Chapter 199: Drawing the Worm In

The antidote was complete.

The diary raised no objections.

Saul gripped the glass vial tightly in his hand.

He had paid a steep price for this potion.

The black page representing Bill’s consciousness had completely shattered and vanished once the experiment concluded.

Even at the very end, unaware of Saul’s true identity, Bill used a dim, hair-thin white script to express his gratitude.

[It’s been so long since I’ve thrown myself into research like this. Maybe… ever since I advanced to a Third Rank apprentice, I accidentally lost sight of my original purpose… I… will never be able to surpass my brother… Even if I willingly let others use me for it…]

With that final line, the black page disintegrated into dust, vanishing into the air.

Saul knew Bill had a brother named Billy.

Ferguson, the man who had once tried to use a stolen candle to threaten Saul, had mentioned him before.

But Billy had never personally shown up to cause Saul any trouble—as if he didn’t even have a younger brother.

Cold, but that also meant one less problem for Saul.

Yet now, seeing Bill mention his brother in his final moments, Saul felt a twinge of mixed emotion.

In this world of wizards, reason always triumphed over sentiment. Even blood ties were just another form of currency to be traded.

Saul had blood on his hands, too, but he believed he still had some humanity left.

If not for the warm memories of his past life propping him up, it was the friendships he’d made here that kept him from despair.

Bookish Keli, the upright Byron… and maybe more in the future.

Saul pushed his tangled thoughts aside and turned to the sleepy-eyed butler. “The antidote is ready. Now we need to lure Ralph here. Do you have any suggestions?”

“You can use me as bait,” Hunter replied without hesitation. “Stored in my mind is a vial of potion Victor secretly gave my master for his research. Since losing himself, my master has become obsessed with its scent. As long as you open the basement door, I’ll crush the vial. If the master is still in the castle, he’ll come straight for it.”

“So the ‘holy oil’ Victor gave me was actually the same potion that twisted Ralph?” Saul thought.

“Alright, I—”

He paused mid-sentence.

Because just then, the diary reappeared—with a death warning.

In the diary’s version, Saul did exactly what he planned: lured Ralph in, and while the creature was distracted by Hunter, splashed the antidote on him.

Ralph’s outer skin did begin dissolving rapidly, but even in his dying throes, he had the strength to kill Saul.

The result: mutual destruction.

“The potion takes too long to kill!”

After several attempts to find a way to buy enough time, Saul finally understood.

The long-acting nature of the antidote was that something Hunter didn’t know, or something he chose not to tell him?

This butler, Hunter, probably never intended for Saul to leave the castle alive in the first place.

All those little bits of wool sheared from Saul—it was all to make him willingly serve.

If not for the diary’s warning, Saul might have still been basking in the satisfaction of unearthing the Bloodthorn Family’s darkest secret.

Still, he didn’t show any sign of suspicion on his face. Instead, he followed the original plan and began drawing a magic formation on the floor.

The formation wasn’t complicated; any wandering First Rank apprentice could manage it. For Saul, it was no problem at all.

“Done.” Saul turned and carried Hunter’s head out from its compartment, placing it at the center of the formation.

“What’s this?” Hunter asked, staring blankly at the array on the ground.

“A binding formation. It’ll trap you and Ralph together,” Saul said casually.

Hunter, after all, was no wizard; at best, he was a sentient prop. Despite all he had seen, he still lacked access to the core knowledge.

He lowered his heavy eyelids, lost in thought.

After setting down the head, Saul stepped outside the formation.

“Little Algae,” he whispered, “Can you get this potion into that big worm’s mouth?”

A black tentacle slithered out, its tip splitting open as a long black tongue coiled around the vial in Saul’s hand, tucking it safely away.

Saul still trusted Little Algae quite a bit.

This little creature had chosen to parasitize him of its own accord and had performed reliably ever since.

Of course, it is also because the diary did not deny Little Algae’s loyalty.

But even if the diary hadn’t deny Little Algae’s loyalty, it did deny Saul’s current plan.

—

May 20th, Year 316 of the Lunar Calendar.

You have a good partner.

It can help you carry out many dangerous missions.

But even if you plan to destroy your enemy from within,

You still underestimate its resilience.

It’s all subdermal tissue—

Even its ass can turn into a face.

Who’s softer than whom?

You still got eaten.

Your body, sealed in melted grease, was waxed and preserved.

Maybe one day,

You’ll be displayed in someone’s collection—

A warning to future generations.

—

“Even attacking from within doesn’t work? So the real solution is to buy enough time.” Saul mulled it over.

“Hunter, are there any other exits in this lab?”

“None, sir… This was the master’s most important and secret place… To enhance protection…”

Hunter didn’t finish the sentence, but Saul understood.

Fewer exits meant better defense.

“Then I’ll have to throw the antidote and escape the basement immediately. The diary confirmed that I could use the seals to trap Ralph inside. If he hasn’t died by the time the gate fails, I’ll abandon the vengeful spirit capture and escape early.”

Saul made up his mind. When he looked back at the diary again, it gave silent approval.

A grin crept onto Saul’s lips.

But at that moment, the butler—who’d been watching Saul the whole time—suddenly opened his mouth, revealing a small transparent vial between his teeth.

Saul immediately noticed. “That’s the ‘holy oil’?”

“Yes, sir. I… don’t have much time left…”

Saul took a deep breath, his chest rising. “I understand. When I reach the door, bite down on that vial.”

Hunter blinked once in acknowledgment.

Saul quickly climbed the stairway made of dismembered girl arms and opened the door, then jumped, hand-in-hand with a girl, into a blind spot just beneath the basement entrance.

At nearly the same time, Hunter bit down on the vial, and the heavy door above Saul popped open, exposing the narrow one-meter-wide passage.

Saul didn’t smell anything, but he heard it.

Skin dragging across the ground—a slick, sliding scrape.

“Ralph’s coming,” Saul held his breath. “No other footsteps… Victor’s probably gone… hopefully dead!”

Quick—so quick!

Through the gaps between the arms overhead, Saul saw a swollen, pale white face appear at the entrance.

The face was wider than the opening, squishing into the square tunnel like a bloated meat pouch.

It sniffed twice, then began forcing its way downward, heedless of its bulk.

“Squelch, squelch, squelch…”

The frictional sound was maddening—Saul regretted healing his ears so early.

Under the worm face’s relentless wriggling, the passage became a pasta press.

A rectangular strip of flesh squeezed down, flopping onto the stairway, then rolled off one wall-less side due to its girth.

Ralph, drawn by the scent, didn’t notice Saul hiding on the stairs. He surged straight toward Hunter’s head.

With a thud, he hit the floor, and with a single sniff, sucked Hunter’s head into his body.

Saul saw that Hunter wasn’t afraid at all—he looked upon his former master with sorrow and relief.

But just before he was swallowed whole, Hunter looked at Saul—and revealed a long-hidden malice in his eyes.

Saul tensed. Little Algae lunged.

Black tendrils darted toward the grotesque mass on the ground, but the human-faced worm seemed to sense it.

From the white fat, countless human arms suddenly sprouted.

Long and short, dark and pale, slender and muscular—

They were the arms of those devoured over time.

The arms flailed, groping at the air, trying to catch the approaching black tentacle.

For now, Little Algae, still holding the antidote, couldn’t get close.

(End of Chapter)

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