Chapter 143: Why Is Everyone Transforming?

Just as Saul was about to charge in and join the battle, Morden, who was being besieged, suddenly let out a loud roar.

“You bunch of bastards, stop causing trouble at a time like this!”

His arms suddenly swelled and transformed, growing fur and claws like a beast.

He grabbed Herman and lifted him high, slamming him down into the ground.

With a tremendous crash, the round platform shook, and Herman’s head slammed into the stone, burying it deep into his chest!

This powerful blow immediately stunned everyone, including Saul.

Even the attacks from the other spirits paused.

But, despite the shock, Morden looked down at Herman, who was now a mangled mess, and a hint of madness flickered in his eyes.

His pupils shrank to needle-like points, trembling at an incredibly high frequency. The corners of his mouth twisted from an angry frown into a slow smile, and his purple tongue extended, licking each of his sharp teeth.

Saul quickly realized that the bloodlust was causing the wraith to lose control, completely forgetting about the need to absorb the surrounding soul fragments.

The wraith suddenly threw its head back and howled. Its mouth opened wide, generating a massive gravitational pull, indiscriminately sucking in soul fragments from all directions.

Morden no longer cared about the soul fragments in the air. He just wanted to complete the fusion and tear apart the lingering remnants in his mind!

If he absorbed all the soul fragments…

Suddenly, a figure shot forward. Saul leapt over the frozen souls and jumped high into the air, landing a punch directly on Morden’s chin!

Morden, who was about to open his mouth to absorb more fragments, had his mouth slammed shut. His upper body tilted back, and he took two steps back, one foot even stepping out of the center circle.

Saul fell back, landing squarely in the center circle.

In that moment, he regained control of his body.

Saul blinked, suddenly realizing that in this reshaped conscious space, entering the circle meant becoming the dominant consciousness of the body.

He quickly opened his eyes and saw Byron, standing across from him, watching him warily.

Byron was about to speak when Saul quickly raised a finger to his lips.

At that moment, even Nick, who was far off, realized who they were facing.

Both of the perpetually stern-faced men showed signs of joy.

Unfortunately, before Saul could express anything further to Byron, Morden snapped back to his senses and landed a punch, sending Saul flying out of the center circle.

Saul’s small frame spun a few times in mid-air before landing heavily on the ground.

He gritted his teeth against the pain and immediately sprang back to his feet, ready to defend against the next attack.

This was when he realized that his earlier strike had broken the silence, causing the other souls to spring back into action.

This gave Saul a brief moment to breathe.

He touched his head to make sure there was no indentation, then sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, outside the conscious space, Byron, realizing that Saul was still alive, turned to Nick and gestured.

Nick, noticing the change, adjusted the parameters on the control device.

…

Saul rushed back, nearly stepping on Herman, who was sprawled on the ground.

Though his head was still embedded in his chest, his hands were already flailing, clearly still capable of fighting.

Saul quickly crouched down, reached his arm inside Herman’s neck, and pulled his head out.

“Ugh!!!” Herman let out a cry of excruciating pain, and his gaze toward Saul turned hostile.

Saul, repeating his earlier tactic, hid behind Herman, propping his head up and facing Morden. “That’s your enemy!”

Herman’s eyes turned bloodshot, and with a roar, he charged again.

But once again, the man was knocked back.

Saul frowned, “In this group, only Bill, Herman, and the other three Third Rank apprentices have some combat ability. The others couldn’t even scratch Morden.”

Suddenly, Saul saw Morden grab Bill, lifting him high into the air.

This time, however, Morden didn’t slam Bill into the ground.

Instead, he drove both hands deep into Bill’s abdomen and tore him in half.

Just as Saul thought Bill would be the first sacrifice, Bill’s body suddenly turned purple, then softened into a mass of purple foam, slipping from Morden’s fingers.

When the foam hit the ground, the two purple masses rolled together and reformed into Bill.

“What is this?” Saul stared at Bill, now transformed into a purple figure, and glanced at Morden, whose arms had morphed into those of a beast. “Why did their forms change like this? Can I do that too?”

Before Saul could figure it out, he suddenly saw Herman running forward, seemingly inspired by Bill, and covering himself with a layer of silver metal.

The transformations of Bill and Herman clearly made them much stronger than before.

When Herman threw a punch, even Morden could no longer take it head-on.

“Bill and Herman’s transformations seem to align with their most adept forms of spells. Is this some sort of construct within their spiritual bodies?”

However, Saul quickly dismissed this hypothesis, as the other Third Rank apprentices had not changed at all.

“What could be affecting their conscious forms? spells? Meditation methods? Or is it the locator device?”

Before Saul could work out the answer, the battle up ahead took a sudden turn.

A snowstorm suddenly rained down from the sky, and countless soul fragments fell. These fragments, which previously hesitated, now actively rushed into Morden’s body.

As the fragments merged with him, Morden’s eyes grew murky, and his body began to transform even more drastically, shifting into a full beast-like form.

At the same time, the wraith’s limbs began to move more stiffly.

Seeing the wraith’s movements slow down, the remaining complete souls began to tear into Morden’s body.

They frantically gnawed at him, and they even managed to tear off a small piece of his flesh.

But despite the damage, Morden showed no signs of pain.

With the influx of soul fragments, the damage was quickly healed.

Bill, closest to Morden, suddenly leaped onto his back, wrapping his arms around Morden’s neck and biting into his skull.

Just as Bill’s teeth neared the back of Morden’s head, a tail shot out from Morden’s back, striking like a blur. It pierced Bill’s chest, emerging from his mouth.

Yet, in the split second before Bill could be fully consumed, he transformed into foam again.

Before Bill could slip away from Morden’s tail, Morden’s head underwent a huge change. His mouth elongated like a crocodile’s, and with a sharp turn, he snapped his jaws open wide, swallowing both his tail and the purple foam.

Only a small piece of the foam fell to the ground, motionless.

Before anyone could react, Morden turned back around and bit into another Third Rank apprentice’s soul.

With a scream, the apprentice’s head and chest were swallowed whole.

Seeing that the remaining souls were struggling against Morden’s transformation into a crocodile-like beast, Saul didn’t have time to think about the transformations.

He dashed forward and, just as Morden was about to devour another spirit, he kicked Morden’s tail root.

Morden staggered and lost his prey.

He spun around to see who had attacked but only saw a shadow dart behind Herman.

Herman’s mind had become foggy through all the continuous fighting. His eyes were filled with rage and madness, and all he knew was that he had to kill the enemy before him.

Seizing the moment when the wraith was distracted by the consumption of soul fragments, Herman’s metallic hands slammed into Morden’s chest, deforming it and nearly forcing Morden out of the center circle.

However, at that moment, Herman saw Morden stagger, suddenly spin around, and then whirl back with bloodshot eyes locked on him.

Herman instinctively tried to dodge, but the next second, someone kicked him hard from behind.

Losing his balance, Herman lurched forward.

Morden’s elongated mouth barely missed Herman’s shoulder, leaving a new gash. As they collided, they crashed into each other.

From behind Herman, Saul leapt up, stepping on Herman’s back, and landed a punch directly into one of Morden’s eyes.

The blow was dead-on, and Morden’s eye was instantly destroyed. Saul quickly flipped away, taking cover behind Herman’s large metallic body to block Morden’s counterattack.

(End of Chapter)

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