Wizard: Starts with Advanced Meditation

"A reclusive vampire?"

Upon hearing this word, Hughes' eyes flickered slightly, and he immediately asked:

"What do you mean by the reclusive vampires you're talking about?"

Upon hearing this, Aldek's expression suddenly froze.

But after hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke:

"We—uh!!"

Suddenly, his face began to contort, and his spirit flickered as if it were about to become transparent.

"Damn it, it seems he's also been placed under a restriction."

Seeing this, Hughes, who knew the relationship between vampires and the Black Ring Crown, knew that the other party had also been infected with the Black Ring Crown's self-destructive soul-destroying method.

Sure enough, the next moment the opponent's spirit began to turn black, and the lower half began to gradually decompose into black particles.

"No! No!!"

Clearly, even Aldek himself was unaware of this, and at this moment, all that remained was fear in his eyes.

"Please...please! Help...please save me!!"

He quickly looked at Hughes, his eyes filled with pleading.

"Tsk, I should have bought a cord clamp."

Hughes stared at the gradually disintegrating spirit before him, unable to come up with a solution for the time being.

Even if he could teleport back to the academy now, the binding device wouldn't be easy to buy.

After all, since the invention was invented, the Golden Ring Crown has been under strict control.

The purpose was to prevent members of the Black Ring Crown from secretly purchasing and developing a suicide method using a shielded binding ring.

So by the time he actually buys it, the spirit in front of him will probably have already completely disintegrated.

"Oh? That's right!"

Fortunately, in his desperation, Hughes glanced at the bone flute of the Sighing Sound in his hand and suddenly thought of something.

...The sighing bone flute can seal away spirits, so could it...?

Thinking of this, he immediately activated the finger hole and sucked the disintegrating Aldek into it.

"Whoosh whoosh..."

Soon, Aldek's distorted face appeared in the empty space, and the original finger holes turned into his wide-open mouth.

Hughes also sensed Aldek's current state through his fingertips.

At this moment, the other party was quietly suspended inside the bone flute, in a sealed slumber.

His lower half remained in the state of black particles, but did not continue to disintegrate.

"As expected, that self-destructive soul-destroying technique is still there... but thankfully it has stopped."

He muttered something, then suddenly opened his eyes slightly.

"So... this method that can cause someone's soul to self-destruct is a mark?"

Marks with special effects are common, but those that can be directly imprinted on the target's soul are extremely rare.

"I never expected that the vampires, or rather, those reclusive vampires... could actually create such a mark."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hughes prepared to teleport away from this place.

But just then, a low whistling sound suddenly came from behind.

"Huuuuu——"

He looked up at the sound and saw a cloud of black mist rapidly drifting towards him.

"The Shadow of Black Mist?!"

Hughes' heart tightened suddenly, instinctively assuming that members of the Black Ring Crown (vampires) had arrived to provide support.

But as the black mist dissipated, Iluya's figure was revealed.

"The plan ran into an unexpected situation, so I originally wanted to come and help you, but I didn't expect..."

After landing, she glanced at Aldek's body, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.

"I didn't expect you to have already taken care of him."

"Heh, just lucky, just lucky..."

Hughes smiled slightly, but his heart was secretly tense as he silently connected to the teleportation point in Wisholm.

"You should have obtained the symbolic blood of Osiris, right? Then our plan should be considered a complete success."

Upon hearing this, Iluya nodded slightly.

"Then I'll be going now. After all, such a big thing has happened, and the Wanling Spire is undergoing a full inspection."

Having said that, Hughes turned around and prepared to leave.

But just then, the other party's voice suddenly came again:

"Where is Aldec's soul?"

Upon hearing this, Hughes paused slightly, then turned around and said:

"It was destroyed by the mark you vampires left, the one that would eventually spew black smoke."

Although he didn't know the other party's purpose in demanding Aldek's soul, he absolutely needed to obtain some memories from that soul.

After all, the more intelligence he gathers, the greater his advantage will be when war breaks out.

Moreover, he personally ended Aldek's life, so Aldek's soul naturally belonged to him.

"Ha...no."

On the other side, Iluya smiled and shook her head.

"I can sense that Aldek's soul is with you, probably sealed inside some kind of magical artifact?"

...swish.

No sooner had she finished speaking than she suddenly flashed forward and appeared in front of Hughes.

"And I've always known..."

She stared at Hughes, a hint of amusement in her scarlet eyes.

"The vampire you killed earlier was named Imos, and he was one of Aldek's companions."

Upon hearing this, Hughes's expression suddenly froze.

……really.

He thought to himself that his previous guess had come true.

There is more than one vampire like Aldek, and their infiltration may even be part of a plan or some kind of deployment!

"Hmm, so what?"

Thinking of this, Hughes's expression turned serious, and he returned to the current topic.

"Aldec's soul isn't just useful to you, it's useful to me too, especially since I personally ended it."

He shrugged, then pulled out the bone flute.

"Pfft, are you planning to use the binding device to peel off the mark on Aldek's soul and then extract the memories from it?"

Iluya glanced at the bone flute, then slowly revealed the truth:

"It's no use. The current markings are all improved versions because we cracked the binding mechanism of the Golden Ring Crown long ago."

Upon hearing this, Hughes was immediately startled:

"What did you say?! Is it Valerius again?"

Iluya nodded and said:

"Pretty much. Remember that final trial held in the Blood Domain? Back then, the Black Ring Crown also captured a wizard named Yuri."

"And he was one of the wizards who participated in the research on the Binding Ring."

"As for how he came to the Blood Domain, I'm not quite sure, but it's highly likely that it's related to Valerius."

(Mentioned in Chapter 390)

Then she looked at Hughes again, her eyes filled with a hint of smugness.

"So now... can you hand over his soul to me?"

"..."

"good……"

After a long silence, Hughes nodded and said:

"But in exchange, you have to tell me what you know, because I trust you..."

As he spoke, he suddenly met the other person's gaze directly, his eyes filled with certainty.

"As one of them, you must know more than you think, Miss Elena."