A Sorcerer's Journey 273 Already a Legend

"Burn her! Burn the evil Black Sorceress!"
"Arghh...no…"
Shouts and wails mixed together in a terrifying amalgamation. A knight's mount fell amongst the panicked neighs of the horse. Some threw their torches and swords away. A fire was rising in the calm night.
The sorceress' face was covered in hives. The hideous sorceress Brianna broke into a crazy laugh, showing two rows of dark, cracked and incomplete teeth. She slowly took out a black skull with her frail, wrinkled hand.
The skull's eyes flashed red. Illusory images of despaired humans started to appear flying above the skull.
When the images came into contact with the attacking knights, they fell along with their horses onto the ground. Their flesh shriveled; eye sockets depressed inward until they met their grotesque doom.
"Black magic! This is black magic! Get away from the skull's image!"
The knights cried out in terror from the depths of their hearts, trembling at the mysterious black sorcery.
Behind, the pale-faced young noblewomen looked hopefully at the two sorcerer's apprentices. The cunning nobles were quiet as they took a few steps back. They were ready to run away at any given moment.
The pipe-smoking apprentice puffed out a cloud of thick smoke as he carefully took out a brown pouch from his chest. Brown dust was scattered in the air as it was blown stealthily by his smoke toward the terrifying Black Sorcerer.
On the other hand, the cold-eyed sorcerer's apprentice had his eyes closed as he read some incantations. It seemed to be a spell that was beyond his level as he had been channeling the spell for quite some time behind the knights who were fighting at the frontlines.
Slowly, a powerful magical force started to come through. The apprentice's blood-red eyes widened slowly.
"Superconducting spell, the funeral of lightning!"
A bright light shone across the sky. At the piercing boom of thunder, a green column of lightning that had the thickness of a baby's arm struck the Black Sorceress at breakneck speed.
The two sorcerer's apprentices seemed to have the same level of power that the top ten masters of the Black Isotta once had.
But still…
Old sorceress Brianna's murky eyes looked toward them as she smiled belittlingly. "Childish."
She extended her frail palm out. A huge cloud of mist burst out from her dark magical staff and merged with the elements of water. Bam! The water column was projected toward the brilliant lightning column.
There was no explosion as expected.
In the disbelief and gaping stares of the cold-eyed apprentice, his lightning column appeared to have been melted away by the black water column and was now coming toward his direction.
"Get out of the way!"
The cold-eyed apprentice was able to yell out a warning. In a huge explosive boom, the earth trembled ever so slightly. Some of the houses in the slum collapsed. The noblewomen who were wearing their bright, beautiful dresses had their flesh melted away before they could even squeal. Only their white skeletons remained.

"Ah...run! Run from the devil!"
The nobles were scared beyond their wits. They frantically drove their chariots and tried to flee from the slums.
The terrorized chariot drivers no longer had regard for their noble lords and chariots as they had already bolted away on foot without a trace.
When the dust settled, more than half of the knights were dead in the massacre.
In front of Old Sorceress Brianna, there were seven to eight images of human figures in despair swallowing the hidden spell that was cast by the pipe-smoking apprentice.
The old sorceress's pair of murky eyes were locked on to the two terrified sorcerer's apprentices.
"She's too strong! She… she's someone who had lost in the Holy Tower Qualification Battle of the Black Isotta Academy two centuries ago. Now, the only one who can defeat her is Mirror of Darkness, the legendary sorcerer-apprentice. She's simply too strong!"
The redness in the cold-eyed sorcerer's apprentice' eyes disappeared, replaced by terror and hopelessness.
There was always human despair attached to a dark sorcerer's spell. Their attack speed was much faster than the absolute limit of an average low-leveled sorcerer. It was no wonder that even a sorcerer who was at the same level would feel powerless.
The pipe-smoking apprentice quickly climbed up from the ground and ran in one direction without looking back. He shouted, "Run for your lives!"
The knights had already lost their courage as they scattered in fear. They wished they had an extra pair of legs.
"Hehe, running away? Better stay here quietly."
Brianna was laughing like a mad hatter. She licked her lips and boom! Her body dissipated into a cloud of mist before converging some ten meters away. She grabbed hold of the pipe-smoking sorcerer-apprentice with her single frail hand. Her dark fingernails pierced into his flesh.
"Nooo!!!"
The pipe-smoking apprentice felt as if an iron chain had been put around his neck. In a despairing wail, his neck was broken as he struggled to break free.
Badum...
The tumor at the back of Brianna's head pulsated violently. She laughed again crazily as she turned her head, looking toward the other apprentice who no longer looked cool.
At the same time, the skull on Brianna's hand flashed in red again as it sucked the soul of the pipe-smoking apprentice into its mouth. There was a faint echo from the tormented soul.
"Hehe, little one. Now that you've ruined my work, you too will accompany him…"
Hmm?
Brianna was about to cast some dark evil spell when she suddenly felt a strange sensation. She raised her head, looked up and couldn't believe what she saw.
"You… you're Brianna!" A surprised voice came through.
There were two figures hovering quietly in the sky. Among them, an old sorceress was scrutinizing her as she checked her reward scroll. She seemed…
"Nina York! You're one who's always with that bastard…"
Before Brianna could finish her words, she saw the mysterious man who wore a white mask beside her. Her murky eyes squinted for a moment as she began to tremble instinctively. She then roared in disbelief like a wild animal. "Grimm!"
Brianna instantly lost all her fighting spirit. Her body exploded into a cloud of mist and converged again at a distance.
Her face was filled with terror and she became reckless. She only had one thing in her mind: to run away from the cursed place.
That guy's the devil, a real demon!
Brianna would never forget the scene at the Holy Tower Qualification Battle. His mere presence felt like the devil himself. Brianna knew that even after two centuries, she was no match for the devil!
The devil was too powerful!
"Brianna?" Beneath the Mask of Truth, Grimm was utterly perplexed.
Could this be Brianna? Brianna, the blonde, long-haired girl with a fair complexion, who was protected like a baby along with Kyrie. Could it be the same Brianna that was always guarded by two sorcerers years ago who used to hold their noses and complain about the smell in the ship's cabin on the sea ferry?
In the recruit tryouts that followed, it was she who was bullied by Sun Child. She then ganged up with Solumn, Kyrie, and Grimm as they beat Sun Child until she forfeited her final reward.
And then, her silent battle that followed with Lefay which ended in a tie. Even her senior in Black Isotta Academy tried to avenge her until Grimm stepped in. It took Lefay years to recover.
All these memories, memories of a girl who was treated like a princess; one who received the best of care available.
But now…
The beautiful, naive girl who would hit back even at the smallest mistake, had turned into such a filthy, ugly, and reeking black sorcerer-apprentice?
She was so frail that she would be dead with a mere pinch.
"Hehe! Black sorcerer-apprentice Brianna, how dare you run in the presence of the great sorcerers? Death shall be your ultimate refuge."
Nina York laughed hysterically. She manipulated the natural forces and turned the cloud of mist back into Brianna. Boom! A sharp stone impaled Brianna through her heart.
Ultimately, Brianna's elemental body was but an apprentice level spell and not that of a Level 2 sorcerer's.
Nina York walked casually to her body and cut off her hideous-looking head.
Faced with the dramatic scene, a severe gap tore a wedge between Grimm and his memories.
The little Nina who used to cower behind her brother had just casually killed Brianna who used to terrorize all the apprentices?
Nina York threw Brianna's head into the dimensional pocket without a single ounce of care. She was a little chirpy as she remarked, "At least I got something out of this, her head is worth quite some money."
Nina, who had become a proper sorceress was used to being above the rest of the sorcerer-apprentices even though Brianna was one of the legendary apprentices.
Grimm nodded and said nothing.
"Great sorcerers, thank you for your help!" On the ground, the cold-eyed sorcerer's apprentice that looked so hopeless just now shouted out his thanks in a most respectful manner.
Grimm took a glance at the apprentice and wasn't bothered.
Nina York, who was feeling great at that moment did not care for the apprentice at first. But she suddenly thought of something. She was supposed to lead Grimm into another location but stopped for a moment as she turned toward the apprentice that bowed respectfully at them.
The sorcerer-apprentice was already pushing his luck.
"Hehe, little guy, you're lucky to be able to witness the legendary nightmare-level apprentice who used to be on top of the twelve Black Isotta academies."
Grimm furrowed his brows and was disgusted by Nina's gloating. "Stop wasting time."
Nina York shook her head and smiled jokingly. She led Grimm off in the blink of an eye. Their fluttering loose robes vanished in the dark sky, leaving a yearning feeling in the cold-eyed apprentice.
The cold-eyed apprentice widened his eyes, his face filled with awe. He mumbled in disbelief, "The pale-masked Grimm from Black Isotta Academy, the legend that swept across five continents…"
Just like Sister Quiet Spring, Grimm had become a legend that the low-leveled sorcerer-apprentices looked up to in all the generations of apprentices among the twelve academies that followed their batch.

Chapter end