Let us return to the night before the adventure began.
Debbie, to hone her magical skills, kept Jiji in a summoned state all night. The little creature did not need sleep and wandered around Ye Chui’s wooden cabin, bumping into things and rummaging about, filled with curiosity for everything.
Naturally, this greatly disturbed Ye Chui, who was sleeping in the hall. He tossed and turned in bed, repeatedly asking Jiji to be quieter and not make a fuss. Though Jiji was naive by nature, she understood many things and decided to be a bit quieter. But at that moment, as she looked at Ye Chui’s body, a strange expression suddenly appeared on her cute little face.
Jiji was a Valkyrie, endowed with divine power from the gods. That sacred power made her keenly sensitive to evil auras. At that moment, she suddenly detected a faint, almost imperceptible trace of evil emanating from Ye Chui’s body.
This evil aura had been well concealed, but that night, certain actions targeting Ye Chui were about to unfold. The evil spirit, usually dormant within the Southwind Outpost, was awakened. The Dark Magic Book served as the vessel for the evil spirit, and its awakening caused the Dark Magic Book within Ye Chui’s body to stir as well.
Our little Valkyrie keenly sensed the reviving Dark Magic Book, though she had no idea what it was.
Her tiny wings fluttered as she slowly flew to Ye Chui’s bedside, tilting her head and nibbling on her finger in thought. Then, with a “ji” sound, she conjured a heavy water bomb and leapt onto Ye Chui’s stomach. Her sacred power surged into his body, instantly forcing the Dark Magic Book out. If sound effects were to be added, it would have been a whoosh as the Dark Magic Book popped out and was caught in Jiji’s arms.
Ye Chui sat up from the bed, visibly annoyed. The earlier disturbances were bad enough, but now she had jumped onto his bed. This naughty child! He grabbed Jiji and hopped off the bed.
“Jiji, Jiji, treasure…” Jiji, still holding the Dark Magic Book, stammered as she tried to explain what had just happened.
The Dark Magic Book was, in fact, a grimoire forcibly extracted from someone’s body. It was not inherently evil; the faint evil aura came from its contamination by the evil spirit. When Jiji held it, the evil aura was completely dispelled. For Jiji, who had a penchant for collecting things, it was indeed a treasure.
However, the cabin was dimly lit, and Ye Chui did not notice the grimoire in Jiji’s arms. He opened the cabin door and pushed Jiji outside, saying, “Go collect your treasures outside, and don’t disturb my sleep.”
To Ye Chui, it was just a naughty child making noise and jumping on his bed, keeping him awake. With no other choice, he sent Jiji out to bother someone else. The next morning, Jiji had gathered a pile of random items, with the grimoire buried at the bottom of her treasure hoard. After a night of frolicking, she completely forgot about it.
At that moment, the evil spirit Hughes, using all its remaining strength, made a final desperate attempt. It lured Ye Chui to the ruins, entangling him with blood-red tendrils. The Dark Magic Book was its vessel, the key to its rebirth from Ye Chui’s body. To be reborn, it needed the power of the Dark Magic Book as its container. But the Dark Magic Book was no longer in Ye Chui’s possession.
Did this mean their plan was doomed to fail from the start?
“Aaah!” A hoarse, furious, and unwilling roar echoed across the ruins. Hughes was at its wit’s end, binding Ye Chui with its last ounce of strength. Realising it was all in vain, the blood-red tendrils withered and weakened. Ye Chui struggled hard, finding it easier to break free, and summoned his iPad grimoire.
Under the moonlight, a holy figure swiftly flew towards them.
At the critical moment, Debbie unleashed Jiji’s power.
The Valkyrie’s petite form instantly grew tall and mature, her white dress transforming into a golden battle skirt, her long hair flowing, majestic and awe-inspiring. Wielding a sword formed of light, she descended from the sky. Amid the evil spirit’s anguished cries, holy light erupted around Ye Chui, turning the blood-red tendrils to ash, the ashes spreading further.
Beneath the ruins lay a half-buried blood pool, its contents churning. Invaded by the holy aura, the pool began to burn. Within it, a writhing blood-red figure could faintly be seen. The blood in the pool quickly thickened and ultimately turned to ash and dust.
Enveloped in holy light, Ye Chui faintly heard a crisp, childlike voice in his ears: “Mummy, Mummy…”
It was the final cry of Hughes’ soul.
From that dream, Ye Chui could sense that Hughes was once a strong and kind child. But after being branded a heretic for studying magic and being executed, he was corrupted by the resentment of his mother, Nun Rosia, turning him into an evil spirit. It was all Rosia’s fault. Now, fully vanquished, Ye Chui could feel from Hughes’ soul’s echo that, in his final moments, there was no resentment or unwillingness, only release and freedom.
Beside the ruins, Reisha’s eyes widened in shock at the sudden appearance of the mature Valkyrie, her face full of disbelief. “She, she’s the heroic spirit you summoned? So, so powerful!”
Debbie beamed with pride, her chin slightly raised. “Pretty impressive, right? Let me tell you, my Gilga is just as good as Jiji, but she’s injured and can’t be summoned right now.” As she spoke smugly, the girl’s face quickly paled, her body swaying. She let out a startled cry, “Ouch, my magic is draining so much…”
On the other side, Green was nearly in tears, gazing at the Valkyrie’s figure on the ruins, a reminder of his lost youth.
The evil spirit was dead, but the ordeal was not over.
“Oh no!” Reisha suddenly realised something, her face turning grim. “The evil spirit was holding many tortured souls captive. I’ve been purifying those souls these past days, using a gentle method to weaken the evil spirit’s power. Now that the evil spirit has been suddenly killed, those tortured souls, freed from their bonds, are about to turn into malevolent spirits!”
Malevolent spirits were souls filled with resentment. The evil spirit had tortured them to gain power from their suffering, filling them with hatred. Now, with the evil spirit’s death, those souls were freed, and their intense resentment would instantly transform them into malevolent spirits.
Jiji could have killed the evil spirit in one strike, but they had spent days having Reisha purify the tortured souls to prevent the emergence of malevolent spirits. These entities, perhaps better called malevolent ghosts, were terrifying and difficult to deal with, far more troublesome than the dark followers who worshipped the evil spirit.
Almost as soon as Reisha finished speaking, a chilling aura descended upon the group near the ruins. Wailing and howling filled their ears as translucent, ghastly white figures with grotesque faces crawled from the cracks in the ruins. Their eyes burned with hatred and resentment for all living things, and they lunged at every living being in sight.
Reisha hurriedly began chanting Bible verses, shielding herself, Debbie, and Green. Her eyes anxiously turned to Ye Chui on the ruins. “Little brother…”
A malevolent spirit lunged at Ye Chui but was repelled by his “Guardian” spell.
Jiji’s holy power could also counter the undead, but as she swung her light sword, she could not inflict serious harm on the ethereal malevolent spirits. Her sword sliced one in half, but the severed spirit quickly split into two slightly weaker ones. While she could harm them to some extent, it was not enough to resolve the situation quickly.
Ye Chui glanced at the dwindling magic reserves on his iPad grimoire, his face filled with urgency.
But soon, an idea struck him.
“Undead need to be purified to vanish, so…” His fingers swiftly opened the grimoire’s playlist, rapidly scrolling through the resource list.
“Let’s give them a dose of ‘Graveyard Disco (Pure Land of Bliss)’!”
