"Everyone, I have important news that I would like to announce…"
An elder from Xavierius family stood in the center, exclaiming to the surrounding guests. Subconsciously, the people turned their
heads toward him. They were curious what kind of news that the elder must come
forward to speak directly in front of them. It quickly piqued the interest and everyone became quiet, waiting for the person ahead to continue.
"We have an interesting news coming from our intelligence that says our guests today, which is one of them actually disguises as dark wizard…"
The people were still smiling, but as soon as they heard the words of dark wizard, they were terrified. The reputation of them was worse than assassins because they would like to torture every soul they found into
demise. Encountering an assassin would be a bad luck, but the most thing they did was to kill someone based on their own missions. It was entirely different for dark wizards because they viewed people as sacrifice tools in order to do such heinous experiments or advancing their strength.
"What? Dark wizard?"
"Where? Where is it?"
"I want to go back. It's very dangerous here. Please, let me go!"
There was an uproar among guests. Everyone wanted to go back, escaping from this damned place but the guards from Xavierius family blocked the way. They were in a hurry of saving themselves, yet the action made all of them furious. One person scolded, accompanied by many who soon followed. In their mind, the Xavierius family wanted them to die all together.
"What is this mean? Let us go!"
"Do you want all of us to die together here? Let me tell you that the kingdom won't let you go free tomorrow!"
"I never know this family is so hideous. They want us to die together so they can have a chance to escape."
"NO! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!!"
"Silence everyone…"
The elder waved his hand, echoing his order with the help of magic so it could be heard clearly by everyone. The imbued voice immediately calmed down the guests. They wanted to refute everything a few minutes ago, yet the authority of Xavierius family suddenly made them unable to speak. This only happened within the noble family with strong background. The elder looked at
everyone indifferently before he continued.
"Everyone should be better staying here for a while. We don't want to restrain you here, but once you go outside, the matter of your
safety is already out of our hands. The dark wizard can definitely catch you in no time without our protection."
The surrounding guests suddenly realized their reckless actions. Survival was one of instinct, so the first thing they could picture on their mind was to escape as far as they could. At the same time, if they thought thoroughly, scattering outside was the most dangerous thing they could do since the dark wizard had many means to catch up. It would be hopeless once the dark wizard was in front of them. Death was the best way and torture was the worst. Slowly, they smiled bitterly since they finally cleared their panic
minds.
The elder smiled, "I haven't finished my words yet, so listen carefully. We manage to pinpoint few suspicious people in here. They are already detained and waiting for our thorough checking. Once we found the dark
wizard, we as the Xavierius family must do a good job to exterminate it."
After that, the 5 people from before were presented far from them. Baston furrowed his eyebrow since it seemed the family was really very confident of thwarting the dark wizard right here and right now. While the rest of the guests felt relieved, the suspicious one had ugly faces. They never
thought they were suddenly brought to the front and got prosecuted. Even though they complained unceremoniously, the guards still never backed down. They were only responsible to the family, never to few people ahead although one of them was a noble. Judging from decisive action, Baston guessed they really believed much in Alicia. He thought they would doubt it first but they quickly made a move which left no chance to escape.
Harry and Angus watched from the side, accompanied by other members of the family such as Alicia and Theodore. One of many guards suddenly came in with small box. It contained white beads, slightly flickering which sometime flashing a magic outside. Few people knew what it was and they nodded happily.
"This thing is deadly for the dark wizard, but for common people like us, it doesn't give any effect."
"Yes, I heard only a few nobles have this bead. I never thought Xavierius family has some of it."
"Of course! Such a prestigious family surely will be blessed by the kingdom. The official must surely present it since this family has a big influence over the society."
The elder secretly smiled after listening many compliments. Not only the family head came out with this idea, it perfectly spread such generosity and mighty prestige over the surrounding guests. Even though the people were in awe, he had to be serious before facing the hidden dark wizard. The bead clearly had a painful effect on them, but the requirement was they had to be close enough for such a holy magic to penetrate into their skins and bones. It would be meaningless if the dark wizard escaped from here.
Baston also was curious over who was the real dark wizard. Even though he knew it must be come from those 5 people before, he didn't have an additional clue so he had to ask for help. Suddenly, there was a tremor on
the floor. The fat boy furrowed his brows and before he could ask what was going on, an explosion happened at the center of the room.
"BAM!!!"
Everything suddenly was in shambles. The dust covered Baston's sight, making him unable to see anything in front of him. Everyone was in panic, shouting help because they thought many people should die because of the impact. Surprisingly, when the wind magic was used to clear the situation around, there was no casualty to be found. The guests were fine with no wounds
and the same also applied to the family members. Baston hurriedly looked at the
suspected people before. It went down from 5 to 4 in that explosion. That one person must be the dark wizard mentioned by the old book.
"The noble, woman, coachman, and the guard. Then, the dark wizard is…"
He never thought the maid was the dark wizard. Looking above, the maid grinned evilly while glancing around. With a simple snap of finger, her personality suddenly changed. There was dark energy surrounded her robe, standing mighty before everyone here. Harry and Angus frowned because it seemed the dark wizard here wasn't just a simple thug, but a big villain. Judging from
the enormous magic she had, this person should be hard to deal with.
"Ha… ha… ha… Congratulations for finding the real dark wizard. I wonder how could you know my location here? Living in noble's house for many years, I never thought I'm discovered like this…"
"Witch, your time is up! Surrender yourself so you don't have to die," Harry responded.
"You can't escape from here! The mansion has been thoroughly fortified with magic so no one can't escape as long as we don't give the permission."
"Oh, really! I don't think so…"
The maid before immediately spread her hands, covering the room with poisonous gas. The color was dark purple and even with limited knowledge, Baston could see it was very dangerous to breath. With his ice magic, he surely couldn't defend against it. But with flare magic, there might be a chance since he would only need to burn it in high temperature. Unfortunately, the flare magic was still a secret and he must not reveal it.
Harry as the family head didn't panic and raised his hand before unleashing his magic. The wind couldn't just blow the poisonous gas since it would spread further before endangering more people. With a simple
wave, the wind magic siphoned the gas to the outside, making the situation in the room controlled. As for whether the outside was in danger or not, Harry didn't think about it since there would be a special magic circle which could purify the air cleanly. Such a matter quickly was solved without leaving anyone in panic.
The dark wizard grumbled before she released more terrifying dark magic. This time it was a mental attack, making all the people got a headache in a sudden. It struck into the soul without warning and it was very
dangerous since most people didn't have great mental defense. For people who were weak, their faces would soon flush into red after enduring such pain. Luckily, Baston had only a simple headache before he regained his clarity. At once, it would be very dangerous if he just lost consciousness for one second in front of dark wizard.
Fighting inside the room clearly was more dangerous since there were many people here. Angus quickly moved and brought the dark wizard outside, accompanied with a few elders while Harry stayed inside. Baston
followed outside with the puppet since it would be suspicious to chase the enemy right at the moment. He skillfully transformed it to a bird and threw it outside from nearby window. The chaotic situation made everyone panic so no one would spot his action.
As soon as the bird flew and perched on the branch of tree, it finally could see the battle ahead. Angus seemed to contain the dark wizard in wind sphere magic, making her just followed the kidnapper. Although she
couldn't move freely, she was calm enough and that made Baston felt it was within her plan. When she felt it was already far enough, she broke free with her dark needle magic. Angus knew sooner or later; the dark wizard would free herself so he didn't resist and quickly moved away.
She thought she could escape, but the barrier in the surrounding of the mansion held her good. Gnashing her teeth, she suddenly recited the spell in whisper but before she could continue, Angus quickly flew behind her and casted wind cannon. The impact was very much bigger than Theodore. When the condensed wind hit the dark wizard, it soon crashed her to the ground. The magic created a small crater after Angus casted it once again to her. Clearly, the dark wizard was no match for him.
"Damn it!" she groaned painfully with blood on her lips, "You leave me no choice!"
She hit the ground before the dark magic circle suddenly appeared. It seemed she already prepared ahead if her disguise was uncovered one day. Angus and the elders around quickly attacked her but it had no effect before the magic circle suddenly blasted away. It made a big explosion which soon covered everyone around.
"EVERYONE, GET BACK NOW!!! CAST YOUR MAGIC SHIELD!!!" Angus shouted.
The big explosion soon quickly shattered the surrounding which even the puppet that Baston used was quickly pulverized by the impact. He soon lost contact which made his face became ugly. Such deadly magic really
made him unable to react if he confronted such an opponent one day. Harry and the others felt the impact of explosion before they also hurriedly went outside. The guests were curious but they didn't dare to come out since they cherished very much about their own life.
Baston wanted to see what happened outside but he also felt it was very dangerous. Once the dark wizard targeted him, he didn't have a way to escape unless he went inside the old book for a cover. If he really did that, the secret would be revealed and it would push him more into dangerous
life. He was sure people would after him no matter what since it was such a pity to let go of the treasure. The fat boy calmed himself down and took a look at the quest.
"Damn it! The dark wizard is still alive after that explosion!" he grimaced.