Baston was afraid once he failed the quest, another punishment would soon come forward. Just having one was unbearable, shaking him to the core until this day. His instinct of survival kicked in and he quickly
thought what he must do. Together with Harry and few elders, he decided to come
out and looked what happened outside. Several guests were also curious so they
had an idea to check what was the outcome. Since Harry was nearby, it should be safe enough.
Baston was shocked after staring at the devastated surrounding. Part of the area was pulverized directly, leaving big crater on it. No wonder his puppet couldn't survive since this explosion was much bigger than what he experienced back at the academy. He looked around and found Angus was fine. Although his robe was tattered, he was able to defend from that fatal attack. It was different for several elders of the family. Their faces were pale and there were many wounds on their bodies. Luckily, the guards and wizards didn't follow them closely or else, they would be decimated right there.
Everyone began checking the surrounding while the elders stabilized their conditions by themselves. It looked worse but with the help of magic, the important organ inside their bodies weren't hurt at all. The dark wizard was still out there and Baston really wanted to give a chase, but he didn't know where she went. He even didn't know whether she was nearby or not. If she already gone, then the quest might be automatically failed.
"Wait, let me check it first…"
The fat boy opened the old book and found the quest was still active. The dark wizard should be still nearby. Now, the question was
which direction she took. Without waiting, he mobilized the rest of the puppets to look for clue from above. One went north and one went south. From above the sky, they together could maximize the scope. When he found nothing, the puppets then turned around to the direction of east and west. Immediately, his hard work finally paid off. The dark wizard was in the direction of west.
The bird perched at the tree while it was staring at the dark wizard. The wounds were very gruesome, but it looked like she could
preserve her life. Judging from the big explosion, the sacrifice must not be small. There wasn't anyone nearby so it would be a perfect time and place to eliminate her forever. Although Baston wasn't completely sure he could defeat her, he had to try it. It was better than having a second punishment from the old book.
"Damn it, fighting a great wizard is really impossible for me right now…" the dark wizard panted, trying to heal herself, "Just you wait! After I recover, I will kill you with all your family."
The woman smirked evilly with the intention of torturing all of her enemies. For dark wizards, they would hardly let go everyone who dared to oppose them. That was why they were dreaded of vengeful souls. It was hard to escape from them unless there was support or you were many times stronger.
While she was imagining things, the flame pillar suddenly rose from the ground. It quickly alerted her, leaping ahead quickly even though part of her robe was burned.
"WHO IS THERE? WHO DARES ATTACK ME?"
The dark wizard was furious that anyone dared to sneak attack her. Although she was gravely injured, she had her own way to preserve her body and soul without taking too much pain. The attacker didn't speak
nonsense and jumped from the tree. He looked at his target before unleashing more spells toward her. This time, several fireballs launched continuously, making the dark wizard unable to defense herself properly.
"BAM!!!"
Baston furrowed his brows because he found his attack was ineffective. The difference of their ranks was too big, resulting such the disappointment. Despite her worst condition, she still could protect herself which meant he needed to cast more destructive spell. While he was pondering
what he should do next, the dark wizard took the initiative to counter back. She launched her mental attack, hoping to make her opponent unable to move temporary.
The puppet suddenly suffered in pain. The face was in anguish, even though he used mask as a cover. The dark wizard could see her spell worked successfully so she stepped slowly until she reached in front of
him. When the dark wizard sneered, thinking that she finally won, her opponent suddenly lunged toward her. At this short time, he launched his fireball at point-blank to her face. It blew beautifully, making half of her face burned fiercely.
"AHHHH!!! YOU DAMN BASTARD!!! I WILL KILL YOU!!!"
Baston who controlled the puppet from far away was glad that the damn wizard fell into his trap. As non-living object, the mental attack was useless. If he went forward himself, the attack must go through his head. Too bad he already anticipated it and that was why he mobilized the puppet to move
forward. He already formulated the plan inside his head that even though the dark wizard used poisonous gas or mental attack, the puppet would still be fine. Only the spell of explosion that made him worry but looking at her condition at present, it would be impossible to cast it for a second time.
Having a beautiful face was a dream for every woman, but Baston shattered it straightforwardly. No wonder the dark wizard was very enraged. It was the fate worse than the death so she swore she would kill this
man in front of her. Whether she succeeded or nor, Baston surely wouldn't let his puppet got destroyed easily. The crazy woman started to cast her dark needles into him while the puppet was busy running around.
"RUN!!! RUN WHEREVER YOU WANT!!! I WILL STILL KILL YOU TODAY!!!"
The dark needle was hardly dodged by the puppet. It was unlike mental attack where he could stand still without being affected. The
needle could almost pierce into anything so the puppet would be like a paper in front of this attack. One of its arms was hit unfortunately. Although the puppet could still run, the movement was already affected. Throwing a fireball was useless, so Baston tried to shoot a flare cannon. Initially, he hoped it would cause considerable damage, but the dark wizard simply shoved it off with
her needles.
Despite his powerless action, Baston still kept the puppet moving. Not to mention his punishment if the quest was failed, he was also afraid his secret would be uncovered. Although there was no link between him
and the puppet, who knew what the dark wizard in this world was capable of. The
puppet wasted the time until his movement was limited strictly by the dark needles around.
"Now, where are you going? I will see if you can still escape from my clutch."
Despite the dreadful situation, the puppet disguised as the man wasn't in panic at all. He just expressionlessly stared at her, infuriating more of her dignity. She enjoyed the panic in her victims and fear from their
shaking bones, yet this one person never showed it. Neither fear over his life nor
smile from fooling his opponent, all he did was consistent. It was suspicious but her condition didn't let her to have more time so as soon as she slayed this person, she would quickly find a place to hide.
With one dark needle, it pierced into the leg, making the man became vulnerable. Baston could feel he had a hard time to control the
puppet. Anymore than this and it could reveal his secret to the dark wizard. If his legs and hands could suddenly turn forward and backward as much as he wanted, she could perceive that her opponent might not be a human. In dire situation, the fat boy didn't get panic. The puppet only stayed silent when the dark wizard moved closer.
"Any last word?" she grinned.
"Booom…" the man whispered softly.
"What did you say?"
"Booom…"
The sudden smirk on the man made her horrified. She already cornered him, yet there was no fear. What greeted her was a smile and deep inside her heart, something wasn't right. The dark wizard felt her life quickly became in danger once more. Before she could turn back, another person suddenly dropped down from the sky. The puppet from before quickly clutched into her
back, preventing her from escaping. The woman was in panic so she thrust the dark needle into this unexpected foe, but in the meantime, the person who appeared in a sudden quickly grabbed her from the front side. Right at the moment, 2 people grasped her movement tightly.
"LET ME GO, YOU BASTARD!!! I WILL KILL YOU ALL!!!"
"BOOOOOM!!!"
Baston didn't give her a chance and he suddenly ignited the puppets to explode themselves. This spell was one of desperate moves since it actually killed the caster. The destructive area was big and fatal to the
people nearby. Fortunately, since the puppet could be summoned back, he didn't need to worry about it. His priority at the moment was to kill the dark wizard completely.
"ARRRGGHHHH!!!"
The fire engulfed the woman immediately. In the rage of fire, only the shrieking voice could be heard. The blaze was ravaging the soil in the surrounding, resulting a thick smoke that soared up to the sky. Baston
already lost the connection so he could only hope this last resort succeeded in completing the quest. When everyone in the mansion saw the big smoke from far away, they soon were curious whether it had connection with dark wizard or not. Angus soon flew to the place while several elders hurriedly followed him. On the other hand, Harry as the host must ensure the safety of his guests so he wouldn't join them.
Baston found a corner and looked at the old book. When it stated the perfect result, he clenched his fist. Finally, the dark wizard truly
died. Although he felt relieved, but he lamented over the hard quest. Based on
his experience, the next one should be harder and harder, making him difficult to finish it. Regarding his strength, it was very lacking but he didn't how to improve it. His own magic power and attributes came from the old book, not by his own. Even he tried hard to develop himself, the resources in this world would be useless in the end.
While he was thinking of what to do next, Angus came back with good news. The dark wizard already died, making all the people sighed in relief. The guests were glad because the danger had passed away. Some people asked how the dark wizard died, but Angus didn't know the exact story. When he
just got there, the place was already charred everywhere. Even the corpse had already burned to the point it was unrecognizable. If not because his sense of magic, Angus wouldn't know that the person was actually a dark wizard.
The guests slowly dispersed while Baston came back to his room. It was such a chaos today. All his 3 puppets were destroyed by one dark wizard. If not because the puppets could get regenerated back, he would always keep it safe. He actually still had 2 insignias, but since he worried of the magic effect, he didn't use it. Perhaps, when he casted it over the dark wizard, the result would be different. In the end, his quest had already been completed, so he should just keep it for the next one.
Harry, Angus, and Alicia in the meantime gathered at the meeting room. Although the dark wizard had already perished, they still didn't know who killed her. Looking at the trace of magic, it was a flare attribute and they only knew one family who had proficient ability on it. Even though they suspected that Herbiens family was the one who handled it, they got rid of the idea since they didn't have any purpose to do it. Besides, their tempers
were entirely different since they would like to boast the achievement. Leaving the scene without taking the praise was unlikely. Because of that, all of them were discussing few things.