Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 164 - 157: The Broken Robber Doll

"So what did you guys end up doing?"

"We’re not idiots, of course we didn’t do it," Lyle rolled his eyes, setting down the already empty bowl, "Speaking of which, how are those professors doing after the academy shut down?"

"Definitely better than you, after all, those nobles aren’t really idiots. They just went from public teachers to private tutors and some even run illegal clinics on the side. I heard that Professor Feller even got himself a position as an Inquisitor."

"Inquisitor?"

"I heard he likes to describe to the criminals in detail how he would handle their dead bodies. Although for Professor Feller, that’s just basic knowledge, in the eyes of those criminals, it must be like a demon’s most venomous curse."

After ending the night’s conversation hastily, William extinguished the campfire with sand. The three of them entered the stone walls they had set up earlier, laid out two layers of wool blankets, and William sealed the entrance with a wall of ice, which didn’t feel cold in the summer night. Counting the stars that peeked through the tree shadows, Lyle fell into a deep sleep.

...

Before dawn broke, the three of them continued on their way.

Freshened by the clear water produced by William, Lyle and Kevin remained as brisk as the day before.

Except for William, his face was dotted with red welts from insect bites.

He could be seen forming a layer of ice on his face, numbing the itch with cold while he looked at the other two with dissatisfaction.

"Why do those damn mosquitoes only bite me?"

Kevin just shrugged his shoulders, his golden hair flicking as the response.

"It’s Nia’s doing, Nia spent all night playing a bug-catching game!" On Lyle’s shoulder, Nia’s little tentacles happily swayed, poking at Lyle’s shoulder with its bent tips until he rubbed it and it retracted back into his clothes.

Lyle smiled bitterly, "I warned you last night to get Nia to help you with the bugs, but you refused saying you didn’t want tentacles on your body." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cloth bag, squeezing out a dab of green ointment, "Apply some, it’s antipruritic medicine. Freezing your skin all the time isn’t a good choice."

William’s face showed a hint of distress, "I didn’t expect it to be so itchy."

.....

The next few days were an easy trek through the jungle, occasionally passing through villages to clean up, and for the most part, the three spent their time on barely recognizable paths and in the woods. Kevin even preferred to spend the night in the forest, saying, "I love the feeling of being in nature, reminding me that I am a part of it."

Perhaps he hadn’t yet realized the importance of an Elemental Mage who also served as a cook; that day, William killed a deer.

Unexpectedly skilled in handling such large game, after the three feasted on the delicious meal, Lyle helped Nia bury the deer’s remains.

That piqued William’s curiosity.

"You’re not going to reanimate it? Necromancer?"

"It has already lost its life and become our food. To then use its bones would be somewhat heartless. Besides, common animal skeletons don’t have much strength; it’s also a habit taught to me by my teacher. I still prefer to use human bones."

"A Necromancer with meaningless compassion."

Lyle narrowed his eyes, revealing a smile.

"You’ll see, when necessary, how cruel I can be."

...

After about a week’s journey, the trio finally left the kingdom’s borders and entered the less defined frontier areas.

There was no trace of recent human activity around them, except for a weathered signpost hidden by ivy at the roadside, indicating the right path ahead.

"We’re entering Hamlet County."

"Why are these forests not marked with signs of exploitation?"

"Because the territories of Hamlet are vast enough, this is probably the undeveloped part."

As they delved deeper, the towering plants became less frequent, the view widened, but the condition of the trail underfoot became increasingly treacherous.

The uneven, rocky terrain was punishing their horses’ hooves, and even the strong animals couldn’t manage a quick pace. Only the voices of the three resonated in the silent forest, and the green shadows in the distance seemed like a hanging iron curtain, pressuring the trio’s hearts.

Kevin tugged on the reins.

"What’s wrong?"

"Intuition tells me not to go any further."

William and Lyle now completely heeded Kevin’s intuition, and the three of them stayed put, anxiously surveying the surrounding shrubbery that all looked nearly the same.

Nia sensed something, she flowed from the corner of Lyle’s clothing, her tentacles creeping toward the bushes at Lyle’s feet like little snakes. They lifted the layers of green leaves, revealing what lay hidden underneath.

"There are bones."

It was a human skull with a grim gash, its hollow gaze staring straight at the three of them.

So why are there dead bones here, and why is this area so eerily silent, without even a single bird?

In such silence, the sound of a bowstring being drawn echoed.

"Ambush, danger!"

No sooner had he spoken than twenty meters away, figures clad in grimy green fabric poked their heads out from the shrubbery, raising swords and charging menacingly at the trio.

The first to approach were the crossbow bolts, weaving through the bushes like hidden sharks in the water, showing their frosty gleam only when they moved closer to their prey.

The gleaming crossbow arrows, in just a second, occupied all of Kevin’s vision, then narrowly missed his face and viciously struck the throat of William’s horse below him.

The steed let out a horrendous scream, toppling over with William.

"Quick, dismount, there are crossbow bolts coming!"

The rugged terrain underfoot doomed their chance for escape. The horses had lost their purpose, serving only as cover, as they were doing now.

One after another, the crossbow bolts buried themselves into the bellies of the horses, and the mounts of Lyle and Kevin also collapsed unwillingly.

The three took cover behind the bodies, William waving his magic wand, firing a fiery fireball that turned a nearby bandit into a torch, yet the others were unfazed. The noises from their mouths were grating, like a record marred by the mischievous paws of a cat, sounding less like battle cries and more like ghostly screams.

"There are twelve more, I can’t protect the two of you while taking them down, Lyle, we..."

Lyle remained calm, not at all disturbed by William’s agitation.

"We retreat."

"Retreat? A retreat won’t help, we can’t outrun them!"

"No need to outrun them, just buy time."

.........

Scarface was the leader of these twelve men.

As he and his men approached the horse carcasses, the three "pigs" had already vanished without a trace. But it didn’t matter, he and his men were excellent hunters, and the traces left by those young brats were as conspicuous as the noonday sun.

Scarface gave a vicious grin, the scar on his face twisting with the muscles, resembling another ferocious maw.

Cough, cough.

Scarface couldn’t help but cough, what’s going on? Looking at the hand he used to cover his mouth, the fabric was stained with fresh blood—his own blood.

I’m coughing up blood?

As Scarface felt a wave of panic, something warm poured over his head.

The red liquid flowed into his only intact eye, dying his vision red.

Turning around.

A black tentacle monster emerged from the wound of the horse, its tentacles hoisting his men into the air like dolls, struggling briefly before going limp.

Another tentacle coiled around their necks, the clawed suckers cutting into the flesh and spraying blood over Scarface’s face, reminiscent of how he treated those innocent travelers. As the stuffing from a torn doll is squeezed out, the black tentacle monster watched with relish.

Huge yellow pupils stared at him, and it was the voice of a cute little girl, like the one he had killed the day before yesterday.

"You’re going to break too! Come and play with Nia!"