Chapter 310
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 310
Chapter Title: Spirit and Madness
The last specter crumpled to the ground, its head smashed by Bern's attack.
It had been an intensely fierce battle, and even Bern was breathing heavily, quite raggedly.
"Aiden, you alright?"
"Yes, Sir Bern. Whew... They were stronger than I expected."
"We could pull it off thanks to the openings you created."
The two were able to exchange such words because the source of the erosion phenomenon was that powerful.
Meanwhile, the Jara Mercenary Corps had taken considerable damage as well.
Thanks to Jun's appropriate handling, there were no fatalities, but there were plenty of wounded, so Eleanor was bustling about tending to them.
"......"
Jun gazed at the battlefield's aftermath, then turned his eyes from the fading erosion phenomenon.
"This isn't good."
The number of specters lingering at the erosion phenomenon had been close to a hundred, by rough estimate.
In contrast, the horde that had swarmed the checkpoint numbered in the thousands.
By simple math, that meant there were dozens more sites like this.
Even in the game, you wouldn't see erosion phenomena on this scale unless the Heavenly Sky Church was going all out.
It meant they were dead serious about blocking the emperor's retreat.
"Can you move?"
"Thanks to you, not to the point of dying. Planning to head out right away?"
"We have to."
At those words, Alkymond nodded as if he understood, tending to the wounded as he rose to his feet.
The invasion of the checkpoint would resume as early as tomorrow.
If they delayed even a little more, they might get caught in an assault on the way back and perish.
Aware of that, even the wounded got up without complaint and began retracing their steps.
It had taken a long time coming due to scouting the terrain and monsters, but the return trip required no such thing.
They focused solely on returning, running the full day, and just as expected, the specters' invasion began the moment they arrived at the checkpoint.
Seeing that, Alkymond let out a low sigh.
"Well. No time to rest, it seems."
Thanks to the scouting party's efforts, the number of incoming corroders was noticeably reduced.
Still, it wasn't a small number by any means, so the mercenaries once again ventured outside the checkpoint to fight.
By the time the battle ended...
Most of the mercenaries, unable to hide their fatigue, retreated into the camp for rest.
"Captain Jun. Thanks to you, this scouting mission went off without a hitch. My gratitude."
Having heard that other mercenary corps had suffered casualties, Alkymond made a point to thank Jun personally.
Jun nodded silently. He thought it was still too early for such thanks, and headed toward the meeting hall.
"Out of the total ten scouting teams, five encountered erosion phenomena."
"That means there are even more at greater distances geographically...? Their mobility is better than expected?"
"Given the corroders' nature, they have no stamina limits, and specters are faster than horses... It's entirely plausible."
"Not good. We don't know how many more enemies there'll be, and there's no word on how long we have to hold this place."
The biggest issue was the endless wait without any end in sight.
The Mage Tower had assumed that once they reached this End Field, there'd be further word from the emperor, but nothing came.
In the worst case, they might have to hold out until the end of this season.
And after forming these scouting parties, reports of unexpectedly heavy mercenary losses were becoming a headache.
"How about additional reinforcements for the scouting parties?"
One mage made the suggestion, and a few others seemed ready to agree, but only a few.
The mages with actual combat experience argued that just increasing numbers wouldn't cut it.
"Specters are monsters that exploit gaps. We need to create gaps they can't find, and simply adding more bodies won't solve it."
When gaps formed even among seasoned comrades fighting in sync, leading to casualties, teaming up with total strangers would only amplify the fallout.
"At this rate, casualties will mount, and mercenary discontent will grow."
Though they were mercenaries hired by the Mage Tower for this mission, every one of them was elite enough to reach the 8th layer.
They might tolerate it now for the Mage Tower's reputation, but if losses grew worse, they wouldn't stay quiet.
These weren't low-tier grunts they could afford to burn through. Every one held at least a Platinum mercenary plate.
"It seems the Mage Tower mages should join the scouting parties as well."
"Tower Master Ranes. You serious?"
Just like in the first meeting, Ranes called for the mages to participate.
Naturally, the reaction was negative.
In a way, it was understandable.
There weren't many mages who could survive unscathed on the 8th layer without at least reaching the 7th circle.
Without experience on the level of Tower Master Ranes, it was impossible.
But still, wasn't it true there was no other way to break this situation?
With mages handling offense, the mercenaries could focus purely on defense.
That would naturally plug the gaps and reduce casualties.
The problem was whether the mages here could trust the mercenaries with their lives.
They might have hired them, but entrusting their lives was another matter entirely.
"But it's also true there's no other option besides this proposal..."
"You want me to entrust my disciples' safety to lowly-born mercenaries?"
"So you planned to hide safely in the checkpoint forever?"
"What did you say?"
Given the topic, the meeting room heated up quickly, and in the end, no side achieved much before it adjourned.
The consensus was to cool overheated heads and discuss again later.
"Something's off, as expected."
"Indeed."
Returning to their camp, Ranes and Jun sipped warm tea as they reflected on the meeting.
"Endo. His reaction was rather lukewarm."
"Yes. Like a child unable to decide, wandering aimlessly."
Jun figured it was fallout from his own influence.
"His orders from the marquis are clashing with his own judgment."
"His own judgment, you say."
"The corrupted spirit embedded in him from consuming the Evil Spirit Orb. If driven to frenzy, it could unleash enough power to wipe out the checkpoint in one go."
"But at the cost of losing his reason, right?"
"Precisely. More accurately, it's better phrased as the corrupted spirit seizing his body."
"Corrupted spirits..."
There was hardly anyone more authoritative on spirits than Ranes.
Even she, however, had never heard of corrupted spirits.
She'd never seen one, and even spirits themselves were ignorant of their existence.
But ignorance didn't mean they could just leave it be.
In the midst of their conversation, Ranes's eyes suddenly shimmered with iridescent hues.
A phenomenon caused by the condensed natural energy of spirits.
Jun realized in that instant that her mind had left this dimension for the spirit realm.
'The more I see, the more astonishing it is.'
The ability to shift her consciousness to another dimension at will.
Different from Maya's spiritual dimension.
The spirit realm was another facet born from this dimension, making it possible.
But Ranes was different.
She communed with a world born in an entirely separate dimension.
She was likely the only one who could traverse dimensions so freely.
"......"
Quite some time passed waiting for Ranes to return.
Her eyes, wrapped in rainbow light, blinked once, and as if by magic, the glow vanished, her original gaze returning.
"Whew..."
"Did you learn something?"
"It's... a complicated tale."
"......!"
The origin of corrupted spirits was something even Jun didn't know.
Yet Ranes seemed to have uncovered something after a brief trip to the spirit realm.
"Jun. What are spirits, exactly?"
"Spirits... Typically, they're self-aware entities born from clumps of spiritual energy, formed from the mana composing nature."
"Mm. Close enough. But self-awareness doesn't just arise with time."
Their self-awareness doesn't generate from nature itself.
The spirit realm.
Known as the home of all spirits, a place whose origins are unknown.
"Thus, spirits are the will of nature, as you said, but sometimes they become bound to other things. It could be a region, a massive mountain itself, or even a single small tree."
"......"
"And occasionally, they choose to bind themselves to humans."
"Bind themselves..."
Naturally, what came to Jun's mind was Monghwan, who had fallen into a deep slumber over the past few months.
"And as you said, spirits possess self-awareness. Some children simply love drifting lazily on the wind, while others are full of mischief."
Suddenly, Ranes extended her hand, and natural energy rippled above it, swirling around inside the tent.
"It's akin to the source of a spirit's power. A spirit without emotion is no different from nature itself. But sometimes, emotions become the cruelest weapon that destroys them from within."
"Sounds like you're saying spirits can get depression."
"If only depression. They can fall into madness too. Of course, for those children who live eternally, reforming even after dissolution, it's not something that happens easily."
Spirits are nature itself, unobsessed with anything. Thus, they are infinitely free and light.
But precisely because of that, once they fall into madness, they become utterly savage, it's said.
"Very rarely, spirits begin to obsess over something. And the madness those children acquire can be so ferocious it shocks even fellow spirits."
"Is that how corrupted spirits gain their madness?"
"It seems some trigger causes it. Perhaps being forcibly bound to a human body accelerates the mania."
"Hm..."
"The story veered off a bit. Though it's something that must be revealed eventually. Back to the point: Endo seems to fear the corrupted spirit dwelling within him."
Not everyone loses reason when the corrupted spirit frenzies.
In truth, it's less the spirit's frenzy and more the human unable to withstand the spirit's suddenly overwhelming power, rampaging.
"If we could separate the corrupted spirit from Endo, wouldn't pulling him to our side be a viable option?"
"Of course, that'd be ideal, but..."
It was practically impossible.
Not right after swallowing the Evil Spirit Orb, or before the corrupted spirit awakened—maybe then.
But Endo must have consumed it decades ago.
He'd been coexisting with it.
'If that were possible, the empire in the game wouldn't have fallen so quickly.'
Of course, impossible in the game didn't mean impossible in reality. Jun had pondered it long ago, but the lack of a sample was the biggest hurdle.
"Or persuading him could work too."
"But if it fails, the backlash would be huge, no?"
Endo likely assumed they knew nothing of the corrupted spirit.
No, he'd dismiss it as mere suspicion. Without clear evidence, there was no way to prove it.
But if Ranes, of imperial blood, confronted him with certainty, it would change everything.
Endo might panic and act rashly upon realizing he'd been exposed.
'Not a great option.'
Endo, whose thoughts had grown complicated due to Romnell's betrayal.
That had bought them time, averting the worst.
However, there was one fact Jun was still overlooking.
Ranes was an authority on spirits... and had long taken interest in the one spirit dwelling within Jun.
"It seems about time for it to awaken, hmm?"
Living as the Mage of the Hero Party Chapter 311