Chapter 64: Soul Vessel [2]

Victor scanned the panel, and a smile slowly appeared on his face. As he had thought, the greater the danger, the more the System’s reward was worth pursuing.

The next moment, the two of them entered the Seventh Magical Beast Trial Ground, and the barrier immediately cut off every sound from outside.

The forest was unnaturally quiet. Signs of fleeing beasts marked the ground, large stretches of trees had been snapped apart, and a faint gray silver mist hung in the air. Victor had barely inhaled when the System responded.

[Contaminated astral energy detected.]

[Mana Devour can break it down.]

[Activate low intensity automatic devouring?]

It could do that automatically?

"Activate it."

[Activation successful.]

A mana vortex, almost invisible to the eye, spread across the surface of Victor’s body. Whenever the gray silver mist drifted close, the vortex absorbed and broke it down little by little.

[Contaminated Energy +0.3.]

[+0.4.]

[+0.2.]

The increase was slow, but it never stopped.

Albert soon noticed it and couldn’t help but glance back.

"The concentration of contamination around you is dropping."

"Naturally," Victor said. "I told you I could handle it."

Albert stayed silent for two seconds before asking a question that had been disturbing him for the last couple of days. "Since when did the Alves family bloodline have an ability like that?"

"Maybe I’m special."

"..."

That answer told him almost nothing, and the bastard kept it vague on purpose so he would avoid prying too much.

Moments later, they continued forward. Less than five minutes later, they found the first body. It belonged to an academy researcher whose chest had been torn open by claws.

Albert crouched beside him.

"He came in early this morning."

"You’re sure?"

"I knew him."

He was dead, which meant the researcher who had reported being "alive" over the internal communication channel had truly been an impostor.

They went deeper and found a second body, then a third. By the edge of the second zone, they had found seven in total, and together with the four in the transport carriage, that made eleven.

Albert stood beside the seventh body as his face darkened completely.

"They’re all here."

All eleven researchers who had entered at dawn were dead, so who was the "Herbert" who had stayed in contact with the perimeter at ten that morning? Who was the woman calling herself Elena through the monitoring crystal?

Most importantly, if all eleven were dead, then apart from Victor and Albert, there should theoretically be no humans left inside the trial ground.

The instant that thought crossed his mind, very light footsteps sounded from deep in the forest ahead.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

Someone was slowly walking over fallen branches.

Albert’s staff lit up at once, while Victor drew Crimson Flame Fang. Combat Intuition detected no direct killing intent, but the System interface suddenly began to flash wildly.

[Anomalous life form detected.]

[Analyzing target identity...]

The shadows between the trees parted, and a woman slowly emerged. She had black hair, a pale face, and a torn researcher’s robe, exactly like the woman in the recording.

...Elena Vane.

She looked at Albert first before her gaze settled on Victor, or more precisely, on the place where he had stored the pendant against his chest.

The woman visibly trembled. "That..." Her voice was the same as in the recording. "Is it Leah’s?"

Victor did not answer and instead activated Scan.

[Target: Unknown.]

[Apparent identity: Elena Vane.]

[Bloodline match: Vane family, 99.7%.]

[Physical identity match: Indeterminate.]

[Soul match: Severely incomplete.]

[Life status: Abnormal.]

[Heartbeat: None.]

[Breathing: None.]

[Body temperature: 18.4°C.]

[Large number of artificial astral structures detected within target.]

[Warning!]

[This target is not a normal life form.]

His gaze turned cold, but the woman did not seem to notice. She kept staring at the place where he had stored the pendant against his chest before asking in an exceptionally gentle voice, "Leah... has she grown taller?"

For a moment, despite knowing that the thing before him had no heartbeat, Victor fell silent because that tone did not sound like an act.

If not for the System, he might have believed she was truly Elena Vane. She showed no signs of life and possessed only an incomplete soul, yet the way she spoke of Leah carried a longing that was difficult to fake.

Victor suddenly realized this might be far more complicated than a simple trap.

Before he could speak, the woman’s face twisted as the silver gray markings beneath her neck spread wildly, forcing her to stumble backward.

"Go!"

Albert frowned. "What?"

"Go, now!"

The woman clutched her head, horror appearing on her face.

"It... it found me!"

BOOM!!!

Deep in the forest, an aura several times stronger than before erupted. Countless trees bent outward at once as gray black mist surged into the sky, and in the deepest part of the woods, two enormous crimson eyes slowly opened.

[Warning!]

[Mutated Star Devouring Shadow Beast has locked onto the current area!]

[Level analysis complete.]

[Level: 34!]

[Life Tier: Second Tier.]

[Status: Abyssally Enhanced, Astrally Contaminated, Extremely Hungry.]

[Special target lock: Elena Vessel.]

Victor’s pupils contracted slightly because, for now at least, the thing it truly wanted to devour was the woman standing before him without a heartbeat.

The woman raised her head and looked at Victor before speaking his name for the first time.

"Victor Alves."

Victor’s expression froze.

’How did she know me?’

The woman offered no explanation and merely extended her hand, allowing a bloodstained silver chip to slide from her palm.

"Take it. If I lose control... kill me. And tell Leah..."

Her voice faltered as real tears appeared in her eyes.

"That her mother... really did die three years ago."

At that instant, a crimson warning burst across the System interface.

[Critical intelligence obtained.]

[Preliminary identity confirmation complete.]

[Name: Elena Vane, Astral Vessel No. 0.]

[Nature: Artificial Life Form.]

[Core Source: Unknown.]

[Memory Source: Elena Vane.]

[Warning.]

[An inactive secondary personality has been detected within the vessel.]

...

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