A tiger left its scent wherever it went.
The scent left behind wherever a wild beast passed through the mountains was enough to send small animals fleeing in every direction.
That was exactly what the tomb passage was like now!
The tomb passage, perfectly normal a dozen minutes earlier, was now filled with the aura of something at the very top of the food chain. That aura struck instinctive fear into the Higher Evil Spirit.
Almost without thinking, the Higher Evil Spirit turned incorporeal, preparing to flee.
But the instant it did, an invisible force came from deep within the tomb passage. Not only did it drag the spirit out of its incorporeal state, it also hauled the spirit into the hall.
The hall was just as it had been before. Nothing had changed.
Once the Higher Evil Spirit was dragged inside, the cone-shaped object it had hidden beneath the floor rose on its own, floated straight toward it, and glimmered with a faint light.
Under that glow, the Higher Evil Spirit involuntarily narrowed its eyes, studying the cone-shaped object with an uncertain, suspicious gaze.
Far from stupid, it quickly guessed what might be happening.
"Was all of this your scheme?"
The Higher Evil Spirit asked tentatively.
It couldn't be sure whether the object before it possessed the intelligence it suspected, but that didn't stop it from instinctively stalling for time.
Although it resented that bastard contractor's methods, it never minded working with its contractor against an outside enemy.
After all, their fates had long since become intertwined, in a relationship that went beyond sharing fortunes and misfortunes.
If he was finished, it wouldn't survive.
If it was finished, well... he would probably be fine.
Thinking of its contractor's personality, the Higher Evil Spirit, which had remained calm in the