Chapter 115: Soul Dispersion 2

After being struck by Soul Dispersion a second time, the Wraith began shrinking even faster.

Before long, the creature that had originally stood more than four meters tall had been reduced to something no larger than a fist.

Its presence vanished completely.

Kent climbed out through the window and cautiously approached the small white mass left behind.

He stared at it, trying to figure out what it was.

But the instant that thought crossed his mind, the fist-sized white mass suddenly shot straight toward him.

Kent’s expression changed.

There was no time to dodge.

He instinctively raised one hand to block it.

“Damn... that feels incredible!”

The moment the white mass touched his hand, it slipped directly through his skin.

It raced through his body and surged toward his mind.

For an instant, Kent felt as though a block of ice had passed straight through him.

That alone would have been strange enough.

But the moment the white energy entered his mind, it transformed into an extraordinarily pure stream of mana.

Kent had only just advanced to Level Three.

Yet when that power flooded into his Mana Source, he suddenly felt as though he were on the verge of advancing again.

His spirit trembled.

A swelling pressure filled his head.

Yet instead of discomfort, Kent experienced an indescribable pleasure.

It was not merely physical.

It was a sensation of pure delight that seemed to come directly from his soul.

“Mana...”

Kent’s eyes practically lit up.

“What incredibly pure mana!”

The power he had just absorbed was astonishingly refined.

If Kent had relied on drawing magical elements from the environment and slowly converting them into mana himself, accumulating this much pure energy would probably have taken him half a month.

Only now did he finally remember the true purpose of Soul Dispersion.

The spell was specifically designed to strip away a Wraith’s spiritual imprint and absorb the pure source mana left behind.

That also explained why the spell remained spiritually connected to him even after being released.

But Kent soon noticed something else.

The effects he had gained seemed even better than what the grimoire had described.

His mana had increased significantly.

More surprisingly, his spiritual power had also grown by a considerable amount.

Kent immediately thought of all the Wraiths that had fled earlier.

Regret washed over him.

If only he had known...

But regret was useless now.

Those Wraiths were already gone.

Kent did not immediately chase after them.

Instead, he began practicing Soul Dispersion and Soul Pierce.

There was an old saying—

sharpening the blade never delayed the cutting of wood.

If he could master Soul Dispersion well enough to cast it instantly, then wouldn’t his level rise at an astonishing speed?

The very thought made Kent excited.

Unfortunately, he had overlooked one important problem.

Every Soul Dispersion spell remained spiritually connected to him after being cast.

That meant the number of spells he could maintain at once depended directly on how much spiritual power he possessed.

Casting them was one thing.

Controlling them all was another matter entirely.

“Kent...”

Daphne rubbed her eyes and slowly sat up.

She soon noticed Kent repeatedly practicing the same grayish-white spell.

Something about the magic immediately made her uncomfortable.

She walked closer, watching the cold light gather around his hands.

“Kent, why does that spell feel so unpleasant?”

“Heh heh...”

Kent had just opened his mouth to answer when a cold voice suddenly came from outside the window.

“That’s because he’s using undead magic.”

Kent and Daphne both froze.

“Who’s there?”

They shouted almost at the same time.

Daphne instantly drew her dagger.

“Who?”

The voice outside gave another eerie chuckle.

“Heh heh... I’m not human.”

Kent immediately stared through the window.

The statue outside, which had previously emitted a faint glow, had now gone completely dark.

Beyond the window was nothing but blackness.

He could not see what was hiding there.

Kent’s thoughts moved.

An Illumination spell immediately flew through the window.

“Heh heh... such a petty trick.”

The cold voice laughed again.

“It’s only light magic.”

Under the sudden radiance, Kent finally saw a figure standing outside.

It looked human.

At least at first glance.

Its skin, however, was a sickly gray-white.

The instant the Illumination spell appeared, thick black mist surged from around the figure.

More and more darkness gathered.

Within moments, the black fog had completely smothered the light of the spell.

The humanoid creature remained standing in the darkness.

Then another chilling laugh drifted from beyond the window.

“Heh heh heh...”

“Illumination! Healing!”

The moment Kent saw the Wraith’s appearance, he was startled.

But once he realized that light-element magic could suppress it, his surprise quickly turned into confidence.

Without hesitation, he hurled several light spells at it in rapid succession.

“Hahaha!”

A harsh laugh came from within the darkness.

“With garbage light magic like that?”

The black mist surrounding the creature began to dissolve under Kent’s spells.

But almost immediately, even more darkness surged out to replace it.

The fog churned more violently with every passing second.

Then a metallic voice rang from within.

This was real sound.

Not the spiritual fluctuation used by low-level Wraiths.

As that grinding, metallic voice echoed through the room, the black mist suddenly swelled and swallowed the light spells Kent had just released.

Seeing the darkness rush toward him, Kent reacted without hesitation.

Several more light-element spells flew from his hands.

Only then did he barely manage to halt the mist’s advance.

Kent now understood what kind of creature he was facing.

A Wraith capable of taking on such a humanlike appearance was generally considered an intermediate-level undead.

They were known as Phantom Wraiths.

At first glance, they could look almost indistinguishable from ordinary humans.

There was, however, one obvious weakness.

They could not tolerate light.

According to the necromantic grimoire, Phantom Wraiths fed on human souls in order to strengthen themselves.

Whenever one appeared near a settlement, entire villages could sometimes die without a single visible wound.

The victims simply passed away in silence—

because their souls had been devoured.

Phantom Wraiths often disguised themselves as human women.

Most would pretend to be mute, since their unnatural voices could easily expose them.

The black mist they produced also carried a powerful hypnotic effect.

That was precisely why Kent had reacted so quickly the moment he saw it spreading.

“Brat!”

The Phantom Wraith’s angry voice rang from within the fog.

“Just wait for your death!”

The darkness had been forced several meters back.

But now it began condensing again.

The black mist grew thicker and more solid, rolling violently as waves of bone-chilling cold radiated from within.

Then the Phantom Wraith roared once more.

The mist surged forward.

It devoured Kent’s light spells again.

This time, however, several brief gaps appeared within the darkness.

They lasted for barely a second.

Then the surrounding mist suddenly twisted and transformed.

Several arrow-shaped masses of darkness shot toward Kent and Daphne at terrifying speed.

Kent’s lips curled into a mocking smile.

“Hmph. I was waiting for that.”

He raised one hand.

Several Illumination spells appeared almost instantly.

Earlier, Kent had deliberately pretended to chant his incantations.

It had all been an act—

a way to make the Phantom Wraith believe he still needed time to cast.

The dark arrows had barely crossed half the distance when the sudden bursts of light struck them.

The black mist dissolved in midair.

Daphne watched the exchange with her heart pounding.

When she saw Kent block the attack once again, she could not help cheering.

“Kent! That was amazing!”

“Damn you!”

The metallic voice inside the mist became even more furious.

“Damn it!”

“Instant casting?”

“You’re only Level Three!”

The creature paused, then gave a sinister chuckle.

“Still... your light magic is surprisingly decent.”

“But how much mana do you have left?”

Its voice scraped through the air like metal grinding against metal.

Just hearing it made the heart uneasy.

Kent raised an eyebrow.

Seeing the worried look on Daphne’s face, he gently squeezed her hand.

Then he looked toward the black mist and replied mockingly,

“Why don’t you come and find out?”

Truthfully, Kent was still somewhat surprised.

He had already cast so many light-element spells, yet the Phantom Wraith inside the mist did not seem noticeably weaker.

Even so, Kent was not worried about running out of mana.

To be safe, he had deliberately limited the raw power he poured into each light spell.

The mana he supplied was only enough for roughly a Level Two spell.

But after being amplified by the staff, the final effect was already close to that of a Level Three light spell.

And because the staff also reduced mana consumption, Kent was actually spending only about as much mana as he normally would on a Level One spell.

In other words—

despite appearances, his reserves had barely been touched.

That was where Kent’s confidence came from.

“Then let’s see who lasts longer!”

The Phantom Wraith shrieked.

The already pitch-black fog around it darkened even further.

It churned violently like storm-tossed waves upon a black sea, rolling forward again and again in an endless surge toward Kent.

A bone-chilling aura rushed toward him.

Kent immediately pulled Daphne one step behind him.

Then several Illumination spells burst from his hand in rapid succession.

By now, Kent had discovered that Illumination was far more effective against the Phantom Wraith than Healing.

Healing was a single-target spell.

But the Phantom Wraith remained hidden inside a vast cloud of black mist, making it difficult for a targeted spell to strike the creature directly.

Illumination, on the other hand, flooded an entire area with light.

Against the spreading darkness, it was clearly the better choice.

Kent stared into the rolling fog and sneered.

“You think I’m afraid of you?”

And so the battle continued.

The Phantom Wraith attacked.

Kent countered.

Black mist surged forward.

Light drove it back.

Again and again, the two sides exchanged attacks.

Yet the longer it went on, the more uneasy Kent became.

Something did not feel right.

Under normal circumstances, when a high-level magical creature attacked a much weaker opponent, even an elemental disadvantage should not allow the weaker side to hold out for this long.

At first, Kent had still clung to a trace of hope.

Perhaps the Phantom Wraith really was being suppressed by his light magic.

Perhaps they were genuinely fighting on equal terms.

But after several exchanges, Kent noticed something strange.

The black mist clearly had enough power to force its way into the room.

Yet each time it advanced, it seemed to slow down at the critical moment.

Almost as though the creature were deliberately holding back.

That realization immediately made Kent suspicious.

He began thinking more carefully.

Then he suddenly understood.

He had been placing far too much importance on the idea of elemental suppression.

Yes, light magic naturally countered undead and necromantic creatures.

But elemental advantage did not erase the difference in raw strength.

Water and fire opposed one another.

If the flame was small and the water abundant, then naturally the fire would be extinguished.

But if an entire building was already engulfed in flames and someone threw only a cup of water onto it, that little bit of water would accomplish nothing.

Under the wrong circumstances, it might even make the situation worse.

The same principle applied here.

The Phantom Wraith before him had shown no real sign of weakening at all.

Its black mist remained just as thick as before.

It still rolled and churned with the same terrifying power.

Not even the faintest trace of exhaustion had appeared.

Kent’s expression gradually became serious.

This creature was not being forced back.

It was pretending to be.