Chapter 122: Underground Labyrinth
Saul stared at the eerily synchronized movements of the spirits, their bare shoulders reminding him of the countless arms he had seen covering the cliffs before he entered the underground cavern.
Arms reaching out for help above, while their bodies moved cautiously and hidden below.
If these spirits were indeed the souls of the dead, Saul couldn't even begin to imagine the terrifying scenes they had experienced in their final moments.
When he first heard Senior Byron recount the tragedy of Hanging Hands Valley, Saul assumed that the wizards and apprentices had died from being crushed, suffocated, or trampled in a panicked stampede. At worst, they had killed each other in a desperate fight for survival.
But the truth was clearly far more horrifying.
The sheer number of these white phantoms was overwhelming. They marched in rows, emerging from the central passageway before mechanically turning into the left corridor.
Too many.
If it weren’t for the subtle differences in their physiques and facial features, Saul might have thought these phantoms were mere copies of a single entity.
Now, both the left and center corridors were packed with these phantoms, leaving only the right passage completely empty.
Standing at the front, Bill observed for a while and, sensing no immediate danger, asked in a low voice, “Byron, are there any vengeful spirits here?”
Bill could tell that these phantoms were merely fragmented remnants of souls, not even complete enough to be considered soul shards.
However, he wasn’t sure if their presence indicated the lurking threat of vengeful spirits.
Byron called Saul over. “Saul, let’s go take a closer look.”
Saul followed Byron, stepping through the passage that Bill and Wright made way for.
They stopped three meters from the fork in the path.
Saul was the first to enter a semi-immersive meditative state.
Instantly, the armless humanoid phantoms vanished, leaving behind only faint, pale flames floating in midair.
Those fragile flames flickered in the exact same rhythm as the phantom’s movements, bouncing through the air in a silent yet eerie march.
Even stripped of their human forms, their synchronized movement conveyed an unbearable sense of suffocating tension.
Saul carefully observed all three tunnels before withdrawing from his meditative state.
“Phew—”
His chest expanded and contracted sharply as if he had just escaped from drowning.
“Did you find anything?” Wright whispered, using only the air in his throat to avoid making noise.
Saul and Byron exchanged glances, then, with perfect coordination, they both raised their hands—pointing directly toward the left corridor.
Bill’s lips twitched. “So… we’re supposed to walk alongside those things?”
Byron walked up and waved his hand through the white phantoms.
They remained unaffected, continuing their high-stepping, careful march as if nothing had happened.
“These fragments look strange, but for now, they don’t seem capable of harming us.”
Wright rubbed his arm. “This is exactly why I hate dealing with spirits. I never know if attacking them is just a waste of my magic.”
Bill scoffed. “If you’d actually tried to sense their spiritual energy, you wouldn’t be getting scared by a bunch of illusions.”
“Hah! Like you weren’t tense just now.”
“I’ll take the lead this time.” Byron ignored their bickering and glanced at Saul, signaling him to stay close.
“Fine by me,” Wright followed. “This is your specialty, after all. If we really run into vengeful spirits, I’ll just follow your lead.”
With that, the four of them stepped into the formation of white phantoms.
“There might not even be a vengeful spirit here,” Saul cautioned. “It could just be lingering contamination from one that passed through.”
“Got it.” Wright was surprisingly cooperative. “Kind of like when I hunt sand-eye worms and only find their dried-up feces.”
“That was unnecessary!” Bill groaned, barely resisting the urge to smack Wright on the head.
The group continued forward.
At the next fork, the white phantoms turned right, disappearing into another tunnel.
“Another split?” Wright frowned. “I hate mazes.”
“Hanging Hands Valley is full of them,” Byron replied dully, focusing on analyzing the paths ahead.
After passing several more intersections, Saul realized that this underground network was far larger than he had imagined.
And this was only the outer region of Hanging Hands Valley.
“There’s movement.” Byron suddenly halted.
They had just entered a wider chamber, where eight tunnels branched off in different directions.
“Why are there so many passages? I’m already losing track of our route.” Wright buried his face in his hands.
His gaunt features, illuminated by the dim glow of his light spell, made him look disturbingly corpse-like.
Bill’s frustration was evident.
“I don’t think tracking contamination is reliable. It only tells us where vengeful spirits have been, not where they are now.” He gestured toward a passage leading downward. “I say we keep going deeper.”
Without waiting for a response, Bill strode toward the passage, clearly uninterested in debating.
But something felt off to Saul. “Wait—”
Before he could finish speaking, Bill had already jumped into the passage.
The moment his body was midair, the tunnel entrance abruptly began to close in on itself.
A normal person would have been bisected instantly.
But instead of panic, Bill’s expression brightened in excitement.
His skin erupted with purple foam—soft in appearance, yet strong enough to resist the contracting tunnel walls.
Then, pushing against the edges of the tunnel with both hands, he leaped upward. The foam left behind wedged itself into the narrowing gap, stopping the tunnel from fully closing while Bill landed back on solid ground.
Meanwhile, Saul had no time to watch the spectacle.
As soon as the first tunnel attempted to snap shut, a side passage suddenly lunged toward him.
The rock walls contracted like a massive suction cup, trying to drag him inside.
A powerful force pulled at him.
Saul reacted instantly. He stepped against the lower edge of the passage, resisting the suction as he hurled a Death Strike spell.
The tunnel entrance twitched violently, but the attack was ineffective.
But Saul had only been buying time.
He immediately cast Piercing Arrow next.
The arrow was drawn into the tunnel by its own suction, accelerating into the depths like a bullet.
This time, the tunnel shuddered violently, spewing out a stream of green mucus.
But instead of shrinking, it suddenly expanded—growing nearly two meters wide as its suction force multiplied.
Now, Saul had no footing left. The pull was too strong, and he was on the verge of being swallowed whole.
Then, without warning, a stone spike erupted from the ground beneath him, piercing into the ceiling.
Saul grabbed hold of it, preventing himself from being dragged in.
His feet dangled in midair, the suction force keeping him suspended.
But his free hand wasn’t idle. Chanting rapidly, he conjured translucent parasites along his arm.
With a flick of his wrist, the Soul Burrowing Worms were sucked straight into the tunnel.
He had chosen this as his first Rank-1 spell precisely because it could attack both the physical and spiritual bodies—an uncommon trait among low-level magic.
Though not instantly lethal, it was highly effective.
Within seconds, the tunnel entrance convulsed and rapidly shrank, its suction force disappearing entirely.
Saul’s feet finally touched solid ground once more.
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