Chapter 23

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

At this moment, Miller was no longer as handsome as he used to be. Dark scars crawled all over his body, and his originally handsome face was covered in burn scars. His entire face seemed to have melted, twisting into a pitch-black mass. There were only two holes left where his nose had been.

Now, he was hiding in the distance, looking angrily at Michael, who was squatting on the ground picking mushrooms.

Although he escaped in the chaos that day, he was seriously injured and only managed to run a few steps before he fell to the ground and could no longer get up.

The battle with Michael had exhausted all of his magic power, and the running just now had exhausted all of his strength. Now, he was lying on the ground, unable to stand up even after trying for a long time.

“What right does that Michael have?! You forced me to this point.” Miller thought back to what he had been through the past few days. He had clearly been looking for trouble with Carl that day but Michael had insisted on interfering.

Not only did he lose his original mission reward, but he was also about to die. Miller could feel his blood flowing out of his body bit by bit, seeping into the ground beneath him and merging into the dark forest.

It was said that every year, apprentices who failed the annual assessment would be driven into the depths of the Dark Forest to die. Their mana and bodies would be absorbed by the Dark Forest and become nutrients to appease its consciousness.

No!

He was unwilling to die like this.

He didn’t want to become some plant nourishment, just like that.

Miller’s consciousness gradually faded, leaving only hatred and unwillingness in his heart.

This hatred attracted the black magic circling in the dark forest. They penetrated Miller’s body and surged into his body.

Soon, all kinds of dark scars appeared on Miller’s body. Dark magic power shuttled through his body and entered every blood vessel, forcing the red blood inside to flow out of his body.

The Dark Forest’s consciousness had targeted Miller, who had been infected like the other magical beasts.

Amid the blur of immense pain, Miller was paralyzed on the ground, unable to move or even scream. His physical touch, enhanced by black magic, allowed him to clearly feel the magic power that replaced his blood gradually condensing into a spirit body.

If it was a spirit pet, it would have ended at this step. However, the evil spirit in Miller’s body was still not satisfied. As a mage, Miller’s mana was much more than a spirit pet’s, which gave his black magic a certain amount of intelligence and volume. It was beginning to feel dissatisfied with just curling up in its blood vessels. After the black magic spirit’s aura and magic waves passed through Miller’s body many times, it finally found a place it liked.

That was Miller’s abdominal cavity. It seemed to feel hot and located inside the body, so it drilled into it. However, the black magic spirit was tired of the internal organs inside.

So it stretched out its tentacles and cut Miller’s stomach all the way to the bottom of his neck. Then, he opened the wound on both sides. The black magic spirit reached its tentacles into the wound and pulled out the organs that were originally hidden in the chest and abdomen, one by one. Then, it swallowed them into its own body and turned them into its own magic power.

A bag-like stomach, intestines, lungs…

Every time it devoured an organ, the black magic spirit would become stronger.

Soon, Michael’s abdomen was empty, and only his heart was still beating tenaciously. It looked like a fish that had its belly cut open and washed.

Finally, the black magic spirit touched the heart lightly. This beating thing seemed to have attracted its attention. It used its tentacles to touch Miller’s heart for a long time, but it did not move in the end. Instead, it stuffed itself into Miller’s abdomen and used magic to sew up his open belly.

Unlike the infected magic beasts, Miller was now more like a corpse that could still move.

When the black magic spirit was devouring him, he had been forced to stay awake. The immense pain made his entire body twist. He kept trying to scream, but under the control of the evil spirit, he could not make a sound.

The moment the spirit released its control, Miller fainted from the pain.

After that, although Miller still had his own consciousness and could even control the evil spirit in his body, he had also become neither human nor a ghost.

They could only hide in the depths of the Dark Forest. Otherwise, he would be killed by the mages if he was discovered.

The thought of revenge filled Miller’s mind.

Miller had been waiting in the Dark Forest for Michael to arrive.

He knew that Michael would definitely come to see if he was still alive. In order to succeed, he planted magic mushrooms made by black magic spirits everywhere in the dark forest.

The real magic mushrooms could increase the magic power of apprentices. However, the function of the fake mushroom was to connect the user and the caster with the same life.

The magic mushrooms made by the black magic spirit were almost identical to the real thing. Even many high-level mages could not recognize them.

Not to mention the apprentices and mages present.

Moreover, this magic mushroom had to be picked and eaten immediately, or it would lose its effect.

Miller planned to find trouble with them after they ate. When Miller was injured, Michael would also be injured because of the effect of the same life.

“If I can’t live, you can forget about living either. Let’s die together.” After Miller used the black magic spirit to conceal his aura, he secretly observed Michael’s direction.

“There are so many magic mushrooms.” Michael distributed the magic mushrooms he had picked to his teammates and ate a few for himself. He carefully checked it several times before eating it and then asked Kanal to check it a few more times.

After confirming that it was indeed a magic mushroom, they dared to eat it.

The magic mushroom’s magic power was injected into their bodies, and their magic power followed. The other apprentices also found the magic mushrooms and ate them happily.

In the end, all the apprentices ate magic mushrooms.

This fake magic mushroom was almost the same as the real one. It could increase magic power and was almost irresistible to apprentices.

However, this bit of mana was not attractive to high-level mages.

The few high-level mages who had come to check the magic mushrooms briefly found that there were no problems. They were relieved to let the apprentices eat them.

Miller, who was peeping from afar, almost burst out laughing.

“I told you to hit me when I’m down, but you didn’t come to me, did you?”

“You want to take the opportunity to find alchemy materials, right?”

“Hahahaha, since you’re here. Then die with me.”

Miller laughed maniacally. If he charged out, he would definitely be killed by the Advanced Mage on the spot.

However, if he used the Dark Magic Mushroom, all the attacks aimed at him would be reflected on all the apprentices. Even a high-level mage would not be able to save them.