Chapter 431
Chapter 431
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 431
Chapter Title: Water Spirit Undine
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Winia shouted sharply as she began chanting her spell.
—Spirit summoner.
Only the real deal—serial killers and madmen—could take up the role of spirit summoner.
Spirits were always on the lookout for a chance to kill humans.
And spirit summoners were no different.
They were primal criminals with blurred lines between good and evil, utterly devoid of any aversion to murder. That's what let them play around with spirits.
No one who commanded murder monsters could possibly have normal sensibilities to begin with.
Empathizing with beings who harbored infinite malice toward humanity, exchanging emotions with them—that was something no normal human could ever do.
Spirits' main interests were protecting the environment and nature. And the collapse of civilization. And human death. Spirit summoners undoubtedly shared similar obsessions.
To put it simply, they were no different from imperialists exploiting black folks in sugarcane fields. They treated other people's lives like trash for their own gain and ideology. The murders that resulted? Just par for the course, not a shred of guilt in sight.
In the end, spirit summoners were fiends on par with Hitler, Stalin, and Tojo Hideki.
Guys like Leopold II, who carried out the Congo massacres, or Pol Pot, the butcher of Cambodia's Killing Fields—they had to be spirit summoners too, those psychopathic monster bastards!!!
"Kieeeekeeeeeeeee—!!!!!!!!"
The moment those thoughts swirled through my mind like a typhoon, slamming into my brain, it was only natural for a scream to burst out.
—Fwoosh!
I was already charging forward, sword at the ready.
Winia and Claudy were covering the rear, supporting the fight. No way we were losing this. Pacifist fury fused with radical Neo-Confucian zeal amplified my courage, drawing up my mana—!
"You imperialist bastard!!!!!!"
In the boiling rage, I spotted a nude woman with striking brown skin behind the summoner. Winia had called it a mid-tier spirit.
Which meant it was probably a mid-tier earth spirit.
This big-titted bitch was built to seduce men, too.
What a dangerous body!
"Matellis!"
The earth spirit cried out in a shrill voice.
Matellis?
That must've been the spirit summoner's name. Didn't matter anymore. I had to watch for incoming attacks and the other spirits.
One clean Executive Slash to sever his windpipe.
"Towair, raise a barrier."
—Rumble!
That was when it happened.
With a deafening roar, the ground flipped up, forming an earthen wall in front of them. Pretty damn fast. It blocked them from view.
"Fuck! Claudy! Check for any other bastards! Winia, hurl fireballs over the wall!"
They responded just as I'd asked, moving into action.
Hand the other spirits to Claudy, and there'd be no problem.
"Come out, spirit summoner!"
A V-shaped wall surrounded the summoner right now, making it impossible to rush in recklessly. He was probably prepping murder magic back there.
Entrenched enemies were a pain to deal with.
Especially ones who could use magic.
—Fwoosh!
Winia lobbed fireballs over the wall, but a fierce gust soon snuffed them out.
—Whoooosh!
Safe to say that was the work of a wind spirit. I could see small light-green sprites fluttering above—sylphs, no doubt.
Of course, a wall didn't mean I could just give up the attack.
"You dog! Get out here!! Fuck, if you don't, I'm coming in!"
I bellowed to disrupt any chanting, then immediately dashed to the side, circling toward the back of the wall. That's when the spirit summoner's voice came through.
"...Wait. I don't want to fight."
"What, you fuck?"
That was highly unexpected.
"You don't want to fight?"
"I just want them back."
"So what the hell does that even mean?"
As the summoner spoke, the top of the wall crumbled, revealing them. Dismantling his own barrier? A real sign he didn't want to fight.
Me striking first, and him asking to talk?
This bastard... no way he wasn't an imperialist?
Nah, impossible.
I'd never met a spirit summoner, but I knew they were serial killers.
No chance a guy hanging with murder-crazed spirits was normal.
Humans were everywhere. Traveling with spirits meant eventually running into one—and that led straight to murder. This was exactly that situation.
So why the doubt?
Didn't want to fight?
Maybe he planned to ignore us tougher ones and go massacre villagers? But spirits weren't that convenient. Humans? Just kill 'em all on sight.
Anyway, a bit suspicious, so I decided to humor the conversation.
"Who's 'them'?"
If I could learn about spirit summoners now, it'd make dealing with them easier later. And hey, they hadn't shown hostility toward us.
If they wanted to talk, I was willing.
They'd only raised a wall so far, after all.
"The ones you killed."
The summoner answered.
The earth spirit behind him stood still, eyes closed. Under control? That was genuinely weird. Real spirit summoners were something else.
Controlling monsters? Straight-up astonishing.
"The ones we killed, huh."
Today, we'd only killed a gremlin pack and two spirits. I'd played dumb earlier, but I already knew, so time to answer.
"You mean the Undine? And Sylphidra?"
"Yeah."
"But they're already dead. Can't get 'em back. Just like the villagers the Undine killed."
The dead didn't come back.
Undead existed, sure, but that wasn't "coming back"—not like a monkey's paw or anything. Ghosts, phantoms, evil spirits? Same deal. They were dead.
Even in this world, no raising the actual dead.
"Three. Three villagers died... So what do you want back?"
Fuck if I knew what he wanted returned.
Did these freaks with warped sensibilities see spirit lives as recoverable somehow? When I asked, he replied in a grim voice.
"...They left behind jewels. I'd like those back."
Jewels?
No, fuck—this was about handing over 5-silver cores.
What a piece of shit.
"Too pricey, no deal. Got two, so 20 silver and they're yours."
Of course, money talked—I'd hand 'em over for cash.
This was a world where lives were bought and sold.
"...No money. And they're not yours."
"No money? Then they're not yours either, you dumb bitch."
No clue where this fucker got the confidence.
"I killed 'em, so they're mine."
"...You had no right. No right to kill them, or take their souls."
"No right my ass. They killed people, so they die."
"They only killed to eat. If that's wrong, then humans live in sin every day."
One thing clear: spirit summoners were total psychopaths. He stared into space like he was high and said it.
"What bullshit is this? Kill people to eat?"
"Spirits die without food, too. Gotta eat to live."
"Then just die."
The only good spirits were the dead ones turned to cores. If they starved? Let 'em all croak.
My answer made him sigh pitifully, closing his eyes.
"You guys are all the same... You refuse to understand spirits. That's why we fight eternally, never reconciling. Peace is right there, but..."
What the hell was this nonsense?
Not high on drugs—high on his own ideology?
"Nah, understanding? We're different species in different situations. Who's not getting it? You, asshole. Let's start with spirits and humans being different."
Fuck, his logic didn't even hold together.
We fight and hate because peace is far? Bullshit— he was basically saying Undine eating people out of hunger was fine.
I couldn't comprehend it, but this twisted ideology seemed perfectly logical in his head.
Definitely not normal.
That's why he could bond with spirits—thinking on a totally warped level no normal person could. Only spirits and summoners thought like that.
"Humans till soil and slaughter livestock to live. Understand that, and you could understand spirits eating people..."
"Then let them eat you."
Now I got what he wanted.
The summoner was a suicidal nut.
By his logic, he could just feed himself to the spirits.
"...That's not what I meant."
"Not what? Bullshit. Fuck, unbelievable. Just offer your own body."
"I vowed to serve human-spirit harmony. Giving my body would miss the point."
Fine. Yeah, figured as much.
Good words were easy. Just say 'em. Demand others keep promises while breaking your own—that's humanity.
Even as a spirit summoner, human at core, talking like that.
"So you don't wanna die, you want the weak to die instead?"
"...I could give my body. But if I die, it's over. No one left to speak for harmony."
"Well said. Yeah, death's the end. Everyone's like that. Die, and done."
He scowled and shut up at my reply.
Obviously didn't wanna die.
"..."
Couldn't understand him, but it was enlightening about spirit summoners. Even without hostility or demands to fight, I knew we couldn't let him live.
He stood purely on the monsters' side, advocating for them. No wonder he was incomprehensible.
Like no universal truth—different species and environments meant no understanding. Fish and pigs, same deal.
Preach equality, pig drowns in water. Fish hits land, suffocates.
Differences were real, so harmony impossible. Especially with life-or-death stakes—no compromise.
That was the story.
"So. What brings our spirit summoner friend here? Hunting Undine?"
"...Yeah. I sensed her and came looking. But you killed her."
"Find her and what?"
"Take her away. Staying here just means death by humans."
So, clearing monsters from near the village?
Unclean ideology, but right action.
Yeah. Even a spirit summoner knew.
Monsters harming villages got killed, period. Human society didn't tolerate them. So if he came to clear 'em? Good job.
Though he'd just kill elsewhere.
Taking her away meant murders elsewhere—no change.
"And that's what happened... She lost her life. With the Sylphidra I sent."
"Killed people, so she died. Obviously. Don't take it too hard."
You'll be next soon enough.