Chapter 188.

Chapter 188 – Human Shadows
Sol released a light spell to illuminate the deep pit.

At first glance, there were only a few weeds, roots and rocks and dirt in the pit.

But after careful observation, Saul found some tiny black crystals in the soil, which resembled stones, and if he hadn’t observed carefully, he would have definitely overlooked them.

“These are fragments of depleted magic crystals.” Saul picked up a fragment that was less than the size of the tip of a small thumb and held it up to show Victor, “It’s true that someone has used this manor to set up a sorcery spell formation, but his spell formation was set up underground, so unless we turn over this entire piece of soil, we won’t be able to restore the original appearance of the spell formation, and there’s no way to know the exact purpose of the spell formation.”

Victor took the shard in Saul’s hand, and with a gentle squeeze of his thumb and forefinger, the shard turned into an even finer black powder that floated away with the wind.

“This pit is actually not very deep. It’s enough to bury an ordinary person, but it’s too shallow if it’s used for sealing …… I’m guessing this spell should be used for gain or temporary storage.”

Sol nodded, “That’s what I think too, so the person lying in this pit is most likely the gainer of the spell.”

“But now the pit is empty.” Victor looked to Sol, “Could it be that the person inside came out?”

Saul dropped the other shard in his hand and stood up, patting his knee, “Or maybe it’s useless or was dug up and eaten by someone.”

Victor stroked his strings worriedly, “We may have one more enemy vying for the treasure.”

He reached out to pull Sol up, but gave up when he looked at the dirt on the other man’s hands.

“Don’t worry, no matter how many enemies there are, brother will definitely help you snatch the treasure and let you successfully advance to the third level!”

Saul looked at the other party’s hand that stretched out and retracted back, sighed helplessly, and jumped out of the big pit himself.

However, while patting the dirt on his hands, he said seemingly carelessly, “What are you babbling about? Does a genius like me need treasures? It’s better to let you advance to the third level first. You’re almost thirty years old, don’t suddenly get contaminated one day.”

The person in front of him did not respond for a long time, and occasionally raised his head strangely to find that Victor had actually freed a hand to cover his mouth, and a line of clear tears flowed from the corner of his eyes.

“Oooh oooh …… Saul actually think so much for me, brother is so touched.”

Saul looked at Victor got goosebumps.

How could he have such a brother?
“Thank you, Saul. But a brother is a mediocre man waiting for death to come to him in his destiny, so it’s better not to waste the treasure.”

The gale, which had just been raging on and on, suddenly stopped, and the sky grew dimmer and dimmer, as if it had come from dusk to the dead of night.

Victor looked up at the sky, his expression hidden in a daze.

“The heavy rain will fall soon, we’d better go into the house to take shelter.”

As he spoke, Victor gently plucked a string, and the bass remained ethereal and pleasant.

Saul froze for a moment, then nodded and said, “Good, I don’t see anything else out there.”

The two of them walked through the garden and came straight to the castle gate, where, strangely enough, a small slit was opened.

“It seems that quite a few people have already visited this place before us.”

Thor pointed back to Victor’s harp, signaling him to be quiet then turned and pushed the door open.

The antechamber of the castle was dark, with some lamp stands, chairs and other furniture lying around on the floor.

There appeared to be windows in the hall but they were completely blocked by heavy curtains.

Saul looked around carefully and didn’t see a single figure or body, nor did he get the feeling that he was being spied on by anyone.

Only then did he gesture to the man behind him and walked into the castle.

Victor practically followed Saul in, stepping on his still-fading footprints.

The next second the two stepped into the hall, the sky suddenly flickered, and as the bright, extremely white light filtered through the doors and the windows hidden by the velvet juan, Saul seemed to see in the center of the hall to meet a man kneeling with his back to them.

The man wore a suit of armor and seemed to be a warrior.

But when the lightning passed and the loud thunder followed, the figure in the front hall disappeared.

“Clatter-“

Torrential rain poured down.

Victor jumped forward, dodging the splashing raindrops.

He mentally touched the harp in his arms, “That was close.”

That’s when he realized Sol was still standing in front of him in a daze, curiously he walked around and reached in front of Sol, “My unlucky brother, are you petrified?”

Saul snapped back to his senses and pushed away Victor’s large hand that was blocking his view, “I just saw a man kneeling in front of me.” “Huh?” Victor looked over suspiciously, but saw nothing, but that didn’t stop him from sighing, “Perhaps it’s a ghost wandering around the old castle with no way to escape, pleading with you to take him away from this destiny.”

With that, Victor’s fingers brushed against the strings once more.

But he then remembered Saul’s warning and forced himself not to let the harp make a sound.

“Asking me for help?” Saul bristled, “I’m here to steal, he’s barking up the wrong tree.”

Saul carefully stepped forward to near the figure he had just seen, squinting his eyes and using semi-submerged meditation to look over again.

But the ground was still empty.

“Has it left already, or is it not a spirit?” Saul’s expression turned serious, and he was just about to turn around and warn Victor to be more cautious.

However, at that moment, another huge bolt of lightning streaked by.

Even standing inside the house, Saul could see the sky that was illuminated like day.

He immediately looked down and over again, and was shocked to see countless figures kneeling in the front hall!
Even at his feet and where Viktor was there was a person kneeling!

“Speed!” Saul looked down just in time to meet a face.

The face had no eyes, no nose, no ears, just a mouth wide open and the scars at the corners of it twisting and quivering as if begging for help.

But the next second, with the sound of thunder, all the people kneeling in the hall disappeared again.

“Bam!” The main door was violently pushed open, and two people jumped in as if they were fleeing.

“This rainwater isn’t right!” One of the short men was desperately scratching his wet cheeks and neck, his fingertips already stained red.

The other figure was a bit taller, and Saul saw that it was an old man with white hair.

The old man recited a spell to clean the rain off his body, and then cleaned up the little boy beside him.

And Viktor stood not far from the two, holding a smile as if waiting for when they would spot him.

“Who?” The old white-haired man finally spotted Victor a few paces away and yanked the boy by the collar, retreating to the other side of the antechamber on his hind legs in quick succession.

Victor didn’t make a move either, just walked up behind Saul with a playful look on his face.

“Who are you people?” It was then that the old man saw Saul in the middle of the hall, and the wariness in his eyes intensified.

“Also here to get out of the rain.” Saul looked at the old man with the same wariness.

The little boy, unassuming, was now covered in blood and grimacing in pain.

The white-haired old man was not too ordinary. The magic power fluctuations he had just emitted while casting spells seemed to be waves strong enough for only a third level apprentice.

The white-haired old man frowned his nose a bit as he heard Saul’s nonsense, but didn’t tear Saul down.

His line of sight hovered over Saul and Victor a few times, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.

“Oh, then it seems we have the same purpose. You’re a bit luckier than us though, not getting caught in the rain.”

He walked over to the window in a seemingly relaxed manner and lifted the curtains to look out.

“This rain isn’t quite right, it’s itchy and painful when it hits.” The white haired old man lowered the curtains, “But it’s normal, this is Ralph’s Manor, not a good place to get out of the rain.”

“But come what may, we always have to wait for the rain to stop before we can go out.” Saul nodded at the old man, “Then please rest here, we’ll go inside.”

He tugged at Victor who was staring across the room with interest, ready to cross the antechamber and continue deeper into the interior of the castle.

The old man was most likely a third level apprentice, and with both Saul and Victor being second level, they could easily be at a disadvantage against the old man.

The other party did not say anything to stop Saul when he saw that he was about to leave, and only looked on silently.

It was the little boy who anxiously tugged on the old man’s sleeve.

“Teacher, should we let them go in first?”

The white-haired wizard, however, pressed him, “There’s no hurry, Swan, let them go around first.”

(End of chapter)