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Chapter 84
“Miki, can you find anything?” I asked.
“I’m looking, Master…” Miki frowned, looking through the booklet.
We were waiting in the shop, but I was feeling a little antsy once Lydia announced that the enemy was on our doorsteps. I wasn’t 100% sure what I wanted, but I suspected it was here. I used to like watching ghost shows, and the secret for getting rid of ghosts usually involved some kind of sage burning. That was the big reason the alchemy shop was my first choice. I suspected this world had some kind of anti-ghost herb. If we could exorcise each property, that would be the ideal way to conquer back this city.
Although this world was like a game, most games used real-world concepts. There had to be something we could burn, hang up, eat, or spread across the doorsills to be able to create an effective weapon against ghosts. If I was wrong, then the future retaking of the city would be more difficult. Mind you, this was all information I had wanted to look up in Chalm, but it was my own impulsiveness that had put me in this situation instead.
Well, there was no use crying over the decisions I had made. Now, I just had to depend on Miki’s research.
“M-master…” Lydia’s voice came out weakly. “The puppet’s head is turning 360 degrees.”
“Just bear with it…” I said, my mouth twitching. “The ghost is just trying to scare you.”
“Master, I found it!” Miki said excitedly.
“Yes… this is the recipe. Health… Po-tion.” She nodded.
“Ah… mark it and keep looking.” My hopes had risen, but it turned out to be something we didn’t really need right now.
“M-master…” Lydia’s voice now sounded like she was about to cry. “The puppet’s head is now turning 360 degrees the other way.”
“Perhaps he got his strings tangled.” I offered, my hands clenching the edge of the table. “Just bear with it a bit longer.”
Some more time passed, and I realized that Miki seemed to be going very slowly. Although the book had hundreds of pages, she’d stare at each page for at least 20 seconds before turning to the next page. I was really starting to wonder what was going on. At first, I thought she was being thorough, but Lydia’s anxiousness was making me anxious.
“M-Master…” Lydia’s voice was now shaking. “The puppet is turning its head 360 degrees… the other way.”
“You already said that…”
“No… I mean… vertically.”
“What! That’s not even possible!”
“Master…”
“I mean… that’s completely breaking the laws of physics!”
“Master!”
“Ah… sorry…” I got worked up for a moment. “Miki… maybe it’d be faster if you just read the titles to me and I’ll let you know what to take.”
I worried that Miki was probably convinced she passed up some alchemy potion that I wanted, and so she was being extra careful with each entry. I knew what I was looking for better than she did.
“O-okay. Master.” Miki nodded, her eyes narrowing on the text more diligently. “Next entry… S-s-tre-ength… Strength Fa-Fashhion-Fashioning… po-tion. Strength Fashioning Potion!”
“Geh!” I let out a noise. “M-miki?”
“Yes, Master?” Miki looked up at me innocently.
“I thought you said you could read?”
“Eh?” Miki looked confused. “I can read… I’m reading. Aren’t I?”
“Ah… yes… that’s true…” I noticed Miki’s eyes were turning watery. “Continue… you’re doing great.”
It turned out Miki’s reading was at the level of an elementary school student. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. This was another world where reading probably wasn’t that important. In the end, her reading was probably as good as it would need to be for a Master. Signing contracts, reading message boards, interpreting signs… Miki’s skill was completely sufficient to say that she understood the English language.
“M-master…” Lydia’s voice broke into my thoughts. “More puppets are arriving.”
Ah… it looked like I wasn’t going to find a magic bullet for this issue.
Chapter 85
There was a group of about twenty puppets now sitting outside of the inn. They were just standing there, staring at the alchemy store. They weren’t up against the barrier, nor did they seem to be trying to force their way into the barrier. Rather, they were just standing there. I thought about sanctifying the ground under their feet, but once I did that, I had a feeling that things were going to get messy.
“Lydia, do you see any other entities outside of the possessed dolls?” I asked, remembering that she mentioned other spirits from before.
Lydia shook her head. “I can see… some kind of aura resonating from the dolls themselves. I think the spirits are using them to hide. Even if we cut one down, it won’t kill the spirit. It can just attach itself to something else.”
“If I cast Divine Aura on your sword, I have a suspicion that it will damage the ghost and the doll at once,” I explained. “It’s possible we can do something with her Spirit Fire too. It’d be nice if we could imbue your blade with the Spirit Fire. Actually, that gives me an idea. You learned a few sword skills from the guys at the Adventurer’s Guild, right?”
Lydia nodded. “Yes, I learned a few sword techniques appropriate for my level.”
“Does any imbue your sword with a kind of aura? Something that lasts for a minute or two?”
Lydia cocked her head, scrunching her nose as she thought for a moment, but then nodded excitedly. “Ah… that’s right, I have something called Sharpened Blade which makes my sword sharper for about ten minutes. The cooldown is pretty quick too, but I haven’t tried including it in my attacks yet.”
“Miki!” I called out.
Miki looked up from the books. “Yes, Master?”
“Can you create that Spirit Fire as you did before? Once you do it, I’d like you to toss it to Lydia.”
“Eh?” Lydia gave a nervous look.
“Don’t worry, we’re in a party together, it won’t hurt you,” I explained. “When she tosses the fire at you, I want you to try to activate Sharpened Blade, but imagine incorporating the fire into your blade.”
These guys didn’t see their skills like I did, so I was trying to create a fusion skill simply by describing what I felt when I created mine. It was easier said than done, and I wasn’t convinced this would work, but it was worth a shot.
The girls obediently followed my orders, although both looked nervous. Miki was afraid of hurting Lydia, and I think Lydia was more afraid of failing and letting me down. I wanted to tell her it was okay if it didn’t work, but I didn’t want her to be too quick to give up on it either. Miki put her hands together and her tails started to undulate as the glowing light ebbed and brightened. Each rotation of light, the fireball was a little bigger. She created one a bit smaller than the one she had accidentally tossed at me.
“I’m ready…” she said.
“Throw it!” Lydia had her sword out and looked like she wanted to chop the fireball down.
Miki threw the fireball and it struck Lydia’s sword. Lydia let out a noise and then squinted really hard. A light glowed over the sword that was white in color. Meanwhile, the blue spirit fire started to disperse. It looked like it was going to disappear completely when suddenly a little light caught on and the fire spread until the sword was no longer sheathed in white light, but blue fire instead.
“Ah… amazing! Master is amazing!” Lydia said excitedly, waving the sword, the silent flame dancing in her movements.
“It really works… Master…” Miki was looking at me like I had done some miracle for her.
“Actually, my magic circle should last another hour,” I explained. “Let’s practice your Spirit Fire. It’ll definitely be useful in the fight to come.”
Miki continued to make Spirit Fire, and while at first, it took about thirty seconds, she had decreased that time to only a few seconds. It was major progress considering the short time. I had her chuck a few more fireballs at me. However, I was not presented with the text to create a fusion again. I also tried with Lydia’s other sword skills, and that also ended in failure.
I suspected the answer was pretty simple. You only got one fusion per ability per person. I had fused her Spirit Fire with one of my skills. Neither skill could be used in another fusion with Miki. Perhaps if I knew another spirit fox, we could fuse a different skill, but that was the limitation of this new technique. I was stuck with my Holy Circle, and Lydia was stuck with her spirit sword.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay with this?” I asked Lydia. “They will attack your mind.”
Although Lydia looked uncertain, she gave me a smile. “I won’t freeze again! I can fight these monsters! With Miki next to me working hard, I couldn’t face Master if I ran away.”
“Alright…”
We turned to look out the window. There were about fifty puppets standing across the street, just waiting for the magic circle’s power to wane.
“It’s time. We’ll get the first strike!”
Chapter 86
“Alright, stay close, be safe,” I said.
We were all standing in front of the alchemist store, just inside the magic barrier. The dolls were standing about 15 feet away. They were not moving in the slightest, although their eyes were all facing us.
“Miki!”
“Yes!”
Miki created Spirit Fire and put it on Lydia, her sword glowing with fire.
“I’ll sanctify the land first, then we do the Holy Circle to wipe out the ghosts. Lydia… clean up what is left.”
“Sanctify Land!” I declared.
A glow spread across the land, covering the majority of the street in front of the store. Immediately, the dolls reacted, screaming monstrously.
“Ah….” Lydia covered her ears.
I had White Mage equipped, so the screams didn’t bother me too much, but Lydia was immediately terrified. I cast Refresh on her, and her expression immediately recovered. She tightened her grip on her sword.
“Miki, now!”
“Yes!”
She sent a fireball to me, and I sent it to the ground. The dolls were running away, their feet sizzling as they tried to get out of the ground. I wasn’t going to let them. I slammed the blue fire on the ground, and it spread out. The dolls that were struck all collapsed to the ground like their cords had suddenly been hit.
“Lydia… go!”
“Y-yes!” She jumped forward, slicing in mid-air.
With the dolls wiped out, the enemies weren’t something either me nor Miki could see. That’s why Lydia was still important. We had a lot of damage output, but the ghosts could just flee and we’d be useless. I only knew Lydia was successful because everywhere she slashed, there was a scream and a shimmer of air. She was sweating, and it was clear that she was reaching her limit.
At that moment, a Spirit Fire shot behind her and a ghost behind her cried out and then disappeared. I shot a surprised look over at Miki, who was starting to make another fireball. Her tails were undulating wildly.
“I can see them now!” She said excitedly, throwing another fireball.
I quickly checked her level to find she had already reached level 5. She must have unlocked some kind of skill like spiritual sight. Our initial attack had easily killed twenty ghosts. Due to Mina’s Blessing, they also had a 2X experience. The result was clearly apparent. Well, my Hero went to level 9 too.
{Hero has increased to level 9.}
No skill was earned. That meant whatever skill it gave me was one I already had. It was anyone’s guess which skill that was. Whatever… levels still increased power, so I’d take what I could get. I sent Refresh out to Lydia and also healed her. It was all I could do. It didn’t take long. The last of the ghosts had either fled or died. Miki had already made it another level, within a single battle, she was a level six Spiritualist. That was 5 levels in a single fight, truly remarkable.
Well, each level got harder, so it’d only be more difficult from here, but at least it was a good start. The battle ended without very much fanfare. The three of us went back into the alchemist shop and I cast a new magic circle. Lydia lay down on a dusty couch while I checked the rest of the house. There was no bathtub. I found a water pail, so I filled it with cool water, and then dampened a cloth and put it on Lydia’s forehead. The ghosts really did drain her, but she was giving me a brave smile.
Her tail was lashing excitedly as I took care of her. Miki kept glancing over at us from her book. Her cheeks were a bit blushed and she seemed to have a strangely envious look on her face. I didn’t understand it, I was just taking care of Lydia a little.
“M-master… can you…n-nevermind.” She turned away and focused back on the book.
I cocked my head, wondering what she wanted. However, she didn’t say anything else, so I continued to take care of Lydia’s weakness. Suddenly, Miki collapse on her book.
“Miki?” I let out a cry.
“Body… still weak… Master… must care for me…” She looked up at me with one eye.
Ah… I had taken her Spiritualist leveling for granted. Miki had only resurrected a day ago and was still weak. Casting all this Spirit Fire couldn’t have been easy on her. I lay her down in a loveseat and took care of her as well. Both girls needed care for various differing reasons. As long as they kept fighting for me, I was determined to be their support. As I cared for them, they both seemed strangely very happy about it though, and their tails wagged excitedly. Well… as long as they’re happy.