Diary of a Dead Wizard-Chapter 121: Tendril Aren’t Always Cool

Byron once again jerked his lips at Saul, signaling for him to take the lead.

But Saul hesitated for a second and ultimately refused.

“Senior, I have my own way down.” He tapped the back of his neck.

A slender black tendril extended from behind Saul’s neck.

The tendril grew longer and longer—stretching out three to four meters—twisting joyfully around Saul.

These past days had left Little Algae totally pent up.

It circled around Saul and gave a little shudder, splitting one tendril into two. Another tremble—two became four.

The four tendrils waved in the air, then shot into the ground like sharp blades.

With a taut pull, they lifted Saul clean off the ground.

Byron stared at the tendrils, his lightbulb-like eyes swaying slightly. “Hm?”

“You recognize this, Senior?”

“Mm.”

Saul sighed. “Let’s talk about it after we’re down.”

“Mm.”

Byron gave the tendril one last look, slid over to the edge of the hole, leaned down, and floated downwards.

Saul had Little Algae carry him down too.

But with no foothold, his whole body swung in the air, following Little Algae’s movements.

Its tendrils pierced into the surrounding cave walls in rapid succession, descending quickly. They just had to be careful not to slam Saul into the walls.

As he swayed back and forth, Saul felt more like a duck strung up in a roasting oven than anything remotely cool.

Still, it beat Byron’s method.

Ten minutes later, Saul landed on solid ground, dirt-covered and exasperated, just in time to see Wright holding back laughter as he untied the knot on Byron’s mouth.

Down here, the space was surprisingly much more spacious than the surface.

At least now they could all stand upright.

Bill stood guard nearby. Now that they’d gone deep underground, enemies and monsters could appear at any moment. They couldn’t afford to relax like before.

But when he saw Saul descending with those black tendrils, he couldn’t help but steal a few glances.

Wright was the last to notice Saul’s new look. He gasped and abandoned Byron, running straight over.

“Hey—those tendrils! Are those from the Soul-Devouring Mire?”

He reached out to touch them, but Little Algae instantly retracted back into Saul’s neck, radiating disdain.

Wright’s disappointment was written all over his face. He even turned to ask Saul, “Did you find that in the abandoned lab under the tower?”

“I did.”

The abandoned lab wasn’t exactly a secret, so Saul nodded.

Though technically, Little Algae had followed him out, not been “found.”

“But I’ve been there a few times, and the Soul-Devouring Mire never leaves the lab. How did you get it to graft onto you? Can you sell me the method? I’ll give you fifty—no, sixty credits!”

Saul was tempted, but…

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“My method requires getting the Soul-Devouring Mire to bond with you. Senior Wright, when you went to the lab, did it approach you on its own?”

Saul’s words instantly extinguished Wright’s excitement.

“No, it doesn’t like me,” he muttered, the light in his eyes dimming. “It only tried to strangle me.”

Bill, who had been mildly interested, also lost his curiosity after hearing that.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Saul shifted. A chubby, worm-like creature burst from the cracked earth, maw wide open, lunging at Saul.

Saul leapt back, pressing himself against the tunnel wall. His hands flew up, preparing to cast a Strike Undead spell—

But a cloud of purple smoke engulfed the burrowing creature first.

It was quickly subdued and fell limp, unmoving.

Bill sucked the purple smoke back into his mouth, revealing the worm’s now pale-violet body.

“You need to learn how to cast spells mid-combat,” Bill said with a practiced smirk. “Enemies won’t always wait for you to chant and gesture.”

Wright had already stepped up to examine the corpse. “A tunnel worm.”

Saul approached out of curiosity.

He’d heard of tunnel worms—deep underground dwellers.

Despite their name, they were more plant than animal. Their digestive organs and outer skin were favored materials for apprentices’ experiments.

But once Wright enthusiastically dug up the entire body, Saul noticed something odd: they were supposed to be gray-brown, but this one had turned a purple-brown.

“Oh no! Bill, you’ve really got to stop randomly poisoning things!” Wright complained, poking the worm with a metal rod. “Look at this! It’s useless now!”

Bill just shrugged. “Then next time, you’d better move faster.”

Saul was a little disappointed too, but he didn’t show it. He figured there’d be more chances.

Just then, Byron, now back to normal size, approached Wright.

His mouth stretched out and pressed against the worm’s outer skin.

Glug glug glug...

With a sound like boiling water, the worm’s skin gradually returned to its original gray-brown color.

“Byron, I’m really starting to love your little mouth!” Wright exclaimed in delight.

Bill, on the other hand, looked less amused. Arms crossed, he shot a sidelong glance at Byron. “You should be careful what you suck in. Some of my toxins don’t even have an antidote.”

Byron simply gave a quiet “Mm,” whether he took the hint or not unclear.

Saul paid no mind to the subtle tension between the Third Rank apprentices. As a Second Rank newbie, he stepped up to handle the loot.

Wright eagerly helped him extract the full tunnel worm.

It was as thick as Saul’s forearm and two meters long—a small fry, by adult tunnel worm standards.

The real big ones lived even deeper underground.

Saul took out a silk-woven sack from his backpack. With a flick, it expanded to human height.

Wright deftly slid the worm inside.

Saul cinched the opening, and the bag instantly shrunk to the size of a leather ball.

Not spatial magic, but a compression technique powered by mana.

He patted the bag, feeling pretty satisfied.

If they could find a few more worms today, this trip wouldn’t be a bust.

With mixed emotions, the group continued on.

They seemed to have reached a plateau—no more downward slopes, just straight, level tunnels.

Saul looked around eagerly, hoping for more good finds. But the underground was still fairly barren. No random mobs like in a video game.

Which made sense for a place that had been explored by predecessors for decades, even centuries.

Saul took a deep breath and adjusted his expectations.

But then Byron suddenly stopped, and Saul nearly bumped into him.

He peered around—Bill and Wright were frozen too, arms raised, backs taut.

They were in defensive stances.

Peering through the gap between their bodies, Saul finally saw what had put everyone on edge.

Up ahead, the path split for the first time—three tunnels in total.

Each wide enough for two people to walk side by side.

And in the middle tunnel, a procession of pale gray, translucent human-shaped phantoms was marching forward.

They walked in a line, lifting their legs high and setting them down gently, tiptoeing like they didn’t want to wake something.

Their upper bodies swayed softly with each step. Their heads bobbed slightly.

They had no arms…

(End of Chapter)