"A specter. You must be kidding. Ghost doesn’t exist." The Baron said.
"Unfortunately, I am not, Baron of Scalize. Magic can bend reality to the will of its user. Is it really that hard to believe a soul can have its own life?"
The Baron breathed in deep. "Go on."
"A specter is a being without a physical body. It can’t hurt you in a physical sense. But it can hurt your soul. These cuts weren’t physical. They were spiritual."
"It can’t be. Can’t you see those cuts? Those are real physical wounds!"
"The cuts that went through the clothes of the victim and hurt their flesh directly?
A man without the will to live will soon succumb to death no matter how healthy he is. It is the same with a cut from a specter. It can’t hurt you directly but it can hurt your soul.
Once your soul is wounded, your body will follow.
It is called Phasmosis Damage."
Phasmosis Damage, the exclusive injury that could only be caused by the specter family. This fell in the same category with the Necron Energy, which caused Necrosis Damage.
The ghoul had the energy of the dead and brought death upon those it came into contact with. The specter had Phasmon Energy, which caused the elusive Phasmosis Damage.
The two were very similar in a sense that they were both infectious. Necron Energy caused the victim to become an undead. Phasmon Energy caused the victim to become a specter, preventing you from crossing to the afterlife.
Those folklore and scary stories parents used to tell their kids about ghosts. They were all true.
"See the eyes? White eyes means their soul has been imprisoned inside. Give it time and these victims will join your specter in haunting this estate." Siderius said. "The souls who become a specter are denied the passage to the afterlife, doom to wander in the world of the living to the end of time."
"What a dire fate." The Baron said. It was the first time Jude had heard about anything similar to this. He still had doubts but Siderius was very convincing. He was the only one who had any clue about what was going on.
"So what do we need to do?" The Baron approached one of the victims.
"Their souls are trapped within their body. But I don’t know how long they will last."
Siderius kneeled down and cut open the eyelids of the third victim. This victim was a man. His eyes weren’t white completely and one third of the iris was still visible.
"These people can still be saved."
Siderius quickly went over to the remaining victims and checked their eyes. Only the first and second victims were unsavable, the rest had a chance.
"Save? They can be resurrected?" The Baron widened his eyes.
"Resurrect? No. They were never dead to begin with. Only their souls are trapped. We need to save the latter victims first. Call your men."
"Guards!" The Baron shouted.
With the guidance of Siderius, the Baron ordered the guards to carry the victims to the garrison. There were seven victims total. They were placed next to each other side by side on the soldier’s beds.
Finn and George went out of their workshop because of the commotion. They observed everything with great curiosity but didn’t intrude.
"Is that the guy?" Finn pointed to Siderius. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novᴇlfire.net
"Yeah. He gave me the schematics." George nodded.
Siderius checked his material pouch. Unfortunately, his salt reserve had gone dry. He didn’t bring a lot of salt with him.
"I need salt. Pure white salt. Bring them here as much as you can. If there isn’t enough, you can bring pure rock salt to me."
The Baron nodded and ordered some of his men to gather the salt. The rest was instructed by Siderius to build a giant fire hole in the room, circulating high temperature to the air.
Phasmon was different from Necron. But they had similarity in their weaknesses.
Necron was afraid of flame because flame was detrimental to the flesh of undead.
Phasmon wasn’t afraid of flame. But I was scared of the high temperature. A low temperature allowed Specter to gather its power and better control the Phasmon Energy. High temperature wouldn’t cause damage to it like how flame did to the ghouls, but it would weaken it.
Or at least, whatever the ’spell’ it had put upon these victims.
While the soldiers were doing their work, Jude approached Siderius.
"Why did you order to bring the first and second victim along? Aren’t they unsavable?" The Baron said.
"Unsavable by the usual method, yes. There is another way.
But you aren’t actually concerned about them, are you?"
The Baron chuckled. "You really are sharp, white witch."
The nickname caused the hair on Siderius’ body to stand. He despised being associated with witches. But he hid his contempt well. Just like what he had been doing while facing Jude all this time.
The hunter despised Jude for being a witch. But the Baron had the courage to throw away his magic to retain his sanity. For a witch with a dormant mana core, Jude could only be considered a half-witch.
Siderius respected that. There was at least some humanity left in him. He hadn’t been consumed by his desire yet.
They were irredeemable.
"I can feel you are an honest man so I will stay truthful to you." The Baron said. "Aye. I don’t care about the lives of these people but as a Baron, it is my responsibility to save them.
If I can’t, I am a useless Baron.
But I have to wonder. Does saving them prevent this specter of killing again?"
"I’m also going to admit, Baron of Scalize, I do not care about their lives as well. But saving them will benefit me, so I will do it.
As for why we need to save them.
There are a lot of specters. Revenant and Phantom are the two most plausible ones based on what I’ve seen. But it can still be a wraith or even a banshee.
Each of these specters even has different types that are a little different between one and another. One can focus on terrorizing its victim, the other might like to play with their emotion.
If we know exactly what we’re dealing with..."
The Baron grinned from ear to ear. "We can kill it!"
"Exactly." Siderius nodded.
"You really are a cunning witch, Siderius. I am curious. How old are you actually? Your expertise isn’t suitable for a face that young."
Siderius smirked back at Jude. He asked the same question as before. "Do you want an honest answer?"
"I am technically... 216 years old." Siderius said.
"Heh. I knew it. You are an ancient bastard. But you seem different than the old witch I know. Why are you so normal?"
This time Siderius didn’t give a direct answer. He turned his face away. "I ain’t normal, Jude. No one truly is."