He was afraid of the mysterious black-robed skeleton in front of him, just like the little wizard.
"I need to be loved."
The black-robed skeleton began to repeat meaningless words again.
"Can I recommend someone else to you? How about a centaur? Anyway, it's all cross-species love, a centaur must be more interesting than a human little wizard like me."
Ian discovered that whenever he headed in one direction, the black-robed skeleton would inevitably follow him closely. The little wizard, who was barely as tall as an average person's legs, couldn't shake off this guy.
"Anti-inflammatory! Anti-inflammatory!"
He thought he urgently needed the Phoenix's help now, to take him away with apparition, yet the Black Phoenix, still lingering in the Misty Illusion Realm, did not respond and come to his side.
"Turns out Ultraman Tiga is more reliable!"
Deep within the ancient and dense Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts, the night was dark as ink, and the moonlight was sparse, barely illuminating the winding and twisting path ahead. Ian's steps quickened on the carpet of fallen leaves and intertwined branches, he even began to jog, but still couldn't shake off the black-robed skeleton with its unhurried steps.
Swiftly.
Ian discovered the reason.
Not to mention that invisibility didn't affect the skeleton's tracking, even when he deliberately used magic to topple some trees to block the skeleton, after running far, the skeleton would still appear behind him.
"Apparition!?"
When Ian turned back once, he just saw the space warp, then the black-robed skeleton appeared in a burst of red light, at a distance no more than a few meters behind him.
No matter how far he shook off this guy, it was no use; it seemed the black-robed skeleton could always locate Ian's position and teleport to his side after being blocked by obstacles for a while.
"This is really cheating..."
Finally.
Ian abandoned the thought of running exhaustedly. He sat down heavily on a gigantic stone, gasping for air, his breath forming delicate white mist in the cold air.
Blending into the enveloping fog of the silent forest. A long-nosed monkey peeked from the treetops, eyes full of caution, then swiftly leaped to a higher branch.
More dangerous fantastic beasts seeking food at night revealed eyes in the forest, but after hesitating for a moment, promptly turned and fled back into the dense woods.
No matter the kind of fantastic beast, they all had more sensitive instincts than ordinary animals; obviously, they all felt a strong sense of danger and chose to abandon attacks or flee quickly.
The beasts were not afraid of Ian, but rather the black-robed skeleton that was like a lingering ghost following Ian. Its black robe fluttered lightly in the night breeze, like the wings of a spectral ghost in the dead silence, merging with the surrounding darkness, yet inadvertently revealing an indescribable eerie and mysterious aura.
Full of pressure.
Tangible.
This was the reason Ian was extremely apprehensive.
"How about I introduce some other humans to you? Don't worry, although the population in Great England isn't particularly large, we're countless talents in XP!"
Ian didn't know whether a few seemingly correct seniors at Hogwarts could win the favor of the black-robed skeleton; he really wanted to shake off this extremely dangerous-looking creature.
Better you than me.
And whether Grindelwald and Dumbledore could solve this problem—Ian was contemplating and weighing in his heart, trying to make the black-robed skeleton less interested in him.
However.
"Your bird has betrayed me...thus, you need to be responsible for its actions...grant me flesh." The skeleton showed no interest whatsoever in other humans.
It finally revealed the reason it has been following Ian.
"Which bird? The Black Phoenix?"
Ian frowned, a little puzzled.
"Grant me flesh, love, need love...your bird has said." The skeleton did not answer Ian's question but instead began incessantly murmuring near Ian's ear.
"..."
Ian tried to use a Transformation Spell to create a device to clamp the skeleton's jaw, but the device, after being magically moved towards the skeleton and touching it, lost its effectiveness.
"Rustle~"
It transformed back into scattered branches on the ground.
Even Ian's extraordinary talent in the Form of All Things could not change this fact; despite infusing it with much magic power, the collapse of the magic would only occur instantly.
"If you want that ghost bird, I can give it to you..." Ian's gaze again landed on the skeleton's body, those broken chains indeed carried an eerie power.
He found it hard to understand why the skeleton, wearing chains with such terrifying Anti-Magic effects, could still use a magic similar to apparition to catch up with him when it desired.
"That's just a shell, the result of Biological Alchemy...isn't it your handiwork?" The skeleton raised a finger bone and scratched its head in puzzlement.
"I thought someone had finally punished that bird." His voice had a hint of indignation, but more of it seemed to be a rich sense of lingering fear.
"I just picked up the Black Phoenix's egg, no, it was given to me by my friend... hiss, you are such a trickster, weren't you claiming earlier that you can't remember anything?"
Ian felt he had caught the skeleton's Achilles' heel, hoping to use this chance to coax the skeleton back to the Misty Illusion Realm, away from the human world.