Chapter 240
Erik sat in his office, the dead parasite before him. Without any records of this creature, he had to rely on his own knowledge and magical prowess. He closed his eyes and channeled his magic, focusing on the parasite. If it was one of a kind, then perhaps it had unique magical properties that he could exploit.
He began by casting a series of diagnostic spells, hoping to discern any residual magic within the parasite’s remains. As he was casting the spell, memories of his past world emerged in his mind where he was in class with other elves doing something similar. As his hands glowed with a soft blue light, he sensed faint traces of dark magic, suggesting the parasite had an inherent magical signature. This was a crucial discovery—it meant that, despite being dead, the parasite could still be traced through its magical essence.
Erik decided to create a magical sensor attuned to the parasite’s unique energy. He gathered rare crystals and enchanted them with a spell designed to resonate with the parasite’s magical frequency. This device, once completed, would allow him to detect the presence of similar magic within living hosts. Only downside was that it wasn’t efficient enough.
Once he was done with the crystal, Erik walked around his castle to test the sensor working. It worked well but not as well as he wanted it to, for the sensor to find another parasite, he had to get close enough to work which wasn’t optimal.
In a day ERik found about ten compromised personnel in his castle which wasn’t to Erik liking, he did his best to play off his finding of them since Iris informed of Silas being able to see and know what happens through other parasites.
That didn’t stop Erik from nabbing one compromised maid. Erik began working on a better sensor, at the same time he didn’t give up on trying to save those hosted with the parasite. However, as Erik delved deeper into his research, a gnawing realization took hold. The more he learned about the parasite, the clearer it became that it had integrated so deeply with its hosts that it had become an essential part of their biological systems. Extracting or killing the parasite would inevitably result in the death of the host. This horrifying truth weighed heavily on him, and despair started to creep in.
The thought of condemning countless people to death was almost too much to bear. Erik’s mind flashed with images of innocent faces, people he had sworn to protect. His hands trembled as he continued his work, the weight of his responsibility pressing down on him like never before. The device and spells he was creating would only serve to identify the doomed, not save them.
He knew he needed to devise a way to neutralize the parasite’s influence without harming the hosts, but every avenue he explored led to dead ends. The parasite’s integration was too perfect, its magic too entwined with the life force of its victims. The realization that there was no way to save the infected felt like a punch to the gut, each revelation cutting deeper into his resolve.
Despite his growing despair, Erik refused to give up. He continued to research, hoping against hope for a breakthrough. He dug deeper into his memories, anything that might offer a glimmer of hope. Yet, the truth was unavoidable: the only solution to stop the parasite was to end the lives of those it had infested.