At first, Roland had flattened the road with Mud to Stone, but as they approached their destination, their speed dropped because Roland ran out of mana.
Differently from the competition with the female vampire the previous night, repairing the road on a large scale was much more costly. Metaphorically speaking, he had sprinkled water with a tiny pipe last night but was unleashing it with a hydrant at this point.
Looking at his mana, down to its last third, and then at the bumpy road ahead, Roland gave up.
They might as well take their time.
Supposedly, the destination was only forty kilometers away, but they only covered thirty kilometers after five hours.
They had to take a rest in a wood next to the road.
When they stepped out of the carriages and onto the wet ground, their boots filled with mud. Uncomfortable as the magic apprentices were, they were patient enough to scout the environment.
Confirming that there were no anomalies, Jerry dried the ground where they were resting with fire spells.
Then, they arranged the carriages in a circle and built a shelter in the same way they did last night. Then, they dug a pit and started a fire.
After they were done, Roland built an enormous wall around them with his remaining power to protect them.
The wall Roland built could block the rain, and it seemed unnecessary for the magic apprentices to build the shelter, but Roland still wanted them to do it.
After all, it was homework and had to be done. These students still had a lot to learn.
Looking at his mana that had been fully consumed, Roland gritted his teeth and put on the mana regeneration equipment from his system backpack.
Immediately, he became blue and shining.
The coachmen dared not look at him, and the magic apprentices were full of envy.
Andonara’s eyes were full of passion, and little red hearts seemed to be popping up around her.
Roland, on the other hand, was quite awkward.
But he didn’t have a choice. By his estimation, the vampire would come again tonight. The books he read in the library all mentioned that vampires could be vindictive.
The female vampire had been tricked by him for a whole night. If he were her, he would’ve been pissed too.
But he had to trick her. It was not like he could let her break into the tent and go on a killing spree.
The magic apprentices began to eat, and Roland ate beef jerky.
They took a rest after having food. This time, the ground was dry, so the apprentices paved the ground and lay down.
They didn’t sleep well the previous night, and they had been on shaking carriages all day. They were all exhausted.
Very soon, the magic apprentices were sound asleep.
Andonara was sitting right behind Roland. While having food, she asked slowly, “Was the enemy last night good?”
“Kind of.” Roland nodded.
The magic apprentices and Andonara had been in the rock tent and had no idea what happened outside.
Before they came out in the morning, Roland had sunken whatever was left of the three dead mercenaries into a swamp and turned the swamp to stone.
Therefore, the magic apprentices only knew that something dangerous happened, but they didn’t know what it was.
“Then it’s time for me to play my part.” Andonara shook her fair hands before Roland and said, “I’m a Master Great Swordsman. Few people in Hollevin can compare to me.”
“It was a vampire.”
After a brief shock, Andonara was disappointed. “Well, they’re quite tricky.”
The Great Swordsmen were strong, fast, and capable of area skills.
But the problem was that, as dark magic creatures, vampires could fly, change into bats, or even turn into mist. The Great Swordsmen were only adept at physical attacks and could hardly deal with them, unless they had weapons enchanted with Soul Damage.
The three kinds of spellcasters were the real experts in dealing with dark magic creatures.
They chatted in low voices to not disturb the others.
Very soon, Andonara yawned too.
Roland said to her, “You take a rest. I’ll keep watch.”
Andonara nodded.
She knew he didn’t need sleep, so she didn’t argue with him and simply lay down on a blanket next to Roland.
Very soon, she fell asleep.
Roland, on the other hand, opened the forums again.
He had deployed three magic spiders to the trees nearby to monitor the surroundings.
About two hours later, Roland quit the forums as the spiders sent pictures to him.
Differently from the previous night, it was quite lovely tonight.
The round silver moon was shining, illuminating the woods since few clouds were in the sky.
Then, a bunch of black bats, which seemed to have flown out of the moon, hovered around the shelter and turned into a woman.
The spider sent her image to Roland. It was indeed the woman from last night.
This time, she was not wearing a black dress, but a red one.
Her delicate, smooth shoulders vaguely reflecting the moonlight.
Why is this woman so fond of off-the-shoulder dresses? Roland mumbled inside the tent.
The woman looked at the rock tent and smiled too.
The vampires’ noses were as keen as those of werewolves.
She had tracked Roland’s team by smell even though it had been a whole day.
She felt that the person inside the rock tent understood her, and for that understanding, she would not kill them, but would let them go after insulting them.
It was her mercy toward an equal.
Then, she pointed at the rock tent, and the magic counterattack came two seconds later.
The woman laughed even more delightedly. With her big red dress, she was almost like a rose spirit.
Like the previous night, the stone softened and hardened again and again.
But the woman was not as desperate as she was the previous night. Gradually, she began to enjoy the competition.
Also, she was no longer obsessed with a fixed area. Instead, she flew around the rock tent and pointed randomly, putting vague colorful squares on the wall.
Then, those colorful squares quickly returned to their original color.
Giggling, the woman “drew” a flower on the tent, then the flower was gone.
She drew a rabbit, then the rabbit was gone too.
She hadn’t had such fun for hundreds of years, and she was more and more amused. She was about to draw a dragon, when she suddenly stopped and looked back at the moon with a cold smile.
Very soon, another group of bats approached in the moonlight. They croaked and turned into a man before her.
The man had black hair, blue eyes, and a long, thin face. He was handsome, but seemed grim and creepy.
