Evil Spirit Assault, Battle of Minds

Inside the ruined wooden cabin.

The shadow carried bone-chilling cold as rolling fog rushed toward Ian.

"Damn it! How did it get out so fast?" Constantine, standing in front of Ian, paled and hurriedly raised a hand, trying to pull something from his trench coat to ward off the Evil Spirit.

However, the shadow was simply too fast—so fast that no one had time to make any effective response. Like a massive truck, it sent Constantine flying out of its way.

Constantine's body arced through the air and slammed heavily into Charles, who was running over with a bottle of water. The two were sent tumbling into the flimsy wall.

"Come! Become my nourishment, delicious little child!" The Evil Spirit seemed especially hungry for a boy like Ian. It crashed straight into his chest and passed through him.

"Constantine really is an unreliable jinx!" Ian only had time to curse before the world began spinning around him.

At the same time.

The system in his mind issued a notification.

[Attacked by a special soul. Berserker class experience +1]

With that prompt, Ian successfully leveled up his [Berserker] class. He could clearly feel a corresponding increase in all aspects of his abilities.

[Strength: 3.5----5.6]

[Constitution: 3.0----4.5]

[Intelligence: 2.3----2.4]

[Spirit: 2.7----2.9]

[Level-up reward: Class Skill Point +1. Rank weight has increased.]

This should have been something worth celebrating, but Ian could not feel happy at all. He did not even have the mood to think about what "rank weight has increased" meant.

"Where is this?"

He saw.

When Ian's vision cleared again, he found himself standing in an unfamiliar room. The temperature in that eerie, sinister room was even below zero.

Black veins crawled over the walls, writhing in a strange rhythm. Outside, the darkness was as thick as ink that could not be diluted—boundless, as though nothing existed, yet also as though everything had been devoured. It was oppressive and heavy—this was clearly no longer a space belonging to reality.

Ian could not even open the house's windows. They were like something printed onto the wall in 3D. Even when he smashed his fist against the glass, all he heard was a dull thud like striking brick.

The sensation was completely wrong.

"The dimension of thought and soul?"

Ian looked up at the ceiling. Scarlet droplets, like blood, seeped from the cracks overhead, falling toward the floor one drop at a time, slow and heavy.

"Drip~"

"Drip~"

"Drip~"

Ian wiped the droplets splashed across his forehead. They were thick and sticky, and the air seemed to carry the scent of rust. The bloody water seeping from the ceiling soon gathered into horrifying pools across the floor.

"So scary."

Ian felt that he should have been afraid, but his body seemed to have entered its rebellious phase early. Not only did it fail to make him feel fear, it was actually raising his Rage Meter.

Was this perhaps a trait of the [Berserker] class? In any case, Ian felt that it definitely was not his own problem. He might have some psychological issues, but surely he was not this deranged.

"I've always been an innocent boy who appreciates Teletubbies and In the Night Garden!" Under Ian's gaze, the translucent [Rage Meter] bar in the lower-right corner slowly rose.

At the same time.

Ian's four-dimensional attributes also received corresponding boosts.

The effects of [Blood-Reversal Furnace] were still functioning in this world of thought and soul. That likely proved that Ian was continuously suffering attacks from the invading Evil Spirit.

"A mental attack?"

Ian looked around.

He saw.

The room's only wooden door slowly creaked open.

A shadow stood in the darkness.

It was an Evil Spirit wearing tattered nun's robes. Its pale face had been completely twisted out of shape, its mouth split all the way to its ears, while pus and blood continuously streamed from its pitch-black eye sockets.

It revealed a malicious, hideous smile at Ian. Dark brown blood dripped from its two rows of fangs, and even from far away, Ian could smell a nauseating stench of rot.

"How many years has it been since you brushed your teeth?"

Ian swallowed.

His Rage Meter rose slightly again. At that moment, the light in the room suddenly began to flicker. The alternating brightness and darkness immediately made the atmosphere tense.

He saw.

Every time the light and darkness switched.

The Nun Wraith standing at the doorway moved closer to Ian.

It was as though it were teleporting.

In the blink of an eye, it appeared directly in front of Ian. It stretched out its withered hands, clamped them around his neck, and strangled him with tremendous force.

"Suffer! Wail!"

The Nun Wraith's voice was sharp and grating, full of vicious menace. Yet the atmosphere, which should have been terrifying, became strangely awkward and stiff.

There was no helping it.

Ian was not struggling along with it.

"Are you stupid?"

Ian wore a strange expression as he raised his fist and slammed it into the Nun Wraith's face. "Do you think I need to breathe? We've both escaped the shackles of weak flesh now!"

Punch after punch.

Ian beat the Evil Spirit back again and again. Its already ugly face caved in, pus and blood spraying everywhere as chunks of flesh flew through the air. More than half its head was smashed to pieces.

"What's going on?!"

The Evil Spirit looked utterly shocked.

It seemed unable to imagine that it could be so weak. Soon, after Ian kicked it to the ground, it finally seemed to understand what was happening.

"I didn't draw out your fear! Impossible! Where is your fear? Where is your terror?!" The Nun Wraith let out a piercing shriek, its roar filled with confusion and disbelief.

It tried to flee and hide.

But Ian rushed forward and stomped on its head.

"Yeah! Where did you hide my fear and terror? Give them back!" Ian turned the accusation around, his fists raining down without pause.

The Nun Wraith's entire head had already been pounded flat like a pancake. Yet it was stubborn. Even in such a miserable state, it continued to roar venomously at Ian.

"This is only your final struggle. In the dimension of reality, your life is already withering away rapidly! No human body can withstand my corruption!"

"Five minutes! Your life will only last another five minutes!" It clearly wanted to use this to trigger Ian's fear, and its mangled body burst into mad laughter.

"Hm?"

Ian's fists did indeed stop.

However.

The Evil Spirit strangely discovered that it still could not draw any power from his fear.

"I have to deal with you within five minutes..." Ian truly felt the urgency. His Supreme Wisdom, now as high as 2.4, began working at full speed.

Trusting Constantine outside was definitely less reliable than trusting himself.

Five minutes.

How could he save himself?

"Human... you cannot destroy a being like me..." The Evil Spirit laughed wildly, but before it could finish its boast, it saw Ian throw himself on top of it.

In an instant.

The Evil Spirit's arrogant words of mockery came to an abrupt halt. In their place, the Nun Wraith became the first to panic.

"Ah!!! What are you doing?!"

It was not merely terrified.

It was utterly flustered.

Its wails echoed throughout the entire world of thought.