Chapter 404 : Escape and Trap

At last, he had found him.

The tension in Saul’s heart finally loosened.

“I realized something had happened to you, but I didn’t find any signs of your soul body splitting apart and dissipating, so I guessed you might still be alive.”

The ribbonfish swam around the little coal-ball-like figure, thinking about how to take him away.

“Senior, how did you get in here? And who attacked you?”

Byron’s cracked mouth wasted no time spitting out the truth to Saul, “It was Lady Yura! Also, you didn’t take the gray potion, did you?”

“Yura, huh… I saw the words you left on the pen shaft. So although I prepared the potion, I didn’t drink it.”

However, the diary hadn’t issued any warnings about taking the potion, and Saul suspected that even if the gray potion had a problem, it was probably targeted at the target, and other people might not have problems taking it.

“That’s great.”

Byron let out a breath of relief and quickly recounted his experience.

“You more or less know about my locator. It’s very flexible, it can stretch and shrink.”

Saul nodded secretly.

He had never seen such a flexible locator before. When it expanded, it could turn a person into a ball, and when it contracted, it looked like a human skin hanging in the air.

Human skin?

Suddenly, Saul realized how Byron had escaped with his life.

That “skin” must have served to confuse the enemy.

After all, it was just the locator—not Byron’s real skin!

In other words, Senior Byron had pulled off a golden cicada shedding its shell right under the nose of Lady Yura, a former Second Rank Wizard?

Sure enough, what Byron said next matched Saul’s speculation almost exactly, “But my locator has one other very special ability—faking death to escape. When I’m subjected to a fatal attack, the locator will send me into a nearby crevice while displaying a dead state to delay the enemy from discovering I’m still alive.”

“Seeing your current state, I had already guessed some of it,” Saul said, “I’ll take you out of here now. This place is dangerous. We can’t stay long.”

Although Byron had been hiding here for several days, it didn’t mean the interlayer was a safe place.

Those eyes could turn hostile at any time.

“I’m afraid that won’t work.” Byron gave a bitter smile, “My skin is gone. The new skin hasn’t grown yet. If I leave now, I won’t have any ability to resist the outside pollution.”

“No wonder you’ve been hiding here instead of coming out to find me.” The ribbonfish swam anxiously.

But they couldn’t just keep waiting either—trusting their lives to a bunch of eyes that could go mad at any moment wasn’t Saul’s style.

He circled Byron again, not responding to the suggestion that he leave immediately—obviously, Byron himself knew staying here wasn’t safe, but he had no choice.

“Right, I have a piece of magic equipment!” Saul’s mind flashed.

Though Byron’s current body seemed a few sizes too big for it, Saul believed that both Byron’s body and the equipment had excellent flexibility.

“What is it?”

“Not good to mention it here. Just follow me.”

“Alright.” Byron agreed without hesitation this time.

At first, Saul worried about how to carry him, but it turned out that although Senior Byron looked miserable, he could still move on his own.

If he were lucky enough to stay here for another two or three years and grow a new “skin,” he might even walk out by himself.

But who knew what could happen in two or three years?

The two began to move slowly.

Though a bit worried about the surrounding eyes, they couldn’t afford to make too much noise.

Saul had left a mental mark where he entered the interlayer, and now they were cautiously moving toward that marker.

However, as soon as they started moving, the surrounding eyes began to glance over from time to time.

Often, after seeing a ribbonfish and a lump of black charcoal, the eyes would lose interest and droop their lids.

But there were always one or two eyes that, for some reason, kept staring.

As they progressed, the number of eyes paying attention to them gradually increased.

Saul could almost feel himself smelling more and more delicious.

If he had a real body, he probably would have swallowed twice by now.

“Is it because the two of us moving together makes too much commotion?”

Saul kept a close watch on the eyes around them.

Byron, at Saul’s side, remained just as vigilant.

He didn’t open his mouth to warn Saul—first because he trusted Saul’s alertness, second because speaking would release more of his magic power.

When the two of them had stayed still earlier, things were fine, but now that they were moving, they drew far more “eye” attention.

The less magic power exposed, the better.

Even so, the number of eyes staring at them kept growing.

After about ten minutes of creeping along, nearly all of the surrounding eyes were now staring at them.

The feeling of those gazes on their bodies was like someone jabbing their skin repeatedly with tiny nails.

It wasn’t painful, but it was uncomfortable—enough to make someone irritable and on edge, ready to scream at any moment.

Saul could sense Byron was also getting uncomfortable.

The amount of magic energy leaking from Byron had doubled, and waves of restless emotional fluctuations were leaking out.

That unease was also affecting Saul, making him increasingly irritable, and he felt an overwhelming urge to lash out at those eyes!

“Something’s wrong! They’re not just watching us—they’re waiting!”

Saul suddenly realized.

So many eyes had turned to look at them.

It couldn’t be that they simply hadn’t noticed the two of them—yet they weren’t attacking.

Instead, they were just staring, waiting for Saul and Byron to crack under the pressure.

“What are they waiting for? Are they waiting for all the eyes to focus on us before they act? Or…”

“Or are they waiting for us to lose control and attack first?”

Saul recalled how his soul body had gone berserk after being dragged into the candle passage.

If he hadn’t been immediately thrown out by the mouths, who knew what would have happened?

Back then, his magic power had been very weak, making him vulnerable to influence.

Now that his magic power had surpassed that of an average First Rank Wizard, he was less susceptible, but the irritation still clung to him like a shadow, and he could hear the sound of blood rushing in his body.

But he was a soul body right now—how could there be blood?

Saul controlled the ribbonfish to suddenly turn around and used its head to press against Byron’s body.

Carefully, he sent a message through the smallest pulse only the two of them could sense, “Senior, don’t move. I’ll push you along.”

Byron struggled slightly but soon managed to calm his increasingly agitated mind.

He didn’t speak, just gave a hard nod.

“Senior Byron really is on the verge of breaking out!” Saul’s heart pounded,“The diary didn’t issue a warning because if Senior Byron breaks out, I can escape, but he can’t!”

It was likely that these eyes hadn’t attacked Byron earlier not because they hadn’t discovered him, but because they were waiting for him to fully mature.

After all, immature fruit often tastes bitter.

Realizing this, Saul immediately sped up, trying to minimize Byron’s burden.

As long as Byron stayed still and focused on controlling his mind, they could endure until they escaped.

But Saul’s actions also exposed the fact that he had realized the eyes’ trap.

The eyes immediately widened, and the feeling of being watched almost became tangible, pressing down on Saul and Byron like a heavy weight!

Since the situation was blown anyway, Saul stopped pretending.

He directly activated a “Soul Armor” with his magic power, instantly relieving much of the oppressive sensation on them!

At the same time, Byron also clearly felt a huge relief from the mental pressure thanks to the “Soul Armor” built by Saul’s magic power.

Not only that, Saul began swimming forward at full speed.

Without the crushing gaze bearing down on him, he moved even faster.

However, casting a magic spell with magic power was like setting off fireworks.

The commotion immediately drew the attention of all the eyes around them.

Saul could feel his magic power draining at a much faster rate.

Thankfully, he had enough reserves.

What was originally a ten-minute trip was compressed into five minutes, and the marker Saul had left behind was now right in front of them.

The eyes obviously realized the two were about to escape.

Several of them blinked, and suddenly shot out beams of black light from their pupils!

The exit was almost within reach, but other eyes were beginning to blink as well.

Saul had no choice but to lower his head and charge forward, while pushing even more magic power into his Soul Armor.

“Boom—!”

A few beams of black light struck the Soul Armor.

The magic spell only lasted three or five seconds before shattering with a roar!

But luckily, at that moment, Saul wrapped himself around the coal-ball Byron and hurled them both through the marked exit!

(End of Chapter)

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