Midsummer Night’s Evil Spirit (2)
Artis secretly whispered something to Han-bin, who was standing absentmindedly.
“I told you it’s easy but annoying.”
“Yeah, there’s not any tension, let alone a battle…”
Interpreting it differently, Emil looked apologetic.
“I forgot about you, Mr. Felard.”
He immediately covered the black greatsword with a spirit. Judging from the quick casting involved with it, Han-bin thought it was just a low-level skill.
“Then, please.”
With a single swing of his sword, five or six ghosts disappeared all at once, causing Emil to burst in admiration.
“As expected from a Valtara warrior! What great power!”
Applying spirits on a weapon only gave the user the ability to damage ethereal beings, but the amount of damage done still depended on the user’s strength.
It only took a single minute of ghost-slaying for them to vanquish their foes completely. After making sure there were no longer any ghost appearances, Priest Emil addressed the group politely.
“It looks like we’ve gotten rid of all of them around here. Shall we move on to the next section?”
As Priest Emil took the lead, Hyu Han-bin smiled bitterly.
‘I was wondering why everyone was so relaxed…’
Now he definitely understood.
* * *
The cleansing of all the evil spirits in the area only took three hours.
That’s right. It was no more than ‘cleansing’ to Han-bin and his party.
It was too easy for him to label it with impactful words such as extermination and annihilation.
‘Is this the only thing I accomplished with my time today?’
Still, it wasn’t all in vain.
The Church’s contribution score had risen considerably with their work.
Han-bin sheathed the black greatsword onto his back as he addressed the Priest.
“Are we going back now?”
Priest Emil smiled.
“Just to be sure, we’re going to stay here tonight to examine the area.”
Even if only one remained, it would still have the potential to absorb evil energy and repopulate; hence every single one of them needed to be erased from existence.
They chose a living room on the second floor of the mansion and lit a fire in the middle of it.
Blankets were laid on the floor to serve as their beds.
All that remained was for them to wait until dawn came.
Basking in the warmth of the flames, Effir began to speak perhaps out of boredom.
“A midsummer night, an abandoned mansion… It’s the perfect setting for a ghost story.”
Emil replied with a smile.
“I know. Why don’t we tell scary stories to pass the time?”
“Hey, that’ll be fun.”
Han-bin found the conversation absurd.
‘Are there any ghost stories in this world? You just wiped out the ghosts without problems. How would ghost stories even exist when the ghosts aren’t that scary or strong?’
Priest Emil began to tell a tale, his voice filled with eerieness.
“During my days as an Apprentice, I was working with a team of Beginner Hunters to fight a monster…”
* * *
As usual, the story began on the way back from fighting monsters.
“Suddenly, the sky darkened, and rain began to pour heavily. Everyone quickly searched for a place to stay in.”
What they found was a huge noble mansion abandoned in the woods.
Its ambiance was gloomy and sorrowful, filled with dead trees and dried grass everywhere.
“We went inside the mansion to avoid the rain. We made a proper fireplace and dried our bodies, but a whitish human figure appeared across the hall.”
Artis and Effir chimed in.
“It is common for ghosts to appear in abandoned mansions.”
“Hey, and then?”
As he listened to them, Han-bin soon realized the ghost itself was not the ghost story’s subject.
Little by little, Emil’s voice began to turn into a whisper.
“At first, I thought it was just another ghost. I naturally tried to eradicate it without much thought…”
He paused for a moment, then quietly added.
“… But why would a ghost open a door to enter a room in the hallway?”
Effir trembled.
“Hey!”
Han-bin blinked.
‘What? Why is she surprised there?’
Regardless, it seemed to terrify the people from this world.
Everyone listened to Emil with stern expressions.
“Surprised, we armed ourselves and immediately pursued the ghost. It was the first time we had seen it, so everyone was very nervous. But!”
Suddenly Emil raised his voice.
“The candlesticks hanging on the corridor caught fire all at once!”
“Heek!”
Artis let out a strange groan.
Effir was silent, but her face was stiff.
Both seemed to have been immersed in the story.
Of course, Han-bin was far off.
“……?”
He didn’t understand the reason why a Dragon, a being that could breathe fire from its mouth and could use all sorts of magic, would be surprised to see a little fire light up an abandoned candlestick.
“All of them were brave Hunters, but after that incident, even their hearts could no longer contain it. We decided to run out of the mansion hurriedly.”
So, they went down to the first floor of the mansion.
However, the unknown ghost was already standing there.
“With our escape route blocked, we had no choice but to fight. I prepared the spirits, and the mage cast flame-based magic, which should’ve worked well for the ghost. But just as the spirits and magic spells were about to hit the ghost…”
Emil paused for a moment before looking back at the party with a dark expression.
“It all just passed through the ghost…”
The dragon and the Wyvern, both in their human forms, trembled profusely.
“Hump.”
“Oh, come on! Don’t scare me too much.”
On the other hand, Ryu Han-bin, a Korean disguised as a barbarian warrior, could only cover his face with both hands out of sheer confusion.
‘I don’t know. I can’t sympathize with them at all…’
It was hopeless. Han-bin knew their cultures were different, but their horror stories were like night and day.
Emil continued the story.
“Naturally, we ran away again.”
After that, it became a typical ghost story.
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