Chapter 63: Triple Overlapping Curse
Sid stepped out from behind the door, shrugged, and leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, making no move to enter the room.
"Yes, it's me. But have you forgotten again? You should be calling me senior."
Saul clutched his chest in agony, his face contorted as he glared at Sid.
"Are you trying to kill me? Aren't you afraid that Mentor Kaz will flay you alive?"
Sid chuckled, his face full of disdain. "Who said I was making a move on you? This is clearly a fight between first-year apprentices. I just happened to pass by and was kind enough to help clean up the corpses."
"Do you think you can fool the mentors?"
"Do you think the mentors actually care about a few dead apprentices?" Sid's gaze swept across the cluttered experiment table and cabinets, sneering. "Trying to make an antidote? Clever, but what you're suffering from isn't poison. Medicine won't help you."
Saul grabbed the conveyor belt and began to move, but Sid remained by the door, neither stepping in nor stopping him.
It seemed he intended to wait until Saul died on his own.
Saul reached the transport station, clutching the black tassels, and shouted inside, "Senior! Senior!"
The bright candlelight above illuminated Saul’s pale complexion.
Sid laughed again.
"Do you really think someone will come to save you? Hayden happens to be busy today and isn't around," he taunted. "Byron from Morgue One turned thirty a few days ago and has already left the wizard tower. No successor has been assigned yet. Right now, in the second floor of the East Tower, it's just you and me."
"What did you do to me?" Saul asked, supporting himself on the conveyor belt as he moved, seemingly trying to find something useful among the potions on the lab table.
"I already told you—it's not poison." Sid's smile vanished, replaced by impatience. "Hurry up and die so I can clean up your body."
Seeing that Saul was still struggling, Sid decided to extinguish his last hope.
"You're under a curse. If your backer, Kongsha, were here, she might be able to break it. But she has an apprentice test today. Even if you could reach her, she wouldn't have time to help you."
Saul's movements stiffened. He looked at Sid, his face finally showing despair.
"Ugh!"
He coughed up another mouthful of black blood.
His body trembled and then collapsed.
As his heavy body fell, he accidentally knocked over the lever beside the conveyor station, setting the belt into motion with a low hum.
On the ground, Saul convulsed twice before going limp.
Sid finally revealed a genuine smile and quickly stepped forward.
He wasn’t afraid of Saul playing dead; he had plenty of ways to control a new apprentice.
What he feared was acting too late and letting the diary slip away again.
Sid crouched down and reached out to turn Saul over.
At that moment, behind him, a half-faced woman emerged bit by bit from the black leather tassels on the conveyor.
The humming of the conveyor masked the nearly inaudible chanting of an incantation.
A crystalline ice dagger swiftly formed in midair—larger than the one Saul had summoned with his wand, resembling a real dagger—and it lunged toward Sid’s back!
At the last moment, Sid sensed something and leaped forward abruptly.
But he was a fraction too slow. Though he avoided a fatal wound, the ice dagger still pierced his lower abdomen, leaving a bloodied hole that rapidly froze over.
Had he not jumped forward, the dagger would have punctured his heart.
Without looking back, Sid immediately cast a defensive spell.
A translucent barrier appeared between him and Kongsha, blocking the secondary Frost Orb that followed the dagger.
Cold mist swirled as ice flowers formed on the transparent shield.
Before Sid could catch his breath, another ice dagger silently appeared at his left.
But Sid was no ordinary opponent. His entire body suddenly melted like a candle.
The dagger sliced through, carrying away some of the waxy liquid, but the remaining mass quickly coalesced back into Sid’s original form.
However, the gaping wound in his abdomen remained.
Clearly, the spell only allowed him to evade damage, not heal his previous injuries.
Meanwhile, Kongsha’s next ice dagger was already forming in the air.
Sid’s face turned deathly pale.
The reason Kongsha was the strongest among second-class apprentices was her ability to cast first-tier spells consecutively, despite the mental fatigue.
Sid, on the other hand, had already used both his defensive spell and first-tier Wax Fusion. He needed time to stabilize his mental state before casting again.
Otherwise, a casting failure could backfire disastrously.
As the third ice dagger rapidly took shape—accelerated by the residual energy of the previous Frost Orb—Sid was left with no choice but to use his trump card.
Lowering his hand, he revealed a small wooden figurine.
The moment Kongsha saw it, her expression changed. She immediately dispelled the forming ice dagger, causing a sharp jolt to her brain.
Within her glass-like head, numerous eyeballs surfaced, all fixed on the figurine in Sid’s hand.
"You dare carry an elven figurine with you? Aren’t you afraid of going insane one day?"
Sid took advantage of the moment to steady his mental state. Holding the figurine was risky, but he still grinned defiantly. "I have my own methods. Without this, you wouldn’t even give me a chance to speak."
Kongsha had attacked him the moment she appeared, and her relentless strikes had left him no time to chant or counter her.
"Kongsha, we don’t need to fight to the death over a mere servant," Sid reasoned, glancing at Saul. The latter lay on the ground, his face pale and blood trickling from his lips, looking as if he would die any second.
Sid’s goal was almost within reach, and excitement surged within him. "Especially one who's about to die anyway."
"But he’s useful to me," Kongsha replied coldly. "What did you do to him?"
"Just a triple overlapping curse," Sid said nonchalantly.
"A triple overlapping curse?" Kongsha's eyes never left the figurine, her eyeballs not retreating into her brain. "That requires three lives... So those three new apprentices—you sent them for Saul to kill?"
"Exactly. The kid’s ruthless. He never hesitated. The first one wasn't technically his kill, but dying in his presence was enough to bind death energy to him," Sid said smugly. "Now, Kongsha, will you really fight me over someone who’s doomed to die?"
Kongsha’s many eyes flicked to Saul, then back.
Seeing her hesitate, Sid pressed further. "I only want this brat’s corpse to vent my anger. You can take everything else."
Kongsha remained silent, seeming to agree.
Still wary, Sid kept his eyes on her, cautiously stepping toward Saul.
On the ground, Saul weakly lifted his head, watching as Sid drew closer, his gaze pleading for Kongsha’s help.
But Kongsha’s many eyes stayed locked on the figurine, showing no indication of aiding him.
Sid took another step forward, then suddenly stomped down hard, cracking the stone tiles beneath him.
Using the rebound force, he propelled himself backward, abandoning Saul entirely and dashing toward the door.
A second later, two ice daggers struck the spot he had just stood, shattering more stone tiles.
"Tch!" Kongsha sighed regretfully.
Sid was too cautious. If he escaped today, she might not get another "self-defense" opportunity.
But just as Sid reached the door, a figure emerged from behind it and delivered a solid punch, sending him flying back inside.
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