"Show yourselves!" Ingrid demanded with narrowed eyes. The glint in her light blue eyes was as cold as ice.
The owner of the voice who had spoken first replied, "Why would we? When it's much easier to deal with you guys when we're hidden like this?"
"Insolent fools!" The woman beside Ingrid growled in anger.
By the time the second voice had spoken, she had already roused her magic and took out several gold talismans with a Fire rune, search, written on them in dark-red ink. So when the first voice replied to Ingrid, fifteen two-feet red magic arrays appeared before her.
Fireballs emerged from the red magic arrays, with a size of one and a half feet. She threw talismans on the first batch of fireballs and they stuck on them without showing signs of burning.
The fireballs flew out and hit several galleries on the second floor.
The woman was not done. She continued to throw talismans on the fireballs that came out within her magic arrays.
The other Boyd members were not idle either. They would never tolerate anyone who spoke that way to the daughter of the Head Family.
Several magic arrays in red, brown and light green appeared in the hall. They also made use of talismans with Fire, Earth and Wind runes for search, more fireballs, earth arrows, and wind blades aimed randomly at the galleries.
The hall shook from the magic bombardment and was soon covered in a cloud of smoke.
Ingrid was the only one who did not make a move. Or, to be accurate, she did not summon her magic but focused on observing the surrounding with her magic sense. After all, even if a mage used a concealment spell, they were not truly untouchable. Their bodies were also not truly gone. They would still leave traces of their presence or silhouettes once they made contact with something.
Like smoke.
'There!'
Ingrid's light blue eyes flashed as she noticed a silhouette of a man hiding behind a pillar in one of the galleries on the third floor. She raised her hand and aimed at the spot, releasing a small red butterfly that formed at the tip of her finger.
The red butterfly was not made from magic but was Ingrid's ability. She called it the Red Kiss of a Butterfly. Once the butterfly attached itself to her target, no matter where the target went, she would be able to locate that person. Apart from this, when Ingrid aimed her magic at that person, she would never miss.
The red butterfly flew toward the pillar, and when it was only a few inches shy of sticking to her target, a light brown magic array appeared before Ingrid. She touched the magic array and pulled out a golden rifle. Without aiming at her target, she fired a bullet made of concentrated magic energy.
The bullet immediately changed direction and aimed at the silhouette behind the pillar, and a mighty explosion erupted when it hit.
Boom!
A powerful shockwave followed right after the explosion, scattering the cloud of smoke nearby.
Dust from the destroyed pillar replaced the cloud of smoke, obscuring their view in an instant.
"Whoa... that's a pretty nasty move. But, err... who exactly are you aiming at?" The first person who had spoken asked as his voice reverberated in the hall.
Ingrid's face turned livid as she realized the person was standing behind her. She turned at once, her rifle at the ready and pulled the trigger.
However, the concentrated magic energy bullet only went past a cloud of smoke that had gathered behind her.
"Argh!" A pitiful scream followed as Ingrid's bullet hit one of the Boyd members behind.
The member grabbed his abdomen as he fell to his knees in pain.
"Scatter the smoke!" Ingrid ordered at once.
The members with Wind innate magic did not need telling twice. Before Ingrid finished giving her order, they had already summoned a joint magic array and created a powerful gust of wind, blowing away the smoke cloud.
"Thanks."
The owner of the second voice said, which confused most of them.
However, their confusion was cleared right after as a force akin to an increase in gravity fell upon the Wind mages of the Boyd family. They were forced to their knees, and an invisible barrier appeared around them, separating them from the rest.
The joint magic array they created disappeared as well.
Ingrid's eyes constricted as she recognized the magic that restrained them.
"Gravity magic! But.. how...?"
She already confirmed with the Lumley spy that Tyr killed had killed Tobias. As a matter of fact, she had seen the latter's body among the corpses on the floor.
But if this was the case, the second concealed person possessed a medium-risk forbidden magic that the army was unaware of. After all, Tobias was the only one who had been written in the empire's magic registry to possess Gravity magic. Not to mention, Tobias was one of the two people whom the empire had given a magic amnesty token and was allowed to roam around.
"Release them!"
The other Boyd members growled in anger and released another set of magic attacks.
"Stop attacking!" Ingrid warned at once, realizing the real reason the second concealed person had thanked them and restrained their Wind mages.
They were aiming for their Wind mages all along!
When they first launched seemingly random attacks, the two concealed people probably wanted to use the cloud of smoke to move about. However, they probably did not expect Ingrid's actions or her ability. Although she failed in the end, they decided to deal with their mages, who could remove their smokescreen first. Besides, even if they could not counter Ingrid's ability and magic, they could still use the smoke and make her fire friendly shots at her own people— just like what happened a moment ago.
However, Ingrid's warning was a few seconds late because the Boyd members' attacks had already randomly hit the hall's interior, and another cloud of smoke obscured their vision.
Ingrid's eyes narrowed, and she ordered her people at once, "Gather around me!"
The Boyd members followed the sound of Ingrid's voice and gathered around her. After confirming that the presence around her was the same number as the Boyd members with them, apart from the few Wind mages trapped in an invisible barrier a few meters from them, Ingrid summoned a fifty-meter diameter light brown magic array.
The size of the magic array was large enough to include the location where the Wind mages were trapped.
Ingrid's magic aura rose as her magic energy burst from within her. Magic fluctuations gathered around her, and several cannons formed around the magic array's border.
The muzzles of the cannons were facing different directions. Some were even pointed at the ground.
"Die!" Ingrid shouted, and all the cannons fired concentrated magic energy balls in every direction.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of explosive firing reverberated in the air, and the Lumley Ancestral Hall was instantly riddled with holes.
With such loud explosions, it was impossible for anyone within several hundred meters not to hear anything.
However, none of the Lumley family members in the nearby residence seemed to have heard a thing. It was as if the Lumely Ancestral Hall had a huge soundproof array, preventing others to hear anything happening within.
After about ten minutes of continuous firing, Ingrid finally stopped.
By then, the Lumley Ancestral Hall was already in ruins, and the corpses they failed to destroy were already turned to dust.
"Stay on guard!" Ingrid ordered her people.
The Boyd members all held their magic weapons and focused their magic sense outside Ingrid's magic array.
They were surrounded by a thick cloud of smoke, and it was almost impossible to see beyond it.
"T-The invisible barrier is still there!"
It was unknown who had said it, but when the meaning of her words got through to them, they all turned to the side and looked at the trapped Wind mages.
True enough, the invisible barrier trapping them was still there, and the Gravity magic restraining them was also active.
When Ingrid saw this, she immediately shouted, "Headcount!"
"Less than twenty now, I think?"
A man's voice answered behind her.
Ingrid's eyes widened in shock. The rest of the Boyd members also turned and gaped in fear.
A thin dark purple blade hung near Ingrid's neck as a man in a full black suit stood behind her.
The man's face was only half-covered, and they could clearly see the dark-gray eyes that stared at them.
"D-Dark gray— gah!"
Before the Boyd member could even complete what she was saying, a short silver blade flew and pierced her right at the middle of her forehead.
"SShhh, none of you are allowed to speak."
The one who had spoken was the owner of the first voice, and he had appeared a few meters to the left.
"Don't say that. The young master needed information. If they are not allowed to speak, how can they answer?"
A third man in black appeared a few meters to the right, and his voice was similar to the second.
Now that they thought about it, the man behind Ingrid did not sound like any of the previous two voices.
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