Chapter 1015: The Sage

Hao Ren was not the only one seeing the shadow. Lily, who had always been known for her excellent sixth sense, had also seen the shadow flashing past the bookshelves. The husky maiden screamed, “Someone’s there!”

They immediately gave chase to the faint scent of the shadow, weaving between bookshelves, which looked more like a maze. After chasing it down a few blocks of bookshelves, Hao Ren could see the figure; it was a petite woman. Looking from the back, the woman was as tall as Lily and extremely agile in her movement. Just when everyone was about to catch up with this woman, the woman suddenly went straight into a bookshelf that was full of scrolls before disappearing mysteriously before their eyes.

“It has gone?” Hao Ren managed to stop before crashing into the bookshelf. He examined the bookshelf, which looked nothing extraordinary. There was no secret opening or passage. The MDT shook its body after getting environmental readings from the surrounding space. “There is no sign of teleportation. Probably it was a phantom,” it said.

“First the zombie demon hunters, now the ghostly figure,” Y’zaks said in a rough voice. “Could it be that all the demon hunters in this tower have gone into an anabiotic state?”

“Still remember Claude?” Lily seemed to have recalled something. “Did he escape from the tower before you guys caught him in the front line?” she asked.

“But he didn’t look like he was a deserter,” Y’zaks said, shaking his head. Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming from not afar.

A tall figure appeared out of nowhere and walked toward them slowly. Holding a thick book, the figure seemed to be immersed in reading. Now, White Flame could see the figure clearly. She exclaimed, “Teacher!”

The figure was none other than Hasse, who was detained in the Netherrealm Clock Tower.

Just like Andaherr, Hasse’s eyes were hollow, and his behavior was mechanical like a puppet without a soul, repeating the same routine in the tower. Holding a big book and pacing before a bookshelf, he glanced up with an expressionless face when Hao Ren and his team came up to him. He nodded to White Flame and asked, “Are you here to study Potionology?”

“Teacher, how did you end up like this?” Though White Flame knew that Hasse might not be able to answer her question, she still came up and held his hand, asking anxiously, “Are you alright?”

Hasse looked at White Flame with a blank expression. After a long while, he nodded gently. “I am fine,” he answered.

“Where are the other people?” Hao Ren tried to ask some questions. From his experience with Andaherr, even if Hasse was in an out-of-body state, he should be able to provide a little bit of information. “Where are the sages?”

“Everyone is at where they should be. The sages are lecturing,” Hasse said slowly and nodded to Vivian. “Countess,” he said.

“His soul is also isolated and imprisoned in the deepest part of his consciousness. He is as if isolated in another space and time,” the MDT said as he examined Hasse. “Well… his symptoms seem to be milder than others.”

“Symptoms are milder?” There was a glimmer of hope in White Flame’s eyes. “Can you wake him up?” she asked anxiously.

By now, Hao Ren had also noticed that Hasse’s condition was indeed better than that of Andaherr. Hasse’s eyes were darting around. He was suspicious of them as if he knew subconsciously that these people should not be here in the Netherrealm Clock Tower. This kind of active thinking activity did not occur in Andaherr and the dozens of demon hunters earlier.

Part of Hasse’s intelligence faculty was still active. His subconscious mind could be trying to show this.

The MDT flew around Hasse’s head and muttered, “Perhaps because the original location of the library is outside the Netherrealm Clock Tower, his condition is milder than others. I will try to give him some stimulation. Though it’s not going to wake him up completely, you can take this opportunity to ask him questions.”

A series of blue light lit up on the MDT before it shone the lights on Hasse’s forehead. Hasse was visibly shocked, and his vision returned to clarity.

“Teacher, how are you?” White Flame grabbed Hasse’s shoulder and shook him. “Can you hear me?” she asked anxiously.

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Hasse’s eyes are constantly changing between sobriety and chaos. It seemed that he was trying to get rid of some kind of mental imprisonment, but he still could not make enough vivid and clear reactions. Y’zaks, who was a dab hand at the matter of the soul, realized Hasse’s condition. He stepped forward and pressed his hands on Hasse’s shoulders. “Don’t force yourself to speak, just nod or shake your head when I ask. Can you hear our voices?”

Hasse slowly nodded.

“Do you know where the sages are? At where they should be?”

Hasse nodded.

“Take us there.”

Hasse hesitated for a moment, but eventually, he nodded. He then turned and walked toward a particular direction.

They followed the elder going deeper into the Netherrealm Clock Tower. Teuton left marks along the way so that the small team of soldiers shadowing them could keep up. Though it seemed that the guards of the Netherrealm Clock Tower had disintegrated due to the strange ghostly state, there was still a need for the main forces to conduct a sweeping investigation in the tower later.

With Hasse’s guidance, they finally found the missing demon hunters, including the elders who had been detained by the Council of Elders, and the guards of the Netherrealm Clock Tower.

But the situation in this place was even more bizarre and creepier.

They passed through a series of cold, gloomy halls, dusty study rooms, and dark corridors that echoed with a whistling sound. The Netherrealm Clock Tower was full of abandoned, lifeless rooms that had faded in colors. The flickering candlelight seemed to not consume the candles were on the walls. Flames that lacked temperature were creaking in the fireplaces in the corner of various rooms; and chilly wind that blew out of nowhere through the building, bringing ambiguous voices that only Lily could perceive.

It was as if a haunted house.

The demon hunters were moving around like zombies, as if ghosts imprisoned in the cracks of time, repeating the same routine mechanically. In the library, several elders were wholly immersed in ancient books. In the arsenal, the masters were wiping the weapons repeatedly, and his eyes were hollow. In the upper corridors, the patrol guards had seen the intruders, but they were not bothered. They still worked according to their duty roster, turning a blind eye to everything that passed by.

At last, they came to a place that looked like a ballroom.

The ballroom was dark and creepy. The fading was more severe here than in other places, as though the only colors left were black and white. There was also a chilly atmosphere lingering in the air; breathing had become difficult.

Ethereal and intermittent music echoed throughout the ballroom as if it was merely a sound leaking from a broken dimension. It made people wonder if there was a gala really being held in the ballroom—a never-ending party repeating itself in a closed space and time.

After Hasse brought them here, he did not say a word. The MDT was examining him while Hao Ren was keeping an eye on the surroundings. There were faint shadows appeared in the dark space from time to time. These shadows appeared in a flash and then disappeared just as quickly. When looking carefully, Hao Ren found that these were human figures, like the afterimages of the guests in the gala.

In his peripheral vision, Hao Ren saw a faintly familiar short figure running out of the corner of the ballroom. The short figure was the one that suddenly appeared and then disappeared into the library. It ran across the ballroom and flashed a few times before disappearing beside Lily. The husky maiden had almost jumped out of her skin.

Just when everyone was nervous, Y’lisabet suddenly pointed to the end of the ballroom and shouted, “There’s a person there!”

Hao Ren looked in the direction where Y’lisabet was pointing at. A vaguely visible figure was in the darkness. Wearing a black robe, the thin figure had almost thoroughly blended in with the shade in the background, and there was no scent detected. Only Y’lisabet had spotted it.

Lily nervously went forward and found that the person was probably the so-called sage as the person was wearing a weird mask.

But this person did not give out any scent at all.

Lily cautiously poked the person in front of her eyes with her claw. “It seems that he’s been dead for a long time,” she said.