Rootless Soul

Frieren's Defense Magic held up effortlessly against the blood-red skull's frenzied attacks.

The fight had reached a stalemate.

Sword in hand, Shane stayed safely off to the side and watched.

Against a legendary mage who had once slain the Demon King, he couldn't imagine how a skull could possibly win.

Just as he was leisurely appraising the battle, the skull, unable to break through, suddenly changed tactics and charged straight at him.

Damn!

That's not fair!

Panicking, Shane drew his sword and swung.

Crack!

His sword came down with the force of a thunderbolt, turning the skull into a cloud of black mist. Silver-white lightning crackled through the churning fog, drawing out a series of shrill screams.

Shane winced. Why did the black mist's screams sound like they hurt?

Before Shane could dwell on it, the black mist gathered into a skull again and rushed back to fight Frieren.

Frieren blocked the black mist's attacks with Defense Magic while firing a barrage of magical beams in the gaps between its strikes.

Black and white clashed across the sky in a lively back-and-forth.

Shane continued to watch from the sidelines.

But as he watched, something began to seem off.

Compared to how easily he could slash the black mist apart, Frieren—who was hundreds, even thousands of times stronger than him—was somehow only fighting it to a draw!

The black mist couldn't hurt Frieren. It couldn't even break through the shield of Defense Magic in front of her.

But Frieren couldn't effectively hurt the black mist either. Her precisely aimed magic attacks vanished into its body like stones dropped into the sea, leaving no trace.

"Something's wrong."

Shane's mind raced, and he quickly figured out the key.

Their attacks were canceling each other out.

The black mist the skull could freely summon and dispel was its magic shield. Since both of them were skilled in magic, their attacks were hitting each other's shields. In the end, the attacks canceled out, making them both useless.

"Frieren, use Binding Magic. I'll cut it down."

Hearing Shane's shout, Frieren didn't hesitate for a moment. She instantly changed her spell formula, and a pale-yellow chain shot toward the skull, quickly coiling around and binding it.

[Binding Magic]

This magic can restrict an opponent's movements.

Bound, the skull immediately lost its ability to attack. Shane seized his chance and brought his lightning-wreathed sword down on it.

The force was just right.

Just like before, his attack turned the skull into a cloud of black mist. Silver-white lightning crackled through the churning fog, drawing out a series of shrill screams.

It worked!

"Magic can't hurt it, but lightning can!"

Frieren understood at once. As soon as the black mist gathered itself together again, she bound it with Binding Magic without wasting even half a second.

Shane's Lightning Sword followed right after.

Working together in perfect sync, they made the black-mist skull scream again and again.

After several rounds, the once-enormous skull grew smaller each time, until it was no bigger than an ordinary human head.

"One last strike!"

Full of fighting spirit, Shane swung his Lightning Sword repeatedly, even showing off with a flourish.

Just as he thought the fight was about to end, something unexpected happened.

He accidentally activated another entry on his sword:

[Flashbang (Blue, Fine)]: Swing the blade to unleash a powerful white flash that blinds everyone within range for 3 seconds.

"Ah! My eyes!"

With Shane's scream, he and the skull were both blinded.

The moment he lost his vision, Shane realized he'd put the entry on the wrong weapon! Why put Flashbang on a melee weapon? It would've been much better on a throwing knife or a bow!

Now he was in trouble. He didn't know whether the skull had eyes or could be blinded, but he did know he was done for.

As always, Frieren reacted quickly. The instant Shane was blinded, she cast Defense Magic.

But to her surprise, the skull hadn't been blinded, nor had it attacked. After the flash, the black mist around it had been completely dispelled.

The entire skull turned into a cloud of soft white mist and wrapped around Shane.

"It hurts so much! Help..."

"Mom, save me, Mom..."

"My leg, my leg! Ah, help..."

"Somebody, please save me..."

Shane couldn't see, but he could hear countless voices calling out around him. There were men, women, old people, and children.

They were crying and pleading for help, in unbearable pain.

At the same time, he heard that maddened voice that filled him with fear: Hahaha, everything is for humanity's final victory. Teacher, we're almost there! Almost there!

In an instant, he realized who the suffering voices around him belonged to.

They were the people killed by the hooded figure, the ones who had been turned to blood and had their bodies torn apart in those failed experiments.

Shane felt as if a hammer had struck his heart.

If he hadn't been so lucky, he might have been one of those suffering voices now.

He listened quietly to the scattered words of those who had died so horribly:

They had no idea what was happening. They only knew that magic had torn their bodies apart and dragged their souls into the darkness. They didn't belong in this world. They wanted to leave, to go home, but it was impossible.

They were trapped in a lightless magical prison, turned into ghosts wandering the mine tunnels.

As they wandered day after day, darkness had tainted their souls and hatred had taken hold of them. In the end, they had lost their memories and forgotten who they used to be. All they knew was to obey an order and guard the secret buried deep underground.

Just a few days ago, the mine tunnels had collapsed and been destroyed. They had lost their home and had nowhere to go.

The resentment they had accumulated over a thousand years finally erupted. They possessed the townspeople, hoping to use human hands to rebuild the mine.

Now that the resentment controlling them had been dispelled, they had recovered their memories.

They never wanted to return to that magical prison. They wanted to go home.

But rootless souls couldn't reach the "heaven" where souls rested, and they couldn't return to their homes in a foreign land, either.

"Please help us."

"Please, help us."

Countless pleas echoed in his ears. Shane slowly opened his eyes, and his vision returned.

The black mist and the skull were gone. All that remained before him was a little girl with tears streaming down her face.

Tears covered the girl's face. Her body, formed from white mist, was faint and delicate, and the surrounding darkness was already eager to gather around her again.

She stared at Shane, then smiled and lifted her face.

Shane looked at the little girl before him. After a moment of silence, he said very softly:

"Entry Extraction."

In an instant, a pale-blue mote of light was successfully drawn out and appeared before him.

The little girl's figure crumbled with it, turning into magical particles before vanishing completely.

Acquired entry [Rootless Soul].