Just as Saul finished devouring his most hated enemy, a sudden gust of wind blew from behind him, forcefully spitting him out through an exit.
“Splat!”
The mont he hit the ground, Saul collapsed like lted wax, spreading out in a puddle.
His body twitched slightly. Then, from that new form, his features and limbs slowly began to take shape.
Finally, he opened his eyes and reached up to touch them.
His eyes were still there. So were his hands.
Sure enough, anything lost in soul form could just be eaten back.
At that mont, a door behind him to the right suddenly opened. A half-face peeked out from beyond it.
Only one eye, half a nose, and part of a mouth were visible.
The proportions of the face were terribly off—tiny eye, oversized nose, a reasonably normal mouth, but when it spoke, it revealed jagged, mismatched teeth.
“Oh? Let see, who’s the lucky soul that escaped this ti? No wonder the trash can turned red again!”
Saul recognized that half-face imdiately.
This was Kaz’s laboratory.
He hadn’t fully recovered yet—so of the remaining fluid on the floor was still flowing back into his body.
“Tsk, tsk…” The half-face hanging on the door spoke again. “This batch of rookies is terrible. Still haven’t settled on a new form after all this ti? Want to help you out?”
At that mont, the final bit of liquid slipped back into Saul’s body, forming his boots.
Yes, even after nearly breaking apart in confusion, Saul reford his body and still “dressed” himself.
Even in soul form, he didn’t like running around naked inside a Wizard Tower full of familiar faces.
However, while Saul maintained a wizard’s elegance, he failed to realize he wasn’t fully recovered.
At the very least, sothing was wrong with his mind… but he hadn’t noticed.
He swayed as he turned to face the door, clutching his stomach with his right hand. He stared at the annoying face on the door and said, “Then help … I’m starving.”
The half-face widened its one eye, and its mouth twitched uncontrollably. “Don’t—don’t co any closer. Sorry! I take it back!”
It recognized Saul.
It had once gleefully watched a new apprentice about to be consud by the lab’s evil spirits.
But that night, the tower master—who never entered the lab—suddenly barged in and took Saul away.
The other evil spirits thought Saul had just gotten lucky, saved at the last mont.
But the half-face nailed to the door had a different suspicion: had the tower master been standing outside the door all along… enjoying the show?
The lucky boy had passed the test and soared ever since.
Since then, the half-face never dared show itself again—just in case Saul rembered and reported it to the master.
But who would have guessed that halfway through his teoric rise, that sa apprentice would beco evil spirit himself… and crawl out of the blood-red trash bin?
This ti, the half-face had run into a real problem.
Saul had soone to save him. It didn’t.
Misunderstanding the situation entirely, the half-face began apologizing and deaning itself.
“I—I don’t taste good!”
“I’m not picky.”
“I—I’m here under Kaz’s orders, just guarding the door!”
“It’s fine. I can replace the door for him.”
Saul kept walking toward it, eyes locked, licking his lips hungrily.
Back in the pipes, he’d devoured nurous strange spirits and monsters. Now, stepping out, he was hit with a brutal hunger. Seeing monsters again, he didn’t feel fear—just cravings.
He wanted more.
The half-face trembled. After years of being the one to scare others, it was finally getting a taste of real fear.
It didn’t dare retreat—if the door was destroyed, it had zero defenses.
As Saul crept closer, the half-face’s one eye rolled. Suddenly, it retreated and popped back out—with a new look.
Its features had transford into Angela’s face.
“Big Brother Saul,” it said in Angela’s soft voice, mimicking her sweet tone, “Please don’t hurt Angela. Angela’s a good girl… I can help you with lots of things~”
Not only did it nail the voice, but the expression too—it was nearly identical to Angela herself peeking from behind the door with dewy eyes.
If Saul had been even slightly more lucid, he might’ve spared it—if only because of its usefulness or because he knew the others in the lab.
But now, seeing Angela’s pale, tender face… Saul only felt hungrier.
The poor half-face had no idea. Thinking it understood human emotions, it assud Saul’s lack of reaction ant he wasn’t interested in fourteen-year-old girls.
It vanished again, then popped out with a new look—a woman Saul didn’t recognize.
She was beautiful. Very beautiful. And sexy.
This face looked to be in her early twenties, maybe younger. Slightly upturned eyes, plump red lips—she radiated a mature allure that could entrance most n.
The woman gently parted her lips. “Junior, want to play a ga with your senior?”
That voice?
That was Kongsha’s face.
Not the one in the glass jar, but the one that perfectly matched what Saul had imagined.
By now, Saul had reached the door. He raised a hand toward the half-face. Hearing that sultry voice and seeing that face, he paused for just a mont, but the hunger still gnawed at him.
Two conflicting desires clashed in his mind. His hand slowed, but continued to open, fingers stretching toward the half-face.
The half-face stared at Saul’s hand, its lone pupil trembling. “You don’t like this one either?”
It vanished again. When it returned, it wore a new face—Mark’s.
The very next second, Saul—who had slowed—suddenly lunged, grabbed the half-face, and tore it off the door in one swift motion, shredding it into pieces and stuffing it into his mouth.
Even in his dazed state, the mont he saw Mark’s face, Saul could barely keep from swearing.
As he finished chewing, a new thought ford in his mind.
“This is too slow… How can I eat faster?”
Images flashed through his mind, finally settling on a creature covered in enormous black tentacles.
“If only I could eat like the Soul-Devouring Mire… each tentacle a mouth.”
He slowly lowered his gaze to his own clumsy body and limbs, and a wide grin spread across his face.
Under his gaze, everything below his neck began to lt again into his earlier “buttery” form, then it started changing.
From the yellow goo sprouted dozens of semi-transparent, octopus-like tentacles.
His entire lower body transford into a massive octopus with thick, powerful limbs. The only part that still resembled Saul was the human head at the top.
Each tentacle had suction cups that could open into mouths ringed with sharp teeth, and the tips could split into shark-like jaws. From those mouths, small tongues flicked out, trembling in the air like they were sniffing for food.
In this form, Saul was extrely pleased, but also hungrier.
The sensory organs on his tentacle tips told him there were still more snacks in this room.
He turned his head and saw the locked cabinets lining the wall, and a delighted grin appeared on his face.
But before he could act, the laboratory door suddenly creaked open again.
A black shadow silently entered, pushing a janitor’s cart.
But instead of trash, there were two boys in the cart.
One big, one small.
Their chests were faintly rising and falling, still alive.
Once inside, the shadow closed the door with a kick.
Then, like water flowing away, the darkness receded… revealing Angela’s expressionless face.
(End of Chapter)
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