Broken Story: Reborn as a Villainess Author-Chapter 37: Falling Ice

Lucius’s words came out in a calm tone, but the effect was the total opposite.

The expression on all their faces could be interpreted in one word:

Shock.

"H-How do you know he is dead?" Duke Lancelot asked.

Lucius lowered his head to look at the ground, which he had just examined. "It’s obvious when you study the magic used during the fight that happened here..."

"A fight???" Duke Lancelot interrupted. "There was no such conduct... This I can assure you... If there was, I would have sensed it." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Lucius got up from the fountain, dusting his clothes. "There was a fight here, Duke... If my guess is correct, then it took place during or after the ball."

"How can you tell if there was a fight?" Duke Silias asked, rubbing his beard.

"It’s really hard to explain..."

"Please... indulge me." Duke Lancelot focused all his attention.

Lucius nodded. "First of all, whatever fight that happened here between the Baron and his killer... was under the protection of a very complex and well-made barrier spell... Hence the reason you could not sense anything happening, Duke Lancelot."

A sudden wave of shock washed over Duke Lancelot. As the Duke of a very respectable family... he didn’t even notice when a battle was going on in his own home.

The Duke felt part of his pride shatter.

He kept his composure and asked:

"If the barrier spell was so hard to detect... how come you were able to detect it?"

Lucius let out a small smile, barely visible to the eye. "I said it was a complex spell, but I never said it was an almighty spell. I am sure if you had desired to investigate... you would have noticed too."

Lucius’s words were kind to the ear. Of course, the Duke knew it wasn’t the truth.

Even as he stood there, he could not sense a thing, yet...

A guy probably twenty years younger than him was able to notice it within the space of five minutes.

Duke Lancelot closed his eyes and smiled. ’I must be getting old...’ He thought, even though he was considered to be one of the youngest Dukes in history.

"Can you tell who the person who caused this mischief is?"

Lucius squinted his eyes, wearing a playful expression.

"I can, but..." He formed his hand in a gesture of money.

"It’s going to cost you."

Duke Lancelot felt comfortable upon hearing those words. Money wasn’t an issue for him.

"No problem, how much are we talking about?"

"A thousand gold coins..."

"..."

The expression on the Duke’s face changed completely. Even the royal guards were stunned.

"A-A thousand gold coins?!" Duke Lancelot stuttered.

"And for you..." Lucius turned to the royal guard. "Tell your higher-ups, if they want my help in solving this... they will need to pay five times what Duke Lancelot will pay."

’Five times???’ Duke Silias and the guards’ jaws dropped in awe.

What was this man demanding? A single gold coin was worth over a hundred silver coins, which was valued very high.

With one gold coin, one could buy a fully built house. With ten, one could buy an entire estate.

But a thousand?! Five thousand?!

It sounded absurd... However, Lucius wasn’t joking. Not in the slightest.

He got off the fountain and began walking towards the exit.

"When you’re ready, Duke Silias knows where to find me."

The air became thicker, harder to breathe.

They started contemplating how to come up with the money. The guards shifted themselves to one corner, discussing how they were going to tell their superiors.

...

Clink! Clink!

Little drops of water fell from a bunch of sharply carved ice stalactites. They looked glued to the top, lined up in different ways.

Acheron did not waver as she led her team under the path to cross over to the other side.

Then suddenly, a loud sound echoed down the pathway.

Boom!

The ground trembled beneath their feet, causing them to stumble as they fought to regain their balance.

The sharp pointy ice stalactites that lined above them began to fall one by one at random.

"Woah!" Dalia fell to her knees, her hands slamming the icy floor. One of the ice stalactites was aiming for her.

William noticed in time and waved his hand. "Factum est glacies!" Another large ice sword appeared above her, shattering the ice stalactite.

Alackster reacted in time to move her out of the way of the aftermath. He bent his head down to her. "Are you alright?" he said in a majestic manner.

"I...em..." She was dumbfounded, although it wasn’t the right time and place. She admired his beauty and charisma.

’Was he always this cute?’

"Dalia!" Arlo ran over, checking her for injuries. "Hope you weren’t hurt..." he said, stretching his hand out to help her to her feet.

Dalia’s gaze shifted to the smiling Arlo, then she broke into a smile and accepted his hand. "Thank you."

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Above the three of them, more ice stalactites broke free. They all fell consecutively like arrows, spinning as they descended.

"Move!" Acheron shouted.

At the sound of her voice, Dalia, Arlo, and Alackster hopped away in three directions. The sharp ice landed where they previously stood.

"Tsk!" Alackster looked up. More and more ice stalactites came free... dropping down with insane speed.

He folded his hands and started casting a long chant spell. A golden light hummed around him. He was shocked when he spotted Acheron, who had her hand outstretched.

She was casting a support spell on him, boosting his Arcana energy.

He smiled and continued casting his spell.

"Lyfte ic þe in balwen ac forhienan se wideor... diamond in the sky."

Whoosh!

A huge gust of wind erupted from Alackster’s palms, spiraling upwards in a violent tornado. The wind slammed into the falling ice stalactites, shattering them into thousands of tiny fragments.

The gust of wind cleared every single ice stalactite that resonated above, leaving the fragments to scatter below like snow.

Alackster lowered his hand, the golden light fading slowly.

"Wow..." Arlo was left in awe. It was the first time he’d seen such a large spell up close. This raid was originally meant for top-ranking students, an easy task for them. But now, for Arlo, Dali, and William, it felt like the test of their lives.

The ground stopped shaking and returned to normal.

Acheron looked around at her team. Everyone was accounted for with no injuries, but she had to ask to make sure.

"Everyone alright?" She called out. "Will?!"

"Yeah... I’m alright." William replied from a distance.

"That was close." Dalia collapsed to the ground, gasping slowly. "What was that anyway?"

"The dungeon door... it has shut." Acheron answered, glancing down the long path they came through.

In the far distance, at the beginning of the right path which they took... was now covered by a large wall of solid ice.

Their goal for this dungeon was simple: find the final boss of the current level and defeat it. On both paths, there were two bosses. The dungeon doors were shut on both sides until one of the bosses was defeated. Only then would one path door open, allowing an exit.

The first to do so would win the tie between the nobles and commoners.

"Let’s continue moving." Acheron turned and continued marching.

As they followed behind, the Runic Eye also floated in the air, adjusting its lens and recording everything that happened.