Chapter 291: Counter-Tracking |
Knock knock knock!
Knock knock knock!
The door, surrounded by dozens of long-necked human heads, remained tightly shut. The excitement in the eyes of the waiting visitors outside was slowly fading.
They shook their heads, expressions gradually turning savage.
In the darkness of the hallway, a rustling sound echoed—more and more heads were hurrying over from afar, eager to get a piece of the action.
If someone were to step into the Black Castle at this moment, they would see countless human heads entangled by dark green vines on the walls, each with a long neck extending from their mouths.
The walls of the castle were now completely overtaken by alternating shades of gray and dark green, the original appearance no longer discernible.
If this someone continued walking inward, they would discover that all those heads were ultimately extending toward the same destination—the laboratory on the third floor.
At this moment, nearly a hundred heads had gathered outside the lab’s door.
Having run out of room to knock with their heads, the visiting heads now opened their mouths one by one and stuck out new, round-tipped tongues to knock on the door instead.
Tap tap tap...
Tap tap tap...
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap...
The sound grew sharp and rapid.
After another minute, the door was riddled with dents.
Then suddenly, as if receiving a command, the heads all ceased their actions at once. They looked at each other, then slowly backed away.
About a meter.
Then they surged forward again with a crash.
BANG!
With a massive impact, the heavily damaged door shattered, and countless heads, mixed with splinters of the wooden door, poured into the brightly lit room.
However, the figure inside the room still had their back to the sea of faces. The cloak on his body trembled faintly, as if he was still writing furiously.
Hehehehehe...
The long-suppressed heads let out strange chuckles and swarmed forward. They would show this rude host the cost of ignoring his guests!
The hairless heads smashed toward the figure sitting firmly in the chair, but the moment they touched it, the figure vanished into thin air!
Dozens of faces slammed into the long desk. The books, ink, and even the desk itself were instantly smashed to pieces under the tremendous force.
It was a vivid demonstration of the sheer destructive power these heads brought with their impact.
But as the shards hit the floor, none of the heads felt that satisfying, elastic resistance of colliding with flesh.
All that remained before them was a tattered cloak, scattered among the broken pieces of the desk.
The person beneath the cloak had vanished in an instant!
The heads backed off half a meter, confused. One of them, looking particularly distressed, crept closer to the debris and examined it carefully. But his brain wasn’t quite up to processing what had just happened, so he simply gave up with a helpless sigh.
Find him!
Just then, a signal came from outside the Black Castle.
The confusion vanished from the faces of the heads. They lit up with excitement once again, their mouths opening and closing incessantly, as if chanting: “Hide-and-seek—so much fun.”
One by one, they filed out of the laboratory, and began combing the castle.
Soon, the ransacked lab returned to stillness. Only the wreckage remained to tell the tale of its tragic fate.
Meanwhile, hidden inside a Seam in the wall, Saul had one eye pressed to the gap, calmly watching the entire process—from the moment the heads broke into the lab, to the moment they destroyed the decoy cloak he had left behind.
That’s right. Saul hadn’t been under the cloak at all.
He had used Magic Trick, a simple yet practical Zero Tier spell, to fix the cloak in place and make it twitch occasionally for realism.
The moment he had thrown the cloak over himself, he had already slipped into the Seam in the wall that he had prepared in advance.
Thanks to this, he saw everything: the grotesque heads smashing in, and a vague black figure flitting in through the window—the very presence that had reawakened the heads’ activity.
As soon as the heads had left the room, Saul leapt out of the Seam.
His right eye bore a deep indentation from the prolonged pressure—something that even a Zero Rank Heal Light Wounds spell couldn’t remove. That mark would be with him for the rest of the day.
Stepping out from the cramped space, Saul casually sealed up the gap, then pushed open the window with one hand and leapt out.
Little Algae swiftly shot out, splitting in two—one end anchoring to the window, the other propelling Saul forward and clearing his path.
Suspended mid-air by Little Algae, Saul chased after the vague black silhouette, still having enough mental energy to grumble, “Once I study Second Rank Spell Touch of Torment and advance to Rank Three, I really need to put Flight on my to-learn list.”
He excelled at using the coordinate method to decipher runes. While this method became less effective with higher-level runes, it still allowed him to grasp more spell matrices than most during the early stages.
As he mulled over these thoughts, Saul realized he had already lost track of the shadow’s trail. But he wasn’t flustered. He landed lightly on the ground and spread his mental power outward. Instantly, countless tendrils burst from the soil, writhing toward him.
These were the roots of the Devil Vine, buried deep underground for many years. They might not cover the entire Black Castle Forest, but they spanned most of it.
“Those heads inside the castle are still looking for me. Tell those vines to cut the act—it’s time to fight back. They can’t even tell an intruder is at their doorstep, when it's obvious at a glance that something is wrong.”
A portion of the tendrils receded into the soil.
Saul then transmitted his mental power to another portion.
“Just now, someone unfamiliar released a burst of magic outside the castle. They can’t have gone far. Activate all root systems in the forest—find this person. But don’t alert the person.”
Another batch of tendrils slipped back underground.
The Devil Vine’s roots couldn’t understand human speech, of course, but Saul had once completely infiltrated the vine’s main spiritual core, giving him unprecedented control over it. He could command its roots to perform basic tasks.
Besides, fighting and scouting were the very reasons this Devil Vine had been planted here in the first place.
One could even say, the Devil Vine was Mochi Mochi’s true trump card in holding the Black Castle alone.
But now, it had no choice but to obey Saul. Even if the Black Castle were to welcome a new master in the future, they might not be able to completely seize control of the Devil Vine.
After all, Little Algae had somehow slipped into the Devil Vine's core, acting like a thug—extorting, pillaging, and feeding off it to grow stronger. If Saul hadn’t stepped in to make it leave a little behind, it probably would’ve refused to come out at all!
Just then, a thin tendril emerged from the earth again, pointing neatly in a single direction.
Saul stopped in his tracks. Little Algae silently hoisted him into the air.
“Let’s give our guest a proper welcome.” he said, letting his hands drop and slowly morph—becoming translucent, like the tentacles of an octopus, dangling in the air.
(End of Chapter)
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