In a secluded corner far from the epicenter of the explosion just now, the shadows flickered violently, and Mia’s figure staggered into view.
She leaned against the cold, rough wall, gasping heavily, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would burst through her chest.
“Too… too close…” Mia whispered in fright, the devastating flash of the explosion still flickering before her eyes, the terror of life and death barely faded.
That had truly scared her—it was such a perilous scene that she almost thought she wouldn’t make it out.
Mia opened her palm.
The ancient-looking scroll in her hand emitted its last faint glow before shattering inch by inch like burnt-out ashes, dissolving into sparkling dust that slipped through her fingers and vanished into the night breeze.
Thankfully, she had the 【Teleportation Scroll】, a precious magical item for one-time use only. Once its spatial magic runes were activated, they would be completely expended.
Mia had used the 【Teleportation Scroll】 just a moment before the explosion to escape alive.
Teacher Sefina had clearly gone to great lengths and paid a high price to obtain this key tool to perfectly execute the “Golden Cicada Shedding.”
In fact, from the moment the adjutant issued the clearing order, Sefina had already been setting the stage for today.
She had proposed the bat demon attack to the Seventh Seat, set a trap to lure the blood clan, and then orchestrated her own rescue of Mia.
The purpose was to leak to the school authorities that there were some “unruly elements” within the school.
Then, during the second attack, Sefina manipulated the Seventh Seat to deploy the bat demons again, arranged to draw in the patrol team, and at the crucial moment, used the prepared scroll to stage a “no trace of the corpse” drama in full view of everyone.
By then, everyone would believe the blood clan girl had been “completely destroyed” in that fierce explosion.
From that point on, the 【Black Utopia】 would no longer hunt a dead person, and Oselenka Academy would give up searching for a “dead” fugitive.
Sliding down the wall to sit on the ground, Mia took a deep breath of the cold air and exhaled slowly. Her tightly strung nerves could finally relax a little.
“Huff—finally… is it all over?”
She murmured to herself, a mixture of post-disaster exhaustion and immense relief washing over her. Teacher Sefina’s plan should be considered a success, right?
However, Mia didn’t know that Sefina’s plan went far beyond simply staging her “fake death.”
This drama still required a sufficiently weighty “supporting role” to highlight it before it could be perfectly concluded.
***
Meanwhile, about fifteen hundred meters from the clock tower, at the edge of a flat rooftop on a teaching building.
Sefina’s petite figure lay prone, cloaked in a camouflage cape blending perfectly with the environment’s colors.
In front of her rested a uniquely designed weapon combining the style of anotherworldly engineering with traces of magical alchemy—a sniper rifle.
She pursed her lips, casting a slightly dissatisfied glance through a rudimentary scope mounted on the barrel at the rapidly moving black figure atop the clock tower in the distance.
“Tsk, missed the mark.”
She muttered quietly. The bullet had only grazed the side of the Seventh Seat, leaving a smoking pit on the ancient stone bricks.
This wasn’t entirely Sefina’s fault.
This rifle was an experimental product she had tinkered together using her knowledge from her previous life along with this world’s materials science and magical rune technology. She was no professional sniper herself.
At this distance, accurately calculating the trajectory and overcoming the influences of gravity, wind speed, and humidity was far more complicated than just clicking a mouse in an FPS game.
Hitting anywhere within the clock tower’s range was already quite good.
Besides, Sefina had never expected to kill an experienced organizational officer with a single bullet. Her main goal was not a direct kill.
She just needed to draw the attention of those people down below.
On the clock tower, the Seventh Seat looked warily at the smoking bullet hole at their feet.
That moment of danger had sent a chill down their spine!
What kind of attack was that? It was incredibly fast, with no magical fluctuation, yet it carried terrifying penetrative power!
If struck, even with protective magic, it would likely cause serious injury!
What was worse—
“Over there! Someone’s on the clock tower!” The patrol team on the ground clearly noticed the unusual sound and bullet mark. Captain Duncan immediately pointed toward the top of the clock tower.
“Team One, follow me up! Capture that figure in black! Team Two, investigate the direction of that strange sound just now, be on high alert!”
The well-trained patrol teams split up at once. Most surged toward the base of the clock tower under Duncan’s lead like a tide, magical lights flashing as they aimed at the rooftop.
***
Meanwhile, a smaller squad cautiously searched toward the teaching building where Sefina was located.
The Seventh Seat was both shocked and enraged, a nameless fury rising to their head.
Who exactly?! Who was secretly attacking?
Was it that white-haired woman who had caused trouble last time? No, the Ninth Seat should have been monitoring her! Could there be a third party involved?
But now was no time for the Seventh Seat to ponder!
“Whish, whish, whish—!”
Several fireballs mixed with sharp wind blades and chilling ice spikes howled upward from below, blocking all possible escape routes. The patrol team’s assault had begun!
The Seventh Seat cursed inwardly, their black robe stirring as a powerful dark magic erupted instantly, forming a shadow shield before them that barely held back the first wave of attacks.
Ripples appeared on the shield’s surface, clearly struggling to maintain its strength.
They had to break through immediately. Once tangled up, with more academy experts arriving, escape would be impossible.
Seeing Duncan’s figure already at the stairwell leading to the rooftop, the Seventh Seat’s eyes flashed with determination. It seemed they had to resort to some last-resort measures…
Team One was fiercely engaged in battle with the Seventh Seat, while Team Two members gripped their wands tightly as they cautiously stepped into the target teaching building.
It was eerily quiet here, with only the wind rustling across the empty platform, no sign of anyone.
“Report: rooftop… empty!” A member reported through the Communication Magic Crystal after a careful sweep.
That strange sharp noise from earlier seemed like just an illusion, dissipating into the night.
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