Mage Wendy walked slowly up the spiral staircase of the Magic Tower, a little absent-minded. She was uneasy by the elven army surrounding the walls outside the Hub Fort, especially since some of them were equipped with powerful magical fluctuations. Those were elven mages who always looked at this red mage tower with a dangerous gaze.

Fortunately, there has been no attack here, and the elves have just surrounded the city. Some time ago, I heard that the new lord Maren Stadt had sent a cavalry unit of his own out of the city, intending to bring back some of the supplies and garrisons from the satellite castle. The elves attacked the team, and only two lucky guys came back alive.

After that, the gates of the fort were closed, and not only the soldiers were not allowed to enter or leave, but even the hungry people who had fled were kept outside.

The fort was so busy with its own that even the soldiers began to reduce their daily food rations, so how could they still afford to take care of the refugees? Every day and every night, a desperate wail would come from outside the city walls, disturbing people's dreams at first, and then as the sound decreased, everyone could sleep well.

Keeping the Magic Tower in the city is something that only the Knox Guild would do, but now the benefits are clearly visible. As part of the city, there are naturally walls and guards on the walls to provide protection outside, saving the mages a lot of energy. Moreover, the daily fluctuations of the city's residents are a source of energy for the enchantment-strengthened mage tower, which can increase the magic water bottles of all the mages inside.

Wendy is not a member of the Knox Guild, she has been in the Mage Federation for over fifteen years, and is a mage specializing in protective spells. Most of the time she focused on studying spells, helping other mages with spell trials, and the chances of leaving the Tri-Peaks Tower were few and far between. Only in times of war. She can come to the south. Take in the scenery from the rest of the place.

This red mage tower has magical powers. Wendy felt that it could match her mana fluctuations perfectly, and the mage tower was a part of herself, and the energy in it could be called upon at will. In addition to her, the other mages who came here also felt similarly, and their self-confidence was strengthened to varying degrees. This misjudgment of her own strength has increased her failure rate when casting spells, and many of her ability to manipulate the details of spells has also decreased. It took a lot of effort for Wendy to slowly get used to this strange state.

However, the mages from the Knox Commons seem to be completely unaffected.

In addition to providing unrealistic self-confidence, there are other things that this mage tower does not satisfy Wendy. I don't know where those bald heads learned their artistic tastes. There are so many portraits of people hanging on the walls. Men, women, and children, with different identities and costumes, all have a serious and stiff face, could it be that they are the work of the same boring artist?

Wendy stroked her long hair, which was soft and shiny and hung down to her waist, which should be the long hair that would make a man smile. She hopes that these portraits will show a smile and at least make her feel better. But for some reason, when she had this thought, she suddenly shuddered.

The walls of the Red Magic Tower glowed faintly, and were originally colorless. It's just that being affected by the walls always makes people feel red, like blood. Wendy had heard some rumors. There have been fatalities here, and several mages have lost their lives due to failed spell experiments. It's an ominous sign, like a curse, and other mages often fail when casting spells.

Perhaps they were also affected by strange self-confidence, which led to failure. But since you've overcome it, you won't be disturbed, right?

The red light still casts a black shadow, and a voice is heard in the shadow, "Wendy......"

The mage froze, surveying the corners of the spiral staircase, but saw no figure. She looked in the direction of the voice, and there was nothing in the shadows. Was this a hallucination? Wendy only felt mentally exhausted - perhaps it was time to rest, while the war with the elves had not yet begun.

Wendy has been busy reinforcing the tower's protective enchantments lately, especially the part that protects against spells such as teleportation, which is the top priority of all projects. Under the layers of defense, it is impossible to rely on teleportation techniques at present. Even if a few powerful mages force their way in using their own unique spell-casting techniques, they will inevitably trigger a magic alert here. In an instant, the intruder will be suppressed by the power of the entire tower, and will be attacked by various spells. This foolproof protection reassured her, and the elven mages just had to stay away.

Without the use of teleportation spells, there is only one way to enter the tower: walk in on your own legs. However, the entrance to the castle is protected by a powerful magic circle, with a lamp god, a blood golem, and a mage on duty at all times. It's hard to fool three targets with different resistances and detection methods at the same time. Stealth, disguise, and seduction were all thought out in advance, all in order to protect all the important people in the Mage Tower.

Wendy is also an important person, after all, she is now aware of most of the protective enchantments of the Magic Tower. One is for check-ups and routine maintenance, and the other is for her to know where she can continue to play and use it to add new spell effects. Every day she would spend hours walking through the entire mage tower, and the rest of the time studying magic in the library—a privilege for being an important person.

If it weren't for the threat of the elves outside, and the books here were nowhere near as good as the Tri-Peaks, Wendy would have said that this was a good place.

"Wendy ......"

The voice sounded again, and the protective mage was startled in his heart, and a thought turned on the protective spell on his body. Layers of aura and shields protect him, and some of these spells detect hostile presences around him. As a Protection Mage, he can activate and interrupt the effects of protection spells at any time, splitting the duration of the original spell into segments. The higher the level of the Protector Mage, the more spells can be maintained at the same time.

With these protections, she was able to look more closely. The sound still came from the shadows of the red crystal wall, and there must be something wrong there. Wendy plucked up her courage and kept adding confidence to herself, and slowly leaned over with a shaver.

A black figure appeared in the wall, and Wendy swore that there was absolutely no place before.

Evil magic detected no warning, and no response to seeing through the illusion. So the black figure in front of her is real? Wendy doesn't like that. But she would never back down. Hold yourself firmly in place. The figures in the portraits around him seemed to be staring at him, the corners of their mouths slightly upturned, waiting to see her jokes—she wouldn't let them get their way.

"Are you talking?" Wendy held out, but could touch the cold crystal wall. The black figure was in the middle of the translucent crystal wall, untouchable. The shadow floated in a swimming-like posture, growing larger in view. Although she couldn't really see it, Wendy could barely make out the shadow: a middle-aged human man with empty eyes, a haggard face, and a round head without any hair.

"I'm dying happily......," the shadow said. But the misery in her voice was clear in her heart. Wendy felt like her heart was beating to her throat, could this be a new method of necromancy?

How could there be a necron in this powerful mage tower? Wendy forced herself to calm down. She is very afraid of the necromancy, which has nothing to do with her magical prowess, but rather from the legends she heard in her childhood, and because of the psychological weakness caused by witnessing her parents being killed by ghouls roaming the fields. Ghosts must not be allowed to know cowardice and fear, as that will fuel their strength. Wendy turned the ring in her hand, which contained the Warrior God Priest's Courage Technique, which she had exchanged for a number of protective magic items.

After this, she said in a trembling voice, "You...... What do you want?"

"Be happy with me......" The shadow grew larger. Then clinging to the wall, as if to reach out. Those black arms had long, sharp claws. I rub a pink crystal more and more. Not needing her own ears, Wendy heard that high-pitched and piercing grinding sound in her heart.

"Don't come to me!" Wendy unleashed a magic missile, but it only hit the crystal wall, and it had no effect. The dark shadow's expression moved slightly, and the corners of its mouth widened, as if smiling. Later, Wendy saw two more shadows appear on the wall, just like her fear, growing bigger and clearer.

She couldn't stop backing away, to the edge of the spiral staircase.

'What kind of spell?' Wendy forced herself to think. The material of the magic tower itself is very resistant to spells, and it is difficult to cause effects with fire, acid, and cold, and only the penetration of electric shocks is better. Although the protection of the magic tower on the outside is stronger, the inside is not much worse, especially in order to avoid the damage caused by the loss of control of the spell test, some places have also deliberately strengthened the protection of the elements, which he knows.

For a while, she couldn't figure out how to crack the protection system she was familiar with.

The other two shadows grew as well, eventually forming three humanoid shadows on the walls. They repeat "death" and "happiness" over and over again, and Wendy can see and hear them even when she closes her eyes and plugs her ears.

"We die happily ......," the three shadows said in unison.

Wendy suddenly thought of the rumors she had heard a long time ago, which were only circulating in a small circle. The accident that happened at Fort Hub's Mage Tower saw three mages lose their lives here. They ate themselves alive, but they were still smiling. When she heard the story, she thought of ghouls, and the discomfort in her heart prevented her from listening carefully. You should know more about it, so that you can find a way to deal with it and save your current self.

"No, I didn't hurt you, you killed yourself...... Wendy said tremblingly.

The first shadow stopped rubbing its claws against the wall and looked straight at Wendy. "Let's be happy......" he said as he stretched out his arm, and the claws of the black shadow actually reached out from the wall and grabbed straight at Wendy's heart!

Wendy stepped back in horror, one foot out of the spiral staircase, her body unbalanced and tilted outward. Just then, a hand grabbed him by the shoulder, pulled her back, and then he saw the dazzling light at his side.

She saw a familiar stranger. She had met this person a few days before, but she hadn't communicated. He was also a silent and independent mage, but when he met his eyes, Wendy had no rejection or vigilance in his heart, as if he had met an old friend. The man was now standing beside her, with a gentle smile that had injected confidence and hope into her heart, that he had large, strong hands, less like a mage and more like a warrior, that were firmly on her shoulders and supporting her, and that the stranger was radiating the energy of light magic, and that all the shadows around him were dispelled.

Wendy didn't know what to say, so the man said, "I'm Soth, are you all right?" (to be continued......