Chapter 163: Frenzied Spirit

As the skill activator, Miss Vilyric could clearly sense that at least five clusters were gathering together, clearly not belonging to the Lotus’s frenzied spiritual energy, rushing in like hungry wolves scenting blood, as if they wanted to burst into her body.

No doubt, this was the reason why Lotus’s spirit had fallen into an abnormal state; who would have thought they were so impatient to come out on their own? How self-aware of them!

That said, for weaker spirits, if they recklessly followed Miss Priestess’s example and made contact, it would surely be a disaster, and they might end up just as mad as the Spirit Butterfly in front of them, perhaps even worse.

“Hmph…”

These sly and greedy little monsters! If Miss Vilyric hadn’t sensed them beforehand and deliberately concealed her power, the former would’ve probably scattered in fear or hidden away. How could they deliver themselves right to her door so easily?

After all, she was only good at defensive counterattacks and didn’t like chasing after these elusive things.

“I’ve got you now ~”

The black-haired girl struck like lightning, her fingers grasping the air in front of her as if pinching some invisible object, her lips curving into a smile of accomplishment.

“Miss Vilyric, are you…?”

Miss Priestess didn’t say much, just shook her head, signaling the two girls behind her to stay quiet and then waved her hand to release a sturdy, glowing barrier to replace Miss Slime, finally giving her a moment to breathe.

From Xiao Lan and Lulu’s perspective, it might have just looked like Vilyric was holding onto a clump of air, but the Priestess, who had set up SP antennas around, could clearly “see” the five clusters now squeezed together like balloons in her hands, even hearing their terrified and pained howls.

And the Guardian Lotus, now free from the entanglement of these strange entities, suddenly slumped over, as if drained of strength, and closed her eyes.

Vilyric ignored this; that Spirit Butterfly was not her priority. Instead, she directly activated [Information Detection] on the obviously special spiritual entities in her hand.

To her surprise, it could actually provide information.

[Frenzied Spirit]

[Special Item]

[Grade: Unknown]

[Description: A special item made by Summoner Alchemist Sylvester Burwell, crafted using a spiritual life form – Upper Dimension Spirit fusion, which will instinctively attach to living beings, throwing them into endless frenzy.]

Hmm… this introduction was quite brief. Could it be because it doesn’t entirely belong to an item, leading to such a chaotic information haul?

Vilyric had learned about Upper Dimension Spirits during her remote communications with Xi Fu Lin, and they had also been mentioned during her discussions with Min Chen and Vanessa regarding the [Phantom Realm], so it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to her.

But who would’ve thought that Summoner Alchemist would actually craft this into an item?

That’s somewhat absurd.

That said, these entities likely still possessed clear cognitive abilities and intelligence. It’s probable that Sylvester specifically cooked this up to deal with a strong Spirit Butterfly like Lotus, who excelled in spiritual abilities.

They seemed to be able to act somewhat in the fog, but the magical array left by Tiyelu was still a significant hindrance. Hence, those invaders must have chosen to launch a frontal attack on the node first… right?

[Hey, can you guys hear me? If you can, hurry up and give me a sign.]

Vilyric had encountered mental transmissions before and found it easy.

However, strangely, even though they struggled and emitted silent howls, they didn’t give Priestess any feedback, as if they were really just mindless, chaotic spiritual entities.

[Oh… so you’re just pawns who can’t even speak? What a waste of my preparations, how boring. Let’s burn this.]

Speaking to herself through her thoughts like this, the next moment, a raging fire of crimson gold surged from the Priestess’s hands!

“Zing!”

Though it was a tangible flame, those insubstantial entities were instantly ignited by the holy golden fire, the flames quickly engulfing all five clusters, making it seem like the entire palm of the black-haired girl was covered in golden flames.

“Wow! Miss Vilyric, are you okay?!”

As expected, Xiao Lan and Lulu were startled, but the Priestess just waved her other empty hand, signaling them to calm down.

The flames summoned by Vilyric couldn’t possibly harm her. Besides the protection of [Feather Garment: Glarya], even if she were to burn herself, it would be fine. After all, holy flames don’t pose any lethal threat to those full of light element affinity.

On the contrary, the more wicked or, to put it simply – the lower the light affinity of a being, the more damage they would suffer from holy flames.

Spiritual entities were no exception; after all, malevolent spirits were the daily bread of holy practitioners, and Miss Vilyric… well, let’s consider her a holy practitioner for now!

[Ahhhhh! It burns! It burns! Have mercy, My Lord!]

[Hmm~ not pretending to be dumb anymore, huh?]

Vilyric wouldn’t give a gracious glance just because they started communicating. From what she had learned from previous information and depictions, she had deeply grasped the selfish and cunning nature of these so-called Upper Dimension beings.

For now, there was no need to consider any feelings or morals in dealing with them. The only things that could persuade these monsters were—sufficient benefits or sheer violence.

Sure enough, as the flames in her hand didn’t extinguish but rather flared higher, the screams transmitted into her mind became even more real and intense.

[Ohhhhh! Have mercy, My Lord! Before, we were ignorant and overstepped our bounds! Please, just give us another chance!]

What this so-called Frenzied Spirit was going through, whether it was due to the special modification by the Summoner Alchemist, not only did it possess a capability to wreak havoc in minds, but even the screams transmitted through the spirit were mixed with several different voices, carrying a thick sense of madness. If you tried to communicate with them as a normal being, you’d probably fall into extreme frenzy after just a few words.

But for Vilyric, it was nothing but a simple nuisance.

[Be quiet! I’ve made it clear in advance; your trifling mental tricks are completely useless against me! Don’t think about being slippery—just answer my questions, got it?]

[Yes, yes, yes! We will speak freely! Please, just put out the fire! If it burns any longer, we will be left with nothing!!!]

Hmph… it seems we’re almost there.

Vilyric had actually been deliberately controlling the power of the golden flames in her hand, just to intimidate them. Otherwise, with this 8th-grade magic [Roar of Holy Flame], if she unleashed its full potential, the entity in her hand would be reduced to ashes in less than a second.

After all, no matter how bizarre and tenacious that Frenzied Spirit was, could it compare to the [Depraved Beings] under the Withering Goddess? Those were undoubtedly extraordinary undead beings, yet they too were burned to a crisp just the same!

   

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