In the room, Colin moved like a phantom, quick and agile.
Swift Skill was practically tailor-made for Knights.
With the enhancement of the new Yi Guang Breathing Method, his speed had already surpassed what it was before, and now, amplified by Swift Skill, it was as fast as a gust of wind.
His figure flickered, stirring up a gale within the cramped room.
Colin vaguely remembered, back on Blackstone Island, it was this Swift Skill that saved him precious time, allowing him to successfully advance before taking on an urgent mission...
Ding—
The chime indicating midnight sounded.
Unfortunately, there were no windows.
Otherwise, Colin would have seen, amidst the night sky and over the sea of moonlit clouds, a group of creatures even darker than the night suddenly appearing beside the airship.
And so, the sudden emergency occurred!
Meanwhile, in the airship's control room.
Swoosh!
A faint Spiritual Light flashed by, and the duty Wizard on watch collapsed.
A figure in a gray robe entered, his face hidden deep within the shadow of the Wizard Robe's hood, barely revealing... a hint of fanaticism!
"Praise my lord."
Diare Wuto curled up the corners of his mouth... Entering the control room was much easier than he had anticipated, as if the trap had been set in advance.
But how could that be?
The old man, Greenland, had been completely kept in the dark by them, now probably besieged by the adults, unable to attend to anything else...
He thought about this, his hands not stopping their movement.
Moments later.
Whirr—
The enveloping layer of ethereal Spiritual Light on the exterior of the airship suddenly went out.
A snapping sound, like thorns breaking!
Those dark creatures, like moths to a flame, shot towards the massive airship like arrows bounding through the air!
Boom!!
In the room.
Swoosh!
"What's going on?"
Colin suddenly halted, his muscles, precise as a well-coordinated machine, anchoring his feet solidly like the roots of a giant tree, preventing him from falling amidst the unexpected rocking of the airship.
Colin looked around.
The gray-blue walls trembled like a sieve, books stored on a square wooden table vibrated and fell down to the brown carpet with a muffled thud and scattered.
Whirr—
A faint White Light emerged from him.
After safeguarding himself with a Steel Temperature Resistance Field, Colin swiftly collected the room's items into his Storage Ring, considering his next steps with the aid of his Superbrain.
Almost instantly, he connected the current anomaly with a piece of information in his mind!
"Has Lord Greenland confirmed it?"
"It's confirmed."
"Do we have a rough timeline?"
"In the next two or three days."
...In the next two or three days!
It had been exactly two days since he had seen the conversation between Morton and Margaret!
Clang!
Colin's face darkened as he pondered briefly, then pushed open the door, quickly heading towards Margaret's room.
In the corridor, the light from the Bright Crystal flickered uncertainly.
Some Wizards, like him, had chosen to leave their rooms, but many more were still inside, waiting for notifications.
"Lord Colin... do you know what happened?"
The Witch next door, Milo, asked with a grave expression.
"Not exactly..."
"Lord Colin, watch out!"
Before he could finish, Milo shouted a warning at him.
At the same time, a sharp, metallic twisting sound came from behind.
Colin's hairs stood on end.
Without looking back, he reflexively lunged forward, hurling a Fireball behind him.
Boom!!
A loud explosion echoed with billowing black smoke and dust.
A massive dark shadow burst through a man-sized hole in the gray-blue metal hull and flew in.
It collided head-on with the orange-yellow Fireball!
As the wall shattered, a howling wind rushed in.
The Soaring and Flying Technique was deployed!
The power of witchcraft allowed Colin to resist the strong suction coming from the damaged part of the airship caused by the pressure.
He turned around to look.
From the damaged part, a whirlwind swept the explosion's black smoke and dust into the air, revealing a monster that resembled a gigantic bat right in front of them.
At that moment, the monster seemed to have been knocked out by colliding head-on with an exploding Fireball.
"What is this thing?" Colin murmured.
"A creation of the Divine!" Milo, who had also deployed the Flying Witchcraft, firmly answered from nearby, "There's no fluctuation of Magic Power, no surge of Blood Energy, just a disgusting, filthy aura... This must definitely be related to the Divine!"
Colin's expression turned stern, and he instinctively used Detecting Three Abilities.
Moments later, the witchcraft provided feedback.
As Milo had said, there were no fluctuations of Magic Power, no evil aura... and even the vibrations of life were scarce.
Yet, looking at this dark monster, a deep instinctual disgust kept emerging from within.
"We might have fallen into a Divine ambush," Milo continued her deduction, and then she threw a silver-gray sphere at the dark monster.
The moment it contacted the dark creature, the sphere instantly cracked open, releasing metallic-colored insects resembling ants that devoured the dark monster.
In almost the blink of an eye, only bare white bones remained of the giant bat-like monster.
Colin raised his eyebrows; throughout the process, the dark creature seemed to have felt nothing, showing not even the slightest resistance.
"Your Excellency, what is this creature... Why haven't the seniors reacted at all?"
A wizard walked over from the corridor, having witnessed the scene.
"We don't know either," replied Milo shaking her head. Then she turned to Colin and asked, "I'm planning to go to the upper levels to meet with the High Rank Wizards. Would you like to come along, Lord Colin?"
The airship had four levels in total, and they were on the second level; the High Rank Wizards usually resided on the fourth.
"I plan to check Lady Margaret's room first," Colin shook his head, looking toward the room around the corner.
Boom!
Just then, another collision accompanied by the sound of twisting metal resounded.
Colin's pupils suddenly constricted.
The room he was looking at, Margaret's room, now had a dark creature breaking through the door, its size seemingly bigger than the one they had just killed.
"Lady Margaret..." Milo uttered in shock.
She had just agreed with Colin's idea to look for Lady Margaret, but then this scene unfolded before her...
Boom!
A huge orange-yellow Fireball shot out, transforming midway into a fiery human figure!
"Let's deal with it first!" Colin said sternly, "There's no sign of a struggle, Lady Margaret must not be in her room."
Milo recovered her senses, quickly taking out several spheres and hurling them at the dark creature.
Colin was right; the noise of the dark creature breaking through the bulkhead was loud, it was impossible for Margaret not to react at all. It was more likely that there was no one in the room.
The glow of a Mechanical Mind subtly shone from the depths of Colin's azure eyes.
Under his control, the Fire Element, like well-trained guards, continually attacked the dark monster.
His expression was calm, but his heart was not.
It was just past midnight.
At this time, most wizards should have been in their rooms, yet Margaret was conspicuously absent...
"Lord Grantland ordered us to keep strict secrecy about those family wizards. Currently, only wizards from Nine Major Schools and affiliated Schools of Second Rank and above are aware," Morton had told Margaret two days ago, which suddenly surfaced in Colin's mind.
Looking around, he faintly remembered that a wizard from the Nine Major Schools had lived at the end of the corridor.
But now there was no sign of anyone; he couldn't tell if they were staying in their rooms or had disappeared like Margaret.
Bang bang bang!
The dark bat-like monster, apparently lacking the ability to scream, silently dodged and resisted under their attacks.
Its strength was slightly more than the first monster, but still roughly only at the level of an ordinary First Rank Junior Wizard. Now, under their collective assault, it was bloodied and cornered.
Swoosh!
Just then, a miserable green Acid Liquid shot out, becoming the final blow that took down the dark monster.
"Let's head to the upper levels," Milo withdrew her gaze and turned to propose.
Colin and a few other wizards nearby nodded in agreement.
But as he took a step forward, his steps suddenly halted.
"I still have something to do; you guys go ahead," he said.
Milo looked at him perplexedly and voiced,
"Lord Colin, with the Divine's attack, the safest place in the airship right now is undoubtedly the upper levels where the seniors are.
The other places... are just dead ends."
She glanced down the long hallway, as the sound of another breached bulkhead carried from afar.
"If I'm not mistaken, the vicinity of the airship is probably already surrounded."
"Sorry..."
Colin shook his head.
Milo paused briefly, gave him a deep look, but did not ask further, just nodded her head, and quickly headed towards the upper levels with the other wizards.
Colin watched them disappear into the distance, withdrew his gaze, and quickly walked to the corner behind him.