Chapter 124 – Cave of Mutations
Seeing that the previous attack was effective, Sol threw out two Shooting Vector Arts again.
The rapiers drilled into the diminished cave and disappeared into obscurity, and soon green slime gushed out from inside once again.
The suction force coming from the cave gradually weakened.
Saul breathed a little sigh of relief.
His Soul Asshole was laced with soul fragments full of residual thoughts when it was constructed, and didn't want to use it more than necessary if he didn't have to.
Now that there were three other seniors here, there was no need for Saul to fight too hard.
Sure enough, just as Saul's side was holding off the attack from the Mutant Crypt, the battle between the three over there ended.
Two spikes once again drilled out from the ground, diagonally inserting themselves into the mountain wall opposite Saul, and piercing through the crypt in front of Saul from the side.
The crypt contracted violently twice and finally closed completely.
Staring at the cavern, seeing that it did not change for half a day, Saul then turned back.
He saw Wright raise an eyebrow at him, and knowing that the ground thorns he was now holding and the two ground thorns that finally resolved the mutated crypt were both Wright's assistance, he hastily thanked him.
"Thank you, Senior Wright."
Wright's expression was relaxed, obviously the battle just now was nothing to him.
"No need to thank you. If you were sucked in, we would still have to find a way to pull you out, haha, it wouldn't be good if you were pulled out, we'd be missing a very powerful guide."
Not knowing what came to mind, Wright made himself laugh.
At this time, all the mutated crypts had closed. It was only then that Saul realized that this was actually not a fork in the road, but just a more spacious passageway.
There were only two paths here, front and back, and the rest of the tunnel caves were all fake.
"What kind of monster is this again? The disguise is really decent." Bill stepped on the foam on the ground, which had already solidified into a plaster-like solid, and when he stepped on it, crumbs fell down.
"There were no such monsters in the previous records, maybe it's a new mutation in the past year or two." Byron said in a deep voice.
Byron examined a few closed mutated caves and failed to find any useful loot.
He stood up and clapped his hands, "It's getting late, I suggest going back to the surface first."
Bill let out a "tsk".
"It's not a big haul, and a trip in and out is pretty time consuming, so why don't we just spend the night here?"
Byron shook his head, "It's too dangerous to spend the night in a place infested with evil spirits."
But looking at Bill's expression, it was clear that he wouldn't easily compromise this time.
Saul was still holding the ground thorns that Wright had backed him up with and hid in the back to watch the fun.
Anyway, this kind of strategic decision-making, he, a second level apprentice, was not qualified to participate in the discussion.
Just as Saul was spectating the fury of the argument that was about to ignite, the wall on his side suddenly opened another large hole.
"Frak-"
A chilly and icy aura seeped out.
But before Saul was touched by the chilly aura, he jerked back and noticed the large hole that had opened silently at his side.
At the same time, a ghastly white, hundred-holed human head suddenly shot out from that hole, biting down on Saul's subconsciously raised right hand.
Long, chestnut-colored hair fell messily over the human head, and the whites of the pupil-less eyes stared at Saul in death through the gaps in the hair.
His face was full of holes like a beehive of coal, with his mouth being the largest hole in his face. Sharp teeth protruded from the holes, but failed to bite through Saul's gloves.
There was no pain in his right hand, but Saul still felt a strong pull.
The moment the head bit into Saul, it immediately pulled back, as if trying to pull Saul into the large hole that had just opened.
Saul's body jolted when he was pulled by the other party's huge force, and he hurriedly hugged the ground thorn with his left hand once again, so as not to really be dragged in.
"Bang!"
Saul's face changed, under the huge pulling force, he heard the sound of his bones dislodging.
Everything happened in a flash, and at that moment, Byron's support finally arrived.
A giant net appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around the human head full of holes at once.
The human head was bound.
Under the pressure of the giant net, the skin and flesh made a "tasty" roasting sound.
It finally let go of its mouth in pain.
Only then did Saul salvage his right hand.
However, his right hand at this time completely unable to use the force, may be the bone broken, can only use the left hand to support.
The opposite side's head was about to be pulled out by Byron with a giant net, but it suddenly took the initiative to rip off its neck.
The back half of the body that wasn't caught by the giant net, flew back. Seeing that the large hole was about to close, Byron jumped in without saying a word.
Wright, on the other hand, raised his hand at the critical moment, and a large hand made of stone appeared from the ground, propping up the mutated cave and preventing it from closing.
Saul looked worriedly at the large hole that kept trying to close, wondering if Senior Byron would be able to come back successfully.
"Broken?" Bill suddenly appeared behind Saul, startling him.
"It's probably just dislocated ...," Saul's heart skipped a beat and slightly tightened his left hand.
But Bill had a smile on his face and pulled Saul's arm forcefully through his hand.
Sharp pain immediately came from the elbow.
Saul's face twitched and held back from crying out in pain.
Bill opened his mouth and a white smoke came out, enveloping Saul's right elbow, and soon the pain there disappeared.
Bill took it upon himself to rip off Saul's glove again, and saw the gray, transparent skin of Saul's forearm and the bones hidden underneath.
He raised one eyebrow and held up Saul's arm and turned it back and forth twice.
"That's a sturdy modified arm you've got there, I'm surprised you didn't leave half a scratch after being bitten like that."
The place where Saul was injured was not the arm that was bitten, but the joint where the spirit ester skin connected to the upper arm, which was pulled off.
After inspecting it, Bill finally let go of Sol's arm and tossed the glove to Sol again.
Saul caught the glove in his left hand as soon as he could, and simply left it on, slipping it directly into his pocket.
"These gloves of yours aren't very strong, if you want to, you can instead go to the exchange and exchange them for some more powerful glove props."
"I'll go and take a look when I have the chance."
Sol didn't want Bill to notice the special nature of his gloves and casually answered.
He looked down and studied his right hand, which he could move freely at this point, and it seemed that Bill had really just been healing him rather than simply anesthetizing him.
It was unthinkable that this guy was even a healer.
At this time Byron finally ran out from the hole, seeing this Wright withdrew his stone hand and that big hole instantly closed.
"Well?" Wright came over.
Byron got a little grin on his face and picked up a glass vial with a round bottom and thin neck and replaced it in front of the group.
"Evil spirits?" Now even Bill walked over.
"Evil spirits in the process of being transformed, but still of the nature of a grudge."
The bottle was a grayish haze, and Saul couldn't see exactly what it was.
"Spiteful spirits? It's okay."
Although it wasn't Byron's quest target Evil Spirit, a spiteful spirit like this one that had begun to transform had a high value.
Whether it was taken back to the Sorcerer's Tower and exchanged for credits and money, or left behind for his own research, it was good.
Moreover, if Byron captured something that wasn't an evil spirit, it would be the team's harvest, and Bill and the others would be able to get a share of the money.
Wright clapped his hands, "That's good, today is considered a good harvest. We can go back."
This time Bill did not object anymore.
Byron put away the bottle and walked over to Sol.
"How's your arm?"
"Senior Bill healed it for me and it's fine now." Saul said and raised his right arm and waved it around, but mostly for Senior Byron to scrutinize.
The crowd cleaned up the scene again to make sure there was nothing else to be gained before returning the way they came.
The hardest part of the way back was the very, very deep passage.
Wright and Bill both had their own methods of getting up there, and Byron gave up on turning into a balloon and just let Saul pull him up with him on the small algae.
Algae is strong enough to pull two people up with no problem.
While climbing up the passage, Saul's heart stirred and he looked down.
Because of the loss of the light source, the underground passageway that had become dark again, there was a gust of water sound.
Saul had an illusion, as if someone was continuously injecting water into this underground passage.
The water surface gradually rose, chasing the footsteps of the crowd.
Night was approaching.
Like the Sorcerer's Tower, the lower part of the Drooping Hand Valley at night might likewise turn into another world.
(End of chapter)