Chapter 342: Scared Half to Death by a Fellow

The Flight spell was a Second Rank magic Saul had learned in between his research on vessels.

It was a highly practical auxiliary spell that almost every apprentice who advanced to the Third Rank would inevitably learn.

Among all the Third Rank apprentices Saul knew, nearly all of them had mastered it—except for Senior Byron, whose method of floating was… uniquely bizarre.

Saul’s figure stayed steadily half a meter above the sea’s surface, gliding forward at speed.

However, since he hadn’t fully mastered the spell, his flight path was mostly limited to straight lines.

He flew far from shore, venturing into deeper waters.

A thin fog had settled over the sea.

The line between the night sky and the ocean had blurred entirely, making it feel as though Saul were gliding toward an infinite, bottomless black hole.

The sound of waves lapping against the shore faded as he distanced himself, until the whole world seemed to fall into silence.

North, south, east, west—up, down, left, right—it was as if he were the only one left in existence.

Were it not for the occasional Nightmare Butterfly flitting past his vision, Saul might have genuinely believed he was the last person alive in the world.

But now, there was no such illusion.

Because the silver butterfly was still as chatty as ever!

“Brother Saul, Brother Saul, there aren’t many fish here!”

With no one else around, Penny’s talkative nature became even more pronounced.

Thankfully, her voice was sweet and pleasant—soft and cuddly like a little girl’s, not grating at all.

“Brother Saul, if a soul tide appears later, are you going to inject the energy of the soul fragments directly into Herman’s soul? He’s going to go crazy.”

“Not directly,” Saul replied. Of course, he’d filter the energy through the diary first—but there was no need to explain those details to Penny.

He had already ventured far from the coastline. The figures on the shore were just vague specks now.

“This should be the place where the soul tide first appears.”

Fish drowning, the dead washing ashore.

Saul looked down. Black tendrils emerged again, trailing from his robe into the sea and gently stirring the water.

A few minutes later, he retracted the tendrils and flicked the water off his hand.

“The concentration of soul fragments isn’t rising—it’s dropping. With the current conditions, there’s no way a large-scale wraith field could form.”

He glanced overhead. The clouds seemed close enough to press down on him. The sea wind blew so hard he couldn’t even keep his hood up.

“Still, all the signs resemble the conditions where a soul tide is rumored to occur… So why is the concentration of fragments decreasing?”

As Saul puzzled over it, he suddenly felt something rising from below the water’s surface.

A vast wave of magical energy swept over him.

He immediately retreated fifty meters and activated Soul Armor.

His eyes locked onto the sea below, trying to identify the source of the threat.

“Is this the vanguard of the soul tide?”

Then he vaguely saw something—a massive, spherical object slowly floating upward. Its pace was sluggish, inching toward the surface.

Since it wasn’t attacking, Saul didn’t move either.

The sky was dark, and he could only make out a vague outline—about the height of a person, with four tentacle-like limbs, thin and short compared to its bulbous center.

A dark glow gathered in Saul’s palm, ready to launch.

Then the strange sphere finally surfaced, revealing its grotesquely stretched features.

Saul: “…”

The ball slowly rotated, twisted, purple-blue facial features turning toward him.

“…Huh?”

The dark glow in Saul’s palm dissipated. He rubbed his nose and sighed deeply.

“Senior, could you please not make yourself look like a monster?”

The massive sphere began to shrink, gradually transforming from a ball into a person.

The purple-blue discoloration faded from the skin, revealing a pale face underneath.

Byron sat on the choppy sea, raised a hand, and waved. “Mm!”

He couldn’t talk again. No doubt it was because he’d absorbed more wraiths. In order to prevent his body from bursting under the pressure, he had to remain silent for long periods.

At the same time, he had to be careful not to get injured. Though Byron’s skin had strong regenerative abilities, minor wounds weren’t a concern.

Five minutes later, with Little Algae supporting Byron, the two of them landed on a massive reef far from the coast.

The reef had a hollowed-out depression—clearly man-made, and freshly carved within the past few days.

“You’ve been here for a while already, haven’t you, Senior?”

Byron nodded. The moisture on his skin evaporated instantly. He then raised a hand and gestured “5.”

“Right, of course you’d come here to hunt wraiths. When you dove underwater just now, did you sense something unusual?”

Byron gestured with his hands in a flurry.

Saul studied his movements for a while. Thanks to years of working together, he could just about guess the meaning.

“You’re saying it’s been like this for five straight days, but still no actual soul tide. You think something’s wrong below the surface, so you tried diving down?”

Penny, “Um… Brother Saul, how did you even interpret all that?”

Saul casually waved near his ear, like swatting a fly.

“Did you discover anything, Senior?”

Byron nodded. He’d indeed found something these past few days.

He began sketching shapes in the air.

“A ship?” Saul deciphered, suddenly recalling Parker’s invitation to join a team. “A ghost ship?”

But Byron shook his head.

Saul turned to the ink-dark sea, his gaze slowly shifting below the waves.

“…A sunken ship?”

“Mm.”

Byron first pointed at Saul, then gestured beneath the surface. Saul understood—he was being asked to dive down and take a look himself.

“Alright. I’ll go check it out. You stay here and keep watch for me.”

He removed the cloak that might hinder his movement underwater, revealing a linen shirt and black pants underneath.

“By the way, Senior, there are two rogue apprentices on the shore. One Third Rank, one Second Rank. Be cautious.”

That was Saul’s way of acknowledging that the two apprentices weren’t weak.

Byron nodded. His body shrank down and tucked into the newly dug hole, then pulled Saul’s black cloak over himself—becoming one with the reef.

In the next instant, Byron concealed his magical presence completely. Saul lost all mental perception of him.

“Senior Byron’s strength really has improved. Looks like his gamble to house a wraith within himself is paying off.”

Without further delay, Saul dove into the water headfirst.

The moment he submerged, he activated Soul Armor. Black tendrils shot from the back of his neck, slicing through the water.

Though Little Algae was an earth-element creature, its origin from a swamp made it equally nimble in water.

Saul felt like he was being pushed forward, hardly needing to exert any effort.

All he had to do was steer from the front.

Every now and then, a flash of silver darted past—Nightmare Butterfly’s curious little shadow.

There hadn’t been much light above the sea to begin with, and the deeper he went, the darker it became.

The water pressure began affecting Soul Armor. His magic consumption was increasing.

Saul gauged how much longer he could stay submerged, then accelerated slightly, diving along the same path Byron had risen from.

When all traces of light vanished from view, Saul prepared to spend extra magic to cast a few more Light spells.

But just then, a few faint white glimmers appeared before him.

The lights grew in number, like fireflies hiding in the bushes at night—startled by a sudden disturbance, they scattered all at once.

The abyss before his eyes transformed into a galaxy.

“So beautiful…”

His first reaction was awe. Then came astonishment.

“This is…? These are all… soul fragments?”

(End of Chapter)

If you find any errors ( Ads popup, ads redirect, broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.