Chapter 156: Fishing

The situation was of a rather broad scope and somewhat grave nature. The Queen had already issued a decree, and her subordinates dared not delay in the slightest. The Royal Special Guard personally acted as messengers, advancing straight through the royal capital regardless of terrain, and soon arrived at the Black Castle.

Inside the First Hall, Mulan was currently giving a lecture to the students. Facing the two hundred or so trainees who had previously passed the examination, he began teaching them how to draw forth the power within their hearts.

This course was Mulan's own uniquely developed curriculum, drawing upon a great deal of diverse knowledge. Although Mulan always claimed in his lectures that it was merely a summary, theoretically it differed from almost all existing magic book systems.

Nowadays, not only was every class of Mulan's packed with students, but there was also invariably a team from the Logistics Department stationed at the back to record the entire curriculum. They had been ordered to condense certain contents and subsequently bind them into books.

"The power of matter and the power of spirit influence one another. Surpassing the shackles of the flesh to manifest on the material plane carries a higher priority, while surpassing the transcendent manifests with a higher priority on the spiritual plane. The two complement each other..."

Midway through his lecture, Mulan suddenly paused and looked toward the doorway. Standing there was a man dressed in a black uniform, his bangs covering half of his face, while the remaining half appeared exceptionally pale, as though caked with heavy layers of powder.

A ripple stirred in Mulan's heart. Clearly, the person outside was no ordinary individual, but most likely a true transcendent. Could it be the Royal Guard?

"What is the matter?"

"Lord Jonster, by order of the Queen, please step outside for a moment."

Knowing that something major must have happened, Mulan nodded and looked toward the trainees.

"I shall step out for a moment."

With that, Mulan walked out. A member of the guard whispered something into Mulan's ear and immediately departed, leaving Mulan to narrow his eyes.

In his heart, Mulan silently prayed for that poor, unfortunate wretch for a full second before turning back toward the classroom.

"Today's class ends here; we will make it up next time. Do not interrupt your meditation and training methods. Class is dismissed."

As soon as these words fell, Mulan hurried away without waiting for the students' reactions.

Inside the First Hall, the students were stunned for a moment, and then voices broke out all around.

"Ah?" "No way!"

Not like this..."

"It was just getting to the crucial part..."

Shortly after, the students became deeply interested in the matter, having faintly caught the words "the Queen's command."

No one left the classroom right away; instead, small circles formed as they discussed it among themselves.

"Hey, what do you suppose happened?"

"I heard the words 'Queen's command'."

Among the male students, the analysis focused mostly on the event itself, while the female students' conversation quickly veered off in another direction.

"Could something have happened to Her Majesty the Queen? After all, the Professor is Her Majesty's guardian knight, isn't he?"

"Ah, if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have completely forgotten!" "I heard there's even some romantic tension between Her Majesty and the Professor!"

The conversation among the girls quickly took on a suggestive tone. Hathaway looked toward Maren, who had spoken.

"Senior sister, you mustn't talk nonsense like this! You can't make up stories about Her Majesty!"

Maren stuck out her tongue. On the other side, an unfamiliar female voice murmured softly.

"If only the Professor were my guardian knight..."

"Stop daydreaming."

Mulan did not dare to waste any time. After leaving the classroom, he immediately sought out Sebastian, who was nominally on duty, and explained the situation.

This was Mulan's first time coming to Sebastian's treehouse. He knew that the Queen was merely intensely displeased with the Holy See's overbearing attitude, rather than asking him to go to war with the Holy See, so there was no need to overwhelm the Holy See through sheer force.

Mulan had not even considered having Sebastian take action alongside him; he had come simply to borrow an item—the gargoyle token possessed by those on duty.

"Very well, I will lend you the gargoyle token. However, this matter seems somewhat complicated; I shall go with you."

Sebastian's slightly husky voice uttered words that surprised Mulan. This was somewhat outside his plan—weren't the transcendent beings of the Black Castle all notoriously lazy?

Mulan quickly adjusted his expression.

"That would naturally be for the best. Then let us set off immediately."

"Here, you know how to use it, don't you?"

Sebastian tossed a black metal carving to Mulan. Mulan caught it and examined it; in reality, it was just a small square token engraved with a gargoyle.

"I have long since studied the method of use."

With that, Mulan raised the token. In every corner of the Black Castle, ghostly lights flickered within the eyes of one statue after another, and all the gargoyles began to awaken.

Moments later, a massive swarm of shadows took flight from the Black Castle into the night sky, resembling a gigantic flock of bats, though they were actually gargoyles far larger than any bat.

Mulan and the Red Witch rode upon two of the larger gargoyles, flying alongside the vast swarm of gargoyles.

Sebastian sat upon the back of a gargoyle, while Mulan clutched the claws of one, suspended in mid-air. Such a vantage point offered a view far superior to riding on its back.

Night had already fallen, and the gargoyles high in the sky looked like a massive swarm of bats, gradually dispersing in all directions across the city of Dige.

"Heh heh heh, Professor Jonster, letting the gargoyles scatter like this is unwise."

Sebastian's husky voice drifted over. Mulan withdrew his gaze from below and looked toward her.

"Why is that?"

"Aside from Walton, no one can fully control the gargoyles. While they gather around the token, it is fine; once they disperse, they might end up preying upon ordinary citizens."

What Mulan wanted to say in his heart was that such a situation would not happen tonight, but as the words reached his lips, he replied indifferently:

"The Queen's command is of the highest priority; I will not be overly cautious and hesitant."

Sebastian was slightly surprised, but then her expression eased. Professor Jonster was indeed usually very amiable toward his students, but that was merely because doing so was better; it did not apply to every situation.

Under normal circumstances, gargoyles made no sound, save for the rush of wind whipped up by their flapping wings. Pairs of eerie eyes gazed down upon every quarter of Dige, and they continued to spread further into the surrounding areas.

...

In the civilian residential area in the outer city of the northeastern part of Dige, a long-haired, oversized rat emerged from the shadows, continuously threading its way along street corners and other paths. It slipped through a hole in a bakery, snatched a piece of bread from a shelf with its teeth, and leaped onto a low stool at the side.

The moment the large rat landed on the low stool, its body blackened and began to spread and expand, rapidly transforming into a disheveled man clad in a tattered black uniform.

"Hah, hah, hah..."

The man was drenched in sweat and panting heavily. He was none other than the fled Shadow Fiend. He simply could not hold on any longer and had been forced to manifest from his shadow-travel state.

To transform and escape required a corresponding degree of resonance; his physical movements, spiritual fluctuations, and even his breathing had to match those of a rat.

Dragging the body of a transcendent being using the meager energy movements and breathing of a rat was no different from holding one's breath while walking underwater.

Yet, at least it had saved his life. After all, in a massive city like Dige, especially in its filthier districts, rats were the thing least in short supply.

Panting continuously to ease his physical exhaustion, the Shadow Fiend began to ravenously devour the bread. He was utterly exhausted and starving; escaping had consumed nearly half of his power. Although he had sustained no fatal wounds, his current state was truly miserable.

*Damn the Holy See, I clearly didn't do it! And Her Majesty the Queen, why won't you believe me either!*

The Shadow Fiend was filled with extreme rage, and his movements in devouring the bread grew even more frantic as he reached out to grab more from the shelf.

"Who, who is there?"

A plump man carrying a kerosene lamp walked out from the hallway at the back of the shop, gripping a straight-edged bread-cutting saw in his hand.

When he reached the storefront facing the street and swept the lamplight around, he discovered the man behind the shelf. The stranger's face was deathly pale, dripping with sweat, and clutching bread in his hand, looking utterly ghastly.

"You? You little thief..."

The Shadow Fiend merely stared at him, then reached out with a grab. A dark shadow extended from his hand, directly seizing the man's shadow cast under the light of the kerosene lamp.

"Ah..."

The man's terrified scream cut off abruptly. Along with his physical body and his shadow, he was dragged across, melting entirely into the shadow beneath the Shadow Fiend's feet.

Although doing this would absorb a great deal of human negativity, it could also rapidly replenish his consumed energy. Toward this, the Shadow Fiend felt no sense of guilt whatsoever.

*If you want to blame someone, blame the Holy See you worship.*

At the far end of the street, the Archbishop stood in the second-floor corridor of a building. He was even aware of what the Shadow Fiend had done, yet he merely frowned, reached out a hand, and then restrained himself, lowering his hand once more.

The Royal Special Guard was indeed exceptionally loyal, but there were no rules without exceptions. In the Archbishop's view, this Shadow Fiend was one of those exceptions, and even the Queen had been kept in the dark. If things were as bad as anticipated, neither the Shadow Fiend nor that heretic Taylor was the true mastermind behind the scenes.

With these thoughts in mind, the Archbishop raised his head to look at the sky. High above, bat-like creatures were flying back and forth, and in the distance, quite a few could be seen circling over certain districts.

*If you possess any self-awareness, you should know that you cannot escape Dige. In that case, you will surely find a way to seek out your accomplices, won't you? Or perhaps... your true master?*