“Boom.”
The man in the gray robe cast a spell in front of him — a Secondary Energy Fireball. In the blink of an eye, a fireball the size of a head smashed into the wall, causing the brick wall to crumble and flames and debris to scatter, leaving a large gap in the wall.
Behind the wall, the tables and chairs were in complete disarray, but the lamps hanging at a higher position on the wall still remained.
A muffled groan of pain echoed from inside the room, clearly indicating that the person inside had sustained significant injuries.
The man in the gray robe let out a strange cry, quite pleased with his handiwork.
He walked toward the gap he created, ready to search inside the room for his prey and spoils.
As he slightly bent over to enter through the gap, a sharp, icy gleam flew towards him, like a white ribbon aimed directly at his body. The man in the gray robe reacted exceptionally quickly, drawing his sword to block while stepping aside to dodge.
“Swish!”
This sword strike was clearly premeditated, allowing no time for the man in gray to defend adequately. Their swords collided, and the incoming Sword Spirit cleverly used the rebounding force not only to maintain its speed but to precisely penetrate the body of the man in gray, stabbing between his shoulder and chest.
The white-haired old man who struck the blow was none other than Old Orio from the clinic, and almost no one knew that “Bat’s Eyes” was not only the name of the clinic but also the name of a Breathing Method, an incomplete upper-class Breathing Method focusing on hearing, also known as “Bat’s Eyes.”
Bats excel in observing everything through hearing.
Just now, he had heard the noise outside the house.
“Ah, are you a sorcerer apprentice?”
Old Orio, having successfully struck with his sword, stared at his enemy, and the familiar robe elicited a cry of surprise from him. He hurriedly withdrew his sword and stepped back, well aware of the many strange and mysterious methods a sorcerer could employ.
Regarding sorcerers, he harbored a bone-deep fear.
He watched the other carefully, “Sir, what brings you barging into my home?”
“A lowly servant, and you have injured me, very well, hehe—cough cough.”
The man in the gray robe leisurely pulled out a potion and poured it into his mouth, his angry face under the hood twisted grotesquely in the shadows of the lamp, resembling a venomous snake having just emerged from hibernation.
Upon hearing this, Old Orio’s body involuntarily shuddered, as this was something he had always been reluctant to mention.
He had thought that after so many years, no one knew of this obscure past experience, but today a sorcerer apprentice had come to his doorstep, likely putting an end to his peaceful days.
A flurry of thoughts crossed Old Orio’s mind, and the next second he realized, “No matter who you are, if you’re trying to buy time, ask my sword if it agrees.”
He brandished his sword and stepped forward, swift as the wind, thrusting at the man in gray once more.
“Let me remind you, my sword is poisoned.”
“Poison? Poison is what I fear the least.”
Facing Old Orio’s deadly move, the man in gray took a step forward, his sword responding in kind. His blade flickered with fine sparks of electricity, the hallmark of a Level 0 magic — Lightning Whiskers, capable of emitting a small amount of electricity resembling whiskers.
“Clang!”
The two exchanged blows, their sword points colliding.
The man in gray seemed unharmed, causing Old Orio to regret missing an earlier opportunity.
Inside the house, they exchanged multiple blows in the blink of an eye, both combatants being of Knight Class strength, making it difficult to overpower each other.
“Eckerz, do you need my help?”
As the two clashed swords once more, a figure emerged from the gap in the wall and asked impatiently.
With a magic pet at his side, Old Orio’s face turned pale.
However, he failed to notice that under Eckerz’s bulky gray robe, a python head shot out. They were nearly face to face—by the time Old Orio noticed, the hideous black python’s head, intertwined with lightning, lunged forward and bit at him.
Old Orio forcefully pushed off with his feet, skillfully moving his body backward in an attempt to retreat and dodge.
The python head was already close to his body. Added with the force transmitted from Eckerz’s longsword, it knocked him flying backward—crashing solidly into a wall-backed cabinet, shattering the wood panel behind it, and smashing into the cabinet’s interior, not knowing how many tables, chairs, and ornaments he had sent flying.
“Hiss—
Eckerz’s hood was lifted, revealing his terrifying true face.
This arm-thick python head was not another magic pet but another head of Eckerz, situated right behind his right shoulder, connected at the base of his neck, now emitting a faint hissing sound.
“I’ll give you a hand.”
Seeing Old Orio struggling to move, the little green winged snake spat out a breath of cold air, hitting Old Orio on the ground and causing him to suffer severe repeated damage—letting out pained moans, his trembling body indicating he was still alive.
Eckerz was displeased.
“Hey Lahr, this is my prey.”
His python head let out an even louder hissing sound, seemingly also complaining about the little green winged snake’s interference.
“Alright, I’ll leave him to you,” the little green winged snake said nonchalantly, not minding their attitude. “I’ll look around for something fun to play with. What was the sorcerer’s name again?”
Eckerz casually replied, “Sorcerer Mentt.”
The little green winged snake began roaming around Old Orio’s house as if no one else was there.
It took a while for Old Orio to recover, struggling to prop himself against the wall by the broken cabinet, his gaze turning toward the man in the gray robe, “So you came for Sorcerer Mentt’s possessions, but you got one thing wrong—I am merely a servant there; the treasures of a sorcerer are not within the likes of my reach, cough cough.”
The python head of Eckerz leaned forward like a snake, scrutinizing him more intently, “You are mistaken, we were merely passing through Flying Fish Port and happened upon your presence, looking for something interesting to pass the time and incidentally searching for any possible belongings left by Sorcerer Mentt, just incidentally.”
“Interesting? That is indeed interesting,” Old Orio said through gritted teeth, drenched in sweat and weak, yet still glaring fiercely at the enemy before him.
He had thought they were specifically coming after him as a sorcerer apprentice, only to realize others found it merely interesting. Could it be that he had been a plaything for amusement all his life!
He suddenly thought of his two students, well, they could be considered as students.
It turns out he was unknowingly influenced by the sorcerer. Had he known, he wouldn’t have followed the damned principle of equivalence; he should have passed on his life’s research to those two talented students—
Well, he had lived these many years, it was worth it.
Eckerz, unaware of his myriad thoughts, asked earnestly, “So, tell me, what did you bring back from Sorcerer Mentt?”
“Yes.” Old Orio squeezed out a grim smile, “Uh hehe, I’m not telling you.”
The black python head suddenly lunged forward, extending its body to nearly two meters, biting into the outer side of Old Orio’s thigh, tearing off a chunk of flesh, revealing the stark bones underneath, as the python head swallowed the bloody chunk of meat.
Another bite.
This caused Old Orio to cry out in pain repeatedly, his body unable to stabilize, toppling over into the partially destroyed cabinet.
“Eckerz, it’s quite boring here. There’s nothing but Gold Coins and potions. This old man’s house really has a lot of Gold Coins,” the little green winged snake returned after a round and gave only a cursory glance at the situation.
“The old man said there were other things.”
“Oh.”
Both the man and the snake failed to notice that, just as Old Orio collapsed, he grabbed a special sulfated glass bottle from the upper compartment of the cabinet.