"The Erzoron Banshees"
Alex summoned the demonic spirit Franz to confront the strange white light that had appeared in the room. Franz was like a lion who had discovered its prey, and upon receiving the order, it immediately howled and charged at the light. However, when the two clashed, it became clear that the strange light was not as powerful as it had seemed. In fact, it was actually quite weak, and upon touching Franz, it immediately screamed and retreated.
Alex was shocked by this, as he could not understand how such a weak strange entity could exist. He suspected that it was either a component of weirdness or a vassal being used to create an illusion of strength.
Franz chased after the strange light, but when it entered the room, it found no trace of it. Even the thick fog that had filled the room had vanished. Alex stepped into the room and saw that the strange entity had escaped, leaving behind only a small room with scattered futons and supplies. The windows were open, and the iron rails had been bent by the impact of something hitting them. However, Alex was unable to find the body of the former gardener, Wilmot.
Alex searched the room and found only a dozen dead mice in the closet, some freshly deceased and others already decomposing. He noticed that the mice had been placed in a summoning magic array, similar to the one depicted by Throck and Henry when he first arrived in this world. This led him to suspect that Wilmot may have been a cultist involved in the secret development of the Tower of Yin Spirits.
As Alex activated his Death Spirit Vision, he began to investigate the room more thoroughly. He discovered that there were remnants of dark magic in the room, as well as strange symbols and markings on the walls. He also found a small altar with a strange crystal on it, which seemed to be the source of the strange white light.
Alex decided to destroy the altar and the crystal, as he knew that they were likely being used for dark magic. He summoned Franz to help him, and together they destroyed the altar and the crystal, causing a powerful explosion that destroyed the room.
As they left the room, Alex knew that he had to report this incident to the viscount Ashby.
As Alex walked down the corridor, he suddenly realized that something was off. The corridor, which was normally only a few meters long, seemed to have no end. Alex realized that he had fallen into an illusion and immediately entered the cemetery, a place where he preserved his spiritual knowledge. When he returned to his body, he found himself still in the corridor, surrounded by dense fog and white shadows that were trying to attack him. Fortunately, Franz and several other ghosts were there to protect him.
Alex was shocked and annoyed that he had fallen into the illusion, but he immediately activated his ghost eye and sucked one of the white shadows into it. The shadow revealed itself to be a beautiful girl, pleading for mercy, but Alex showed no compassion and captured it in the ghost eye. As the mist cleared and the illusions dissipated, Alex saw a corpse hanging from the wooden beam in the corridor and the dead Wilmot lying on the ground. The butler Edger was unconscious a few meters away.
Alex ordered Franz to examine the two corpses and discovered traces of parasitic demon insects in Wilmot. From this, Alex concluded that Wilmot was a disciple of the Yin Spirit Tower who had been used as a spy and infected with demon worms. He told the butler of Edger to inform Viscount Ashby of this speculation and then went to investigate the strange crystal he had found in the room.
Alex had just sent the Edger away in order to examine the spirit body of the girl he had captured. From his observations and interactions with these spirit bodies, he had determined that they were strange and not particularly strong, but they were skilled in using illusions and often induced their victims to commit suicide. Based on the grading standards of the transcendent, Alex estimated that these spirit bodies were intermediate apprentices in terms of strength.
However, when Alex used the Ghost Eye to examine the situation inside, he was shocked to see that the eight remaining grids were all filled with a strong soul. This surprised Alex, as even a formal level transcendent would struggle to reach this level of strength in their soul. But despite the strength of the soul, the spirit body was still relatively weak. This puzzled Alex, as he couldn't understand why this was the case.
Alex was puzzled by the strange spirit body he had captured and decided to use the Ghost Eye to examine it further. The device struggled to handle the power of the single strong soul, but eventually succeeded in transforming it into the image of a girl with a snake tail. The girl's spirit retained most of its intelligence and immediately struggled upon realizing it was trapped. Alex was concerned about damaging the Ghost Eye, so he sent it into the cemetery and released the girl's spirit there. The process consumed a large amount of spiritual energy, which was a first for Alex.
Upon being authenticated by the cemetery, the girl's spirit appeared near the ruins of an abandoned tower, seeming confused and disoriented. Alex checked its properties and learned that it was one of the six sisters of the evil spirit Erzoron, a revenant of a six-headed snake woman. It had a combat power of 11.5 and was capable of using illusions and seducing its victims. Alex realized that the other escaped spirit bodies were likely the other five Erzoron banshees.
Erzoron is a powerful transcendent creature found in the Great Desolate Swamp in the south of the Kingdom of Alzora. It is a large snake that can grow up to twenty meters in length as an adult. However, when it consumes a human virgin, it undergoes a metamorphosis, growing an extra head and eventually transforming into the upper body of a human female. It inherits the wisdom of the devoured individual and begins to exhibit extraordinary abilities.
Alex had recently captured one of the six demon girls of Erzoron, which had formed after the death of a six-headed Erzoron. The single body was not as strong as Franz, but its price was more than double due to its potential to be upgraded to a corpse witch. The Erzoron were second only to dragons in terms of strength and possessed powerful physical strength and different types of magic on their six human heads. Even as a corpse after death, their strength remained at a high level.
However, Alex knew it would be difficult to collect all six demon girls of Erzoron. The spiritual energy in the cemetery was eventually assimilated, and Alex summoned Mari, one of the demon girls. Mari retained her thinking ability and some memories and was slightly afraid of Alex, but still greeted him respectfully. She told him about her sisters Rain,Elora, Vivi, Kyra, and Nysa, and mentioned an organization called the Blood Eye that had set its sights on Goldert's Castle.
The Blood Eye was a hidden extraordinary organization in the dark and was led by the powerful transcendent being known as the Blood Knight Negele. Its number two, Blood Undead Benedict, was also an official level transcendent. The big butler of the Blood Eye, Sherman, was responsible for daily operations and organizational development. Despite its small size, the Blood Eye contained many non-human transcendent beings and strange individuals controlled by Negele. They were known for haunting and causing great difficulty
Alex received new information about the Blood Eye and Void Club, as well as the names of the Blood Knight Negele and Blood Undead Benedict. He learned that the Blood Eye, led by the Blood Knight Negele, had targeted the Goldert family. Fortunately, Negele had a twisted sense of taste, causing the six witches to not kill everyone in one go. Otherwise, there would be no survivors left in the Goldert Castle.
Upon receiving this information, Alex went to see Viscount Ashby again. The butler of Edger had also returned, and both Viscount Ashby and Alvis had grim expressions on their faces. Viscount Ashby was particularly distressed, his brows furrowed into a tight knot. When he saw Alex enter the room, he couldn't even control himself and stood up, causing the solid wooden seat beneath him to make a harsh friction sound.
Viscount Ashby asked Alex about the situation, and Alex explained the situation with the six demon girls and the Blood Eye, but he didn't mention that he had taken Mari. Viscount Ashby's face became even more grim upon hearing this, as he was aware of the existence and significance of the Blood Eye. He held onto the last bit of hope and asked Alex if the information was accurate. However, he realized that he couldn't ask about the source of the information, as Alex was currently the only hope for the Goldert family and had the authority to not reveal this information.
Just then, there was a sharp knock on the door, and a panicked male servant rushed in. He was panting and looked panicked, unable to speak due to his breathlessness. Viscount Ashby asked him calmly what had happened, and the servant revealed that the Wesel Ed and Paul the cheat from the stable were missing and it was likely that they had been killed. Alvis couldn't help but exclaim in shock, as he had expected that the strange occurrences were not over and that there would be more deaths, but it was still difficult to accept that new victims had appeared so soon.
Alex narrowed his eyes at this news, as he had thought that catching Mari would cause the other Erzoron witches to lay low for a while. However, it seemed that he was wrong, and they were now trying to provoke him. Still, this was good news, as it meant that Alex had a chance to catch them all since, they were still daring to come out.
A few minutes after the valet arrived, he explained the situation to Viscount Ashby and Alvis. When Alex had gone to the horticulturist's room to assess the situation, something had happened at the castle stables. According to the timeline, it appeared that after Alex had forced the six sisters of Erzoron to retreat, one or two banshees had come to the stable to feed on the blood of the horses in order to recover some energy.
They had coincidentally come across two old men named Paul the cheat and Wesel Ed, who were hiding in the stable and planning to steal horses in order to escape. They had seen that the Goldert family was in trouble and did not want to die with them, so they had planned to steal two horses and sell them in another city in order to live comfortably for a few years. However, before they could untie the reins of the horses, they were confronted by two Erzoron banshees who had come in through the wall.