Chapter 143: Why Is Everyone Transforming?

Just as Saul was about to charge in and join the battle, the besieged and irritated Mordon suddenly let out a furious roar.

"You bastards, stop messing around at this moment!"

His arms suddenly swelled and deformed, growing fur and sharp claws like a wild beast.

He grabbed Herman, lifted him high, and smashed him into the ground with immense force.

With a thunderous crash, even the platform trembled. Herman's head slammed into the stone, getting lodged directly into his chest cavity!

This powerful strike instantly stunned everyone present, including Saul.

Even the other souls halted their attacks on Morton.

But as Morton, who had just intimidated all the spirits, looked down at the utterly battered Herman, a trace of madness appeared in his eyes.

His pupils contracted into needlepoints, trembling at an extremely high frequency. His mouth, initially twisted in anger, slowly curled upward. A purple tongue flicked out, licking each of his sharp teeth one by one.

Saul realized that the thrill of killing had caused the evil spirit to lose control, making it forget about absorbing the surrounding fragments as quickly as possible.

The evil spirit suddenly raised its head and howled. Its mouth opened wide, generating a powerful suction force, indiscriminately pulling in all the surrounding soul fragments.

Morton no longer cared to differentiate between the fragments in the air. He only wanted to complete the fusion as soon as possible and tear apart all the annoying remnants of consciousness within his mind!

If he absorbed all the soul fragments...

Suddenly, a figure leaped forward.

Saul dashed past the dazed spirits, jumped high into the air, and punched Morton directly in the chin!

Morton, who had been opening his mouth to absorb the fragments, was forced to shut his mouth from the impact. His upper body tilted back, and he staggered two steps backward—one foot even stepping out of the central circle.

Saul landed right in the center of the circle.

In that instant, he regained control over his body.

Saul suddenly understood—inside this reconstructed consciousness space, entering the circle meant becoming the dominant consciousness of the body.

He snapped his eyes open and saw Byron standing across from him, watching him warily.

Byron noticed the sudden calmness in Saul’s expression. Just as he was about to speak, Saul quickly raised a finger to his lips in a silencing gesture.

Even Nick, who was standing in the distance, realized who they were now facing.

For the first time in years, expressions of joy appeared on the faces of these usually emotionless men.

Unfortunately, before Saul could say anything more to Byron, Morton, having come to his senses, threw a punch and sent Saul flying out of the central circle.

Saul’s small frame spun several times in the air before crashing heavily to the ground.

Enduring the pain, he quickly got up, preparing to defend against the next attack.

It was then that he noticed his earlier attack had broken the silence, causing the other souls to start moving again—giving him a brief moment to breathe.

He touched his head, making sure there were no dents, and finally sighed in relief.

Outside the consciousness space, Byron, realizing that Saul was indeed still alive, suddenly turned to Nick and made a hand gesture.

Seeing this, Nick glanced at Saul, who was standing in the magic formation with a fierce expression once again, and adjusted the parameters on the control instrument.

...

Saul rushed back into the fray but nearly stepped on the collapsed Herman.

Hermann’s head was still stuck in his chest, but his arms were swinging wildly—he could still fight.

Saul quickly crouched down, reached into Herman’s chest, grabbed his hair, and yanked his head out!

"Ugh!!" Herman let out a painful scream, his gaze turning hostile toward Saul.

Using the same trick, Saul ducked behind Herman, propped him up, and turned him to face Morton.

"That’s your real enemy!"

Herman’s bloodshot eyes flared with rage as he roared again and charged forward with his fists.

But he was quickly sent flying once more.

Saul frowned. Among this group, only Bill, Herman, and three other Level 3 Apprentices have decent combat strength. The rest can’t even scratch Morton.

Suddenly, Saul saw Morton grab Bill and lift him into the air.

This time, instead of slamming Bill into the ground, Morton plunged his hands into Bill’s abdomen and violently tore him in half.

However, just as Saul thought Bill would become the first casualty, Bill’s entire body suddenly turned purple and softened into a mass of violet foam, slipping through Morton’s fingers.

The purple foam rolled together on the ground and reformed into Bill.

"What the hell?" Saul stared at the now purple-skinned Bill, then at Morton, whose arms had transformed into those of a beast.

"Why are their forms changing? Can I do it too?"

Before Saul could figure it out, he noticed Herman running forward, seemingly inspired by Bill’s transformation. While sprinting, Herman’s entire body became covered in a layer of silver metal.

With their transformed bodies, Bill and Herman were significantly stronger than before.

Even Morton could no longer withstand Herman’s punches head-on.

"Bill and Herman’s forms resemble the magic they excel at. Could these be spiritual constructs of their sorcery?"

But Saul quickly dismissed that thought because the other Level 3 Apprentices hadn't changed at all.

"What is affecting their consciousness forms? Sorcery? Meditation techniques? Or the locator device?"

Before he could figure it out, the battle took another sudden turn.

A blizzard suddenly descended from the sky, pouring countless soul fragments down. Unlike before, these fragments no longer hesitated—they actively rushed into Morton’s body.

As more fragments fused with him, Mordon’s eyes became clouded, his transformations grew even more exaggerated, and he began to fully morph into a beast.

At the same time, the evil spirit’s movements became sluggish.

Seeing this, the few remaining complete souls around them lunged at Morton, biting and tearing at his body.

Their desperate attacks managed to rip off small chunks of his form.

But Morton showed no pain. With the continuous influx of soul fragments, his wounds quickly healed.

Bill, the closest to Morton, suddenly pounced on his neck, wrapping his arms around him and biting at his head.

Just as Bill’s teeth neared Morton’s skull, a sharp tail sprouted from Morton’s back, stabbing straight through Bill’s chest and emerging from his mouth.

Bill instantly turned into purple foam again.

But before Bill could slip away, Morton’s head suddenly transformed—his mouth extending forward like a crocodile’s. He twisted his neck, opening his maw, and swallowed both his own tail and the purple foam hanging from it.

Only a few drops of purple foam splattered onto the ground, motionless.

Before the others could react, Morton turned his head and chomped down on another Level 3 Apprentice’s soul.

With a scream, half of the apprentice’s body was swallowed.

The souls were on the verge of collapse against the beast-like Morton.

Saul had no time to keep pondering the transformations.

He charged forward and kicked Morton’s tail base just before he could take another bite.

Morton staggered, losing his prey.

Turning back to see who attacked him, he spotted only a flickering shadow slipping behind Herman.

Herman, his mind dulled from constant combat, was left with nothing but rage and madness. He only knew one thing—kill the enemy before him.

Seeing the evil spirit distracted, Herman’s metal-coated fists hammered Morton’s chest, nearly knocking him out of the central circle.

But at that moment, Herman saw Morton twitch, abruptly turn his head, and fix his bloodshot eyes on something behind him.

Before he could react, Morton lunged at him.

Herman instinctively tried to dodge—

But at that moment, someone forcefully kicked him from behind.

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