Night, thin as gauze, covered the earth.
Outside Jialan City, about ten miles away, in the center of a forest, stood an abandoned, dilapidated ancient castle.
It was evident that the castle had been abandoned for a long time. The city walls, built from large blocks of bluestone, were full of cracks, while the paint on the main castle’s roof was massively peeled off. Inside and out, weeds grew rampant, and the corners were filled with oil-green, or even ink-green, moss.
But for some reason, at this moment, there were faint lights emanating from within the castle, as if someone was moving around inside.
Outside the castle, footsteps sounded, and a solitary figure approached. Under a tree outside the castle, this figure crouched down, squinting his eyes at the entire castle and slowly lifted his head to reveal a pale face—it was Sande.
Sande looked rather ragged at the moment, his clothes were tattered, the surface covered with blood—part of it his own, and part from the Truth Society Wizard he had killed. However, Sande’s condition had improved considerably, and even though he had not regained 100% of his fighting strength, it at least did not affect his normal power.
Sande stared earnestly at the castle, his ice ball-like eyes slowly moving; in this summer day, after watching for a long while, he exuded an air as chilly as midwinter.
He had come to this castle following a guide and knew that it housed Truth Society Wizards. Next, what he intended to do was very simple—to rush in and kill everyone inside as much as possible.
This was obviously very difficult and dangerous.
But he was not frightened; in fact, he found it easier than escaping from pursuers in the forest.
Because, he had always aimed to take revenge on the Truth Society. Most of the spells he learned from the Inheritance Wizard Book were offensive rather than defensive. Therefore, he was better at attacking than defending.
Moreover, to defend felt to him like merely surviving, while attacking excited him extraordinarily. He knew that attacking was taking revenge for Sofia, it was a way to vent his anger.
So, let this anger be vented even more intensely.
Sande took a deep breath and slowly drew out the Bone Wand from his sleeve, holding it in his hand, pointing it toward a spot a few meters away, his lips moving as he recited a difficult, obscure spell.
As the last syllable was pronounced, at the spot where the Bone Wand pointed, the air suddenly twisted and the surrounding darkness furiously gathered, quickly shrinking into a mass before twisting and morphing.
Seconds later, a slender wolf stood up.
The entire body of the wolf was pitch-black, with only its eyes glowing a ghostly green, as though embers drifting from the Netherworld.
This was a Shadow Wolf, whose direct confrontation power was not strong, but it was very skilled at cloaking itself in the dark, launching hidden attacks like an assassin. If it could strike the enemy’s vital points, it could severely injure them, making it an excellent assistant for ambushes, assassinations, and attacks.
Once the Shadow Wolf was summoned, it immediately looked around alertly and, upon seeing Sande, growled lowly, as if conveying some message.
Sande spoke, uttering a strange command: "Sokolo!"
The Shadow Wolf seemed to understand, giving Sande a deep look before turning its head towards the castle. With a leap, it merged into the darkness and disappeared.
Watching the Shadow Wolf vanish, Sande showed no strong reaction, nor did he follow the Shadow Wolf towards the castle but instead used the Bone Wand to point again towards a spot not far off, reciting the spell once more.
The same spell, the same darkness gathering, shrinking, twisting, and morphing.
Soon, another Shadow Wolf was born, looking a bit stouter than the previous one and even more brutal. Its eyes remained a slick green, but upon closer inspection, flickers of blood-red, like magma flowing deep within a volcano, could be seen.
Seeing this somewhat special Shadow Wolf appear, Sande paused for a moment but quickly recovered and issued the same command, "Sokolo!"
The Shadow Wolf understood and leapt into the darkness, disappearing.
Sande then recited the spell for the third time, starting to summon the third Shadow Wolf.
Then came the fourth, the fifth, the sixth...
In one breath, Sande summoned more than a dozen Shadow Wolves, forming a large army, and had them all hide in the darkness to await their command before stopping.
Taking a deep breath, Sande took out a flat hip flask from inside his coat, tilted his head back, and poured the last bit of liquid into his mouth.
After drinking, he threw the flask on the ground with a wave of his hand and started walking toward the castle.
Suddenly, remembering something, he slowly backtracked, picked up the flask from the ground, examined it carefully for a few moments, and cautiously tucked it away in his coat.
Only then did he look back toward the ancient castle.
"Swish, swish, swish!"
Waving the Bone Wand, Sande applied several spells to himself and whispered, "Coscona!"
As the words fell, his entire being floated toward the castle, light as a feather and soundless, while the surrounding darkness surged like flowing water, following him as he scaled the wall and infiltrated inside.
At this time, inside the castle, in the main hall.
A fist-sized white orb floated in the center of the ceiling, with several smaller orbs floating in the four corners, illuminating the hall with brilliant light.
More than twenty wizards were inside the hall; some were busy at a table, others sat idly in chairs, and some were just chatting.
This went on for a while until a man at a table, who was preoccupied with something, suddenly looked up, revealing a pair of deep red, eerie eyes—it was Galuo.
Galuo frowned slightly and asked the people in the hall, "Doran has been leading his team in pursuit of the target for quite some time, hasn’t he? Has any news come back?"
An elderly man stood next to him and responded with drooping brows, "Group Leader, the latest news is that Doran is still in pursuit. However, the target is heavily injured and can hardly resist effectively, so it shouldn’t be long before they succeed."
"So, it’s not completely confirmed yet, right?" Galuo’s deep red eyes shifted slightly as he asked, "How long ago was this message?"
"Three hours ago?" Galuo pursed his lips, tapped lightly on the table, and said, "Alright then, we’ll wait some more. If any new messages come, notify me immediately."
"Yes," the elder said.
Galuo lowered his head, continuing with his task. But just as he looked down, he suddenly thought of something, raised his head again, negating his previous remark, and said to the old man beside him, "No, that’s not safe enough. It’s better to send someone to the scene to check on the situation."
"Group Leader, is that necessary?" the older man frowned slightly, clearly having a different opinion, "The target is indeed a bit tricky, but the force we’ve sent out vastly outstrips their strength. No matter how strong they are, an accident is unlikely, right?"