Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Dream Interpretation Beats Dreaming (5)
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"There's no time."
"How much time is left?"
"The children are already weakening, and soon..."
"Children, you say?"
Closel's gaze swept over my face.
Familiarity rose in my mind from the elves.
It felt small and precious.
When Romnell came to mind, the strongest emotion was pity.
Irene's face carried gratitude toward me.
"Many of the children have already died."
The peak of the mountain.
Even though I hadn't seen or experienced it myself, I knew every detail.
What kind of atrocity had unfolded there.
It was a brutally cruel method to ruin even a single elf.
Crunch -
It wasn't quite the sound of stepping forward.
The rustle of grass brushing against grass.
Crunch -
Mingled with the elders' footsteps in between.
"It looks like someone's cleared a path."
Half right.
It was a path made by the trees, grass, and earth.
The quickest way to get there.
Nod.
"Like the forest path you walked last time?"
Nod.
"Hoo..."
Nod.
"I didn't even ask this time... I see."
Closel seemed to understand something as he scanned the surroundings.
My nods weren't directed at the elder.
The elves' spirits filled the area around us.
Every time I passed, the spirits bowed their heads.
This was my answer to their call.
Nod.
Fading as they were, they didn't stop greeting me.
I had to stop walking along the path.
A spirit covered in burns over its entire body.
A hideous hole pierced its neck.
I voiced the emotions that surfaced.
"You've suffered greatly."
The raw emotion poured through.
Anger and sorrow.
Pity and hatred.
Perfectly balanced amid it all.
A spirit that hadn't lost its harmony.
"Well done."
A smile formed naturally.
"Hmm..."
Something had been bothering me since I started greeting the spirits.
The flow of mana surrounding me and the elders.
I knew what spell it was for, but it felt utterly unnecessary.
"..."
From the flow, it seemed I could dispel it.
The thought arose naturally in my mind.
Tinkle -
"What..."
"It's not needed."
With one swing of the rattle, the mana flows returned to their places.
This was far more natural than the twisted currents.
"You probably know this already, but... there are necromancers ahead. Now that the spell's broken, they've likely sensed us."
"Doesn't matter. This is more natural."
I just said it offhand, but Closel's expression turned strange.
A face deep in thought.
"...'Natural,' huh. You're talking like an elf again."
Nod.
We were drawing closer to an increasingly foul aura.
Before the possession, it had felt filthy; now, it was just repulsive.
"Shouldn't we hurry?"
"We can't do that."
"I see."
The elders didn't question my words further.
They looked like it was a routine thing—as if there must be a reason.
"A little slower."
"Got it."
Something kept echoing in my head.
A tingling sensation swept over my body.
It felt like the World Tree god connected to me now was teaching me something.
Nod.
The more wounded elf spirits I encountered, the clearer the scenes became.
The curse ritual they'd endured flowed into my body.
"So that's how you did it."
Now that I knew what it was, I couldn't help but scoff.
The method and principle were so crude.
Primitive to the point of being barbaric.
A mere imitation without any proper system.
"What..."
As I comforted the spirits, I naturally learned how to release their grudges.
That was what curses exploited, but this method seemed crafted by someone who didn't even understand what a grudge was.
So the unresolved grudges were flowing to me...
Nod.
Another spirit passed by, conveying a scene.
The spiritual energy created a tingling sensation in response.
Parmon elder looked toward one spot and spoke.
"Looks like necromancers are coming."
"Phantom steeds, probably. Don't mind those clowns who can barely manage a 3rd Circle spell."
Three necromancers descended from the sky.
Riding horse spirits.
"Not elves—humans."
"Two old men and one youth..."
The moment I saw them, the spiritual energy began flowing wildly on its own.
Not by my control.
This was the teaching.
I stepped forward, blocking the two elders who tried to advance.
"They're dangerous for you."
Unlike Parmon elder, full of worry, Closel watched me silently.
"Ramon, hold on. Maybe..."
"Hm?"
How could they ride spirits like that?
They looked clearly like horse spirits...
"To think they'd even enslave animal spirits..."
It was like the wraiths.
The horses' forced whinnies rang clearly in my ears.
Tinkle -
The rattle's sound cleared my mind.
Practice time.
"You three rotten bastards."
"Hm?"
"What?"
"Hand it over nicely while I'm asking."
Crunch -
Crunch -
My body approached them slowly.
They waved their hands with disdainful looks.
"Curse Fear."
"...."
"Perish in terror."
They showed no worry at all, fully believing I'd collapse.
Crunch -
Turbid mana enveloped my body.
A spell to induce fear, it seemed.
Not true fear, but an illusionary kind.
Far cruder than what evil spirits used.
It couldn't stop my steps.
Crunch -
"How...? palsy! Darkness!"
Several spells flew at me, but they had no effect either.
Guiding the tingling spiritual energy in the same direction dispersed their magic effortlessly.
"...Tch! Dark Arrow!"
Dark black arrows materialized in the air.
Whish -
Thud.
Plop.
The dull sensation of the dark arrows thudding against my body.
"Even my Headless could do better than this."
When a god speaks through me, not even the tightrope can scratch my body.
Much less these clumps of stray energy.
Pure mana might be different, but this was like mischievous imps playing around.
"What did you do, you bastard?"
It felt completely different from the curses I knew.
Unlike the retaliatory curses I'd flung before.
This wasn't a curse—it was mana-induced phenomena.
And that mana was made from turbid deathly qi.
It mimicked curses but wasn't one.
"Curse Fear! Curse Fear!"
Unable to believe it, he kept spamming curse spells at me.
"Ha... those horses you're riding. You'll have to get off so I can comfort them all."
The filthy energies swirling around were making my mind restless.
Tinkle -
The rattle shook, and the energies found harmony.
"Can't you hear me? Get off."
The necromancers' eyes widened in shock.
"Without even using Dispel magic... how?"
"Summon all the undead."
The necromancers simultaneously emptied their pouches onto the ground.
Pour -
Clatter -
"Well, now."
Human bones.
Since no lingering attachments remained, they must have been from people who'd long passed on.
"You dig up graves too? That'll make it hard to live long..."
I guarantee no one who desecrates graves lives well.
Though these guys probably couldn't live like humans anyway.
"Summon Skeleton!"
Clack clack -
The skeletons assembled and rose.
Dozens of them.
A thick aura of death wafted over.
"So that's the principle behind this? No wonder no spirits linger."
The necromancers' spirits were linked to the skeletons.
Like a master-slave bond.
A faint connection, but linking to such things corrupts the soul itself.
Clack clack -
The skeletons advanced toward me.
Any normal person seeing this would faint.
Skeletons walking isn't a pleasant sight.
"I'll have to soothe these folks too, so put them down quietly."
Tinkle -
The spiritual energy spread quietly around.
"Is this right?"
Doesn't feel like it.
The tingling grew stronger.
Tinkle -
Is this the method it wanted to teach me?
Pure harmony.
Where the spiritual energy passed, balance returned, halting the skeletons.
Halt.
"Even if only your bodies remain... I'll soothe you soon, so wait just a moment."
A good amount of spiritual energy drained out.
If I hadn't built it up, I might have collapsed from exhaustion.
"Tch!!"
The mana around the skeletons intensified, reviving their movements.
Groan -
Crack -
"Hmm..."
Tinkle -
What harmony is this now?
My head filled with the rattle's sound.
Scenes of smacking Headless on the head flashed by.
"Ah... right. That's why you can smack spirits with the rattle."
The deity must have given it for this purpose too.
I swung the rattle at the skeletons' heads.
Smack -
Tinkle -
"Gah...!"
The necromancer took the impact.
Oddly, no mark appeared on the skeleton.
Because I'd struck the spirit, not the flesh.
Smack -
Tinkle -
"You're the owner of these spirits... right?"
Smack -
Just three times.
That was enough.
The necromancers writhed on the ground.
"What..."
"Haha..."
The elders' hollow laughs reached me.
"It's their natural predator."
Clatter -
The masterless skeletons crumbled down.
"Now let's hurry. I've learned all there is to learn."
"There'll be more undead ahead. You seemed fine just now, but..."
"I'll soothe them all."