Diary of a Dead Wizard
Chapter 424: Saul! First Rank!

Just as Rum transformed and was attempting to break the formation, on the other side, Anze looked at the unmoving gray barrier before him and chuckled softly.

“Heh, as expected, something went wrong with Saul. Good thing I never pinned all my hopes on one person.”

Kaz also noticed the barrier trembling. Hearing Anze’s words, his expression suddenly changed drastically.

“Anze, what are you doing?!”

Anze lazily turned his head, the corners of his mouth curling up. “Obviously… taking back what’s rightfully ours.”

“You… you’re insane…” The deep wrinkles on Kaz’s face seemed to stretch taut from the shock.

Anze looked at Kaz, then suddenly reached to his own neck and gave a firm tug.

Over a dozen fine black threads, as thin as hair, were pulled out nearly half a meter from beneath his skin.

Looking closely, those black threads were still squirming and twisting slightly—they were actually slender black worms.

“Go now. Let’s add a little spice for our esteemed Tower Master.”

No sooner had he spoken than Kaz suddenly noticed several Third Rank apprentices standing near the barrier start to tremble violently.

They shook as they raised both arms in unison, hands forming talon-like claws, heads lifted high—and then…

They viciously tore open their own throats.

A torrent of blood mixed with countless black worms splattered onto the gray barrier.

The barrier, which had only been trembling faintly, began to shake violently the moment the eerie blood made contact.

The gray layer on it started to split and shrink, gradually revealing the scene inside.

However, breaking through the gray barrier from the outside wasn’t so easy. The shadowy gray material on the barrier began to struggle and expand again after splitting, attempting to heal itself.

The blood, thick with writhing black insects, kept splashing across the barrier. The gray material melted and regenerated, locked in a fierce battle with the invading corruption.

For now, the barrier showed no signs of being completely destroyed.

Nevertheless, the people on both sides of the barrier were already catching glimpses of each other’s actions through the intermittently clearing patches.

Gorsa, noticing that both ends of the barrier were beginning to falter, stopped attacking the suddenly super-resistant Rum.

Instead, he pulled back his hand and began pressing Vini’s head forcefully against the expressionless face of Yura, who stood motionless nearby.

Sobbing sounds continued to pour from Yura’s body, while Vini began struggling fiercely.

“Kaz, kill Anze.” Gorsa growled as he restrained Vini’s violent resistance, apparently with no energy left to deal with anyone else. He could only order Kaz to handle Anze.

His movements were anything but relaxed—his arm trembled constantly, and a spot on his pink bandage had even torn apart.

On the other side, Rum furiously attacked the barrier even more fiercely, but since Saul had not smashed his spherical vial, for the moment, Rum still could not fully pass through the barrier’s obstruction.

His angry eyes darted back and forth between Saul and Gorsa, as if trying to decide which of them to kill first to vent his rage.

In contrast, Gorsa’s gaze remained calm and gentle.

He merely looked down as Vini’s form, like a human-skin mask, began to fuse piece by piece onto Yura’s body.

“Gudo, if you don’t want to die, then get moving!” Anze shouted. A protective shield suddenly appeared behind him and blocked the spell Kaz had thrown.

He tilted his head toward Kaz. “You’re not my match, Kaz. Just stand aside like Monica. If you really step into the ring, be careful not to die on it.”

Kaz then noticed that Monica and Jero were still standing silently at the back of the crowd.

They hadn’t fled in panic like some lower-rank apprentices, nor had they approached the barrier like the other Third Ranks.

They just stood there quietly, coldly observing everything before them.

Especially Jero, who was even stroking his chin, wearing an expression as if he were enjoying a good show.

Kaz’s facial muscles twitched sharply. He clenched his teeth and said, “You’re right, I’m not your match, but you’re no match for the Tower Master either! And Lady Kira is already on her way here. Once she arrives, none of you will leave alive!”

He paused, taking a breath, then tried to persuade, “Anze, stop this. Considering your years of service and loyalty to the Tower Master, he will spare your life.”

A mocking smile tugged at the corners of Anze’s lips.

“Kira’s not coming. Kenas has already launched a surprise attack, and there’s someone leading a rebellion from inside the Kema Duchy. Kira’s barely keeping herself alive right now.”

“Kenas… dared?” Kaz was stunned. Just recently, Kenas had still been seeking an alliance through marriage with the Kema Duchy.

A thought struck him. “Aruba advanced?!”

“That’s right. Took a lot of my resources, but that waste finally made the breakthrough.”

Kaz’s expression turned grim. “A newly advanced Second Rank. You think he can hurt Lady Kira?”

“What if you add in a wounded but still barely-functional Wilder?”

“What?!” Kaz’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Wilder was also a seasoned Second Rank wizard and could probably hold his own against Kira. If you added the newly advanced Aruba into the mix… it was likely that Kira really couldn’t get here quickly.

“No wonder she never showed up after the test started…” Kaz’s expression kept shifting.

“So, wouldn’t it be better if you just behaved and stepped aside?”

Yet Kaz's response to Anze was another round of fierce attacks.

Anze let out a cold sneer and directly met Kaz head-on.

At the same time, he secretly kicked Lokai. “Hurry up!”

A flash of struggle passed through Lokai’s eyes, but then, as if he had made up his mind, he seized the moment when a portion of the gray barrier turned transparent and thrust his right hand fiercely into it.

At that moment, Saul was following the Tower Master's instructions—carefully pouring a silver potion from a vial into the magic formation beneath his feet.

These potions weren't meant to be directly consumed by Yura.

After all, a soul body didn’t possess organs like a mouth.

Originally, the rejection-delaying potion and the adhesive were supposed to be poured into the magic formation and then, through the formation's effects, infused into Yura's body using magic.

But now, the adhesive was barely effective, so Saul could only proceed with the plan and pour in the rejection-delaying potion first.

At the same time, Gudo—whose abdomen and chest had just been pierced by Gorsa was struggling to rise.

He saw Saul beginning to pour the potion, glanced at Gorsa desperately pressing Vini against Yura, and his face twisted with fury. As if forcibly circulating magic, he suddenly raised both hands, aiming at Saul—

But in that instant, a golden pillar of light struck Gudo squarely in the face!

When the light faded, Gudo’s head was gone. Only a charred, smoking stump of a neck remained.

Gudo swayed for a moment and then collapsed with a thud.

The deafening crash made Saul instinctively glance that way, but Gorsa immediately said, “Focus on pouring the potion.”

Saul quickly gathered his thoughts again and continued controlling the flow of the potion with his mental strength.

The formation beneath him had already begun to emit a soft white glow. It was just moments away from full activation.

At that moment, Yura—already fused with Vini—suddenly began a final struggle.

She opened her mouth and let out two voices full of anguish.

“Kill me!”

“Kill me!”

“Kill me!”

Countless overlapping cries echoed within the gray barrier.

The reverberations drilled into Saul’s skull like a power drill burrowing into his temples.

Sweat instantly beaded on Saul’s forehead, but he gritted his teeth, blood in his mouth, and kept his hands steady.

Clatter!

Yura’s howls seemed to become the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

The gray substance on the defensive barrier suddenly disintegrated like dust, leaving only the transparent layer, which now looked far less sturdy.

At the same time, Lokai—lurking beside Saul—had somehow managed to get half his body through the barrier.

Sparks of electricity flickered faintly on his body. Seeing Saul so close, an excited, twisted grin spread across his face.

“You’re mine now!”

He stretched out both hands, each finger adorned with a purple ring. Purple sparks of lightning crackled from the rings, and the air filled with the sharp stench of burning flesh.

Clearly, these were extremely powerful magical tools.

Possibly tools usable only by True Wizards.

The violet electricity was just about to fully form, and the terrifying attack was seconds from landing!

Just then, the final drop of silver potion fell from the spherical vial.

Saul suddenly stood up straight, all the pain and restraint on his face vanishing in an instant.

Facing Lokai’s attack, he raised his left hand.

As their palms were about to meet, an ecstatic, predatory gleam filled Lokai’s eyes.

But just before their hands touched, a translucent gray tentacle burst forth from Saul’s palm.

It bypassed the purple lightning in an instant, coiling tightly around Lokai’s neck and skull.

Then, like cracking a whip, Saul twisted his waist and flung his arm, spinning once as he yanked the tentacle back with brutal force.

Along with the tentacle came a distorted, translucent soul body.

It trailed through the air in a sharp arc, then slammed into the formation with a violent crash—shattering instantly into fragments.

Lokai’s body instantly went limp, hanging against the barrier and swaying slightly.

The shattered soul body on the ground writhed, struggling to reassemble itself.

But the gray tentacle descended again.

Each of its suction cups turned into a mouth lined with sharp teeth. Like a tornado, it swept through the soul fragments, and in just a few gulps, devoured every last piece cleanly.

A warm current surged through the tentacle into Saul’s body, instantly dispelling all his pain and cold.

“Ah…”

Saul tilted his head back, a look of ecstasy briefly crossing his face.

Silence fell across the battlefield.

Even the mentors locked in fierce combat froze, all eyes fixed on Saul with stunned disbelief—as if seeing the Gorsa of old.

From afar, the always-smiling Jero showed a gloomy expression for the first time.

Monica, who had remained expressionless, suddenly bit her lower lip.

Rum, who had been tearing through the barrier with brute strength, paused midair.

Anze narrowed his eyes.

Kaz was filled with shock, and delight.

Hidden in the shadows and yet to escape, Keli clapped a hand over her mouth in joy, screaming inside her heart: “Pervert!”

Saul!

A First Rank True Wizard!

“Heh~”

Only Gorsa lowered his head and chuckled softly, very satisfied with Saul’s grand entrance.

(End of Chapter)