Chapter 16 - 016_Evil Spirit
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016_Evil Spirit
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Seeing the Headless Knight split in half and vanish into dust, Rodney sheathed his White True Steel Sword and let out a thin breath.
"To think it wouldn't even let the Headless Knight that gave us so much trouble get close... The 'Kashima Old Style' really has an amazing effect."
The Source Power 'Kashima Old Style' that Rodney had obtained was a talent for comprehensive martial arts, starting with the sword. Having acquired it, Rodney could now handle the White True Steel Sword as if he were a different person.
Each swing became a part of his body, and the more practical combat he accumulated, the deeper his understanding of battle grew.
"Ah, I got 'Sharp Qi' from that one, Big Brother."
Emilia, even if she ingested Life Light Stone orally, only felt pain and couldn't acquire Source Power. So she normally broke the Life Light Stone with her hands and used it.
Thus, she could obtain Source Power without any pain or suffering, so whenever she got a Life Light Stone, she used it immediately.
The effect of 'Sharp Qi' was to manipulate energy, and by wrapping it around a sword, the blade became sharper or more durable. Not only that, it could also be used to intimidate an opponent and to strengthen one's own body. It was a Source Power with a very wide range of applications.
Normally, 'Sharp Qi' would be something they'd want all soldiers exploring the 4th layer and below to learn, but considering the tribute, they couldn't easily let them learn it.
Among the elite forces exploring the 6th layer, there were soldiers who had learned 'Sharp Qi', which was an intermediate Source Power. However, since the Source Power obtainable from the 5th and 6th layers were also tempting, Squad Leader Rodmel was having the soldiers acquire Source Power while considering the balance of the unit.
"Alright, let's search for True Ore while defeating Headless Knights and collecting Life Light Stones."
"Yes!"
"Yes."
The Life Light Stones that Rodney and his group collected were for their own use. But if there were leftovers, they could give them to the territory's soldiers. By doing so, the soldiers would become stronger, which in turn would help collect Life Light Stones for tribute.
As Rodney searched for True Ore, he felt something off about a derelict house that looked nothing out of the ordinary. His 'Keen Sense' was detecting something from within that abandoned house. It was something that wasn't a Selvanui.
"Looks like there's something. Don't let your guard down."
"Leave it to me, Big Brother."
"Understood."
He opened the door, which looked like it would break at a touch, and peered inside. It was no different from other abandoned houses—just an interior with broken furniture and debris scattered here and there. There were no Headless Knights or other Selvanui.
He concentrated his senses and looked around the interior, but he couldn't sense anything there.
"That's strange..."
"Big Brother's intuition isn't always reliable, huh~"
"Sorry."
Since the abandoned house was small, the search didn't take long. Just as he was about to give up and head outside, he noticed a change in his own footsteps.
Rodney lightly knocked on the floor with his fist. Only that part made a slightly different, lighter sound compared to the rest.
Rodney drew his White True Steel Sword and cut the floor. The floor collapsed with a clatter, revealing a set of stairs.
"No way! Who would have thought there was a staircase leading underground in a place like that!?"
"Lord Rodney, shall we explore it?"
"Of course. I have no intention of leaving a hidden room that we found by chance."
He wasn't sure if it was a room or just a passage, but from his memory of his previous life, it seemed like the kind of situation where a room would be there.
He lit a torch. Slowly he descended the stairs. It was a fairly long staircase, but after about 40 steps, the space appeared. It was too large to be called a room, and the rock face was rugged.
"Ah! Big Brother, look at that!"
Emilia had found something, so Rodney and Yulin strained their eyes.
"I don't want to think it, but..."
"It appears to be a deposit of True Ore."
There was a red glowing stone there. Rodney and Yulin immediately recognized it as red True Ore. Once every few years, red True Ore was discovered, so they had seen it a few times and it remained in their memory.
"Looks like quite a bit."
"Normally, when True Ore is discovered, it's less than 10 Rodem, but there are glimmers that seem to be red True Ore all over the place. I think it's an amount that wouldn't be covered by 100 or 200 Rodem."
Rodney thought it was a huge discovery.
"True Ore is really expensive, right? Awesome!"
Seeing Emilia's eyes turn into gold coins, Rodney gave a wry smile.
"I hope nothing pops out when we go inside."
Wryly smiling at the words that could be taken as a "flag" from his memory of his previous life, Rodney warned the two not to let their guard down.
As the three stepped into that wide underground space, the air became tense.
"!?"
It appeared without warning. It seemed Rodney had triggered the flag.
It was a Selvanui in a black cloak floating in the air. The inside of the cloak was pitch black, making it impossible to tell what was there, and the face part was also pitch black. Furthermore, it held a large scythe, and Rodney thought it was a Selvanui like the god of death from his memory of his previous life.
"Is it an Evil Spirit!?"
Unable to help clicking his tongue, Rodney drew his White True Steel Sword and gave orders.
"Spread out!"
At Rodney's instruction, the three deployed so as to surround the Evil Spirit.
"What kind of Selvanui is an Evil Spirit?"
"Physical attacks don't work on Evil Spirits. Probably, my sword and Lady Emilia's sword won't be able to wound it."
"What!? What are we supposed to do then?"
"We have no choice but to fight with special-type Source Power."
"Don't worry. With my True Steel sword, I can damage even an Evil Spirit."
As the three shared information, the Evil Spirit began to move. It seemed to float gently, but in an instant, it closed the distance with Yulin and swung its scythe.
For a moment, Yulin braced herself to receive it with her greatsword, but she couldn't stop the Evil Spirit's scythe with her greatsword. By the time she realized that, the scythe had passed through her greatsword. Yulin leaped far backward, barely dodging the scythe.
"The scythe passed through my sword. As expected, physical attacks seem to be ineffective."
At Yulin's explanation, Emilia grimaced and fired a 'Fireball'. The 'Fireball' hit the Evil Spirit, whose attention was on Yulin, and it emitted a grating sound.
At the same time, Rodney kicked off the ground, closed the distance with the Evil Spirit, and slashed with his White True Steel Sword. There was almost no feedback, but it was the same with the Headless Knight, so he thought he had cut it based on the slight resistance he felt.
The Evil Spirit that Rodney had slashed let out a grating sound and vanished from that spot.
"What?"
It hadn't turned to dust and disappeared. Having lost sight of it, Rodney stood frozen.
"Lord Rodney, behind you!"
If not for Yulin's voice, Rodney would have become prey to the Evil Spirit's scythe. Ducking low to evade the scythe, Rodney then did a forward roll to reorient himself.
"This thing, can it use teleportation?"
It had attacked him from behind right after he thought it had vanished, so that was Rodney's thought. However, in Rodney's memory, there was no record of an Evil Spirit teleporting.
He had bought several books on Selvanui and studied daily, so he was certain. Though he couldn't rule out the possibility that there was still information he didn't know.
"Maybe it can become invisible?"
Emilia, who had fired a 'Fireball', suggested it might be the ability to become invisible rather than teleportation. That was possible, but either way, it was equally dangerous.
"What a troublesome one. When the Evil Spirit disappears, we won't know where it will appear. Don't let your guard down."
"Yes!"
"Yes."
Dodging the Evil Spirit's attacks as it disappeared and appeared in someone's blind spot, Rodney and the others gradually dealt damage. Unfortunately, the attacks from the White True Steel Sword could damage it but not fatally. The 'Flame Bullet' also hit, but didn't cause major damage.
"This Evil Spirit might be a Long-Lived Species (Recafu)."
"Indeed, it refers to an individual that lives longer than normal Selvanui..."
"I don't care about that, but I don't like that I can't fight with my sword!"
The term Long-Lived Species (Recafu) referred to individuals stronger than normal, and the word meaning "long-lived" was applied to them. However, whether that Selvanui actually lived long was unknown. It might be a mutation, or it might be a mechanism that gives birth to such special individuals.
"Ah, I just thought of something good!"
With that, Emilia's rapier took on a faint glow.
"That's... no way."
"Bingo! I wrapped 'Sharp Qi' around my sword. With this, I should be able to cut it, right?"
Emilia's movements were fast. Dodging the Evil Spirit's scythe with overwhelming speed, she unleashed a three-hit thrust with her rapier wrapped in 'Sharp Qi'.
The Evil Spirit let out a scream and vanished, appearing behind Emilia. However, Emilia grinned, changed her position with a light step, and dodged the scythe before counterattacking.
"It's working, right!"
Seeing Emilia's battle, Yulin also wrapped 'Sharp Qi' around her greatsword.
"Now that we know how to defeat it, all that's left is to take it down!"
As Yulin swung her heavy sword down, Emilia unleashed a four-hit thrust. The Evil Spirit, disliking the attacks from the two, vanished and appeared behind Rodney.
"I can see through your simple-minded thinking!"
Having read the Evil Spirit's thoughts, Rodney thrust his White True Steel Sword into its chest. That was the finishing blow, and the Evil Spirit crumbled into dust and disappeared.
Just in case, he stayed alert in case it had teleported, but the Evil Spirit did not appear. Also, a Life Light Stone had fallen on the floor, so he realized they had defeated it.
"That was a troublesome Selvanui."
"For me, that was nothing. Easy~"
Yulin was right, but he was glad they won. If Emilia hadn't wrapped 'Sharp Qi' around her sword, they would have had a much tougher time.
"But, you came up with that pretty quickly."
"It wasn't so much coming up with it as just remembering how to use 'Sharp Qi'."
"To remember it in that moment, Emilia really is a genius."
"Ahaha. You can praise me more, you know."
She happily presented her head, so Rodney patted her head.
"Lord Rodney. Besides the Life Light Stone, this also fell."
What Yulin picked up was a key.
"There's no door in this underground area, and I can't think of anything that matches..."
"True."
"Definitely."
The three had no idea what key it was. However, since this labyrinth was called the Abandoned House Labyrinth, there were countless buildings. Going through each of those buildings one by one seemed like it would take considerable effort, and he sighed.
"I'd hesitate to eat this black Life Light Stone too."
"You're already assuming we'll eat it?"
"If you can get good Source Power by eating it, I think not eating is weird, Big Brother."
Rodney could only nod, finding her point valid.
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