Chapter 408 : Invasion and Devouring

At present, Haywood only had the strength of a First Rank apprentice. Saul could easily deal with him if he wanted to.

But in the end, Saul chose not to take that route.

He suddenly wanted to keep Haywood alive.

This Haywood possessed a remarkably clear consciousness and the ability to respond intelligently—something that a simple illusion couldn’t achieve.

Saul wanted to find out exactly what power had constructed this Haywood within the illusion.

Having made up his mind, he began searching through the room.

At first, Haywood merely kept staring at his three candles.

After a while, as the commotion around him grew louder, he couldn’t help but glance over.

That single glance made him turn his entire head.

“What are you doing? Didn’t I tell you we need to stay quiet at night?”

But Saul had already started drawing a circle on the floor, using materials scavenged from the pile of junk.

While working, he casually answered Haywood’s question.

“I’m drawing a magic formation.”

Haywood had initially been a little angry, but when he saw the formation Saul was drawing, he hesitated and walked over.

Although his strength was now lacking, his knowledge remained intact. He immediately recognized that Saul’s formation was no ordinary thing.

“Is this a defensive formation?” His eyes lit up. Perhaps Saul could offer another way to resist the pollution lurking in the darkness.

“More or less,” Saul replied as he continued selecting materials from his hand, answering offhandedly.

After all, he wasn’t lying. The best defense… was an offense!

Haywood grew even more interested.

Though he no longer had the power to activate a formation like the one Saul was carving, he suddenly realized something he had completely overlooked—he could have Saul activate it!

“It seems that a hundred years have really dulled my mind,” he thought, feeling excitement he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Haywood clenched his withered hands and leaned closer. “Is there anything I can help with?”

Just as Saul happened to pause, he smiled and said, “Of course. There’s plenty of material here, but most of it lacks energy. I need something like a magic crystal to supply magic. Are there any left?”

Haywood’s face immediately fell. “The magic crystals were exhausted long ago.”

Saul had expected that possibility, so he wasn’t too disappointed.

After completing the last rune, he stood by the magic formation, thinking.

“This place is a special environment, likely constructed of mental force. Without sufficient magic, can I activate the formation using just mental force?”

It seemed worth a try, so Saul immediately stepped into the formation and attempted to activate it.

However, the formation remained inert.

Saul raised his eyebrows. “So magic really is indispensable?”

He couldn’t help but press his hand to his forehead. “As expected, this world has a hidden logic beneath it all. If it weren’t for the diary I saw, I might have once again believed this world to be real.”

With that sigh, Saul still needed to find a suitable source of magic.

His gaze involuntarily shifted to the candles behind Haywood. “Would those work? But how should I persuade Haywood to let me use them?”

Saul carefully phrased his words. “Haywood, I need a sufficiently strong magic medium—”

“Sure,” Haywood interrupted before Saul could finish.

Could it be that he had many more candles?

Saul was just about to ask when, to his shock, he saw Haywood tear off his own right arm!

His eyes widened instantly.

“This magic formation of yours is very powerful. If used correctly, it might just carry us beyond the cursed range of the Wizard Tower!” Haywood’s murky eyes seemed to clear somewhat. As he offered the bloody arm, he kept a wary eye on the gap under the door. “But be careful. Before the formation is complete, don’t let the magic fluctuations get too large. Otherwise, we’ll attract them, and then we’re in real trouble.”

Saul accepted Haywood’s arm with a sigh.

Such material—he had indeed used it often in the past. The only difference was, back then, he always took it from corpses.

This was the first time he had received something still warm.

According to the logic of this world, although the aged Haywood no longer had much mental force, his body still retained the strength of a peak Third Rank apprentice. Coupled with his physical enhancements, the magic stored within his flesh was immense.

If materials were graded, this arm would definitely belong in the second warehouse!

Without much hesitation, Saul immediately processed the arm to guide the magic, then placed it at the energy source node of the magic formation.

He had drawn this formation countless times before; there was no need to double-check.

Haywood, meanwhile, stood cautiously at the edge of the formation, carefully studying the runes and structure. Before he could fully comprehend it, Saul stepped into the center of the formation.

“Is he really going to activate the magic formation now?” Haywood shuddered in fright and almost tried to stop him, but he saw that the magic within the formation was already beginning to flow.

Noticing the obvious magic activity, Haywood immediately looked toward the door gap.

Sure enough, the world outside disappeared once more, swallowed by darkness.

It was already too late to stop!

Resigned, Haywood grabbed a candle from the ground with his only remaining hand and placed himself between Saul and the door gap.

He was actually preparing to buy time for Saul.

When Saul confirmed that the formation had been successfully activated, he looked up—only to see Haywood standing protectively in front of him.

This was truly beyond his expectations.

He had thought Haywood would hide in the corner of the room, clutching a few candles as before.

But after observing the formation Saul had drawn, Haywood had quickly made his judgment, and chosen to take the risk together!

“This Haywood…” Saul narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

Then, he suddenly spoke, “Haywood, come here too. Stand on my left side.”

Joy flashed across Haywood’s heart, though he kept a straight face as he hurriedly moved beside Saul, still holding the candle.

Saul focused on the increasingly blackened door gap, simultaneously circulating his magic and mental force.

“There’s no Penny to stabilize my emotions this time… never mind. My mental force has grown stronger again; let’s see if I can control my emotions on my own!”

The formation Saul had constructed this time was the mental realm.

He intended to counter consciousness with consciousness!

As the magic flowed, Saul’s entire skin began to turn semi-transparent, and soon a layer of white frost formed across his body.

Immediately, he felt a bone-chilling cold, as if even his blood was about to freeze.

It was Saul’s first attempt at altering the “temperature” of his soul body; before this, he had only ever changed its “shape.”

And the extreme cold numbed his brain.

His muscles shivered uncontrollably, but his gaze grew increasingly calm.

Even as the door outside was completely swallowed by darkness, there was no ripple in his eyes.

At last, he closed his eyes, and darkness and night descended together…

When he opened his eyes again, Saul found himself standing on a vast, circular stone platform suspended within unknown darkness.

He stood at the center of the platform, with the enormous diary floating overhead.

Around them, countless stars flickered within the darkness.

“A pure soul body can also enter the mental realm,” Saul thought without expression.

Although his attempt had succeeded, the frozen state of his emotions left him feeling no joy—he immediately entered analysis mode.

“In that case, if those entities trying to interfere with my mind still intend to strike, they should appear here.”

His gaze swept over the platform and the diary above, finally landing on the distant starry darkness.

Although the surroundings of Saul’s mental realm were originally enveloped in blackness, he now noticed that the darkness had become even thicker.

As if someone had poured a thickening agent into water.

Moreover, that darkness had begun to erode the stars, as if trying to turn the entire space pitch black.

Soon, the stars started blinking—twinkling on and off—as if resisting the invasion of darkness.

“I’ve never tried controlling those stars before. I wonder whether the diary protects only me on this platform… or if it protects the stars too?”

As Saul pondered, he suddenly noticed that the blinking of the stars sped up—almost as if someone were rapidly blinking their eyes.

“Blinking? Eyes?” For some reason, Saul suddenly felt that these stars resembled the eyes seen in the interlayer.

After the stars’ rapid blinking, the previously thickened darkness gradually returned to the clear vastness of the night sky.

But the darkness was not willing to give up. Soon, it surged forth again, polluting the night sky even more fiercely, targeting the stars, seemingly wanting to devour them first.

However, this time, the stars—which had been blinking—suddenly burst forth with an incredibly brilliant radiance.

Even Saul, observing from the center, was temporarily blinded.

A few seconds later, when his sight recovered, he saw…

He saw the stars had turned the tables and were now devouring the invading darkness.

The invaders finally realized they had run into real trouble, but it was already too late to flee.

The sticky darkness was not merely repelled—it was trapped, forever unable to leave.

The darkness was drawn bit by bit into the stars, making them shine even brighter.

And throughout the entire process, the diary had not needed to act!

When all the invaders had been absorbed, the mental realm once again returned to its usual tranquility.

But Saul knew—his mental realm had likely absorbed something very frightening!

(End of Chapter)

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