Chapter 119: A Mountain of White
Aaul was still trying to make sense of things when Bill walked back to Byron.
For some unknown reason, Bill suddenly became interested in Byron’s mission and proposed traveling with him.
At first, Saul suspected it was because of himself.
However, after those two brief exchanges, Bill no longer initiated any conversation with Saul, making his suspicions seem self-indulgent.
Byron hesitated at first regarding Bill’s proposal.
But considering the recent strange occurrences in Hanging Valley and the increasingly unsafe outskirts, he ultimately agreed.
After all, with three third-level apprentices traveling together, as long as they didn’t turn on each other, they could pretty much dominate the outer region of Hanging Valley.
“Our mission is to capture an evil spirit,” Byron first clarified their objective.
“You capture the spirit, we scavenge corpses. Perfect. Maybe we’ll even find some relics left behind in the underground tunnels,” Bill raised an eyebrow, acting like he would obediently cooperate.
Having two more third-level apprentices in the team was beneficial to their plan of capturing the evil spirit.
Before leaving, Bill casually tossed the four people he had just killed into a deep hole.
That was enough to erase the evidence.
The group continued deeper into Hanging Valley. The wooden spiders became more cramped, but fortunately, none of the wizard apprentices were overweight.
As they moved forward, the number of holes in the ground increased.
Some of these holes were as thin as a forearm, while others were three to four meters in diameter. Most were so deep that their bottoms were invisible.
While operating the wooden spiders, they also had to be careful not to let the spider legs slip into any of the holes.
"Many of these holes were made by wizards exploring the area. Since there’s no unified plan, they dug as they pleased, creating a chaotic underground network. It’s easy to get lost," Byron explained while cautiously maneuvering the wooden spider.
At the same time, he was also warning Bill and his companion, who were unfamiliar with the area, not to wander off.
After an hour of travel, Nick periodically activated the sensor to check for spiritual activity.
But perhaps because they were still in the outer region of Hanging Valley, or because spirits weren’t very active during the daytime, the sensor showed nothing.
"Does this thing even work?" Bill curled his fingers and tapped twice on the sensor’s mirror.
Byron had just furrowed his brows when Nick suddenly shouted, "Detected traces of a spirit!"
Saul leaned over for a look and indeed saw a faint, blurry shadow in the mirror.
The reason they could confirm it was a spirit rather than some other reflection was that the shadow was a perfectly symmetrical human shape, unaffected by any of the distortions present in the rest of the mirror’s reflection.
However, this shadow was different from the one Saul had previously seen on his own.
The one he had seen before had no discernible facial features but was very close to the mirror, as if standing right behind him.
Its color had also been a dark gray, nearly black—unlike this one, which was faint and light gray, resembling a wisp of smoke that could dissipate at any moment.
Byron slowed down the wooden spider, glanced at the image, and confirmed, "Yes, it's a spirit. But with it being this faint, it probably passed through one or two days ago."
Bill finally became interested. "One or two days ago? Then could it have crawled up from underground?"
Wright, sitting on the other side of the mirror and unable to see anything, still joined in the excitement. "Bill, your fingers seem pretty useful. Want to tap again?"
Saul was startled, worried that Bill might mess with the instrument again. If it got disrupted, recalibrating it would be a hassle.
Luckily, Bill’s attention had already shifted away from the sensor upon hearing about the spirit's presence.
Without waiting for the wooden spider to come to a complete stop, he jumped out of the window.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let’s find a hole and go down now!"
But Byron ignored him and instead steered toward a relatively flat area near a cliff to set up their temporary base.
This was their camp for now.
Saul helped Nick carry the sensor down and placed it on the ground. Dusting off his hands, he looked around.
There were far more holes here than at their previous campsite. They were standing on what felt like a giant block of cheese, with holes scattered everywhere—even the nearby cliff face was dotted with numerous cave openings leading to unknown depths.
Once their new camp was settled, Byron began assigning tasks.
"I suggest we spread out to search for caves with signs of spiritual contamination. Once we regroup, we can analyze our findings and pick the most likely one to enter."
However, Bill immediately objected.
"Neither Wright nor I are good at detecting spirits. If we search separately, we might overlook important clues. I say we all pick one hole and go straight down. If we go deep enough, we’ll definitely encounter an evil spirit."
Byron hesitated. "If we go too deep, we might run into something we can’t handle."
Nick and Saul were both second-level apprentices—especially Saul, who only knew a single first-tier spell and lacked defensive capabilities.
"If we can’t handle it, we just run," Bill said dismissively. "Byron, you’re too cautious. That’s why it’s taken you so long to reach the third level."
Whether intentionally or not, Bill clapped Saul on the shoulder. "If you want to be a wizard, you can’t be afraid of danger."
Saul had seen Bill use his purple smoke to dissolve corpses, and now that Bill was touching him, he felt uneasy.
But since the diary hadn’t reacted, it meant Bill hadn’t done anything secretly. It was unlikely that he’d attack Saul outright in front of Byron.
After considering it, Byron ultimately agreed with Bill’s plan.
"You have a point. We’ll go together and head straight underground. But we’ll leave one person at the camp to monitor the sensor. Nick and Saul will take turns staying behind."
He took this opportunity to pull Saul aside. "Something still feels off. Even if a Tidal Storm occurred, it rarely reaches the entrance of Hanging Valley. I want to capture the evil spirit quickly and leave."
Saul nodded.
"Of course, we’ll also help you find a suitable spirit, but we might not have time for you to study it in detail."
Finding an intact spirit was just a secondary goal. Since the situation seemed unusual, Saul wouldn’t insist.
Besides, completing the mission alone would earn him plenty of merit points—he didn’t need to be greedy.
"I’ll figure something out myself. No need to worry about my spirit."
Saul thought to himself that if necessary, he could just ask Nick to shatter a spirit, strengthening his hands again. It would be a bit wasteful, but it wasn’t a big deal.
After reassigning tasks, the group had already wasted most of the afternoon. Not wanting to lose any more time, they quickly ate a meal and prepared to set off.
Nick would stay at the camp today.
Wright folded his arms, looking at the dense array of holes in front of them, his pale face filled with hesitation.
"Which one... do we go into?"
Bill clapped his hands. "Doesn’t matter. Let’s just pick the closest one!"
He pointed to a hole five meters away, nearly two meters in diameter.
Byron, however, chose a different one—about three meters in diameter, with traces of human activity around it. "Better to pick one that’s already been explored. It’ll be spacious enough for us to move together."
Saul didn’t immediately join the discussion.
He recalled Byron’s earlier mention of tracking spirits by following contamination.
Observing contamination—that was his specialty.
Saul half-closed his eyes and visualized the Man-Beast Walking Diagram.
Instantly, the world before him... remained unchanged.
Was it because the outer region of Hanging Valley had too few spirits? Or had this place already been thoroughly scavenged? Everything seemed unnaturally clean—nothing like a burial ground for wizards.
Disappointed, Saul was about to end his meditation when something caught his eye.
On the cliff behind them, several caves had strange white, writhing shadows outside their entrances.
Saul stepped closer to observe.
The white shadows suddenly stretched into countless thin, bony hands.
Like wooden rods, they were densely packed, waving and swaying.
As Saul’s gaze fell upon them, they seemed to sense his attention—waving even more frantically.
As if calling him over.
Or... begging for help.
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