High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1171: Chapter 233 The Source of the Array

”I’m not! I didn’t! You’re talking nonsense!”

After a practiced trio of denials, the Black Cat leaped up with the agility of a fish and, flicking its tail, ran to the outskirts of the camp. ”You all carry on, I’m going to patrol... make sure no slugs or rabbit spirits come to make trouble.”

It eventually decided not to idle any longer to avoid being sought out by real trouble.

”Does this magic circle have a name?” the Black Cat asked before leaping over a bush. It suddenly remembered something it had just overlooked, finally turning back to look at the busy witches, and asked out of curiosity.

The answer came from Korma’s busy back:

”The Key of Solomon.”

...

After the Black Cat’s figure disappeared into the bushes, the two witches finally let out a sigh of relief in unison.

”Do you feel like that cat really recognizes you?” Korma, setting up peach wood charms in the order shown on the blueprint, asked thoughtfully, ”I feel like its reaction just now was a bit over the top.”

”Don’t waste time, pick up the pace,” Elena interrupted Korma, her tone slightly irritated.

Korma shrugged her shoulders and didn’t continue to tease her companion.

Soon, the fundamental Rune Array of the magic circle was all set up.

”It’s much simpler than I thought,” Elena, donning a white mask, complained quietly as she evenly sprinkled graphite powder on the base of the magic circle using a watering can, ”But I don’t know why we must do this behind its back.”

”It’s just a cat after all, unlike us,” Korma replied in a light tone. ”Signing a Silence Contract is a necessary evil. The less it knows about the other elements, the better.”

As she spoke, she pulled out a stack of thick parchments from her bosom, shook it in the wind, and unfolded it.

On the parchment was a magic circle drawn with Dragon’s Blood Ink. Due to the passage of time, the originally bright red ink had turned to dark purple, but this only added a mysterious hue to the entire magic circle diagram.

”We still have at least ten minutes to finish installing the base talisman boards before the cat comes back,” Korma said, as she donned a brass monocle on her nose at some point, with a slender chain linking the frame to her ear, tracing an elegant arc along her cheek.

She held a fiery red feather pen in her hand, with its tip slowly gliding along the annotations at the edge of the parchment, as if explaining to Elena while also muttering to herself, ”Strong magic power requires a sacred space for transformation. That space is ’Solomon Magic Array.’ By channeling it through the magic circle, gathering it, and finally converting it.”

”According to the second theorem of Magical Theory, the intrusion of high-dimensional power into a low-dimensional space-time is a gradual process. When the magic circle operates, the energy fluctuations between the Rune Arrays must sync, or it will cause a loss of energy or failure in the magic power circulation.”

”Traditional magic circles like to use marble as a base and Mithril and Brass as tools for conducting magic power. However, for our magic circle, Mithril is too expensive, and the magic conductivity of Brass is somewhat inadequate... and compared to marble, They prefer peat.”

”So, what does this have to do with our use of graphite powder?” Elena sighed, ”You always do this, talking endlessly without getting to the point.”

”The point?” Korma seemed to have just awoken from a dream, her voice somewhat hollow, ”The point is that the base of graphite powder perfectly combines the effects of peat and mithril—at least in this magic circle, their combined effect is no stronger than that of graphite powder.”

”That really is good news.” The witch with the white mask used a brush to gently spread the graphite powder just poured onto the Array along the lines of the Array.

Korma didn’t speak again, and the camp fell into an unusual silence for a time.

Whether it was a flaw in the laws of this small world, there was not even the slightest breeze here. The silent forest, the silent bushes, and the reptiles and wild rabbits chased away by the black cat, made this world increasingly silent. The pale sun and moon cast a silver sheen on the busy figures of the witches, as if they were sculptures fixed in time by the ages.

”You’ve never told me where you got the diagram of that magic circle.” After applying the last segment of the Array lines, Elena stretched languidly, turned to look at Korma, who was studying the parchment annotations and suddenly asked, ”This isn’t something a low-tier wizard could get their hands on... Of course, if it bothers you, you don’t have to answer.”

Korma turned her head to look at the witch with the white mask, her gaze a bit vacant.

After a long while, her spirit seemed to have finally gathered back from the boundless darkness, and her eyes gained a bit of liveliness.

”No, of course I don’t mind,” said the Vice President of the Jiuyou Academy Student Union softly, her voice a bit hoarse, ”Do you know Abdullah Alhassad?”

”That Arabian mad poet?” Elena frowned slightly, ”He’s no good mentor... If I remember correctly, he’s a descendant of Ropan and has been active in the Arabian world since the 7th century leading the Babylonian Mage Group. But nowadays, besides madmen, does the Babylonian Mage Group have anything else to offer?”

The Gypsy witch’s criticism was not harsh; on the contrary, due to the historical ties between The Gypsy Witch Coven and the Babylonian Mage Group, she’d even beautified her rhetoric somewhat.

In fact, due to the misguided magical theories they preached, the Babylonian Mage Group had already been deemed corrupt by the Wizard Council. Their ancient magic, which primarily involved twisting faiths and stealing power, had almost ceased to be passed down after the birth of Dimensionism.

Even wizards who loved the mysterious powers of magic didn’t want to cast it at the cost of losing their sanity.

After all, humans needed sanity, and beings without it could no longer be considered complete humans.

”Abdullah Alhassad has written a book, ’Al-Azif,’ which describes in detail the many indescribable entities from the Deeps of Starry Sky, the cults that worship them, and the mysterious rites to communicate with them,” Korma said quietly, her fingers brushing the edge of the parchment, which trembled slightly as the wings of an insect tremble in a thunderstorm, ”I was reading in the library and found a few torn pages of ’Al-Azif’ in the pocket of the title page of an ancient book, including this parchment.”

”Based on the emblems on the pages, it can be deduced that this magic circle is a product refined by Dr. John Dee—a big wizard of the 16th century, from the secret ceremonies described in ’Al-Azif.’”

”Just as you said, the Arabian mad poet truly isn’t trustworthy. But Dr. John Dee, I still believe in him.”

After listening to Korma’s explanation, Elena stared at her for a long while.

”You really are mad,” she said softly, then suddenly, as if thinking of something, chuckled twice, ”I’m not far off either.”