Locke chased all the way along passage 6, but strangely, he actually didn't catch up to that animal tamer.

Just as Locke pursued to a large hall and wanted to take out three more Corrupt Soil Taro Emperor magical plants from his astral ring to have these three Mayfly Flower Cannons search everywhere.

This circular parlor suddenly produced magical radiance. A magic array appeared on the ground, precisely an Abjuration School array—Forced Exile.

But this wasn't an activation array, but rather a termination array.

An interdimensional gate opened above this hall.

A woman with a shoehorn face walked out from this interdimensional gate. She looked fatigued with vigilant eyes, wearing white wizard robes, her whole body radiating sacred light.

"Who?"

This member of the Virdantia University looked at Locke, "Black wizard!"

A light sword condensed from sacred magic appeared in her hand, precisely the First Circle magic [Cross Sacred Sword]. Every ray of light on this sacred sword contained the terrifying energy of sacred magic.

"Black wizard, you actually dare to hijack a ship. This is a serious crime. Immediately..."

Locke showed the temporary consultant badge he held at Lilith's Cottage, proving his identity.

This female member of the Virdantia University was stunned, "I'm sorry. I was previously schemed against by those black wizards and fell into a seal. I finally used my trump card to escape early. As a result, I just came out and saw you, so I mistook you for a black wizard."

Locke nodded, "I'm currently pursuing and trying to kill a black wizard I crippled. I chased here but don't know where they're hiding."

"Those black wizards have Sun-Eating Strange Seeds. If they contact the void warship's energy core, that would be troublesome."

The female Virdantia University member landed on the ground and nodded deeply in agreement, "In that case, there are two passages here. You chase that one, I'll chase this one. You and I each chase one. How about it?"

Locke glanced at her. Sensing the other party was a liquefaction stage wizard, he immediately felt relieved, "Mm, no problem. The only vaporization stage wizard among them has already been killed by me. You chasing them shouldn't be a big problem."

The two separated at the fork in the road ahead of this hall, entering separate passages and pursuing forward.

Locke chased for about five minutes, then suddenly stopped at a passage entrance. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly sensed something wrong about that female Virdantia University member. He immediately turned back and returned to that hall.

Just as he returned to that hall, he saw a clown card stuck in the floor of this hall. On the back of the clown card was the image of a female magician.

Moreover, through the Time Golden Crystal observation window at the top of this hall, Locke saw an escape flight device outside the Day-Chasing Silver Shuttle had already departed from the void warship and was fleeing into the distance.

At that time, the magical lights in the hall suddenly returned to normal.

The sound transmission array also began operating, emitting a very tense voice, "Everyone, don't panic. This airship just suffered an attack from black wizards, but at this time those black wizards have all fled. Currently, this airship is accelerating repairs to damages everywhere and tallying personnel casualties. Regarding all casualties that occurred during this trip, the crew of this airship will take full responsibility."

Locke saw outside the Time Golden Crystal observation window that the Day-Chasing Silver Shuttle was slowly flying away from that huge magic painting outside.

"That female Virdantia University member just now should be the female magician inside the Magic Thief Circus," Locke thought. "It's just because the magical pressure she previously displayed to me was only that of an ordinary wizard, but that female Virdantia University member just now was liquefaction stage, so I subconsciously eliminated that possibility."

"But the situation just now, carefully recalling it, was filled with quite a few loopholes."

"They actually escaped just like that."

Locke recalled that that female magician probably hadn't appeared before him with her true body from the beginning.

That body with ordinary wizard-level magical pressure was probably either a puppet or another wizard controlled by her.

And she herself was in this hall, pretending to use a Forced Exile to seal herself. Just waiting for him to approach, then walk out from it to confuse him, making him immediately think she was also a white wizard who had been sealed.

Moreover, the other party specifically disguised herself as a Virdantia University member. Everyone knew Virdantia University members were obsessed wizards no less than Hand of the Jungle, so when he heard a Virdantia University member wanted to pursue and kill black wizards, of course he would subconsciously believe this problem would be resolved.

Therefore, he would relax his vigilance.

Locke looked at the small void ship fleeing outside the Time Golden Crystal observation window and shook his head slightly, "This Magic Thief Circus really is a group of fraudsters. Perhaps the clown wasn't the leader at all. That female magician orchestrating everything behind the scenes is the real leader."

"Don't know if I can encounter them again. This group is active on wizard airship routes. Perhaps there's still a possibility of encountering them next time. However, this time, they should have a deep impression of me."

...

Inside the small void ship, the female speed painter supported the animal tamer with an ugly expression.

She lifted the painfully wailing animal tamer onto a simple operating table on this void ship. Using the equipment there, tweezers and similar instruments, she briefly examined, "It's a kind of golden magic. Those golden magic's gold sands remained at your wound location, making you suffer unbearable pain."

"Boss, we lost too many people this time. The clown died, the puppeteer was captured, the animal tamer was beaten half-crippled. Our circus of six people actually had three people crippled by the other party. Now our circus only has the boss, me, and the fortune teller left."

The speed painter frowned, "Moreover, this time we barely robbed any wealth and could only be forced to retreat. Boss, why not continue fighting? The three of us surrounding and killing that vaporization stage wizard, I think we should still be able to do it!"

The female magician looked at her coldly, saying ruthlessly, "Speed painter, let me ask you, who are we?"

The speed painter was stunned. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The female magician placed one hand on her waist and said, "We're a circus, thieves, pirates on airships. So we'll be hunted, killed, which is perfectly normal. From the first day of joining, I told you all that the Magic Thief Circus doesn't have the concept of revenge. If you die at the hands of those white wizards, that can only mean your skills are inferior."

"The circus absolutely won't avenge you. This is our way of survival. If the circus that comes without a trace and goes like the wind seeks revenge, that would destroy the only skill we can rely on for survival. It would be crippling ourselves."

The speed painter said, "But..."

The female magician said, "The puppet the puppeteer made for me was destroyed by a white wizard on that wizard ship. On that ship, there's far more than just one Eye Demon Wizard as our enemy. Moreover, before I made the retreat decision, I had the fortune teller calculate the possibility of us surrounding and killing the Eye Demon Wizard."

The speed painter immediately looked at the fortune teller. That fortune teller was a middle-aged man. He wore black wizard robes. At this time, he shook his head slightly and said, "I used necromantic spirit bone divination. Those spirits told me... if we want to surround and kill the Eye Demon Wizard, we might succeed, but our circus would be completely annihilated."

The speed painter's face paled, "How is that possible... Is that white wizard so formidable? Even though the boss is a liquefaction stage wizard, he has a way to counter-kill?"

The fortune teller himself was somewhat unconfident, "In any case, from the divination results, that's what it shows."

The female magician said, "This time was our problem, or rather, my problem as the plan maker. I truly underestimated that white wizard too much, causing our circus to suffer such great losses."

"Eye Demon Wizard... Such a formidable person, why haven't we heard of him before? Has he always stayed in one wizard land and rarely comes out for activities?"

"Our circus only operates on airship routes. General wizard organizations rarely hear of us. Only those airship wizard organizations know our reputation well. He's probably a wizard who previously always mixed with teaching positions at wizard academies, taking the conventional route. Otherwise, we couldn't have not heard of him before."

The female magician gritted her teeth, "In the future, before operations, investigate passenger information. If his name appears again, that is the name Locke Augustine, immediately cease operations."

"We're thieves, not warriors. Absolutely don't touch thorny targets."

All circus members fell silent.

The female magician Zoe turned to look behind her, at the empty Second Sky outside the Time Golden Crystal observation window, "White Wizard Association... What a nostalgic name. It's been so long since I heard that name. For a moment, I really do miss those sanctimonious people a bit."

"Clean up. This robbery, although we didn't gain much benefit, we can barely break even. After all, there are fewer mouths to feed."

"Recently, we can't make any major moves, so we can't attack airships. If it attracts the intervention of Second Circle wizards from the Divination School, even if we have magic artifacts that shield divination magic, it's not very safe."

"Recently, we can rob slightly larger-scale wizard ships. Mosquito leg meat is still meat. By robbing the astral rings of formal wizards on wizard ships, we can still accumulate some magical resources."

The female speed painter looked at the pirate witch Zoe, as if remembering something, and said, "Right, boss, I remember you said before that you were a white wizard? Even among white wizards, you were considered to have illustrious origins. Then why do you want to be a black wizard like me?"

"And do the hardest, most tiring pirate work among black wizards. You clearly have such illustrious origins..."

Witch Zoe's expression was inscrutable, "Speed painter, don't ask what you shouldn't ask."

"I never want to have any connection with those white wizards again."

The female speed painter nodded, "However, thanks to the boss. Without the boss being so familiar with these outdated, old, small void warships' operation methods and defense systems, we also couldn't have built our business so large."