Chapter 187 – Chapter 39: Ghosts #2
The door was broken. Simultaneously, In-gong shot down the hallway while expanding the mini-map. It wasn’t hard to find her location because Felicia belonged to the King’s Knights.
‘Too far away!’
If he used Wind Style, he could get there in a few minutes. However, he felt like a few minutes was still too long. What would he do if something happened in the meantime? In-gong had already lost his temper when he heard Felicia scream. The image of Felicia protecting Silvan from the Famine Knight popped into his head, and he felt a surge of fear.
“Prince!”
Carack shouted from behind him, in attempt to restrain him, but In-gong didn’t care.
“Felicia!”
It wasn’t a simple call. This was the powerful Call of the King’s Knights.
He would normally have refrained from using it because he didn’t know what Felicia was doing. However, now wasn’t the time to consider such things. The moment he shouted the command, the space in front of him opened, and Felicia was revealed.
“Shock Wave!”
Felicia cast a spell as she appeared in front of In-gong. It was because she had activated the magic the moment that Call was used.
“Shutra?”
Felicia tried to stop the magic when she saw In-gong, but it was already too late. A powerful shock wave hit In-gong. However, In-gong’s body was able to withstand this level of magic. He didn’t resist the moment the shock wave struck, but instead of being blown into the air, he used strength to flip and land on the ground.
Normally, a shock wave would cause blood and vomiting, but In-gong was fine. Felicia’s attempt to stop the shock wave at the last minute had weakened the magic, but In-gong’s durability itself was very high.
“I’m okay! Is Noona okay?”
In-gong asked loudly, and Felicia flinched with surprise before nodding. She looked around in a voice mixed with embarrassment.
“Uh, yes. I see you used Call.”
Felicia was reminded of the fight at the 12th base of Curtis. Her breathing was probably rough due to her surprise.
“Princess, what is going on? The fog is strange!”
Carack asked Felicia. No matter how familiar she was with Carack, she could not help but feel fear as the rough looking Carack approached. Felicia flinched again before shouting,
“I don’t know. This is the first time this has happened!”
Felicia stayed at the Demon King’s Palace more often than at the Dark Elves’ Palace, but she had still spent a third of her 20 years at the Sky Forest. This was a phenomenon which had never been present in the records.
“Ku-pa-ha!”
Right then, In-gong used Dragon Words again. Due to the exposed side wall, the fog entered directly and banshees were forming. At that moment, Carack remembered something and took a step closer to Felicia.
“Delia! What is Delia’s situation right now?”
She was always with Felicia. Felicia had screamed, so maybe Delia was in a dangerous situation. However, it was groundless. If there really was a dangerous situation, then Felicia would be the first one to return to Delia.
Felicia replied calmly,
“She will be fine. I wasn’t in danger. I just screamed because I was confused. A banshee suddenly appeared in front of me. So, Delia will be fine. Yes, I bet on it.”
It seemed like Felicia was reassuring herself, rather than Carack. Felicia explained the situation in a bit more detail. According to her, she had been walking along the corridor with Delia and two servants when she encountered a banshee. After hearing about the growing number of banshees, In-gong spoke to Felicia and Carack,
“Then let’s move on. First we need to secure the safety of Caitlin noona.”
After securing Felicia, the next one was Caitlin. Felicia was familiar with ghosts and spirits because she was a magician, but there was no telling how Caitlin would react to the banshees. Caitlin was also a magician, but she could only use some spells for combat support.
Felicia had a subtle expression on her face, but she quickly nodded. She was also concerned about Caitlin. Caitlin’s and Chris’s rooms were somewhat distant from In-gong’s room. If this were an ordinary mansion, the guest rooms would be close to each other, but this was the palace of the dark elves. Moreover, a distinction had been made between males and females, so the gap between rooms was quite substantial.
They saw banshees in the hallway as the magic power of the fog became stronger. The sound of dark elves screaming, not banshees, could be heard in many places.
In-gong gritted his teeth and used Wind Style. Carack and Felicia were together, so it wouldn’t be a big problem to go first. Like Felicia, Caitlin was a member of the King’s Knights, so he had no trouble finding her room. As soon as he arrived at the guest room, In-gong used the divine flame to break through the door.
“Caitlin!”
The moment that In-gong shouted, several banshees exploded before him.
“Shutra.”
Caitlin blinked with surprise and greeted In-gong. There was a considerable number of dead banshees in the room.
“This, pant, before, pant, guess, pant…”
Felicia breathed roughly as she arrived behind him. Caitlin didn’t have blood covering her body like at the time of the Red Lightning tribe mission, but In-gong was reminded of that time. Even Seira standing beside her was unharmed.
‘Indeed.’
In-gong thought Caitlin was scared of ghosts, but that was a mistake. Rather, Caitlin’s eyes were shining like lanterns. It was at this moment that there was a deafening roar from behind them.
“Ca-it-li-n!”
It was Chris. Felicia covered her ears reflexively with a frown while, In-gong grabbed Caitlin’s hand.
“Oppa!”
Chris sighed with relief as he scanned Caitlin up and down after arriving. However, shortly after that, he turned toward Felicia who was still breathing roughly and grabbed her.
“Felicia noonim, what the hell is happening?”
It was a sharp voice, almost like he was interrogating her. Chris was terribly agitated. However, this wasn’t simply due to the attack of the banshees. It was because the phenomenon that created the banshees was getting stronger.
“I don’t know! This is the first time!”
Felicia hit Chris’ hands several times before correcting her posture. In-gong sandwiched himself between Chris and Felicia and said,
“We need to send people to Amita and Daphne.”
In-gong, Chris, and Caitlin were on the same floor, but Amita and Daphne were on a different floor. However, Felicia shook her head.
“They will be fine. The two of them are sharing a room, and Daphne is good with spirits. Karma as well.”
There were two druids there, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Additionally, Amita wasn’t simply a raccoon who liked eating. They were a powerful magician and priest of the last flame, so they could deal with dozens of banshees at once.
In-gong was convinced of this and nodded. Then Caitlin, who was still holding In-gong’s hand, asked,
“Silvan oppa?”
“He won’t have a problem. The important thing is to break this situation itself.”
Instead of Felicia, Chris replied. The power of life was a natural enemy to ghosts like the banshee. It was unlikely that Silvan, who was strong with aura, would be at risk. 3rd Queen Sylvia was the ruler of the dark elves and would likely have guards around here. Moreover, Sylvia was a powerful magician, so Felicia didn’t need to worry.
As a certain degree of comfort was restored, the agitation of the group subsided and reason was restored. However, they couldn’t relax.
“Master, the height of the fog keeps on increasing.”
Green Wind spoke in an uneasy voice as she looked far away. He hadn’t noticed due to the excitement, but once he closed his eyes and concentrated, he could feel the density of magic power was becoming thicker and higher.
What would happen if this situation continued?
Right now, only banshees were appearing. However, as the density of magic power increased, more powerful monsters might appear. The banshees weren’t a threat to the party. Even if stronger ghosts appeared, the situation wasn’t likely to change. However, it wasn’t the same for the ordinary dark elves in the palace. This situation could result in an enormous loss of life.
Everybody looked at each other, but none of them could open their mouths.
At that moment, In-gong opened his inventory and pulled out White Eagle. Just like before, an ominous light shone from Abseltus’ heart which was embedded in White Eagle.
“Shutra?”
Chris asked hurriedly when he saw the modified White Eagle. In-gong replied as he stared at Abseltur’s heart which was emitting a red light instead of the usual green light.
“This is Abseltur’s heart.”
The moment that In-gong said this, Felicia made a startled expression as she looked between In-gong and the heart.
“Heok! Surely, this isn’t because of Shutra?! Shutra is too much!”
Chris and Caitlin also seemed resentful. In-gong sighed at Felicia’s words and explained,
“I’m not the cause. Abseltur’s heart is just reacting to the phenomenon.”
“It’s reacting? Are you referring to Creature Abseltur?”
Chris asked quickly. In-gong was surprised.
“You know about him?”
“I only know that he dealt the dark elves a massive blow in the past. Beyond that, I don’t know any more.”
Chris’ hobby was collecting stories of heroes and battles from various places. So, it was natural for him to hear the name. In-gong gazed at Felicia, and she explained while fanning her face furiously with her hands, like she was trying to cool down.
“Abseltur is a creature made by the first fairy king. He was a guardian when the fairy king was still alive but revealed his evil nature after the fairy king died. Anyway, if Abseltur’s heart is responding, then that means…
“It is clear that this incident has a connection to the first fairy king.”
Felicia nodded at In-gong’s words. The name, Abseltur, was notorious, so she thought the cause of this incident was Abseltur’s heart. However, that was irrational. It was more likely that Abseltur’s heart was reacting to something, just like In-gong said.
“Master, it is better to keep moving. The fog is starting to have a constant flow now. It will soon become a whirlwind.”
Green Wind spoke in a strained voice. He couldn’t directly see the situation outside, but it seemed like the wind was becoming stronger.
In-gong closed his eyes and focused on the flow of magic power. It was just as Green Wind said; a flow of gigantic fog was covering the whole Sky Forest, but it was still slow. As gandharvas were sensitive to all flow, it wasn’t difficult to feel the movements. However, it was becoming faster. He didn’t know how long it would continue to accelerate, but it seemed like a big disaster was soon about to happen.
“Go underground.”
Felicia declared. She couldn’t read the flow of magic, so she trusted In-gong and Green Wind. Instead of spending time on verification, the top priority was resolving the immediately situation.
“The tomb of the kings is in the basement of the palace. The first fairy king’s tomb is there, so we might be able to find a clue.”
The magic fog had been here before the first fairy king set up his kingdom. So, there was no guarantee that this phenomenon was linked to the fairy king. However, Abseltur’s heart was responding to something. Moreover, the tombs of the ancestors in the basement of the palace weren’t simple tombs; powerful magic circles were engraved there.
The tomb of the first fairy king was the starting point of all those magic circles. So, it was worth taking a look.
“Let’s go.”
Chris growled, and Caitlin nodded. The party, with Felicia in the lead, headed underground.