From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 396 Escape

Ivy's sudden attack gave everyone present a great shock, not to mention the red dragon's blood gushing out like a small waterfall.

"Who are you? What's your purpose in disguising yourself as the son of Gith?" Voss was shocked and angry. While using the guard of the Star Silver Sword to block the Beast Bite Sword, he also tried to exert force little by little to press the broad silver sword towards Ivy.

Ivy was obviously not as strong as this standard power fighter, but he was not going to sit there and wait for death.

Since he had always used the Beast Bite Sword with one hand, Ivy still had one hand free to cast spells.

The icy blue light wrapped around Ivy's left hand in the blink of an eye, and the bone-chilling chill was enough to make people shiver from a distance.

This is a second-level swordmaster spell, Touch of Arctic Cold, which can cause just the right amount of damage. Although the swordmaster can make all spells he cast produce a level-up effect, the added damage is obviously not enough.

However, Ivy's goal was not to hurt Voss, but the abnormal effect of the Touch of Extreme Cold - trance.

Being distracted during a battle is a fatal mistake, whether for an ordinary warrior or a legendary warrior like Voss.

Ivy felt that he had been victimized by empiricism.

Originally, he had made up his mind to compete with the powerful people behind the conspiracy of the Supreme God, so he paid special attention to the information of various gods and demons. The Githyanki Lich Queen Vlaakith was obviously on his attention list.

But what about Voss, the red dragon knight who appeared in the first chapter of the game and often gave players legendary equipment through his command spell?

Even though Ivy had tried his best to think of him as a strong person, he still didn't expect that he would be a legend.

Ivy's palm, which was wrapped in an extremely cold magical aura, ultimately failed to hit Voss's head. Instead, it pressed on his raised arm guard, and the silver armor decorated with red gems was immediately covered by a thick layer of ice.

Voss couldn't continue to press the Star Silver Sword towards Ivy, so he could only call upon a ball of psychic power to shatter the ice on his arm and heal his red dragon companion at the same time.

Ivy seized the opportunity and used the force to leap off the red dragon's back and returned to his companions.

Voss's psychic power stopped the blood gushing from the red dragon Quadnos's ribs. The warrior who had fought in the astral world for countless years took a deep look at Ivy. The pride and anger on his face had all disappeared, leaving only absolute calmness and composure.

"Take off! Quadnos!" Voss's order did not change. After Ivy drew his sword and injured his red dragon partner, Voss was still ready to leave the battlefield.

"Jhs'stil Kith'rak! We need your—"

The huge wind pressure generated by the red dragon's flapping wings blew away Kalak who had jumped high in the air, and also prevented Centurion Barissa from asking for help.

A circular portal sparkling with starlight opened above the red dragon's head, but in an instant, the red dragon and the knight disappeared.

But the battle against the Githyanki patrols has just begun.

Not everyone saw the high-speed fight between Ivy and Voss, but everyone saw the blood spurting out of the red dragon.

Githyanki warriors are not fearless. They desire power, respect power, and fear power.

When the red dragon carried Voss away, Ivy was the strongest person on this small battlefield.

Under the threat of a powerful person who might join the battlefield at any time, Barissa's patrol team quickly collapsed.

They were burned by flames, beheaded by giant swords, stabbed in the back by daggers, and drained of blood by vampires...

No one survived.

"There's a dragon slayer hidden in our team! How many secret identities do you have that we don't know about? Ivy?" Asdeln wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and asked casually.

Ivy continued to stare at the place where Voss disappeared riding the red dragon, remaining silent.

"Everyone has secrets that are not suitable for others to know, Asdaelon." Kalak, who had just climbed up from the ground, brushed the dust off his butt, "Just like you are a vampire, Will has a father who is a high duke, and Yingxin is a believer of Shar. We still have a long journey, and Ivy will definitely open her heart to us!"

"This is not right!" Laizer stared at Ivy, "Why did Chief Knight Voss flee in panic? I don't believe he would be a deserter!"

"What's the big deal? He thinks he can't beat Ivy." The evil thought came back with several Githyanki heavy crossbows. "He ran fast, otherwise I would definitely cut a hole in his throat. How dare you say that I was smiling foolishly!"

"The bard made the dragon bleed so much... I can't think of a more reasonable explanation than this." Laizer's clear eyes were full of respect.

"Vos has more important things to do than dealing with the mind flayers and completing the queen's orders." Ivy didn't think that a legendary psychic warrior riding a dragon would really be afraid of her. In comparison, Vos was more like an employee who came to punch in for work and had now sneaked away to do other things.

Ivy remembered that there was a wizard tower in the Underdark in the game, and there was text related to the Githyanki Prince inside.

Maybe Voss took advantage of this time to slack off and went to interview with his new boss.

“We shouldn’t waste our time looking for Githyanki nurseries,” Will said worriedly. “They are simply killing tools. They will not hesitate to kill even their own kind who are in urgent need of help... I really doubt whether they will help us remove the mind flayer tadpoles in our brains.”

“They will!” Laizer said affirmatively. “It was my mistake this time. I didn’t expect the Chief Knight had been tracking the conch shell all along! I shouldn’t have said that we were infected by Ghaik (Githyanki: brain-eating bastard)... When we find the breeding room, just say we need help. The bard is as powerful as the Chief Knight, they will let us go. When we find the medical officer, we will threaten him to help with the treatment!”

Yingxin showed a look of disapproval: "Don't you care about the lives of your own people? They may conflict with us... No, they will definitely conflict with us! Then they will die, and maybe the hidden nursery will be destroyed by us... There are githyanki children in it!"

Laizer glanced at Yingxin coldly and commented with only two words: "Weak. The last lesson I learned before adulthood was to cut my brother's throat with my own hands. I hope that our fellow tribesmen in the nursery can see clearly the consequences of blocking our path forward, otherwise only destruction awaits them."

"I really think that sometimes you are more like a son of Bhaal than I am, Laizel." The evil thought looked at Laizel with a little sympathy, "But my desire to kill comes from my blood, while yours comes from the strange militaristic education of the Githyanki people."

"I also think that the weak education in this world is very strange." Laizer stopped chatting with Xie Nian and began to explore the body of Centurion Barisa.

Soon, she found a disc.

"Map!" The disc emitted a bright yellow magical light, and the three universal structures that made up the disc also rotated at different angles. The magic power in it resonated with Laizer, and then was shared with other companions through the psychic channel between the Mind Flayer tadpoles.

"...A strange pattern appeared in front of me...What does it mean?" Kalak opened her eyes wide and looked at the void in front of her. Although her psychic power projected the image in Laizer's mind in front of her, she still couldn't understand it.

"Deciphering this pattern requires the astral knowledge of the Githyanki... It seems that the mind flayer tadpoles cannot share this knowledge with us. Well, here's another small proof that we are not mind flayers yet." Gale was trying to make fun of himself.

"I've already told you, this is a map. There's an ancient temple in the mountain pass ahead, and the nursery is hidden inside the temple." Laetzel put the disc away and said happily (there was still no obvious change in her facial expression), "We already have a goal! We should set off now! The sooner we cure Ghaik (Githyanki: brain-eating bastard), the sooner we can be safe." "Wait! I think before we set out to look for that nursery, we should first go to the goblin camp!" Will stepped forward to stop Laetzel from moving forward, "Duke Ravengard is still missing, and it is said that there are drow working for the Supreme God in the goblin camp. We should go and get some information!"

"Get out of the way, Will!" Laizer threatened, "The chance to be saved is right in front of you, but you turn a blind eye to it! Is Ravengard's life more important than your own? Voss has already left. If he meets Queen Vlaakis before us, all the nurseries will regard us as wanted targets! By then, it will be impossible to rely on the medical officer to eliminate the Mind Flayer tadpoles!"

"Meeting the Queen is just Voss's excuse. He never thought about completing Vlaakis's orders, otherwise the battle just now would not have ended so easily." Ivy found that Laizer was actually listening to his speech carefully, which was really strange.

The stubborn female college student from Xingwan has actually changed her gender?

Ivy didn't take it seriously, but continued, "I did kill a dragon before, much bigger than the one under Vos's ass, and maybe older... Considering that there is no time flow in the astral plane, it might not be much different. In short, I do have some experience in slaying dragons, otherwise I wouldn't have taken the initiative. It's just that I haven't faced a red dragon with a rider... I have never lied to you, I am indeed a bard from Strixhaven, but I am a professor, not an ordinary student."

"Professor of the magic academy!" Gale asked with great interest, "What kind of magic do you mainly teach? Actually, before I discovered the Sphere of Destruction, I also had a good hope of teaching at the Black Rod Academy in Waterdeep, but... I encountered a little trouble... If it were me, I would hope to teach magic of the illusion department."

"..." Gail's question made Ivy silent for a moment, and then he said in a calm tone, "Defense against the Dark Arts."

"Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Gale repeated the cursed course. "It sounds quite complicated... What does it mainly teach?"

"It's a practical subject, mainly teaching students how to deal with black magic." Ivy was about to end the topic. "You know, I'm good at necromancy, so I have some experience in defending against it. We are too far away from college life now, so let's shift our attention back to adventure."

"Like I said before, don't worry about Voss reporting us to the Queen. He wants to hide his whereabouts more than we do." Ivy said to Laizer, "Let's go to the goblin camp first, finish everything here, and then go to the breeding room."

"You have always been the one who has seen the most and the furthest among us." Laizer hovered over Ivy's face with a scrutinizing gaze, "So I will follow your instructions... But if these instructions lead us to an irretrievable situation, then I will laugh at you loudly in hell!"

"I won't give you this chance, believe me." Iveco didn't expect that the prickly guy could turn into a docile kitten.

"That's great. I hope Duke Ravengard is still in the goblin camp." Will's worried face seemed a little relieved. "The Selune Temple where the goblins are entrenched is not far from here. We can see it just a little to the south... uh..."

Will had a pained look on his face, which looked similar to the one he had when the "intra-brain communication" first occurred.

The other members of the team also fell to the ground involuntarily, as if they were carrying a heavy burden on their shoulders.

Ivy understood that this was because the Mind Flayer mastermind linked all their consciousnesses together.

Ivy's research on psychic energy is very limited. It is impossible for him to receive information from the main brain at any time like those people with mind flayer tadpoles in their brains, nor can he use psychic energy to activate the psychic imprint of the Supreme True God.

Looking at his companions in pain on the ground, just when Ivy decided to do something, the Astral Prism that Yingxin had always carried with him suddenly floated into the air.

It emitted an orange-yellow light, blocking the main brain's psychic power.

The feeling of pain faded from the adventurers, and they climbed up from the ground one by one, the confusion on their faces was almost tangible.

After finishing everything, the Star Prism retracted its orange-yellow light and fell back into Ying Xin's arms.

"Uh... Ivy... You're the only one who's fine..." Xie Nian shook his head vigorously, "It's good to have a clean mind... I think what we saw was the Supreme True God... He was broadcasting to all the True Souls, asking them to assist the three Chosen Ones in finding the Prism... That's the thing."

Xie Nian's words made everyone focus their attention on Ying Xin.

"It seems that this is the relic that Ivy mentioned that helps to block the power of the Supreme God... The Supreme God also wants to get it..." Gale stared at Yingxin, "We actually carry it with us all the time..."

"Don't look at me like that." Yingxin put the Astral Prism away again. "Before this, I didn't know what it was used for, just like you guys."

“Those symbols are in Githyanki. This is a Gith relic.” Laizel questioned, “Why is a half-elf who believes in Shar carrying it?”

"Because I obeyed Lady Shar's oracle and went with a team to the Githyanki territory to retrieve it." Shadow Heart seemed to have no intention of hiding anything. She folded her arms across her chest and told everything she knew. "Now I am the only one left in that team. I must not fail."

"Failure? You brought the Astral Prism out of the Githyanki territory, but that's not considered a success?" the evil thought asked again.

"My ultimate goal is to bring it back to Baldur's Gate." Yingxin's eyes moved back and forth between Xie Nian and Ivy. "There is a secret monastery of Lady Shar. In order to complete this task, all members of the team voluntarily sealed their memories, including the location of the monastery. Only by finding my contact in Baldur's Gate can this part of the memory be retrieved. Before that, I will protect this relic with my life."

"Okay, I've told you all the most meaningless things. There is no more truth you want in my memory - our brains are connected, you know I'm telling the truth." The biggest reason why Ying Xin dared to expose herself was because she herself only had a vague understanding of the whole thing.

The goddess of secrets will not entrust her secrets to her believers for safekeeping.

"Uh..." Xie Nian was dumbfounded.

In fact, Ivy was also somewhat confused. Why would Shar send Shadowheart's team to steal the Astral Prism, a prison that held the Lich Queen Vlaakith as a prisoner?
Could it be that it is just to hinder the plan of the Supreme True God?

The actions of the Shadowheart team have a very strong flavor of Deus Ex Machina, as if the story would have no way to proceed if they did not steal the Astral Prism from the Githyanki city.

Ivy knew very little about this team, let alone inferring Shar's ultimate goal.

If this was still just a game, Ivy could explain it as "the limitations of the story," but now Shar is a real god, there must be some reason behind it.

It's impossible that He is just causing trouble for the sake of causing trouble, right?

While Ivy was pondering Soshar's motives, Yingxin and Laizer started arguing again.

"You stole the relic from my people... I either get an explanation - or your head!" Leizer threatened.

"Yes, I did steal it, and I will never forget what your people did to us. I will not let their sacrifice go to waste." Yingxin and Leizel confronted each other, "I won't warn you a second time. Back off, now!"

"Hey! Girls! We have more important things to deal with! We must unite and work together, otherwise we won't survive a day in the wilderness!" Xie Nian tried to smooth things over.

There seem to be sparks flying between the half-elves and the Githyanki, and it's clear that neither of them is ready to back down.

"I will put the team first for now...but the conflicts must be purified! The duel will take place at dawn tomorrow!" Every scar on Laizer's face was trembling.

Ying Xin laughed: "You mean I can not only prove you wrong, but also beat you up? That's great!"

Ivy spread her hands in response to Will's worried gaze: "We can leave this problem until tomorrow morning, how good is that?"

(End of this chapter)