Chapter 107 – You Struck First

Penny couldn’t see anything, but the moment those gray girls emerged from Shelly’s wounds, she immediately covered her ears and started screaming.

The magic array beneath their feet was suddenly activated, and countless thick gray mists surged upward, twisting into countless arms that reached for Saul and Penny.

Shelly continued cutting wounds into his body. With each deep gash, a ghostly gray girl floated out from the bleeding wound.

“You’re a wizard apprentice. Your vengeful spirit must be stronger than ordinary people’s.” Shelly’s mouth was open, saliva dripping from the corners.

“You’ve lost your mind,” Saul gritted his teeth. “I was going to let you live so you could keep cultivating Grinding Sound Fruits, but now, it looks like killing you won’t even get me in trouble with Mentor Rum.”

Shelly’s bloodshot eyes locked onto Saul. The moment he decided to attack Saul, he had already abandoned all reason.

“The Wizard Tower has never protected us!” At this moment, Shelly’s body was covered with the floating ghostly girls. As he trembled in rage, the balloon-like wraiths jostled and rubbed against each other around him.

Saul tried to channel his magic, only to find that the rising gray mist was creeping up his legs. The elemental particles in the air felt sluggish, like senile old men who had lost their minds, refusing to obey his command.

Seeing Saul fail to cast a spell, Shelly threw his head back and laughed. “See? Even without your Wizard Tower’s aid, I got what I needed elsewhere! Now that the ritual has begun, I am the sole ruler here! You are just lambs waiting for slaughter!”

The gray mist at Saul’s feet thickened, lifting Shelly into the air while continuing to try and siphon Saul’s magic.

“This was originally meant for Uni,” Shelly bent forward, looking down at Saul and Penny, “but a Wizard Tower apprentice should be even more useful.”

“Become my nourishment!!!” Shelly roared. “Once you’re dead, I’ll leave this place. What can the Wizard Tower possibly do to me?”

He waved his hand fiercely.

The mist surged violently, crawling up Saul’s legs, trying to swallow him whole!

But…

After all that effort, the mist could only climb up to Saul’s knees. No matter how it struggled, it couldn’t go any higher.

It was as if something was holding it back.

“What?! Why isn’t it working?!” Shelly was stunned, frantically swiping away the ghostly girls clinging to him as he stared in disbelief at the ground.

To his horror, he realized that he was descending.

Even worse, the thick gray mist within the ritual was starting to dissipate.

“What did you do?!” Shelly finally realized something was wrong and glared at Saul with bloodshot eyes.

Saul spread his hands. “What do you think? Why do you think I was kind enough to explain things to you?”

While Shelly was distracted by his obsession with advancing, Saul had channeled his magic into his feet, discreetly erasing the most crucial parts of the ritual’s magic circle.

Now, the entire formation was like a leaking wooden bucket. No matter how much energy Shelly poured in, he would never be able to fill it.

When standing on enemy territory, it’s best to sabotage their trump card first.

“You… you…” Shelly’s chest heaved violently.

With each breath, more gray mist from within his body was absorbed by the ghostly girls.

As a result, the girls grew more bloated while Shelly’s body became thinner and frailer.

His stiff eyes darted slightly—he finally realized.

“You did it on purpose… You deliberately provoked me, waiting for me to attack you first!”

Saul chuckled. “Just a precaution.”

But in truth, it wasn’t just a precaution—he had planned for this outcome from the start.

Shelly had been refining vengeful spirit and making deals with the barbarians, but as long as he continued paying his tribute of Grinding Sound Fruits, the Wizard Tower wouldn’t have cared about his crimes.

Even if Saul had come here as the Wizard Tower’s representative to reprimand Shelly, the most he could have done was what Nick had warned—take a bribe and turn a blind eye.

And the moment Saul left, everything would return to normal.

Because the Wizard Tower didn’t care about the girls Shelly had harmed.

Nor did they care that he had been secretly dealing with the barbarians.

If Saul saved Penny today, after he left, Penny and Ada would only meet a more miserable fate.

But now? Now things were different.

Now, he didn’t have to think about how to explain anything to Mentor Rum.

Because now, it was self-defense.

“Attacking an envoy of the Wizard Tower,” Saul raised both hands toward Shelly, “are you ready to pay for that with your life?”

Shelly finally landed on the ground.

Through the gaps between the ghostly girls, he saw Saul raising his hands, unleashing two streaks of pitch-black energy.

“No! Wait—!”

A wild wizard apprentice only knew a handful of zero-rank spells.

Shelly desperately threw out electric shocks, but Saul effortlessly dispelled them.

His crude casting technique made his already fragile spirit even more unstable. After only a few spells, he suffered a backlash.

Saul’s first attack shattered Shelly’s legs.

Then, a Fatigue Touch completely destabilized Shelly’s already crumbling spiritual core.

Shelly realized, to his horror, that he couldn’t cast a single spell anymore.

As he lay motionless on the ground, frail as a skeleton, the ghostly girls on his body swelled up into grotesque, bloated orbs.

Saul crouched down, tilting his head slightly.

“Actually, your problem with dispersing spiritual energy isn’t impossible to fix.”

Shelly’s head shot up.

“But I’m not going to tell you.”

A conjured black arrow shot through Shelly’s skull.

The light in Shelly’s eyes froze forever.

The moment he died, the gray girls on his body suddenly grinned maliciously, revealing vicious, twisted expressions. They lunged at his corpse, floating grotesquely as they clawed and ripped into him.

Despite being a corpse, Shelly let out gut-wrenching screams.

Flesh and limbs flew into the air, then tumbled down.

The ghostly girls dug into his body with their thick, stubby fingers, pulling out a pale white spirit.

Grinning viciously, they opened their mouths and took bite after bite.

The white spirit rapidly shrank before Saul’s eyes.

Penny couldn’t see, but she seemed to hear the chewing noises. Terrified, she clung tightly to Saul’s clothes.

Ever since the Nightmare Butterfly cocoon was removed from her body, she had started acting more and more like an ordinary girl.

She finally understood what it meant to be afraid.

Suddenly, Shelly’s fading white soul violently expanded, a dark core spreading rapidly from its center.

“He’s trying to turn into a vengeful spirit?”

Saul immediately raised his hand.

“Smite Undead.”

Then…

“Smite Undead ×10!!!”

The spreading darkness shattered, and Shelly’s white soul was finally devoured by the ghostly girls.

But after consuming him, the bloated girls didn’t disappear.

They slowly turned to face Saul, their previous anger now replaced by eerie, deathly resentment.

“So, not all vengeful spirit disperse after killing their enemies, huh?”

The moment Saul finished speaking, the vengeful girls howled and lunged at him.

Saul pulled out a scroll and tore it open just before they reached him.

Magic Armor Scroll!

A translucent, prismatic bubble enveloped Saul and Penny.

No matter how the vengeful spirits attacked, they couldn’t break through the barrier.

From inside the bubble, Saul calmly dispatched them one by one.

Each time an enraged spirit died, it burst like a balloon.

The white remnants inside floated gently to the ground—like snowflakes.

When the last spirit was vanquished, the entire room felt like a snowstorm had passed through.

As the protective spell faded, Saul sighed at his thinning wallet before walking toward Shelly’s body.

Maybe he could at least recover some valuable materials.

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