"Oh... so that's how it is."
Pandro scratched his head with an awkward smile.
"Apologize! You must apologize immediately!" Ian noticed Morgan's fury was reaching its peak. Her body trembled slightly, her eyes ablaze with anger. Ian knew well that if he didn't calm Morgan's wrath promptly, the consequences would be unimaginable. He turned his head and shouted loudly to Arthur.
Morgan needed to hear his stance.
"Oh, you should have said that earlier."
At this point, Pandro sheathed his sword and patted the nonexistent dust off his silver armor. However, when faced with Ian's suggestion to apologize, he responded with a radiant smile.
"Well, uh, hehe."
Pandro's smile was innocent, but it gave Ian a bad premonition.
Sure enough, with this carefree chuckle, Pandro's body suddenly disintegrated into countless points of light, retreating like a tide into Ian's magic wand.
The magic power fluctuating on the wand also fell silent.
The light vanished.
With a final "click," the magic wand returned to its ordinary state, as if nothing had happened, and Ian no longer felt the burden and pressure from the magic power.
However.
He couldn't breathe a sigh of relief; the heart hanging in his throat almost burst out—he didn't even dare to turn his head to look at Morgan, who was somewhat disheveled nearby.
Because.
By now, the expression on Morgan's face could no longer be described as "angry." It resembled a volcano on the brink of eruption, silent and oppressive. Power still lingered at her fingertips.
The air was filled with suffocating pressure.
Silence.
An eerie silence.
Ian felt as if he were in an ice cellar.
The atmosphere within the castle was thick and heavy.
As heavy as a boulder.
"Uh..." Ian felt breathless, as if all the oxygen had been sucked away by some force. Unable to endure the atmosphere, he slowly turned to Morgan.
However.
The little wizard still felt his neck vertebrae groaning under the strain.
The good news.
Morgan's expression had regained calmness.
The bad news.
Morgan was too calm.
She gently smoothed the dress on her sleeve, torn by sword Qi, remaining speechless.
"Teacher..."
Ian's voice was almost inaudible, he chuckled dryly, trying to relieve the tension, "I think this is a very coincidental misunderstanding..."
Faced with the little wizard's explanation.
Morgan said nothing, only slowly raised her hand, purple energy surging in her fingertips. Ian swallowed, feeling his heart racing like a drum.
His spine chilled, reaching the top of his skull! The hair on his neck stood on end, his spine felt as if filled with liquid nitrogen, a definite response to an unprecedented crisis.
Believe in your legendary-level physique!
Ian thought so.
His body made the decision before his brain did.
"Bang!"
The door flew open as Ian crashed through it.
He chose to turn and run, trusting his instincts. The dragon snoozing outside was startled awake, raising its huge head and blinking its amber eyes in confusion.
"What happened to you?"
The dragon snorted twin sulfur-laden puffs of confusion from its nostrils.
Yet it received no answer.
Ian had no time to explain, leaping over the dragon's tail with a single bound, donning the flying cloak behind him, and immediately taking off from the platform outside the castle.
Indeed, Ian's decisiveness was proven correct.
The moment Ian leaped into the air, he heard the crisp sound of glass shattering behind him—not the sound of windows breaking, but space itself cracking under pressure.
A terrifying torrent of energy burst from the castle, toppling the dragon before it could even wail, its massive body rolling and smashing half of the adjoining mountain wall.
Ian looked back.
His face changed dramatically.
He saw the torrent of energy sweeping out like a natural disaster, collapsing peaks, pulverizing boulders, uprooting trees, all engulfed in an invisible storm.
Genius could guess if this was still Morgan's recognizable power!
"It's not my fault!"
Ian shouted while flying frantically, but his voice was instantly drowned by the roar behind him. Perhaps it couldn't reach Morgan, or perhaps the raging Morgan was beyond asking more questions.
Merely wanting to discipline her student... and former teacher.
"It's all Pandro! No! It's Arthur! Damn King Arthur!" Ian accelerated desperately, but the torrent of energy was faster, closing in on him in the blink of an eye.
No choice.
The flying cloak was an old model, a past creation, recently unequipped for upgrades. Its flying speed was limited, no match for the torrent behind him.
Ian considered turning into a raven.
However.
He postponed it in the end. He knew if he turned into a raven now and flew away, with Morgan in her current rage, it would only fuel the fire. Who knows how long Morgan's wrath would last.
Of course.
This straightforward outburst of anger was still somewhat acceptable. If Morgan harbored a grudge, his unfortunate senior had demonstrated in life the consequences of Morgan's memory.
It was far more terrifying than facing anger directly. Thus, the thought of Morgan's direct eruption of anger was not an unbearable disaster.
At least it was out in the open, not held in secret—thinking this, Ian felt perhaps he should cooperate, assuming Morgan's emotions would dissipate once vented?
"Oh, what a mess this is!" Ian hesitated for a moment, finally making up his mind and choosing to stop his flight.
Allowing himself to be immediately engulfed by the torrent.
Within the torrent, Ian felt like a drifting leaf, manipulated by endless force. He spun chaotically within, hurled upward, then slammed down, his body colliding with rocks and trees. Thankfully, no severe pain occurred.
Was Morgan precise with her technique?
Ian felt as if he were inside a giant blender, dizziness and nausea being the worst aspects. After some time, the onslaught gradually weakened.
"Cough, cough..."
Ian struggled to crawl out of the pile of rubble, debris and leaves clinging to him, appearing as if he'd just rolled in a trash heap.
He shook his head, dusting debris from his hair, attempting to catch his breath when a familiar voice reached him. Ian had been taken to a familiar place by the torrent.
"Ian? What's happened? Is the crisis resolved?"
Indeed, amidst the chaos, he was transported to the nearby small town, where Ariana stood a bit away, avoiding the debris.
Despite the torrent heading towards the town, nothing was destroyed, merely some mountain and rock fragments deposited Ian there.
The ground was a mess.
Fortunately, the Black Witch seemed particularly gentle toward Ariana's "world."
"I remember you were in a Black Forest before?" Ariana asked curiously, glancing at the ground without finding any forest vegetation.
"What's going on?"
She looked at Ian with a puzzled gaze.
Seemingly not understanding Ian's dramatic entrance.
"Wait, Ariana, hold on." Ian didn't immediately respond to Ariana, brushing off miscellaneous debris and starting to search around.
"Where's Pandro? Where's Arthur?"
Ian inquired.
Without waiting for Ariana's reply, he began frantically searching the small town as if he would overturn it to find his target.
Ferociously.
"Arthur! Arthur Pendragon! Come out! Face me!" Ian even drew his magic wand, disassembling all the town houses into floating puzzle pieces in the sky.
Pandro, hiding in the haystack, alias King Arthur, found himself with nowhere to hide. Faced with the little wizard's grim approach, he hastily raised both hands in surrender.
"Listen to me! I didn't do it on purpose!" He also wished to flee, but the little wizard lunged, intent on tearing apart the cause of his distress.