Volume 2 Chapter 34 Azrael’s ‘Leap’ User
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
In the dark, iron-scented underground room, flowers of flame bloomed.
The magic power released by Oswald was truly like the sun.
Flames flickered around him, as if something was protecting his body with a fiery red energy (ki).
Ghosts wrapped in tattered black cloth approached the young man, who emitted light like a small sun, but they could not even touch him and dissipated into mist.
He held a long sword engraved with magic language, but the sword’s performance seemed irrelevant now.
He jumped into the air, twisted his body, swung the sword horizontally, and spun again after landing.
The trajectory of the double circular slash ignited red flames a moment later.
Though it was supposed to be an illusion, it actually emitted light and heat.
It was an extraordinary power that defied the laws of this world.
(What kind of mechanism is this?)
’Kian, you won’t lose to him either!’
(Of course)
With his left hand, Kian gouged out the ghost’s body and made it disappear with Absorb Essence while his ‘glasses’ shone.
Just swinging a magic sword was not enough of a performance.
Now was the perfect opportunity to enhance his Absorb Essence technique.
”…, …!”
He plunged the Windsong Blade into the floor.
He raised his left hand’s index and middle fingers.
He pressed them against his forehead and concentrated his energy (ki).
(An application technique of ‘Shot’──’bind’!)
He directed the fingers pressed against his forehead toward the approaching ghosts.
The Night Wraith, enveloped in the black energy (ki) emitted by Kian, froze as if time had stopped in that moment.
Similar things could be done with the vampire’s eye technique, but that would involve forcibly suppressing the enemy’s movements.
(Wow… ‘bind’ looks like this when seen through.)
Kian watched impassively as a massive hand, resembling a black mist, bound the movements of 3 ghosts.
It felt like watching experimental animals.
Even though these ghosts were remnants of the poor victims killed in the dungeon, he felt no sympathy for them at all.
This is his true nature, isn’t it?
Kian thought this as he strengthened the power he infused into ‘bind’, crushing the ghosts in his grip.
’That technique seems usable against humans as well. With a massive arm invisible to ordinary people, you can restrain your enemies and crush them if you don’t like them.’
(My power in the ‘Shot’ system is definitely evolving. These ghosts will serve as nourishment for my growth.)
Kian charged into the swarm of ghosts unarmed, gouging out the core of one with his left hand, biting into its throat, and sucking in the magic power that constituted their bodies.
After repeatedly absorbing their essence, particularly his left hand seemed to harbor the ghosts’ resentment, with dark malice clinging to it like a curse.
It was an ominous magic power that felt as if it could echo with the sounds of anguished groans.
But even that felt pleasant now.
’Ho ho, it seems your charm technique has evolved further. You could probably enslave a Wraith now. Give it a try.’
Kian directed the black eyes behind his ‘glasses’ at the ghosts.
Night Wraiths are among the more powerful enemies in the ghost category, yet they froze in place just from being seen by Kian’s gaze.
Kian thrust his cursed left hand into the chest of a nearby Night Wraith.
”Become my servant.”
What his left hand grasped was a stone that served as the condensed core of the ghost’s magic power.
In many cases, it is a jewel or powdered gem.
Now, a sinister energy flowed from Kian’s left hand, causing the ghost’s body to twitch.
Within seconds, the ghost that had fallen under Kian’s control lunged at the other ghosts, which were supposed to be its allies.
”Mmm…!”
As he saw that, his muscles bulged beneath the Nightshade’s coat.
To gather energy (ki), he raised 4 fingers of his right hand and pressed them to his forehead in a gesture of prayer.
Exorcism.
Exorcism.
Exorcism.
While praying, he exterminated the ghosts.
Kian grabbed a thin ghost and slammed it to the ground, channeling energy (ki) into only the stronger ones to transform them into familiars instead of crushing them.
Selection was essential.
This familiar seemed harder to maintain than a crow.
’Kian, take the beads worn by the woman in the coffin. It will make exorcism easier.’
(Understood)
Following the advice of the ‘glasses’, he dealt with the Night Wraiths.
In the square near the entrance, Oswald was.
In the narrow corridor of the dungeon, Kian was.
Like a large fish devouring small ones, he tore apart the ghosts.
The ghosts, which should have been swarming in countless numbers, were rapidly dwindling.
Eventually, the balance of numbers collapsed, and the battle in the basement shifted to a hunt for the remaining foes.
”You really do use strange techniques, don’t you?”
As he emotionlessly crushed the ghosts, Oswald approached with a clattering sound, seemingly finished with his tasks in the square near the entrance.
Since Kian had made the Night Wraiths he turned into familiars appear to vanish, he thought that the vampire’s charm technique had not been discovered.
However, it seemed wise to respond cautiously.
”After all, I am a monk, so I excel at exorcising ghosts.”
”Hmm… Did the warrior monk of Azrael use such techniques?”
Oswald murmured as he looked down at Kian, who was tearing into the ghost’s body and ripping out the core stone from within.
Kian offered the stone he had torn from the ghost’s body to Oswald.
”The cores of the ghosts all seem to be obsidian.”
”This is a substitute to keep the ghosts here as soldiers. It’s pitiful that even after being drained of their blood and flesh, they are used like this until they turn to dust. It wasn’t that woman magician who kept the ghosts here; it must be the ‘Leanan sídhe’ she was controlling. Records indicate that ‘Leanan sídhe’ uses such techniques.”
”────”
Not only the tragedy in this basement but also the guardians of the ghosts.
The creation and control of the Night Wraiths were undoubtedly magic previously used by the ‘Leanan sídhe’.
Kian recalled the brown-haired evil spirit who directed hatred towards Robert and affection towards Esther.
She looked almost human, but she was still a monster.
Kian furrowed his brow.
(I can never tell the Pigfoot father and daughter about this.)
”Still, the cores of the ghosts are not amethyst or emerald, but obsidian. The Labyrinth of Roses above was also made of obsidian, so did that woman magician make a contract with something related to obsidian?”
”If only there were any records left from the woman magician, we could figure everything out.”
”Or perhaps research notes. They might be encrypted, so we must handle any books in the mansion with care.”
Just as Oswald finished speaking, a raspy groan rose from the stone coffin in the back.
Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah――
It was a voice reminiscent of a dying old woman.
”……” “Oh.”
Kian silently pulled the Windsong Blade from the floor, while Oswald fixed his gleaming eyes on the stone coffin.
A withered woman’s hand rested limply on the edge of the coffin.
It was the hand of the woman magician, who should have been mummified.
She was trying to lift her body from the coffin, her arms as thin as twigs trembling.
The face peering out from the coffin was desiccated, with not even eyes remaining.
From her wide-open mouth, long fangs extended along with white breath.
Through the ‘glasses’, Kian saw the illusion of the stone coffin filling with dark red blood.
”A vampire?”
”That’s a failed transformation. Something else is possessing that mutated body.”
Oswald said that.
”Do you know what that is?”
”Yes. The reason I’m researching vampires is to find the same method of immortality as her. That thing is dangerous. We have to eliminate it for sure here. ──Kian, stay back. I’ll handle this.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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