The Devil’s Cage

While Kieran was still some distance away, darkness had already befallen the city.

As the sun set, the land was removed of its warm glory.

The moon was yet to rise but the land was already filled with a soft luster.

The temperature plummeted swiftly, regular people started to zip up their coats, calling their friends out with a smile to start their exciting nightlife.

Some were inviting, some were invited.

Kieran was the latter, however, the one who invited him was not a human.

He was staring at the evil spirit who once jumped off the hospital.

Although Kieran had observed the evil spirit in detail the previous night, now it looked even uglier and sickening.

Before the nurse died, she had a pretty face and a voluptuous body and yet after she died, the bloody look and splattered brains in addition to the crooked limbs upon hitting the ground replaced her good looks.

The evil spirit seemed to know Kieran would appear, so it waited for him.

The moment Kieran came into its sight, it flew right towards him.

Roar!

A fierce eerie growl was emitted causing Fear debuff notifications to spam Kieran’s vision but even after suffering a -3 debuff, Kieran still had an SS+ Spirit attribute, none of the Fear debuffs would affect him at all.

Still, Kieran was looking odd.

”Not only has it transformed into an evil spirit in a short time but also truly mastered the skills of an evil spirit?”

Kieran thought in his mind but his actions weren’t slow at all.

As he swiftly moved backward, he pulled out the alcohol lamp that he had prepared from his jacket, ignited it and threw it towards the evil spirit.

Fuuu!

Flames rose up instantly upon contact.

The evil spirit who was flying over gave out an agonizing wail before vanishing on the spot suddenly.

While being different from the lower level wandering souls, when the dead’s soul transformed into a poltergeist or evil spirit, they could gain invisibility, the ability to pass through objects and all sorts of special traits.

A poltergeist could utilize the negative energy to slightly alter the temperature and when the poltergeist touched a human, the human could even suffer frostbite. Besides that, it could also move small objects as well.

One might think moving small objects might not be a problem but if the small objects were knives and saws, one would surely regret his carelessness.

An Evil spirit was higher level than a poltergeist, other than possessing all the poltergeist’s abilities, all the abilities were amplified as well and it gained an extra eerie wailing that could cause Fear debuffs to affect to living beings.

However, regardless of wandering souls, poltergeist or evil spirits, their natural properties made them afraid of fire and electricity wouldn’t change. The only difference was the different amount of damage inflicted.

Wandering souls would suffer lethal damage.

Poltergeists would suffer heavy damage and Evil spirits will only suffer medium damage.

As for further damage reduction, other than a magical supplement that was used to create evil earth spirits, the soul of the dead itself would have to evolve to a higher level, such as a demon which could withstand elemental damage.

Unlike demons that formed out of a certain object, the demon of a human soul was much more powerful and scary, similar to what Kieran owned, Bloody Mary.

Although the weakness still remained, it also highlighted its power as well.

For those beyond the level of demons, Kieran’s Pro level [Mystical Knowledge] could only tell him that much. Despite suffering -1 debuff, Master level [Mystical Knowledge] didn’t affect the knowledge in Kieran’s head.

All such knowledge was clearly stored in his mind.

Therefore, after the evil spirit vanished, he ignited another alcohol lamp and dumped in below his feet.

After making sure the evil spirit has locked onto him before Kieran left St. Reid Hospital in the afternoon, he had completed the necessary preparations. Although he was lacking effective weapons against the evil spirit, it didn’t stop him from crafting some of his own.

Fuuu!

”Aaaaahh!!!!”

As the flame spread out on the ground, a sharp agonizing cry was heard.

The evil spirit who sprung up from the ground was burned by the sudden flames.

The blazing flames twisted the evil spirit’s disgusting body and even forcefully delayed its movement.

Kieran who had been waiting for the exact moment equipped his title instantly.

[Spectre Buster]!

At the same time, a cold glare flashed over his hand.

[Interrogator Knife] which was dipped in alcohol was lit up by the fire around the floor, it swept a fiery arch over the evil spirit’s body.

The [Ruthless Interrogator] attribute plus the effect of the title [Spectre Buster] were added on top of the burning slash.

The combined efforts of all three elements vanquished the evil spirit who was still baring its vicious fangs and claws a moment ago just like that.

This time around, it didn’t escape but truly died because of the attacks.

Ding!

A cracked [Soul Shard] dropped on the pile of ash. Kieran picked it up and put out the fire burning with his claps.

Throughout the whole battle, Kieran’s eyes were watching the area with extra caution.

Kieran didn’t believe the evil spirit who jumped off the hospital appeared so coincidentally to block his way back to St. Reid Hospital.

Someone must have controlled it!

Kieran was certain, just that the person behind was hidden quite well, to the point that Kieran couldn’t locate him for the time being.

”Able to control evil spirits from a distance?”

Guesses lingered in his heart while he hastened his steps.

Since the person behind the evil spirit could send the evil spirit out and precisely blocked Kieran’s way back to St. Reid Hospital, then Hoskin and Teresa who went back to the hospital for hiding, in the name of accompanying the amnesia patient to visit the doctor would surely enter the person’s sight as well.

Although the statue of [Sister Reid] was in the building, it wasn’t almighty to begin with.

It could repel evil spirits but what about humans?

”Why would this person or organization that controls the evil spirit have their sights locked on me? Because I can see them? Or…?”

Kieran’s gears in his mind were spinning fast as he sprinted back to the hospital.

[Mystical Knowledge] also informed him that those who could see the dead would be the natural favorites of those necromancers who toyed with the dead.

They were the best spell casting materials and also the core materials for certain spell models but as for what spells would require a person that could see the dead, [Mystical Knowledge] didn’t mention.

Among the vast knowledge in [Mystical Knowledge], it involved itself in each and every category but mastered none of them, despite Kieran’s [Mystical Knowledge] being at the Pro level.

After ten minutes, Kieran went into St. Reid Hospital through the side gate while undercover.

A warm and tender presence instantly repelled the cold and gloominess that the darkness and death brought.

Kieran unconsciously looked at the [Sister Reid Statue] in the first-floor main hall.

Even though the entire building was within its protection range, undoubtedly, the closer the statue, the denser the power.

The feeling that repelled the cold and gloominess from the dead was already quite similar to the baptism of some rumored churches.

Though it was just extremely similar, it was still far from a real baptism.

Those baptism rituals could even change the person’s body and talents altogether.

After shifting away his gaze, Kieran wanted to return to his own ”ward” but the moment he turned around, he felt another pair of eyes glance over his body.

It didn’t purposely stop on him but felt more like it was searching for something.

While maintaining his [Undercover] form, Kieran carefully and vigilantly moved towards the densest part of the shadow in the corridor.

After a step, he squinted his eyes and looked towards the source of the gaze that glanced over him with an extremely reserved manner.

Souuu!

Right at that moment, a pitch black dagger suddenly plunged out from the densest part of the shadow, heading towards Kieran’s back.