High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 2104: Chapter 325: After the Frenzy

Whether witnessing others burn themselves or setting oneself ablaze, it was an utterly novel experience. For a moment, Zheng Qing felt a strange sense of kinship with those ancient wizards who were captured deliberately to enjoy a flame bath.

So, he originally intended to observe the entire parade.

However, just as he fiercely glared at Xin Fat Man, he unexpectedly caught a glimpse of a familiar mask—a wizard wearing a Raven Mask slipping away from the corner of his eye, vanishing into the dark forest beside the road.

The Black Cat abruptly stood up, its yellow eyes sparkling in the light of the flames. The mask vanished quickly, and although the number on the mask was unclear, the mask’s shape was unmistakable, resembling those Ravens that appeared in the school hunting competition.

”What?” The wizard wearing a white mask glanced at the Black Cat.

”Shh! Silence!”

The Black Cat hissed, like a cat spotting a mouse, crouched low, and deftly crawled along and leaped over the thick branches on both sides of the road, silently following.

The Sin Bearer chuckled softly, twisted into a shadow, and disappeared together.

Most of the wizards who were ’participating in the parade’ from the trees gathered among the branches on both sides of the road. After the Black Cat passed the trees beside the road and entered the forest, the surroundings quickly quieted down. The lush branches and leaves formed dark green barriers, isolating the noise and shouts of the parade. Soon, those sounds became as distant as ethereal mist.

With the absence of human voice interference, the night’s quietness immediately spread.

The gentle night breeze, the rustling leaves, the low and sporadic sounds of insects, and indistinct water sounds intertwined within the dappled tree shadows, making the Black Cat feel as if it had suddenly arrived in another world.

The wizard wearing the Raven Mask moved with exceptional agility and seemed quite familiar with the night paths in the forest. Even with the cat’s flexibility, after a few hundred meters, it lost the wizard’s trail.

With a solemn face, the Black Cat stood next to a cluster of golden Forsythia, sniffing hard with its nose held high. It could distinctly smell the slightly spicy scent of Forsythia leaves, the earthy aroma, even the dampness of the distant Silent River. However, it couldn’t capture the trail of the recently vanished ’Raven’.

”What are you doing?” Suddenly, it looked up towards a sycamore not far away. A wizard in a white mask was crouched on the branches, also looking around.

”I’m watching what you’re doing.” The Sin Bearer’s response was very slick.

The Black Cat snorted, not explaining further, and continued to sniff, slowly turning its ears—extending them to the size of fans, it could clearly hear the sound of worms overturning soil meters deep below but still couldn’t hear any news related to the Raven.

After a while, it resumed its normal shape, listlessly shaking its ears: ”Sigh... any news on the matter I asked you to investigate last week?”

The wizard wearing the white mask spoke with some hesitation: ”What news? As a Sin Bearer for the Seven Sins, there are too many matters to handle daily... Kindly provide a reminder.”

”Raven,” the Black Cat succinctly.

”Oh, those,”

The Sin Bearer coughed, flipped over, and lightly landed in front of the Black Cat, squatting down: ”Sorry, besides the information you provided, there is currently no fresh news in the market regarding the wizards wearing Raven Masks... If you don’t mind the timeliness, there were quite a few similar wizard activities in Europa over three hundred years ago... mm, of course, tonight some wizards might also wear similar masks, but I believe they do not belong to the range you are seeking.”

The Black Cat was stunned for a few seconds before realizing what the Sin Bearer meant by ’timeliness’—hundreds of years ago in Europa, doctors wore beaked masks to treat plague patients, and were at one time seen as incarnations of the Death God’s messengers.

Its whiskers twitched, but it said nothing in the end, silently turned, and walked away.

The wizard wearing the white mask stood behind the Black Cat, watching it slowly melt into the night with the forest, and after a while, let out a gentle sigh, with his figure slowly becoming transparent until disappearing.

...

...

When Xin Fat Man returned to the dorm, it was near midnight.

He dallied in front of Grandpa Niwu’s Bronze niche for quite a while, sacrificing a considerable amount of high-end smokeballs before the Bronze Beast finally let him in.

The Fat Wizard twirled a Ghost mask between his fingers, humming a little tune, with a smile on his face, as he stomped upstairs, his mind full of the evening’s grand and magnificent parade.

Upon pushing open the door, the room was pitch black.

Assuming that everyone had gone to sleep, he tiptoed towards his bed, only to bump into something furry after just a couple of steps, causing him to yelp and fall hard to the ground.

Two large, plate-sized, yellow night-lamps suddenly appeared in the darkness.

”What the hell!”

The Fat Wizard was so startled by those lamps that he scrambled to his feet, turned on the lights, but most of the room remained in dark hues.

A gigantic Black Cat was sprawling in the dormitory, its massive body taking up almost every available space. Noticing the dazed gaze of the Fat Wizard, the Black Cat lazily yawned, revealing a mouthful of sharp white teeth, with its crimson tongue licking its chops.

”You’re back?” The Black Cat’s voice was like a low rumble of thunder, reverberating through the room, causing it to shiver: ”They’ve been waiting for you for quite a while...”

As he spoke, a thick tail, like a dark serpent, dropped from the ceiling, coiling around the Fat Wizard at the door, and suspending him below the ceiling.

Only then did Xin Fat Man notice that two others were already dangling from the ceiling.

It seemed as though they had been hanging there for some time.

Dylan hung his head and limbs, entirely limp, producing suspicious snoring noises as if recently plunged into sleep; while Doctor Xiao was holding a Crystal Ball, wholly absorbed in watching.

Perhaps due to the awkward hanging position, his glasses were slipping more than usual. In the brief moment the Fat Man observed, the Doctor adjusted his glasses four or five times.

Noticing the Fat Man’s gaze, the Doctor adjusted his glasses and nodded a greeting with his eyes.

”When did you grow two more tails?” was the first question the Fat Man asked after regaining his composure.

For he could clearly see that the tail suspending him was separate from the ones suspending Xiao Xiao and Dylan, making them three tails, all growing out of the Black Cat’s backside, completely shattering his previous perception of the Black Cat.

Hearing the Fat Wizard’s question, the pupils in those colossal cat eyes narrowed dangerously, and the whiskers by its mouth swept backward, revealing sharp white teeth: ”At a time like this, you still have the mind to ponder how many tails I have? Why not concern yourself with how many lives you have left?”