Chapter 90: Jill Family (1/2)
”AAAAAHH!” The woman let out an ear-piercing cry and her face morphed into something straight out of a horror story as Sonata stabbed her eye.
Her skin darkened and grew wrinkles while her teeth became razor-sharp fangs. But the oddest thing about her was the pair of dark purple bat wings she grew. She quickly jumped back, getting away from her attacker, and covered her eye with her hand.
Rakna coldly watched her as he appreciated one of the abilities that he hadn't been able to truly experience to its fullest until now.
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You have hit an incorporeal being.
Soul Core has been triggered. You inflicted spiritual damage.
You have drained 4 MP from your target.
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Soul Core has leveled up!
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He noted that, unlike when he took the stamina pill, the energy he had just drained seemed to be staying inside his body. He had now a 4 instead of a 0 next to his MP stat but it hadn't restored his regeneration, much to his chagrin.
”Who are you?!” The banshee screamed as she still felt the pain in her eye.
He raised an eyebrow and scoffed, ”A wandering detective.”
The ghost growled and dashed at him with a speed that he could not cope with in his current state but he still calmly stood unmoving even as she approached him. Her hand transformed into a blade as she swung her arm at him.
The only reaction he showed at that was his eyes moving. He was perfectly serene. After all, the only reason he had initiated the hostilities was because he unconsciously knew, something more than just a hunch, that he could beat her.
Right before the blade hit him, he leaned back as marginally as possible as the blade brushed past his neck. Then, within the blink of an eye, he recovered from his dodge and two flashes of azure-green light found their mark on the ghost's head and heart. She cried in pain again and this time, Rakna could see some frost appear where he stabbed.
'It seems my passive cold attack needs at least a bit of mana to work, even if it doesn't concretely lower it,' he thought and placed his fist in front of the banshee's neck. In one swift motion, he dealt out a reproduction of the one-inch punch; skillfully so that it would even impress masters.
The woman seemed to choke for a second and Rakna, still with a slow and careful motion of his muscles, threw a kick that landed on her stomach. He made sure to add a great deal of soul power in his blow and she flew back for a few meters before landing on the ground. She gasped and grasped her throat with her elongated nails as if something was harming her from the inside.
Rakna winced as he lowered his leg back to the ground and almost tripped as he tried to take a step forward. While she was still squirming on the ground, he approached her and placed a foot over her stomach. The wounds he had inflicted on her with Sonata were already disappearing as if they were never there but it seemed that his Soul Core had been enough to paralyze her.
”Let's get this over with. Are you the one responsible for the recent deaths?” He asked indifferently and she glared at him while grasping her neck.
”What… did you… do to… me…” She managed to croak out. She felt like something was burning inside her, bringing her more pain than she had ever felt.
Rakna squinted as his eyes let out a colorless hue. ”Your body seems to be made of soul power in its entirety. Perhaps it's being damaged by my own.”
She tried to reply but the pain caught up to her again and she let out a voiceless cry. ”I'm… not… the one… who killed them… please…” Her tone became pleading and her appearance gradually turned human-like again. This time, she didn't seem to be posing as someone else and used what appeared to be her real appearance.
She had curly dark green hair with a pair of eyes that matched. Her skin was ghastly and her body was modest but elegant. Rakna scowled at her as she was on the verge of crying. He couldn't smell her emotions, probably because of the nature of her existence, but he could smell her aura.
After focusing a bit, he noticed that the foul odor he had perceived from the outside of this house didn't seem to be coming from her. The color of her soul also seemed to be quite bright; it was as if it was trying to convince him that she was innocent. After a moment of thought, he gave her the benefit of the doubt and lifted his foot.
He crouched next to her and placed his hand above her heart. ”[Soul Scourge,]” he muttered and reached for the soul power he had inadvertently injected inside of her earlier. At the same time, with this skill, he noticed that he could easily break her apart if he wanted to. But he decided to listen to his gut feeling once again and got rid of what she was suffering from.
After just a few seconds, she stopped clawing at her neck and she could finally breathe, something that made him wonder if even ghosts needed air to live. Or perhaps something different. Akin to an afterlife version of oxygen.
”Tha-thank you…”
”Don't waste my time. Tell me what you know,” Rakna uttered, not showing any ounce of guilt for having mishandled her while she was potentially blameless.
She nodded weakly and leaned against the wall for support as she stood up. She breathed in and exhaled before speaking up, ”My name… is Evelyn Malcanthet… I'm a phantom bound to this place without a way to leave it. The dead you're talking about were…” She hesitated as she reached this part.
”They were what?” He repeated with a frigid tone, releasing a bit of his Despair Aura at the same time. ”If you don't speak now, I will force your soul to do it for you. It's in your interest that I don't fall back on this since I still don't know how to control it.”
The phantom flinched at the pressure invading the room. She couldn't comprehend how she could be so easily intimidated by someone who seemed to barely be standing on his feet. She had seen how careful he was with his every step as if he was scared to hurt himself.
She bit her lip. 'It didn't stop him from demolishing me,' she thought bitterly. ”The culprit is…” She sighed. ”My brother. He was the one who did it.”
Rakna furrowed his eyebrows as he whirled one of his daggers in thought. ”Before I ask you who your brother is, specifically, I assume you're saying that he, for some reason, randomly kills people that pass by this house and you… are probably the one who possesses them after their death to hide the truth. Am I right?”
Evelyn's eyes widened in shock at how quickly and forthrightly he had reached this conclusion. He had also been horrifyingly accurate. ”How…” She started but Rakna cut her off.
”For now, I will believe that you are not the one who killed them. That's all you have to know,” he said and his eyes skimmed over a window that appeared in front of him after he willed it.
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Name: Evelyn J. Malcanthet
Age: 192 (18) | Level: 12
Race: Cambion Phantom | Path: Hell Priestess
Affiliation: Descendant of the Jill Family – First Plateau
Titles: Caring Sister – The Virgin Succubus
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Attributes:
STR: 5 | END: 5
SPD: 7 | DEX: 9
INT: 21 | LCK: 3
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Statistics:
DP: 118/131 | MP: 294/310
SWI: 56 | Agility: 25
SEN: 52 | ATC: 50
ATT: 38.5 | DEF: 20
MA: 63 | MR: 2.37/min
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Proficiencies:
- Mana Sense (Lv. Max)
- Flight (Lv. Max)