48: The person I least want to see

“Understood, Brother Chi!”

The Knight shook the saliva off his face and hair, and decisively picked up a bucket of water from the side.

The bucket of water contained many impurities and emitted a strange odor.

After placing the bucket of water beneath Zuo Dao, he looked toward the Mage among the four people.

The Mage was also filled with anger from the scolding, but he still hesitated and asked quietly:

“Brother Chi, are we really going to do this?”

“Nonsense!”

Zhang Chi frowned and glared at the Mage, “Do you want everyone to look down on you later?!”

“...”

The Mage hesitated for a moment, then drew a cold, gleaming dagger from his waist.

Zuo Dao's expression changed, and he immediately became tense, “grandson, if you have the guts, let me down and let's fight one-on-one!”

“Speak up! Are you chickening out?!”

He provoked them wildly, but the Mage just gave Zuo Dao a cold look, gripped the dagger in his hand, and stepped forward, the blade flashing before Zuo Dao's eyes.

Zuo Dao widened his eyes in horror, his throat tightening, genuinely thinking he was about to be cut.

But the Mage merely gritted his teeth and sliced his own finger, allowing a few drops of blood to fall from his finger into the bucket beneath Zuo Dao.

“What the hell are you doing? Putting on a show?!”

Zuo Dao let out a breath of relief, then immediately cursed angrily.

The Mage ignored him, silently channeling the Magic Power within his body. A faint blue aura mixed with his blood as it dripped, and the water in the bucket instantly turned murky.

At the same time, Zuo Dao inexplicably felt a chill down his spine.

An unusual aura began to emerge, accompanied by a strange smell, like a mixture of dirt and blood.

It seemed... something was about to appear!

Zuo Dao panicked. As an Apothecary, his sense of smell was much stronger than that of an average Awakened One.

But Zhang Chi and the others, the perpetrators, didn't seem to notice.

Zhang Chi looked at Zuo Dao sinisterly and sneered:

“Zuo Dao, have you heard? In our academy's Star Bell Tower, there are some invisible monsters.”

“These monsters start becoming active whenever night falls.”

“When they smell blood mixed with Magic Power, they reveal themselves and devour flesh and blood!”

Zhang Chi deliberately lowered his voice and added a tremor to scare Zuo Dao.

Zuo Dao paused, then followed Zhang Chi's line of thought: “If something really appears, how can you guarantee it won't eat you guys too?”

The atmosphere in the hall at the top of the clock tower instantly froze.

“Uh...”

Zhang Chi let out a hesitant sound and didn't speak for a long time.

The four of them had only planned how to trick Zuo Dao into coming here and finding a way to scare him; they hadn't thought about anything else at all.

As for the method to lure out the monster, it hadn't been circulated among the students. He had heard an unfamiliar Teacher mention it.

Speaking of which... that Teacher seemed very unfamiliar. Had he never been seen at school before?

Zhang Chi shook his head, casting the question aside.

Anyway, this was just to scare Zuo Dao.

“Hmph, you don't need to worry about that. In short, just wait for...”

“No, no! Something's wrong! Wait a minute!”

Zuo Dao shouted, interrupting Zhang Chi with a grim expression.

His serious tone stunned Zhang Chi and the others.

The four people exchanged glances. Zhang Chi knitted his brows and said coldly, “Zuo Dao, do you think you can scare me?!”

However, Zuo Dao's face grew increasingly grim.

He spun silently in mid-air, his nose twitching slightly as he sniffed the increasingly strong earthy smell in the air. Then, his expression changed.

Damn it, something really came out!

This wasn't just sensed by smell—Zuo Dao saw it!

Near the dial of the massive clock tower, a red Hexagram Magic Array faintly appeared in the void, with different and distorted patterns engraved on each corner.

The bloody water beneath Zuo Dao moved without wind, and strands of blood were drawn out of it, rapidly being sucked into the Magic Array!

The red Magic Array emitted bursts of cold light, and immediately afterward, a massive, dark hand reached out from within!

No arm, no body!

The palm was stained with countless bloodstains and had six or seven fingers, each as thick as a small tree trunk, covered in disgusting pustules!

Its fingers swayed like snake heads, tipped with sharp, blue, carapace-like nails. And on the middle finger, it wore a huge ring!

Bang!

Red light flashed, and the hand heavily struck the ground, supporting itself on a few fingers like a giant spider.

After this hand appeared, the entire Star Bell Tower immediately became cold and eerie.

Magic Power and an ominous aura quickly permeated the entire space.

“Holy crap!”

Zuo Dao's scalp felt numb with fear, and Zhang Chi and the others were instantly stunned in place!

There really was a monster here, and it was... a monster that defied description!

After landing, it quickly moved toward Zuo Dao and the others. Every time its nails hit the ground, they made a rattling sound.

“I... Help!”

Zhang Chi's face turned pale. He shouted in panic and turned to run.

But his three teammates ran even faster than him, having already rushed ahead before he even moved.

Zuo Dao, hanging in mid-air, was dumbfounded, watching the four of them scramble toward the stairwell.

He had lost his composure from before and struggled desperately, shaking his body: “Let me down before you run! What the hell is this thing, damn it!”

However, Zhang Chi and the others had tied the rope too tightly; Zuo Dao couldn't break free by himself.

“It's over, my life is forfeit...”

Zuo Dao looked at the giant hand right in front of him with a defeated expression, gave up struggling, and silently closed his eyes.

But the monstrous hand paused in front of him for a moment, raised a finger, and plunged it into the bucket beneath Zuo Dao.

In just an instant, the bloody water in the bucket was absorbed by the hand.

Then, as if it had found its target, it ignored Zuo Dao hanging in mid-air and quickly turned toward Zhang Chi and the four others. The ring on its middle finger also emitted a blue light!

That light should have belonged to Magic Power, but it contained a trace of bloody red!

Swish!

Several strands of bloody light suddenly flew out of the ring, heavily striking the backs of the four Zhang Chi group members who were fleeing in disarray.

They staggered from the impact and fell to the ground simultaneously!

The giant hand monster approached the four people step by step. Its speed wasn't fast, but the sense of oppression was immense.

Zhang Chi and the others were filled with terror and pain, unable even to get up and run away.

Just then, another set of footsteps running up the stairs sounded.

Zhang Chi and the others were overjoyed and desperately shouted toward the stairs.

“Who is it? Quick, help! There's a monster... huh?”

Zhang Chi's expression instantly froze upon seeing the person who had run up.