Towards Freedom

The feeding area was connected to Elijah's workspace, allowing for easy access to the ghouls.

Emily was supposed to bring the silver to Alex and provoke the ghouls as soon as she found it.

However, time was slipping away.

Emily hadn't found any silver in the workspace yet, while on Alex's side, the ghouls kept closing in but didn't attack.

Elijah grew puzzled and had Alex searched, but found nothing, which only deepened his confusion.

Alex suddenly realized that his modern glasses contained silver, which explained why the ghouls hadn't posed much of a threat during his first confrontation with Elijah.

Now, he just needed to buy enough time for Emily to come back so they could proceed with the next step.

He even considered running to Emily immediately, but quickly dismissed the idea.

If the old man was left here, the ghouls' feeding would reveal the presence of silver on Alex, and well-fed ghouls would be harder to provoke.

Carrying the silver and joining Emily wouldn't help them escape Elijah's dark magic.

The situation remained tense.

Alex had to stall for time. "My great master, I don't mean to question you, but do these... creatures really have the intelligence to understand your words?"

Elijah replied, "Feeding is in their nature."

Alex pressed on, "Has your mighty power so impressed them that they no longer need to feed according to their nature?"

Elijah hesitated, "Usually by now, these ghouls would have already savagely torn apart their prey. But this behavior suggests that they have been somewhat tamed to some extent."

Elijah couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and told Alex to take the old man out.

Alex smiled and agreed on the surface.

He held the old man and slowly walked towards the door.

Suddenly, he had an idea and pretended to slip. "Master, I've twisted my ankle," he groaned.

Elijah, furious, used magic to lift the old man and said to Alex, "You useless thing, crawl out yourself."

Alex was secretly delighted. He planned to wait until the two of them were outside before making his move.

But then, the unconscious old man suddenly woke up.

Finding himself suspended in mid-air, he began to thrash about wildly, his screams piercing the air as he stared down at the ghouls below.

The once quiet room suddenly became chaotic.

The old man's screams and movements enraged the ghouls, breaking the fragile balance.

The ghouls, now fully enraged, bypassed Alex and lunged at the floating old man.

Elijah, caught off guard, struggled to fend them off, his confusion growing.

Alex, realizing the danger, began to make his way towards Elijah's workshop to meet Emily.

Elijah, realizing the chaos, tried to place the old man on the ground, but it was too late.

The injuries he had inflicted on the ghouls had fully enraged them, and they turned on him.

Meanwhile, Emily was still frantically searching Elijah's storage, but still found nothing.

Sweat began to drip from her forehead.

Hearing the commotion from the next room, she quickened her pace, but still came up empty-handed.

At this moment, Alex burst in, grabbed her hand, and started running towards the exit without a word.

The other workers, hearing the chaotic battle sounds, were initially stunned to see a man and a woman running out of Elijah's workshop.

But soon, they joined the two, and more and more people joined the crowd, all running towards the door and towards freedom.