Chapter 284.

Chapter 284: Countering the Guest
As Sol spiritually marked the vines successfully, everything around him slowly came to life.

The vines honestly stretched their roots to continue penetrating deeper into the soil, the dampness in the underground passageway slowly began to diminish, and a small white mushroom even sprouted under Saul’s right foot.

“It looks like this Elder Vine recognizes you after all, I can feel the Black Fortress recovering quickly.” Yura looked upwards, “Alright, let’s get out of here. It’s too humid in here, I feel like the joints of this body are going to grow hair.”

Saul, still observing the changes around him, sniffed and slowly raised his steps to follow Yura.

This vine planted underneath the Black Fortress was truly amazing.

As Saul began to move away from the roots, he could feel a very active root suddenly growing out of the soil, following his footsteps.

Every time his paws hit the ground, it was as if he made contact with the root below once through a shallow layer of soil.

Saul found it very interesting as he raised his right hand and reached out to the wall on one side.

Immediately, he felt that the root system split into two, one of which extended upward quickly and excitedly, and when Saul’s palm touched the soil on the side, a small tip suddenly appeared and gently “high-fived” him.

“Ooh!” Thor found this amusing and immediately raised his left hand and reached for the wall on the other side.

The underground rhizome split again and grew at a faster speed to the inside of the soil where Saul’s left hand touched.

The palm of his hand bordered the root system once again.

“Heh.” Saul finally was unable to hold back his laughter.

Yura, who was walking ahead, turned back in confusion, the doll’s head turning directly behind her, “What are you doing?”

“Uh…… “Saul reacted, what he had just done was a bit childish. Especially if it looked like giggling to an outsider.

“Ahem.” He withdrew both hands somewhat awkwardly, secretly rubbing away the dirt that had rubbed off his fingertips, “I was just feeling the change in the vines.”

Definitely not walking that root system for fun!
Yura looked at Sol suspiciously for a few seconds before turning her head away. Her neck joints made a sound similar to the scraping of wood. It seemed to be really hairy.

The two made their way out of the underground dirt cavern and out of the cellar, closing the secret door behind them.

It was only at this time that Saul lost contact with that root system underground.

However, after Saul and Yura left, the root that was originally growing peacefully and quietly underground suddenly trembled with difficulty and faintly.

[Who the hell is he ……? Why is it that just a spiritual connection can …… be attached to my entire body?]

The weak voice was no longer the same impatience as when it had just spoken to Saul, and it carried a subtle trembling inside, just as it was gently trembling as it appeared on the outside.

[And …… who are you? What did that boy leave inside me?!

There was no response.

……

Something was really wrong with the body of this doll containing Yura’s spirit. And it wasn’t just simply growing hair. Yuura’s entire movement was becoming sluggish.

“I’ll go back now, I’ll requisition your driver.” Yuura quickened her pace, but her hip joints also started making strange noises.

“Vinnie, are you alright? Do you need me to do anything?”

“It’s fine, it’s just that there’s something unexpected in this doll’s body, and I need to hurry back and clean it up. You don’t have to deliver it.”

Yura finished her sentence, pushing open the door of the Black Fortress as she stormed out like the wind.

Outside the gate, the coachman was still waiting in the same place. But it was crouched on the ground, looking at the weeds on the side of the road.

Suddenly he then felt another gust of wind suddenly blow into the carriage, followed by a sound like wrapped phlegm.

“Back to the tower!”

The coachman was startled suddenly and rose to his feet, only to find Saul still standing in the doorway without getting in.

His expression looked a bit dazed and confused.

Saul nodded at the coachman, signaling him to depart quickly.

Only then did the coachman busily climb into the car, owed a slight bow to Saul, and drove the carriage quickly away from the Black Fortress Forest.

Now, only Saul himself was left in the entire Black Castle.

When he turned around, he saw a black tentacle suddenly sticking out from the narrow gate of the Black Castle, the place that originally had eyes. How did this tentacle look familiar.

“Little Algae?” Sol immediately raised his hand and touched the back of his neck.

A tiny black tentacle immediately reached out from it, entangled Sol’s index finger and immediately loosened and retracted.

“When did the small algae run inside? Wait, it couldn’t be the one that just played high five with me in the soil, right?”

Thinking of this, Saul hurriedly went back to the ground where he had just been.

When he re-entered through the cellar’s hidden door, he immediately felt that his surroundings were different from what he had just seen.

The air here was still humid, but it wasn’t as suffocating as it was in the beginning, while the ground had become looser and slightly muddy to step on.

When Saul walked up to the original stout rhizome, he was shocked to find that in just a few minutes, it had actually “lost” a circle!
“Algae?” Saul called out to it.

[No, I’m not, but if you …… you’re referring to the black tentacle that’s rooted in my body …… I think it’s responding to you.]

As soon as the low voice fell, several black tentacles grew under the soil around Sol.

It was as if he had returned to that underground abandoned laboratory under the Sorcerer’s Tower. That closed basement where corpses floated on the surface and stretched out tentacles the thickness of a closed embrace.

Saul lowered his head and lifted his foot and stomped it again.

The stickiness became more pronounced, and the soles of his feet sunk slightly as he stepped down.

It really was becoming more and more like a swamp.

“Why did the baby algae transfer into you?”

[…… this, didn’t you do it? Just now, when you and I established a spiritual connection …… oooooh ……]

Wait, is this big guy crying?

[…… Your powerful spiritual power broke through the range of the spiritual connection and took over my entire body, making a round of the woods and the castle before retreating back].

[But you left …… the small algae behind, and now it’s desperately absorbing my nutrients.]

Sol was stunned.

So that agonizing feeling of confinement he just felt wasn’t caused by the mental connection?
Rather, it was because he had used his spiritual power to feel out the other party from head to toe. He also left an uninvited guest before leaving, robbing the room and taking food.

[Can you control it for a moment, if it continues like this, my end will wither and the entire Black Fortress will collapse.]

“Komoro,” a moment of silence, and Saul called out to Komoro.

The slender black tentacle reached out from the back of his neck and grinned its shark-like mouth at Saul, clicking its teeth.

“Take it easy, don’t eat too much, we’ll be here for at least another ten days or so.”

The small algae immediately nodded cheerfully, and then shrunk back.

Saul said to the vine’s root again, “Is it okay now?”

[…… Thank you for your generosity, and finally apologize for my rudeness when we just met.]

“That’s okay.” Sol left the vine where it was.

It seemed that because of the change of owner, the atmosphere inside the Black Castle was somewhat different, and the thin, tall, and thin buildings gradually became less monstrous.

It was a bit more in line with Saul’s aesthetic.

He didn’t go looking for Mochi Mochi’s room, but instead casually entered a guest room and sat down on a bed that was slender as if it was a coffin.

“It will take at least ten days to get here by carriage, one round trip and one return. Then during that time, I’ll be the only one here.”

Saul remembered the bag of Sound Grinding Fruits that he had managed to take out of Mill Sail Town.

“Actually, there’s no need to go back to the tower, I can completely rebuild a consciousness platform spell here. Now, this is already my territory!”

(End of chapter)