The Tale Only the Dead Can Hear (Part 3)
A faint trace of mana coiled around my hand as I recited the pre-arrest declaration. A cool smile spread across Nora’s clear face.
Emily stepped in front of her.
“Sorry… but I can’t let you do that.”
Emily’s eyes sharpened like blades.
“I need Nora.”
Marianna quickly raised her bow, but Emily’s black mist turned the arrow to ash in an instant.
“To return Adel’s soul….”
Emily finished her words and summoned the aura of death around her.
“You won’t be able to stop me.”
I watched the scene, drawing the dagger from my waist. I erased the face-off magic still lingering on my body.
“Hah… so you were human after all?”
It was easier to move with my original body.
I ignored Nora’s words.
“So you plan to sacrifice another soul to save this one?”
I asked slowly, voice low, aimed at Emily.
A tiny tremor ran around Emily’s mouth.
At that moment Nora sneered.
“Words won’t reach her. Emily, handle it.”
The moment his words fell, the black mist began to surge like a storm from Emily’s hands.
A black magic saturated with the aura of death spread in all directions.
Then all the elf women brought their wrists to their mouths.
“……!!!”
They looked as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.
The women bit into their wrists as if it were a vow, all at once.
Teeth dug deep enough to expose bone. Blue blood flowed across their pale skin.
Blue droplets danced in the air before gathering into one spot.
“I’m sorry.”
Along with Emily’s trembling voice, the blood droplets of the elf women swirled around her and merged into a massive dark aura that enveloped her.
Emily’s red hair darkened as a dark magic circle began to form beneath her feet.
“Senior, a black magician!”
“I know.”
Marianna stirred the wind and braced herself tighter.
Unlike mages who draw on natural mana, black magicians consume souls and life force, so the energy they use corrupts the surroundings.
Corrupted air naturally includes natural mana as well.
That is why clashes between mages and black magicians usually end in destruction.
That was why Marianna’s caution had spiked.
“Marianna, cover me from long range.”
“Yes, senior. Be careful.”
After confirming Marianna’s position, I pulled the dagger from my pocket.
I sliced through Emily’s dark magic circle with the dagger and advanced.
The sword spirit emitted blue light and severed the darkness magic. But new darkness rose from every cut place.
“Useless.”
“You’ll know that if you try.”
“Your blade can’t beat my black magic. I don’t want to hurt anyone else anymore. Run away.”
Emily’s cold voice echoed from the darkness.
It wasn’t bluster. Her ability was overwhelming. She wouldn’t do this just for a con artist.
She was probably waiting for her chance beside her precious person—Adel’s soul.
“Words like that won’t erase your sin.”
My words made Emily’s black mist waver for a moment.
“And you’ll only know that by trying.”
A clear voice came from behind my back.
Shwaaang.
The arrow pierced the darkness. Marianna’s eyes were bloodshot.
But the black mist greedily devoured the arrow and turned it to black ash.
Again.
Marianna created a wind current centered on her position, leaning against the wall.
“Please help me.”
A soft voice muttered alone reached my ear.
Blue energy bloomed from her fingertips and swirled through the air.
The whirlpool of wind pushed Emily’s black mist away. I didn’t miss the opening and sliced through Emily’s black mist with the dagger.
But the aura of death was too strong.
Marianna’s whirlwind of wind vanished into the black mist for a moment.
“Not working….”
Marianna bit her lip.
She knew her magic was infinitely weaker than Emily’s, yet she couldn’t give up.
Marianna changed her stance again.
Arrows with mana and wind wings flew one after another.
Shhh. Shhh. Shwiiick—
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
She didn’t give up.
Dodge the black mist, sometimes upward, sometimes sideways.
But arrows with wind wings shattered the moment they touched Emily’s black mist.
Then, inside the mist, burning particles of light.
A single feather from a shattered arrow sparkled like a small star, blurring Emily’s vision.
“Ugh….”
Emily frowned as if her eyes were blinded for a moment.
“Please.”
Marianna pulled the string again.
A tiny whirlwind formed between her fingers, and this time three arrows flew at once.
The blue trajectories drawn by each arrow intertwined in the air, weaving a magic net that wrapped around Emily’s black mist.
And the astonishing sight that followed.
Emily’s black mist disappeared as if being sucked into Marianna’s magic net.
“……!!!”
Black magic can’t be purified.
When two opposite properties meet, they explode or destroy each other. They don’t get absorbed by one side.
Yet Marianna’s magic net was absorbing Emily’s black magic.
“How….”
Emily murmured.
Her pupils contracted and dilated toward Marianna.
Marianna’s magic net was surrounded by an indescribable beauty of light.
A vast curtain of light made from tiny dots of light gathered together.
Spirit.
“Thank you.”
Marianna murmured.
Dozen spirits were burning their own bodies to push back the black mist. One of them was the fire spirit I had met in Therion’s garden.
Marianna glanced at me.
‘Now.’
I sprinkled faint mana on the dagger.
Blue lightning crackled from the blade.
“This is….”
Emily stared at me with surprised eyes.
Summoning lightning without incantation or magic circle was something you rarely saw.
I advanced one step at a time, slow but sure.
Every time I swung the dagger, the black mist split.
At the same time, Marianna spread the magic net over the elf women.
Half of the elf women, who had been laughing and half screaming, howled like monsters while trapped in Marianna’s net.
Emily frowned.
“I didn’t want to do this.”
She waved her hand and sudden darkness appeared from nowhere.
The darkness flew like a flock of crows and surrounded us.
Something brushed my ankle for a moment.
Looking down, the black mist was wrapping my ankle.
A cold aura began to spread through my whole body.
“Evan’s warning wasn’t wrong.”
I said to Emily, mentioning the eldest child’s name.
Her pupils contracted.
For a moment she flinched.
I didn’t miss the opening and sliced the black mist with the dagger.
I twisted the wrist to pour the blue aura of lightning fully into the blade.
Every time I took a step, blue flashes pushed the black mist away and shredded the dark aura at my feet.
And finally I stood right in front of Emily’s nose.
The dagger pointed at her neck.
Black tears flowed in Emily’s eyes as she looked at me.
“You… you know my children?”
Her voice trembled.
And she lowered her eyes in surrender.
Emily’s gaze fixed on the small pink unicorn doll dangling from the tip of my dagger.
A cute little unicorn doll swinging from the dagger’s end.
“This is….”
Emily’s face turned pale for a moment.
Then came the words of little Emily rising again.
‘Please show this doll to Mom.’
Emily had said.
If she showed her favorite doll, Mom would stop fighting.
And now her reaction… she was acknowledging me as Emily’s mother.
Emily’s face began to tremble.
And soon it twisted horribly like a demon.
“Why do you have this?”
Her voice trembled.
“What did you do to my daughter… my daughter?”
For a moment an immense power surged out.
“Uwaaaaaaaa! No!!!”
Along with Emily’s scream, the air in the room froze instantly.
Her red hair darkened like blood and began to dance in the air.
It seemed she thought I had done something terrible to her siblings.
“I’ll kill you!”
Along with her shout, the black mist turned into sharp spears flying toward me.
Thousands of death spears poured from all directions.
“Senior, be careful. It’s a cursed weapon. Anyone who touches it loses life force.”
Marianna, leaning against the wall, shouted.
Anything that touched the spear blades turned into black smoke.
Both solid and liquid.
A single plant pot on Nora’s desk turned into black smoke.
The desk, the books, and the chair all became smoke and scattered.
Thousands of spears flew in.
When I sliced them with the dagger, the cut mist twisted like a snake and rushed back at me.
Emily’s black magic kept changing shape and tightening around me.
“Even your life isn’t enough….”
A black sphere formed in Emily’s palm.
A sphere of death growing by devouring her life force.
As the sphere grew larger, Emily’s skin grew paler, but her eyes burned with madness.
The moment the sphere was about to burst, I said quietly to the excited Emily.
“Eric, Evan, Emily.”
Emily stiffened at the names.
I didn’t miss the opening and continued.
“They’re all alive! Your children are doing well! They’re living bravely and missing Mom every day!”
Emily’s black mist paused for a moment. Black blood dripped from the corner of her mouth.
“Uncle Tairy James is protecting them.”
I said it once more.
“That pervert?”
Emily’s eyes returned.
“My crazy brother. Emily said if I met Mom, don’t fight and show her this doll. That he’s Mom’s own son.”
At the mention of her daughter’s name, Emily’s stiff face softened slightly.
What was her real name?
While the question flashed through my mind.
At that moment, Marianna’s arrow shot in and grazed Emily’s shoulder.
“Ugh… ugh.”
Before Emily’s groan ended, I whispered.
“I’ll save your husband’s soul too. First, step back.”
At the word “husband,” Emily stiffened.
“Tsk tsk tsk… how naive.”
Nora clicked her tongue.
“That’s why… women are useless.”
Emily spoke quickly, still relaxed.
“It’s the Elf’s Bone artifact. Be careful.”
He took out something from his pocket and held it up.
“Hehehehe.”
And with a sinister laugh, he dripped his own blood onto the object in his hand.
“Elf’s Bone artifact?”
Marianna shouted in shock, having realized immediately.
“So that’s why you could use the ancient elf’s barrier magic.”
A crown-shaped artifact floated above Nora’s hand.
A crown woven from elf bones. A jewel glowing with red light was embedded in the gaps.
“Yes, yes. You really know your elves. It’s a red jewel made by condensing elf blood.”
Probably that artifact was binding the souls of the elves.
By draining their life force, the weakened elf souls were forcibly sealed into the artifact and controlled like puppets.
And as expected, when Nora dripped his blood into the Elf’s Bone artifact.
“Kyaaaaaaa.”
The elves’ screams echoed.
Every time the artifact activated, blood-red threads extended from the red jewel and wrapped around their necks.
Their pupils turned red.
Then they began to move all at once like monsters.
The elf women trapped in the magic net twisted their bodies as if they were about to be torn apart at any moment.
We had to deal with them quickly.
An ancient elf barrier magic using life force as cost.
If we left it like this, the elf women in the magic net would die.
“I have no more use for you. Surrender, Nora.”
“Can you even get out of here?”
“Plenty.”
Blue lightning burned at my fingertips.
A weapon I created by crossing countless death lines.
The pale blue light was not, but an intense lightning that sliced through the sky danced in his palm.
I reached out my hand.
The room instantly filled with blinding light.
BOOM!!!
A thunderous sound accompanied by lightning collided with the ancient elf’s barrier magic. The explosion shook the room.
But the ancient elf’s barrier had no fine cracks.
“You thought that would be enough?”
Nora laughed madly.
“As expected.”
I clicked my tongue lightly.
And I relaxed.
I didn’t realize a smile spread across my lips.
“So you’re finally crazy?”
I twisted my wrist slightly.
The air in the room vibrated and blue lightning revealed its majesty between the black mist.
“That… what is that lightning….”
I pushed Emily’s low groan aside.
The lightning twisted its body even more and spat out a frenzied roar.
Rumble.
A flashing blue lightning bolt engraved in the air.
It fell straight onto Nora’s body.
Kwaakwaaang.
Nora’s violent scream filled the room.
He had called the elves with the artifact to protect himself, but the elf women were blocked by Emily’s black mist.
He didn’t know.
The specialty of the spirits.
Spirits are nature itself.
‘Manifestation of nature.’
No matter how strong the barrier made with life as cost, it was only artificial power.
And the spirits are nature and life itself. Primitive order beyond rules and laws. The spirits transcend the cycle of life and death.
The spirits willingly threw their bodies at my lightning.
Thud.
The Elf’s Bone artifact he was holding like a treasure rolled across the floor.
The ancient elf’s barrier magic disappeared.
Marianna ran like the wind and snatched the artifact.
And she bit her own wrist and dripped blood into the artifact.
The pupils of the elf women who had been howling gradually regained their life.
“W-where am I?”
“What happened?”
Faint voices echoed in the room.
Blue spheres floated from the Elf’s Bone artifact Marianna held and entered the women’s bodies as if returning to their original places.
“It was like a nightmare…”
“They took our blood every night…”
“And… and….”
One elf raised her hand and looked at it.
Her wrist still had clear bite marks.
Some elves burst into tears, some trembled in terror.
“Senior. Nora, that guy. He’s the culprit in the chain disappearance incident of the elf women.”
Marianna said to me.
Her hand trembled faintly.
At that moment one of the oldest-looking elf women slowly stood up.
“Thank you for saving us. But….”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Many friends have already never come back forever. Their souls are….”
“We can find them.”
Emily said firmly.
The madness had left her face, leaving only a mother’s desperate longing.
“They should be in the same place as Adel’s soul. There’s a hidden storage room where he used to say like a habit every day. We can definitely find them there.”
I slowly lowered the dagger and nodded.
And Emily looked at me as if she had something to say.
I said to Emily.
“Eric, Evan, and Emily are at Uncle Tairy James’s house right now. We’re looking into a few things before transferring them to the capital Clovan City. Especially Emily, who has such outstanding magical potential like a mom, I’m not sure if the imperial magic tower will accept her….”
As I looked at the scar engraved on her hand, Emily smiled bitterly.
“There’s no place that accepts us easily.”
Emily’s hair, which had been dyed black, returned to its original red.
I approached Emily and asked.
“What’s your real name?”