Chapter 614: Contaminated Zone

Spirit.

As a being from beyond this world, it is known to exist between the human world and the outer realms.

Like all beings in this world, they are creations born from the hands of the gods, tasked with overseeing nature, managing forests, rivers, seas, lands, and weather. For this reason, they are immensely powerful entities.

Their power surpasses what ordinary people or even most magicians know.

This was why Seamus’ subordinates once attempted to summon them as a last resort.

‘Even if they just left afterward.’

The point Oliver wanted to make is that spirits are powerful beings.

Strong enough that even combined forces of typical magicians couldn’t compare. They could be considered avatars of nature itself.

A prime example is the numerous magicians and druids who seek the spirits’ powers.

People usually think of summoning spirits as controlling them, but in reality, it’s more of a request, leveraging their natural sympathy or offering up one’s magical power.

This raises one question though.

Are spirits invincible?

The answer is ‘No.’

Although spirits are indeed powerful beings from beyond the world, tasked with managing nature, they are not invincible.

Even though Oliver had hardly ever encountered a spirit directly, he could glean some knowledge about them from books.

When spirits manifest in the human world, they can be harmed.

They are immune to most physical attacks and possess strong resistance to magic and dark magic, but they can still be wounded.

So, Salas’ attack on the spirit and the resulting injury might not be an impossible feat.

But absorbing the spirit’s power after wounding it is indeed in the realm of the impossible.

Absorbing the power of a spirit, a being from another world, into a human body was an act completely against logic.

“Why are you so surprised?! Didn’t you already suspect something like this?”

Salas spoke as he forced the spirit to stay still in the air, absorbing its power into his own body.

As expected, Salas, with Puppet’s help, had modified his body to partially transfer and absorb the spirit’s power.

‘Of all things, it had to be based on my thesis.’

Oliver recalled his thesis, [The Reconstruction and Transplantation of Body and Organs by Combining Blood and Life Magic], which he had written to become a formal member of the Tower of Magic.

Looking at the way the spirit was transplanted into Salas’ body, Oliver was almost certain. Although it seemed Puppet had modified it in his own way.

It was an impressive display of understanding and application. But more impressive was Salas’ determination to preserve his achievements, even if it meant deviating from his lifelong path and modifying his own body.

Though the specifics were unclear, it seemed that Salas had aligned himself with Puppet, knowing about the apocalyptic theory and preparing for it.

‘What is it that Puppet wants from the apocalypse that made him ally with a magician?’

Oliver naturally pondered this but didn’t dwell on it for long.

Because he wasn’t particularly keen on knowing.

Right now, all that mattered to Oliver was his own situation.

Oliver looked up at Salas, who was crashing down with the spirit, entangled in a massive heap of earth.

Even though Oliver had temporarily nullified the area’s complex spell with the black magic [Lamentation] that mimicked the eerie statue summoned by Swan Prince, Salas didn’t give up and tried to attack Oliver again.

Salas displayed more curiosity and a competitive spirit than hatred, anger, or malice.

Salas prepared to activate another spell, and Oliver made the corpses scream once more.

SLAP!

━━━━━━━━!!

The corpses clapped their hands together, emitting a bizarre sound, whether it was a scream or a prayer.

As the hideous sound echoed, it nullified all the spells in the area, but Salas resisted the noise by forcibly using the spirit’s power he had absorbed.

Using the power of a being from beyond the world, Salas resisted Oliver’s dark magic. In other words, Salas indeed had control over the spirit’s power.

To demonstrate, Salas not only absorbed the spirit’s power but also shaped some of the falling earth into an arm and connected it to his body.

Using the arm as a medium, Salas transformed the falling debris into massive cubes of iron and then hurled them downwards.

Turning earth into iron, Salas had stepped beyond the realm of ordinary magic.

Using the spirit’s power, Salas caused a multitude of enormous iron chunks to fall towards Oliver.

The iron blocks possessed overwhelming mass and physical force.

In response, Oliver activated a spell across the entire underground area using a corpse under his control as a transformer.

[Dark Magic: Parasite]

[Druid Magic: Rapid Growth]

[Druid Magic: Grafting]

In accordance with Oliver’s chant, the spell spread through the corpses as mediums, and the massive trees filling the underground space forcefully absorbed the remaining spirit power, growing even bigger.

CRACK! CRUNCH!!

The trees grew visibly larger, intertwining with each other until they formed a single gigantic tree filling the entire underground.

Branches and green leaves, like tentacles, intervened between Salas and Oliver, obscuring their view of each other. Oliver didn’t miss this opportunity and created an artificial soul, wrapping it around his quarterstaff before hurling it.

He took this action since spirits had resistance to most magic and dark magic.

Apparently, Oliver’s prediction was correct. His quarterstaff pierced through the branches and leaves, threading the gap between the spirit and Salas before pulling the spirit from Salas’ grasp.

Salas, who had not fully absorbed the spirit, didn’t cling to it and instead channeled his strength into empowering the falling iron blocks and sent them crashing down.

Oliver had no choice but to defend himself using the gigantic tree he had merged into one.

Moments later, when the iron blocks collided with the giant tree, a massive shockwave ensued.

It was like a meteorite crashing down; the ground itself shook, and the impact even reached the surface above.

The giant tree Oliver had painstakingly grown was completely shattered by the massive iron cubes, barely managing to evade crushing Oliver in the process.

As the enormous shock waves surged, and thick dust covered the surroundings in silence, Salas burst through the dust and launched an attack on Oliver, falling with an iron-clad arm.

A wet, squelching sound echoed as the iron arm filled with magical energy crushed Oliver.

Oliver’s flesh splattered everywhere, but then the flesh turned black. It wasn’t the real Oliver; it was his shadow. The shadow returned to its original form and transformed into dozens of tendrils, binding Salas in place.

“I didn’t expect such a countermeasure.”

Salas commented, trapped by the shadow, as he saw Oliver standing in the distance.

It was a trick Oliver had set up by activating the trap just after growing the giant tree, similar to Fen’s baiting hook method.

“Personally, it’s disappointing to see you divert from your intended path, artificially modifying your body and even absorbing spirits. Isn’t it pitiable?”

“No, I don’t consider myself worthy to evaluate anyone. But… perhaps it would’ve looked better if you had stuck to your original path.”

Oliver spoke his honest thoughts.

Though he didn’t know how Salas had come to learn about the apocalyptic theory, it was disappointing to see someone abandon their original path and artificially modify their body even before the apocalypse had arrived.

It would’ve been nicer if they had met in different circumstances.

“It’s a shame, but there’s nothing for it. I’ve never devoted my life to magic just to appear good to others. I did it for myself.”

“······.”

“Well, I agree it wasn’t exactly a good decision, but such choices are what make us human, don’t you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“Intense desire and deficiency make us choose things even when we know they’re wrong. It’s like drinking seawater when you’re thirsty.”

CRUNCH!!

The quarterstaff, which Oliver had thrown into the air earlier, fell, piercing Salas while he was still bound by the shadow.

A dull noise rang out as the shards of Salas’ clay avatar, made in his likeness, shattered and scattered everywhere.

From the start, it wasn’t the real Salas.

Oliver seemed to have anticipated this and calmly turned his gaze to Salas, who stood atop the cube-shaped iron block.

Salas was indeed standing there.

Even during the last attack, he had sent a clone to deal with unforeseen circumstances. It was a very magician-like move.

“Why did you suddenly start talking like that?”

“Consider it advice for a former apprentice. You seem to be in a situation similar to mine.”

“······.”

“While I don’t fully understand, it looks like you’re also stuck pursuing a single goal. Having a goal is fine, but becoming too obsessed with it isn’t good. That way, you end up losing your way. It’s an irony of sorts.”

“······I don’t really understand what you mean.”

“It seems the main thing gets lost. You’re concerned with killing refugees, yet you didn’t even flinch when I mentioned the world’s end. Isn’t that odd?”

Oliver remained silent.

Salas shrugged, seemingly satisfied with the silent response.

“Of course, I might be wrong. Anyway, it was nice meeting you.”

With those words, Salas snapped his fingers and disappeared through a purple portal.

Oliver didn’t try to stop him, even as he watched him leave. Not even Oliver knew the reason. Perhaps it was because he believed just getting Salas out of the contaminated zone was enough.

Oliver surveyed the surrounding area, now a giant crater.

Thick dust still filled the air, and all around were the remnants of broken iron cubes and shattered trees.

Oliver moved the intact part of the shattered tree closer to himself.

At the end of one long brown branch, there was a bud-shaped leaf that wrapped around something. It was the spirit.

The spirit had green hair, a gray body, and brown limbs.

The spirit was in a severely weakened state after having its power absorbed by Salas. It didn’t even have the energy to flee from Oliver.

“Hello?”

For the first time, Oliver greeted a spirit that didn’t flee from him, activating Ptah’s Assistant.

And moments later, he manipulated the earth and rose to the surface.

The twisted underground left its mark on the surface, suggesting how fierce the battle had been.

While inspecting the marks, Oliver noticed Marie, Joe, and the people from the refugee camp had already approached.

Among them were the Zombie Puppet-Bathory and Seamus.

Oliver had positioned them there, leaving in fear that another force might attack in his absence, and it seemed they indeed did face some assault.

“My apologies, Dave. I could feel the intense vibrations continuing. Was everything alright?”

Marie asked cautiously, and Joe, along with the others, showed similar concern.

Oliver, aware of what had transpired during his confrontation with the external force underground, offered an appropriate yet vague explanation. During this, he locked eyes with the refugees’ children and youths, who were staring intently at him.

They stared at the massive crater that had appeared suddenly and at Oliver, who had played a part in creating it.

Oliver sensed something in their gaze and asked.

“Do you want to learn?”

***

WIIIIIING!

A familiar sound like an insect’s wings buzzed as a purple portal opened in midair.

An old man emerged from the portal.

Salas Regas, the former Grandmaster of the traditional Gaia Faction and current Captain of the Pinkman, stumbled slightly as he exited the portal, seemingly exhausted from his battle with Dave.

It had been a long time since he last fought such an intense battle.

But more shocking was the realization that Dave could have killed him if he had truly intended to.

This became even more apparent after absorbing the spirit.

“It seems like you had a rough time.”

A voice spoke as the resting Salas was approached by an old man. He had white hair, a white shirt, and glasses—none other than the Royal Secretary of the United Kingdom.

“Puppet.”

Said Salas, looking at the Royal Secretary.

“Why is such a busy man here?”

Puppet, the Royal Secretary, shrugged.

“Because you talked more than we thought you would.”

Understanding Puppet’s implication, Salas involuntarily chuckled. It meant Puppet had heard his entire conversation with Dave.

It wasn’t surprising. Given Puppet’s influence worldwide, that was more natural.

“Indeed, I did talk quite a bit. But does it matter?”

“Not at all.”

Puppet responded to Salas’ action, which could have potentially caused issues for their plan, with genuine sincerity.

“No one in Randa would dare reveal what the Pinkman were digging in the Contaminated Zone. Besides, Randa City couldn’t admit that the magicians of the Tower of Magic were using remnants of a cataclysm to research and trade demons. Moreover…

Puppet paused for effect.

“Dave. He has no intention of making this knowledge public.”

Salas silently agreed. Dave, Randa’s troubleshooter, appeared to be a mild-mannered person, but he was thoroughly self-serving beneath that, moving solely for his own purpose.

Desire is something you can’t hide no matter how hard you try.

“Given that more chaotic events will occur, no one would care about what happened in a place like the Contaminated Zone. I don’t blame you anyway.”

“Then why did you come?”

Puppet responded curiously, “I was curious. After going through all the trouble to ally with me, why did you say unnecessary things? It’s contradictory, isn’t it?”

Puppet’s tone wasn’t one of reproach or mockery. He asked purely out of curiosity, much like a scientist observing a test subject.

Salas replied.

“That’s just how humans are.”

“······.”

“Even while walking the correct path, we can stray, and while straying, we can desire to walk the correct path again. Even if we make foolish decisions, we hope others don’t.”

“Are you saying you’re making a foolish decision?”

“If grafting a spirit onto a human body isn’t foolish, what is? It’s like trying to create a dog stronger than a lion.”

Salas declared that what he was doing now was a foolish act that defied logic.

“Then why did you ally with me?”

“Because humans do things even when they know it’s foolish. Surely, you have a knack for that too?”

For a moment, a sharp aura emanated from Puppet, like the edge of a scalpel.

Salas had touched on a sensitive subject, but after living for centuries, Puppet quickly retracted his aura.

“Also, I noticed someone resembling you.”

Overridden by curiosity, Salas opened his mouth. He guessed Puppet might know and thus asked.

“Who is Merlin’s apprentice?”

Thinking back on the time when he saw Oliver absorb the spirit’s power, Salas asked, and Puppet answered.

“Someone similar to me. A pitiful existence that wants to become human.”