Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 91 - 87. Accident

Chapter 91: 87. Accident

"What on earth is going on?" Luo’er asked in a low voice, sounding somewhat anxious.

"There’s quite a story to tell." Cheng Ziang sighed.

While others waited to be enrolled, Cheng Ziang found a chance to slip away. He found a corner to change his clothes, then began exploring the academy.

He was profoundly familiar with the layout of the Magic Academy, so he easily sneaked into the core area. Before him was a grand and towering building, which according to the information from Headquarters, should be where the tutors of the Magic Academy worked and lived.

At this moment, most of the academy tutors were at the entrance participating in the enrollment ceremony, so the academy was quiet, except for the occasional passing of patrolling guards. Cheng Ziang easily avoided these patrolling guards and slipped into the building.

This was an Otherworld-style building, partly reminiscent of Gothic architecture. It was constructed entirely of stone, with tall spires, flying buttresses, and slender shafts. Cheng Ziang felt an eerie sense of discomfort as he walked inside.

Paying no mind to the beautiful stained glass windows, he hurriedly climbed the stairs, scoured each room for what he was looking for. The text within the building was written in the ancient Tasta language, which differed significantly from current alphabets. Fortunately, with his knowledge, understanding it was not an issue.

Cursing these archaic Mages in his mind, Cheng Ziang struggled to decipher the wording on the doors, which took up quite a bit of his time.

Finally, he reached a corridor where he found the place he was looking for - the library. It housed all types of magic books, and anecdotes related to magic, making it one of the most popular destinations in the Magic Academy.

However, Cheng Ziang wasn’t here to steal some books. According to intelligence collected with considerable effort by the Headquarters, a room near the library held the confidential records of the academy, including entrance and graduation records. These files plainly recorded how many students joined the Holy Heart City Mage Corps after graduating from the Magic Academy. By comparing the number of new recruits over several years, an average could be determined, and one could roughly estimate the annual changes in the corps and its current size.

In a corner of the library, Cheng Ziang found the highly sought-after archive room, but found out that the door simply wouldn’t budge. Upon closer examination, he saw complicated and elaborate Runes engraved on it, presumably shutting the door.

Cursing internally, he wanted to kick open the door but then he heard footsteps from a distance. He quickly turned around and hid behind a bookshelf.

An academy instructor wearing a long robe and hood, looking somewhat rushed, arrived at the archive room. He glanced around before pulling out a Magic Wand and murmuring a spell which caused the door to the archive room to open. He quickly slipped inside and shut the door behind him.

Although his spellcasting was hushed, Cheng Ziang still managed to catch what the spell was. He silently repeated it a few times, regretting not bringing his magic wand.

In his disappointment, he spotted a book near his hand, the text compelling him to read it aloud: "About Magic Mediums – The Material Composition of Magic Wands."

"Magic Wands?" Cheng Ziang muttered, picking up the book and began flipping through it.

The book contained the methods and materials required to craft a Magic Wand. It said that essentially any material from the Otherworld could be made into a Magic Wand, but different materials resulted in varying effectiveness as a medium. Sky Tree branches were generally the best materials.

He turned a page, where an ancient and hard-to-read text was written. It mentioned that in emergencies, wands can be made from any available material on hand, mainly to utilise its function as a medium. If only a book was available, one could consider rolling book pages into a wand. Although their effectiveness might not be as good as regular materials, they could be used in a pinch.

"Wouldn’t it be suicide to follow these instructions?" Cheng Ziang mumbled to himself. Then, without hesitation, he tore off a page and rolled it into a makeshift Magic Wand.

Just as he shoved the book back into the shelf, the door once again opened. The instructor slinked out, had a quick look around outside the archives room, before slipping out of the library.

"Slinking around like that, could he be a thief from the outside?" Cheng Ziang mumbled, watching the man leave.

Once he was gone, Cheng Ziang quickly came out from behind the bookshelf, heading straight to the door. With a wave of the magic wand, he uttered the spell he had practiced repeatedly. A flutter of magical energy buzzed in the air, and the door creaked open.

Cheng Ziang cracked an incredulous smile, peeked around to be sure no one was paying attention, and then sneaked into the archives room, closing the door softly behind him.

The shelves in the archives room were piled high with stacks of paper archives. Ever since papermaking technology from Earth had been introduced to the Otherworld, the era of recording everything on animal skins had come to an end for Otherworld.

Cheng Ziang searched within for the information he needed, each document filled with tightly-packed Tasta letters that quickly left his head spinning. Just as he was about to rub his eyes and continue searching, the door creaked open again. Startled, Cheng Ziang quickly hid behind a corner of the bookshelf, craning for a glimpse of who was coming.

The person was the hastily-looking tutor from before. He entered the room, wrinkling his brow, looking around, appearing to have noticed something amiss in the archive room.

Cheng Ziang held his breath as his right hand instinctively reached for the dagger at his waist, his heart pounding in his chest.

The tutor looked around carefully before scratching his head, no sign of Cheng Ziang hiding in the corner crossed his eyes. He walked in, his facial expression perplexed. Looking unsure for some time, he eventually turned around slowly and walked out of the archives room.

Only when the door was shut again, did Cheng Ziang release a sigh of relief, his heart pounding wildly. He knew he could no longer continue his search and would have to wait for another opportunity to infiltrate and conduct his quest.

With this in mind, he slowly moved to the door, waited a considerable amount of time until his heartbeat gradually calmed down, then he pulled out his magic wand, muttered a spell, and opened the wooden door of the archives room.

Just as Cheng Ziang was about to breathe a sigh of relief after exiting the archives room, suddenly, the air filled with an intense fluctuation of magical energy. He instinctively rolled to the side as an airburst magic exploded where he just stood, so close he could even feel the shock wave brushing past his face.

Pulling out the dagger at his waist while half-kneeling on the ground, Cheng Ziang spotted the sneaky mentor not far ahead, holding a magic wand, clearly aiming at him. It was clear that the previous attack was initiated by him.

"Who are you?" The mentor demanded, pointing his wand at him.

"Huh!" Cheng Ziang let out a cold laugh, ignoring the mentor’s question. He spun his dagger in his hand, then gripped it tightly and launched an attack against the mentor.

It was apparent that the mentor was a battle-seasoned individual. He calmly took a step back and began muttering a spell to activate an instant-cast magic.

"Defense Shield!"

Grinding his teeth, Cheng Ziang forcefully halted his charge but still uncontrollably crashed into the shield. It felt as though he had collided with an incredibly solid shield, leaving him seeing stars.

Using the momentum from his aborted charge, he twisted his body and slid to one side along the magic shield. Seeing that Cheng Ziang’s attack had been thwarted, the mentor immediately stopped his shield spell, swung his magic wand, and started muttering incantations.

Next, a sudden airburst magic exploded under Cheng Ziang’s feet. Its power surpassing the previous one, Cheng Ziang was fortunate to have reacted in time and avoided the explosion.

Cheng Ziang evaded to the side, drew a throwing knife from his bosom, and forcefully hurled it at the mentor. The mentor once again instant-cast a magic shield, the knife bounced off with a clang, embedding itself in a wooden bookshelf.

Cheng Ziang couldn’t help cursing internally as he manoeuvred to keep avoiding the mentor’s magic attacks.

This time, the mentor summoned ice spikes instead of the inexplicable airburst magic, then shot them at Cheng Ziang. Using the bookshelf as cover, Cheng Ziang evaded the ice spikes and, seizing the opportunity, threw two more knives, only for them to be deflected by the magic shield. He tried to charge and take down the mentor in a single strike, but the firepower from the ice spikes was as formidable as that from automatic weapons, denying Cheng Ziang any chance of drawing near.

Suddenly, Cheng Ziang halted all movement, and once again threw a knife. The mentor defended himself with another instant-cast magic shield. Just as he was about to launch another attack after dropping his shield, he noticed Cheng Ziang half-kneeling in place, pointing something odd at him.

Looking at the object in Cheng Ziang’s hands, the mentor quickly tried to recall where he had seen it before. Suddenly, his pupils contracted as he remembered what it was.

Unfortunately, he was too late. In his moment of hesitation, Cheng Ziang pulled the trigger of the revolver in his hand.

"Bang!"

A .45 caliber bullet instantly pierced the mentor’s calf, causing a small yet ghastly bloody hole.

The mentor fell to the ground, writhing in pain as the bullet had broken his bone, his leg draped at an unnatural angle. Clenching his teeth, he raised his wand to utter the spell for the magic shield. There was another loud bang. Another bullet drove into his right eye, bursting out the back of his skull along with a large amount of blood and brains.

Like a punch-drunk boxer, the mentor collapsed backward, unable to resist the force. By the time he hit the floor, his gruesome head wound had already spilled brains and blood all around.

Cheng Ziang put his gun down, then caught his breath. At this moment, he began to appreciate Luo’s foresight. Had he not listened to Luo’s advice and carried the gun, he might have already been incapacitated by the mentor’s constant magic attacks.

However, it was obvious that the mentor had underestimated Cheng Ziang, a modestly armed assassin with just a dagger and some throwing knives. Consequently, he was left standing stupefied when Cheng Ziang drew his gun.

Cheng Ziang reckoned that even if the mentor had activated the magic shield in time, the revolver’s power could easily overcome it. The mentor had only put on a level-one shield for efficiency’s sake, while the gun Cheng Ziang held required at least a level-two magic shield to withstand its firepower.

Cheng Ziang got up from the ground, looking at the spasmodically twitching body before him, and heaved a deep sigh of relief. The library was in total chaos, with a strong smell of blood filling the air.

He heard some commotion in the distance and knew that people had been alerted by his gunshot and were on their way. There was no time to waste. Cheng Ziang retrieved his thrown knives and carefully slipped past people to exit the building.

By now, news of what had just happened had spread, putting the entire academy on high alert. Cheng Ziang found a hidden corner to change back into his housekeeper uniform, then hurried towards Tangmo and Luo while continuously avoiding the guards. He made it to their side before the guards could catch up with them.