Chapter 125: Face to Face

Chapter 125 Face to Face

When the group climbed out of the cave, it was already dark outside.

Nick was absentmindedly writing and drawing, and when he saw the group return, he rushed to welcome them.

……

This daily life of exploring by going down to the caves during the day and coming back before dark lasted for five days.

Because Sol and Nick were both second level apprentices, it had been the two of them who took turns staying at the camp.

And the human head monster that had appeared at the entrance of the Drooping Hand Valley never appeared again. This also allowed Byron and Saul, whose spirits had been a little tense, to relax a little.

On this day, it was again Saul’s turn to stay behind.

Seeing that the crowd had entered the cave for some time, he immediately put down the materials he was originally holding in his hand and studied his eyes instead.

These days he hadn’t been sleeping, using deep meditation instead. So as not to accidentally enter the dream world of the people around him.

Although he might know some secrets as a result, when he didn’t fully understand the effects of the Nightmare Butterfly, rashly knowing others’ secrets would instead bring disaster to himself.

Saul always kept in mind the saying in the wizarding world “Danger comes from the unknown, and the unknown is endless.”

He faced the Soul Fluctuation Sensor, observing and recording the frequency of the silver flashes in his eyes.

He realized that the cocoons in his eyes did not glow if he did not engage in semi-immersive meditation.

And while he was in semi-immersive meditation, almost every minute, his left eye would flash with a silver light.

But that silver light was so faint that it was almost impossible to notice if he wasn’t staring at him face to face.

Just as Saul was planning how to start his experiment when he returned, the sky suddenly darkened.

A shadow slowly covered where Saul was.

Saul looked up and the sky was clear and cloudless.

He turned back again and was surprised to find that a huge ship had appeared above the cliffs on the other side!
The ship looked in the shape of an ancient three-masted sailing ship, but was much, much larger than a normal sailing ship.

There was a kind of monster painted on each of the three huge sails.

Slender Ghost Shadow, Thousand Eyes Banshee, and a giant flower that looked beautiful but had bizarre petals and stamens.

At this moment, the giant sails were slowly retracting, and the giant ship gradually stopped moving.

Underneath the sailboat was the hull wrapped in giant white bones.

Further below it was obscured by the cliffs and could not be seen clearly.

The shadows stopped spreading and the huge sailing ship finally came to a stop.

“A giant ship traveling on land?” Saul stood up with a grave expression on his face, “…… Land traveling boat?”

He remembered that when he met Bill and Wright, Bill had just killed four landwalkers.

Could it be their companions looking for them?

Saul looked at the sky, it was still early, normally it was far before Byron and the others returned.

Saul stood up and began to pack his things.

The people did not set up a tent, and as long as Saul hid some of the small instruments, no one should be able to find out that they were here.

Regardless of whether or not the people from the Land Rowing Boat were looking for those four people, it wasn’t safe for Saul, a Level 2 Apprentice, to collide with them.

He moved a few large instruments deep into a nearby cave and spread some plants around the perimeter.

For himself, he put on his backpack and prepared to hide in a different place.

However, just at this moment, the diary suddenly flew out and unfolded in front of him incomparably swiftly, with lines and lines of fonts that surfaced as if they were on quadruple speed.

[Solstice Calendar 316 Years, April 20th

Since leaving the Sorcerer’s Tower.
You’ve had a good life.
Now you’ve seen what the outside world is all about.
What it means to be on the outside.

You will be captured.
You will be tortured.
But no matter what you say.
They’ll end up gouging out your eyes.
And turn you into a flower.

“Can’t be captured!” Thor immediately realized that the visitor this time would become his enemy.

He couldn’t pick a suitable hole in the ground in time, so he hastily jumped into the nearest one and desperately ran inside.

“Clatter ……”

Some mud and sand were brought down by Saul, who stopped in his tracks in a hurry and slumped down on the ground, fearing that the sound produced would startle the people on the ground.

Since the diary had jumped out, it meant that the enemy would have found him soon.

The time left for Saul was only a few minutes at most. But it was also this few minutes’ time difference that gave Saul the opportunity to be able to hide.

“Luckily, this place is full of holes in the ground and there are seven twists and turns inside, otherwise I wouldn’t really have much probability of hiding.”

Saul held his breath and glanced up at the top of his head.

He could no longer see the entrance to the cave because of the several turns, and he only hoped that his actions just now hadn’t left too obvious traces on the ground.

At the same time he was always ready to escape.

“Plop plop plop plop ……”

Saul’s heart was beating wildly.

To be able to pilot a huge sailing ship like that on land, the leader’s strength must not be low.

Saul could only hope that there were no official wizards among them.

“Plop plop plop ……”

Waiting without warning was the most torturous.

The tunnel grew quieter and quieter, and Saul couldn’t help but raise his hand and press it against his chest, his eyes still staring into the darkness ahead.

Time passed little by little.

No sound came from overhead.

Maybe the people outside hadn’t noticed the traces here and had already left.

Saul lifted his body slightly and climbed down a bit more.

Only when he had descended a few meters again and turned a few corners did Saul fumble with a slender test tube from his own backpack.

That test tube was left behind by Wright, and as long as Saul buried the worms in the test tube into the soil, Wright would be able to know that something had happened on Saul’s side.

Saul followed the agreed upon plan, burying half of the worms into the earth and leaving half outside.

This meant that there was danger on the ground, but Saul was still okay.

If the whole worm was buried all the way in, it would mean that Saul was asking for help.

“Whew…… “After doing this, Saul was finally relieved.

This way, there was no fear that Byron and the others would come out of the crypt defenselessly and run headlong into the enemy.

He continued to lie down on the ground for about two hours, and his stomach had begun to summon food, before he slowly got up.

It was pitch black all around, only the diary on his left shoulder, defying optical theory, remained clear in his sight.

“Can I go up there now and see if it works?”

The diary flew out, giving him a less than comfortable way to die.

“Fine. Hopefully they’ll be gone before dark, I don’t want to spend the night underground.”

“Would it be okay to use the Ember spell?” Sol continued to think.

The diary flew out again.

But this time, the content made Sol’s heart stop!
[Sol Calendar 316, April 20th

You were hiding underground.

Thinking you’ve escaped a crisis.
You get up and light up your surroundings.
And you see.
A human head is across from you.

He’s grinning, showing a row of red teeth.

“You caught me.”

You try to run.
But his neck stretches faster.

You’re swept up.

After realizing he couldn’t find the others through you.

“He bit off half of your face.

Saul looked at the diary without blinking.

But what he wanted to know more than anything else was if there was a face across from his own that was silently watching his every move.

(End of chapter)