Chapter 8: Chasing Shadow Spirits 4/4

POV (Etzell & Melissa)

"UWAA!!! WHY?!"

Etzell shouted in surprise and when he came to his senses, he found himself in the narrow alley where the three of them had been before.

"Noisy!" scolded Melissa.

"Eh? I'm sorry!"

It turned out that Melissa was also in the same place as Etzell, but not Tiwaz Re.

Seeing Melissa who was disturbed by his shouting, Etzell apologized.

"But, why?" asked Melissa.

"What?" Etzell asked back.

"Maybe you've shouted a few times without realizing it, but it didn't have any effect including when you shouted earlier," Melissa replied.

"Oh," Etzell replied.

"Have you been able to control your technique? Yes or no? Which one, Etzell?" Melissa asked again.

"Ouch! I don't know, but my head is spinning right now," Etzell replied.

Again Etzell felt dizzy due to the effects of Tiwaz Re's teleportation technique and he complained while holding his head with his right hand.

"I don't care about your complaints. All I want to ask is whether you can control your technique or not!"

Looking at Etzell who was complaining because of his headache, Melissa didn't care about that and instead she felt annoyed that Etzell was so weak.

"I'm sorry! But I really don't understand much about new things like that. Spirit, technique, and everything else," Etzell said.

Thinking that Melissa was upset with him, Etzell apologized to Melissa again.

"Yeah, never mind. There are more things I don't understand this time. Actually, what was the purpose of Tiwaz Re's actions? He deliberately moved us both back here and he said that it was part of his plan? Seriously!" complained Melissa.

This time it was Melissa who complained about what Tiwaz Re had done. Because according to Melissa, Tiwaz Re's actions were too rash because he let himself face dozens of spirits.

Melissa felt worried, but she was also upset because she was not trusted to fight alongside Tiwaz Re.

"If that's part of the plan, then what can we do?" replied Etzell.

"That's not the case, I'm upset that he underestimated me so much!" Melissa complained again.

"How can he win against dozens of spirits? If there were only one or two then it wouldn't matter, but there are dozens!" she continued.

Looking at Melissa who continued to feel upset, Etzell wanted to do something to calm her down. Then without thinking, Etzell grabbed Melissa's shoulders before speaking to her.

"Melissa, I understand that you want to fight with Tiwaz Re, I know you respect him a lot because he looks really good. But if he doesn't consider you a strong person yet, then you know what to do, right?"

Etzell let out some words that he knew about Melissa after interacting and talking things over with her.

At first Etzell thought that Melissa liked Tiwaz Re as the opposite sex, but after seeing some of the interactions that occurred between them, Etzell realized that Melissa considered Tiwaz Re as a person she respected.

There was only one reason for this, and that was because Melissa felt it was inappropriate to have any further contact with Tiwaz Re. Strong people should pair up with strong people too, that was the thought embedded in Melissa's head.

"Y-yes! I have to get stronger, right?"

"Exactly. That's why, for now, we should trust Tiwaz Re! I'm sure that he'll win, so don't worry!"

Melissa's eyes glazed over slightly after listening to Etzell's words. For Melissa, words like that were rarely heard in her ears. Due to her cold nature and rarely talking to others, she had to do everything by herself without listening to words of encouragement from others.

Melissa needed that, and the moment she heard Etzell's words, she realized that Etzell was the only person who understood her.

"What the hell? An idiot like you can even come up with such words of wisdom. Haha, thank you!" Melissa thanked Etzell while laughing lightly.

Now that a smile was etched on Melissa's face, even she could also laugh after a long time of not doing so.

Looking at Melissa's smiling face, Etzell was glued to it. For the first time, his heart fluttered just from seeing someone's smiling face. According to Etzell, Melissa's face became very cute when she was smiling.

"You're welcome," Etzell replied quietly.

BRAK!

Unexpectedly by both of them, suddenly one of the boxes in the narrow alley fell down. That made Etzell and Melissa's attention diverted to the fallen box.

"What's wrong?!"

"What's wrong, Melissa?"

"Why at a time like this?"

"What's going on? Eh? Why are there so many rats here?! And flies too?! WAA! Wasps! Huh? Grasshoppers?!"

"Calm down, Etzell! They are mixed spirits, do you remember what Tiwaz Re explained about mixed spirits?"

"Yes, if I'm not mistaken, it's a type of spirit that is joined with animals, humans, or even plants."

Facing the unexpected situation that occurred, Melissa prepared to use her technique of Chain Slash.

Etzell and Melissa were faced with many mixed spirits in the form of rats, flies, wasps, and locusts.

"Etzell, stay still! I'll attack and finish them off!"

"Alright!"

Melissa asked Etzell to stay still, while she herself would try to attack the mixed spirits.

"Chain Slash: Level 2!"

Melissa activated Chain Slash: Level 2, instantly creating many chains around Melissa's body. Then she used the chains to attack a group of mixed spirits that were in a slightly separate place. When Melissa's attack was about to hit the target, suddenly the chains turned on their own.

"What? Blocked?!"

The chain turned on itself and then quickly headed towards Melissa herself.

"AH!"

Melissa did not expect that her attack would be blocked just like that, even her attack turned back on herself to hurt her right hand.

"Melissa? Are you okay?!"

Etzell who saw Melissa was injured became panicked.

"Why only my right hand? Don't tell me!"

Melissa ignored Etzell who was worried and muttered to herself.

"Etzell, run! They're after you!"

"Uh, run?!"

Then Melissa told Etzell to run because she realized that the mixed spirits were targeting Etzell. But it was too late, as the mixed spirits had multiplied and they ambushed Etzell right away. Even so, there were still some of them who attacked Melissa.

"Shit!"

"Wh-why?!"

"Chain Slash: Level 3!"

Mixed spirits moved very quickly. But with Melissa's good reflexes, she managed to raise the Chain Slash to Level 3 to protect Etzell.

Melissa formed all her chains to cover all of Etzell's body, so Etzell's body was out of reach of the mixed spirits.

"I can barely see you!" said Etzell.

"Yes, this is my only option," Melissa muttered.

Melissa chose to protect Etzell while fighting with the many mixed spirits that attacked. Melissa felt that Tiwaz Re was fighting hard against the many pure spirits, so she would also try hard here.

"Step forward, all of you!" Melissa exclaimed.

With confidence, Melissa had prepared her chain to attack again. But just as the mixed spirits were about to attack, they turned into shadow-type spirits.

Their forms changed from ordinary animals to shadowy humans who had prepared several sharp weapons to attack Melissa.

"What? They turned out to be shadow-type spirits?!"

Apparently Melissa did not expect that the spirits she thought were mixed spirits, turned out to be shadow-type spirits in disguise.

"Damn, I can't protect myself like this!"

"Death to you non elemental technique users!"

"AHH!!!"

Melissa could not dodge all the attacks from the shadow-type spirits as they were all focused on protecting Etzell.

Several sharp objects had pierced Melissa's body, and it made blood flow profusely from Melissa's pierced body.

"Melissa!!!"

Etzell, who saw Melissa's body pierced and bleeding, became increasingly panicked. He was very worried about Melissa's current condition, and in the end Etzell decided to shout for help.

"WHOEVER! HELP MELISSA! DON'T MIND ME, JUST HELP MELISSA!"

"Etzell, don't yell!"

Right after Etzell shouted for help, Tiwaz Re appeared before him.

"Eh? Tiwaz Re?!"

"My eardrums could be in trouble again if you yell like that," Tiwaz Re told Etzell.

"Gosh, I think I made a mistake. You all are a bit troublesome, though. Even though your leader is dead, you don't just give up," Tiwaz Re said again.

"Tiwaz Re, why are you here?" asked Etzell.

"Because I defeated all the spirits in the hospital," Tiwaz Re replied.

The shadow-type spirits had stopped attacking because of Tiwaz Re's sudden presence, but now they were attacking again using the sharp weapons on their bodies.

"New targets! Kill everyone except Cormac Etzell!"

"Huh? Why?"

"Gosh, maybe I'll just end it here today. You guys have given me enough trouble already!"

"Kill Tiwaz Re! Leave Cormac Etzell!"

"Huh?!"

"Chain Slash: Level 5, Chain Magnification!"

Feeling that today had been troublesome enough, Tiwaz Re immediately killed all the shadow-type spirits using the Chain Slash technique: Level 5.

As Tiwaz Re unleashed his technique, many chains suddenly came out above the shadow-type spirits and instantly killed them all. Now all the shadow-type spirits had been killed in this narrow alley.

"Shadow Cloak: Level 5, Existence Remover!"

Just like before, Tiwaz Re used the Shadow Cloak technique: Level 5 to eliminate their traces.

"Wow, great! You can even use the Chain Slash technique like Melissa?"

Etzell who saw that Tiwaz Re could use the Chain Slash technique was surprised because his technique really looked the same as Melissa's.

"I'm late, Melissa! I'm sorry!"

Then Tiwaz Re apologized to Melissa for being late.

"Yo-you, damn it!"

Those were the last words from Melissa before she lost consciousness.

"Melissa?!"

Seeing Melissa who closed her eyes with bleeding, Etzell felt very worried.

"Take it easy! The wounds aren't deep, and I've healed some of them too. Although she still has to be taken to the hospital, but at least she's fine now," Tiwaz Re said soothingly to Etzell.

"Hearing the words of the shadow-type spirit earlier, you know why I forbade you to go to school right?" asked Tiwaz Re.

"Yes, I understand. But why am I being targeted?" Etzell answered then asked back.

Tiwaz Re began to explain the initial situation to Etzell as he had promised earlier, the reason why he could not go to school.

"Actually, I still don't know for sure. You know what? The thoughts of spirits are very difficult to understand," said Tiwaz Re.

"Is that so?" asked Etzell.

"Yes, maybe if you try to understand the spirits, then you will get the exact answer," Tiwaz Re replied.

"Then for the case you're dealing with in the first place, shadow-type spirits are a troublesome type of spirit because they can also disguise themselves as mixed spirits. While they'll definitely get caught on offense, they won't get caught on defense."

Then Tiwaz Re went on to explain about the shadow-type spirit which was the weakest type of spirit but if underestimated it would be fatal, it happened because of its disguise ability under the condition that it had killed its target.

"Even I can't tell the difference between a genuine mixed spirit and a shadow-type spirit," Tiwaz Re explained.

"Eh, is that so? Then are you hiding something, Tiwaz Re?"

Hearing some explanations from Tiwaz Re, Etzell was convinced that Tiwaz Re was hiding something. For that reason, Etzell asked.

"It's great that you know. Sorry, Etzell! But it's not time to tell you yet," Tiwaz Re said.

According to Tiwaz Re's thinking, Etzell was being targeted by the shadow-type spirits because he might be useful for a Loke awakening vessel. Not only shadow-type spirits, Etzell was targeted by other types of pure spirits.

Tiwaz Re did not know if what he was thinking was true or not, so he decided to hide it.

"Good thing the bad premonition wasn't too bad," Tiwaz Re muttered.

"Alright, it's over for now. So let's end it first, you can do anything today as long as you don't go to school!"

Since the bad feeling Tiwaz Re had was gone, he excused himself and allowed Etzell to do anything today as long as he didn't go to school.

"Why am I still not allowed to go to school?" asked Etzell confused.

"You have to understand the reason yourself," Tiwaz Re replied briefly.

Etzell asked Tiwaz Re why he couldn't go to school, but Tiwaz Re refused and told Etzell to understand it himself.

Then Tiwaz Re was seen taking something from his pants pocket, and he immediately handed it to Etzell.

"Sorry Etzell, please take this!"

"Uh, yes!"

"This is a connecting tool between us. If you're in danger, just break it!"

"Oh, thank you!"

As an apology, Tiwaz Re gave Etzell a small mirror shard that served as a connecting tool between Etzell and Tiwaz Re. So when Etzell was in trouble, Tiwaz Re would know about it on the condition that Etzell broke the small mirror.

"Teleportation: Level 4!"

After giving the small mirror to Etzell, Tiwaz Re left while carrying Melissa, and then he used the teleportation technique to move.

Now that Tiwaz Re and Melissa had disappeared from Etzell's sight, Etzell decided to just go home because he was tired.