The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 121

Keilta’s mischief, the thing that always acted as the bridge over the cracks within "Black Cage," kept haunting Febrica Ademose’s mind.

And... without realizing it, she blurted out something rather dark.

"K-Keilta, that joke isn’t funny, you know," Febrica said while holding her breath, while the light from the three candles still failed to reveal whatever was standing at the doorway.

The other four immediately realized it and reflexively glanced toward her, their brows furrowing and eyebrows arching as the fear on her face slowly faded.

"What did you just say?" Kharensya asked sharply after seeing Keilta’s corpse with her own eyes.

Mizofra snorted in annoyance.

"Have you gone crazy, huh, Febrica?"

'She still remembers that man’s antics,' Vabian thought as he realized Febrica had let it slip unintentionally and never meant to disrespect their dead companion.

Meanwhile, Harann Dinity paid no attention to her previous words, remaining somewhat apathetic while still focused on figuring out who had come to this house and the true identity of the figure hiding within the shadows of the hallway ahead.

As he turned toward the left side, he saw the candle flames burning steadily, yet somehow carrying a mystical feeling the deeper he stared into them.

Harann immediately swallowed hard and said in panic, "Nellie, hurry and come out!"

With a messy face and while yawning, Nellie finally spoke in a rather apathetic tone as she sat atop Harann’s right shoulder.

"You’re telling me to come out while I’m still recovering my spirituality after being used as a punching bag by that powerful creature? Are you insane?"

Harann stared at her with worry in his eyes, though at the same time he knew exactly what could provoke her fighting instincts and make her obey him.

"I’ll give you more bones if you manage to find out what’s behind that open door over there."

Harann pointed toward the door while suppressing the trembling in his hand, feeling that he and his friends were clearly in danger.

The argument and apology caused by Febrica’s earlier words had already been settled peacefully. Now all four of them immediately shifted their attention toward the Recipestele, Nellie, who was discussing something with her master.

'Is she going to do something?' Vabian immediately stared toward whatever was beyond the open doorway, yet he could not see a single clue because the hallway was too dark, while the light from the three candles atop the table was utterly incapable of illuminating it.

None of them reacted after falling into silence, inner fear, and the suffocating sensation drifting through that enclosed room.

Because of his plan to uncover who had opened the door, Harann never once thought the wind had caused it, especially since the hallway was on the second floor and had neither ventilation nor glass roof tiles to serve as a light source for the corridor, making Harann even more convinced that some mysterious figure, perhaps a supernatural being, had come to them.

Yet for some reason, he did not know its purpose and suspected the figure could not enter the room for one absolute reason.

He swallowed hard, trying to stop his knees from shaking while looking at the other four with hope that this plan would not put them in danger.

"Kharensya, that talisman," Harann said, trying to make sure. "Keilta’s talisman, by any chance did you bring it?"

Kharensya shook her head and answered in a low voice, "I didn’t bring it. The talisman’s downstairs, specifically in the second drawer."

Harann clicked his tongue after hearing that, and whether he liked it or not, he would have to take a reckless risk even if something terrible might happen to him.

"Nellie, do it!"

With the two small black wings beneath her shoulders, Nellie immediately flew sideways until she hovered beside the tightly shut window hidden behind thin and soft white curtains decorated with small shells and beads.

Her tiny hand immediately pulled aside the curtain and opened the window without making even the slightest sound.

Watching that while holding his breath and with his heartbeat pounding irregularly, Harann immediately revealed his intention.

"Get ready once that window opens."

The four of them understood exactly what he meant as they suppressed the tension and panic in their minds, their gazes locked onto the open door and the darkness within the hallway.

Click...

The window swung open wide, followed by a stream of air rushing into the room, striking their bodies in an instant and sweeping away their tension.

However, Harann’s earlier suspicion proved true as the mysterious figure that had opened the door and made the knocking sounds now began to reveal its presence.

The ghosts arrived, not just one, but around a dozen ghosts with horrifying supernatural forms, staring at the five of them with intimidating gazes that caused their knees to weaken, forcing them onto the floor in nausea and a freezing sensation stabbing through their chests.

The mental and spiritual assault came so quickly that they could neither avoid it nor launch any counterattack.

Realizing this, Nellie, who remained unaffected because she herself was also a demon, albeit of a different kind, immediately flew forward at high speed and lashed condensed air from her tiny right hand toward the demons.

Choo... Wush...

The condensed air, which should have been capable of destroying objects or even the house itself, pierced through the form of one of the demons that had entered the room, preventing its body from regenerating as the fading condensed air disrupted its recovery.

That demon, which had launched mental and spiritual attacks merely through its gaze, now writhed like a worm exposed to extreme heat.

From that moment onward, the spiritual and mental pressure burdening their minds slowly faded as the five of them collapsed onto the cold floor.

Nellie immediately stabilized the flapping of her wings, hovering silently as she realized her spiritual form was slowly fading while glancing toward Harann, who lay unconscious face-down.

'Damn it, that man actually passed out from such a pathetic attack from those creatures,' Nellie complained irritably, unwilling to deal with this alone before she herself disappeared temporarily from this world.

This time, she would turn those ghosts into punching bags for her frustration after remembering how she had been defeated by a creature of the same species without putting up any significant resistance.

Then, when Nellie shifted her gaze back toward those ghosts. The world around her twisted, shattering into countless tiny fragments as the room was swallowed by something, and only then did she realize she had been dragged elsewhere by those annoying ghosts.

'This is more troublesome than I thought. But....'

She immediately realized it and no longer held back her full power once she understood where the ghosts had brought her.

A current beyond time itself, existing outside human understanding and human logic.

A place where supernatural beings such as demons, ghosts, and jinn gathered before moving toward the spirit realm, more specifically a part of the supernatural realm that served as a transit point for souls and the journey of human bodies.

With a sharp grin spreading across her face, she spoke in a mocking tone while wearing a terrifying expression that made the ghosts realize danger awaited them.

Within the supernatural realm, Nellie released every limiter she had restrained while staying in the human world. She attacked the ghosts by manipulating the very concept of their existence through air, thanks to the fusion of her massive spiritual energy. Air fundamentally did not exist within that dimension.

However, because Nellie had grafted the "Concept of Air" into it, she successfully seized temporary dominion over the supernatural realm.

She had to annihilate those ghosts before her dominion expired and triggered a clash with other supernatural beings that could directly collide with her.

Because time did not exist within that realm, the ghosts’ forms vanished instantly; their minds, souls, and spiritual existence erased down to the most fundamental level. The moment all her enemies were destroyed, Nellie’s two small wings suddenly faltered.

Reality abruptly snapped back into place. She realized she was already back inside the same room, hovering at the exact same point she had occupied before being dragged into the supernatural realm, as though the entire battle had completely ignored time itself.