Westminster Bank

"But the question is, how do we get past it?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present fell into deep thought.

Yeah, how *do* we get past it?

"No matter how sturdy the Dragon Gate is, it’s still just made of stone. Why don’t we just smash it open?" someone suggested.

But this proposal was quickly shot down. "There’s an Alchemy Array on the Dragon Gate..."

"Aren’t there Wizards here? Mr. Milton Merlin, can you make anything of it?"

Milton Merlin studied the runes on the Dragon Gate for a moment before saying, "I can’t read them."

Seeing everyone’s disappointed faces and hoping to avoid getting booed, he quickly added, "The Alchemy Arrays I studied at the Edinburgh Wizard School used Rune Runes. The runes on the Dragon Gate are written in the Ancient Celtic Language... If I remember correctly, I believe Miss Freya, Miss Windsor, and Mr. Pound took that as an elective."

Milton had deftly passed the buck to the Pound Siblings.

As for Freya, he had only mentioned her to make his claim more convincing.

Dewey secretly gave him a thumbs-up. ’Well played!’

But they had misjudged one thing. Whether she was mentioned in passing or not, Freya—the woman who had dared to spend a fortune at the London Tower to unilaterally annul her engagement to Constantine—was not someone to be trifled with.

Miss Lancelot was quite displeased with Milton for passing the buck to her, regardless of whether she was his intended target.

Moreover, he had also associated himself with someone from that family—a name that was practically Taboo to her.

Jose, who knew Miss Lancelot’s temper, saw the warning signs of an impending outburst on Freya’s face and quickly stepped in to defuse the situation.

"Knowing the Ancient Celtic Language doesn’t mean one automatically knows how to break an Alchemy Array," he said. "Besides, this Array is a thousand years old; its Techniques are vastly different from modern ones. In all of Wales right now, I’m afraid only the renowned Professor Frankenstein could even give it a try."

"But once Professor Frankenstein returns to Edinburgh, there will probably be no one left in Wales who can decipher this Array."

He offered this with a bit of humor. Seeing the crowd break into timely laughter, he knew the matter was closed.

He then continued, "Does anyone else have ideas on how to open the Dragon Gate?"

Everyone looked at one another in silence. It seemed they were all out of ideas.

"Opening the Dragon Gate requires the Poison Dragon Aura and the blood of a Trial Taker."

Gold, the second son of the Walter Family, frowned at the Dragon Gate. "In that case, why not have a Trial Taker who is still full of vitality and a Dragon Guide with enough energy try again?"

This proposal was rejected as well.

"Opening the Dragon Gate is incredibly draining for both the Trial Taker and the Dragon Guide. Plus, no one knows if sprinkling blood on it a second time might trigger some kind of backlash..."

"So we’re just supposed to sit around and do nothing?" Adam, the second son of the Van Helsing Family, turned to leave. "If we can’t open it and we can’t touch it, then fine. Let’s not open or touch it."

Dewey and Adam were from the same class of Demon Hunters at the Demon Hunter Association, and their families were both among the Four Great Demon-Hunting Clans, so they were fairly familiar with each other. "Where are you going?" Dewey asked immediately.

Ignoring the objections, Adam once again tied his Bronze Dragon Guide to his back with a rope. He looked up at the rain clouds that blanketed the sky, brewing Thunderbolts. "If we can’t get through here, we’ll go around it. The Flying Dragons are gone, so we can just climb over."

With that, his hands underwent Beastification, transforming into Wolf Claws. He leaped five or six meters up the stone cliff, dug his claws into the rock face, and began to climb.

The Trial Takers watched Adam’s figure recede into the distance, some of them tempted to follow.

A few of the more decisive Trial Takers immediately followed suit. Before long, several Silver Faction and Beast Faction Demon Hunters were clinging to the cliff face, each with their Dragon Guide strapped to their back, suspended against the rock.

From below, they looked like spider cocoons clinging to the cliff. It also brought to mind koalas in Australia, hanging from trees while carrying their young.

"Climbing over the mountain... that’s actually a good idea," Dewey mused, stroking his chin.

Milton said, "But what about the Wizards?"

At his words, the typically aloof Wizards in the crowd fell into a heavy silence.

Right, what *were* the Wizards supposed to do?

The Beast Faction could use Beastification to climb. The Silver Faction could use their weapons as makeshift claws, and with the aid of their Alchemy Circuits, their explosive bursts of strength could even surpass the average Beast Hunter. As for the Contract Knights... hmm... what were the Wizards and Contract Knights supposed to do?

Before they could give it more thought, a loud THUD echoed, followed by gasps from the crowd. Two Demon Hunters, along with their Dragon Guides, had fallen from the cliff.

The cliff face was likely slippery from the rain; a single moment of carelessness could lead to a fall.

Fortunately, they weren’t seriously injured. For one, Demon Hunters of both the Beast and Silver Factions were generally tough and durable. For another, the Dragon Guides on their backs had served as human cushions to break their fall.

But after this incident, the plan to climb over the mountain was officially vetoed—mainly due to pressure from the Dragon Guides.

While the remaining Dragon Guides and Trial Takers were busy plotting how to open, bypass, or even detour around the Dragon Gate to reach the inner circle, Baron was still pondering a question: Why was Freya using an Ice Staff?

He clearly remembered seeing a Fire Staff in the containment room back when he and Jack had infiltrated Buckingham Palace to uncover the truth.

The Lancelots, like the Constantines of old, were a Knight Clan. The pampered Freya was the only one in her family to pursue the path of a Wizard; there were no others.

That Magic Staff could only have belonged to Freya.

Yet, from her fighting style in the previous battle to the Magic Crystal set in her current staff, nothing about Freya fit with that Fire Staff.

Baron felt he was onto something, a key detail everyone else had missed. But just as he tried to analyze it further, a voice shattered his concentration, pulling him from the fog of his theories back to reality.

"Hey!" Lucy suddenly stood up and announced, "Have you all forgotten there’s a Silver Dragon Guide sitting right here?!"

A hush fell over the area. Everyone’s gaze traveled past Taoist Nun Lucy to land on "Master Jack," whose eyes were filled with utter bewilderment.

The Trial Takers raised their eyebrows one after another. The Dragon Guides shot him strange looks. A few of the Bronze Dragon Guides—the ones who were poor actors and hadn’t been robbed by him—couldn’t help but let out a snort of derision.

’So that’s who she meant. Just that lucky phony.’

Jose frowned. "Lucy, don’t be disrespectful to Master Jack."

The two other Silver Dragon Guides chimed in to help him. "Master Jack has expended a great deal of energy. He needs to rest..."

’Rest? He seemed to have plenty of energy when he was robbing us,’ the alliance of victims thought bitterly.

"I think Master Jack is rested enough. It’s time for him to work his magic," Lucy said, winking at Baron. "Isn’t that right, Master Jack?"

Master Jack cursed her under his breath and shot a desperate, pleading look at Isabella.

But Isabella acted as if she hadn’t seen his plea for help. "Go on," she said.

With those two words, every eye in the place instantly fell upon the white-masked Baron. A wave of hushed discussion spread through the crowd.

"Does Isabella really not see that this ’Master Jack’ is a complete fraud?"

"Maybe it’s because he fluked his way into picking the path without any Thunder Wolf Dragon Beasts at the fork... Plus, the profits from his robberies were much higher than from standard Dragon Hunting... At the very least, his luck is decent."

"That had nothing to do with this ’Master Jack.’ What luck? Miss Isabella has awakened the blood of a Dragon Slayer. They say her Dragon Mighty was what scared off those Thunder Wolf Dragon Beasts. And the robberies? Weren’t they only possible because of Miss Isabella’s immense power...?

If you ask me, tying a dog to her would have achieved the same result."

"Alright, shut up, he’s coming over. Look how nervous he is. He even forgot to get blood from Miss Isabella..."

"Haha, he even forgot his Dragon Summoner Badge! He must be terrified. Let’s see how he gets out of this one."

"He’s actually going to put his hands right on the Dragon Gate? Without the Poison Dragon Aura, the gate’s Barrier will probably send him flying... Huh?! How did he touch it? Why...?"

’Go do what? Open the Dragon Gate? I’m not a Dragon Guide, lady... Whatever. I’m wearing a mask, so it’s not just my reputation on the line if this goes south.’

Grumbling internally, Baron walked up to the Dragon Gate. He saw the two Silver Masters give him looks of helpless sympathy, saw the mocking, derisive, and cold stares from the other Dragon Guides, and, to top it all off, saw that Taoist Nun Lucy making faces at him from the side. He sighed.

Deciding to just get it over with, he placed his hands on the gate and gave it a desperate shove...

The Dragon Gate opened.

Lucy, who had been gleefully making faces, smug about her prank and hoping to teach Baron a lesson for ignoring her, suddenly froze. Her expression turned rigid.

The noisy jeers from the crowd were cut off at the same moment, as if severed by a blade, coming to an abrupt halt.