Chapter 110: Second Tier!

Boom—

It was as if a massive structure had suddenly been erected within Saul’s spiritual body, causing his entire mental world to tremble!

First-tier spell: Soul Borer Worm—successfully constructed.

Saul slowly stood up, feeling the difference between being a first-tier apprentice and a second-tier apprentice…

But it didn’t seem all that different.

His mentor had once told him that the only difference between a first-tier and second-tier apprentice was the strength of the sorcery they had mastered. Their bodies and spirits underwent no fundamental transformation.

However, upon closer inspection, Saul could feel a subtle yet undeniable change.

It was the lingering influence of the newly formed first-tier sorcery within his spiritual body.

This Soul Borer Worm, which had already deviated from its original form, was constantly affecting Saul’s mana and spirit.

For now, the influence was weak, but he could tell that as he continued to refine and strengthen the spell, its effects would deepen.

If he allowed it to continue unchecked, both his mind and body would eventually suffer.

The only real solution was to find his own Locator, which would help counteract the uncontrollable pollution brought by sorcery and stabilize his spiritual body.

"A Locator…" Saul glanced at his left shoulder, thinking, "How can I convince the diary to cooperate?"

For now, the Locator issue could wait. Saul turned around—only to find that Penny had actually fallen asleep.

He couldn’t help but smile bitterly as he shook her awake. "Penny, wake up."

But he quickly realized that she hadn’t fallen asleep because she was indifferent to their situation.

Rather, the battle between him and Shelly, followed by his mental clash with the wraith, had taken a toll on her.

For an ordinary person, exhaustion of the mind often led to sleep as a natural defense mechanism.

Penny groggily raised her head, her eyes dull and clouded.

Saul pulled her up. "I’ll take you out of here, but you need to be prepared—once we leave, you and Ada may no longer be able to stay in this town."

Penny stood up with his support. Though she was about to leave the only stable place she had ever known, her expression remained calm.

"I’ll take Ada with me and leave."

She almost sounded like Ada’s older sister.

Saul took a final sweep of Shelley’s belongings, taking anything valuable and discarding the rest.

Yet, no matter how thoroughly he searched, he couldn’t find the book on artificially creating wraiths.

In the end, he could only make copies of the sorcery formations drawn on the floor, restoring the ones he had previously destroyed as best as he could from memory.

With that done, he led Penny out of the third floor of the tower.

But just as he stepped onto the spiral staircase, a cacophony of screams, wails, and slaughter reached him from outside.

Something was terribly wrong!

Saul hoisted Penny up in one arm and dashed down the stairs.

The entrance to the tower had been sealed shut by Shelly’s sorcery. Clearly, he had wanted to prevent any interruptions while he was casting his spells.

As a result, when trouble struck outside, no one had been able to summon their supposed protector.

Saul had Penny stand against the wall, then forcefully unsealed the doors.

What lay beyond was a nightmare.

Corpses of Grindstone Town’s residents littered the ground. Barbarians roamed freely, chasing down and butchering the living.

Across the way, the walls surrounding the Grinding Sound Fruit fields had been completely torn down, leaving the area in utter ruin. Severed limbs were strewn across the broken stone walls, their owners’ fates uncertain.

The real battle, however, had moved toward the town’s main walls.

The barbarians were attempting to climb over, while the town’s soldiers desperately tried to push them back.

As Saul took in the scene, two barbarians spotted him.

They wasted no time.

Brandishing their weapons, they charged.

Their blades whistled through the air, one swinging from the left, the other from the right—both aiming to carve Saul into pieces.

Their mouths twisted in savage grins, white breath billowing in excitement, as if they could already see his dismembered corpse.

But just before their weapons could land, one of the barbarians suddenly twisted grotesquely—his limbs contorted and wrenched together as if an invisible hand had crushed him into a ball.

His flesh was the first to surrender, warping and tearing under the strain.

His bones, however, resisted—until they snapped with sickening cracks, piercing through his skin in jagged, black-red spikes.

The second barbarian hesitated, his attack momentarily halted.

Then, dark smoke began to pour from his eyes, ears, and mouth.

Black scorch marks spread across his exposed skin.

Moments later, crimson flames erupted from within his body—licking through his ears, curling around his eyeballs, setting his hair ablaze.

If the first barbarian had died quickly, his death merely grotesque…

Then the second was agonizing.

He howled in torment, trying to flee, but barely managed a few staggering steps before his carbonized legs crumbled beneath him.

He crashed to the ground, sending up a puff of gray-black ash.

Saul followed his gaze—and locked eyes with a strange, frail-looking barbarian.

This one was covered in unfamiliar tribal paint, perched atop the shoulders of a massive barbarian.

A barbarian priest.

This wasn’t just a random raid.

Yet, the only wizard apprentice in this town had just died from his own stupidity.

Saul took a step forward, raising his hand.

His spiritual body stirred.

The first-tier sorcery model engraved within it activated instantly, primed for release.

Phantom images of Soul Borer Worms coiled around his hand, slowly writhing.

The barbarian priest narrowed his eyes.

"A new… wizard apprentice."

Though he had never seen Saul before, he immediately recognized that he wasn’t from Grindstone Town.

The priest studied him intensely, weighing whether or not to engage.

Then, abruptly, he opened his mouth and yanked out two of his own teeth.

Blood dripped from his lips as he handed them to the two nearest barbarians.

"Swallow them. Stop the wizard."

The barbarians obeyed without question, gulping down the teeth.

They immediately roared in pain, pounding their chests as their skin darkened—then flushed an unnatural, blood-red hue.

Their muscles bulged, their veins throbbed grotesquely, their skin glistened as if on the verge of bursting.

But instead of fear, their faces twisted with ecstatic bloodlust.

One of them barreled toward Saul.

Meanwhile, the priest wasted no time. He raised his wooden staff and slammed it onto the head of the barbarian carrying him.

"Attack! Grindstone!"

The remaining barbarians abandoned their prey and surged toward the crumbling town walls.

Saul’s gaze flickered to the town—then to a nearby building.

Inside, two familiar figures stood frozen in shock.

Ada and Jayce.

They hadn’t escaped to safety. They had hidden, waiting for a chance to rescue Penny.

But now, they were fully exposed.

Luckily, the other barbarians were focused on attacking the town.

Meanwhile, the two red-skinned barbarians were nearly upon Saul.

He sneered. "Compared to Jayce, I really am a shameless bastard."

He lifted his hand.

Immediately, the ground beneath the barbarians became slick with grease.

They skidded, flailed—then crashed onto the ground.

As they struggled to stand, their hands only sank into the greasy soil.

Saul wasted no time. He cast Scorching Breath.

Fire erupted over their bodies.

But as the flames roared, Saul quickly noticed—

Despite their agonized screams, they weren’t falling.

Their skin had only slightly blackened.

"That priest’s teeth boosted their magic resistance?"

Saul flicked his wrist. Two Soul Borer Worms shot forth, burrowing into their bodies.

"Then let’s see… just how powerful this mutated first-tier sorcery is."

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