolate hilly area behind. The light sphere stopped in mid-air and shattered, revealing before their eyes... a ruined clearing.

Surrounded by only rubble and barren soil. In the silent darkness, not a single speck of light filtered through the canopy. Jeremy had to snap his fingers, summoning a magic flame to hover in the air to illuminate the terrain.

Under the flickering firelight, everything looked even more desolate. The trees surrounding the clearing were all withered, the decaying leaves crunching underfoot. There was nothing but an eerie silence.

Jeremy frowned and spoke up to break the atmosphere: "...Uncle, where is the tower you mentioned?"

"Underground."

Griffin’s condition had reached its limit; even his fingertips were trembling violently. Under the watchful eyes of his two students, he bit the tip of his finger, squeezing out a rare drop of bright red blood untainted by demonic energy, and let it drip straight onto the faded, dilapidated array markings drawn on the ground.

The moment the drop of blood touched the stone surface, a blinding blue-gold light erupted, sweeping away the darkness. Jeremy instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes and took a half-step back.