Chapter 650: What Waited on the Hill

As we approached the hill, the site came into view. A stone building had apparently stood there long ago; its collapsed remains lay scattered across the ground.

“Is that the place?”

“Yes. If we go any closer, the ghosts will appear and attack.”

“Then let us prepare.”

We opened our bottles of Holy Droplets and poured the liquid over the swords. It ran down the blades and dripped onto the ground, leaving their surfaces coated in glittering light.

When a sword moved, its path seemed visible. It might look beautiful at night, though revealing one’s position so clearly would be inconvenient.

“This is strangely fantastical.”

“So this is the enchantment granted by the Holy Droplets. It is certainly easy to recognise.”

Lionel and the knights voiced their impressions. One knight carried a silver sword in case the potion failed, and he drew it in readiness.

“We now begin the subjugation. Do not disgrace yourselves before Lord Julius.”

“Yes, sir!”

With a spirited reply, the knights advanced. A ghost appeared at once, as if to bar the way uphill.

A knight swung his ordinary steel sword, and the enchanted blade cut the incorporeal ghost apart with one blow.

“Gyeeeh?!”

The ghost vanished with a surprised death cry.

Thank goodness. I had known it would work, but confirmation was reassuring. The ghost did not resemble a villager; it was merely a hazy mass of white mist.

“The Holy Droplets appear to work perfectly.”

“More than perfectly. They are more effective than silver swords.”

“Really?”

Lionel’s surprise suggested the difference was considerable. The potion should work against the creatures that appeared on the defiled land too.

We continued uphill, destroying ghosts. The knight with the silver sword could damage them, but required two or three strikes to finish each one.

Silver weapons could attack ghosts, but their effect was limited. Demand for Holy Droplets would rise dramatically. I should report the results to Commander Giovanni as soon as possible.

“Just as I thought.”

“What is it, Lionel?”

“The ghosts seem to be protecting the summit.”

“Protecting it…”

He was right. They had appeared only after we began climbing, and their numbers increased the farther we advanced. Was something waiting above?

“We should be cautious. The climb has been too easy.”

“You think a powerful monster may be waiting?”

“It is possible. Everyone, inspect your equipment again.”

We stopped. The Holy Droplets still sparkled on the blades exactly as before. Though Appraisal gave a duration of one day, striking monsters did not appear to shorten it.

Once the inspection was complete, we resumed our ascent. The number of ghosts increased, but the knights dispatched them without difficulty.

“Did the old settlement really have this many people? Surely they could not all have become ghosts.”

“There are too many. Ghosts must have gathered here from elsewhere.”

“Then something called them. A wraith, perhaps?”

“That is entirely possible.”

Wraiths were superior ghost-type monsters. They could summon lesser ghosts, absorb them and grow stronger.

The site had apparently been untouched for a long time, so there was no telling how powerful the creature might have become.

Of course, that depended upon when it arrived. If it had moved here recently, it should not be especially strong.

In any case, I possessed purification magic. A Turn Undead spell should destroy it in one blow. To someone capable of purification, ghost monsters were little more than convenient experience.

We proceeded still more carefully until the ruined building came into view. Stones the size of a child’s head covered the ground.

It had probably once been a church. Something waited at the rear of its remains.

“That is a wraith.”

“It appears so. Let us see how effective the Holy Droplets are.”

This was an ideal opportunity. Defeating the weakest ghosts alone could not reveal the potion’s true power. We needed to test it against a superior species.

The battle naturally carried risk, but Lionel would already have ordered a retreat if it were genuinely impossible. He knew I could use purification magic and had apparently judged that sufficient protection.