Chapter 0025: A Deadly Ambush

As expected, Alice lived up to her reputation as a senior wizard apprentice. With just the slightest hint from Grim, she was able to extrapolate and deduce much more. Her spatial talent remained unmatched—at least, among apprentices of her rank, it was absolutely without equal. Unless one possessed the power to shatter space itself, the thin spatial barrier enveloping her body would forever stand as an impenetrable fortress. No matter how many assailants besieged her, none could breach that invisible yet tangible shield to inflict harm. Meanwhile, she could leisurely slice and seize her opponents with her unique spatial manipulation.

Yet, even the most impenetrable golden bell has its weak point, and Alice’s spatial barrier was no exception. In order to maintain a link with the space around her, she could not fully isolate herself, so her barrier always had to leave a tiny aperture for “communication” with the outside. That opening was the perfect avenue for enemies to exploit.

To compensate for this vulnerability, she had diligently studied the workings of wind elements, using an equally intangible and solid wind barrier to patch the flaw. The transparent spatial wall, coupled with an invisible wind barrier, deceived all her foes, making them believe her defenses were flawless, with not the slightest gap.

Yet she never anticipated that, in this backwater place, she would encounter such a bizarre group. One had transformed his flesh entirely into that of an insect through bio-alchemy—a loathsome parasite master—and the other was a mere junior apprentice who could, astonishingly, perceive the distribution of elemental particles with the naked eye. The collision of these two impossibilities sealed her unlucky fate for the day.

Had it not been for the parasite master, if any other senior apprentice had stood in his place, they would have perished after a single exchange, falling prey to her unpredictable spatial snatch. None would have repeatedly probed for flaws in her defenses. If not for that inventive junior apprentice, her spatial barrier would never have been breached, nor would she have endured the agony of being devoured by a thousand insects.

The more she dwelled on it, the more furious she became. Alice wished she could flay the instigator before her, tear him limb from limb, but the intelligence she sought most had yet to be revealed. Gritting her teeth, she demanded, “Is it a sorcerous eye modification, or a special spell?”

“A spell!”

“Hand it over, and I’ll spare your life today!”

“Will you keep your word?”

“Hmph, as if you have any other choice! Don’t force me to imprison your soul. If I do, I’ll rip every secret from your mind!”

Though Alice’s composure was close to unraveling, her pride remained undiminished; the threat and forcefulness in her words made any negotiation impossible.

Grim risked a glance at her. Whether her strength had truly waned, or if she was simply suppressing her defenses, there was no visible spatial barrier around her.

Did she not fear a surprise attack?

He acted on impulse. To hesitate before such a formidable adversary would be suicide.

All at once, Grim flicked his sleeve, and a small vial of dark green potion dropped at Alice’s feet. Without any incantation or environmental constraints, a strange green smoke arose, and from the ground slowly crawled a grotesque, humanoid slime figure over a meter tall.

Such a low-level construct was only a makeshift creation, lasting no more than a few minutes at best, and its attack was rudimentary—envelop and suffocate its prey within its viscous body. Using such a servant against a senior apprentice was laughable, but it could still buy a brief moment.

Meanwhile, Grim retreated several paces, his hands tracing rapid sigils while voicing a spell. Before him, a flaming arrow of elemental fire took shape at a speed visible to the naked eye. With its solidification, this spell—once requiring over ten seconds—now completed in under five. For Grim, this was a significant achievement.

Alas, his every move was in vain. In an instant, a transparent spatial barrier encapsulated the slime puppet, severing his mental link, and the doll dissolved into a puddle of acid.

Such was the greatest flaw of summoning magic. Once the connection between summoner and summon was cut, the planar laws would return even the most formidable creature to its native world. Thus, the cheap slime puppet was rendered nothing more than spilled acid before it could act.

As for the flaming arrow, Alice’s twisted face brimmed with disdain; she didn’t even bother to interfere with his casting. As soon as the arrow left his hand, it collided with a floating, mirror-like disk. Against this perfectly sized spatial shield, the arrow exploded on the spot.

This time, the blast was perilously close to Grim. The raging flames, reflected by the impenetrable space, instantly engulfed the young apprentice.

Grim could perceive spatial shifts with his elemental sight, but even he could not react to such near-instantaneous changes. If it took him three to five seconds to cast a familiar spell, Alice needed only a single second to unleash her innate spatial magic.

The disparity was overwhelming; Alice could watch Grim complete his casting and choose to intercept or counter as she pleased. If she wished, no spell taking longer than three seconds would ever succeed against her.

Watching the young apprentice swallowed by fire, Alice’s single eye shone with mocking contempt. A mere junior apprentice daring to strike at a senior—this boy truly did not know the meaning of death.

Suddenly, a fierce wind howled. An egg-sized stone shot from the flames, hurtling toward Alice, followed by Grim bursting out, arms shielding his head.

The roiling flames spared no one; Grim’s reckless escape left him in agonizing pain. His entire front was scorched beyond recognition, and his exposed arms were covered in blisters and burns of varying sizes.

Alice sneered coldly, her fingers flicking lightly. Several transparent rays flashed through the air, and the stone was sliced into four pieces mid-flight. Wild blue lightning crackled and quickly dissipated into nothingness.

The lightning stone attack had failed.

Grim did not hesitate. He drew a lump of pitch-black material from his robes and hurled it at Alice, then turned and fled, as if desperate to escape.

“Did you not hear me? Are you forcing me to cut off your legs? Then—” Alice’s cold laughter was cut short as her expression shifted violently. Her single eye whipped toward the object that had deftly evaded her spatial blades.

A small bat, the transformed Mary, swerved nimbly in midair, dodging the incoming spatial shards. Its membranous wings beat rapidly, and in an instant, it hovered above Alice’s head.

A summoned creature, a contracted beast, or some kind of monster?

In that split-second, Alice couldn’t discern the true nature of the peculiar bat. She quickly waved her hand, sending seven or eight spatial shards to seal off every avenue of attack, feeling a little more at ease.

But in the very next moment, the bat’s body twisted and expanded as if inflated, transforming from palm-sized to a slender, tall girl in vivid red. Without hesitation, she barreled straight through the spatial blades, crashing into Alice.

To Alice’s horror, the girl’s nails grew long and razor-sharp, gleaming with a metallic luster, while her features shifted dramatically. Her emerald eyes turned deep crimson, as if they would spill blood the next instant.

A series of sickening, slicing sounds filled the air as the spatial blades tore into flesh.

Blood spurted from the red-clad girl’s back, her body riddled with crisscrossing wounds, as though she’d been turned into a sieve.

Yet the girl seemed oblivious, her bright red lips parting wider and wider. Two dreadful fangs jutted out and, with a sudden gust, sank into Alice’s exposed throat.

Damn it—it’s a vampire!

Her vast, profound knowledge swiftly revealed the truth: this was her foe.

At first, the bite felt like a mosquito’s itch, but then an ecstatic euphoria swept over her. She could feel her lifeforce draining away with every drop of blood, yet her body grew languid, suffused with a blissful lethargy, yearning to surrender to sleep.

But Alice was, after all, a senior apprentice with formidable willpower, and she resisted the paralytic toxins seeping from the vampire’s fangs. With only a brief daze, she managed to shake off the stupor.

For the first time in her life, Alice sensed death looming near.

In previous battles, the parasite master had only posed an annoyance, never a true threat. The crone leader, Simba, without her overwhelming advantage, would have been slain outright. But now, death’s shadow was real.

If she mishandled this crisis, she—a future great witch—might well perish on this filthy patch of land.

Desperate, Alice summoned the last vestige of her strength and unleashed a scream that shattered the sky.

In the next instant, space itself was torn asunder, and all things were ground to dust.