NOVEL NEXT Chapter 46: 47—Cunning spirit, Fearless
The scream cut through the air into their bones. Percy froze for a moment, that came from the front of the house, and it sounded like a woman.
"Ura," George whispered before taking off like a bullet. Soon Percy and Thalos were left alone with the huge circular hole in the ground.
"The spirit's dividing us. We have to end the ritual now," He said calmly. "I'm gonna dig around for the body."
He leapt into the hole, soft black soil cushioning his landing. It was too dark to see any signs of skin or a corpse, but he kept searching.
"Percy, we can't find it without George," Thalos sighed. "We have to go get him and find out what's happening."
Percy scrambled out of the hole cursing, this was shaping out to be a problem already. If he stayed behind while Thalos left then he would certainly be attacked.
They both ran back to the front of the house and found Ura fighting against her husband. Her black hair was scattered and her calm voice tore through the silent night.
"Joey! We have to get inside and save Joey! Please, George, its your son! Lord Thalos, Perseus, please. My son, it took my son!"
A knot tied itself in his belly remembering the ankle biting terror, Joey. If the spirit took him inside instead of killing him there then it was bait.
The kid was already dead. He shared a remorseful look with George, who already seemed to understand.
"How did it get you from across the road?"
"A tree!" Flynn said, running into the land despite her parent's loud protests. "It grabbed Joey with a tree and took him into the attic."
Percy turned to find the front door open. It was inviting him in. It wanted Percy to come up stairs and back into the attic he escaped.
Flynn grabbed his shoulders, tears streaming down from her pale face.
"You have to help him. Don't let Joey die in that house."
He put his head down and swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth. The choice was obvious, it knew that Percy would try to disrupt the ritual, so it took a hostage.
But if he went up there, then both of them would die. There was no two ways around it. It was impossible for them to escape that house. In there the vengeful spirit had full control.
The chilly air of the night had grown painfully quiet, Ura's sobs fading into the background. His mind searched for a way to explain that they needed to forget the kid. They only had one chance to kill the spirit
That was hitting it with a magical attack, and he would still need to hit its entire body. What if the shadow was just one part of it.
Something surfaced on the lake of his memories.
━━━━━━ ✦ Optional Quests ✦ ━━━━━━
– Use the curse mark (Given by Aether): Your newest reward will need to be used soon. Use the curse mark on an enemy. Rewards: One Rank 3 customizable reward, ten additional stat points.
✧────────────────────────────✧
The curse mark. Did they know this was where he would end up? Was that why Tartarus gave him this quest and the knowledge?
He couldn't be sure, but one thing he did know was that trusting the god of depravity was one of the dumbest ways to die. But… the curse mark could kill the spirit.
This spirit was just Philip's desire for revenge. It was the desires of the nearly thirty people that the Basker family murdered. Therefore if they used the curse mark on Philip's body, it would count as attacking the entire family.
It would kill all the spirits in one go, then probably kill any of Philip's family members that were still alive out there. In Aether's eyes, it was a very smart path of Percy to take.
In fact, if he could find a way to cast the curse mark without using his own hands it may work. Like carving the symbol in Philip's body until the last mark, then taking the body up to the attic and letting the spirit carve the rest.
Or I could carve it on the ground! The land is technically part of the spirit's body!
He could get Thalos to hold off the creature and carve the symbol. It could work, but he wasn't sure if Joey wouldn't be killed when it knew what he was doing.
Before he could go further down this line of enquiry, his system screen interrupted him. The white screen and black bezels flared into existence on their own.
━━━━━━ ✦ Optional Quests ✦ ━━━━━━
– Do not use the curse mark (Given by Nyx): It is a trap. The curse mark is the first imperfection on your soul. This will only lead you further down the path they desire. Rewards: One Rank 3 customizable reward, ten additional stat points.
✧────────────────────────────✧
It was like a bucket of cold water was poured down his brain. His thought process was too one-dimensional. He immediately assumed that the only way to kill the spirit was by destroying the entire land or using the curse mark.
He grabbed Flynn's hand softly and glanced up with a bright smile that shocked her. He pulled her hands down and said.
"Saving little Joey? The small one, bites ankles, hates carrots for no reason? Oh, yeah I can totally do that."
He spun towards Thalos suddenly.
"I need to ask you something, then I'm going into that house alone to have a talk with our spirit friend."
Thalos narrowed his gaze, ready to disagree, but he could see that crazy light in Percy's eyes and it was a lot better than the resigned look he had before. He decided to trust his son.
○——○
Meanwhile up in the attic, Joey's muffled cries could be heard. The room had been torn apart by the spirit's rage. Books, boxes and furniture were scattered over the floor.
Joey was huddled up in the corner, the candles lighting up the room flickered. Flames dying and resurrecting on their own. His pale face had a streak of blood running down his forehead.
It was as red as his hair. He had seen his blood plenty of times growing up. Children often played dangerous games and hid it from their parents.
Another hard crash made him shiver. He wasn't afraid though, that's what he told himself. Tough as nails, that's why they called him little Joey, to make fun of him.
His heart kept racing. But he wasn't scared. A whisper reached his ears, low and hoarse, like a hundred people speaking at once.
"You must kill him… that unnatural thing."