—–

Elderlight continued to fight back with his powerful light barriers as I resisted the attacks with my Shadow Tentacles while also cornering him. I enhanced Partner’s strength at the same time, and she unleashed a barrage of powerful piercing spear attacks, destroying Elderlight’s barriers!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

But this wasn’t nearly enough, as we had to continue pressuring him, but he wasn’t budging. This bastard had no arms now nor his staff, but he was putting up a big fight. It wasn’t getting easier now, as he was putting even more energy and power into the barriers that he was firing at us.

Emeraldine could actually help, but she was exhausted, having utilized a lot of mana exhausted her, and even as I recovered it for her, she was still very much exhausted. I don’t know if she’ll manage as she was now, perhaps not ready to fight.

The thing is, Elderlight wasn’t stopping, and he was getting more intense. She tried to aim at him but failed. She was rather tired. However, I got the brilliant idea of gifting her my amazing staff…for now!

So, I gave Emeraldine the great new golden staff I got, which was very compatible with her!

I gave it to her as she felt the staff’s power encompass her body. She looked at me with surprise as if saying, “Is this for me?!” and I nodded rather confidently, asking her to aid us.

Emeraldine wasn’t a complete magician build, as she had built herself as a hybrid magician, healer, and bow-using hunter. Still, she could perfectly become a strong magician with such an expensive and amazing staff as this one!

“Help us out!” I shouted.

“Emeraldine, kill him!” Shouted Partner.

“Kill… Alright!”

Emeraldine might not be able to aim with the bow as she was exhausted, but her magic could!

She began to gather energy into the staff as her two spirits began to rotate around it, and then, they merged into a flash of bright yellowish-gold and emerald light, emanating a strong magical power.

“Spiritual Beam!”

FLASH!

A massive and colorful beam was unleashed from her staff, piercing through the several light barriers made by Elderlight. As I used my Shadow Tentacles to corner him and not let him escape, Partner utilized her powerful spear attacks to destroy the more prominent and stronger Holy Wall that Elderlight had generated!

CRASH!

The beam reached Elderlight as the priest tried to contain the massive attack with his chest and magic. Shaping his magic as a strong mass resembling two large palms, he tried to redirect the beam away, but the powerful spiritual beam did not stop, and it was being fueled by Emeraldine’s mana and mine as well!

“N-No…! I-Impossible! I cannot… die here…! AAAAGGGGHHH…!”

Releasing a pathetic and pitiful scream, the beam pierced through his magic and consumed his entire body at long last!

BOOOOOMMM!!!

I could swear I saw his entire body being disintegrated as the attack that Emeraldine unleashed was brutal! The massive explosion left a gigantic crater, and what was left of Elderlight was some of his accessories and equipment being torn apart, being left unusable, alongside a large pool of blood and torn apart remains…

“Phew…”

Emeraldine fell on her knees as she sighed in relief, feeling completely exhausted.

“Well done!” Exclaimed Partner.

“Yeah! That was amazing work- Oh, there he is!” I shouted as I found the soul of Elderlight.

“Agh! Uagh! Stop! You fiend! Let go of my soul!” He cried.

“How about… no? However, I won’t destroy you nor eat you. I’ll keep you saved for now….”

I quickly used my shadows and my own body to warp around Elderlight’s soul and make him essentially a burrito of sorts, which I saved inside of my Shadow Storage. He seemed to have been sealed this way, and he couldn’t escape, as his soul form was very weak.

Very few people might have a strong enough soul to fight against me when I get them in the palm of my hands… literally.

And I gained a lot of EXP… Well, we gained a lot of EXP.

Ding!

[Your Level has increased from Level 37 to level 38!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 38 to level 39!]

[Your Level has increased from Level 39 to level 40!]

[All your stats have increased!]

We got so much cumulative EXP from this guy that even with me taking away some of the EXP earned to use in other things later, I still acquired max level quite smoothly…

“We cannot remain in here for too long. Let’s move quickly,” I said.

“Indeed… Ugh, I am tired….” Sighed Emeraldine.

“You can rest inside of here,” I said as I grabbed Emeraldine with my arms and let her rest inside my Shadow Storage.

“I also want to be held in your arms, Master!” Protested Partner.

“But you’re completely fine!” I said.

“But still!” She responded.

“Well, maybe later… For now, let’s actually go back. We must still slay the other two pigs!” I said.

“Okay!”

We rushed back to the duchy while hiding in the shadows, finding the massive commotion going on at the surface. Tons of people were going crazy.

I checked around, but it was just as Elderlight said; there was nobody else from his group around here, not even powerful knights or ghostbusters or whatever, so I guess we were safe with this annoying guy out of the picture.

It took a while to kill him, but we were swift to catch the other two aristocrats, who were not being protected by anyone, unlike the Duke.

However, the news about the Duke having died spread quickly, and the aristocrats were being guarded by tons of soldiers, but nothing that was showering them with shadow arrows couldn’t resolve.

Edward Allfire was a skinny guy, and he died right away by Partner piercing his chest. His soul was promptly eaten as well, alongside taking away his corpse and raising his massacred into Undead.

I then ordered them to wreak havoc and generate distractions…

And well, Ernesto Watertide…

—–