Nine narrowed his eyes at Kent.
He slowly raised his pinky to his ear and scratched it without any concern for the conversation, his attention still seeming to be somewhere else.
"I wanted to know which among your students in my club had that kind of mental strength."
He replied plainly.
"Because you want them to catch a Ghost Crawler? Isn’t that a bit too dangerous?"
Kent folded his arms across his chest while looking at Nine with a questioning expression.
Nine finally pulled his pinky out of his ear.
He looked at the dirt on the tip of his finger for a moment before blowing it away.
"I don’t want to hear that from you, Glass Boy."
His tone remained flat.
"That is why I chose the two strong-minded students who wouldn’t break even if a close-to-Arcanist-level Illusion attack came at them. They would still be able to pull themselves back into the group."
Nine said this as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
He then turned his attention back toward the microscope.
"Now, you can go."
Nine lazily waved his hand at Kent before returning his attention to the small organism beneath his microscope.
Kent looked at him quietly.
There was a faint crease between his eyebrows.
"I’m the only one who should be allowed to mess with my students’ health."
He said as he turned around to leave the laboratory.
His footsteps gradually moved away from Nine’s table.
"Well, he’s not wrong, though..."
Kent smiled faintly as he placed both hands into his pockets.
"Those two should be able to pull something off, at least."
He said before leaving the laboratory.
***
Back to the present...
Bang!
Ezra shot his own leg.
The pain snapped through his body and immediately dragged his mind back to reality.
His eyes sharpened.
The false world that had surrounded him disappeared.
The damaged prison.
The memory.
The unbearable sight of the Sterling Mansion.
All of it was gone.
What remained was the underground cave.
The smell of blood.
The damp stone.
The webs covering the walls.
And the Young Ghost Crawlers crawling toward them.
Ezra didn’t waste any time.
His body spun as he raised his gun.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Three Young Ghost Crawlers that were already close to the group dropped to the ground.
Ezra continued moving.
His eyes quickly swept across Agnes, Hugh, and Samuel.
They were still trapped in the Illusion.
He raised his gun again.
He didn’t aim for their bodies.
Instead, he carefully fired at their arms.
Bang!
The bullet grazed Agnes’s arm.
"Ouch!"
Agnes suddenly snapped back to reality.
Her eyes widened as she looked around.
"My arm!"
The pain from the bullet was enough to pull her out of the Illusion.
Hugh returned to reality next.
"Argh!"
He grabbed his arm as he looked around in confusion.
Samuel also returned to reality.
The three of them didn’t need to think for long.
They immediately began re-igniting their Cognis.
Agnes tightened her grip around her sword.
Hugh steadied his spear.
Samuel took a breath and forced his remaining Cognis back into his body.
At the same time, Ezra turned his guns toward Emily and Jeremy.
He carefully adjusted his aim.
Bang!
Bang!
The two shots struck them.
Emily immediately returned to reality.
She gasped as her eyes opened wide.
Her hands immediately moved back toward her Storm Alchemy.
Cognis flowed into the Alchemy Circle again.
The navy-blue lightning surrounding her began to flicker back into existence.
But Jeremy didn’t move.
Thud!
His body collapsed completely onto the stone floor.
Emily’s eyes widened.
"Senior Jeremy is out!"
She shouted in panic.
She immediately wanted to run toward him.
She wanted to give him a Healing Elixir and save his life.
But she stopped herself.
If she abandoned her position now, what would protect the others?
The Storm Field was still protecting them from the Young Ghost Crawlers.
Jeremy had also been maintaining the Illusion Breaker that was keeping the Elder Ghost Crawler’s Illusion under control.
If Emily left...
Everything could collapse.
Jeremy’s body remained motionless on the ground.
He couldn’t force himself to move.
Worse, his Cognis was beginning to enter a reverse state.
If that happened...
It would mean death.
Emily’s fingers trembled.
She looked between Jeremy and the Young Ghost Crawlers surrounding them.
She had to make a decision.
Immediately, the Illusion Breaker began to cancel.
The dark-purple light across the cave faded.
The number of Young Ghost Crawlers began increasing again.
The creatures that had previously disappeared from their perception were returning.
The number that had been cut down was rising again.
"Tsk."
Hugh clicked his tongue.
"This is bad."
He tightened his grip around his spear.
"Really bad."
Samuel said in panic.
His eyes moved across the growing number of Young Ghost Crawlers.
"Shut up and focus on holding the Elder Ghost Crawler!"
Agnes shouted at him, clearly annoyed by the panic in his voice.
Samuel clenched his teeth.
He turned his attention back toward the Elder Ghost Crawler.
But then...
Agnes froze.
Her eyes slowly moved across the battlefield.
Something was wrong.
No.
She wasn’t the only one who noticed.
They all noticed.
The Elder Ghost Crawler was gone.
Samuel’s eyes widened.
Agnes’s face went pale.
Hugh’s grip around his spear tightened.
The enormous creature that had been trapped by Samuel’s Ironwood Vein Branches was no longer there.
They couldn’t see it.
They couldn’t sense it.
It had disappeared.
But even with that...
Ezra still looked calm.
His eyes remained steady.
Because one person was still moving.
Diane.
The moment the Elder Ghost Crawler had unleashed its powerful Illusion attack, Diane had stabbed her own leg with a dagger taken from her Space Bag.
The pain had pulled her back to reality.
But that wasn’t the only thing she had done.
During the time she grabbed the Elder Ghost Crawler with her Ice blocks, Diane had left a tiny block of ice on the Elder Ghost Crawler’s body.
It was small.
Almost impossible to notice.
But it was enough.
With her senses back to reality, Diane could still pick up the cold signature coming from that tiny piece of ice.
She knew where the Elder Ghost Crawler was.
Diane redirected her falling body.
Her body turned in the air.
She followed the cold signature.
The Elder Ghost Crawler didn’t notice her.
Inside its own mind, it already believed that it had won.
Its Illusion had returned.
Its children had returned.
The humans were trapped in their deepest pain.
Everything was going according to its plan.
But...
BOOM!
Diane suddenly landed on its head.
The impact shook the Elder Ghost Crawler’s enormous body.
Its legs staggered.
Its body almost fell to the ground.
But the creature managed to catch itself before collapsing.
Its eight violet eyes shifted wildly.
It hadn’t sensed Diane.
Not even once.
She had concealed her presence using both Cognis and the Law of Inversion.
It was an extremely dangerous thing for Diane to do.
Her Cognis was already running low, yet she was using the Law of Inversion to alter almost every part of her presence.
Her heat signature.
Her scent.
Her Cognis fluctuations.
Even the changes in air pressure created by her movement.
All of them had been concealed.
If she pushed the technique too far, or failed to cancel it properly, she could erase herself.
But Diane had accepted that risk.
Because it was worth it.
She stood on top of the Elder Ghost Crawler’s head.
The monster finally reacted.
Its body shifted violently.
But it was already too late.
Diane slammed her left hand against its head.
Her palm was wrapped in Frost Alchemy.
Blood dripped from her nose.
Blood also flowed from the corner of her eyes.
She ignored it.
"Ahhhh!"
Diane shouted through the pain.
Her left hand remained pressed against the Elder Ghost Crawler’s head as she forced more Cognis into the Frost Alchemy.
"KRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The Elder Ghost Crawler screamed.
Its entire body moved violently.
Its enormous legs struck the ground as it tried to throw Diane off.
The impact shook the cave.
Diane’s body was thrown from side to side.
But she didn’t let go.
She passed Cognis into her boots, using it to grip the creature’s head and keep herself attached to it.
Her right foot pressed against its hard shell.
Her left hand remained firmly planted against its head.
Cold steam spread out from her left hand violently.
The Frost Alchemy continued spreading beneath her palm.
Internal Frost.
Diane exhaled slowly.
Cold air escaped from her mouth.
Her body continued moving violently with the Elder Ghost Crawler, but her hand never left its head.
The Young Ghost Crawlers noticed their mother.
Their attention immediately shifted.
They abandoned the others.
One after another, they began rushing toward the Elder Ghost Crawler.
They wanted to save their mother.
But Ezra didn’t let them move.
He didn’t need the Illusion Breaker anymore to tell which creatures were real.
His senses were enough.
The M38 SDMR was already in his hands.
He raised it.
Bang!
Bang!
The shots echoed through the cave.
Ezra fired at the real Young Ghost Crawlers.
His aim was fast and precise with the firearms fluid control.
One creature dropped.
He immediately changed direction.
Another rushed from the side.
Bang!
It fell.
Ezra’s body continued moving as more creatures tried to reach the Elder Ghost Crawler.
He shifted left.
Then right.
His feet scraped against the stone as he changed direction again.
A small amount of blood slipped from his mouth.
He ignored it.
Another Young Ghost Crawler jumped toward him.
Ezra turned.
Bang!
The creature fell before it could pass him.
He continued blocking the path.
None of them would reach Diane.
Not while he was still standing.
Emily finally took the opportunity.
She immediately canceled the Storm Field.
The navy-blue lightning faded away.
The wind stopped.
Emily ran toward Jeremy.
She dropped beside him and quickly pulled out a Healing Elixir.
"Senior Jeremy!"
She lifted his head carefully.
"Please, drink this."
She brought the elixir to his mouth.
Jeremy was barely conscious, but he swallowed the medicine.
Emily watched anxiously as she waited for its effects to begin.
Samuel, Agnes, and Hugh eventually joined Ezra after recovering themselves.
They moved into the fight together.
The battle continued.
The Young Ghost Crawlers kept attacking.
The Elder Ghost Crawler continued struggling.
Diane continued forcing her Internal Frost deeper.
Minutes passed.
The cave remained filled with the sounds of claws scraping against stone, gunshots, Alchemy, and the violent movements of the Elder Ghost Crawler.
Diane’s body trembled.
More blood continued dripping from her nose and eyes.
Her Cognis pool was almost exhausted.
But she didn’t stop.
She kept forcing the Internal Frost deeper.
Deeper.
Until finally...
The Frost reached the Elder Ghost Crawler’s brain.
The creature’s body suddenly stopped.
Its violet eyes became still.
Its enormous legs lost their strength.
The Elder Ghost Crawler finally stopped moving.
Its massive body collapsed.
THUD!
The ground shook beneath the weight of the creature.
Dust rose from the stone floor.
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
The Elder Ghost Crawler was dead.
Diane slowly removed her hand from its head.
She breathed heavily.
The Frost Alchemy faded from her hand.
She immediately took out the Space Container Professor Nine had given them.
The container was designed to hold the corpse of monsters or bigger objects with massive weight.
It’s what heavy technological, Monster Research, Exporting and Mining industries use mainly for their work and smoother transport.
Diane opened it.
A strange pull immediately came from inside.
The Elder Ghost Crawler’s enormous body was sucked into the container.
The huge corpse disappeared inside.
Diane looked at the container in her hand.
"This is also convenient."
She said softly.
But Agnes didn’t give them time to rest.
"We need to leave now!"
She shouted.
Ezra immediately glanced toward Jeremy and Emily’s position.
The two were still farther away.
"You guys should go. I will get Senior Jeremy and Emily!"
Ezra said.
He was already moving before anyone could respond.
Hugh wanted to follow him.
"Let’s go."
Diane said.
She began running, using whatever strength she had left.
Agnes followed immediately.
Hugh and Samuel hesitated.
They were reluctant to leave Ezra behind.
But after everything they had seen...
They knew Ezra alone could bring the two of them back.
So, they followed Diane and Agnes.
Ezra ran toward Jeremy and Emily.
Emily was holding Jeremy tightly.
Fear was written across her face.
She had been terrified that this would be the end.
The Young Ghost Crawlers were already closing around them again.
Ezra arrived.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Three shots echoed through the cave.
The surrounding Young Ghost Crawlers dropped.
Emily looked up.
"Ehn..."
Her eyes met Ezra’s.
But only for a moment.
Ezra didn’t wait for her to say anything.
He reached down and grabbed Emily around the waist.
At the same time, he secured Jeremy.
"Ahh."
Emily suddenly felt Ezra’s touch as he lifted her from the ground.
A faint blush appeared across her face from the sudden movement.
Ezra didn’t notice.
Or perhaps he simply didn’t have time to care.
Cognis immediately passed through his legs.
His body flashed away from the area.
He accelerated through the cave while carrying both of them.
Then Ezra passed Cognis into the soles of his boots.
His foot struck the wall.
Instead of falling...
He ran along it.
His boots held against the vertical stone as he moved upward, carrying Emily and Jeremy with him.
Behind them, the others also began using their Cognis.
They climbed upward through the cave, following the path toward the exit.
The underground nest was still filled with Young Ghost Crawlers.
Webs remained attached to the walls.
Blood stained the stone.
Broken ice and pieces of wood covered the battlefield.
But the Elder Ghost Crawler had been caught.
The mission was complete.
Now that the Elder Ghost Crawler was secured...
It was time to escape.
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