CHAPTER 248: THE BOX PLAN

Vacuse sighed.

It’s been a while since he admitted defeat, but now he must, and in such a way that he must not get killed. And it was far more difficult than he expected now that he was looking into the eyes of a fifth circle Magus.

Vacuse grimaced, and his hand went to his sleeves instead of his fingers, and a moment later, a jingling sound echoed out.

Magus Valthorne’s eyes flashed, and he blurred forward, his hand dripping with flashes of magic light, but it was too late. "What is this?"

He was now staring at a box of fog that seemed to be made of some hardened substance. "A spatial magic? This must be an artifact, and what a strong one! This will take time for me to break."

Magus Valthorne was feeling disappointed with himself. He should have just gone along and ripped the Red Marchant’s limbs away. Maybe that would have stopped him from causing more trouble.

But the more he looked at things, the more he suspected that this Red Marchant wasn’t really the one he was looking for. In the end, though, he just wanted to sate his curiosity about who he really was.

Behind the Magus, green light began to spread as a portal yawned open. The fairy undead floated out with the undead with red hair. "You two are the strongest when it comes to magic. Break that box and be quick about it."

The two undead did as they were told and began the process of breaking the box.

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"Are we going to die?" Yukata asked, his eyes red and his fists clenched.

Vacuse shrugged. "I’m not planning to die. But things aren’t looking favorable at the moment. We’ll just have to see what happens."

Yukata’s face fell. Since the day he met the Red Marchant, he had never thought a day would come when the confident man wouldn’t have a plan on how to deal with things.

But now, maybe they’ve really run into a dead end.

Lady Maraget had kept her silence for a long time, but now she looked at Red Eyes Slave. She knew that the guy loved his life, and he wouldn’t needlessly throw it away. As such, she expected that he must still have a plan. "How long do we have?"

Just as he was about to speak, something struck the box hard. So hard that a crack appeared on the box. They all flinched, and the air grew even more tense.

Vacuse shrugged. "With this, The Toll of Severance shouldn’t last for more than two and a half minutes. I’ll recast it one more time instantly when it’s destroyed. That’s a total of five minutes. Only after that would we know if we would die or not."

"Why did you say that?"

Vacuse had a thoughtful look on his face. "That’s the amount of time my subordinates should take to respond to an order of the kind I gave out. If they were the ones, then I’ll not die or get captured."

That made Lady Slave feel a little better, but Yukata only seemed more worried. "How can you be so sure of your subordinates? Do they have a fifth circle Magus on their side?"

Vacuse shrugged. "They must have the equivalent, right? Why else would they fight the Eboncrypt Magus? I did not teach them like that."

"So... the only thing now is to wait?" Yukata asked.

Vacuse suddenly felt amusement, and he smiled. He realized that it was the first time he would be sitting still and waiting for others to save him.

It was a strange feeling. Maybe having subordinates wasn’t so bad, that is, if they did come.

"Yes. We wait."

☆☆▪︎☆☆

Magus Valthorne watched with anticipation as the box shattered... only for him to find another one inside the box. "The little bastard has used the artifact again? Go on, break it. We’ll break as many as needed."

Although his face was calm, inside he was feeling deep anger roll through him. He decided then, no matter who that Red Marchant turned out to be, he would give him the worst torture.

Him and his two subordinates.

He briefly considered using his most powerful undead, but he dismissed the thought again. Unlike other Magus, necromancers are as powerful as their undead.

He didn’t want to show his hand in such a place where people would be keeping watch. "I’ll only end up exposing myself, and that’ll be used against me in the future."

By this time, cracks had covered the entire spatial box, and in some seconds, it would shatter. Anticipation made Magus Valthorne smile darkly. "I’m going to tear that little shit apart. Maybe even turn him into an undead!"

The red-haired undead was about to deliver the final punch that should make the box crumble when the ground of the tunnel suddenly shook.

Magus Valthorne frowned. "What now?"

The voice of a Magus suddenly spread throughout the entire encampment. "The Dragon Hunters have launched a full assault! Everyone get...!!"

The voice was suddenly cut off.

Magus Valthorne stood still, eyes wide. Although he was expecting a full attack one of these days and he was even planning one himself, wasn’t this one too quick?

His eyes shifted to the shattered spatial box and to the fat man sitting on the chair. "It’s you, isn’t it? The one I am looking for."

Red Marchant smiled. "It is."

And then, everything fell into chaos.

A sense of danger enveloped the tent, and the top layer was instantly ripped away as something... someone entered like an arrow of a mountain.

The someone was a blur and crashed into the undead with red hair, instantly crushing it into minced meat. The blur continued moving forward and punched Magus Valthorne.

But the man turned to light and disappeared, appearing at the other end of the tent with the undead fairy on his shoulder and his face pale with shock as he saw who had just attacked him.

"It’s you! Magus Sylrissa!"