There were no stars in the night sky, nor was there a moon.
Linley and the Arch Magus necromancer, Zassler, the Blackcloud Panther, Haeru, and Bebe made their way through the secluded alleyway. At this time, Linley returned to his human form.
“Crackle—”
Linley’s ripped and torn pants were instantly consumed by flame. And then, with a flip of the hand, Linley retrieved yet another pair of pants as well as a form-fitting black shirt. In the blink of an eye, Linley redressed himself.
“Oh, this Linley kid is even more special than I thought.” Zassler’s green eyes stared at Linley. How could Zassler not know what had just happened? Linley clearly had an interspatial ring.
He, Zassler, had an interspatial ring of his own as well.
Over four hundred years ago, in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, when he was collecting undead slaves, he had accidentally raised a half-shattered skeleton that had been dead for who knows how many years. On the skeleton’s finger, there was an interspatial ring.
At the time, Zassler had been wildly overjoyed.
Based on his observations of the surroundings, Zassler guessed that this skeleton most likely had engaged in battle against magical beasts countless thousands of years ago, and then crawled into a deep valley where it had died of its heavy injuries. But after thousands of years, the local geography had changed and the valley had been sealed off.
As an 800+ year old Arch Magus necromancer, it was understandable for him to be in possession of an interspatial ring. But this young man in front of him clearly was very young. Where did he acquire one?
“Let’s move, fast.” Linley finished dressing himself and let out a quiet order.
“Linley, I find myself more and more curious about you.” Zassler’s laugh was so very sinister.
Linley glanced at him sideways. “Zassler, remember. In the future, without my permission, you are not to call me by my real name. Just call me ‘Ley.’”
Zassler’s eyebrows twitched. “I understand. You are afraid your identity will be revealed.”
Actually, Linley’s name was a relatively famous one in the O’Brien Empire as well. But this was primarily in the field of sculpture. Sculpture aficionados knew a great deal about Linley. A sixteen year old who was able to carve a sculpture on the level of the Ten Masterpieces? How could they not be filled with admiration towards him?
Unfortunately, Zassler, that old philistine, had no interest in sculpture.
They hurried along the way.
“Where are we going?” Zassler asked quietly while maintaining his high rate of movement.
“Outside the city.” Linley said calmly.
“But this isn’t the direction of the city gate, is it?” Zassler asked suspiciously.
“Must we leave the city by the city gate?” Linley glanced at Zassler, who immediately understood what Linley meant.
“But it isn’t ten o’clock at night yet. The city gates haven’t shut yet. We absolutely can depart by the city gates if we wish.” Zassler objected.
“I’m not certain of the forces which the Radiant Church has in the prefectural city of Cerre. Perhaps they have people planted amongst the gate guards here. If you go by that route…it’s possible that they will recognize you. After all, aside from those six experts from the headquarters of the Radiant Church, there are others who have seen you today and knew that you were heading towards that residence.” Linley said calmly.
Zassler nodded.
On the way to being locked into the residence, there had indeed been another group of people within the residence, all of whom clearly were the Radiant Church’s people in the prefectural city of Cerre. Originally, there were servants there to serve Lampson and the others as well.
But Lampson was extremely careful. He was afraid of the possibility that these people had been infiltrated, and thus all of the servants had been sent away.
….
Linley and Zassler quickly arrived at the high city walls. Those twenty-meter high walls were more than enough to render Zassler speechless.
“There’s no way I can get over.” Zassler was quite blunt.
He was an Arch Magus necromancer. His physical condition was on par with an ordinary fighter of the third rank. But for him to leap over a twenty, thirty meter high wall was impossible.
“Haeru.” Linley looked at his Blackcloud Panther.
“Grooooowl.” This two meter tall, four meter long, handsome black panther, Haeru, stared at the Arch Magus necromancer Zassler with his cold eyes.
“Ride on Haeru’s back.” Linley instructed.
Zassler no longer hesitated, immediately leaping onto Haeru’s back. Standing on Haeru’s neck, Bebe also gave Zassler a challenging look. Zassler, however, didn’t dare contend against these two magical beasts.
He had clearly seen the results of that battle just then. Given his judgment, he could clearly tell that both the black Shadowmouse and the black panther were magical beasts of the ninth rank. Without having his undead minions ready, he, an Arch Magus necromancer, didn’t dare irritate magical beasts of the ninth rank.
“Let’s go.”
With a leap, Linley flew into the air like an arrow, vaulting over thirty meters with a single bound, easily flipping past the wall and landing on the other side.
“Swoosh.” With a mighty bound, Haeru transformed into a black blur and easily leapt past the twenty-meter high city wall.
On the wild grass outside the city.
“Whoah. This panther is quite fast.” Zassler clutched his chest, letting out a shocked breath. As he spoke, he dismounted.
“Stay on.” Linley immediately said. “Haeru, let’s go back now.”