CH 12

On the topmost floor of a tower in the branch, Nasura held his magic wand in hand as he carefully and solemnly observed Adele, the grinning tutor who was standing in front of the corpse. Looking at it now, the tutors who had come together with her all dropped dead in a pool of blood. On the back of their heads, there were similar-sized cut marks. All of this was done by Adele, who was standing in the center of the room. She was holding two knives with an off-putting smile on her face.

"Who... are you?" Nasura could feel a sense of danger coming from this woman. The feeling he felt only when he was attacked by the Black Murloc King in Maras Swamp. However, this sense of danger came from a woman who looked weak, a woman whose height was a head shorter than his.

Nasura saw Adele leisurely moved her arms and put the carving knife on her waist. She simply ignored the magic wand pointed at her forehead in Nasura's hand. She then used her fingers to comb her messy hair.

"Answer me!" At first, Nasura only raised his eyebrows. But when he noticed Adele treating him like air, he yelled angrily.

However, a weird smile bloomed on Adele’s lips. She put down the hand that was combing her hair, touched her nose with a strange expression, and said, "Well, it must be you who I felt in the hall. An aura as cold as an ice serpent. Am I right, Hellitt? Or should I say, Nasura, the Great Ice Mage of the Tower Forest Mage Association?"

Hellitt of the Forest of Towers. That was one of the top three mage associations on the entire continent of Olosen, surpassing hundreds of others. It was both mysterious and powerful. So powerful it could even destroy kingdoms! Nasura, the mage, turned out to be a great mage from Hellitt!

At this moment, Nasura's eyes widened. He took a few steps back. In a sudden burst of alertness, he muttered, "Her breathing technique…. She turns out to be a hound of the Assassin Alliance."

Assassin Alliance, an organization of assassins who lurked in the dark. Its members were very widely distributed. Not even they themselves know how many members were there. Each one was a highly trained assassin. It was a veritable bloody and greedy organization. As long as someone paid them, they would use all of their strength to eliminate the targeted party.

The outstanding ones in the organization were taught a special method, which was the detection breathing method. It was said to be able to expand the spiritual senses, feel the magic of nearby creatures, and visualize them. The outstanding assassins, who were lucky enough to obtain this method, were awarded the title of 'dark pathfinder dog' in the Assassin Alliance. These powerful assassins were nicknamed 'The Hound' by outsiders.

Right now, Nasura felt a little nervous. There was no doubt that a hound of the Assassin Alliance was lurking here to spy on the legendary treasure. And judging by the appearance of her familiarity with other tutors, she seemed to have been lurking for a long time. Unlike himself, who had just received the temporary order, who immediately rode a stag and rushed here with all his might. It was hard to determine whether this assassin had some advantageous and valuable informations he didn’t know about.

Adele, who was standing on the opposite side, might've seen through Nasura's thoughts. Seeing the subtle change in his expression, she immediately said with a smile, "Yes, I am a hound. But it is all in the past. Now I'm just a stray dog that escaped from its owner's house."

Nasura was startled. This woman claimed to have defected from the Assassin Alliance? It would make her a target for an assassin of the same caliber! Was this woman telling the truth?

Adele's unremarkable face showed a strange coquettishness. She covered her smile and said, "Why? Don't believe it? I am the one who decapitated thirteen of my compatriots and colleagues…. I see that Your Excellency got an order and came here in a hurry. In other words, that scroll is really here!"

The excited Adele suddenly noticed the puzzled expression on Nasura's face. Seeing that, she became confused. Then, she heard Nasura ask, "Scroll? What scroll? I didn't receive any orders about any scroll!"

"Hmph! Come on, Your Excellency the Great Mage. This isolated and barren branch can make the Tower Forest do almost anything for this single scroll. I believe it won't be long before all of the world's major organizations arrive here one by one. At that time, you'll be insignificant. Do you still want to continue lying?"

Nasura suspected something was really wrong, seeing that Adele didn't appear to be lying. The urgently delivered magic letter was not as simple as it appeared on the surface. Nasura lowered his guarded wand, took a step forward, and stated frankly, "I was just passing by, but I received an urgent order to investigate potential treasures and clues. It doesn't tell me what it was at all."

As soon as he said this, even Adele was a little surprised. But, she recovered in an instant. With fear imbued in her ridicule, she said, "Respected great magician, Your Excellency Nasura, it seems that you are not very favored by the mages. I haven't said this to anyone at all… but it seems you guys from the Tower Forest are so rich and powerful that even a great magician is merely a pawn..."

"Hmph, stop talking nonsense! If this really is a big secret, how do you know about it?" Nasura immediately asked the crucial point that was on his mind.

Unexpectedly, Adele dismissed it without even thinking about it, "Why do you think I escaped from the organization? Fortunately, those bastards in the Assassin Association didn't know that I'd learned the secret. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent only thirteen outstanding assassins. If they knew, they would have hunted me down with fifty senior assassins who'd slaughter every town I passed by!"

Nasura didn't care whether Adele was alive or dead. Right now, he thirsted for information. He was curious and was eager to know what could make the Tower Forest, one of the three top organizations in the Olosen Continent, feel anxious.

It should be a secret, but apparently, Adele had plans to tell him. As soon as she finished speaking, she laughed a little awkwardly and said in a soft voice, "To show my sincerity, I will tell you. There's a shocking secret hidden deep in this ordinary branch of the Freemasons' Association. A nearly forgotten and disbelieved secret that's been known by the major organizations."

"Tell me! What is it?!" Nasura was a little impatient. But then, he heard the most shocking words in his life.

"It's the Ripley Scroll... Hehe, judging by your expression, it appears that you are also aware of the scroll mentioned in the myth that the entire continent knows of, but believes it does not exist."

“The scroll of the one who betrayed God!?”

Nasura's eyes widened. Although he expected that there would be some kind of artifact or holy object here, he never expected that it would be the scroll of the one who rebelled, which was recorded in the Cassily Bible he read as a child!

"That... is the greatest disrespect to the god of light, Enos, or even the god of darkness, Belair, and the god of nature, Jacono! This is blatant blasphemy! The Holy See will definitely intervene, those religious lunatics are bound to come. This is not a safe place to stay for long!" Nasura, who was covered in cold sweat, muttered to himself. He suddenly looked up and saw Adele, who was seriously excited. The latter nodded back at him with folded arms.

"Now you know how dangerous this place is and how little time we have, Your Excellency the Great Mage."