Chapter 198

Ground Zero is the center of a magical disaster, and the lingering residue of dense mana easily attracts spiritual entities.

For that reason, it could also be called the greatest haunted hotspot on the continent.

The evil spirit moving that gigantic rock island must also be a monster drawn in by the magical energy emitted from Ground Zero.

The supernatural phenomenon caused by a poltergeist was also the number one cause of death for adventurers who came to Ground Zero in search of relics or gold.

In the original game Judgment of Candela, the way to deal with this monster was to avoid encountering it from the start, or if you did encounter it, respond with complete indifference.

The orthodox strategy was not to provoke it no matter what happened so that the evil spirit would lose interest and leave.

Because of that, horror-movie-like situations could occur where, even if someone next to you was crushed into a pulp or had their limbs torn off while still alive, you had to endure it without screaming.

But if I’m Winter Winslet, there’s absolutely no need to do that.

“What are we going to do now?!”

“Just watch quietly. I have a plan.”

“What plan?! Should we split up and run in different directions instead? If it’s an evil spirit, it likes tormenting people, so if one person sacrifices themselves we might buy some time!”

Ignoring Rieka, who was shouting loud enough to tear my ears apart, I turned my gaze toward the sky.

The reason I deliberately shattered the floating rock island was to reveal the evil spirit hidden inside it.

Normally, human eyes can’t see souls, but among the spells of dark magic there exists one that allows you to see the spirit world.

[Casting Spirit Eye.]

As the magic activated, I closed and reopened my right eye. Half of my vision shifted from color to black and white.

Since the spirit world has no color, my right eye was now seeing another dimension overlapping reality.

When I looked with the Spirit Eye, I could spot a black shape moving rapidly among the shattered rock fragments.

I aimed my palm toward that shape.

[Casting Soul Absorption.]

Normally, divine power is the weakness of monsters in spiritual form, but dark magic that manipulates the three elements of a human can also inflict meaningful damage.

The effect appeared immediately.

Buuuuung!

The sound of giant insect wings echoed in all directions.

If it were a human, it would have been the scream of an evil spirit convulsing in agony.

At the same time, the rock fragments that had escaped the evil spirit’s control began falling chaotically from the sky.

“Waaaah! Everyone, get out of the way!”

“Gather over here! I’ll put up a barrier!”

Turning around, I saw Trisha and Shannon each casting defensive magic to protect the group.

They were doing well.

Well…except for one person. Rieka alone had thrown herself in the opposite direction from the group.

Boom! Craaash!

Rieka barely dodged the falling rocks by a hair’s breadth and spat out the dust that had gotten into her mouth, complaining bitterly.

“Damn it! What about me?! Is no one going to protect me?!”

“I told you to come over here.”

“…Honestly, when I heard you were academy students, I didn’t trust it. But you’re more skilled than I expected.”

“Of course we are.”

“More importantly, Mr. Employer! Didn’t you just make the evil spirit even angrier for no reason?!”

While Rieka rolled around on the ground trying desperately to stay alive, I wasn’t just standing idle either.

A poltergeist phenomenon powerful enough to freely move a gigantic rock island was extremely rare even in Ground Zero, and as expected, the evil spirit itself was quite high-level.

It was resisting the Soul Absorption spell to some extent and was currently playing a game of tag with me.

It had too much energy, making it difficult to capture, so I needed to drain its strength first.

[Casting Nervous Breakdown.]

[Casting Mind Split.]

[Casting Zinfandel’s Soul Wither.]

As I spread various dark magic spells like a spider’s web, the creature that was flying around to avoid the Soul Absorption spell began getting caught in my curses one after another.

Its movements gradually slowed, and soon the energy possessed by the evil spirit began slowly being absorbed into me.

If this energy were refined through dark magic, it could be converted into a large amount of mana.

Thinking about this, I realized something.

Winter Winslet had a constitution where the more mana he used, the more his soul was devoured by a demon.

But if the mana was obtained externally through dark magic, wouldn’t it be fine to use it freely?

If life force was needed, I could simply obtain sacrifices with Soul Absorption like I did just now.

And if it came down to it, I could even use my own life force.

Just now, when I converted my life force into mana and used it as fuel for dark magic spells, the reaction of cold gathering around my heart did not occur.

Could it be that Winter Winslet possessing a “B-rank” talent in “dark magic” was also the result of reaching the same conclusion as I did and learning it in advance?

I thought it over carefully.

The only reason this works now is because I’m in Ground Zero. In the royal capital, Lambart, wouldn’t it be difficult to find sacrifices with strong energy like the evil spirit I just absorbed?

Unless I were to cause a mass civilian massacre, there wouldn’t be many places to obtain life force of this level…

Actually, there were.

The incarnations of demon worshippers, the undead of the Archmage of Dark Magic, or even the vampires of Keith D’Alembert.

Thinking about it, the royal capital Lambart was practically a den of monsters already, wasn’t it?

If I hunted them, I might inevitably become enemies with the members of the Heptagram Society, but what if I concealed my identity?

Last time I appeared as “Nice Goodman”, an imperial spy. This time, I could debut as a monster hunter.

It wasn’t a bad idea.

Those bastards would only cause trouble in the royal capital Lambart anyway, so perhaps I could quietly hunt them down little by little and chip away at their forces.

And if I steadily gathered life force, it might become a hidden trump card that could save my life in a moment of crisis.

Wooooong…

I carefully stored the energy of the evil spirit I had absorbed with the Soul Absorption spell, temporarily sealing it inside the gemstones I carried as travel funds.

They had turned into cursed gems after receiving the evil spirit’s energy, but I didn’t particularly mind.

A curse of this level wouldn’t affect an 8th-class mage anyway.

Since I still had spare gemstones left, I was considering hunting evil spirits whenever I encountered poltergeist phenomena while traveling through Ground Zero.

Then—

– I was wrong. Please spare me! I won’t torment anyone anymore, so please let me live!

A voice filled with heavy static, like something heard through an old radio or walkie-talkie, echoed out.

It was the evil spirit, on the verge of annihilation, desperately trying to communicate.

Normally, a soul left behind after death gradually loses its reason over time, becoming a thought-form driven only by desire and impulse.

But perhaps because this evil spirit possessed considerable power, it still seemed to remember human speech.

“Are you surrendering? But I have no particular reason to spare you.”

More than ninety percent of its life force had already been absorbed by me. Even if I left it alone, it would likely disappear on its own anyway.

It would be far more beneficial to absorb it completely and convert it into emergency mana for myself.

– I’ll give you money! Money! Do you know who I am? I’m the greatest tycoon in this entire region. Surely you’ve heard the name Amarone? That’s the name of my family.

“I’ve never heard of it.”

– That’s impossible! Then look over there….can you see that mansion? That magnificent mansion is mine. Let me go. If you spare my life, I’ll let you take anything you want from inside my estate. Anything at all. How about it?

The now faint shadow of the evil spirit stretched out as if pointing somewhere.

But when I turned my gaze in the direction it indicated, all I could see was an empty wasteland.

The evil spirit’s memories had stopped at the moment of its death.

That was why it was under the illusion that it was still alive.

“I’m not interested in wealth.”

– Then secrets! I’ll tell you secrets. You’re traveling to the great city of Aslan, aren’t you? You’re going there to watch the grand magic the royal court mages are preparing. The great spell that observes the future.

“…Hmm?”

The evil spirit’s words caught my attention.

Even in the original Judgment of Candela, the history of Ground Zero and the magic kingdom that once existed there was a secret buried beneath the sands of time, with almost no public information available.

And now it mentioned a great spell that observes the future.

It was a secret I had never heard of before, and it instantly piqued my interest.

Could it possibly be related to the magical disaster that created Ground Zero?

The evil spirit continued speaking.

– But it’s useless anyway. The Mage King’s army has closed the gate leading to Aslan. Even Igolar, famous for his loyalty, and Valpurva, who once stained the throne, were turned away at the gates. It seems absolutely no one is allowed to enter or leave the royal capital. Some people say the king is plotting something sinister and doesn’t want anyone to find out… but honestly, where could you find a king as great as him? Ah…I got sidetracked.

The spirit’s distorted voice crackled again.

– But the fact that you’ve kept me alive this long must mean you’re interested in what I have to say, right?

I nodded.

“I’ll hear it out.”

– I know a secret passage that leads to the royal capital, Aslan. If you use that route, you can even arrive earlier than by traveling over land. It’s a passage with a spatial distortion spell placed on it. The very magic that the wise half-dragon Catalayud offered to our kingdom when he defected! So, what do you think? Curious, aren’t you? I’ll tell you where the secret passage is. So please, spare my life!

“Very well.”

– Really? Thank you! You truly are merciful. Good. I’ll tell you where the gateway is. Do you see my estate over there? Follow that direction straight ahead…

I couldn’t see the estate the evil spirit had once owned, but from the way it gestured, I was able to roughly gauge the direction and distance.

The evil spirit added one warning.

– But if you plan to use that path, be careful. That passage was originally a gateway used by Aslan’s mage army. If they happen to catch you, you won’t like what happens.