“What are you doing here? Want to fight me again?” Saul had no mood for sympathy at the moment.

He was still wary of the roots that made up Shaya’s body, but to his surprise, Shaya didn’t shy away and directly stated his purpose.

“I was ordered to only pretend to pursue you. During the battle, I was to seize a fragment of your soul body.”

“Interested in my soul body?” Saul thought of something, but didn’t let it show. He only replied casually, “You’re directly telling me what you were supposed to do secretly. What’s your aim?”

The roots behind Shaya suddenly spread out slightly, and one root approached. Its tip began to swell and vaguely took on a human form, with visible head and facial features. Two forked tendrils transformed into the shape of arms.

He looked much more like how Wizard Shaya used to appear.

“I used to prepare a lot of escape plans. But I also considered—what if one day I were resurrected and became a ghost enslaved by someone else?”

“You bastard…” Saul hadn’t expected Shaya to have made so many backup plans for himself.

“If I died outright, all of it would’ve been meaningless. But the current situation proves my preparations were thorough. I have my own methods to maintain my soul’s independence. I won’t be easily controlled by others, and even if I’m deceived, I can find a way to recover.”

Shaya raised the two arms formed of roots. “It’s just that now I’m trapped within this plant’s roots. If I hadn’t come out to chase you, you probably wouldn’t have been able to escape the restraint.”

He lowered his hands and looked at Saul. In his wooden, expressionless eyes, there was a faint trace of eagerness.

“I’ve long noticed the servants around you. The static fields on their bodies are off. They’re actually all dead bodies inhabited by souls, aren’t they? I want the method you use to transfer soul bodies into other corpses.”

Saul was a bit surprised at Shaya’s sharpness. Given his cautious nature and endless array of tactics, if not for the power of the Inverted Tree, Shaya probably wouldn’t have ended up like this.

“What do you have to trade?”

“I’ll let you leave unscathed.”

Saul curled his lip. “You don’t think that without your permission, I couldn’t leave anyway, do you?”

Shaya paused. Looking at Saul’s calm and indifferent expression, he began to waver.

Though the two had performed a few sweeper missions together, Saul always maintained a restrained, peaceful demeanor, as if no one had ever forced him to reveal his true strength.

Shaya didn’t believe that a First Rank wizard could escape unscathed from the multitude of roots—but if they truly fought, their agreement might fall through entirely.

“I don’t have much to offer in my current state. But… do you want to know the secret of Bayton Academy?”

Saul was indeed a bit curious about Bayton Academy’s secrets, and just as he was hesitating whether to get the information from Shaya, the diary suddenly flipped open to Ann’s page.

[Master…]

Because she knew she had done something wrong, An’s handwriting looked particularly cautious.

[I know some things about the Inverted Tree Andasonia, and probably more than Wizard Shaya does.]

“An knows?” Saul thought, “Looks like her time inside the tree wasn’t for nothing.” Then he changed the topic.

“You mean Andasonia? I actually know a few things too.”

That completely stunned Shaya.

It wasn’t strange for Saul to know the tree’s name—some who knew surface-level information also called it that.

But Andasonia was the true name of the Inverted Tree in the field of magic. It represented the essence of this magical creature, a name the average person had no way of knowing.

Shaya himself only learned it after being imprisoned deep inside the tree. So how did Saul know? Could it be that his mentor had once taught him this knowledge?

Shaya didn’t dwell on the question too long. He didn’t have much time left. If the tree’s owner noticed something was off, it could easily pull him back and send another soul in his place.

Then he’d get nothing.

With that in mind, Shaya softened his tone and no longer held himself so stiffly.

“I have a backup residence by the sea. It’s very well-hidden. Inside, I’ve stored all the wraiths I’ve collected and traded over the years. I know you specialize in dark elements and are gathering wraiths. If you teach me how to allow a soul body to move freely in a corpse, I’ll tell you where the storage is.”

Having said that, even though he had no heart, Shaya felt a twinge of pain in his chest. That was his years of savings!

He really shouldn’t have stored all his wraiths in a single underground chamber!

Now he had to hand it over all at once.

Saul’s eyes lit up at that. Was this guy a hoarder? That was a ridiculous amount of stockpile.

From the faint wrinkles on Shaya’s face, Saul could tell there were probably a lot of wraiths.

And whether it was for building soul-based equipment or re-establishing his own Wizard Tower, Saul needed large quantities of soul bodies.

“Then we have a deal.” Saul wasn’t greedy. Once he heard a satisfactory offer, he agreed.

Shaya sighed in relief. In his current state, there weren’t many people he could make a deal with.

Fortunately, the fairy contract between him and Saul hadn’t expired yet. Otherwise, they’d have to waste a lot of effort figuring out how to ensure the transaction was fair and without deceit.

Once the oath was made, Saul generously recited the formula for a potion that delays soul rejection.

Shaya had to memorize it mentally. He didn’t dare write it down on any medium, fearing the tree’s owner might detect it.

After memorizing it painfully several times and confirming he wouldn’t forget it soon, Shaya looked up and said to Saul, “Now let’s fight.”

Saul smiled slightly. The black blade condensed above his head slashed down without hesitation, instantly severing one of Shaya’s arms and several of the roots beside him.

Though the two had come to an agreement, in the lower hierarchy of the Inverted Tree, they had to pretend they had tried their best to battle Saul, only to retreat when overpowered.

But Saul didn’t bother with the pretense—smiling one moment and flipping the table the next. Even if it was just for show, wasn’t that strike a bit too much?

Still, it was too late to complain. Shaya could only scowl and direct the mass of roots behind him to attack Saul and his carriage from three sides.

“If I can’t steal your soul body, I’ll at least take something from you. Otherwise, how can I prove I gave my all in the pursuit?”

With that thought, Shaya commanded the roots to attack even more fiercely.

“So when An and I were attacked back then, the roots ignored me and only targeted her because someone was directing them.”

Ever since he rescued An, he hadn’t had the time to ask her why she snuck underground or what happened inside the Inverted Tree.

Now it seemed she had mostly recovered. It was time to properly interrogate her.

While fighting, Saul retreated toward the carriage.

His carriage had already activated its defensive formation, but under the intense assault of the roots, it wouldn’t hold for long.

The coachman Marsh curled up on the driver’s seat, hugging his head, with the mushroom on his head trembling.

Strangely enough, the roots didn’t attack him either—as if they truly mistook him for a mushroom.

Saul controlled the dark soul blade and sliced through the approaching roots with several swipes. Agu assisted from inside with spells like “Slickness,” which weren’t powerful but used clever angles to evade attacks.

Little Algae had been fighting the roots from the start. Now it was entangled in a messy brawl, but looked more like a bundle of weeds than anything fearsome.

When most of the roots were cut down, and Shaya still hadn’t managed to injure Saul’s side, he became frustrated and finally understood why Saul didn’t fear his threats.

With the dark soul blade, Saul was practically a natural enemy of plant-based creatures.

In the end, Shaya could only watch helplessly as Saul left, seething with rage.

As if their transaction had never happened at all!

(End of Chapter)

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