Eldritch Exorcist

I let the staff jump into my hand as the creature flew straight at me. My initial instinct was to cast Shield, but halfway through the spell, I realized I was quick enough to simply move out of the creature's way.

I stopped casting as the two sharp tusks flew right by me.

I turned to my opponent, just to see the thing lower its head and prepare for another charge. I fired a quick dual Pierce into the thing's head before dodging again. To my surprise, in a show of polished battle instincts, the animal actually managed to dodge one and take the other in the shoulder.

I began casting Sickening Ray to finish it quickly as the thing jumped once again, but I was used to its speed and rolled to the side, not stopping my cast.

As it landed and turned for another charge, I finished the spell. Three gleaming rays of energy went for the animal. Two into the shoulder blades and one into the middle of the skull.

Once again, the animal attempted to dodge. The fact that it had instincts related to magic was strange, but this time, three quick rays of energy weren't something it could simply jump away from.

The abomination rolled to the side, making one ray miss it entirely. Another of the attacks only grazed it.

However, with the human torso getting in the way of the roll, the leftmost ray still made contact with the center of its body.

Victory, I thought. Then something I didn't see coming happened. A shield materialized, tanking the spell. It was a weak cast that shattered, but it took enough of the brunt of the attack to turn the penetrating ray into a flesh wound.

It squealed in anger.

What was that?

I didn't sense any magic until it flowed from it. Moreover, the casting was strange. Neither that of a spiritual being nor that of a human. I furrowed my brow and used the time bought to cast Wailing Armor just in case.

The thing climbed back onto its legs.

"Aaggghrrrr," came that strange squeal, this time around resembling a human scream more than anything else. The animal started to approach slowly, caution and fury mixed in the creature's strange eyes, while the hollow eyes of the torso seemed locked onto me.

I started casting once again. I wondered about the mind. Would it be simple fury? Using its slow approach, I took time to cast Distortion. The spell was meant to shift me slightly out of its way.

The magic made contact with the abomination, as it didn't try to defend itself this time.

And… no purchase.

I could feel it trying to latch onto the part of the mind responsible for sight, but there was no purchase, as if that part of the mind was simply not there. I wondered how the creature's mental landscape was constructed.

It was approaching as I started backing away and began another spell. I should finish this. Overcharged Cutting Storm should get the job done.

The thing exploded into movement as I tried to buy distance. I cast Pierce right into the middle of its skull to force it to change the direction of the charge.

But to my surprise, once again a strange spell materialized. Not a shield this time, but the skin on the head had changed its structure to resemble thick bark. The spell made contact but couldn't penetrate.

Another strange scream came as black, tar-like blood started to seep from the shallow wound. I jumped to the side again, finishing the Cutting Storm and waiting for the moment to release it into its back.

As the thing flew past me, the small, deformed hand of the torso extended. Something akin to a sword made of bark materialized in it.

I used a stored spell to cast Shield, but to my horror, it ripped through the spell and made contact. I let the armor take the attack and, to my surprise, felt it almost give way.

There was only one explanation. That sword spell was around the third circle.

Shaking off my surprise, I fired the Cutting Storm. As the blades materialized, the torso on the creature's back tilted backward, using the thorn sword in front of itself to block. The boar part reared on its hind legs, providing more cover to the humanoid part.

The attack connected, shredding the pig as guts and blood flew everywhere. The boar's torso fell to the ground mangled, but the human lived through it, if one can call that living.

As it fell, it slammed the sword into the ground, and I felt mana go into the earth.

The moment I saw that movement, I started casting Burning Breath and jumped back. Instead of a few vines like in the last fight with Astrid, countless wooden branches covered in splinters materialized and tried to latch onto me.

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I released my spell, burning my way out of the wooden prison, but the size of the attack was unexpected. I winced in pain as the wooden needles pierced my left hand, locking me in place and trying to crawl onto my torso.

I saw the humanoid part try to crawl in my direction, dragging the mangled boar flesh with itself.

But that wasn't my first rodeo. Instead of focusing on the spell holding me in place, I ignored the pain and, using my staff, I fired stored Deep Rot right into the thing's face.

This time, it did not see the attack coming. The shield materialized too late, and the spell slammed into the creature's head.

It started to scream in an almost human voice, as the movements ceased. I stood there pointing my staff at the creature for some time as I slowly pulled my hand from the branches.

No movement from the thing.

I looked at my hand. The wound wasn't deep, but the skin was mangled.

I did not think that would be the start of the investigation.

I sat down, still keeping an eye on the body and the surroundings. I was about to gulp down a potion, but then stopped. Good time to see what my accelerated healing can do. I let my body seal the wound as I approached the creature.

Initially, I was hoping I could get it with a Pierce spell to the head to have a complete body to study.

But it didn't work out. I grimaced as I looked at the mauled corpse. I was not aware of its vitality, and mind magic didn't seem to do shit, so area-of-effect was the best choice, but still... If I had a staff capable of storing third-circle spells, a Bone Arrow could have finished the fight quickly.

I should work on penetrating death spells.

I went over the fight. Came out on top without the use of eldritch magic, but it could be better. Without a plan, I got surprised and went immediately to the magic I'm used to and comfortable with.

Death's Grasp could have dealt with the opponent's mobility and allowed me time for an organic cast of Bone Spear. I clicked my tongue. Better spell choice in the future and usage of new spells in battle were on the list.

Fuck, that was a long list by now.

I looked at my hand. The bleeding stopped. Nice.

Now to the main question.

What in the void's name was that?

I did not feel any magic signature. Unless it was hidden, but this did not strike me as the assassin type. The body was flesh, so not a spiritual being, but the casting was that of a spiritual being, somewhat.

Hmm… maybe not casting, but mana storage of a spiritual being and casting of a human? Was that it?

Was it even possible?

I sighed and double-tapped the human body with Pierce to the back of the skull before bending over it.

I looked over what remained of the humanoid flesh. The place where the torsos connected had no seams, but most of all, there was no change in the skin. I dragged my finger over what remained of that part.

The skin color of the boar remained on the human part, but the texture changed between them. I took out my dagger and made a cut alongside the spine and examined the connection. They were fused together, one growing out of the other. It was enough to be functional but not optimal.

So a mutation that could survive.

I absentmindedly tapped my staff as I went over Soul Defects in Flesh, the book from the pouch. The book talked about how soul mutations were reflected in flesh. The cases described and theorized were, however, much less severe.

It discussed how someone who has never experienced struggle would have their soul imbalanced. That would manifest as small beady eyes, an annoying smirk in place of a smile, and so on. Overall imbalances in the soul would reflect in the flesh. So, severe mutations would also show.

But could it be that extreme?

Was this what I was looking at here?

Or was I trying to explain it with souls because I thought I was after a soul artifact?

That did not explain the strange casting.

I clicked my tongue. First proper anomaly I'm dealing with, and it's already pissing me off.

I looked over the body some more, trying to find a clue, but if there was something interesting in any part of the boar's flesh, then I'm pretty sure I annihilated it in the process.

I looked back at my hand. The skin was almost healed, but I could still feel that the muscle underneath was torn. The deeper the wound, the longer it would take, I see. I finally gulped the potion after some more time without feeling any change.

I then looked for something to clean off the blood and realized that I had everything with me, except tissues. I used water to wash off as much as I could, smearing some more blood onto my other hand in the process.

I briefly considered going back to the car, but finally decided to continue. It was an abandoned building. I would get a look and be on my way.

I turned to the body to get rid of the evidence, but noticed it was already starting to decay. Or more like falling apart. Why?

After going over my knowledge of souls and death, I had nothing.

I shrugged and went on my way, letting nature do its job. I took out a crystal and slowly replenished some of my mana. It took me around 20 minutes to walk into a clearing in the forest.

In it, I saw an abandoned industrial building. It was an old slaughterhouse. I approached it from the rear, as the space I saw in front of me appeared to be the storage area. I found a large broken window, which I used to enter the building.

The moment I stepped inside, I could smell the dust in the air, along with the aromas of wet concrete and rusted iron. While the smells weren't the most pleasant, the drop in temperature was rather nice during the hot day.

I slowly made my way forward, looking into the rooms as I went. It was a typical abandoned building, with all that was left behind being either too hard to carry out or simply too useless to sell.

But what was strange was that I didn't feel any magic. If the hook awakened due to ambient mana filling the air, then mana should be filling at least half the building by now.

My musings were broken by a sound coming from in front of me. I initially got ready for another fight with, well… something. But then realized those were humans. I walked in the direction of the sounds and saw sturdy, thick doors in front of me.

I raised my eyebrows. I was about to go in and just finish my job, but then the sounds went quiet.

Did they hear me? I wasn't exactly hiding from them, so it was possible.

I smiled slightly as, to my amusement, they rather awkwardly tried to sneak toward the doors. I dropped my idea of introducing myself and just stood there, listening to the antics on the other side.

After a few seconds, the doors swung open, and five people almost jumped at me.

Four of them weren't anything special, looking like young adults with recording equipment of all things.

But one man dropped his camera and immediately went for a gun hidden under his shirt. He then froze with his hand on his hip, a bit confused at his own actions, considering I wasn't doing anything dangerous.

I raised my eyebrows. Huh, his instincts were quite good.