Chapter Sixteen: Mission Accomplished

The scene abruptly fell silent.

The ghostly little girl lowered her head, staring at the chunk of flesh in silence, as if she had fallen into a state of complete paralysis.

Seizing the opportunity, Colin tore off what remained of his left sleeve and had Number One help him press it against his wound, tying a tight knot.

The process was anything but easy; the pain brought beads of cold sweat to Colin’s forehead again, left his face deathly pale, and made his teeth chatter uncontrollably.

More than the pain itself, it was the sensation of his strength draining away with the blood and his body gradually growing cold that filled Colin with a deep, anxious dread.

It felt as though he might die at any moment, a chill gripping his soul.

Fortunately, though the pain was severe, the bleeding seemed to have stopped for now.

As for the ghostly girl, still frozen in her trance, Colin had no intention of disturbing the fragile peace. More fundamentally, they had no effective way to harm her at present.

The prompt had mentioned that special materials could be synthesized into new weapons capable of hurting ghosts. But “capable of hurting” was vague—who could say how much damage such a weapon would actually do?

So, not wishing to provoke the little ghost, Colin refrained from acting.

Now, with the prompt’s insights, Colin felt he had some grasp on the situation.

If possible, he would much prefer everyone sit down and talk things over—violence rarely solved anything.

According to the prompt’s description, certain things or events that might stir the ghost’s emotions could possibly break her and lead to her dissolution.

Yet, most of what the prompt said about the girl was uncertain.

“The non-human creature you see appears to be a ghost; she acts like a ghost, was born like a ghost, and ghost-hunting methods seem to work on her. But is she truly a ghost?”

“You are confused. All you see is a mass of chaos. You cannot observe her clearly, cannot discern her details, and can only make limited guesses based on what you know.”

“A mass of chaos… Is this what my golden finger ‘sees’?”

Colin seemed to understand: since the prompt put it this way, he might as well treat her as a ghost.

After all, methods effective against ghosts worked on her—Kadis the priest’s flesh and blood had undoubtedly shocked her deeply.

What Colin couldn’t understand was why there were so many children here at this church outpost—or perhaps, was this a retreat point in years past?

He recalled that the description of Kadis the priest on the wheel-weapon had mentioned that, when no help arrived, he had used the wheel to defeat many aberrations.

So… whom were they waiting for?

“It seems the reinforcements met with disaster, and in the end, everyone died in despair, waiting in vain.”

Colin felt he was beginning to piece together what had happened here.

Just then, he noticed the reddish tinge that had colored his vision was fading, the world returning to its original hues.

The violent impulses in his heart were swiftly dissipating.

Clatter...

The assembled skeletons suddenly collapsed onto the ground; those recently revived “Wailers” died a second time, crumbling into scattered bones.

“Good thing I didn’t use the priest’s flesh for broth earlier, or I’d really be finished…” Colin breathed a sigh of relief.

He quickly noticed that the sinister, ominous blood was seeping into the cracks of the floor, as though it were returning underground.

“There really is something beneath the church…”

For no reason, Colin recalled the survivor from before, the one who had died near this patch of woods.

He hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now he wondered: had she discovered something, and that was why some terrifying enemy had hunted her down?

He had no time to ponder further. After several minutes of silence, Colin saw the ghostly little girl finally begin to move.

He hurriedly collected his thoughts.

Her eyes had returned to black. She slowly crouched, picking up the slightly decayed piece of flesh.

As a spectral being highly sensitive to flesh and blood, she had instantly recognized what it was when Colin threw it.

She held the chunk in her hands for a while, then suddenly placed it in her mouth and ate it. Her gaze grew desolate, and she whispered softly, “It’s… Grandpa Priest’s taste…”

Colin’s eyelids twitched at her action, surprised but not entirely shocked.

The ghost girl then stood up again, looking around, her gaze passing over the scattered bones nearby.

“…I remember now… Grandpa Priest said he’d bring help and take us away… but we never saw him again… Yet everyone stayed in the church, clinging to hope, waiting—one by one, the children died…”

“In the end, the corruption came. Dead or alive, everyone became a monster, crying out in pain… The last one left, I prayed to the Mother, begged Her for a miracle, begged Her to ease the children’s pain… but what happened after that, I forget. So much I can’t recall…”

“I don’t remember how I became like this. I don’t remember what I did after I changed. I just remember the pain. I remember being hungry for a long time… I think I starved to death…”

The girl spoke in a rambling, agonized voice as she slowly turned.

At last, she turned fully to face Colin. The moment he met her eyes again, his heart skipped a beat.

A reddish gleam had returned to the ghost girl’s gaze.

The madness was coming once more!

“So it was only a temporary reprieve…”

Colin felt ever more burdened, preparing to bring out the synthesizer to craft a weapon against ghosts for a final desperate struggle.

But at that moment, he heard the little girl continue, “Big brother, can I borrow that weapon for a moment? I don’t think I can hold myself back much longer…”

She was pointing to the wooden wheel—the special weapon Kadis the priest had modified.

Colin barely hesitated before agreeing and had Number One toss the weapon over.

The girl caught the wooden wheel, nearly as large as herself.

She glanced at the wooden spikes on it, looked at Colin, and gave a pure, flawless smile. “Thank you.”

As the words left her lips, white light shimmered on the wheel. The girl hugged the spiked side of the wheel and hurled herself onto it.

Crack—

The spikes pierced her chest; her body fractured like a shattered mirror, fissures spreading everywhere.

From those cracks, bright red blood flowed.

Through those fractured gaps, Colin caught a glimpse—inside her, a mummy, nothing but skin and bone.

The next instant, she faded away like ashes in the wind.

“Big brother, you have to leave quickly. I can feel it—It’s coming.”

A blurred, distorted voice echoed in the air.

Colin had no time to dwell on her words. Suddenly, instinctively, he pulled out the parchment scroll.

The task was complete!