Chapter 81 - The Death of Gregory

Richard slowly moved with the mirror tube in hand, magnifying and bringing the scene of the hill closer to him, revealing some details.The hill had clearly undergone a fierce battle, with the ground churned up and streaked with scorch marks. Gregory could see no trace, unsure whether he had won or lost in the battle, let alone whether he was alive or dead.

Suddenly, Richard’s eyebrows lifted, spotting a black shadow moving with its back to him through the telescope, walking out from the edge of the field of view, until it fully appeared at the center, looking down as if inspecting something.

Inspecting what?

As Richard pondered, the next moment he saw the figure suddenly turn its head sharply, appearing to look straight into the telescope. Richard’s gaze collided with that of the figure’s through the mirror tube instantly.

For a moment, Richard felt as if lightning bolted from the figure’s pupils, piercing his eyes with pain.

Is this… the true wizard of the present world?

With a silent startle, Richard felt his body’s hair stand on end, his muscles tense, pores contracting, his heart racing, and adrenaline beginning to secrete.

This was a warning of danger from his body.

The danger and deep malice Gregory had once felt came crashing down at this moment.

Richard took a deep breath and pursed his lips, not expecting such a turn of events.

Originally, he had just wanted to sneak back quietly, find out what had happened, and then improvise. Saving Gregory would be ideal, handing Pandora over to Gregory, and then leaving with the suitcase as quickly as possible would have been the best result. Perhaps, by the time he left, the heavy snow still wouldn’t have fallen.

But Richard had not anticipated that wizards of the current world could detect surveillance through a telescope from nearly a kilometer away. Were wizard’s senses so sharp, were all their strengths so formidable? Or was it just that this opponent was so powerful?

Regardless, once the other party had looked his way, all plans were disrupted. The development of events was pushed directly into an extremely adverse state.

In the next moment, Richard saw through the mirror tube that the figure had already turned and was descending the hill, rushing toward his position. Without a word, Richard grabbed Pandora and ran towards the deep forest, his mind whirring with methods of response.

The opponent was clearly very strong, with even Gregory no match for him. Richard, a first-level wizard apprentice, and Pandora, a young dragon, could not hope to defeat him even bound together. Even if they used “Wind Light Spirit” to escape, they couldn’t truly evade capture, because the opponent’s speed was likely far superior to his own.

The current situation could be summed up as, unable to fight and unable to flee.

So, what to do?

It seemed… they had to take a drastic measure.

The world is complicated, the strong do not always defeat the weak. Strength might be the key to victory, but it was not everything.

So…

“Snap!”

Richard’s rushing steps with Pandora suddenly stopped, breaking several dry branches ahead, then pretending to continue fleeing from there. He then took Pandora to the side, carefully erasing their footprints along the way.

After covering some distance and anticipating the enemy was almost upon them, his gaze hardened, leading Pandora to circumvent and head back towards the hill.

Escape was impossible, so they might as well exploit any potential blind spots in the opponent’s thinking, fighting for any little time, for a slim chance of survival.

“We need to head back to the hill,” Richard spoke grimly to Pandora as they ran, “Once we get there, no matter what you see, no matter what happens, you have to stay calm and do as told! Because if you don’t, things will turn very bad, not just for you but for me too. Okay?”

“Eek,” Pandora responded, nodding after a moment, “Okay.”

“That’s good,” Richard nodded and picked up the pace again.

A short while later.

Richard and Pandora returned to the hill, reaching its summit.

At first glance, Richard couldn’t help but sigh.

Even though he had seen part of the scene through the telescope, he had not imagined the hilltop to be this devastated.

Everything on the hill was destroyed, the Dragon Cave collapsed, the Black Castle ruined, the series of experimental buildings he had constructed also collapsed. The ground was massively churned and scorched, with rivers of crimson blood flowing like a river on the ground.

The blood was clearly Gregory’s, only his massive body could have bled so much.

At this moment, Gregory no longer had his entire body; the only evidence left of his existence was a severed tail on the ground, still bearing a bloodstain from Pandora’s claw – it was unfathomable what kind of attack he had suffered.

Was Gregory dead?

Apparently.

Of course, it could be argued that he wasn’t, that he was injured or missing, given that Richard had not seen Gregory’s body being annihilated personally. But anyone with a bit of reason knew that Gregory’s chances of living or escaping were almost nil.

Pandora stood there stiffly, staring blankly at the pool of blood, the severed tail within, motionless. It was not clear what she was thinking, or perhaps, at that moment, she was not thinking anything at all.

Pandora’s mind was blank.

Gregory had been her everything all this time; even though he did not care for her, often angered her, and frequently left her alone on outings, leaving her utterly bored waiting for him. But, Gregory was her only family in this world, her only concern.

No matter where she was or what the situation, she knew that, ultimately, Gregory would come back to keep her company.

But now, everything had changed.

Gregory was dead or rather had disappeared.

Her only family was gone, no one would ever be with her again.

At this moment, Pandora felt a complex agony, not sure whether it was sorrow or fear, or perhaps a mix of both. Her eyes blurred, her nose tingled, uncertain if she wanted to cry or if she wanted to scream out loud. The world felt unfamiliar, and she felt empty inside, not sure if this was boredom, or something more tedious than boredom – a life with nothing worth remembering?

“Gregory… Gao Li…” Pandora’s voice was a soft murmur, resonating in her throat as she felt her body sway, ready to collapse. That was when Richard’s hand appeared, landing on her shoulder, steadying her.

In an instant, Pandora felt a slight warmth return to her frigid body, turning her head to look at Richard, opening her mouth but silent: “…”

By now, Richard had recovered the undamaged suitcase from the ruins of the Black Castle, along with many other useful items.

Richard placed a hand on Pandora’s shoulder, speaking earnestly.