Chapter 97: Undercurrents on the Other Side
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 97: Undercurrents on the Other Side
Cold moonlight shone down, and the woods outside the window swayed with the breeze, casting ghostly shadows upon the ground.
Outside the silent Ancient Potions Society classroom, an enchanting figure suddenly appeared.
It was Anna.
She seemed to be in a desperate hurry. Without even taking the time to pull out her keys, she slammed her delicate body roughly against the classroom door to force it open.
Stumbling inside, she felt her way along the wall until she reached a spot near the back, where she pressed down on a loose stone brick.
The sound of a mechanism engaging echoed through the room. A section of the wall shifted, revealing a small hidden compartment.
Inside the compartment sat various potions.
Her eyes swept over them rapidly before she grabbed a bottle of green potion and a bottle of blue potion from the back.
She tore away the sleeve that had been slashed by the High Priest’s blade, revealing her left arm.
However, the arm she exposed did not possess the fair, delicate skin of a young girl. Instead, it was a sight that would make anyone’s blood run cold.
It was covered in scales.
Fine, densely layered, pitch-black scales.
Snake scales.
Looking at those scales, Anna’s eyes filled with deep-seated loathing and hatred.
She took a deep breath, as if bracing herself.
Finally, she steeled her resolve.
She picked up the green potion, popped the cap, and abruptly poured the liquid over her left arm.
Sizzle!
Instantly, it was as if strong acid had been splashed on her.
The black scales, which could withstand even a blade, were rapidly corroded. They hissed and sputtered, giving off plumes of white smoke.
"Hiss—"
At the same time, a piercing, heart-wrenching pain caused Anna’s face to turn deathly pale. Cold sweat poured down her body.
She gritted her teeth, her ample chest heaving. In her agony, her right hand inadvertently crushed the empty potion bottle.
"Why... why did it suddenly deteriorate this badly?"
"Could it be..."
Anna slammed her fist onto the table and looked up.
The bright moonlight spilled in, yet it brought only an infinite sense of deathly silence and cold.
It wasn't over yet.
With a trembling hand, she pulled out a sharp dagger.
She slowly placed it against the scales on her left arm.
She paused for a moment.
Then, with a sudden, violent motion, she used the dagger to scrape the scales away.
Blood splattered everywhere.
As the scales were scraped off, the skin came with them, leaving behind a gruesome, mangled mess.
Yet Anna continued meticulously, as if she had done this countless times before. Bit by bit, she scraped every single scale from her arm.
Only when not a single scale remained did she quickly pour the blue potion over the wound.
The injury healed at a visible rate, and fair skin began to grow back.
Before long, her left arm looked no different from that of an ordinary girl—in fact, it looked even more delicate and white than before.
Only then did she let out a long sigh of relief.
It wasn't just because the agonizing pain had faded, but because the growth of the snake scales had brought with it a certain desire that she had almost been unable to suppress.
A desire to eat something.
She slowly slumped against the wall, as if all her strength had been drained away.
Her unfocused eyes held a strange, dazed look.
"No, I have to speed things up. I must..."
In the empty Ancient Potions classroom, Anna’s voice trailed off into a soft whisper.
*
The Great Clock Tower.
Basement Level 13.
The Mercury Well.
"Wow, so this is the core area of St. Maria Academy?"
A man with a hideous scar running across his face looked at the solemn, massive machinery surrounding them. Like a country bumpkin entering the city for the first time, he couldn't help but marvel.
"Tsk, tsk. It looks like all this stuff is made of rare metals. Pieces this big must be weighed in tons. Can I scrape a bit off to take back? I feel like if I just took a few shavings from the edges, I wouldn't have to worry about money for the rest of my life."
"Shut up!"
In front of the scarred man, a withered figure shrouded in black robes hissed in a low voice.
"And don't touch anything, unless you want to be ground into dust by the security systems here."
"Alright, alright, I won't touch anything."
The scarred man shrugged, looking innocent. "I'm not some bratty kid visiting relatives. Why are you so tense?"
"..."
The withered figure continued walking in silence. In his hand, he carried a battered lantern that swayed back and forth, emitting a faint blue light that enveloped the two of them.
That blue light was thick with the aura of deathly silence. However, once they were within its glow, the security measures of the countless precision mechanisms around them seemed to lose their effect, completely ignoring the two intruders.
The long passage was deathly quiet.
Perhaps finding the walk too boring and the surroundings uninteresting, Scarface leaned in again and asked the withered figure:
"By the way, are your companions going to be okay? Drawing away the teachers and professors, and then having to stall that Imperial Princess... those seem like pretty dangerous jobs."
"They are fine. They have their own plans to escape," the withered figure sneered.
"Instead of wasting time worrying about them, you should worry about yourself."
"Worry about myself?" The scarred man blinked. "Why? Everyone’s been lured away. Shouldn't this be the safest place?"
"Getting in is safe, but isn't the most dangerous part the escape? After all, what we’re about to do is that."
"Which that?" the scarred man asked, confused again.
"..."
The withered figure fell silent for a moment.
"You don't know?"
"Know what?"
"You don't even know why you're here?!" The withered figure was shocked.
"The High Priest told me to come," the scarred man said, scratching his head innocently.
"He told you to come and you didn't even ask him what you're supposed to do?"
"Well... as an excellent subordinate, isn't 'ask less, do more' a basic requirement?"
"..."
The withered figure suddenly didn't want to talk anymore.
He was starting to regret asking that group of lunatics to send someone to help him.
While it was true that they were short-handed, he couldn't help but feel that bringing this guy along was a mistake.
But whatever.
Things had already come to this. Even if this guy couldn't help much, he could still be thrown out as bait at a critical moment.
"Since you don't know, then don't ask."
The withered figure turned around. "Time is tight. If you don't want to die, keep up."
"Oh, okay."
The scarred man nodded repeatedly and hurried to follow.
But as they walked, he suddenly remembered something and leaned in toward the withered figure again, his expression serious.
"..."
"If we don't have a Plan A, I think a Plan B would work. For example, after we do the deed, you could pull out a teleportation scroll and send us away. Even though I get teleportation sickness and puke every time, I think I could handle it if it's an emergency."
"..."
"If there's no Plan B, surely there's a Plan C!"
The scarred man’s tone grew anxious. "Like, for example, calling down your big boss—that Silent Moon or whatever—to lay waste to everything! That would work, right?"
"..."
"This won't do. How can you do anything without a plan? If Plan C is out, then Plan..."
"SHUT UP!"
Unable to endure the man's nagging any longer, the withered figure shouted in a breakdown.
"Moonlight's Protection has its limits! If you keep talking so loud, what are we going to do if someone hears us?!"