Diary of a Dead Wizard-Chapter 123: Mutated Caves
Seeing that the previous attack had worked, Saul cast two more Strike Undead spells.
The sharp arrows pierced into the shrinking cave and disappeared. Soon, more green slime oozed out from within.
The suction force coming from the cave gradually weakened.
Saul finally let out a small sigh of relief.
His Soul Borers spell was mixed with soul fragments full of lingering resentment. Unless necessary, he didn’t want to use it too often.
There were still three senior students here, so Saul didn’t need to go all out.
Sure enough, just as Saul had barely withstood the mutated cave’s attack, the battle on the other side ended.
Two stone spikes burst from the ground again, shooting into the mountain wall across from Saul, piercing through the mutated cave in front of him from the side.
The cave contracted violently twice before finally closing completely.
Saul stared at the cave. After confirming it stayed unchanged for a while, he finally turned around.
He saw Wright raise his eyebrows at him, and realized that both the spike he was still holding and the two spikes that sealed the mutated cave were Wright’s support. He quickly thanked him.
“Thank you, Senior Wright.”
Wright’s expression was relaxed. Clearly, the recent fight hadn’t been much trouble for him.
“No need to thank me. If you got sucked in, we’d have to figure out how to pull you back. Haha, and if you did get pulled in, we’d be short one heck of a good guide.”
Whatever he thought of made him laugh heartily to himself.
By now, all the mutated caves had closed. Saul finally realized this wasn’t a forked intersection, but just a slightly wider tunnel.
There were only two real paths, front and back. The rest of the tunnel openings were all fake.
“What kind of monster is this? The disguise was pretty convincing.” Bill stomped on some foam on the ground. By now, the foam had hardened into something like plaster, crumbling to powder under his boot.
“There’s no record of monsters like this before. Maybe it’s a recent mutation from the last year or two,” Byron said seriously.
Byron inspected a few of the sealed mutated caves but didn’t find anything useful.
He stood up and clapped his hands. “It’s getting late. I suggest we return to the surface.”
Bill clicked his tongue. “Didn’t get much this time. Coming in and out takes effort. Why not just spend the night here?”
Byron shook his head. “Too dangerous to spend the night where wraiths roam.”
But judging from Bill’s face, he wasn’t about to give in so easily.
Still holding the spike Wright had given him, Saul stood off to the side, quietly enjoying the show.
He was just a Second Rank apprentice. Strategic decisions like this weren’t something he had the right to weigh in on.
Just as Saul watched the tension build, the wall beside him suddenly opened up into a large hole.
“Shhh—”
A cold, icy aura seeped out.
But even before the chill touched him, Saul had instinctively spun around—just in time to spot the silently opening hole beside him.
A pale, pockmarked human head suddenly shot out from the darkness and bit down on Saul’s instinctively raised right hand.
Messy chestnut hair fell over the face, and sightless white eyes stared at Saul through the strands.
The face was riddled with holes, like a chunk of coal full of cavities. The mouth was the largest hole, filled with sharp teeth—but they failed to pierce Saul’s glove.
His hand didn’t feel pain, but Saul still felt a powerful pulling force.
The head instantly began retreating, trying to drag Saul into the gaping hole it had come from.
With a massive yank, Saul’s body jolted. He quickly tightened his grip on the spike with his left hand to avoid being pulled in.
Bang!
Saul’s face twisted—he heard the unmistakable sound of his bones dislocating under the immense force.
Everything happened in a flash. Finally, Byron’s support arrived.
A giant net appeared out of nowhere, instantly wrapping around the pockmarked head.
The head was restrained.
As the net tightened, the skin sizzled like meat on a grill.
It finally let out a pained noise and loosened its bite.
Saul immediately pulled his right hand back.
But his hand was now completely limp. The bone might’ve been broken. He had to support it with his left hand.
Just as Byron was about to pull the head out with the net, the creature suddenly bit off its own neck.
The unrestrained lower half of its body retreated rapidly.
As the hole began to close, Byron dove in without hesitation.
At the same time, Wright raised a hand. A giant stone hand emerged from the ground, propping the mutated cave open.
Saul stared anxiously at the hole, which kept trying to close. He wasn’t sure if Byron would make it back safely.
“Dislocated?” Bill suddenly appeared behind Saul, startling him.
“Maybe just dislocated…” Saul flinched slightly, adjusting his grip on his right arm.
But Bill just grinned, grabbed Saul’s arm roughly, and yanked.
Pain shot through Saul’s elbow.
His face twitched, but he held in the scream.
Bill opened his mouth and blew out a puff of white mist, covering Saul’s elbow. The pain quickly disappeared.
He then pulled off Saul’s glove and saw the transparent gray skin of Saul’s forearm, with the faint shape of bone underneath.
Raising an eyebrow, he flipped Saul’s arm back and forth a few times.
“Your modified arm is sturdy. Took that bite and not a scratch.”
Saul’s injury wasn’t from the bite—it was the joint between the spirit-crystal skin and the upper arm that had been dislocated.
After a thorough check, Bill let go and tossed the glove back.
Saul caught it with his left hand, then stuffed it into his pocket without bothering to put it back on.
“Your glove isn’t that tough. If you’re interested, go to the Exchange and trade for something stronger.”
“I’ll check it out when I get the chance.”
Not wanting Bill to notice anything special about his glove, Saul replied casually.
He looked down at his right hand. It was already moving freely again. Looks like Bill really had healed him, not just numbed the pain.
Who’d have thought he was a healer?
Just then, Byron finally ran out of the hole. Seeing this, Wright dispelled the stone hand, and the hole instantly shut.
“How was it?” Wright asked, walking over.
Byron showed a rare smile, holding up a flask with a narrow neck and rounded bottom, shaking it a little.
“A wraith?” Even Bill came over now.
“In the middle of transforming—but at its core, it’s still a vengeful spirit.”
The flask was filled with gray mist. Saul couldn’t make out what was inside.
“A vengeful spirit? That’s fine too.”
Even though it wasn’t the target wraith from Byron’s mission, a spirit in mid-transformation was still highly valuable.
Whether they brought it back to the Tower for credits and money or kept it for their own research, it was a good find.
And since it wasn’t Byron’s official mission target, the reward would be split among the whole team—Bill and the others would get a cut.
Wright clapped his hands. “Alright, we’ve made a decent haul today. Let’s head back.”
This time, Bill didn’t object.
Byron put the flask away and walked over to Saul.
“How’s your arm?”
“Senior Bill treated me. It’s fine now.” Saul raised his right arm to demonstrate, mostly to reassure Byron.
After clearing the area to make sure nothing else was left behind, they began heading back the way they came.
The hardest part of the return trip was the very deep tunnel.
Wright and Bill had their own ways of getting up. Byron didn’t bother turning into a balloon this time—he just asked Saul to have Little Algae pull him up.
Little Algae was strong enough to pull two people without issue.
As they climbed, Saul suddenly felt something and looked down.
The pitch-black tunnel, now without any light source, echoed faint sounds of water flowing.
Saul had the eerie feeling that someone was constantly pouring water into the underground tunnel.
The water level was rising, chasing after them.
Night was about to fall.
And just like the Wizard Tower, maybe the underground of Hanging Hands Valley at night… would also turn into another world.
This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.
(End of Chapter)
