From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 369: The Grand Fortress and the Headless Horseman

"The Sorrow Devourer?" Ivy quickly recalled the information about this monster in his mind. "The monster that feeds on the suffering of mortals and even actively passes on dark knowledge to others in exchange for more suffering?"

"That's right." Ambose said solemnly, "The Devouring Sorrowful Demon is a native species of Akaivivo. It is a giant evil demon that tends to lurk on battlefields or other places where mass deaths have occurred... Only after dozens or hundreds of years of constantly devouring pain can they have the opportunity to grow into a Titan... In this corner near Strixhaven, there shouldn't be such a creature..."

"We need to seek help from other deans, or even the founding dragon itself..." Valentine's eyes flashed with blood. Ivy guessed that he was casting some kind of vision spell, perhaps targeting blood or living things. "It's better to retreat before it finds us..."

"Is it also a monster summoned by Mogaso?" Kemina asked, "If the Devouring Demon Titan is on the same level as the Creation Dragon, then Mogaso's magic could really threaten the lives of the teachers and students in the school..."

"This is not right!" The solemnity on Ambos's face turned into confusion. "Why didn't it attack us? Ordinary Sorrow Devouring Demons have the ability to sense the emotions of intelligent life. Although they are limited to negative emotions such as 'pain', it also means that it is very difficult to hide from their perception. And the fear of those students almost made me faint..."

"Maybe that means it's not that strong... maybe it just completed its promotion not long ago?" Ivy guessed, "This is a good thing for us, but we can't let it continue to absorb the magical power of this land. Mogasso's magic ritual must also be interrupted..."

Before Ivy could finish his words, a piercing howl startled the Sorrow-devouring Demon Titan in the distance.

The professors looked in the direction of the sound and saw a corpse demon that had just been burned to ashes by Grayson's Radiance spell.

Ambers didn't have time to make any comment, because the Bloodline Dean Valentine was warning him: "That monster is going to attack us! Get out of the way!"

The five-armed demon, whose stature was so tall that it towered over the ruins of the Sederun, pulled out some of the black mana that was constantly tumbling in front of him and rubbed it between his five hands with sharp nails. A black spear that was flashing with foul and evil light was pulled out by the Infinite Demon Titan and aimed at the abandoned carriage where Ivy and the others were temporarily hiding.

The mithril staff [Heart of the Mountains] flashed with dazzling light. Ivy stopped flying and used the acceleration of falling to pierce the spearhead at the end of the staff into the ground, calling on the power of the earth.

With the effect of Akaivivo's plane harmony, Ivy was now in the state of [Summoning Air and Earth Elements], and was able to cast spells related to the earth and mountains with ease.

With a violent roar and vibration, a crack quickly extended and expanded from the mithril staff. In less than a breath, a huge rock peak emerged from the crack, like a spear piercing the sky, and collided head-on with the dark magic thrown by the five-handed demon.

The smoke and dust from the explosion covered the sky, and debris flew in all directions, but none of it fell into the group of professors and students.

It wasn't that they were too lucky, but that Ivy's magic was protecting them. The empty space above their heads turned into a stone ceiling, and a brand new castle suddenly rose from the ground, protecting the five students and four professors inside.

The spell Ivy had cast before was called Grand Fortress, an eight-ring conjuration spell that created a stone fortress out of thin air.

However, with the blessing and transformation of Ivy's [Invocation of Earth Element] and [Heart of the Mountains], this spell was transformed from a standard conjuration spell into a transmutation spell. He chose to directly call on the power of the earth to shape such a giant castle, rather than using the sub-school of conjuration to create a castle.

Although this will not enjoy the original effects of the Grand Fortress, such as providing decorations, food and water, and invisible servants, it also has additional damage and protection capabilities.

Moreover, this eight-ring spell originally required a one-minute casting time, but Ivy's [Scriber Mage] professional effect [Awakening Grimoire] could allow this type of ritual magic to adopt a normal one-action casting time, combined with [Elemental Super Magic] and [Instant Spell Casting], Ivy was able to summon a castle that blocked out the sky and the sun from the ground in just one breath.

The principle of using evocation magic to create a castle is to summon a giant stone from the ground and then shape it into the style of a castle. Therefore, creatures and objects that collide with the stone during the process of it rising from the ground will suffer blunt damage.

This time, the spell-casting boulder did not hit any living target, but was pulled out by Avri as a shield to block the spell effect of the Devouring Demon Titan.

Although it is possible to take the professor and students away with teleportation magic, Ivy still needs to arrange the next tactics, so creating a shelter directly is the reasonable choice.

"Follow me." Ivy tapped the mithril staff lightly on the castle's floor tiles, and the rough but flat ground immediately split to the left and right, revealing a dark passage.

"This castle cannot last too long. It is mainly used to divert the attention of the Devouring Demon Titan." Ivy took the lead and walked into the darkness of the passage first.

Following behind him, Kemina summoned a bright white owl-shaped orb as a light source to illuminate the passage.

The two deans, who had also made preparations when the five-armed demon launched its attack, silently dispersed their spells, looked at each other in shock, and then followed the footsteps of the first two.

The five students did not hesitate any longer and squeezed into the passage all at once.

"This land is undoubtedly the home of the evil demon, but we can't just leave like this." Ivy said, "The underground passage I created leads to the ruins of Seidun, but at most it can take us to the dry moat."

"There, we need to split our forces into three groups. Kemina, use teleportation magic to take the two deans back to Strijhaven, and quickly summon other deans to help fight the evil demon. I will be responsible for holding it back before the reinforcements arrive. As for the Nemesis Team, you will go deep into the underground of the Seton ruins according to the original plan and put an end to Mogasso's conspiracy. He is trapped in a magic ritual and cannot move easily, so his strength will be greatly reduced, but he cannot fail to deploy protective forces around him, so you must be as careful as possible..."

The continuous vibrations and roars from overhead kept the entire team highly focused, listening silently to Ivy's plan.

"In the meantime, I will give you some help to maximize your chances of survival... Whether the Devouring Titan goes berserk or Mogatho completes his spell, it is not good news for Strixhaven. Unprepared students and professors will be killed, and we are the only ones who can prevent this from happening."

The passage behind had begun to collapse, and a light spot appeared in front, indicating the exit.

Ivy stopped and asked, "Who else has questions?"

"Kmina is a planeswalker, so it's better to let her go back to Strixhaven alone for help. Bringing us along will only slow her down," said Ambers. "The two of us will stay and help you hold back the Devouring Titan." Valentine forced a smile on his wrinkled face, "Maybe we alone will be enough to kill it."

"If the demon is really on the same level as the dragon that created the academy, then that's not necessarily the case." Ivy shook his head and stopped the two deans. "If both of you stay here, then Kemina will need an object that can prove the urgency."

For the first time, Valentine took off his hood, revealing his hairless head. He stretched his sharp nails towards his eye sockets, and after a disturbing sound of mucous membrane squirming, he handed a scarlet spherical object to Kemina.

"Take this." Valentine gave a creepy laugh.

With a frown, Kemina took Valentine's artificial eye and resisted the urge to wipe off the sticky liquid on it with her sleeve.

"It's made of garnet." Valentine said with a chuckle, "I love these objects that can replace the original body tissues, whether they are magical items or the body tissues of another creature... It's because I got the stomach of a dragon that I no longer have to drink blood to survive..."

"Now is not the time to show off academic achievements." Ambrose said expressionlessly, "The mission of these students is equally important. We need to strengthen their strength and ensure that Mogasso is indeed defeated."

"Let's go, Kemina." Ivy said to Kemina, who was holding the garnet eye with her orchid-fingered hand, "Leave it to us."

"Leave it to Lisette. Let her take you to find the other professors, Ogotta, Shayir, Qianni and Lisette herself. The spells of these four are most likely to be effective against the Sorrowful Demon Titan..." Valentine reminded again before Kemina was surrounded by white feathers.

Kemina only had time to nod before she disappeared into the deep passage.

"A passionate poem by a battle poet." Ambers handed a scroll to Grayson. "I don't expect you to make much use of it."

"You'll be surprised!" Grayson's face flushed unnaturally, like a berserker in a frenzy. Ivy thought this was the effect of Director An Ying's spell, some kind of verbal magic that could be used to provoke others, or perhaps it had other uses.

"I'll wait and see." Ambers said coldly.

Valentine handed a small bottle of liquid to Aurora, leaving only a few simple words: "You know how to use it..."

Aurora took it after a moment's hesitation and nodded silently.

Ivy gave the water in the golden cup to the other three people: "The water in the golden cup can protect you and help you fight fear. Make good use of it."

The three students who drank the consecrated water all gained the effects of high-level heroism, which would be much less effective if Mogaso intended to use magic that could affect the mind.

"Thank you, Professor Doom!" Bastion knocked the armor on his chest loudly, proving that his chest was full of courage. "Let's send Mogasso and his conspiracy back to hell now!"

His proposal was echoed by two companions who were also affected by high heroism, and the three of them looked eagerly towards the exit of the passage.

"Don't be impatient." Ivy stopped them, "You have to bring a helper with you."

After a crisp snap of fingers, a black flame suddenly exploded next to Ivy, and then a skull head with a wild laugh appeared from it: "My decisive, cruel and tyrannical master! Is it finally time for me to show up again? Which poor soul should I devour? Tell me the target!"

"Shut up, Tom." Ivy scolded coldly, "Your mission is to protect these five students and help them kill the Madwug Mage in the ruins. In order to make the operation go smoothly, I will make a temporary body for you."

Ivy ignored the fierce fire around the Shattermouth Skull Voldemort, reached out and grabbed him in his hand, flew out of the end of the passage, and entered a moat full of bones.

Compared with the scene when Ivy came here last time, the countless bones in the moat were undoubtedly much less. This should be the result of the slime monster he left behind last time. I just don't know where the slime monster is now, and whether it has caused enough trouble to Mogasso.

Choosing a place that looked like there were a lot of skeletons, Ivy threw away Voldemort's skull in his hand and used necromancy magic to control the corpse on the ground.

The evil, dark and ominous magic power flowed into the cemetery below through the Broken Mouth Skull floating in the air. Many bones swirled up like iron filings attracted by a magnet and gathered under the skull burning with fierce fire.

Under the infusion of Ivy's necromancy magic, the fierce fire burning on Voldemort's skull burned more and more vigorously, burning the bones surrounding it into black ashes, which gradually formed the image of a knight wearing armor and holding a sword.

“Hahaha… My body is strong and pure! Let me take care of the souls of these poor little chickens!” Voldemort clenched his fists with satisfaction and looked at the armor on his body carefully. “However, my powerful and cruel master, why is this a knight’s body? Shouldn’t I be a wizard or a lich? Is it because of your strange bad taste again?”

"Okay, Tom." Ivy said with a straight face, "Go and complete your mission!"

"But I'm still short of a warhorse! How can a knight be called a knight without a warhorse?" The Headless Knight Voldemort asked flatteringly, "How about the Thestrals? I think they are very suitable as my mount!"

"Underground operations do not require mounts." Ivy glanced at him coldly, turned around and called the two deans and five students, "Let's get started!"

(End of this chapter)