Suddenly!
Crack!!
A slender, white-hot lightning bolt appeared abruptly in the cave hall, striking the empty space.
Wizard Lap's heart trembled at the sight.
In his current state, he could no longer handle any possible mishaps.
This white-hot lightning was clearly the power of the McIntosh Wizard Tower Spirit...
But, having stayed on Blackstone Island for sixty years, he had visited the McIntosh Wizard Tower countless times to check.
He had long since unraveled the mysteries of that Tower Spirit—it was nothing more than a rigid mechanical program.
Why now...
He shook his head, no longer pondering, and, gritting his teeth, recklessly rushed toward the heart-shaped McIntosh Magic Potion, now within arm's reach!
He had no way out!
Crack!
The white-hot lightning struck again.
Wizard Lap's heart trembled.
But this lightning was not aimed at him.
"Ah!"
Not far away, Harrington, who he had immobilized, was struck by the sudden appearance of lightning, emitting a scream before instantly losing his breath of life.
The scepter with its dark golden patterns fell from his hands and, after a flash of blue-green light, quietly disappeared.
On the other side, Lap finally touched the McIntosh Magic Potion he had longed for so desperately!
"I finally... finally... hahaha!"
He held the heart-shaped potion in his hands, no longer maintaining his usual composure, but rather bursting into a maniacal laughter.
But within the next second, before he even had a chance to consume it!
Bang!!
A pale golden glow emanated from the McIntosh Magic Potion in Wizard Lap's hands, spreading out like ripples!
Swoosh,
The wave carried an irresistible repelling force, instantly causing Wizard Lap's tightly grasped hand to involuntarily open, followed by his arm being pushed outward.
Then, the pale golden wave continued to spread with a powerful force, thrusting Wizard Lap back forcefully and flinging him through the air!
Puff!
"No!"
Midair, Wizard Lap spat out a mouthful of fresh blood mixed with slender strands of flesh, reaching out his hand in an unbelievable and desperate scream.
But he had already lost his ability to resist...
He could only allow himself to be pushed further away by the golden ripples, before crashing heavily to the ground like a torn sack.
The pale golden wave fluttered.
The divine golden light shone once again in the cave hall!
In a daze, Wizard Lap seemed to hear a chant like a song beside his ears.
The pale golden ripples gathered above the corpse of Nidham.
Then they transformed into dense points of light, floating, settling down.
The black-red, fleshly sludge that had formed from the dissolution of Nidham, under the baptism of the pale golden dots, unexpectedly turned into a golden hue.
Then, like magma, it began to boil and flow.
Spreading, diffusing.
The liquid gold, seemingly slow but actually swift, spread to its surroundings, engulfing them.
As if it were nurturing something.
Wizard Lap watched the spreading pool of golden liquid not far away.
His eyes finally regained clarity.
A complex expression surfaced on his face, as if filled with regret, realization, and despair.
For a long time.
As the golden liquid spread to just in front of him.
Finally,
His lips quivered and he slowly sighed,
"...Divine."
Then, he was enveloped by the spreading pale golden liquid.
The slender, fresh-red tendrils on his body emitted a piercing screech, as if they knew calamity was imminent.
Before losing consciousness, he faintly heard—
Within the hall, a grand and indifferent light sound arose.
"Lord of the Bloody Thorns..."
...
"I have one more question."
In the center of the McIntosh Wizard Tower's Spirit Room, Colin, holding an authority staff with dark golden patterns, turned back to the glowing orb and said,
"Why didn't you stop the ritual from taking place?"
The light orb flickered for a moment before Erica's somewhat bewildered voice came through.
"The divine power is unimaginable... How could Their ritual be so easily thwarted?
Moreover, it was only after the ritual began that the tower spirit allocated part of its power, and I was able to seize the opportunity to defeat the tower spirit."
"Before that, I had no authority over the Wizard Tower."
"The reason you weren't attacked by the ritual's elimination mechanism was not because I was controlling it from behind."
"You were lucky; the McIntosh concocted Golden Four-leaf Clover you once consumed caused the ritual to misjudge that you had reached the final step of the ritual,
so no punishment came upon you."
Colin's expression grew slightly grave, tinged with worry.
"You don't need to worry about other effects."
As if knowing what he was thinking, Erica quickly added.
"That Golden Four-leaf Clover is just an ordinary precious magic potion, an outstanding result of McIntosh's early research."
"As long as it's not within the ritual, as long as you haven't consumed the series of prerequisite magic potions in order, it's just an ordinary precious magic potion...
It's Their divine power that combines these ordinary things to produce strange effects..."
"So, under such power, even if I could devour the tower spirit in advance, I likely would not be able to stop the ritual..."
"Just not strong enough," Colin interrupted sternly.
He caressed the Storage Ring on his index finger, which now had turned into a black pattern.
He asked his final question.
"Will you come with me?"
"Go back, Ryan."
The pale blue Crystal Ball flickered violently.
It was a while before a voice came.
"I can't leave, Colin."
"The moment I devoured the tower spirit, I survived.
But I also put on the shackles that originally belonged to the tower spirit."
"To ensure the successful progression of the ritual while he was alive, McIntosh set up numerous constraints for the tower spirit."
"The moment I leave here, I will be destroyed. There would be no other outcome."
"These are constraints set by a Second Rank Wizard; you are too weak to change anything."
Colin fell silent, his fists clenched slightly.
Erica also paused.
She wasn't afraid of death.
Ghosts have no yearning for life and likewise, no fear of death.
But she wanted to go home...
"Hurry and leave, Colin."
"I've released the other apprentices who survived the ritual, to delay Their arrival!"
"While They have not fully descended, I still have full control of the Wizard Tower. Hurry and leave..."
As her urging words rang out.
Click.
The stone door behind Colin made the sound of opening, revealing a long, dark passage behind it.
Colin took a deep look at the pale blue Crystal Ball at the center of the Spirit Room, then lowered his gaze.
"Goodbye, Erica," he said softly.
Then, without hesitation, he let out a breath and turned to run towards the door.
Tap tap tap—
He left the Spirit Room, and following Erica's hints in his mind, he sprinted forwards.
He traveled through the passageway, rounded the corner,
Next was to cross the stone wall in front of him.
Colin rushed at the wall as he had done before.
Bang!
But this time,
The sensation of falling through as he passed through the stone wall didn't come as usual.
Instead, what he felt was the sour and painful sensation of his nose colliding with the wall.
He hadn't managed to pass through the stone wall!
"Erica, what's going on?"
Colin's heart sank, disregarding the pain as he asked urgently in his mind.