Previous page password is bold portion: h3rE@Ra0atrOW
Translator: SumTLMan
As he sighed inwardly, “This is the end for me,” he surprisingly found that despite the long wait, he felt no pain at all.
Not even the sound of the wind.
He cautiously opened one eye and saw that Lady Sheila’s swinging limb had stopped right in front of his nose.
“What’s happening?” Little Seim wondered. At that moment, Lady Sheila’s body suddenly softened and collapsed to the ground.
With Lady Sheila’s fall, Little Seim finally saw the man standing behind her: “…Mr. Tyson?”
Freud stood in the half-light, one hand still buried in Lady Sheila’s giant spider abdomen.
Slowly withdrawing his hand, he revealed its bloodstained, semi-transparent appearance.
Lady Sheila, a ghost, and Freud, a soul, naturally had no blood.
This blood was Little Seim’s.
“You did well earlier, knowing that the blood of kin was key to subduing Lady Sheila. However, you overlooked one thing: Lady Sheila’s mouth is not just on her head but also on her abdomen. Or rather, her abdominal mouth is the closest to her soul core,” Freud explained, seeing Little Seim’s puzzled look. “Although blood in her head’s mouth would also gradually disintegrate her soul, the process would be longer. She might have been able to attack again during that period, just like before.”
“Only by plunging your blood into her abdominal mouth can you strike her core directly, accelerating her collapse without allowing her to counterattack.”
Realizing this, Little Seim finally understood.
The ‘entrance of blood’ mentioned in the —Book of the Dead— referred not to Lady Sheila’s mouth on her head, but to the abdomen with numerous sharp teeth.
“You’re still bound by mortal thoughts and judgments, so this mistake is understandable. Once you enter the Wizarding World and encounter various bizarre creatures, you’ll naturally break free from your current mental constraints,” Freud said, producing a bottle and collecting the fading Lady Sheila into it.
Once inside the bottle, Lady Sheila’s disintegration immediately halted, as if frozen in time.
Freud, satisfied, shook the bottle, ready to use it for training in Soul Trickery.
However, before that, he needed Little Seim’s agreement.
After all, it was Little Seim who killed Lady Sheila. Even though Freud helped with the final blow, her demise would have continued even without his intervention, albeit at a slower pace.
As Freud pondered how to gain Little Seim’s consent, Little Seim suddenly asked, “Mr. Tyson, did you know Lady Sheila would come to the castle?”
Confronted with Little Seim’s clearly resentful gaze, Freud was unsure how to respond.
“Yes,” a crisp, forceful voice called out from the dark corridor.
Accompanied by footsteps, a red-haired, golden-eyed man appeared in Little Seim’s view.
Little Seim respectfully greeted, “Mr. Pat.”
Angel nodded, approaching Little Seim and gesturing in the air. Little Seim felt a whoosh by his ear, and the filth on his wounds vanished.
Once the wounds were clean, a warm current flowed over them, quickly healing the tears.
“Is this a wizard’s spell?” Little Seim stared in disbelief at the regenerating flesh, utterly amazed.
“It’s a trick, not a spell. A 0 level trick, Cleanse, and a first level trick, Heal. Both are very simple tricks that you’ll come across as soon as you step into the threshold of an apprentice,” Angel explained about the tricks and then paused: “I can now answer the question you had earlier.”
“You wanted to know if we knew Lady Sheila would come. Yes, we were quite certain she would appear, and we also knew that you would become her hunting target.”
Little Seim’s eyes flashed with understanding: “So, that’s why you warned me earlier to be careful and to think more when in danger.”
Angel nodded: “Exactly.”
After receiving a definitive answer, Little Seim remembered the sudden change in Alda’s attitude earlier, which didn’t seem wrong at the time, but now seemed a bit unusual: “Previously, Alda suddenly said he wanted to go back to rest, was it because…”
Freud: “We sensed Lady Sheila was about to appear, and to avoid Alda getting hurt, I sent him a message to go back to his room set up with a defensive magic energy formation.”
Little Seim was silent for a moment: “What about me?”
Although it was a simple question, it was full of restrained emotion. If Freud were in Little Seim’s place, he would probably be more agitated——everyone knew the truth except himself, buried in the dark. This sense of grievance and exclusion, it was not easy to control his emotions.
Angel smiled: “Haven’t you guessed already? Bringing you here was to have you face Lady Sheila directly.”
“Why?” Little Seim guessed when he saw Freud point out that “her real mouth is in her abdomen,” everything he did, his escape, Lady Sheila’s pursuit, was all under the watch of Freud and Angel.
“So, am I just an actor in a pre-arranged play?”
Little Seim’s change in expression did not escape Angel. Angel also heard the implication in Little Seim’s words——if he was the actor on stage, then what were they?
Angel gently ruffled Little Seim’s brown hair: “You are not an actor, nor are we the audience to be pleased.”
Although Angel’s words were just a baseless denial, Little Seim inexplicably believed him deeply.
Even if he believed Angel’s words, Little Seim was still somewhat depressed, hanging his head in silence.
Angel understood Little Seim’s feelings, so he didn’t mind his awkward behavior: “You might find it strange, even resentful, but all this stems from the question you asked me when we first met.”
Little Seim: “A question I asked?”
“Didn’t you want to join the Savage Grottoes?”
Little Seim nodded blankly; he indeed had expressed to Angel earlier his wish to join the wizard organization where Mr. Pat was.
Angel: “These days at the orphanage, you must have heard about the purpose of the orphanage.”
Little Seim continued to nod; Alda had mentioned before that his and Sunny’s role at the orphanage was to play characters in the Dawn of Slaughter Illusion, providing an entrance test for the talented.
Thinking of this, Little Seim suddenly realized something, his eyes lighting up: “So, this is about my test? If I pass the test, can I join the Savage Grottoes?”
Angel smiled and nodded: “Yes, congratulations, you have qualified. This is indeed a test, but it’s slightly different from what you imagined.”
“Different?”
“How exactly it’s different, you’ll understand when you enter the Savage Grottoes.”
Little Seim’s eyes gleamed with joy; he didn’t care what the difference was. What mattered to him now was… he had entered the Savage Grottoes!
Although the process was painful, the outcome was good. For Little Seim, this was already quite an achievement.
Little Seim couldn’t help but want to stand up and salute Angel. However, as soon as he moved, his still-healing wounds immediately taught him a painful lesson.
Freud hurriedly stepped forward to help Little Seim: “You can’t move now. If you want to express your joy, wait until your wounds are healed.”
“About Lady Sheila.” When Little Seim was helped to sit down in a nearby guest room, Angel’s voice came again: “She was previously taken away by Freud with a Soul Bottle.”
Little Seim nodded. He had seen Lady Sheila being taken into a small bottle.
“This object is currently of no use to you, but it’s very useful to Freud.” Angel signaled Freud with his eyes to come forward and explain.
Freud immediately stepped forward and made clear his need for Lady Sheila’s assistance in his cultivation.
After listening, Little Seim was stunned for a long time before he understood. It turned out that Freud was seeking his opinion.
“Lady Sheila, although a test, her appearance and her death were all because of you. Therefore, according to the distribution principle, you have the greatest right to decide.” Freud said.
According to Freud’s own character, he actually wouldn’t discuss distribution principles with a mortal.
But Little Seim was different. He had a Near Spirit Body, possessing unparalleled soul-based talents. This talent might attract special souls and special ghosts. Just this point alone was very useful for his future, or for Alda and Sunny.
Maintaining good relations now was beneficial and harmless.
Having been a slave for so long, Little Seim could clearly feel sincerity and falsehood. Freud was now sincerely speaking, and he treated him as an equal, which touched Little Seim deeply.
The remnants of Little Seim’s resentment had now dissipated.
He had read many records about ghosts and knew that in the current stage, even for a long future, ghosts would be useless to him. Keeping them around might even have a very bad impact.
Angel was right; Lady Sheila was useless to him. So, handing her over to Freud was acceptable, especially since Freud had promised future compensation.
Thinking this, Little Seim no longer hesitated and nodded: “I agree to hand it over to Mr. Tyson. If it weren’t for Mr. Tyson’s help earlier, I probably would have already died.”
Freud smiled, not saying the words “Even if he hadn’t taken action, Angel wouldn’t have let him die.” He played with the Soul Bottle cheerfully.
Angel patted Little Seim’s shoulder: “I’ll take Freud for cultivation first. You should stay here for now. There won’t be any more danger.”
After speaking, Angel gave Freud a look, and the two quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Little Seim then touched his gradually healing wound. As soon as the wound was fully healed, he immediately lit an oil lamp, took out a blank notebook, and recorded the day’s events.
……
Elsewhere, Angel and Freud were swiftly gliding through the forests and mountains.
Soon, they arrived at a bare mountain peak not far from Star Lake Castle. They could even vaguely see the lights of the castle on another mountainside.
Angel: “We’ll split up and search.”
Freud nodded: “Okay.”
They came here because, after their secret observation, the first place where Lady Sheila appeared was here.
This means that Lady Sheila had been hiding nearby all along.
Previously, they had not sensed any aura of ghosts around here, so how exactly did Lady Sheila conceal her aura? This peculiarity prompted them to investigate.
Since they had narrowed down the area, searching for anomalies became more convenient.
It didn’t take long for Angel to find a spot inside the mountain that was impenetrable to mental power, blocked by some invisible barrier.
Having pinpointed the location, Angel took out a basic earth rune scroll used for building houses.
Utilizing the power of the scroll, he forcibly created a cave in the mountainside, leading directly to the interior of the mountain.
The cave eventually connected to a large cavern, the very place Angel had noticed the anomaly earlier.
The air in the cave was flowing and moist, indicating there was an exit, likely hidden somewhere in the mountain forest. Although they hadn’t seen the cave entrance despite searching for a long time, its hidden nature was irrelevant since they had entered through another method.
Having confirmed the location, they did not hesitate and quickly found the place impenetrable to mental power.
It was a Burrow.
This burrow was not naturally formed. It had clearly carved stone steps leading into the dark depths.
Looking at the entrance of this burrow, Angel appeared thoughtful.
Invisible to others but as an alchemist deeply versed in runes, he could sense that, though ordinary looking, the entrance was covered with a barrier created by a magic formation, invisible to the naked eye.
It was this barrier that had blocked his earlier mental probing.
Although Angel didn’t think anything inside could harm him, he still spent some time studying this magic formation, whose main formation was unknown.
After a while, Angel had basically identified the type of the magic formation.
It was an formation used to conceal auras and had no other effects. Moreover, its effectiveness was already weak, as Angel could faintly sense a sinister aura of death seeping from the entrance.
The integrity of the magic formation suggested that its weakened effect was likely due to a lack of energy supply.
This also indicated that there was a high probability that no one was inside.
“Let’s go in.” After confirming it was safe, Angel and Freud stepped directly into the burrow.
Angel had already sensed the sinister Death Aura before. As they passed through the magic formation into the burrow, this aura of death, no longer concealed, rushed crazily towards them.
“The aura of death here is even more intense than at the Star Lake Castle,” Freud noted, feeling the surging Death Aura. His already saturated soul power began to fluctuate. He quickly composed himself to avoid being tainted by the external aura of death.
“So much Death Aura either means a constant presence of ghosts or many people have died here,” Angel said. They would know which it was once they went further.
Although the Death Aura was fierce, it wasn’t a direct attack and didn’t affect them.
They walked down the burrow for about twenty meters, and finally, the staircase came to an end.