Chapter 1244: Chapter 1244: Iluna’s Growth
The soul was now experiencing intense pain, as Iluna’s [Night Watchman] was also pointing at him. He wasn’t an Evil Spirit, but the essence of the Crazy Earth had already altered his soul’s nature, and the [Night Watchman] sensed its Malice:
"You have only one chance. Do you know where the missing Mr. Thomas Granger has gone? Where were the letters from Mr. Granger to your family hidden?"
After Shard finished speaking, Iluna immediately began counting down:
"Three, two..."
"I don’t know where he’s gone! But I know where the letters are! In the cracks in the basement wall, those cursed letters led us to become like this! Damn Thomas Granger, you won’t rest in peace after you die!"
The Baron cursed loudly, as if collapsing, screaming and ceaselessly cursing Mr. Granger.
"Take us to the basement."
Iluna said, the seventeen-year-old girl feeling a bit regretful that although she came along, she hadn’t contributed much, but it was a good thing that things went smoothly:
"If we get those letters, we can let you go, but afterward, you have to tell the truth."
Although Iluna promised this, she would report to the Church afterward, and the Church would deal with these souls.
Shard withdrew the [Great Sin Chain] but did not cancel the [Binding Light]. Relying on his ability to directly contact spiritual bodies, he carried the bound soul and returned with Iluna from the third floor to the first.
During this time, none of the scattered souls appeared, clearly terrified of the two.
The ghosts could move directly through walls in the manor, but Shard and Iluna couldn’t pass through the collapsed entrance of the basement. They could only helplessly excavate, and with the help of Shard’s Light of the Witch, barely melted a passage for ingress and egress.
The manor’s basement was large, and surprisingly, it still stored barrels of wine and some brewing equipment. Under Baron Farmer’s guidance, Shard, with his fingertips illuminated by Moonlight, found the stack of faded letters in the crack in the eastern wall. The crack was actually a hollow within the wall structure, containing not only letters but also some jewelry and coins, which Shard and Iluna retrieved, discovering at the deepest part a mummified infant’s corpse.
Of course, it might be a miscarried infant’s corpse; it was impossible to recognize due to the passage of time. The corpse lay in a pool of black sludge, and when Shard attempted to reach in and pull out the corpse, the black sludge began to writhe:
"I see, the source of the Crazy Earth is here!"
Retracting his hand, he thrust his sword towards the inside of the wall. The black sludge swiftly enveloped the corpse, which immediately "melted" into the crack.
Before Iluna and Shard could react, the corpse emerged from the ground beneath the bound Baron’s feet, swiftly climbing onto its back.
In five consecutive crisp sounds, five silver rings shattered into fragments. The Baron’s soul body, which began to harden and petrify, melted like the corpse on its back into the soil beneath his feet, and even the ensuing Sunlight Gun could not catch up with him as it blasted a pit in the ground.
"He got away!"
"It’s okay, he can’t leave the manor’s boundaries."
Shard cautiously secured the letters whose paper had become brittle:
"It’s time to wrap up. I’ve seen the source of the earth’s pollution; I can cast a spell to purify the land. Let’s go to the courtyard. It won’t allow us to purify the land; it will come to us."
The two returned from the manor to the wintry night courtyard, and as they passed through the first-floor corridor, numerous ghosts hidden in the shadows peeked their heads out from the surrounding walls, observing them as if countless heads were hung on the walls. They attempted to block their departure but clearly lacked the courage, so they could only watch the two climb out the window.
Once back in the courtyard, to avoid creating too much commotion and being discovered by the Circle Sorcerers from the lakeside Church encampment, they moved to the dilapidated Angel fountain behind the courtyard.
The night wind was cold, but the starlight was bright. Shard tightened his collar and then handed the [Night Watchman] to Iluna:
"I will cast the purification spell. Iluna, it’s up to you this time."
He said, smiling at the seventeen-year-old girl. Iluna nodded with a tense expression, having resolved that even if she had to destroy the entire manor, she wouldn’t disrupt Shard’s spellcasting.
This has nothing to do with justice or evil, madness or order, it’s just an innocent girl wanting to show off a little. Annihilating those souls has nothing to do with the souls themselves.
Shard crushed the prepared normal soil, and in the moment when all the glimmers around gathered on him, the hazy earth-colored spiritual energy’s Soil Holy Grail had already formed.
It was Iluna’s first time seeing Shard use this sorcery, and as she felt the magnificent and warm earth power, she vaguely sensed she seemed to understand something:
"When trained at the Papacy, my teacher said my talent for earth power was also outstanding, just not as good as the Sun."
But now was clearly not the time to feel the power, as the Soil Holy Grail entered the ground beneath their feet, and as the surging spiritual energy spread in all directions, the things within the manor finally sensed something.
The dark three-story mansion seemed to flicker for an instant under the starry sky, and as unknown clouds drifted over again to cover the Moon, a layer of ghastly green light spread across the surface of the manor walls. Screams almost immediately echoed from within the mansion, the souls encountering something extremely terrifying.
Five blue Sage’s Glowstones floated out from Iluna’s pocket, arcing in suspension above her head. As the eyes forged with divinity nearly glowed, she saw the black power gathering to a frightening degree at the window on the third floor.
The gale suddenly swept black dust obscuring the view, and under Iluna’s serious gaze, black mud first flowed from the third-floor banquet hall’s rear window, then erupted like a waterfall. The black mud took form in the air, a pitch-black earth serpent opened its massive maw from the third-floor window, pouncing towards the two on the ground, while wrapped around the serpent’s body were the rigid faces of the hundreds of souls they had just seen in the manor.
The screech was nearly ear-piercing, the black mud serpent was even thicker than Shard and Iluna combined at the waist.
Behind the seventeen-year-old girl, the Ring of Fate transformed into a dark golden balance, she raised her longsword pointing at the serpent:
"Edict - Halt!"
The dark golden balance radiated light, and the black mud in the air seemed to pause for one second as if under time pause, and next came the azure luminescent torrent:
"Light of the Sage!"
The five Sage’s Glowstones suspended above Iluna’s head emitted a torrent enough to pierce souls. The azure glow converged into a stream, directly colliding with the black mud serpent extending from the mansion, in an instant blue light fragments and splattering mud flew all directions, under the influence of the power of The Chosen One, the black mud retreated piece by piece.
"Sunlight Gun!"
The explosive Golden Thunder Spear flew from her hand, piercing through the blue light stream, exploding at the forefront of the black mud, completely shattering the front half of the black mud serpent’s body. The black mud scattered, and the manor itself emitted a dreamy long howl, which even made Shard concerned about disturbing the True God Church by the lake shore.
But this still wasn’t over, the scattered black mud began to automatically gather in the courtyard, seemingly nurturing another monster. But this time Iluna wouldn’t give them the chance, with the power of "Eye of Death" acquired from being Chosen by Death, her god-made left eye glowed faintly, the concept of death changed the appearance of everything in her view, yet it also revealed the solitary weakness of the writhing black mud to Iluna.
With a sword in one hand, she rushed swiftly forward, sunlight’s hue covered the Night Watchman’s sword, the prototype resembling High Ring Sorcery [Sunlight Greatsword].
The black mud attempted to counter Iluna, but couldn’t approach her before being evaporated by the light trace surrounding her. Under balance, all things are equal, Iluna didn’t care what her opponent was, as long as she saw the weakness, there was no enemy she couldn’t kill.
With her hand raising and the sword falling, the golden sword shadow neatly evaporated the black mud into two sections, simultaneously revealing the infant corpse wrapped at the center.
The corpse trembled under the intense heat of the sword light, but was ultimately pinned to the ground by the Night Watchman. The black mud tried to approach and assimilate the metallic longsword, but under the power of the angel-level relic specifically restraining evil and negative energies, it was instead repelled.
The black mud completely dispersed, like scattered black rain it was sprinkled all over the courtyard. The semi-petrified souls fled from the black mud like escaping for life, but couldn’t return into the mansion anymore.
Once in contact with the black mud, the petrification process becomes irreversible. Grand Witch Miss Benanis was merely cursed by feeling the aura of the Crazy Earth, these simple souls naturally couldn’t resist the power of Crazy Earth.
The power of The Chosen strongly suppressed those black mud, [Night Watchman] completely destroyed the infant corpse. The surging earth-colored spiritual energy now finally covered every corner of the courtyard, and the black mud gradually melted in the spiritual energy, while the baron’s soul, with only the head normal remaining, revealed at the deepest part of the black mud.
The Soil Holy Grail floated up from the earth before Shard, this time the cup wasn’t large, at least not as the big one obtained from "Saint Perry Cemetery". The rune on the cup was [Sweet Rune], the specific effect would have to be experimented on by Shard after returning home.
He held the still glowing cup and walked towards Iluna, watching the struggling baron trying to say something with her. Shard didn’t give the other the chance to speak, directly extending his hand and pressing it on the shoulder of the spirit. The petrified soul felt soft like a sand sculpture to the touch:
"Guide to Death!"
The soul wanted to resist, but was still forced to reveal its most precious memories to Shard. Scenes flooded into Shard’s mind, past memories flashing quickly in his head.