I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha

After his warning, everyone reacted immediately.

Although Adam and the others weren't strong, they were well-trained and often challenged powerful monsters beyond their level.

Years of experience and cooperation gave them excellent battlefield intuition.

Moreover, they knew exactly where they were—the Black Forest. Even at the edge of the Black Forest, strange things could always happen.

So, when Roland spoke up, everyone immediately realized that he might have seen some dark magic creature.

None of the four did anything foolish; they all closed their eyes and stood still.

At this moment, only Roland kept his eyes open. He didn't dare to take his eyes off the puppet.

Helena was frightened. Because she was too nervous, her words were somewhat slurred: "W-what's wrong, Senior Roland? What did you see?"

Sweating profusely, Roland replied, "Listen carefully, everyone. Now, we're going to play a game."

Roland told everyone about the Ballet Ghoul. He kept it brief, without explaining the cause and effect, only the rules.

Upon hearing this, everyone's heart sank.

Everyone had seen the news three months ago and had heard of such things. So, although they were full of doubts, they knew this was no time for jokes.

The Black Abyss Academy was founded by the Alexandra family. They believed that Roland, as an Alexandra, should know a lot about this thing.

Helena asked nervously, "No magic at all? What about artifacts?"

Roland said, "Useless! Magic turns it into a wooden sculpture! As for artifacts, you can try... The Black Abyss Wizards wouldn't dare use artifacts for testing. We just need to survive now, and then bring the others' wooden sculptures back to the academy. Maybe the academy will have a solution."

Everyone's face turned pale.

Roland said, "Everyone, I might be too nervous and mistaken, but you must remember what I just said. Now, use your senses to slowly approach me. Stand in a line with me, facing the same direction."

Two people had poor perception, so Roland manipulated the Wind Prince, using the wind to guide them.

His gaze never left the puppet, but his perception was no worse than his vision, guiding everyone to his side and forming a line.

Then, to prevent the Wind Prince from turning into a wooden sculpture, Roland released it.

"Now, we can start the game. The content is very simple."

Roland said, sweating profusely, "In a moment, I'll count to three. You and I will open our eyes together, and then, a wooden figure will dance. You must stare at it, keeping it in the center of your vision."

Everyone asked nervously, "T-then what?"

Roland said, "Wait for a professor or instructor to pass by."

Everyone's face turned ashen.

Roland asked, "Do you all remember? The game is about to begin."

Everyone nodded in agreement, their voices already trembling.

"One, two, three."

When Roland finished counting, everyone opened their eyes at the same time and saw a dilapidated puppet in the debris of the garbage pile.

Helena asked, sweating profusely, "Is that monster... that puppet?"

Roland said, "Yes."

Everyone stared at the puppet, not daring to blink, feeling very uncomfortable.

After two minutes, someone couldn't help but ask, "W-when will it dance?"

Roland shook his head with a strange expression. After a moment, a spell flew from his hand, hitting the puppet, and then the puppet hung in the air.

Roland looked closely and saw that it seemed to be a puppet mannequin crushed by a giant.

Looking at the puppet mannequin, Roland's expression became even stranger.

The giant had touched it... If it were the Ballet Ghoul, the giant would have turned into wood already.

A black light flew over, and the puppet shattered into pieces. Nothing happened.

Roland reached out again, and a music box flew from a distance, landing in his hand.

After looking at it, he found that it was not a music box, but a broken box.

Helena asked, "S-senior, is that puppet dead?"

Roland's face was extremely awkward. He suddenly remembered something.

In all cases, the Ballet Ghoul appeared as a dancer, never in this lying-on-the-ground state.

Just as Wallace said, once bitten by a snake, he was afraid of well ropes for ten years. Now that he was in a difficult position, he coughed and said, "Dead."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, wiping their cold sweat, their legs weak.

Just then, Lawrence inadvertently looked towards the giant's corpse, and then he was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground, his pants wet.

"T-there! There!!"

Everyone looked over. In the setting sun, there was a beautiful ballet doll. It seemed to have just finished a dance, standing there motionless. It stood quietly in front of the giant's corpse, its fingertip lightly touching the giant's forehead.

Like the beautiful painting 'The Creation of Adam', the god's finger touched Adam.

The giant's corpse stared with wide eyes, it had become a lifelike wooden statue.

A woman's laughter echoed in the forest: "Sorry, I was just passing by, but your game was so much fun. So, I sent 'Leona' over. Goodbye, your happiness ~ ~ la la la (a fading song) ~"

Ding ding ding. A music box sound came from the forest.

Roland: "Damn it!!!"

Everyone's face became very ugly after hearing the woman's words.

Adam said, "Big Brother Roland, that demon must have been following us for a long time. Don't believe her, the Black Forest is so big, how could there be so many coincidental passersby!"

No one present was a fool; they understood immediately. They immediately guessed that the person had deliberately come to make trouble.

Roland said with an ugly face, "Of course I know, I'm cursing because she put a music box in the forest, we can't turn it off!"

Everyone hurriedly asked, "What will happen if we don't turn off the music box?"

Just then, everyone suddenly noticed that the puppet next to the giant's corpse had turned into a beautiful ballet dancer at some point.

Her clothes were no longer tattered as before, but bright and beautiful.

Her skin was as white as jade, full of elasticity. Her face was beautiful and delicate, and her dance was very elegant.

Helena and the others knew that their end was near, but they couldn't help but marvel at her dance in their hearts.

Because she was so beautiful.

Just then, the dancer disappeared into the air during a jump. The next moment, she appeared in front of Adam, her finger touching his forehead. Immediately, Adam and the dancer turned into puppets.

Everyone cried out, "Adam!!!"

Helena touched the three artifacts in her pocket, but after hesitating for a moment, she decided to listen to Roland and not use them.

Roland: "Don't blink, stare at it, don't move!"

Everyone: "How is it possible not to blink, Senior Roland!"

Helena was closest to Roland. She felt that Roland seemed to be drawing something on the ground behind her.

"Senior, what are you doing?"

Roland: "Nothing, you stay put and don't look back at me! I'll take you out of here alive!"

Roland was preparing a sealing magic circle.

The Ballet Ghoul is not a demon. It cannot be banished, cannot be bound, and cannot be sealed in the Book of Demons.

But Roland thought he could try it.

At this time, the music box came to the next variation, and the puppet turned into a dancer.

Everyone stared at the Ballet Ghoul, not daring to shift their gaze, but Roland's gaze was on Lawrence.

The next second, the Ballet Ghoul suddenly disappeared, came to Lawrence's side, and turned him into a puppet.

Helena and the others cried out, but Roland breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly lowered his head, seizing the time to continue drawing the magic circle.

The Ballet Ghoul will always be in the center of the viewer's vision. If multiple people are watching the dance, it will randomly appear in someone's center of vision.

However, this randomness has a priority. If everyone is staring at the Ballet Ghoul, it will not teleport. But if someone is not looking at it, but looking elsewhere, then the Ballet Ghoul will appear there.

[Rule Six: If the Ballet Ghoul accidentally touches an audience member during the performance, it will be embarrassed due to the failure of the performance, thereby temporarily stopping the dance.]

When the Ballet Ghoul danced for the first time, Roland placed his gaze on Adam, so Adam turned into a puppet. Then, the Ballet Ghoul briefly stopped dancing.

When dancing for the second time, Roland looked at Lawrence, so Lawrence turned into a puppet. The Ballet Ghoul stopped dancing again briefly.

This guy told others not to look around, but he was looking at others himself.

But Roland did this not to坑 (kēng - trick/harm) his teammates; on the contrary, this was the only way to bring everyone back alive.

He needed someone to buy him time, otherwise, they would all die here.

Roland was certain that the person who spoke in the forest earlier should be 'Succubus Lilith'.

Lilith definitely hadn't left yet. If they turned into puppets, who knew what that guy would do to them?

Therefore, he had to live. Only by living could he bring his teammates' puppets back to the academy and give them the antidote.

A few minutes later, the last of his teammates also turned into a puppet.

And Roland's magic array was only two-thirds complete.

[A Reward: External Debt + 2000 Magic Stones, B Reward: Forbidden Comprehension Value + 100]

Roland looked at the Ballet Ghoul next to Helena's puppet. He knew that next, he could only find opportunities to complete the remaining sealing magic array while moving.

Roland took a deep breath and bowed slightly to the Ballet Puppet.

"Respected Madam, from now on, I will dance with you!"

[Rule Seven: If there is music nearby, the Ballet Ghoul will not stop dancing unless it touches someone.]

[Rule Eight: Ballet Ghouls are proficient in all dances.]

[Rule Nine: If you are good at ballroom dancing, you can invite it to dance—but be careful not to be touched by it!]

[C Reward: ???]