Chapter 84: The Priestess Who Guides the Deceased

The White Fox Girl held her hands, radiating transparent points of light.

The luminescence twinkled like stardust, slowly drifting towards the corpse, seeping into it, resembling a solemn and mysterious ritual.

“Your Highness, is she…?”

“Shh~”

Though Yuna, as the Saint of Bright Light, wasn’t entirely sure what the girl was doing, her insight told her it must be some profound, magical technique that would play a crucial role in their investigation and their search for the murderer.

Xī wouldn’t engage in meaningless actions, after all, she was… an ally personally recommended by the Oracle.

What was Miss Vilyric doing?

The answer to this question wasn’t complicated at all.

The disguise of the Mask of the God Fox wasn’t just skin deep; beyond the differences in appearance, this top-tier half-artifact also granted the girl entirely new skills different from her original self, and what she was currently wielding was one of them.

A power known as “Spirit Summoning.”

Crossing the river of life and death with intention, connecting with the lingering souls of the departed, this was “Spirit Summoning.”

Or, it could also be understood as Xī’s innate talent.

In fact, if Miss Vilyric were to directly pull out her usual “Eternal Staff: Heart of the World,” the summoning process could be significantly expedited.

After all, as an artifact, the latter’s ability called “Creation,” which bestows Soul Power, could certainly be seen as an advanced capability of “Spirit Summoning,” just like when the Priestess easily gathered the residual soul of the Holy Knight Bowen back in the alley of Holy Star City.

But now, in front of Yuna and the others, the White Fox Girl couldn’t just boldly pull out Vilyric’s exclusive weapon or casually revive this guy, so she had to find a bit of a compromise.

The transparent points of light gradually faded, and the White Fox Girl took out a small silver bell from her priestess robe, lightly shaking it three times by the ear of the lifeless Ghost Warrior.

“Ding-a-ling~ Ding-a-ling~ Ding-a-ling~”

Accompanied by the crisp sound of the bell, the air began to ripple like visible ripples on water, but those ripples didn’t dissipate over time; instead, they gradually gathered and shrank into a specific form, ultimately…

Transforming into a somewhat blurry figure of a person floating in the air.

“This…”

“Is this… a soul summoning technique? What an incredible magical method.”

The surprised exclamations of Holy Knight Jeremy and the genuine praise from the Saintess arose in succession, but the White Fox Girl, who had anticipated this scene, merely nodded slightly and moved aside a bit.

“Alright, although it’s been a while since this soul has died, so it’s not completely intact and might have some memory gaps, it should still recall its past experiences well enough. If you have any questions, ask quickly; it can only last for about an hour.”

Of course, the so-called hour was just the time someone casually fabricated.

In reality, if Vilyric were willing to exert a bit of effort, she could keep this lingering soul intact indefinitely, but if that were the case, she might as well directly revive Aiden.

Ultimately, this was merely to gather information, and after hearing Yuna’s two theories on energy cycles, Vilyric suddenly understood why true resurrection magic was so rare and unacceptable in this world.

Under the special operation of the Priestess, the remaining soul of Aiden, which lingered in the corpse and had not completely dissipated, soon made a sound that ordinary people could hear.

“I… what happened to me?”

“Senior Aiden! I-I’m so sorry…”

Hearing the familiar yet already departed voice, Jeremy, the Holy Knight, seemed unable to restrain his guilt and regret, finally collapsing to the ground and sobbing.

And Aiden’s lingering soul reacted to his voice.

“You’re… Jeremy? Haha, why do you look so disheveled? If the captain sees this…”

Just as his cheerful teasing rang out, it seemed to trigger a certain keyword, abruptly falling silent, causing his ethereal form to fluctuate wildly with emotion.

“Ah~ I see… No wonder I’m floating up here, I remember now, I was… killed by the captain.”

“Aiden Arbiter, can you help us remember what exactly happened last night? The Temple is doing its utmost to solve this case and find the murderer. This is also to allow your souls to ascend to the light and find peace.”

As expected of someone who had seen the world as a high-ranking figure, despite the bizarre scene before her, the Saintess quickly regained her elegance and sacred aura after a bit of surprise, even stepping forward to converse with Aiden’s spirit.

“Little girl, who are you…?”

Mr. Pedrick, seemingly quite laid-back, stepped forward, admonishing sternly.

“Third-Order Arbiter Aiden, mind your language. This is Her Highness, Saint Yuna Summerfield. It’s inconvenient for a deceased to bow, but at least maintain basic courtesy.”

Perhaps due to the incompleteness of the soul, Aiden’s reactions and memories had some gaps. He stared blankly at the blonde girl with the warm smile for a while before seemingly understanding and quickly bowed his head.

“So it’s you, my lady. Sorry, sorry! I just felt a bit fuzzy… I only remembered your appearance just now. By the way, what’s going on? I clearly died in battle… why am I suddenly here in this creepy place?”

In this situation, the White Fox Girl, as the summoner, should have explained a few things, but seeing Vilyric’s aversion to complications, Yuna simply shook her head lightly.

“Aiden, your time isn’t much, so let’s not waste it on irrelevant topics. Let’s discuss last night’s events; from the moment you encountered the other party, please describe everything in detail.”

It was evident that Yuna’s status in Mingguang City was indeed extraordinary. Just the slightly commanding tone of her calm voice made Aiden, as an Arbiter, quickly nod his head instinctively.

“Uh, following the Holy Supremacy! I remember last night, um… our team was patrolling near Linglan Alley in the eastern part of Mingguang Street, around eleven o’clock at night, and we heard the humming of a girl in the empty alley…”

After taking some time, Aiden’s lingering soul recounted everything he could remember. Though it was a bit fragmented, it was sufficient to piece together the overall developments.

The information Aiden provided aligned with what Jeremy had said. Generally, their team heard sounds late at night and discovered a strange silhouette wandering alone on the street, and upon investigation, they found it was a little girl wearing a bizarre mask.

What was strange, however, was that Aiden couldn’t quite remember what happened afterward, only saying he came to his senses and the captain had already become possessed by that black-and-white mask, and the originally little girl had fallen.

They sent the weakest Holy Knight, Jeremy, back for help, but the strength of Captain Karina, who had been possessed by the mask, was unexpectedly strong, and ultimately, before reinforcements arrived, their squad was completely wiped out.

At first glance, these seemed like trivial pieces of known information, but no one noticed that a certain White Fox Girl standing quietly by the side had raised her brow slightly beneath her little fox mask, as if… deep in thought.

Additionally, as a Holy Knight with more seniority than the newcomer Jeremy, Aiden did indeed have a bit more to share.

For instance…

“Are you saying that the Unyielding Knight Karina Brett has about a quarter of Light Tribe bloodline?”

“That’s right, Your Highness. I discovered that by chance during one of my previous missions. The captain specifically warned me not to tell the other team members, or else she would beat me up. But… since I’m already dead, she can’t really do anything to me now, haha!”

   

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