"Doctor, you just drive the carriage."
As Dorothy spoke, she had already opened the lid of the wooden box, grasped a handful of fine salt, and carefully sprinkled the salt on the huge St. Byron's emblem on the surface of the black coffin on the shaking carriage.
At the same time, more than ten black wolves had already rushed out from the strange forest that did not seem like the real world and followed the carriage. They were not ordinary beasts. In addition to their huge bodies and uneven crystal spikes on their backs, they were actually running in the air and almost merged with the black shadow.
As long as there was no big noise, Tobesk would not see any changes to the carriage in the current state of spatial dislocation. Therefore, Shade was relieved to prepare to cast the spell. At the same time, the "match girl" called by Dorothy who was spreading salt had already appeared beside Shade with a basket.
The barefoot girl with a headscarf bowed to Xia De, then took out a match and put it in front of her mouth, blowing gently, and the sea of fire swept to the back of the carriage. However, the effect of the flame was not good, because soon, the first black wolf running in the void broke through the sea of fire and approached the carriage, and was then split into two by Xia De's sword light.
It did not leave a corpse, but disappeared into the shadows. So these wolf-like creatures should be elemental life.
"Moonlight Slash."
Cross Moonlight flew into the spreading sea of fire from the back of the carriage, and Dorothy had already completed nearly half of her salting work. The power leak of the relic this time was not very strong, so it was surprisingly easy to stop it.
"Detective, be careful, there's a big guy coming."
A reminder from Priest Augustus came from the front, so the little girl carrying the basket took the burning match away from her mouth. She and Shad saw the black wolves that had luckily avoided the attack just now merge together, and then a black wolf bigger than the carriage appeared behind the slowly moving carriage.
Its eyes glowed red, and its body hair and the crystal on its back were also pure black, almost blending into the darkness with no clear boundaries.
It raised its front paws and slapped the carriage, which looked extremely fragile. Shade cast a spell quickly, but when the silver ring flying out of the carriage approached its front paws, the front paws turned into shadows and lost their substance. The light of confinement passed through the shadows and flew towards the larger body of the black wolf, but was caught in the wolf's mouth and crushed to pieces.
Fine silver dots of light sprinkled downwards, and the giant black wolf used its sharp claws to grab the carriage again. This time, the little girl carrying the basket disappeared beside Shade, and suddenly appeared on the top of the carriage while snowflakes fell from the sky. She blew out the burning match:
"stop."
The wolf froze in midair, getting farther and farther away from the slowly moving carriage, but it would be able to move again in just five seconds. This was the result of the combination of Shade's incomplete puzzle and Dorothy's magic. They had discussed the use of this magic in their studies every Saturday, but this was the first time they had actually used it. Of course, this effect could not be compared with Shade's complete puzzle "Wish", but the advantage of the weak effect was that the consumption was not very large.
Taking advantage of the opportunity Dorothy had gained, Shade, holding the sword, had already pointed the Night's Watch at the huge black body that was running towards them again:
"Daylight ray!"
A huge torrent of warm yellow energy bombarded the shadowy shell, piercing through the black wolf's body like a hot iron rod piercing through snow.
Meanwhile, Dorothy had finished spreading salt. The forest scene disappeared, and the foggy Tobysk street scene reappeared in the night. The slowly moving carriage continued to roll over the city's road surface, and the rhythmic clatter of the horses' hooves was reassuring. The gas street lamp cast the shadow of the carriage diagonally on the low wall on the other side of the street, and the giant wolf had disappeared from the back.
The night is still so peaceful.
Shad put away his sword and breathed a sigh of relief. Dorothy returned to his side and continued to watch the street scene that was getting farther and farther away while patting the salt stains on her hands.
“Well done.”
Dr. Schneider's voice came from the front, indicating that this brief leakage of relic power had ended.
"I don't understand. Since table salt works, why not just put the coffin in the salt? I don't think the academy can afford so much refined salt, right?"
Shade's voice said, and the doctor smiled and asked him to try:
"We'll know after we give it a try. Since the academy doesn't forbid this, it means it won't cause any problems... Hold on tight, we're going to speed up and turn."
So Shad asked Dorothy for a bag of salt, and sprinkled a handful of it on the coffin in the wooden box, and the salt melted into water like snow. Shad then looked at the salt that Dorothy had sprinkled along the school emblem trace, and it had indeed "melted" after the abnormality ended.
“That’s really interesting.”
Xia De commented, and the writer praised Xia De:
"I haven't seen you fight properly for a long time. Your performance just now was really good."
"This sword is much more useful."
Shad said, and when he saw the salt on his hands, he licked it to get rid of it. Dorothy showed a puzzled expression, not because she was disgusted by Shad's unhygienic behavior, but because she didn't know when he had developed a love for eating salt.
"It's not salt, it's sugar."
As he spoke, he also grabbed Dorothy's hand and licked it gently, and explained:
"My thaumaturgy candy making can turn food into sugar. Salt is obviously considered food, although it is not suitable for large quantities."
The writer blushed and nodded, putting her hands behind her back, fearing that Xia De would do something even more excessive.
The estimated transfer time from the Tobysk train station in the north of the city to the warehouse rented by the doctor in the west of the city is between 20 minutes and half an hour. This is assuming no accidents. These accidents include not only the loss of control of the relics and attacks, but also the troubles caused by ordinary people.
When the carriage entered Saint Laurent Avenue at the junction of the North City and the West City, the patrolling police officer stopped the carriage and asked what was being transported.
Although freight carriages were not prohibited from entering the core urban area of Tobysk, it was indeed unusual to see goods being transported so late at night.
So Dr. Schneider took out a forged certificate that he had bought from Old John in advance:
"Delivering woven bags to Mr. Roman Schulz's flour mill. He needs them urgently, so we should send them over as soon as possible."
After checking the documents, the police officer asked to open the carriage for inspection. The doctor did not stop them, and when they came to the back, they saw Shad and Dorothy standing in front of the coffin, but what they saw was a mountain of woven bags filling the entire carriage.
"Okay, let's go. Once you've delivered the stuff, don't wander around. There was some trouble around seven o'clock, and there might be martial law tonight."
The police officer warned, throwing the certificate to Dr. Schneider. The doctor raised his eyebrows, and when Father Augustus nodded to him, he made a spellcasting gesture with his hands, and then asked softly:
"What happened in the city? I heard gunshots around seven o'clock."
"A baron from the Carsenrick delegation went to the north of the city to recruit people, and was shot."
"Such a small matter shouldn't warrant martial law, right? This is considered a scandal. There will be something to read in the newspapers over the next few days."
The doctor smiled and said, and the policeman holding the oil lamp said:
"I heard that it was for some other reason. On the surface, it was to hire a prostitute, but in fact, it was to meet with others to exchange information. Who knows? Anyway, it has nothing to do with you. Go away."
So the carriage carrying the coffin continued on its way, and Shade in the carriage looked at Dorothy. Dorothy nodded knowingly and used her newly acquired ability to talk to Leicia at any time to communicate:
"The person who met with Baron Carsenrick was a noble of high status in Tobesk. We don't know who it was yet. After the baron shot himself, the noble was startled by the gunshot and fled. The king was about to take a rest, but he urgently summoned Director Anros an hour ago and asked him to find out who the baron met with. 'She' said that MI6 knew nothing about this matter, and the king was very angry."
"The noble who escaped is a spy planted by Gray Gloves in the upper echelons of the kingdom?"
"I don't know. Judging from the pocket watch, letters, and canes left at the scene, they are not even ordinary nobles. This is not an ordinary espionage case, and it may not even be related to the Gray Gloves. In addition to Carsenrick and Delarion, there are other forces involved."
Dorothy shook her head.
"She said this has nothing to do with us and let's just do our group's job tonight."
The carriage continued to drive, and after entering the Tobesk West District, it was obvious that the city had become noisy. This was certainly not because the people living in the West District preferred nightlife, but because the steam factories in the West District were working overtime even at night.
Workers need to rest in shifts, but machines do not. Of course, under certain circumstances, people must not rest in shifts. Now in the Tobysk region, the average working time of workers is close to twelve hours a day, even though this situation has improved in recent years with the development of trade unions and the improvement of relevant labor laws. But it is obvious that it is absolutely impossible for the factory to rest after 8 o'clock in the evening.
Because of the need to transport goods and other needs, the gas street lamp installation rate in the West City District is much higher than that in the slums of the North City District. Dr. Schneider planned the route in advance to avoid crowded neighborhoods, so that if he encountered trouble, he would not involve more people.
This means that they have to frequently travel through dark streets without street lights, which makes the four people who are facing the double danger of the leakage of the power of the relics and unknown attackers feel more stressed.
"Doctor, I don't understand how those trackers from the New World determined the location of the relics?"
In the driver's seat, Father Augustus was still talking to Doctor Schneider, who said:
"The power of this relic can break through the containment measures for a short period of time. The unique power can be located remotely. The ring sorcerers who first came into contact with this relic and tried to compete with the academy for it knew how to strengthen this positioning method. So theoretically speaking, when we suddenly saw the forest just now, we should have been targeted."
"That's really bad."
Father Augustus said, and Shad in the carriage could even imagine the calm expression on his face when he spoke.
At this time, the carriage was driving in a narrow alley that could only allow one carriage to pass in one direction. On both sides of the alley were three-story apartment buildings with densely packed windows. It was difficult for Xia De to imagine whether there was no light at all on the ground floor.
The carriage only needed to enter the main street at the other end of the alley, and then walk for less than three minutes to reach the warehouse prepared by Dr. Schneider. During the preparation of the team's mission, although he did not come to ask Shade for help, the rest of the team helped to arrange defense, reconnaissance and other rituals in the warehouse.
Once inside the warehouse, the danger of the night was reduced by at least half.
But just as the carriage reached the alley and was about to turn east, Xia De in the carriage suddenly looked at the side wall of the carriage. The black vine-like pattern that was difficult to detect in the darkness was spreading on the wooden carriage and extending rapidly to the bottom of the carriage.
Although he didn't know what it was, he still raised his sword and stabbed the pattern. Then his eyes blurred, and the scene inside the carriage turned into an open roof. With his peripheral vision, he could even see that the carriage driven by the doctor was continuing to move forward in the night fog below the building.
Forced space transfer.
"She" reminded softly. Xia De was surprised that this unknown magic was so powerful, and then he found that the long sword in his hand actually pierced the right chest of the man in front of him.
The unknown ring wizard had golden hair and looked to be about 25 or 26 years old. He screamed in pain but was unable to break free from the sword.
"Just now I stabbed at the patterns... I see. Attacking the patterns will cause forced space transfer, but the caster will also bear the attack on the patterns. If I ignore the patterns, the space transfer effect will probably be directed to the carriage itself, and the relics will not be affected... Is this powerful or not?"
As he thought about it, he rotated the hilt of the sword. The injury caused by the long sword spinning in the flesh and blood made the unknown ring warlock scream again. Behind him, the life ring of the six-ring warlock was clearly visible. He did not try to defend or heal, but endured the severe pain and slapped his left hand on Shade's chest.
Shade didn't even think of dodging. He formed a seal with his empty left hand. Because the condition of holding a sword in his right hand was met, the shield with golden light opened and blocked the Whisper of the Six-Ring Warlock - the slapping magic used by the Poison Spirit Rune.
At the same time, the Hiton seal exploded at the right time, injuring the man's left hand at close range. The poison spread to his own hand, and when he tried to fight back a second time while enduring the pain in his chest and left hand, he had no chance.