Chapter 87: I owe you a debt of life

Translated by: Reiji

“Crack!”

Ayrin stomped his foot on the floor. A depression immediately appeared on the hard pine wooden surface.

“Don't!”

Charlotte's body was embedded in the cracked walls at this moment. Her body felt as if it had been completely jolted to pieces, and couldn't budge at all. The opponent was definitely an elite master with four open arcane gates, and the might of the arcane skills he used was simply not something arcane masters at her level or Ayrin's could contend with. Ayrin would simply be rushing to his own death if he charged forward! But she was completely numb, and her scream of fear resonated in her mind, but not a single sound could come out of her for the moment.

She thought Ayrin would rush forward.

That terrifying arcane master wearing a silver-white mask and shrouded in terrifying black flames chuckled coldly and stretched his hand out.

“Let's go!”

What she and this arcane master didn't expect was, Ayrin actually shot backwards at this time. He lifted Ivan from the sick bed with one hand, and with a crash, his other hand ferociously pushed on Charlotte's body the moment he flew out of the broken windows.

As if hit by a carriage, Charlotte's body directly went through the wall, falling along the broken bricks.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“His reaction's actually pretty good, he actually chose the most perfect option under the circumstances. However, it's more perfect for me as well, I can dispatch three of them in one go... There should be enough time.”

This fearsome arcane master wearing silver-white mask actually appeared calm and unruffled even when making such a rucks in the middle of Divine Shield Academy. He even spoke in a leisurely tone, as if he didn't take it seriously at all.

“Oh no!” Ayrin shouted as soon as he heard the voice. He suddenly stretched out his hand. Dazzling arcane particles immediately transformed into raging flames and compressed into an Evil Flaming Eye.

At this moment, him, Charlotte, and Ivan were still falling in the air, but that arcane master was already on the ground in front of them!

Dazzling bolts of lightning had appeared in the air on top of this arcane master's head. Ayrin didn't know what they were shaping into, but the only thing he could be certain of was, the strength would be many times higher than the Evil Flaming Eye he'd invoked right now.

“I simply can't withstand him, who the hell is this guy!”

“This time I'm done for!”

Ayrin's loud shout resonated in his mind, when an extremely cold and deep chant suddenly came to his ears, the voice seemingly containing the resolution to throw caution to the winds.

“Ghost World Projection – Touch of Death!”

“What's going on?”

Ayrin suddenly felt Ivan's body he was lifting in his hand lighten all of a sudden. At the corner of his eyes, he saw the Ivan who'd been unconscious and sleeping until now open his eyes, a halo of dark yellow light radiating from within them.

At the same time, a formidable aura suddenly gushed out of the ground under that terrifying arcane master's feet. A huge shadow rushed out all of a sudden, forming a huge black ghost claw, fiercely grabbing this masked arcane master in it!

Ayrin heard a faint muffled sound from inside the huge giant ghost claw.

He landed on the ground with a bang and shouted, overjoyed at this turn of events, “Ivan, you were actually faking your sleep! It turns out you were awake all along, and you already felt the danger, so you wanted to fake your sleep and make him lower his guard, then take the opportunity to ambush him!”

“...” But what made him stiffen once again was, he saw drips of fresh blood seep out of the bandages wrapped around Ivan.

Charlotte recovered from her numbness at this time. She braced her hands on the ground and pushed backwards on her two legs, flying back. At the same time, she shouted anxiously at an Ayrin standing blankly there, “Stop wasting time, hurry up and run! In captain Ivan's condition, he can't participate in the fight anymore after using this secret skill! The opponent's strength is really too great, it might not necessarily cause him too much damage!”

“Your judgment is spot on!”

They heard a cold and sinister voice again at this moment, seemingly lecturing his own students.

“I didn't think you were actually faking your sleep, and even grasped an arcane skill long lost from Divine Shield Academy. It's only too bad your launching speed is still too slow right now and simply can't make up for the disparity in our levels.”

That shadow ghost claw rippled with an extremely formidable aura, but a great hole suddenly opened in it. A lightning ball so dazzling one simply couldn't look straight at it immediately came out.

The moment it passed through this shadow ghost claw, the lightning ball split up in the middle, exposing the terrifying arcane master inside and the black energy lingering around him. At the same time, the two parts split up from the lightning ball condensed rapidly and transformed into two thunder balls in his hands, around the size of a fist.

“Rumble!”

These two thunder balls vanished from this arcane master's hands all of a sudden; they appeared in front of Ayrin and Charlotte at a speed they simply couldn't capture. Even the wind blown by the two thunder balls as they fired their way was strong enough that they couldn't even open their eyes.

“So powerful!”

“These two thunder balls look like they're going to explode!” Ayrin subconsciously shouted at this instant.

He tossed Ivan backward, while his body shot forward in front of Charlotte, shielding her behind him. He pushed one hand forward.

“Shield of the Holy Sky!”

Ayrin's arcane particles gushed out of his fingertips, but before he had enough time to invoke the Crown of Ice and Snow, a huge transparent curtain suddenly arose in front of him.

“Boom!” “Boom!”

The two thunder balls exploded on the huge transparent curtain. Countless bolts of lightning thick as a finger wandered like so many snakes on the transparent curtain, immediately covering its entire surface.

Ayrin lifted his head in happy surprise. He saw a silhouette drop down from the top of the infirmary, becoming bigger and bigger in his vision.

“Teacher Payton!”

Charlotte shouted in surprised delight.

“Since it's like that, we can only say goodbye,” the terrifying arcane master wearing a silver-white mask said in a cold and sinister voice. Then, carrying gusts of winds with him, he charged in the direction of the perimeter walls closest to him.

“You actually want to leave after trying to assassinate students in our Divine Shield Academy in broad daylight!”

Someone snickered coldly. Five or six silhouettes flew their way from every direction, seemingly as fast as light. At the same time, the one who'd snickered dropped down from the roof of a tall building in front of the terrifying arcane master.

Separated by too wide a distance, Ayrin couldn't distinguish the appearance of that Divine Shield teacher, but he could clearly see a volcano appear all of a sudden, blotting the sky.

“Wrath of the Giant Volcano!”

A chanting voice that seemed to come from within the newcomer's body pervaded the whole sky.

Boundless and endless flows of lava erupted out of nowhere from the sky, dropping toward that terrifying arcane master and ensconcing him inside.

“Hehe...”

A creepy evil laugh arose in the sky at the same time.

“Ah!”

What no one could imagine was, a green beam of light suddenly cut through the vast expanse of the sky and pierced through this volcano. A strange shout came from the Divine Shield arcane master blocking the way, and something suddenly swept his body backwards and sent it flying.

The silhouette of that terrifying arcane master flashed only a few times before thoroughly disappearing from Ayrin's line of sight.

Likewise, these arcane masters pursuing from every direction also disappeared without a trace after a few jumps. Shrill sounds serving as alarm whistled nonstop inside St. Lauren.

The one-eyed Payton turned around, flabbergasted, and asked Charlotte and Ayrin, “What on earth happened?” At this time, countless Divine Shield teachers who looked like medical masters were already examining Ivan's condition.

“I don't know.” Charlotte's face was still pale white from lingering fear. She said, “Ayrin just happened to come visit Ivan. We came behind the building and noticed something abnormal with the windows on two floors. I thought something was wrong. As soon as we reached Ivan's room, this arcane master rushed inside.”

“You guys did very well.” Payton didn't know the identity of this arcane master yet, but he'd already felt his desire for murder. He was certain that Ivan would already be dead by now if not for Charlotte and Ayrin noticing something out of place, or if their following actions had been a step slower.

“Who on earth was that guy?” Only now did Ayrin sigh in relief. He asked, “Teacher Payton, why don't you pursue him?”

“Someone has to stay behind and keep guard here, since Ivan's his target. And if so many of our elite arcane masters chasing him can't stop him, then that means the opponent's strength's really very much above ours. One more chasing him wouldn't be of much use.” Payton glanced at Ayrin and explained quickly, “It's the standard procedure in a battle between arcane teams. You have to be prepared at all time for the enemy to make a detour and come back to assassinate their targets.”

“That's right.” Ayrin understood immediately. He nodded, and then couldn't resist looking at Payton with admiration. “Teacher Payton, you only have a single eye, and you've also been defeated by teacher Carter, so I couldn't tell you're still so powerful. That arcane skill earlier stopped his two thunder balls, really amazing!”

“Bastard, are you praising me or are you mocking me on purpose.” The veins on Payton's forehead almost popped when he heard Ayrin's words.

Two medical masters carried Ivan their way. Ivan said in a heavy voice, “It seems I'm not the enemy's only target.”

A cold light flashed in Payton's eyes. “What do you mean?”

Ivan said, “When we fought, he said that Ayrin and Charlotte made it more perfect, that he could dispatch three in one go.”

The astonishment on Payton's face became heavier. He muttered to himself for a short spell, then asked with extreme gravity, “Did he leave any other clues in his words?”

“A foreign accent.” Ivan said, “Extreme arrogance, he didn't take us seriously at all, he acted unhurried. Apart from that, there's no other clue.”

Understanding only half of what they talked about, Ayrin couldn't resist interrupting, “Can you see the origin of this guy from his arcane skills?!”

“I don't know what secret skill the green beam of light at the end was.” Payton said in a cold voice, “The Holy Thunder Ball he used earlier, the Wind Dance, and the thunder skill that broke the Touch of Death, all these are arcane skills coming from different places in the kingdom of Eiche. He obviously used them to cover his identity.”

“Alright, now all the elite arcane masters in St. Lauren should already have heard the alarm and gone into action. The entire city is in a state of alert. Even if they haven't caught that guy yet, he can't cover all his traces in St. Lauren either. He can only flee into the mountain woods outside St. Lauren.” After pausing for another dozen seconds, Payton told the medical masters, “You can take Ivan back to the infirmary.”

“Ayrin, I owe you a life debt,” Ivan suddenly said, clearly very weak at this time.

“Ah?” Ayrin stared blankly, still thinking back to the methods of that powerful arcane master.

“Thank you for coming to see me.” Ivan looked at him, grave and solemn, saying, “I and Charlotte would be dead already if not for you back there. Instead of thinking about running for your life first thing, you actually took us along... I owe you a life.”