Amidst this shocking turn of events, which felt like a pivotal moment in a world war...
Before Finn could make any reaction...
He suddenly felt a cold sensation in his chest. Then, he looked down in disbelief, watching as a blood-stained blade burst through his chest from behind.
Blood dripped along the fuller of the blade, splashing onto the muddy soil.
“Wha—!”
A raspy, gurgling sound escaped Finn’s throat.
A massive amount of blood flooded his windpipe, choking back the interrogation that was about to burst forth.
He gritted his teeth, summoned every last ounce of strength in his body, and forced his head to turn with extreme effort.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw the person holding the hilt.
It was the rookie investigator named Luke.
The young man was expressionless, as if he had simply cleared away a piece of trash.
The other three Seventh Agency investigators nearby were all frozen by the sudden situation.
Their pupils shook violently; their brains had short-circuited in that instant.
Especially the other rookie who had been staked out with Luke outside the Golden Rose Hotel just yesterday.
His mouth hung wide open.
The look he gave Luke was filled with profound disbelief.
He simply couldn't understand.
How could this guy, who had made a mistake alongside him during the surveillance mission at the Golden Rose, so cleanly kill a Scale Two Seventh Agency investigator?
...
In the pit several meters away.
Following Luke’s shout that pierced the night sky...
In mid-air, John, who had been trying to maintain his disguise, saw his expression undergo a complete hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.
The previous look of misunderstood grievance and urgency vanished instantly.
In its place was a coldness that made no attempt to hide itself.
He looked down from above, his eyes mocking Elias at the bottom of the pit.
“I originally wanted to cooperate with you properly.”
John’s translucent voice echoed in the air.
“But all I got in return was suspicion.”
He spread his hands in the air.
“I’m done pretending.”
He stared at Elias’s masked face, his tone full of playfulness.
“I’d like to ask you, Elias.”
“You didn't think I had to wait for you to touch the containment object before I could do something to you, did you?”
The moment those words were spoken...
Elias’s body reacted instinctively.
Without any hesitation, he immediately dropped the slimy Gluttonous Stomach in his hand as if it were a red-hot iron.
The muscles in his legs tensed instantly as he prepared to leap out of the pit.
However, to his surprise...
He was still half a beat too slow.
Or rather, the spell John had been planning for a long time was triggered too quickly.
The moment the Gluttonous Stomach left his hand...
A massive impact erupted from within the stomach pouch!
It was an invisible soul storm.
No sound, no fire.
It targeted only spiritual bodies.
This impact was so powerful that it was enough to instantly uproot a normal person's soul, violently stripping it from the physical body!
At the same time.
On the other side, John’s corpse, which had already begun to rot...
Looked as if all its moisture and marrow had been sucked out in an instant.
At a speed visible to the naked eye, it became even more shriveled.
Bones collapsed, flesh withered.
In the blink of an eye, it turned into a dried corpse that looked ready to crumble into dust.
“Not good!”
Old Ed shouted solemnly.
“He was after your body from the very beginning!”
Of course.
Even without Old Ed saying it...
The moment the soul storm hit.
Feeling the weightlessness as if he were being rammed out of his own body by a heavy carriage...
Elias had already realized the other party's true objective.
It was possession!
The scheming old bastard!
In the instant his soul was violently struck by the impact, uncontrollably flying out of his body...
In mid-air.
John’s spiritual body, which had been waiting for this, moved.
He executed a sharp dive in the air, lunging straight for Elias’s physical body.
Driven by the ecstasy of imminent rebirth...
The intense excitement caused John’s previously decent translucent face to become completely twisted and hideous.
This extraordinarily gifted supernatural body...
Was about to be his!
But what John never expected was...
The script did not play out as he had envisioned.
When his spiritual body, shrouded in a gale, was about to drill into that mouth-watering physical shell...
A counterattack from another spiritual body followed immediately!
John’s spiritual body was like a car traveling at full speed hitting an invisible wall head-on.
His entire spirit was knocked back more than half a meter by the force of the rebound.
He tumbled several times in the air before finally stabilizing himself.
When he looked back toward Elias...
John froze completely on the spot.
His twisted face was written with a look of shock as if he had seen a ghost.
What was he seeing?
He saw Elias’s spiritual body indeed extending from his physical shell under the impact from before.
But the problem was...
That nearly solid spiritual body was now clearly exposed in the air.
What John found most terrifying was...
Elias’s spiritual body not only had crystal-clear facial features with no signs of dissipation...
It was also exceptionally robust!
The soul density was appalling!
One had to know...
In the common knowledge of the supernatural world, a normal person's spiritual body was extremely fragile the moment it left the body.
Not only would it fail to remain connected to the physical form...
It would be snapped out like a kite with a broken string, immediately ejected and drifting with the wind.
But what about Elias?
His spiritual body hadn't been completely ejected.
His lower half was still firmly rooted inside the physical body.
From the look of it, a large portion of his spirit remained as steady as a mountain within the flesh; it couldn't be pulled out at all!
What kind of monster is this?!
“Come on, John.”
Floating in mid-air, Elias’s spiritual body tilted its head slightly.
The corners of his mouth slowly curled into a highly mocking smile.
“Did you think we hadn't suspected your motives before?”
Elias’s translucent eyes lowered slightly, glancing at the Roaring Cane he had previously placed at his feet.
“To tell you the truth.”
He retracted his gaze and looked at the stunned John, his tone like he was making small talk.
“Just last night, the old man and I chatted for a long time about your mysterious appearance at the lighthouse.”
“And naturally, we discussed your motive for commissioning me to help you retrieve something.”
He raised a translucent eyebrow.
“Originally, I thought you might have some even more bizarre method.”
Elias offered a very objective evaluation.
“After all, with my current supernatural abilities, it would indeed be difficult to resist high-level ghostly tricks.”
“So, after discussing it with Old Ed...”
He let out a helpless sigh.
“I had no choice but to apply three resonance stacks to myself in advance.”
“That is the current limit of what I can endure.”
“But don't misunderstand, this wasn't specifically for you.”
Elias waved a hand, trying to dispel the other's vanity.
“Usually, when the dream demon curse on me takes effect, I often need to give myself a harsh hit like this to stay awake.”
He shrugged.
“It’s just that I never know when it will arrive.”
“So I just applied it as a precaution.”
Elias’s smile gradually faded.
“Of course, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“If some blind spiritual body wanted to take the opportunity to do something to my body...”
“I’d just happen to let him taste what soul screams feel like.”
“A pity.”
Elias shook his head with regret, seemingly very dissatisfied with John’s performance.
“Your method couldn't even completely strip my spiritual body from my physical shell.”
“So I could only return the favor with a stern elbow strike.”
“As a punishment.”
Recalling the moment of impact just now...
Elias clenched his fist with great satisfaction.
“I just didn't expect that hitting a spirit as a spirit would feel this good!”
Rate on N.U.
