Just as he sighed inwardly, thinking ’I’m doomed this time,’ he realized, after waiting for a long time, that he hadn’t felt any pain.
In fact, he hadn’t even heard a sound of the wind.
He quietly opened one eye and found that Lady Cilla’s swinging forelimb had stopped right at his nose.
"What’s going on?" Little Sam was puzzled when Lady Cilla’s body suddenly softened and collapsed to the ground with a crash.
As Lady Cilla fell, Little Sam finally saw the man standing behind her: "...Mr. Tyson?"
Frode stood in the shadows, half-lit and half-dark, with one hand still inserted into the gaping wound on Lady Cilla’s spider-like lower abdomen.
He slowly pulled out his hand, revealing it to be blood-stained and semi-transparent.
Lady Cilla was undead, and Frode was a spiritual body, so there shouldn’t have been any blood.
This blood belonged to Little Sam.
"You did well earlier, knowing that the blood of a relative is the key to restraining Lady Cilla. However, you overlooked one issue during your operation. Lady Cilla doesn’t just have a mouth on her head; there’s also one on her abdomen. Or rather, the mouth on her abdomen is the one closest to the soul body core." Frode explained in response to Little Sam’s confused look: "Although the mouth on her head can also lead to her soul body’s gradual collapse after ingesting the blood, the process takes longer, and during that time, she might attack again, just like earlier."
"Only by getting your blood into the mouth on her abdomen can you strike effectively, causing her to collapse faster without the capability to counterattack."
Hearing this, Little Sam finally understood.
The ’Book of the Undead’ mentioned a blood entry point, which referred not to the mouth on Lady Cilla’s head, but to the abdominal slit lined with sharp teeth.
"You still haven’t left the mortal world, so your thinking and judgment are still based on ordinary human conventions. This mistake isn’t your fault. Once you enter the Wizards’ Realm and encounter various strange creatures, you’ll naturally break free from your current thinking trap." As Frode spoke, he took out a bottle and collected the increasingly illusory Lady Cilla into it.
Once Lady Cilla entered the bottle, the crumbling illusory transformation halted immediately, as if time had frozen.
Frode shook the bottle with satisfaction, ready to use it for soul tricks later on.
However, before that, he needed Little Sam to nod.
After all, it was Little Sam who killed Lady Cilla. Even though Frode delivered the final blow, the end would have come regardless. Lady Cilla would eventually perish, though at a slower pace.
As Frode was pondering how to get Little Sam to nod in acknowledgement, Little Sam suddenly asked: "Lord Tyson, you knew Lady Cilla would come to the castle, didn’t you?"
Facing Little Sam’s clearly resentful gaze, Frode was at a loss for words.
"Yes." At that moment, a clear, strong voice echoed from the corridor in the distant darkness.
With a series of footsteps, a red-haired, golden-eyed man appeared in Little Sam’s view.
Little Sam, recognizing the newcomer, respectfully greeted: "Mr. Pat."
Angel nodded and approached Little Sam, extending a finger to point into the air. Little Sam felt as if a rushing stream sounded near his ears, and the dirt on his wounds vanished instantly.
After the wounds became clean, a warm current swept over him, causing the torn wounds to heal rapidly.
"Is this a wizard’s spell technique?" Little Sam gazed in disbelief at the wounds sprouting flesh buds.
"This is a trick, not a spell technique. A level 0 trick Cleansing Spell, and a level 1 trick Healing Technique. These are very simple tricks that you’ll encounter as soon as you cross the apprentice threshold." Angel explained and then paused before addressing Sam’s earlier inquiry: "Now I can answer your earlier question."
"You wanted to know if we knew Lady Cilla would come. Yes, we were quite confident she would appear, and we also knew you would become her hunting target."
A knowing glint appeared in Little Sam’s eyes: "That’s why you warned me earlier to be careful and to think more in dangerous situations."
Angel nodded: "Exactly."
Upon receiving a confirmation, Little Sam recalled Adar’s abrupt change of attitude earlier. At the time, he hadn’t sensed anything amiss, but in hindsight, something seemed off: "Adar said he suddenly needed to rest earlier; was that also..."
Frode: "We sensed Lady Cilla’s imminent appearance and conveyed to Adar through sound transmission to return to his room with the defensive magical energy array to avoid injury."
Little Sam fell silent for a moment: "And what about me?"
Though it was a simple rhetorical question, it was laden with suppressed emotion. If Frode were in Little Sam’s position, he might have exhibited even greater agitation—everyone knew the truth but him. Containing his emotions in the face of such indignation and exclusion was impressive enough.
Angel chuckled: "Haven’t you already figured it out? Bringing you here was to have you face Lady Cilla directly."
"Why?" Upon seeing Frode appear and point out that the ’real mouth is on her abdomen,’ Sam guessed that everything—his escape, Lady Cilla’s pursuit—had been under Frode and Angel’s watchful eyes.
"So, was I just an actor in a pre-staged play?"
Angel noticed the shift in Little Sam’s gaze, discerning the implied accusation—he was on-stage while they were the viewers.
Angel gently ruffled Little Sam’s brown hair: "You’re neither an actor, nor are we the entertained audience."
Despite Angel’s baseless denial, Little Sam somehow believed him deeply.
Even if he accepted Angel’s words, Little Sam remained somewhat dejected, lowering his head in silent frustration.
Angel understood Little Sam’s disposition and wasn’t bothered by his awkwardness: "You might find it odd, even resentful, but it all stems from the question you asked me when we arrived."
Little Sam: "The question I asked?"
"Didn’t you want to join the Barbarian Cave?"
Little Sam nodded blankly. He had indeed expressed his desire to join Mr. Pat’s wizard organization to Angel before.
Angel: "In your time at the orphanage, you should have learned its purpose."
Little Sam continued to nod. Adar previously mentioned that his and Shanni’s roles at the orphanage were to act within the Dawn Killing Illusion Realm, providing entrance trials for the Talented Ones.
With this realization, Little Sam’s eyes gleamed: "So, this was my trial? By passing the trial, can I now join the Barbarian Cave?"
Angel smiled and nodded: "Yes, congratulations, you’ve passed. It was indeed a trial, albeit slightly different from what you imagined."
"Different?"