Chapter 170
Chapter 170
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 170
Chapter Title: The World's Strongest Spirit User (5)
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Lilia yanked the Radiant Spear free and slammed it into the floor.
Kwachik!
Just like the walls, the floor was meticulously finished with wood, but it pierced straight through, embedding itself deep into the soil beyond.
The Radiant Spear, blazing with extra-bright light, stood tall like a glowing pillar. It wasn't quite daylight... but it was far brighter than any ordinary oil lamp. Even Galen, with the eyesight of an average person, no longer had to struggle against the darkness.
Under that harsh light, their foe looked even more grotesque.
"What the hell is... this?"
At first glance, he'd mistaken it for a person because of its vaguely human silhouette—but it was literally just a silhouette.
It was like someone had draped themselves head to toe in pitch-black tights.
It reminded him of the sea ghosts he'd seen before. Not quite a proper human form, more like a mannequin.
The difference was, those had felt made of liquid... while this one gave off a vaguely gaseous vibe? Of course, since it had taken a hit from Lilia and collapsed, it couldn't be actual gas.
"It's a Nightmare."
Lilia, crouched down examining the fallen creature closely, spoke up.
"Another evil spirit?"
"Yes."
"The Siren at least looked somewhat alive. This one's way more freakish. How come these things I've never even heard of keep popping up?"
Galen grumbled.
Of course, he knew the reason. Evil spirits were handmade toys crafted directly by demons, so they wouldn't show up unless a demon descended.
"How strong are they?"
"A bit shy of Silver during the day, Gold or higher at night? Oh, not quite Gem level."
There were outliers among the evil spirits like that. Things that got demolished by Gems but overwhelmed lone Golds. Drake, the so-called king of evil spirits, was a prime example. The massive gap between Gem and Gold made it possible.
It was nothing to Galen and Lilia, but that was just because they were overpowered. Even prestigious families would struggle against such evil spirits.
"And one of those shows up in the heart of their manor? Kinda hard to claim they were infiltrated."
"The location's too suspicious."
Galen smirked as he asked, and Lilia grinned back.
Setting aside the Nightmare for a moment and scanning the room.
It was quite spacious. Especially considering how deep underground it was.
It wasn't just a hole dug in the dirt—the walls, floor, and ceiling were all reinforced with solid wood paneling. Unless an earthquake hit, it wouldn't collapse and bury them.
Most importantly, the large crates stacked everywhere.
Galen rummaged through one that had been smashed when Lilia barreled through the wall.
Most of the space inside was filled with bundled cloth for padding, and there was just one item: a small shield sized to fit on one's arm.
"Let's see."
The moment he picked up the shield, a sinister magic seeped out, trying to worm its way into his body.
Along with faint hallucinations echoing from somewhere far away.
Galen scoffed, effortlessly crushing the cheap trick.
"Yep, a cursed weapon."
"Got more here too!"
Lilia quickly checked other crates and found more cursed weapons. Every random one she opened was a hit.
That was why cursed weapons were so tricky to handle. They looked normal to the eye, but touching them triggered their eerie whispers, alerting even commoners that something was off.
"Tsk tsk. Should've hidden them better. No point if they get caught this easily."
"I'm not defending the Spirius family or anything, but isn't this pretty well hidden...?"
Lilia tilted her head at Galen's tongue-clicking.
She had a point, actually.
Secret rooms always left clues, whether in passages or chambers themselves. Uneven wall thickness, odd ceiling heights, different echoes on the floor.
How else could you detect a room buried standalone underground with none of that?
It was a feat only Galen could pull off. The Spirius family would weep blood if they knew he'd cheated them like this.
"Eh, results are what matter. No matter how hard they tried, we found it in one shot. End of story—they're the idiots."
"Good that it went smoothly, but it feels kinda anticlimactic. Though I guess it's even more so for them. Better to strike tonight?"
"Yeah. The sooner, the better."
He didn't know how often the Spirius family inspected this cursed weapon stash, but they couldn't rebuild the shattered wooden wall. Best to sweep in before they noticed the traces.
"Let's interrogate this one quick and head back. Wake it up?"
"Sure!"
Lilia pulled the Radiant Spear from the floor and thrust it straight into the Nightmare.
"Kyaaak?!"
The unconscious evil spirit shrieked awake, forcibly roused.
Before the poor Nightmare could even grasp the situation.
Galen's prepped magic fired off instantly.
"Wha... what is... this...?"
No mouth, so who knew where the voice came from. It had spewed black smoke instead of blood even after the Radiant Spear impaled it—was this even a proper living thing?
As Galen pondered that minor curiosity, the Nightmare's dazed voice dragged on.
And it would never snap out of it now.
The Siren had resisted Demonic Whisper fiercely because it was her own ability. The Nightmare's resistance was pathetic. It grunted a bit, but Galen crushed it in seconds.
Soon, a twitching black mannequin spasmed faintly—born anew. Definitely grosser than the pretty-faced Siren, at least.
Galen swallowed his disgust and asked.
"What were you doing here?"
"Resting... waiting... guarding... "
A gloomy voice replied.
"Guarding this warehouse?"
"Yes..."
"How do you get in here?"
"Magic... assimilate with darkness... and move... possible..."
"...So you can just slip in from outside? Without breaking through the ground?"
"Yes..."
What? You could do that? Like teleportation? Sounded tempting just hearing it.
Galen's eyes gleamed. He could even tolerate the Nightmare's slow, stupid speech compared to the Siren.
"Fine, whatever for you. What about others? Can the family humans get in here?"
"Spirit... use... move the earth..."
"Spirits?"
"Wow, smart thinking."
Lilia marveled, piecing together the drawn-out words.
"They use spirits to open paths whenever needed? Like you did, brother."
"Probably. If they have an earth spirit, they could do something similar to me."
Bloodlines all learned the same magic, so family mages weren't that different. Except for Gems with altered constitutions.
Spirit user families were a slight exception. They all had spirits, but not necessarily the same type or element.
If a Gold had an earth spirit, digging through soil would be easy. Like Galen.
Deal with that spirit user and the Nightmare, and the warehouse stays nicely sealed.
The former could be found by checking family records, but the latter only now.
"How many other Nightmares besides you? How many came here?"
"Five... including me..."
"Where are the other four?"
"Guarding... one is enough... four... other duties..."
"They're out. Would be nice to take them all out clean."
Galen licked his lips and got Lilia's nod.
"Mind if we watch how they fight? For future reference."
"Not trying to gain something like with the Siren?"
"Ah. Busted."
"Kidding. I'm all for you getting stronger! Experiencing it firsthand helps."
"I'll go easy. Now, attack me."
The last part was to the Nightmare.
What Galen didn't know was how vast the difference in motivation for mind-controlled targets—doing what they hated versus what they wanted.
The moment his words ended, the Nightmare's magic surged outward.
The shadows, pushed back by the Radiant Spear's light, suddenly came alive like tentacles lunging forward.
Shaaaak!
He didn't know that part, but he did know the gap between them and the Nightmare was insurmountable.
The writhing black tentacles were sliced clean off. Lilia had instantly drawn a new Radiant Sword and swung it.
The sword moved too fast to track, shredding the tentacles into dozens of pieces in a blink.
"Not strong at all?"
"Room's too bright? It's practically daytime."
"Oh, right? Shall I dim the light a bit?"
"No need. Just wanna see the style. Can I try too?"
"Sure!"
This time, shadows formed blades and charged. True to her word, Lilia held back.
Instead, water blades blocked the shadow blades.
Pfufufut!
'Darkness' or 'shadow' just meant absence of light—no real substance.
So he'd tested if special countermeasures were needed. Seemed not. Miracles and magic blocked it fine.
The unexpected 'special' reaction came from elsewhere entirely.
Earth Bind Lv.??
Progress to next level: ???%
Earth Bind's magic suddenly began to waver.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong?"
"No... something's..."
He'd seen it a few times, recently too. He knew the phenomenon.
Encountering a new evil spirit's power triggered an existing spell's evolution.
What puzzled Galen was that Earth Bind got selected.
What connection did a barrier spell have with shadow control?
Like how Spirit Creation and Demonic Whisper shared a hidden root despite seeming unrelated—did these two have a common thread too?
"Guess I need to take a hit to know."
"Take a hit?!"
"It's nothing serious, this attack. Might help me figure it out."
"...Fine. But don't let your guard down completely?"
Lilia nodded, relenting at Galen's serious gaze.
With permission, he dismissed Water Flow Manipulation.
The shadow tentacles flew unhindered, stabbing at him in unison.
Thud thud thud!
Of course, Earth Bind repelled them all. Even wavering, it was far beyond what a weakling Nightmare could pierce.
Ignoring that, the commanded Nightmare kept attacking, and Galen kept defending.
Direct contact intensified the shaking. Inspiration teased at the edge of his mind, frustrating him.
Maybe because Earth Bind was so easy to learn and rarely used in real fights, he'd never delved deep? Unlike Spirit Creation, nothing clicked solidly.
But fortunately.
The status window didn't demand crystal-clear enlightenment. Never had.
Just like stealing and learning spells automatically in fights with enemy mages.
Keep taking hits from the Nightmare's magic, pondering... and suddenly, it evolved on its own.
Earth Bind's status display changed completely.
Just like Spirit Creation had before.
"Stop."
Galen halted the Nightmare's attacks and frowned.
Unfamiliar sensations bloomed, flooding his mind with alien info and engraving new spell knowledge—triggering a splitting headache. The backlash was especially fierce this time.
He instinctively knew why.
'I didn't gain true enlightenment myself, but Lv.69 knowledge got force-fed all at once.'
Even after the injection, he still didn't truly grasp how barriers and shadows were the same category.
As a mage, he hadn't fully comprehended the renamed magic's essence. The status window had just crammed it down his throat.
'Need time... or a trigger.'
For now, this would do. Galen shook his head lightly, massaging his temples.
Snapping out of thought, the first thing he saw was Lilia, face full of worry.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
He gave a faint smile at her dripping concern.
"Had an insight, but it came incomplete, so it took a sec to sort my head."
"Glad you're okay..."
"No issues. Got what I needed from this thing too."
He hadn't pierced Pitch Black's 'overall' essence yet, but the 'individual' sub-spells worked fine. Status window for the win.
"Oh, so now you can use shadow tentacles too?"
"Not in that gross way, no. Objectively, it's not more powerful than my other spells... but I did snag an interesting use for it."
"Interesting how?"
"Mind dimming the lights? Hard in bright spots."
Lilia dispersed the Radiant light willingly. The room plunged into darkness. Only her eyes glowed softly.
Galen summoned Pitch Black magic.
Tuning the new knowledge to his freshly opened senses.
"Since I'm not a Nightmare, there'll be some limits, but—"
Once aligned, precise intent infused the Pitch Black magic.
Darkness fully enveloped Galen.
His presence vanished from the room.