Chapter 4:
Primordial Origin Matter
Part 1
ALLO, TREANT, AND I traveled back the way we’d come. Rather than flying, we took the ground route to avoid being noticed by the Origin Matter. Now that we were gearing up to fight it, I could just as easily fly up to lure it in and save us the trouble, but I still needed to recover some more MP before I was ready to fight.
And so the three of us walked through the trees on foot. I used Psychic Sense to scout for any packs of monsters Allo and Treant could use to grind out a few more levels. I’d need both of their help to take down Hecatoncheires; that was why they were going to help me take down the Origin Matter too. It was a dangerous path to tread, but we didn’t have the luxury of a safer option.
Even so, I knew we’d lose a lot of time by resting before our fights with the Origin Matter and Hecatoncheires. I was certain there was something in that tower, something that reached the heavens, and maybe even our world outside of this little forest box. If we let Hecatoncheires prevent us from entering, we’d be stuck here forever, and the Divine Voice’s Spirit Servants would bring the outer world to ruin. On top of that, if we stayed here much longer, we were at risk of succumbing to Mad God.
“Master Dragon?” Allo spoke up from her seat on my back. “Do…do you hear that? I think someone’s crying.”
‹Someone’s crying…?›
“Yeah… It sounded like a girl crying.”
Hmm. I wouldn’t expect to see any humans here. Especially not a young girl.
I searched around with my Psychic Sense but didn’t detect anything unusual nearby. I felt like Allo must’ve just imagined it. But…
‹Can you tell where it’s coming from?› I asked her.
“Yeah. It’s coming from over there.”
I craned my neck to see where Allo was pointing. I still didn’t feel anything, but I supposed it wouldn’t hurt to go check it out. Maybe we’d learn something. And it wasn’t too far off course, anyway.
I knew if I flew into the sky, the Origin Matter would show up sooner or later. We were basically just wandering right now, hoping to run into something we could use to level Allo and Treant up a bit more.
“There! Did you hear that?!” Allo shouted as I bounded forward. But I didn’t hear a thing.
‹Did you hear something, Treant?› I asked.
‹No…›
Hmm… I was getting a bad feeling that Allo was hearing something she shouldn’t have been hearing.
“Y-you really didn’t hear that?! Now it sounds like there are three of them!”
My Psychic Sense was still silent.
‹Hah hah, all right, Miss Allo. Very funny. Don’t scare us like that…› Treant chuckled. It was trying to sound lighthearted, but I could hear the tension in its voice.
“Maybe it’s because I’m an undead…” Allo sounded perplexed.
Was she? I wasn’t exactly sure a Walpurgis was considered undead. Maybe un-undead?
Treant looked a bit like a penguin ghost while it was in its tree spirit form, but it still didn’t seem to like the idea of ghosts roaming the forest. Isn’t it a bit late to be scared of a little ghost, Treant…?
‹Well, that’s definitely creepy. But sorry, Allo, we gotta keep mov—›
At that moment, I heard several soft sobs from the trees around us. I immediately went on high alert and sent out another wave of Psychic Sense—and this time, although it was faint, I sensed a few entities nearby.
I wonder why Allo picked up on them so much earlier than I did. Maybe she’s more attuned to spirits?
From the shadows of one of the black trees around us, a girl appeared. She wore a torn, dirt-colored dress with a bluish-black hood that obscured most of her face.
Banshee: Rank A. A collection of spirits brought together and reanimated with dark magic to haunt the living world forevermore. They lure unsuspecting victims in with their mournful cries, then pluck their souls and add them to their ranks. Any who hear mysterious cries from deep within the forest would do well to steel their hearts and turn back before it is too late.
A rank A monster, huh? Looked like a perfect opportunity for Allo and Treant to boost their levels. And if Allo was right, then there could be more than one of ’em around.
Species: Banshee
Status: Mad God
Lv: 103/120
HP: 1744/1744
MP: 1124/1124
Attack: 958
Defense: 642
Magic: 1263
Agility: 1225
Rank: A
Special Skills:
Automatic HP Recovery: Lv 4
Automatic MP Recovery: Lv 5
Undead: Lv —
Dark Type: Lv —
Shriek: Lv —
Mad God: Lv —
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv 4
Magic Resistance: Lv 5
Poison Resistance: Lv 6
Paralysis Resistance: Lv 6
Confusion Resistance: Lv 3
Petrify Resistance: Lv 3
Normal Skills:
Curse: Lv 6
Reaper Claws: Lv 5
Double Poison: Lv 6
Ghost Step: Lv 7
Dark Sphere: Lv 7
Soulsuck: Lv 6
Death: Lv 5
Cursed Song: Lv 6
Call Allies: Lv 5
Title Skills:
Former Saint’s Follower: Lv —
Weeping Woman: Lv —
Final Evolution: Lv —
Although the banshee’s stats didn’t seem particularly remarkable, she had a bunch of disturbing skills I’d never seen before. Ghost Step, Soulsuck, and Cursed Song… I was sure none of these skills would curse my friends to death, but… I decided to check ’em out, just to be safe.
Normal Skill “Ghost Step.” The user’s appearance fades, making them much harder to detect.
…So that’s why I didn’t pick up on them. I didn’t like the idea that there could be a bunch of banshees hiding out in the forest around us at any moment. This version was probably a lot more effective than other presence-minimizing skills.