Chapter 422: Please, Kill Me |
Yura did not respond to Gorsa. Her paper-thin silhouette turned slowly in place.
Several apprentices couldn’t help but sneak a glance in her direction.
They rarely saw the Tower Master, and even fewer had ever laid eyes on Lady Yura.
Some of them didn’t even know that this resurrection experiment was for the Tower Master’s beloved.
“Yura?” Gorsa called her again, his voice lowered by two tones.
The black silhouette took half a beat to respond, as if waking from a dream. She murmured, “I’ll go take a look at them.”
With that, she didn’t bother waiting for Gorsa’s reaction and began to walk a circle around the small garden.
Some of the apprentices had already completed their tasks here, but none made any move to leave.
Whenever Yura passed by them, their entire bodies would stiffen. But once her paper-thin figure drifted away, they would secretly lift their eyes to steal a glance at her back.
Saul was still making the final adjustments, but when Yura approached, he set down the beaker in his hand and nodded respectfully at her.
In truth, he paused more out of caution—on guard for any sudden or covert move from Yura. Even as he bowed, his nerves were taut.
Yura slowly swept her gaze across the entire area, but her eyes did not linger on Saul.
Saul suddenly had a feeling—she wasn’t observing everyone’s work.
She was saying farewell.
Gorsa’s sudden decision to abandon the Blue Water Soul and switch to the potion Saul had selected likely disrupted their original setup.
Most of the materials had been retrieved by Saul himself from the first and second storage vaults. The other special ingredients were brought by the mentors individually.
But tampering with the raw materials was nearly impossible.
These materials were both rare and fragile—any harmful additions would be easily visible on the surface.
Half-finished potions, however, were a different matter. With so many additives, who could say what ingredients they contained?
That was why Gorsa insisted all potions be prepared on-site.
It was time-consuming, yes, but it also made sabotage much more difficult.
Naturally, this approach would also drive any would-be saboteurs to despair.
In the silent, stifling atmosphere, Yura circled the inner part of the garden once. She looked up at the sky one last time, then returned to Gorsa’s side and stood there quietly.
Everyone else bustled about, as if she—the one to be resurrected—had nothing to do with them at all.
At last, when the sun began its westward descent, Saul finished his task.
The contents of the cauldron had finally transformed into a silvery potion, emitting a foul stench like that of a sewer.
Saul let out a long breath and wiped the nonexistent sweat from his brow.
“Whew... Well, it’s done—no surprises, thank goodness.” Saul exhaled deeply.
Gorsa never did consult anyone before making a decision.
Then again, with his rank and strength, he really could make decisions on a whim.
“Careful. This potion is highly volatile—let me help you seal it,” Mentor Rum said, picking up the glass sphere on the table to assist Saul.
He twisted open the small cap on the orb. Once Saul carefully poured all the liquid in, Rum quickly sealed the cap and activated the miniature formation engraved on the glass, locking in both the potion’s magical fluctuations and its volatility.
At the same time, Mentor Kaz also finished dealing with the remaining materials and walked over, staring intently at the potion in Saul’s hands with a complex expression.
On the other side, Mentor Gudo accepted a similar glass sphere from Keli and cautiously approached.
“Since you led the potion preparation, you should also be the one to administer it,” Mentor Rum said as he handed the potion back to Saul.
According to the original plan, Rum himself was supposed to handle the administration.
Mentor Kaz frowned. “This is a major task. Saul hasn’t done anything like this before. Let me do it instead.”
As he spoke, he reached out to take the potion from Saul.
“Let Saul handle it,” came Gorsa’s voice from behind, laced with a trace of amusement. “He’s been through enough significant events by now.”
At that, Kaz could only withdraw his hand.
“No need to be nervous. You can mentally review the steps before proceeding. For this part, precision matters more than speed,” Kaz advised Saul in a low, rapid whisper.
Realizing that Mentor Kaz was sincerely trying to guide him, Saul felt a surge of gratitude. But he needed to stay calm right now, so he simply nodded to Kaz and walked toward the mid-sized magic formation that had already been drawn.
This particular formation wasn’t very large. It was based on a sharply angled triangle, with each corner containing a circular sub-array one meter in diameter.
The area covered was no larger than an ordinary bedroom, but the formation within was extraordinarily intricate. Its most crucial sections had been personally drawn by Gorsa—no one else had been allowed to interfere.
Saul carried the potion steadily to the circular formation at the left base corner, not allowing himself to be distracted by the runes etched on the ground.
At the same time, Mentor Gudo also stepped into the circular formation at another corner, holding a similar spherical glass container in his hands.
He gave a heavy gulp, as though swallowing something, then turned his head and smiled at Saul. “I thought it would be Kaz standing here with me. Didn't expect it to be you, little guy. But maybe that’s for the best…”
Saul blinked, unsure of what Gudo meant by that.
“All right, everyone else, leave the garden,” Gorsa stood up stiffly, raising a hand to loosen the tie at his collar. He flung off his wide black cloak behind him.
A few sharp intakes of breath sounded from behind Saul.
Wrapped in pink bindings, Gorsa's tall and slender frame was strikingly dramatic, even under the daylight.
He stood on tiptoe, stepping carefully toward the apex of the triangle formation.
Once Gorsa had taken his place in the final circular formation, everyone else had already exited the garden’s fence.
But no one actually left.
All eyes were on Gorsa, faces showing a mix of awe and reverence.
For many apprentices, this was the first time they had ever seen Gorsa's true appearance. Even among Third Rank apprentices, most had only seen the Tower Master hidden beneath his cloak.
Before the ritual began, Saul scanned the crowd quickly.
Monica and Jero stood furthest back, behind the line of apprentices. The other mentors had gathered near the fence, watching with intense focus.
As Saul drew his gaze back, he suddenly noticed Lokai standing nearest to the fence—much closer than he liked.
Immediately, Saul went on high alert.
He hadn't forgotten that there was still a suggestion spell on him—“Smash it.”
Looking down at the potion in his hands, Saul clenched his teeth.
Maybe they’d anticipated that Gorsa would choose him to assist with the ritual, and that’s why they’d cast that suggestion spell on him in advance.
But even if he did accidentally smash this potion, they could always make another one…
Unless—once Gorsa began the final phase of the ritual, it couldn't be restarted? Or smashing it would cause the formation to mutate?
Or was it something else entirely?
Just then, a blinding white light suddenly radiated from Gorsa’s body, snapping Saul's attention back to the present.
In an instant, everything turned blindingly pale.
He immediately focused his mental energy and finally saw what was happening.
A beam of white light spread out from Gorsa, forming a hemispherical barrier that enclosed the three of them. The dome then expanded until it covered the entire spell formation before halting.
As soon as the blinding shield stopped expanding, countless small black dots appeared on the ground—shadows of everyone who had fled under Gorsa’s pressure.
They hopped and flitted through the three figures’ bodies, leaping onto the dazzling shield to block out the blinding light with their own forms.
When all the shadows had settled, the piercing white light disappeared.
A giant, opaque gray hemisphere now enclosed the three participants—and the black silhouette of Yura, who had been standing quietly behind Gorsa the entire time.
Now, those outside couldn’t see anything inside at all.
Low murmurs broke out again. Clearly, none of the apprentices had expected that, once the ritual started, they wouldn’t be able to witness any of it.
Those who’d hoped to observe the resurrection ritual were deeply disappointed.
The four mentors, however, weren’t surprised. They stared at the blackened shield, their expressions complex.
Among the crowd, Keli slowly clenched her fists. She stood on her toes, head raised, trying with all her might to peer through the gray barrier, as if her gaze alone could penetrate it.
A rare moment of foolishness from the proud girl.
Inside the barrier—where all eyes were focused—
The bindings on Gorsa’s chest split apart down the middle.
The opening stretched nearly twenty centimeters wide.
He reached a hand inside, and with several wet, squelching sounds, slowly and laboriously pulled out half a human head.
Saul unconsciously licked his dry lips. Even his breathing felt difficult.
And then, he saw it—the Tower Master was pulling half of Kongsha’s head out of his own body.
Kongsha’s eyes were closed, her face pale as if molded from clay.
Atop her head sat a thumb-length red candle, flickering quietly.
Gorsa raised his other hand and pinched the flame out.
In an instant, the red candle melted. Wax flowed down Kongsha’s brown hair, across her forehead, and trickled down from the corners of her tightly shut eyes.
A soft sobbing sound rang from the top of her head.
“Please… kill me.”
Saul froze. Wasn’t that the same phrase he’d so often heard from the puppet dolls?
(End of Chapter)
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