How did the ghost end up in this forest?

"You are a young exorcist, forming a contract with me would definitely put you ahead of your fellow peers! Your elders must have taught you, right? Power is everything; I can see from your eyes that you also want this," the old spirit eagerly spoke.

"We should not waste any more time and quickly form a contra—"

"What? Why would I form a contract with you?"

Oliver interrupted as he sneered at the old spirit.

Looking at his eyes which carried endless disdain, the old man was stunned.

He again asked, "What do you mean? Don't you understand the benefits? Should I repeat them for you?"

"I heard you loud and clear. No need to repeat that all."

"Then why!?" the old man cried out.

"First of all, there's no way I am going to form a contract with an old man such as yourself. Had it been a beautiful spirit, I might have considered, but there's no way I am going to make one with you."

"What the fuck! That's Ageist!" The old man rebelled.

"…." Oliver

"Anyways, I am not going to do it. Call me what you want, the second reason is you underestimating for an oblivious fool."

"What does that mean?" the old man frowned.

"Exactly what it sounds like. You want half of my espera as payment? Are you kidding me? A spirit never asks anything in return for forming a contract."

Oliver scoffed as he pointed at the man.

"You are no spirit. At least not anymore. You are a deception. A ghost specifically trying to imitate a spirit, but too bad, the foul scenery ahead; no spirit would ever do that when offering a contract."

"You thought that I was naive and weak who had never seen a spirit before. But too bad for you, your cheap act of imitating a spirit was not even close to how a real spirit would be, hahaha."

Oliver laughed out aloud in the eerie silence.

"When did you realize this?" the old man asked in a low voice as the scenery behind started to flicker slowly.

"Humph. The moment you sensed the so-called great power within me. I am the weakest person among my peers. I don't know how a demonic being like you entered this forest but you made a huge mistake targeting this place as this shall be your grave."

Listening to Oliver's arrogant words, the old ghost slowly turned angrier.

The old ghost's eyes went back to recall how he had ended up in this accursed forest.

______________

The old ghost was actually not a messy small ghost but instead a powerful demonic ghost.

He had been assigned at the borders to slaughter exorcists, but he was surrounded and gravely wounded by some pesky exorcists.

He somehow used every bit of his remaining espera to escape. However, he could only enter the territory of exorcists due to being surrounded.

The exorcists were persistent and followed behind him. They chased after him madly.

Using their annoying exorcism methods, they somehow figured out his traces and pursued him like mad dogs.

He was not even given a moment's worth of rest to recover.

Being in an unfamiliar enemy territory with a group of dangerous exorcists following behind. He was given a run for his life.

He, who would eat two exorcists for breakfast daily, was now being hunted down by the same exorcists and he was powerless.

He needed to recover some of his espera if he even wanted to counter them or escape from this place infested by bugs called humans.

As he continuously ran around, he somehow found this rich and dense forest with tall ancient trees. Without thinking much, he entered inside.

Not because it was a good spot to hide but because he was smelling the presence of real spirits inside this forest; if he could somehow get his hands on one and eat it, not only would he recover back to his peak but might also have a breakthrough.

Spirits were one of the best nutrition for demons such as himself.

However, when he reached the place inside the forest where the smell was originating from, he was frustrated to find that the spirit was sealed behind an ancient statue.

And the statue was guarded by a strange array restriction that he dared not approach due to ominous espera nearby.

He needed a physical body if he wanted to try and decipher the espera and break inside.

He had to possess a body for that.

But how could he even find a human body in this place, not to mention how would he even control the human given his weak espera at the moment that was still recovering.

It was then that he sensed multiple powerful presences near the forest entrance.

He cursed as he feared that his pursuers have found him and reached here.

But upon closer look, these people were different. He could tell from their aura.

They were a bunch of old humans with some children.

Those old humans were extremely strong; he would not survive if he fought with them or if they sensed him.

The forest was a good place for blocking senses; he was quite far from them too. Using a good concealment technique special to ghosts like him, he was able to hide himself from their senses for the moment.

He eyed the children and he had to admit that they smelled delicious. His mouth was salivating as he sensed them.

If only he could devour them and possess one of them to break the array.

The spirit inside the statue was dormant; he could easily consume it.

After that, not only would he kill those pursuers of his but also devour this forest and its resources.

But those children were constantly under the watch of those old powerful humans; he dared not approach them in case they sensed him and exorcised him.

For the time being, he could only wait patiently for them to separate and find a chance later to possess one of them.

As he waited, he noticed them mingling with each other and fighting.

Looking at these childish battles, he could not help but feel disdain; these human children were nothing in front of their demon youngling with powerful bloodlines.

They could easily kill them with a few punches.

He patiently waited as they finished up with their things one by one.