The most shameless alchemist in history

The once-complete staircase was blasted apart, with a large section falling down and Kashu nowhere to be seen.

"As you can see, we used gunpowder to blow up the stairs to stop Kashu from catching up. It's the only way to avoid him." Dure had a matter-of-fact expression on his face. He carefully examined the large hole behind him but didn't see any trace of Kashu, nor any wreckage or clothing.

This means that Kashu successfully avoided the attack, but he was temporarily taken to the lower level and hasn't caught up yet.

"What?! You blew a hole in the floor already, and now you've blown up the stairs too! Do you know how dangerous this is? We could easily fall down the stairs, and if the stairs are destroyed, how are we going to get back?"

Nono thought the guy in front of her was absolutely insane; no normal person would do such a thing.

“We can’t worry about that now. Compared to being killed by Kashu, I think this risk is totally worth taking. Or do you have any other better options?” Dure had witnessed Kashu kill people with his own eyes and knew how terrifying he was. Thinking back on it, he felt a chill run down his spine.

"Of course you have a solution, but where did you get the gunpowder?" Nono was silenced by Du Lei's question and had to change the subject.

"You mean gunpowder? I saw the gunpowder recipe in the library yesterday, so I tried to make some myself, and it worked quite well." Du Lei pulled out a small vial from his pocket, which was full of gray powder.

"What? You put together this yourself? Are you sure you're not joking?" Nono's eyes widened; this seemed unbelievable to her.

"Believe it or not, it's up to you. Kashu wasn't killed in the explosion. I think he'll catch up soon. Stop dawdling and keep going up. Since turning back is impossible, we can only move forward and look for any glimmer of hope." Dure looked up at the stairs above him, which were still winding and twisting.

Since even Kashu is interested in this place, then this Tower of Ashes, which has been sealed away in history for hundreds of years, must be hiding something.

193. Giving you face.

The explosion that Dure just made was quite a commotion; a large section of the stairs was shattered, and rocks kept falling down. Kashu, who was chasing them, was hit by the shockwave and was thrown away. This was even more powerful than the explosion that Dure made when he first appeared.

He fell six or seven stories and was buried under a lot of rubble. If it were an ordinary person, they would definitely die without a burial place. But soon the surface of the rubble moved and a hand suddenly stretched out. Kashu walked out of the rubble and twisted his neck.

"You've done a really good job. Every time we meet, you bring me a different kind of surprise. It's getting more and more interesting. To reward you for your brave act of thwarting me twice in a row, I've decided to kill you slowly. This is the highest honor. You'd better enjoy it slowly."

Kashu swayed unsteadily, his clothes torn to shreds from the impact of the falling rocks, and blood streaming down his arms. But he paid no heed; the setback only fueled his excitement. He slowed his pace and made his way to the top of the Ash Tower.

Nono was no longer his prey; the boy who had tricked him once in the depths of the snowy mountains and had now thwarted him again was his target. He was determined to kill the boy in the most cruel way; that was the boy's destined fate.

Meanwhile, having temporarily escaped Kashu's pursuit, Dure and Nono were running for their lives on the upper levels of the Ash Tower. They both knew that Kashu wouldn't let them go easily and would definitely chase after them again. If they didn't find a way out, they would also be killed by Kashu.

"So you came to Ash Tower to catch the murderer, didn't you? Now the murderer is right behind you, and you can't do anything about him. Instead, you're being chased by him. Aren't the teachers at Maple Leaf Academy a bit too incompetent?" Du Lei complained as he ran.

When he was in the office, Nono originally intended to teach him a lesson to avenge the incident he had caused her that morning. However, Shanina, who had short hair, wore glasses, and had a particularly voluptuous figure, barged in and told Nono that a murder had occurred at Nono Academy.

Enraged, Nono was clearly dragging Dure to arrest the murderer, but after entering the Ash Tower, things took a completely different turn. Instead of being hunters chasing their prey, they became the prey in the eyes of others, finding themselves in a miserable situation.

"How can you blame me? How was I supposed to know that guy was so strong? I'm only a Steel Rank, but he's definitely a Flame Rank. I'm not strong enough to fight him across ranks. On the contrary, you're just a burden, yet you dare to complain to me!" Nono was unhappy.

"Don't forget who saved you just now. Wasn't it the burden you mentioned? Damn it, there's no road ahead. If this continues, we'll be caught sooner or later," Du Lei retorted. Even on the run, he didn't forget to pick on Nuonuo, and he was never at a disadvantage in a verbal battle.

"It's all your fault! Can't you watch where you're going? Couldn't you have chosen the right path? You led us into a dead end, and now we're all doomed!" Nono complained to Dure as she saw the path ahead completely blocked by boulders, since Dure had been running ahead of her earlier.

"How can you blame me? I asked you which way to go before and got your permission before we went this way. Now you're blaming me instead." Du Lei was referring to a fork in the road. Before the fork, the Ash Tower only had one straight path leading upwards.

When the road forked, they chose the right one, but they didn't expect that there would be no road after they ran up. To be precise, there used to be a road, but something happened that blocked it, and they couldn't move forward even half a step.

"If it's not your fault, is it mine? As a man, you have absolutely no sense of responsibility. It's truly despicable," Nuonuo stubbornly insisted. In her dictionary, the word "admit wrong" simply didn't exist. No matter the situation, she was always right.

"Then I'm truly glad I don't have your so-called sense of responsibility. My life wasn't meant to be something for you to respect. This rock is no good, it's too hard. There's no way to get past it. There's no other way but to turn back and choose another path." Du Lei tried again.

He did consider blowing up the road ahead, but after checking it, he found that such an operation was not feasible, so he could only choose to turn back.

"Let's hurry back, I don't want to be caught by that serial killer again. Oh no, he's here!" Nono immediately turned around and was about to go back, but at that moment, she saw that Kashu had caught up and completely blocked the two of them in their way.

"Coo coo coo coo, I've found you. Just stand there and let me kill you. Good children don't resist death, so come on." Kashu staggered over, blood still dripping from his arm. He licked the edge of the playing card in his hand.

Those seemingly ordinary playing cards, in other people's hands, probably wouldn't even kill a fly, but in his hands, they've taken countless lives. Just like the image drawn on that playing card, it's a Grim Reaper, a Grim Reaper wielding a scythe to reap souls.

"I'm not crazy. Who would stand there and let you kill them for nothing? How about we make a deal? Would you stand still and let me chop you up?" Nono scoffed at Kashu's words and immediately retorted. She glanced around, trying to find a way to get rid of Kashu, but to no avail.

"Fine, I'll stand here and let you chop me, but only if you can actually hit me," Kashu said confidently, beckoning Nono with his finger in a provocative manner. This made Nono furious, because she knew that even if she rushed over to chop him, she wouldn't be able to hurt him.

"Since you've made this request, wouldn't it be disrespectful to refuse you?" Just as Kashu was focusing his attention on Dure and Nono, a figure suddenly flashed behind him, and before the person arrived, a blade flashed first.

Cassius was caught off guard when someone swung a long sword and slashed at his shoulder, causing blood to splatter instantly.

"Flying Fish, it's you! Why are you so slow? No, didn't you enter the Ash Tower before us? Why are you only showing up now?" Nono exclaimed in surprise. She clearly saw a small figure gracefully descend from the top of the ceiling.

His strike was clean and swift, inflicting a wound on Kashu.

194 took advantage of me

Kashu was cleanly slashed in the shoulder by the dwarf named Flying Fish. Blood splattered and stained the mottled wall, which relieved Durei and Nono's immediate crisis to some extent. Otherwise, they would most likely have lost their lives under Kashu's Death Playing Cards.

Even after being ambushed and slashed, Kashu did not fall. In fact, when he was hit, he calmly took two steps back, quickly stopped the bleeding, and then parried the flying fish's fierce attack with one hand. After all, the latter would not give up such a good opportunity.

Amidst the crisscrossing blades, Kashu was forced to retreat step by step, and the situation looked very favorable. However, Nono couldn't get excited because she knew Feiyu's strength. Even though he was stronger than her, he was still some distance away from Kashu. This time, the sneak attack played a large part in the success.

"One after another, how boring. I'll just kill you all. Isn't this Tower of Destruction and Death the best place for you to die?" Kashu was somewhat enraged, his wounded right arm hanging limply at his sides.

However, he still held the playing cards in his left hand and fought against the sharp blade in the flying fish's hand. The playing cards, which were originally very inflexible and could be torn apart even by a three-year-old child, became as hard as steel in Kashu's hands. Even when he clashed head-on with the flying fish's long sword, he did not lose ground.

As Kashu's injuries healed rapidly, he gradually shifted from a passive to an active position, turning the tide with a single hand and forcing Flying Fish to retreat steadily. After losing the advantage of sneak attacks, the latter gradually found itself in a disadvantageous situation, which could not be described as anything but critical.

"Damn it, he has such a strong healing ability. Is this guy even a normal human? Flying Fish, hang in there, I'm coming to help you." Nono was also shocked by Kashu's healing ability. Normally, after being stabbed, he should have developed zombie fighting ability.

However, after only a brief period of setback, Kashu quickly rallied and even showed signs of becoming stronger with each battle, putting great pressure on Flying Fish. In response, Nono's hand glowed blue as she summoned her magic bow and arrow, condensing it into frost arrows, and launched a support attack from afar.

“No wonder he was able to escape from between the Star Stones. His recovery ability is so strong. He was even cut by a knife and it didn’t hurt him. I’ll help you too.” At first, Dure couldn’t understand how Kashu escaped from between the Star Stones. At that time, he had clearly designed to bury the entire Star Stones, which were completely swallowed by the backflow of magma.

But seeing Kashu's wounds healing at a visible speed, Durei's understanding was refreshed. He knew very well the principle of "if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold," a lesson taught to him by that man. He quickly took out his crossbow and, together with Nono, the two aimed at Kashu from a distance and fired.

Although Dure's crossbow was a homemade arm crossbow, unlike Nono's magic-powered weapon which had magical effects, Dure had also coated the arrowheads with special powder in order to deal with Kashu. In an instant, amidst the crisscrossing blades, arrows flew past with a "whoosh whoosh whoosh" sound, heading straight for Kashu.

"You guys are really going on and on, getting less and less cute. You've lost interest in these toys, so why not just destroy them all?" Kashu was enraged by the arrows coming from Dure and Nono in the distance. With their support, he found it hard to concentrate on dealing with the flying fish, which was becoming increasingly ferocious.

Just as Kashu decided to get serious and eliminate all three of them, a powerful surge of magical energy suddenly emanated from him. Even someone of his level was startled and instinctively pulled back his playing cards, raising his arms to retreat—clearly an evasive maneuver.

"Have we finally suppressed him? We must seize this opportunity and not give him a moment to breathe." Nono mistakenly thought that Kashu was suppressed by them. She didn't care about the saying "don't pursue a defeated enemy" and just kept pressing on and attacking, determined to force Kashu into a dead end.

"No, no, it's not that we're suppressing him. This sound is bad. Quickly lie down!" Durei had excellent hearing. Kashu's actions were completely out of step with the battle. Firstly, Kashu was not at a disadvantage, and secondly, given his personality, he would not retreat even if he was at a disadvantage.

Kokashu's sudden retreat immediately aroused Dure's suspicion. Adding to this, he heard a sound coming from the top of the tower—a heartbeat, like a parched riverbed suddenly bursting with a rushing torrent, causing the earth to tremble.

"What are you talking about? How can you give up such a hard-won opportunity?" Nono thought Du Lei was being overly cautious. She wanted to continue her pursuit. Someone as vengeful as her, having just been so embarrassed, would definitely get her revenge once she got the chance.

Du Lei couldn't just stand by and watch her take the risk, so he grabbed her, pressed her head down hard, and at the same time, a surge of energy spread out rapidly, like a boulder crashing into a pool of water, creating ripples and a loud "bang" behind them.

In an instant, the boulder that had blocked Du Lei and his group's retreat was smashed into pieces by the force of the impact. The broken pieces of rock smashed against the wall, leaving the already rotten wall riddled with holes. Fortunately, Du Lei reacted quickly and hid in a blind spot.

Even so, quite a few stones the size of an average person's head still hit Du Lei's head. He only escaped this disaster by burying his head, otherwise his head would have been smashed open. Nono was still confused because Du Lei was pressing her head down firmly.

"What are you doing, you bastard? Are you trying to take advantage of me in this mess?" Nono only heard a rumbling sound. For the first time, she felt that Du Lei was so strong. He looked like a weak and frail boy, but no matter how she struggled, she couldn't get rid of him.

"What time is it? Who's still thinking about that? You need to clear your head. Any carelessness could cost you your life. Here it comes!" Du Lei sternly reprimanded Nuonuo. He had no time to argue with her now; he clearly heard something approaching.

"What's coming? What are you talking about?" Nono was completely confused in the midst of the chaos. Even though she was a teacher at Maple Leaf Academy, she was still a girl first and foremost. Most girls would not be able to remain calm in such a situation.

"You heartless men, may you all be reduced to ashes in the flames of punishment!" a resentful female voice rang out. At the same time, the temperature in the air suddenly rose, and purple flames rushed towards them, determined to vaporize them into a shockwave.

195 Purple Flames

For Dure, the current situation can be described as one wave after another. First, he was being chased by Kashu. He finally managed to get away temporarily, but he took the wrong path and was caught up by Kashu. Then, the flying fish that had been lurking in the shadows suddenly appeared at the critical moment and once inflicted heavy damage on Kashu.

However, Kashu's bug-like regenerative ability rendered their efforts futile. Seeing that they were in danger again, Kashu suddenly retreated. The reason was that the boulder blocking their path behind them was blasted into countless pieces. At first glance, it seemed that they had escaped Kashu's calamity.

But new dangers followed closely behind. Purple flames swept over like a storm tornado, giving them no chance to escape. A voice filled with resentment pierced their souls. She wanted to use destruction to cleanse all evil, even though her hands were already stained with darkness.

"Oh no, we're doomed. Wait, what is this light shield?" Du Lei thought to himself, "This is bad." Although he wasn't very clear about magic energy, a flame that even someone like Kashu would be forced to retreat from was definitely no small matter. Unfortunately, he had hidden in a blind spot to avoid the attack of the rubble.

While a blind spot might offer some protection from the falling boulders, they were equally vulnerable to the same vortex of flames. Just as they were about to be engulfed by the flames, before they could even cry out in alarm, a crimson light shield formed, enveloping both him and Nono within it.

The purple flame vortex was deflected as soon as it touched the surface of the light shield. All that could be seen through the light shield was purple flame, like a prehistoric beast trying to devour him. But he was hiding in the cave, which was too small for it to break in.

"The purple flames... these are dragon flames!" Nono had been holding her head down by Du Lei, and was full of resentment. However, when the light shield was formed, she took advantage of Du Lei's carelessness to break free from his restraint. She poked her little head out to check and quickly identified the source of the purple flames.

"Dragon Flame, you mean there are dragons?" Du Lei was startled by this question. Although he had never seen a dragon, a legendary creature, he had heard about dragons from books and conversations among mercenaries. They were powerful beings at the top of the food chain.

A fully grown dragon can easily destroy a city. In history, it has wreaked havoc on the continent, causing immense disasters. Humanity survived through a long struggle, barely clinging to life under the intimidation of the dragon's might. And the dragon seems to have undergone a major upheaval in history.

Hundreds of years ago, the powerful dragon race suddenly disappeared, leaving only a few scattered across the continent. Compared to the magnificent scenes of dozens of dragons moving together in the past, the dragons now exist almost independently.

Some of them live in forests, while others hide in caves. The decline of the dragon race is irreversible, and its peak prosperity is gone forever. However, even after its decline, the dragons still reign supreme over humans, standing in the sky and looking down on the lowly ants. In Dure's eyes, dragons are too far away from him.

But now, hearing the words "Dragon Flame" from Nono's mouth, that distant, terrifying nightmare instantly became a reality. This fear spread from the depths of his heart, taking root and sprouting rapidly through his pores, then bursting forth to dominate him entirely.

"Idiot, it's not only dragons that can emit dragonfire. Forget about this intensity, you wouldn't understand anyway. Hurry up and get out of the way, getting burned by this thing is a real hassle." Nono put aside her dissatisfaction with Du Lei. Although Du Lei had a bad temper and was difficult to get along with, she wasn't stupid.

She quickly grasped the situation: they were being attacked by an opponent even more dangerous than Kashu. She signaled Dure to move to the right to avoid the attack. Even though they were temporarily protected by a light shield, it was becoming increasingly weak under the impact of the purple flames.

“I know this without you telling me. Even if it’s just ordinary flame, let alone dragon flame, people will die. Hey, are you alright?” Du Lei immediately got up from the corner with his back to the window and ran towards the corridor on the right, while asking Flying Fish behind him.

"It's alright, hurry up and go, she's catching up." Flying Fish's right shoulder was ripped, exposing his skin. Although he was short, his muscles were very strong. He held a black short knife in his hand, which he had used to fight Kashu and the other man.

"Go over there," Nono pointed to the room on the right side of the corridor from the front. They ran wildly, with flames chasing relentlessly behind them. Wherever they ran, the flames burned them to ashes, and sparks kept flying through the air.

A spark touched Dure's skin and quickly ignited a flame. The pain made Dure break out in a cold sweat. He tried to extinguish the flame with all his might, but he couldn't. It was only after Nono covered his arm with ice crystals that the flame was finally extinguished.

"It seems she's stopped chasing us. We can take a break for now." Fei Yu looked back. He was in charge of bringing up the rear among the three of them. They had been running for more than ten minutes, and the commotion behind them had finally subsided a bit. The ever-present vortex of flames was gone, which made them feel much more relaxed.

"What exactly attacked us? And what about the dragon flames you mentioned earlier?" Du Lei glanced back to make sure the flames weren't chasing them. He then sat down on the ground and began tending to his burn wounds, asking Nono about her condition.

"So-called dragon flames are, of course, the flames spewed out by dragons," Nono explained.

“But that’s not what you just said.” Dure remembered that when they were attacked, Nono said that the attackers were not dragons.

"Idiot, when I say dragon, I mean the dragon race, including its close relatives, not just purebred dragons." Nono glared at him.

"A creature like a lizard, a close relative of dragons?" Dure thought for a moment and asked again.

"Pretty much. Not all lizards are close relatives of dragons. Only a very small number of high-level lizards have even the slightest blood relation to dragons. This involves the issue of bloodlines," Nono gave a general explanation.

"Does bloodline mean that those who attacked us are people with dragon blood?" Dure asked again, following her train of thought.

“No, that’s not how it is.” Flying Fish next to him suddenly shook his head.

“What do you mean it’s not like that?” Du Lei was stunned.

“I mean, the ones attacking us weren’t human.” Flying Fish had been at the forefront of the battle and knew the situation better than Dure.

196 Trainee Teachers

Du Lei was bewildered by Fei Yu's words. Although he hadn't seen the true face of the mastermind behind the attack, he had heard the voice clearly. It was clearly the voice of a young woman filled with resentment. He was very confident in his hearing.

But now Flying Fish says that the attackers "were not human," which Du Lei immediately interpreted. The image that came to mind was that of a ghost, which startled Du Lei. However, he glanced at Nono's expression and it seemed that it wasn't quite the case.