Diary of a Dead Wizard

Chapter 62: The Real Enemy Appears

As Saul uttered the activation incantation, the tip of his wand swiftly formed a finger-length shard of ice.

The ice crystal was sharp like a spike and radiated a biting chill. With a whoosh, it shot straight toward Rocky’s unguarded head.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

Rocky’s head was pierced clean through by the frosty ice spike, leaving behind a bloody hole that froze over almost instantly.

Two screams erupted simultaneously from Rocky.

One was brief and cut off abruptly.

The other was sharp, echoing endlessly like a reverberation.

“Strike Undead!”

Saul quickly cast another spell.

With his current 13 Joules of magic power, casting a Zero Tier spell was effortless.

The piercing screech was dissolved into white smoke under the spell’s dark light.

Enemy: neutralized.

Without pause, Saul glanced at the dagger still clutched in Rocky’s hand. He quickly took Rocky’s hand and stabbed the poisoned dagger into a subtle, unnoticeable spot under Rocky’s corpse.

Blood stained the blade and rapidly turned black.

Saul covered the wound on Rocky’s body and placed Rocky’s hand aside, revealing the dagger now prominently coated in black blood.

Now, all that was left was to wait for the vulture to swoop in.

…

Duke leaned against the wall.

His legs were trembling. If he didn’t prop himself up, he would’ve slid to the floor.

“Rocky’s already gone in. They should be fighting by now, right?”

He turned his head to look down the second-floor hallway of the East Tower.

Beyond the motionless big guy, the door closest to the ramp was half-open. Clanging noises echoed from within—it sounded intense.

Duke looked down at the stone in his hand. An Fireburst Stone, a gift from Sid.

Perfect for dealing with apprentices who lacked protective spells.

Duke only had one of these. It had to be used at the perfect moment.

A sharp scream suddenly rang out from the morgue. It was hard to tell who had cried out.

“Did the fight end already?”

Duke knew it was his time to move. If Rocky had killed Saul, then all was well.

But if Saul had killed Rocky, then he needed to strike now!

Otherwise, in a straight fight, he’d stand no chance against Saul.

Duke didn’t have time to think about how the situation had gotten to this point. He gripped the Fireburst Stone tightly and channeled magic into the trigger mechanism.

Then he strode to the door of the third morgue, raising his hand to throw the Fireburst Stone inside.

A strong impact would cause the Fireburst Stone to explode instantly.

Whoever was still alive or even if both were alive didn’t matter. Once this thing went off, no one would be walking out!

Duke reached the doorway, glanced inside, and raised his arm—

But then he froze.

There was no one standing inside.

The stench hit Duke’s nose, snapping his dazed mind back into clarity.

Rocky lay on the ground, a hole in his face. The dagger—coated in blood!

Perfect.

Duke’s eyes lit up. He had given that dagger to Rocky himself, so he knew exactly what it carried.

Still, to be safe, he didn’t leave. His eyes scanned the room, Fireburst Stone still ready to throw.

“Where’s Saul?”

But within his field of vision, Saul was nowhere to be seen.

“Did he escape? But I was watching the hallway the whole time…”

The room was a mess. A table was knocked over, empty boxes scattered across the floor.

A large chest lay overturned—big enough to hide an adult.

“Is Saul hiding there?”

He spotted what looked like a hand near the chest—it had to be Saul’s, and he had to be injured.

By now, the poison should’ve taken effect.

Duke licked his lips, a grin spreading across his face.

He took another step forward.

Suddenly, a hand clamped around Duke’s right wrist—the one holding the Fireburst Stone—gripping it tight so he couldn’t throw.

Before Duke could even be shocked, another hand shot up into view, lunging viciously for his throat!

The boy’s fragile neck was torn open in one swift motion!

Blood sprayed out. Duke stared at the crimson mist before him, confusion flashing in his mind in his final moments: How did he get behind me?

Letting Duke’s corpse slump to the floor, Saul still held on to his wrist, making sure the Fireburst Stone didn’t fall.

The hiding technique Saul had just used was a Zero Tier spell he had studied specifically for this day—Mage Trick.

This spell was highly flexible. By altering the spell model slightly, one could change how it manifested.

Saul had chosen an effect that concealed his presence.

When Duke entered, Saul had actually been standing right beside the doorway, pressed against the wall. But Duke never noticed him.

This spell seemed powerful, but in truth, none of its effects had any real offensive capability—it could only briefly fool the senses.

Hence, it was classified as a Zero Tier spell.

Another reason it was so low-ranked was its unpredictability. Sometimes you'd want to pull a rabbit from a hat—only to get a toad instead.

But with Saul’s precise coordinate analysis method, he could control the spell’s effect however he wanted.

Besides this special Zero Tier spell, Saul had also prepared other tools.

The wand that had unleashed the ice spike earlier was actually a magical device.

Magical devices were typically single-use items that had strong spells sealed inside. With a simple infusion of magic, anyone could use them—no need to know the spell itself.

Unfortunately, to eliminate Rocky quickly, Saul had already used the device he’d originally prepared for Sid.

Duke’s Fireburst Stone was also a type of magical device—though far more destructive than the ice dagger, with a larger area of effect.

Saul carefully pried the Fireburst Stone from Duke’s hand, dispelling the magic that clung to it.

The unstable Fireburst Stone finally quieted down.

Saul let out a soft breath.

Letting it explode in the morgue would’ve been… bad.

He was about to put the Fireburst Stone away, but instinctively switched to a semi-meditative state to inspect it first—he always did this when collecting materials from corpses.

Then Saul froze.

Under his scrutiny, a grayish-black insect crawled out of the Fireburst Stone and quickly latched onto his left hand, opening a huge maw to bite—

Well, it tried to bite.

But it couldn’t break through.

Saul calmly set the Fireburst Stone on the table, pinched the bug between his thumb and forefinger, and crushed it!

Chirp!

The gray-black illusionary bug turned to fine dust and scattered into the air.

“What was that?”

The Diary hadn’t made an appearance, so Saul couldn’t tell what the bug’s function was.

The Diary had always been haughty—never giving any attention to minor things like this.

But Saul felt this little bug was anything but ordinary. It had to be part of Sid’s finishing move.

Outside the silent morgue, faint footsteps echoed.

Saul’s eyes narrowed.

The real enemy had arrived!

He immediately staggered over to his cabinet, rummaging through it in a panic, clattering bottles as he went.

Then he swiftly pulled out several spare vials from his clothes, popped their corks, and gulped them all down.

After drinking the potions, Saul clutched his chest in pain and stumbled toward the door, swaying as if seeking help.

The door was pushed open.

A figure appeared in the doorway.

Seeing who it was, Saul’s face changed dramatically. He stumbled backward, knocking over the worktable and nearly tripping over a corpse near the teleportation platform.

As his back slammed into the platform, his face twisted in pain, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood.

Then he stared at the figure behind the door with a look of despair and roared in anger:

“Sid, so it really was you!”

(End of Chapter)