Chapter 312: We Shall Protect You
Lotton remained silent.
But he did slowly raise his head in response, revealing his face which was masked by the aura of death, and his black eyes ringed with blackness.
"Vengeful Spirit! You turned into a vengeful spirit?!" Dias screamed as he subconsciously took a step back.
"Don't attack him Teacher Liszt! He is someone fighting for our cause!" Ayrin shouted.
"Fighting for our cause? How did those youths get together with him?" Carter, Minlur, and the others were completely lost
"So this is how you managed to escape from Eichemalar, even without being able to recover from your injuries?" Liszt thought to himself as his gazed at Lotton, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
Considering the secret deal they had made back then, he naturally had no intention of attacking Lotton.
Whoosh!
A ring of gray light erupted from Dias' body, but nothing happened.
Dias expression was complex and unreadable as he spoke in a cold voice, "You have been baptised by the Lunar Spring Essence. No wonder you dare to appear before me."
"Hahahaha, Dias! You are done for!"
Stingham's raucous laughter abruptly shattered the serious situation. "You are done for! Your Evil Dragon blood particles are completely unable to harm Lotton, which means you have lost your most powerful weapon! Now, even if it is just one on one, we can still flatten you!"
"Idiot!" Rinloran couldn't help but mutter.
Indeed, Stingham's abrupt transformation from being on the verge of tears to gloating and laughing could only be accomplished by a brainless idiot.
But at the same time, Stingham's words seemed to be absolutely correct.
The greatest threat towards regular arcane masters was Evil Blood's Corruption. Except for a few arcane masters like Liszt, who knew special purification skills, any arcane masters who fell under the effects of Evil Blood's Corruption would quickly die.
At this moment, Lotton's body seemed to reach the limit of blood fusion. His bloodline had now reached the same level as an Evil Dragon Bishop's. But more critically, for people like Lotton and Dias, whose bodies had integrated with Evil Dragon blood particles, they were not afraid of Evil Blood's Corruption.
Although Lotton could no longer absorb Evil Dragon blood particles, he could still easily resist Evil Blood's Corruption.
"Why is there still no fear on his face?" An ominous feeling ran through Ayrin's mind.
Dias quickly regained his calm as his mouth turned up in a mocking sneer, "Have you forgotten? You are merely a toy which I created."
Afterwards, Dias turned and looked at Stingham as if he were a worm. "My toy has merely betrayed me and joined you, and yet you think you have already won because of it?"
"What do you mean? Do you have some other trick up your sleeve?" Stingham shouted as he became fearful once more.
"What is this sound?"
Ayrin and Rinloran simultaneously heard strange cracking sounds. They turned and looked towards the source of the sound. They watched in horror as the foundations of one of the statues at the edge of the altar began to crumble.
"The stone statues…"
This specific one was of a monstrous creature with a wolf head.
A dark purple smoke emanated from the stone plate between its hands as it seemingly absorbed some of the Evil Dragon blood particles in the air around it.
As the stone continued to crumble at the base of the statue, a strange arch-like opening formed.
"What's this?" Stingham screamed as he hiccupped.
Guttural, primal roars began ringing out from within the arch.
A ferocious and savage aura surged forth, enveloping the entire altar.
"Giant monsters?"
It was the same feeling which Ayrin had felt when he came face to face with a great beast at Holy Dawn Academy's Beast Training Field. Small bumps emerged atop his skin as a chill ran through his body.
More roars rang out atop the altar as humanoid figures began to charge out of the arch which had formed at the base of the statue.
"Just what are these things?!"
Ayrin's pupils shrank as he observed the humanoid figures which were flooding out from the arch. They looked no different from normal men, except for the long fangs which protruded from their mouths. They were all bald, and their muscles were like chiseled pieces of rock. Strange, crimson red veins snaked atop their skin.
All of them released extremely volatile and violent arcane energy fluctuations from their bodies.
"It's the Bloodcrazed!" Donna cried out, her voice slightly trembling. "These are arcane masters who have been forcibly transformed by one of the Evil Dragon Followers' skills, turning them into madmen who are driven by a strong desire for blood. They have shocking strength and have lost any sense of humanity, making them no different from violent beasts!"
"Bloodcrazed? There are so many of them! What can we do?!" Stingham seemed to be on the verge of crying once more as he lamented, "We've completely fallen for his trap!"
In the blink of an eye, dozens of Bloodcrazed had already charged out from the base of the statue. And there seemed to be more on the way as roars and screams continued to ring out from within.
It seemed like the statue was actually a massive dungeon in which countless violent and crazed arcane masters had been imprisoned.
The arcane energy fluctuations rippling from them were even more powerful than the ones rippling from the teachers!
"Ice's Lament!"
The face of Berryn, the white robed arcane master who seemed even colder than Rinloran, changed as well as he invoked a skill. Countless transparent sheets of ice began appearing in midair like an arrangement of musical notes.
An intense chill permeated the air between the group of students and teachers and the stone statue.
Crack crack crack…
The bodies of the Bloodcrazed who rushed forth from the statue all turned white as the sheets of ice cut into them, causing them to freeze to death in their maddened and savage states.
The immense chill also caused the air within the arch to freeze over, forming a thick wall of ice which blocked it.
Boom!
But it was only for a moment. In the next, the Bloodcrazed smashed through and continued to pour forth like an endless tide.
"Berryn, you are one of the past geniuses of the National Tournament who I wanted to kill the most. Indeed, in these many years, your progress has been even faster and greater than I expected. But these Bloodcrazed before you have been slowly accumulated over thirty years. You and Liszt are strong, but can you two deal with so many?" Dias sneered as he glared at Berryn, whose face had slightly paled.
"Ah, that's right. There's one more thing which I forgot to mention," Dias continued after a short pause. His gaze turned towards Ciaran, "Many of these Bloodcrazed are your fellow comrades who once fought against us like you all. But after being transformed into Bloodcrazed, they have truly turned into nothing more than savage beasts. And like all savage beasts, what they want the most is the sweet blood of arcane masters, especially female ones. So I'm afraid that you might be the first one slaughtered by them…"
"I will not… I absolutely will not allow your insidious plan to succeed! I will never let them kill Teacher Ciaran!" Ayrin abruptly roared, interrupting Dias.
Towards Rinloran, Ayrin's shouts were normally like shots of energy which awoke the fighting intent within him.
But at this current moment, Ayrin's shouts instead felt like needles which were piercing his ear.
Could they still win?
Was there any way for them to prevent Ciaran and the others from being killed?
As long as the two Evil Dragon Followers before them had strength to stand, how could they escape the clutches of this flood of Bloodcrazed?
No matter how powerful Teacher Liszt and the others were, even if they had the same fighting ability as the dragon riders of the Nine Great Families, it was useless against this many Bloodcrazed. They would ultimately be exhausted and overrun.
At a time like this, just what was the point of shouting such words?"
But then, Ayrin shouted once more, "Teacher Liszt, let me, Rinloran, and Stingham protect Teacher Ciaran! You all go and deal with Dias and the Shamanist Bishop!"
"We will protect Teacher Ciaran? Are you joking, Ayrin?" Stingham couldn't help but swear.
"Death's Energy: Shadow Ball!"
A ring of evil light immediately descended over the fallen Bloodcrazed closest to Ayrin.
A black shadow ball formed and slammed into the chest of an incoming Bloodcrazed with a loud boom.
The Bloodcrazed let out a shriek as it tumbled backwards through the sky.
"This guy…" Rinloran and Stingham were both stunned.
At the same time, Liszt and Carter subconsciously exchanged looks.
"He managed to learn a necromantic skill?"
"Then perhaps we shall not all perish here after all!"
Liszt's grim and seemingly frozen lips abruptly turned upwards as a brilliant smile appeared atop his face.
"Alright. You must protect your teacher well. You have sworn to," Liszt replied as he nodded at Ayrin.
Ayrin charged into the midst of the Bloodcrazed, constantly absorbing the energies of death to create shadow balls and using them to send one Bloodcrazed after another flying into the distance.
At the same time, he shouted towards Ciaran behind him, "Teacher Ciaran! Although Teacher Ashur is no longer here, we shall protect you in his place!"
Tears emerged in Ciaran's eyes once more as her vision blurred once more.
"Ayrin, you really are some kind of guy!" RInloran and Stingham both muttered under their breaths.
But in the next moment, the two of them also shouted in a fiery and passionate manner, "Teacher Ciaran, we swear to protect you in place of Teacher Ashur!" Without looking back, they too charged forwards into the flood of Bloodcrazed.