“I…” Hunter choked on his words. Had he actually said that just now?
At that mont, Olaf, who had remained silent all along, suddenly spoke.
“Master Wizard, Mr. Hunter, may I say a word?”
Saul turned his head. “Go ahead.”
“It was Mr. Hunter who awakened from endless darkness. I am willing to vouch for him with my personal honor.”
“If you agree to the transaction, and there is anything you need to do during the process, please give the order.”
Hearing the knight’s words, Hunter glanced at Olaf sideways, eyes brimming with emotion.
As if making up his mind, he spoke.
“Master Wizard,” Hunter said gravely, “if you can help Lord Ralph find release, I will tell you… a clue that may help you advance to Fourth Rank Wizard.”
“Fourth Rank?”
“Yes,” Hunter’s voice trembled. “That’s the extraordinary level at which a wizard can transcend the limitations of physical death.”
Though Hunter didn’t specify what the clue was, Saul instinctively felt it must be related to the diary.
Otherwise, how could a minor, declining wizard family have two extraordinary beings involved in the secrets of death?
“So the few pages I found were just a glimpse of the diary’s origins. Ralph and his team must have studied it more deeply. Makes sense—if they didn’t understand the diary, why would Sid have gone mad over it?”
Saul picked up the half-finished potion Ralph had made. “I can help you make the potion, but you’ll have to give the clue first.”
“This…” Hunter hesitated. That was his last bargaining chip.
But after a mont’s thought, he suddenly looked toward Olaf. “Knight Olaf, would you co here for a mont?”
“?” Olaf approached Hunter with a confused expression.
Suddenly, Hunter spat out a glowing, blood-red magic crystal. The crystal landed right on the heart of Olaf’s translucent figure.
The next instant, Olaf’s astonished form was completely drawn into the crystal.
Losing its host, the blood-red crystal clinked to the floor and rolled to Saul’s feet.
Having done this, Hunter instantly grew incredibly weak. Even his head seed to shrink slightly.
“Master Wizard… I have entrusted all the information to Knight Olaf. If you break your word, he will imdiately beco a vengeful spirit, destroy the information within, and haunt you forever. I’m truly sorry. This was a restriction I had to set.”
Saul picked up the magic crystal. In the reflected light, he could vaguely see a pained figure and beside him, several tiny rolls of parchnt.
Olaf would never have guessed that the butler who had just been moved by his loyalty would, without hesitation, turn him into a vengeful spirit to ensure Saul kept his promise.
“I want to check the goods first.”
“No… problem.”
Saul carefully extended his ntal power into the crystal. As soon as he touched the rolls of parchnt, he caught glimpses of their contents.
One of them turned out to be Ralph’s research on the Dead Wizard’s Diary.
But when Saul tried to read further, the vengeful spirit of Olaf began to show signs of exploding.
He quickly stopped probing.
Looking at the butler, now reduced to only a head, Saul said, “Seems like you were well prepared.”
Awakening Olaf’s soul was likely a backup plan from the very beginning.
Olaf had thought he was being rescued out of kindness, unaware he was just being used.
Saul tucked the magic crystal away in his robe and gave Hunter one last glance. He walked to the table with the half-finished antidote, swept everything on it to the floor with a flick of his hand, and pulled blank parchnt from the bookshelf. He dipped a fountain pen into fresh ink.
“Hunter.”
“Master… Wizard.”
“Give the formula.”
“Yes!” Hunter’s eyes widened, and a smile appeared on his face.
Anyone capable of deciphering the basent’s entry array could surely complete Lord Ralph’s antidote.
What Hunter didn’t know was—Saul was not working alone.
“This formula doesn’t seem like an antidote at all,” Saul muttered to himself ten minutes later, having fully analyzed Ralph’s so-called antidote. “It’s more like a poison for release.”
[You’re analyzing it correctly. This formula is familiar to …, but I can’t recall where I’ve seen it. Do you have a second dissolving liquid? If so, add it as a catalyst. It’ll accelerate the spread of the poison.]
“No,” Saul replied. He hadn’t co to Ralph’s estate to do experints, so most of what he carried were tools for combat and survival.
Morden suggested several other materials, but unfortunately, Saul didn’t have them, and Ralph’s lab didn’t have the proper conditions to conduct experints.
Another five minutes passed, and the watching Hunter grew anxious.
He began to worry that this young wizard might not actually be as skilled in potion analysis as he had hoped.
“But he easily cracked the Bloodthorn family’s defensive array… how could he struggle to complete Master Ralph’s antidote?”
Hunter couldn’t tell if entrusting everything to Saul had been a stroke of genius or utter foolishness.
But after months of waiting, he had fallen into despair.
The nutrient fluid in the dish sustaining his head was nearly depleted. In another month or two, Hunter might decay into a pile of rotten flesh.
He had neither the ti nor the patience to wait any longer.
Another five minutes ticked by before Saul suddenly began scribbling rapidly.
“Diary, summon Bill.”
Bill specialized in toxic elents. He should be knowledgeable about potions.
Even though Bill’s consciousness was barely hanging on, this was the perfect opportunity to use his strengths.
[This formula isn’t ant to save anyone!]
Bill truly lived up to his reputation as an exceptional Third Rank apprentice from the Wizard Tower. With one look, he saw through the essence of the potion.
[If, as you said, the test subject has devoured many people and creatures yet hasn’t collapsed, then his flesh must have either lost all biological barriers or is being forcibly held together by so imnse power. This potion is penetrating in nature. It has no restorative or stabilizing effect. In short, it’s designed to destroy the body’s structural balance. A thod for quick death.]
[So what do you want—salvation or execution?]
“To kill—but is there any way to preserve his soul?” Saul responded without hesitation.
Even if there were a chance, he wouldn’t allow Ralph to survive.
If Victor hadn’t shown up, Ralph would have been the very trouble Saul ca to eliminate.
But like Sid, Ralph knew of the diary’s existence. Saul wanted to preserve his soul and turn it into a new black page in the diary.
However, Bill’s next words were disappointing.
[If I specialized in Light or Dark elents, maybe. But as I am, I can only help destroy the body—and that’s only if you already have a targeted potion.]
“I see.” Saul sighed.
None of the three people tied to the black pages specialized in those two attributes. And with Saul’s current strength, he was far from capable of extracting souls.
“Wait, I rember copying a formula in Grind Sail Town… one that forces the creation of a vengeful spirit.”
But that formula, responsible for harming countless girls, was mainly designed to extract ordinary human souls. It might not work on a true wizard-level fleshworm.
“To hell with it—so long as the diary doesn’t resist, it’s worth a shot.”
Saul made up his mind.
At the sa ti, in a blind spot out of view of the head-only butler, Saul quietly retrieved the blood-red crystal containing Olaf and the scrolls.
A slight smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. “A butler, no matter how experienced, is no wizard. Trying to bind with a vengeful spirit? You’ve walked right into the trap.”
With the help of Morden and Bill, Saul began his experint.
He unearthed nurous dusty instrunts from storage.
Little Algae split off dozens of tendrils to assist him.
Ti ticked by.
The increasingly frail Hunter barely managed to open his heavy eyelids, just in ti to see Saul rising from his chair.
“Master…” His voice was growing faint.
Saul walked over, surprised to find the man’s hair already withered like autumn leaves.
“If the formula you gave was accurate, I think I’ve finished the antidote.”
Saul raised his right hand, letting Hunter see the crystal vial filled with a liquid that rolled like thick oil.
Hunter forced a smile, a dim light flickering in his fading eyes. “Yes, Master… the antidote looks just like Lord Ralph envisioned. He said… huff… oil dissolves oil… huff…”
(End of Chapter)
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