119 – Resolution of Negativity. (1)
Without a moment of confusion, I was led by Salus.
No, what on earth is happening? My mind was in complete chaos due to the consecutive incomprehensible situations. Salus, who had suddenly transformed into a human form, was equally shocking.
Does accompanying me mean this?
“Salus.”
While being led by Salus’s touch, I asked him.
“Why?”
“Why did you choose to take on the form of a human?”
“After becoming a specter, I could never leave the throne even once. Just my brief appearance was enough to create a land of specters. So I wanted to go outside the throne like this and step on the earth. And during the time as Salus, I was always in the form of a sword.”
“Ah.”
“So, I’ve been longing for it all along. To freely walk on the vast land.”
“So, are you Umbra or Salus now?”
“Both. My consciousness is currently a fusion of Umbra and Salus. Right now, just call me Salus. That’s the name you gave me.”
“Got it. By the way, are we going back now?”
– Sure. The land of spirits is probably disappearing as well. After all, my physical form was the center of the land of spirits. Since my physical form has disappeared, the land of spirits can only disappear too.
– …Feels like my nose has been ignored.
– Anyway, let’s go quickly. I also want to set foot on the ground as soon as possible.
How much time has passed? As I pushed through the gradually fading whirlwind of spirits, suddenly I saw myself lying on Asti’s lap.
And I saw Lina looking at me with a hint of worry, and Nea looking around as if bored.
“I found you. Come on. Go inside.”
She pushed my body… No, my spiritual form back into my physical form.
And with that, I lost consciousness as I felt myself being sucked into somewhere.
* * *
Meanwhile, while Prach finished everything and returned to his body, Adrian and his group sat tiredly in front of the bonfire.
“…It’s never-ending.”
In response to Adrian’s complaint-like words, everyone nodded as if in agreement. They seemed to have no strength to answer.
“I didn’t know there would be so many spirits.”
Bishop Antonio said in frustration. It was understandable. They had been fighting here for several days straight. There was hardly any time to rest. They managed to build a base here, so they could take a short break, but if the battle lasted longer like this, they would have to sleep rough.
It was fortunate that the priests and knights were the main force, but if it had been another unit, they wouldn’t have been able to sleep comfortably. If it hadn’t been for the sacred barrier they had constructed, they would have been tormented by the spirits all night.
The spirits seemed to be endless. Were there really so many spirits in this land with grudges? What exactly had happened in the empire?
While facing the never-ending spirits of the former holy maidens and saints, Adrian realized something. There must have been some deeply rooted corrupt group in the empire.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many former holy maidens and saints turning into spirits, and living people, especially knights and priests, wouldn’t have held any grudges.
Come to think of it, it was a natural story. Even the Savior of Salvation, Estelle, had risen to eradicate the corrupt people in the empire.
“After this incident is over, we must definitely investigate the church’s leadership. The Pope said he would do it,
Adrian was contemplating running by himself with a serious expression. There was no one to trust, so what else could he do? He had to run by himself.
To be honest, he couldn’t fully trust Bishop Antonio and the leader of the Ars Holy Order. He had cooperated with them, but he was hesitant to share all the information.
As Adrian, that was the best option. She didn’t want to leave any room for even the slightest possibility of failure.
Now, it was time to expel the corruption in the kingdom by any means necessary. Not even the slightest mistake would be tolerated.
But that was one thing, and for now, the purification of the ghost land was the top priority… although it didn’t seem that easy.
“Sigh…”
A sigh escaped. The others, who had been sitting around the fire with the saint, were feeling the same way. They were getting tired of the endless battles. When would they be able to drive out all the ghosts?
It wasn’t going to be easy at all.
“How many ghosts are there, really…?”
Diana grumbled. Ruslan and Johann felt the same way. Only Arismann was calmly taking a rest with a silent look on his face.
“By the way, how are things going over there?”
“Prakh?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what they’re doing with those… wizards studying sorcery.”
“I don’t know. There hasn’t been any contact from there.”
“Well, the priests over there will tell us later. Right now, the important thing is here, not there.”
Diana nodded at Johann’s words. Whatever it was, the situation here was more urgent than over there. What were they going to do about those ghosts that attacked them like crazy at night?
“Let’s just watch a little longer. If the situation gets too bad, the saint will make the judgment.”
Johann added a word. It was a statement that clearly showed his trust in the saint. Especially after the way she had conducted herself on this journey, many others agreed.
They say you can only see a person’s true nature in difficult situations. In their eyes, the saint was the real deal. It was true during the campaign against Behemoth, and especially in the ghost land this time, she always led everyone and was kind to everyone.
Moreover, she was not just kind, but also skilled at reining in the disheartened priests.
“First, let’s rest. If we want to stay awake during the night shift, we should sleep now.”
“Got it.”
Ruslan calmed down Johann and Diana, who were chatting nonstop. There was no need to waste energy on unnecessary things. For now, they had to get some extra sleep to conserve their stamina.
* * *
The next day.
Adrian couldn’t help but look puzzled. Suddenly, weeds started sprouting at the headquarters of the investigation team.
The Ghostlands were known for their lack of vitality, a land where not even common weeds could grow. So why were weeds suddenly appearing?
What could possibly be going on? It was an unknown phenomenon.
It was strange to say that the size of the Ghostlands was shrinking. This place was currently the heart of the Ghostlands. So why?
The investigation team couldn’t help but feel bewildered as life suddenly started to emerge from the land that had not shown any signs of it until yesterday.
“What could this be?”
“We also have no idea…”
“Well… I guess that’s true.”
No one could answer Adrian’s question. They were clueless too.
“For now, let’s wait and give it some time. We won’t proceed with any investigations today, let’s just stay at the headquarters. Something has definitely changed, so let’s gather together and observe the signs of this change. There’s no need for us to be separated and vulnerable to any unexpected occurrences.”
“Yes!”
And as night fell, an even more perplexing situation occurred.
Without even unleashing the sacred barrier, not a single ghost that would always appear relentlessly during the night was visible.
“What on earth is happening? All the ghosts suddenly disappeared.”
And once again, there was no one to answer Adrian’s question.
“I wonder if the land of specters suddenly disappeared…?”
Bishop Antonio asked, just to be sure, but the saint smiled slightly.
“Oh, come on, not really.”
However, that ‘not really’ was indeed true. The next day, and the day after, no specters appeared, and weeds began to grow wildly on the suddenly rejuvenated land.
It wasn’t just weeds that grew. Unnamed flowers bloomed together.
As if all the lost vitality had suddenly gathered.
“This is…”
The investigation team lost words at the sight. They had no way of knowing why this strange event had occurred.
As they were staring at the weeds and flowers that had sprung up around them for a long time, there were people walking towards them in the distance.
It was the investigation team from Prach, which had been separately assigned.
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“Huh?”
Adrian widened his eyes as he looked at them. Others were the same.
Prach approached them with a slightly proud expression.
“Senior Prach? Did something happen there?”
“Yes. We found the cause of the specter’s land and eliminated it. But what’s this commotion about?”
“Yes, yes? What do you mean? You found and eliminated the cause…?”
“This time, the power of Lina and Nea who came was strong. Since there was someone to talk to the specters, they actually listened to the story. Thanks to that, we could find the cause.”
“Ah… I still don’t know why the base turned out like this. Signs have been showing since the day before yesterday, and suddenly it started blooming like crazy. I didn’t know why, but listening to Senior’s story, I understand now. The specter’s land has been purified… Can I hear more details?”
“Oh, sure.”
Prach slightly modified the events he experienced and told Adrian.