Chapter 475: The Invisible One

The reason Saul was lying so comfortably was because he was about to enter the dream as well.

As for what Shaya, across from him, might think—Saul couldn’t care less.

The moment Shaya, who had gone without natural sleep for a long time, closed his eyes, he quickly sank into slumber.

Saul followed suit and shut his eyes.

Penny landed gently on Saul’s head, and then a pair of silver, metallic, hollow wings suddenly unfurled from behind his back.

With a light tremor of the wings, Saul’s consciousness seemed to traverse through thousands of worlds. When he opened his eyes again, he saw pitch-black darkness before him.

He had been inside many people’s dreams before—even the dreams of monsters—most were bizarre and fantastical, amalgamations of thoughts and desire.

But this dream was utterly dark, no objects around, no boundaries in sight.

As if the dream’s master desired nothing and wanted nothing.

“This isn’t it.” Saul withdrew his gaze, not bothering to explore further.

The metallic wings behind him gave a sudden jolt, and the scenery around him changed completely.

This time, Saul arrived in a dim, narrow room, surrounded front and back by a bustling crowd.

They were packed tightly together, pushing and shoving their way forward.

The end of the room was far, far away, where a tiny point of light seemed to mark an exit toward brightness.

Dreams often defy logic, but no one’s dreams appear without cause or reason.

Within the long-flowing crowd, Saul found Shaya—his face full of terror. He was clearly resisting, but the people pressed too tightly for him to move his limbs. He could only inch forward with the crowd.

All of the humanoid shapes were headed toward the distant point of light, but only Shaya seemed to have sensed something—he alone wanted to stop, even turn back against the current.

The entire room was empty. Aside from the walls, there were no decorations, no places to hide. The only possible place something could lurk was within the crowd itself.

Saul closely observed the blurry, faceless figures near Shaya.

In the dark room, even the outlines of the figures were indistinct. They didn’t seem to have their own will, only marching endlessly toward the far-off light.

Shaya was like a fallen leaf in a flood. Though he wouldn’t sink, he could only be carried helplessly by the current.

Yet Saul searched the entire crowd and found nothing threatening. So where was the supposed wraith of this dream?

Could it be that there was no wraith at all—just the delusions of a paranoid man?

Though Saul felt nothing, Shaya seemed more and more terrified.

Saul could hear his breathing grow heavy—he was struggling to escape the dream.

The dream itself was growing unstable. The straight walls turned to waves, and the figures pushing Shaya began to change. They no longer looked human, but rather monstrous in ways that defied description.

“There’s nothing special about the room—it’s likely shaped from Shaya’s own cognition. Those figures are strange, but aside from looking scary, they haven’t harmed his soul body.”

“Could a First Rank wizard really go two years without sleep just because of a nightmare?”

The dream grew increasingly chaotic, clearly on the verge of collapse.

“If he wakes up just like this, then the trip was a waste. And if Shaya’s frightened again in his dream, he might refuse to sleep ever again.”

“Maybe I should just do as he wishes—kill him and steal the Evolution Diagram.” Saul chuckled to himself at the thought.

“

Heh.” Perhaps emotions are amplified in dreams—Saul heard himself laugh out loud.

“

Heh.”

“Heh.” Perhaps emotions are amplified in dreams—Saul heard himself laugh out loud.

“Heh.”

Perhaps…

Saul suddenly lunged forward—he had just realized that he nearly repeated the same motion, the same thought three times.

“This dream really is off. Even if there’s no wraith, something is definitely hiding in here.” Though the dream was collapsing, Saul continued to move. He wasn’t just trying to find the hidden horror, but also avoid falling into a loop without noticing.

He moved above Shaya and tried calling out to him, “Shaya!”

But the latter kept struggling, seeing Saul right in front of him—yet not reacting.

“He’s not ignoring me—he can’t see me at all!” Saul confirmed it.

He realized that Shaya couldn’t perceive him, even when he was mere inches away.

Which meant… he might also be unable to see other things just as close.

Saul closed his eyes, and upon opening them, his entire body changed dramatically.

His muscles morphed like clay, squeezed and reshaped by invisible hands. In just a few breaths, he transformed from a 15-year-old boy into a man in his early 30s.

In this state, Saul’s soul form vibrated at an extremely high frequency.

His body and soul both undergoing drastic changes—he became a different person entirely.

When he opened his eyes, he saw arms draped over his shoulders.

The arms were thin and pale, like those of a sickly patient, hanging limply.

At the same time, he felt a cold breath against his ear—like it slipped into his brain through the ear canal.

Saul slowly turned his gaze to the right.

A pale-faced man had rested his head askew on Saul’s right shoulder.

The corners of the man’s mouth were pulled up in a grin that nearly reached his eyes.

Only then did Saul realize—there had been someone clinging to his back the whole time.

And this person looked exactly like the 15-year-old version of Saul.

A chill crept into Saul’s heart, though he also found it a little funny.

While he had been watching Shaya struggle among the human figures, he himself had long been entangled by another “human figure.”

And the reason he hadn’t noticed was because this “Saul” had synchronized with him.

He had mistaken this other “Saul” as part of himself.

Saul abruptly reached up, grabbing the familiar face by the cheek and trying to pull the person around to the front.

But as soon as he exerted force, the face exploded with a pop—red blood and white pulp splattering across Saul’s body and face.

But it didn’t end there. Suddenly sensing something, Saul looked down—he saw faces emerging between his arms, through his fingers, beside his waist, between his thighs, behind his ankles…

All of them bore his face.

They smiled, mouths stretching nearly to their eyes.

Saul remained still, head bowed, as though stunned by the sudden appearance of all these “selves.”

The faces stared closely at every visible surface. The skin twitched lightly. As time passed, they began to look more and more like Saul’s current form.

“They’re mimicking me.”

Saul suddenly grinned—he grinned happily, mouth nearly splitting to his eyes.

“Then let’s see if you can mimic this.”

His body suddenly softened—like steel melting into molten metal. Once he lost his solid form, his body began to reshape. Horrific tentacles, lined with sucker mouths full of sharp teeth, sprouted from the shifting liquid form.

The faces clinging to him panicked in an instant, losing their target. They hesitated, unsure whether to transform into Saul’s current shape.

But Saul gave them no chance. He wielded the tentacles to ensnare each parasitic face, letting the mouths under the suckers feast freely.

The sound of chewing rubber echoed in his ears.

In the next second, the entire dreamscape collapsed.

Saul opened his eyes and saw Shaya scrambling to sit up as fast as he could.

He stared at Saul with eyes full of both surprise and joy.

“You actually did it… in one try? I felt it—the wraith hiding in my dreams suddenly vanished!”

(End of chapter)

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