Chapter 262

Fores’ eyes were gouged out. His vision darkened, and the golden light seeped into the void where his sight had been.

Both Suho and Sillad immediately recognized the light’s source—the Stones of the Outer Gods.

The malevolent energy began to affect Fores’ very soul. As soon as the stones sank within him, his vision seemed to fracture. Then his soul shattered like fragile glass.

“His soul was broken,” Sillad said, his teeth grinding with barely restrained anger.

Fores’ soul had begun to splinter, and along with it, his countless memories were destroyed. The vision created by the ice flower began to dissolve, scattering like powdered snow in the wind.

Sillad glared as the beings who had handed over the Stones of the Outer Gods also melted away. He clicked his tongue.

“No wonder his soul was so small for a high elf. It seems to me that his vessel was not nearly large enough to accept the power they gave him.”

“Or perhaps this was what they wanted from the start.

Look at that,”

Suho told the Monarch as they watched the vision fade.

Immediately, hungry spirits had begun to swarm through the gaps in Fores’ breaking soul. Ordinarily, he might have tried to flee, but now, he could not.

“Ah... This power...!”

In his darkness, Fores discovered a new radiance.

“Ah!

Thank you!

Thank you, god of the elves!

With this power, I can finally become a Monarch!”

Fores opened his arms wide, welcoming the torrent of spirits with an expression of ecstasy. He had chosen of his own free will to become a Fallen Specter.

Sillad clicked his tongue again in regret.

“Tsk. He was fooled. His judgment was impaired.”

Even as the spirits cackled with laughter, their forms shaking with joy, Fores failed to grasp their true nature.

When the spirits merged with what was left of his shattered soul to the point that they could no longer be distinguished, a voice whispered to him.

“You are a good child.

Quite the interesting creation.”

To Fores, that voice must have sounded like a ray of light.

“Are there others like you?”

the voice asked.

“Yes, there

are!”

Fores replied reverently, his own voice echoing in fervent devotion.

“And even if there aren’t, I will find more and bring them to—”

Then Fores’ voice abruptly halted. His head jerked unnaturally like a rusty hinge struggling to turn.

Sillad’s face stiffened.

“W-wait. No...”

In the vision, Fores’ vacant gaze moved slowly. It passed over Suho and Sillad, and then finally landed on Sirka.

“Found one.”

A radiant smile spread across his face.

Shockingly, the apparition was staring straight at Sirka, who was trapped in the ice.

“I found one!”

Suddenly, a blinding golden light erupted from Fores’ image, growing rapidly and surging toward Sirka.

“No! This can’t be possible!” Sillad cried.

Panicked, he tried to dispel the illusion created by the frozen flower, but he was met with powerful resistance. Somehow, his spirit manipulation techniques had escaped his control.

“S-stop it!” Sillad shouted desperately, clasping his hands and pulling the illusory images toward himself.

Before he could do anything, Suho had already dashed forward, Kamish’s Wraths in his hands. The golden light pierced the protective ice around Sirka, but just as it neared her chest, his burning blades intercepted it.

“Don’t you dare!”

The strike barely managed to deflect the light, which dissipated into searing red flames.

That was close,

Suho thought.

Sirka was safe—for now. But this was only the beginning.

Sillad seethed with rage.

“Show yourself! Who dares covet my successor?”

The illusion, now beyond his control, was consumed by a tempest of snow and wind.

The blowing winds revealed the beings that had been hidden in the dark abyss. Countless eyes gazed out at them.

The grotesque, unblinking eyes were spinning mischievously as if mocking them. They narrowed like they were smiling.

Suho realized what they were.

“It’s the spirits.”

“The mistake is mine,” Sillad said through gritted teeth.

He had let his guard down. Though this was the domain of a deceased Monarch, where time itself was frozen, it was still unknown territory for Sillad. He had been drawn here only temporarily by Suho’s mysterious ability.

Even so, he knew one thing for certain: The fact that he could manipulate spirits in this place meant that they, at least for now, were also free from the restrictions of time.

“While we were peering into Fores’ memories, they were watching us,” Sillad said.

The spirits’ eyes swirled around Sirka, expanding and contracting in size. The sheer number of spirits that had inhabited Fores overwhelmed them, covering the area in eerie, disembodied eyes. Their intent was obvious.

Sillad stepped protectively before Sirka, his expression hardening.

“Her vessel is not yet ready. If we let them take her, her soul will shatter just as Fores’ did.”

Even if he had chosen Sirka as his successor, she was still young and fragile. She lacked the strength the high elf Fores had once possessed.

Sillad spread his arms, grasping the swirling blizzard in his hands and forming two enormous frost-covered tridents.

“Stay here and protect Sirka,” he told Suho. “I’m far more accustomed to dealing with spirits.”

Without waiting for an answer, he charged forward, spinning the tridents in his grasp.

“I’ll use this opportunity to teach you how to hunt them.”

The twin tridents of ice lashed out, attacking without restraint, freezing and shattering spirits in rapid succession.

Suho, however, did not intend to sit by and watch.

Ruler’s Authority!

While shielding Sirka, he let Kamish’s Wraths fly forward, slashing at the spirits that spiraled toward them. Their numbers were overwhelming.

Suho had never missed his shadow soldiers as much as he did now, as he was unable to summon them in this space.

Still, shadow soldiers weren’t his only allies. He had summoned Gray even in the domain of the deceased Querehsha.

“Gray!

I summon you!”

“Grrrr!”

Bathed in divine light, the fanged wolf emerged proudly before him.

There was no need to waste mana on Divine Possession. Suho needed all hands on deck—paws included.

“Gray?”

The wolf turned and locked eyes with Suho, his gaze sharp and commanding.

The look made Suho reflect. It seemed like only yesterday that Gray had been a weak little puppy held by the Hyena Guild. When had he grown so much?

Suho nodded to the wolf, who was awaiting his command.

“Eat.”

Gray grinned, revealing his fangs.

As he raced forward with a fierce growl, he became nothing more than a streak of wind, snapping his teeth and tearing at his enemies.

The spirits yowled as Gray began to devour every one in sight. He was a predator unleashed in a field of prey.

The spirits retaliated, but the wolf, armed with the enchanted “fangs” Suho had given him, held his ground. His roar reverberated, shaking the spirits with overwhelming hostile energy.

[Gray used the skill: “Scorn of the Weak.”]

[Effect: “Fear” has been activated.]

[The target’s stats are reduced by 50% for 1 minute.]

Not all spirits were weaker than Gray, but to those who were, he was truly a predator to be feared.

The air echoed with his growls and the sound of crunching as he struck relentlessly.

[Gray used the skill: “Fatal Strike.”]

[Gray used the skill: “Paralysis.”]

He systematically tracked down the weaker spirits, growing stronger with each kill. He was proving himself to be a true hunter.

[Spirit has been defeated.]

[Spirit has been defeated.]

[Spirit has been defeated.]

[...]

[Pet: “Gray” offers 50% of his experience points as a tribute to his owner.]

I thought spirits couldn’t die... But apparently, they can be eaten,

Suho thought.

[Rakan replies that in a dog-eat-dog world, nothing is inedible as long as it can be pierced with one’s teeth.]

[Rakan says that only elves, who have a high affinity with the spirits, will ever be eaten by spirits.]

Suho could feel just how proud Rakan was to see Gray so grown up.

“Good.

Why don’t we handle this while we’re at it?”

Suho turned his gaze toward Sirka. She lay sleeping, silently encased within the fractured ice.

Without hesitation, he extended his hand and pulled her from the frozen prison.

“Wh-what are you doing? I told you to protect her!” Sillad shouted in alarm, still locked in battle with the spirits.

Suho simply responded,

“What does it look like?

I don’t have time to sit around waiting for her to grow up.”

He lifted her limp form to a standing position.

“Sirka?

How long

do you intend to sleep?”

He shook her gently, attempting to wake her.

“I’ve been thinking about this. I can tell why he made you his successor among all these high elves.”

Having witnessed Sillad’s life from beginning to end, Suho spoke to her with certainty.

“You are already fully qualified.”

True, she was young. In elf terms, she was only around ten years old, which meant she was still a child who needed the care of adults.

But her youth did not mean she was weak. She was an ice elf who had been born in a land of relentless frost, where no adults remained to protect her. She was the guardian of her village, fighting the spirits of the forest even at her tender age, all to protect her friends.

“So wake up.”

Suho’s voice broke through the frozen silence and reached her.

“Get up and rule those spirits yourself.”

Sirka’s eyes flew open.

“Become a Monarch.”

At those words, her halted time began to flow again.