Chapter 242 : Chapter 242
Chapter 242. Handling the Object
“No!”
Grant discovered that he had no way to resist such overwhelming magical pressure. The intensity of the mental power within that spell fluctuation far surpassed even his own strength after being enhanced by that object.
Under such crushing mental force, he could not channel a spell at all, let alone dodge.
He felt as though something were compressing his body, making it almost impossible for him to direct even the slightest movement of his muscles.
“No—please, spare me! Spare my life!!”
All he felt was despair. He could feel that crushing pressure, and under it, he knew he would not be able to revive again.
It was not merely because he had already used up his Revival of the Dead. More than that, he could sense that under this spell, even if he did use Revival of the Dead, there was no way he would survive.
Just as all undead revival required an intact body, if his body were too badly damaged, then his 【Revival of the Dead】 talent would not activate at all.
He could only watch helplessly as his arms shrank inward under the spell’s pressure, while violent pain spread through his body from the crushing force.
From the corner of his eye, he could see the dirt on the ground rising onto his body and wrapping around his feet.
At the same time, Fulan also used the spell ring on her hand, activating 【Earth Uplift】. The low ceiling came crashing down toward Grant, and the surrounding walls also pressed in toward him.
The dirt wrapped around Grant and formed a dense sphere standing on the ground. By that point, Grant could no longer see or feel anything, because his brain had already fused with his skull into something Fulan had no words to describe.
The earth element within the soil had become highly active, forcing its own material substance into Grant. Sand, flesh, and bone merged together until they were no longer distinguishable from one another.
If someone were to split open that sphere of earth at that moment, they would see a complete human shape, but they would also see exposed bone and upturned flesh mixed together across the skin.
The sand would also embellish that humanoid mass, tinting its skin toward a brownish color overall.
Naturally, Fulan had no intention of opening that sphere to witness such a disgusting sight. She walked closer to it and began casting a spell to inspect Spirit Forms.
Only after carefully confirming everything did Fulan finally relax, certain that this undead creature would not revive again.
To be honest, when she had heard Anna say that there were Spirit Realm talents capable of revival, she had been a little alarmed.
At the time, she had thought she might have encountered some bizarre opponent with a special mechanism—something that could revive endlessly.
So she had not rashly launched an attack. Instead, she had stood where she was and begun channeling 【Forced Fusion】 while also using the spell ring for 【Earth Uplift】.
Her reasoning had been simple: even if the other side could revive, there had to be all kinds of limitations at the first tier—such as needing to keep the body intact.
So she directly used 【Forced Fusion】 to mix Grant together with the earth. She refused to believe that if the structure of his flesh and blood were destroyed, he could still be brought back to life.
Judging from the result, she had done exactly the right thing. At the very least, she could no longer detect any sign of life now—not even a Spirit Form.
Beside her, Anna watched in a daze as Fulan stepped forward and used magic to inspect the sphere. Staring at it, she felt her scalp go numb.
She had thought that since Fulan could so casually kill that Necromantic Skeleton Mage, dealing with Grant would not be a problem for her.
But she had never imagined that Fulan could cast a spell like this.
The sphere made of sand was astonishingly smooth. There was no sign at all that it had been formed from countless fine grains of sand; the entire surface seemed seamless.
Anna watched as Fulan ran her hand over it. Even after using a little force, she could only barely scrape off a few tiny grains from the surface.
If even the surface was like this, she scarcely dared imagine what it was like inside. It was likely that everything within had already been ground into fragments by the sand.
“For a mage of the Sword Chant School to cast such a powerful spell... that’s really something,” Anna said with a click of her tongue.
Then Fulan turned around and said to Anna, “All right, now that everything has been settled, tell me exactly what that thing is.”
Everything on her side had already come to an end. At most, there was still the question of how to deal with Anna afterward. But for now, the most pressing matter was what to do with this chest.
Logically speaking, the best course of action now was to leave at once, find a hidden place, and directly call for support.
But the problem was that Fulan also felt tempted to keep the chest for herself, since this was something she had gone through a great deal of trouble to obtain.
Yet the current situation was this: even if she had the chest in hand, there was no guarantee she could safely return to the Northern Society. Who knew how many people outside were searching for this thing?
Although she was confident that a squad of a dozen or so first-tier Professionals coming after her would only be throwing their lives away, she equally knew that she could not withstand an assault from tens or even hundreds of first-tier Professionals.
If she set the black horse running straight toward the Northern Society now, and killed any mercenaries she encountered on the road to prevent her trail from being exposed, then Fulan felt there was a certain chance she could return safely.
But that was far too troublesome. Besides, if she carried this thing with her, she could not exchange it for gold somewhere the way the mercenaries or Anna’s previous team could.
They had all signed contracts beforehand. If Fulan brought the thing there herself, the chances of her actually getting paid were very slim.
That was why she wanted to hear what Anna knew about it. If she could fully understand what this thing actually was, then perhaps she could simply open the chest and take whatever benefits were inside.
If Anna could not explain it clearly, then Fulan would have no choice but to think it over further.
Anna revealed an expression of profound relief. It was obvious that she was in an excellent mood now.
After all, every part of her plan had been realized, and the result was almost not the slightest bit off. Presumably, Fulan would not pull any tricks now and would simply hand this thing over to the Northern Society.
After thinking for a moment, she finally spoke.
“When we accepted this theft job, the person who posted it told us a little about this thing.”
“He was very vague, but based on the information involved, Grant still managed to guess the truth.”
“According to Grant’s guess, what’s inside this chest is a dragon.”
“A dragon?!” Fulan was astonished. If that were true, then perhaps she would not even need to open the chest to claim a reward.
“That’s right. The lord of White Dragon Harbor has always liked buying all kinds of living dragon-type magical creatures. And what’s inside this chest should be a young dragon, though its exact species is hard to guess.”