Chapter 411 - Strange Ocurrences And The Mysterious Presence
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The other issue the split souls wanted to address was the enigmatic figure who had been making people around the lower streets of Seashore disappear…
It seemed to have come a few days ago, but it made itself noticeable by how it quickly made people suddenly disappear.
Although there were Dead Spirits that offered some clues about it, there were none that had directly seen him but had heard about it.
Veronica had also sensed that the Dead Spirits around a certain area of Seashore were acting strange as if they were being controlled by… another Death Mage.
However, unlike her Guidance, which made the Dead Spirits willing and friendly, even happy, this other aura made the Dead Spirits afraid, to the point that they began to become insane or would often forgive any memory they had about having seen this mysterious person…
But it was pretty obvious that such an entity lived around the area where Veronica sensed the Dead Spirits acting strange, so it could be possible to just go there and look for it… But it was better to wait and prepare instead of jumping into action right away.
Especially because the split souls had a very had feeling about it, and had a theory of what this entity could truly be…
"What?! The Necromancer?! But we killed him! …Didn't we?" asked Jason in surprise after hearing the name of an old enemy, someone they had defeated around 7 months ago.
The Necromancer was an entity formed by various circumstances.
It would not be said to be the actual Demon God-King, but it was somewhat of a fragmented piece of its main mind which had been contained within the Demon God-King Fragments that parasitized a Lich.
As such fragmented will merged with the mind of this Lich, the Necromancer was born, an entity that had plotted the demise of the tribes around the mountain where the Bear-kin and Harpies lived.
He had already scheme the demise of several of the tribes that once lived there, and had used them all as resources to increase his powers and enhance his necromancy.
He had even used their souls and the miasma left to create a dungeon which he made his own domain, a place filled with Undead that he governed and commanded.
His ability over Necromancy and Souls was outstanding, and he was even able to give Death Attribute Magic-related Skills and Spells to the souls he modified through the powers given to him by the fragments that he was made of.
Such Fragments were Kelsus' Black Ooze of Negative Emotions and Anir's Spiritual Blue Flames, with the Black Ooze of Negative Emotions he was able to draw power from negative emotions and suffering, using it to torment souls and refill himself with Mana and power, meanwhile, he used Spiritual Blue Flames to meddle with souls and insert spiritual blue flames into them to change the composition of souls into phantasmal souls, giving his pawns limited death-attribute magic spells, which were now renamed as Phantom Magic when Kireina came to this world and brought Attribute that never existed before.
However, Ervas and Veronica had made sure to defeat him… he was eaten completely, and they even acquired a nice amount of power from his defeat, being the "last boss" they fought before leaving- Oh right, there was also Graham Gold… but the two considered him weaker than the Necromancer even on his Familiar Spirit form.
Ervas had difficulties with him because he fought him by himself without any support, but when his power and that of Veronica combined, they were able to sweep the floor with him… oh, and Jason was there to also offer some fire into the mix.
Jason recalled the Necromancer briefly, as he had thought that he was done for.
Fighting against a remnant of the Demon God-King himself was never something he imagined he would do as he grew up… but life really does gives twists and turns. Too many, to be honest.
"Perhaps it could be another Death mage, who knows? But he's the first that came to mind… and by seeing how the Dead Spirits left are… just look a this," said Veronica, as she extended her soul and let out a small Dead Spirit…
It was the Dead Spirit of a young child, of around 4 years of age who had died of starvation a few years ago, such soul remained in the streets of Seashore looking for her mother while being obsessed with food that it could not eat.
The people around Veronica glanced at the Dead Spirit which she made visible through Dead Spirit Visualization… it was almost unrecognizable as the young child that Veronica had explained it used to be.
The little creature was constantly screaming in agony as if it were being constantly burned alive, there was also a strange, oozy, and black substance within the center of its soul, absorbing such energy and accumulating it into a bulb.
"That's… the souls that the Necromancer controlled… they looked like that…" said Azra, the first one to recognize them.
"Right… when we saved the souls from the Necromancer in that last battle, they all looked kind of like this…" sighed Ismene.
"Poor thing… please, Veronica, do something for him," said Anna.
"There are many Souls I am currently repairing, I will have to seal this one again and let it rest until it is his turn…" said Veronica, saving the dead spirit inside of her soul.
"That black ooze… That's definitely the bastard… so he somehow survived…" sighed Ragdaz.
"Now this really sounds like some cliché bullshit… Really? You guys defeated the damn villain but he comes back anyways… what a pain. Well, I never fought against him so it would be nice to do so now, so it might feel refreshing to me. Oh, not like I am trying to insult you guys or something, I am sure that you did your best," said Kireina.
"Sorry, Kireina is sometimes too direct and nonchalant," sighed Ditoyle.
"We literally broke his soul and ate him, yet he was somehow alive…" sighed Veronica.
"We presume that he divided his soul beforehand and hidden somehow, probably by using magic and also some items or even Stealth Skills… I am ashamed to not have been able to detect him in time… Such a fragment probably hid very well…" said Ervas.
"Enemies that can divide themselves like that are real pains. I faced a bastard like that too! I literally had him inside of my mouth, I was just eating him and he somehow escaped… He also sacrificed a large part of his power to escape through…" said Kireina.
"Well, the Necromancer was kind of the same. He sacrificed a lot of his power to escape "alive"…" said Ervas.
"So the one that provoked that Undead incident around Aquaria was probably him… But how did he managed to get all the way in here? Did he tracked us?" wondered Ismene.
"I don't really know… We should have been able to detect if someone was following us around for 6 months," said Ervas.
"Yeah, I would have definitely sensed him if he did such a thing, when we ate Graham my senses increased a lot," said Veronica.
"Then we are left with the mystery of how this bastard even came here…" said Anna.
"Could have there been an intermediator?" wondered Alesia.
"Alesia, you mean… like a God?" asked Desephise.
"Yeah, something like that… Recalling how Bestellen went on his way to make Graham a Familiar Spirit just to kill Ervas, perhaps he has been seeing over us again and somehow… decided to use this guy for his plans to end us…" said Alesia.
"That's… a possibility. But I am sure that we are far away from Bestellen's comfort zone, which is the center of the continent, further away such as the coast would require him to use a lot of energy, which Araba said Gods such as Bestellen needed to spend if they wanted to exert their authority outside of their main domain…" said Ervas.
"Then… another God? An independent God, perhaps? Or maybe someone that serves him?" wondered Jason.
"Hmmm… But it still does not make sense. Bestellen and his faction are righteous Gods, they are incredibly annoying over how much devotion they have to their righteousness as if they had a stick stuck up their asses or something. I would never see them using a fragment of the mind of the Demon God-King to cause mayhem and provoke us to fight it… After all, it is a former enemy that brought a ton of his subordinates to their demises… He might use the Fragments, but the mind itself which was evil and had thoughts and all… Yeah, no. That is way out of his character… unless he had gone completely insane even outside of his own character?" wondered Veronica.
"No, my lady, you have a valid point. I wholeheartedly agree with you, the church always taught us that Bestellen despised the Demon God-King, it was also taught to us to despite any Demon God as well as any race that was not humans, elves, or dwarves," said Albert's ghost.
"Yeah, I do not imagine Bestellen using the Demon God-King like that, he would be way too wary of it, and would most likely try to destroy it instead of using him as a weapon that could go out of control. After all, what he liked to do was to always have control over things… From the little interactions I had in the Ragnarök I can assure you that Bestellen is not the type of guy to ally his former enemies…" said Araba, emerging from his crystal ball, which was being held by Ervas' right hand.
"Then… who?" wondered Veronica.
Everyone began to think, but in the end, although they had some ideas, they always came to more mysteries and questions…
"Well, we are doing everything quite fine, for now, you two change Jobs. We can plan ahead as we go," said Kireina rather carefreely, reassuring the twin split souls a bit.
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