76: Betrayal

Betrayal

Emery's instinct was warning him of something ominous the moment this potion would touch his lips. He shook his head to remove that feeling since he was in half-denial, but it didn't disappeared not one bit. He asked himself why this old woman saved not only him but countless people who had asked for her help in the past months seemed to be holding back what she knew. So, to be safe, he held the potion before him and activated his analyze spell, which didn't show any physical manifestation and should be only visible through his mind's eye. 1

[Analyze]

[Paralysis poison]

[A concoction that shocks the nervous system rendering the receiver unable to move and lose consciousness for an extended period of time]

His eyes widened at the revelation. Although he had no idea what the nervous system was, the following words were more than enough to know what would happen to him the moment he drank this potion. Then it clicked in Emery's head. Why would the illness that Lanzo had told him would appear here and from the sound of it, not only once but had happened multiple times as he traveled with her? There was only one answer. So, without delay, he smashed his potion on the floor and slapped the potions out of Lanzo and Jacob's grasps. 

Emery took a step back and stared at Granny as he accusingly said to her, "Why Granny! Why!"

He went behind Lanzo and tried to make him regurgitate the poison but apparently he was too late. The effect of the poison had already spread throughout Lanzo as Emery struggled a bit to carry Lanzo's weight. 

Lanzo could only barely move his lips to say, 'wha…you…' before thudding on the ground, unconscious, with Jacob and Obed following suit.

Emery's stare bore a hole into Granny's shifting appearance, which no longer resembled the one he had known for months. Her face contorted and twisted, replaced with more wrinkles, her bulging eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets, her teeth became sharper as if they were all fangs and her hair turned greasy white. 

He drew his sword and the 'Granny' now who no longer resembled her old warm appearance said in a high pitched nasally voice, "Kekeke, young child, you truly are full of surprises! Extremely talented, in fact maybe even better than me, I daresay. But too bad…"

Her outward appearance, mannerisms, everything had changed. Emery shakingly pointed his sword at her and said, "Granny, please... I – don't want to hurt you. Why are you doing this?"

"Hurt me? I thought you were smarter than that, my dear Emery, kekeke," she said with a cackle. 'Granny' then raised her bony hand and the thin roots from outside started creeping inside the hut.

Emery took another step back as he recognized this movement of plants. It appeared similar to the spell named entangle, which was used by a magus who had mastery of the initial stage of plant element. What surprised him, however, was how Granny was able to perform magic on Earth. Could she also be another magus or something else?

One of the roots had managed to sneak up behind him but he was able to barely dodge and cut it off with his iron sword. He kept moving around and hacked the crawling roots while at it, making sure that not even a single one would wrap around to any of his limbs.

"Interesting… it looks like you have seen this magic before. How curious. I wonder what other secrets you may have," said the old woman.

From the sound of it and her appearance, he could infer that she didn't seem to have learned this from the Magus Academy. She looked too old to know only the lowest level of spell from the plant element and didn't dare mention the Magus Academy, wherein whatever restriction that had been casted on her should be broken by now.

As he kept blazing his way through the hut, a distant memory from one of his family's scholar lessons resurfaced in his mind. The lesson of how there were rumours and some evidence and sightings of magic and mystical creatures in the land of Britannia albeit being extremely rare. Considering that memory that had emerged and with the existence of the Magus Academy, Emery became somewhat convinced those rumors might actually be true!

Granny then raised her other hand and black smoke emerged from her palm. The smoke rose up to the ceiling of the hut before it started wiggling and twisting itself, forming a rope-like appearance. It then pounced at Emery but he was able to jump just in the nick of the time on the side.

The half-circle with a vertical line symbol on Emery's palm faintly glowed and showed information in his mind. 

[Shadow rope - rank 3 darkness spell]

He remembered he had seen this spell being able to be used by a rank four acolyte or above. Granny kept channeling the two spells on her both hands, which Emery couldn't help but be unsure of what to feel, terrified or amazed.

Both spells continuously threw themselves at Emery, he was able to chop whatever came his way but at the same time, he felt that the sword was getting duller after each wave. A rope of smoke attacked him directly and when Emery tried to chop it off, like what he had feared, the blade didn't cut through as the smoke-rope ensnared the sword and attempted to pull it out from Emery's grip.

Emery held on with all his strength and tried to tug it back only to result in the iron sword bending almost straight. He let go of the sword at the peak of the tug, causing it to be thrown away with force. Emery wanted to run but when he saw Lanzo staying still with eyes wide open, that moment of hesitation became his downfall for he was caught off guard by the root that wrapped his leg just beneath his feet. He kneeled in an attempt to pry it off but the black smoke-rope swiftly circled around his body. He struggled to break free but with each twist and turn of his body only made the grip of the smoke become tighter and tighter. 

"G-Granny… Y-You—" 

Emery didn't manage to finish his words as the flying bottle of paralysis potion was shoved into his throat. In just seconds, Emery's vision darkened, he couldn't move until everything within his consciousness finally became dark. 

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