The Mighty Mage
Chapter 255: Zhu Masong

Chapter 255: Chapter 255: Zhu Masong

"Huh?" Gu Jin was surprised when she saw the strange three figures standing in the center of the city.

Two had worn white cloaks and one had... the exact same clothes as her.

What surprised her even more was...why were they standing in the middle of the city with such a carefree attitude.

Do they want to die?

"Hey! What is your name." Suddenly the first figure in a white cloak asked as she moved in Gu Jin’s direction.

"Auric." Gu Jin gave a name.

(Author: Jin in Chinese means gold. Another word for gold is Auric.)

"Liar! My name is Auric." The other woman who had worn the same clothes as Gu Jin shouted.

The first figure in the white cloak raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued.

"Well, this is getting interesting," she said with a smirk.

She glanced at the second figure, who remained silent but kept his gaze fixed on the newcomer.

Gu Jin raised an eyebrow,

"So what if you have the same name as me? If your name is Auric, does it mean others can’t have the same name as you?"

The woman in the same cloak as Gu Jin narrowed her eyes and snapped,

"No! You can’t have the name Auric."

But in her heart, she was begging Gu Jin to leave.

Suddenly she remembered one of Gu Jin’s words and mentioned,

"Anyways, I have to deal with the artifact that is the root cause of all the problems. Thank god I got to know its position."

The moment the woman finished her words she waited for Gu Jin to take the initiative and ask her for the location.

But Gu Jin remained silent.

The woman almost wanted to bang her head.

Was this Gu Jin still the kind-hearted lady who...

"You know the position?" Gu Jin asked.

The woman was filled with gratitude and instantly answered,

"Yes. The artifact is under the Magic Academy."

"How do you know for sure?" Gu Jin was still suspicious.

"Uh...that...I have heard it from the military...I was spying on them." The woman said instantly.

Gu Jin turned to leave which made the woman heave a sigh of relief.

But she held her breath when she saw Gu Jin turning again,

"Thank you. If what you are saying is indeed true then I will repay this kindness. But if you lied then..."

A cold light flashed in Gu Jin’s red eyes.

The woman gulped but to look brave in front of the two white-masked people, she puffed her chest out and said,

"What? Why would I mislead a fellow human? I love this country and this city!"

Gu Jin frowned.

She felt as if the woman was intending to instill something, but she didn’t have the time to guess it and turned to leave.

As for why the woman was dressed just like her...Gu Jin would just consider her(that woman) as a doppelganger of her(Gu Jin’s).

The woman kept her fist clenched and heaved a sigh of relief when she was assured that Gu Jin had left.

She turned towards the white-masked figure and said with heroic aura,

"Let’s go, I will lead you out..."

But the two white-masked figures remained silent.

Even though she couldn’t see their expression, the woman felt as if...they were suspicious of her.

"If you are so worried about the city...why don’t you first deal with the artifact? Don’t you know the location of the artifact already?" The second figure suddenly asked.

The woman was stunned.

Sh*t.

To make Gu Jin go away...she made a mistake.

"Ah, well..." she stammered, forcing a smile behind her mask.

"I was planning to, but I thought it’d be better to get you all to safety first. The artifact isn’t going anywhere, but your lives could be in danger if we stay out here too long."

The first figure tilted her head, arms crossed, clearly unconvinced

"Exactly artifact isn’t going anywhere but compared to just two of us...you have the option to save the entire city by destroying the artifact, yet you are focused on saving only two of us..."

The woman gritted her teeth, feeling trapped.

She had hoped to avoid suspicion by sending Gu Jin away, but now these two were turning their attention back to her.

The second figure’s cold gaze was piercing, and the first figure’s calm, calculating demeanor was only adding to her stress.

"I-I didn’t have the strength to handle it alone," she finally admitted, her voice low.

"The parasites... they’ve increased their numbers around the academy. I needed help."

The second figure raised an eyebrow.

"Yet you’ve been wandering around here in broad daylight, without a care in the world?"

The woman’s nerves were unraveling.

She had played her cards too hastily, and now she was stuck trying to maintain her fragile lie. She couldn’t let these two see through her.

"I was scouting!" she said defensively, raising her voice slightly.

"Looking for people like you to help me! You think I want to die alone fighting those things?"

"Oh, is that so?" The two figures with the white mask suddenly couldn’t judge who was lying and who was telling the truth.

"Yes."

"Okay, then you don’t need to lead us out. We will exit on our own." The second figure said and turned to leave.

The first figure too turned to leave.

The woman panicked. The reason why she went through so much trouble was to make those two white-masked figures acknowledge her...

But now...they were leaving without her!

All of these were because of Gu Jin’s arrival.

If only...if only Gu Jin had arrived later...the person who would have left with those two figures...would have been her(the woman)!

’Calm down! Calm down! Even if you didn’t get the chance...Gu Jin too didn’t get the chance to be acknowledged by them!’

Once that thought appeared, the woman felt guilty and pleased at the same time.

She felt guilty for snatching away an opportunity from Gu Jin. And pleased because...maybe Gu Jin would not become as powerful as she was meant to in the future.

.............

Gu Jin walked towards the Magic Academy.

Along the way, she met many parasites.

As compared to the previous time when she could easily suck out the life force, now everything became difficult for her...

"Looks like I need to convert some of the humans into my skeleton army. It’s a pity that I can’t convert these parasites into my army.." Gu Jin muttered.

The space had told her that if she wanted to suck out the life force fastly...she needs to first convert the accumulated life force into a skeleton soldier.

Skeleton soldiers were the dead humans on whom she would cast the primary rank spell.

Once a skeleton soldier is resurrected, it will solely follow Gu Jin’s order. Its stats and other factors would be decided only after the conversion.

There was also a chance that Gu Jin could evolve them on the basis of how powerful they were and how much power they had preserved even after the conversion.

To resurrect any dead human into her army, there was a clear condition, she couldn’t convert any human who had undergone a transformation as her skeleton soldiers.

Just like the parasites.

Remembering the instructions she had read, Gu Jin closed her eyes and tried to find a suitable candidate for the conversion.

She had conducted this step for almost 10 times now and even then she didn’t find any powerful candidate.

Just as she was about to give up, she felt a powerful energy around her.

Gu Jin’s eyes brightened and she hurriedly walked in the direction from where she could sense the powerful energy emanating.

As Gu Jin approached the source of the energy, she found herself standing before a narrow, dimly lit alleyway.

There, lying in the shadows, was a heavily injured man.

His body was battered, and his breathing shallow, but the energy radiating from him was undeniable—far stronger than any human she had encountered in the area.

She crouched beside the man, her fingers lightly brushing his forehead.

His eyes fluttered open for a moment, glazed with pain and confusion, but he was too weak to move or resist.

"What is your name?" Gu Jin asked softly.

She realized that even if she wanted to the man couldn’t be saved because his liver was torn apart...

"Zhu...Zhu Masong..." The man muttered.

"Do you want to live?"

Zhu Masong’s gaze darkened with bitterness as he struggled to respond.

"Live...?" he whispered, his voice weak.

He wants to...

There were many things that he hadn’t finished yet...many things that needed him...

But he knew...even the god couldn’t protect him.

Death was the only inevitable outcome.

Zhu Masong’s breath grew shallower as he accepted his fate.

But even as his body failed him, a hint of resistance remained in his eyes.

"Yes..."