Under Kefi’s serious questioning, Mia visibly grew flustered, her eyes darting nervously, and her hands and feet unsure of where to move.
The scent of blood that Kefi mentioned…
Most likely was the lingering taste of Teacher Sefina’s blood still in her mouth. She hadn’t expected Kefi’s nose to be so keen—such a faint trace of the scent could still be caught by her!
Th-This…….. how was she supposed to explain it!
Was she supposed to say she had just bitten Teacher Sefina? Mia’s heart pounded like a war drum as she instinctively took a step back.
Seeing her unusual panic, Kefi’s blue eyes narrowed with suspicion, and she stepped forward, pressing the issue:
“Mia? What’s really going on? This smell…”
“Bang—!”
Mia’s back slammed against her desk, shaking the glass half-filled with water resting on its surface, nearly toppling it over.
That sudden impact sparked a flash of inspiration in Mia’s mind!
“Oh! It’s… it’s the blood of a fire lizard!” Mia seized the lifeline, hurriedly explaining, trying to sound natural.
“I… I accidentally knocked over Teacher Sefina’s bottle of Magic Material this morning, that bottle of fire lizard blood. She made me go fetch a new one, and I might’ve splashed some on myself while carrying it… Haha, no wonder there’s a smell…”
Mia skillfully used the excuse Teacher Sefina had covered for her earlier that morning.
Kefi had indeed seen Mia spill the teacher’s materials in class, and Teacher Sefina had explained it that way at the time.
Could it really be the unique, slightly burnt, fishy scent of fire lizard blood?
Kefi sniffed carefully. The scent was very faint, almost impossible to pinpoint.
Seeing Mia flustered but not as if she were hiding a major secret, Kefi’s doubts slowly faded.
“So that’s it… Be more careful next time.” Kefi sighed with relief, her tone softening again.
“Teacher Sefina might not seem strict on the surface, but you’re always so clumsy, no wonder she gets mad.”
“Got it.” Mia’s heart finally settled as Kefi stopped pressing. She nodded quickly like a machine, vowing silently never to forget to thoroughly rinse her mouth after feeding again!
***
Another Full Moon Night.
The bright silver disk hung high in the deep night sky, its cold light flowing like mercury, shrouding Oselenka Magic Academy in a hazy, mysterious veil.
Yet beneath this tranquility, currents of unrest stirred. Patrol squads gripped their wands, their vigilant gazes sweeping every shadowed corner, the air heavy with an invisible tension.
At this moment, atop the academy’s tallest building—the ancient clock tower—a figure cloaked entirely in voluminous black robes stood silently at the railing’s edge.
He was the Seventh Seat of the Black Utopia.
The Ninth Seat had confidently promised a method to lure out that cunning vampire girl once more.
But there was only one chance—it had to hit the mark. As for the formidable White-Haired Woman who had disrupted the last attempt…
The Ninth Seat claimed to have made arrangements, personally watching to ensure she would not interfere again.
The Seventh Seat harbored doubts. The Ninth Seat had recently been promoted and operated in a somewhat unpredictable manner. Could he truly be trusted?
Yet, the orders from the deputy officer were unquestionable. To complete the mission and eliminate the lingering threats within the organization, he had no choice but to trust his comrade for now.
Killing within Oselenka itself was a troublesome matter.
Using high-powered magic from a distance risked triggering the academy’s protective barriers or drawing patrols, dangerously exposing the organization.
That vampire was extraordinarily skilled at hiding, leaving almost no trace.
Using light-averse but keen-scented, controllable magic bats for an ambush was currently the most feasible approach.
If not for the mysterious White-Haired Woman who had intervened last time…
Who was that woman? Why… she looked vaguely familiar?
The Seventh Seat furrowed the brows hidden beneath his mask, trying to grasp that fleeting, indistinct impression.
At that moment, his sharp gaze caught a conspicuous white figure silently emerging at the edge of the courtyard in the distance!
The vampire girl!
Just as expected!
The Seventh Seat’s spirit sharpened. The Full Moon Night was when vampires’ craving for blood was strongest, and this vampire hidden inside the academy certainly had no stable blood source.
Once she scented the carefully laid, enticing blood aroma, resistance would be impossible.
So this was the Ninth Seat’s method of luring her out.
No chance to waste! The Seventh Seat stopped hesitating.
His hand beneath the black robe rapidly formed a complex hand seal, and his spiritual power stretched out like invisible threads, instantly linking with several magic bats lurking in the nearby shadows!
“Squeak—!”
The sharp cries pierced the night. Several black shadows shot through the air like arrows, suddenly pouncing from multiple directions toward the solitary white figure in the courtyard.
Mia’s heart raced with fear as the magic bats lunged from the darkness, but she did not fall into complete panic.
Because everything unfolding before her was exactly as Teacher Sefina had anticipated!
Mia quickly raised her wand and, following Teacher Sefina’s earlier instructions, began to “struggle” in her counterattack.
She condensed Magic Array Patterns, and the tip of her wand lit up with a crimson glow. Several Fire Arrows whistled toward the charging magic bats at the front.
The bats clearly feared fire, nimbly dodging or spewing Shadow Energy to counter the attacks, causing their assault to falter momentarily.
Mia kept moving, avoiding encirclement while casting successive low-level fire spells like Spark Spell and Scorching Ray, laying down fleeting walls of flame before her.
For a moment, the courtyard flickered with firelight, the bats’ shrieks mingling with the crackling of magic.
However, the number of bats seemed greater than last time and far more cunning.
They no longer charged blindly but used their numerical and speed advantage to strike repeatedly from tricky angles, draining Mia’s magic.
Already weakened by the full moon’s influence and with limited mana reserves, her breathing grew hurried and her casting slowed noticeably, beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
Her fireballs shrank, and her fire shields thinned and wavered.
One bat seized an opening during her casting, rushing fiercely from the flank. Its sharp claws grazed her arm, snatching strands of hair and leaving a bloodied scratch!
Mia stifled a groan of pain, staggering back.
The bats sensed their prey’s fatigue, their attacks growing fiercer, blood-red eyes gleaming with hunger.
“No… my magic is almost gone…” Mia panicked inwardly. According to the plan, she needed to hold out until a crucial moment, but it seemed she wouldn’t make it…
Just as her magic was about to run dry, a dark orb shot from the mouth of a larger bat, violently smashing into her faltering last Fire Shield—
In that instant, the shield shattered with a crack. Mia was blasted backward, her wand flying from her grasp!
Without her final defense, she could only watch helplessly as the snarling magic bats surged forward like a tide of black ink, ready to overwhelm her!