The soldier's limbs remained completely intact, but his face instantly turned deathly pale. Cold sweat broke out at his temples, then slowly froze into frost.
"Hah!"
He shakily exhaled a deep breath of white mist, then, stiff as a plank;
with a thud, he fell straight backward onto the ground.
Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet. Otherwise, the stone floor might have split the back of his head open.
And this...
was not over yet.
After passing through the soldier, the Nightwraith hovered briefly in the air.
It looked around and spotted Odin III. Humanlike anger appeared on the monster's face, and it rushed toward Odin III like a phantom.
Terror had already appeared on his face. All the bold words he had spoken to Dick earlier were forgotten, and he could only watch in despair as the wraith drew closer and closer.
Seeing this, Dick immediately ran forward two steps and tackled Odin III to the ground before the wraith's claws could pierce him.
Then he slapped backward with his hand, and the dim pattern of a Magic Trap immediately appeared around him.
"Get back!" Dick warned Baron Odin, who had frozen beside him. The baron immediately scrambled backward.
The people around them had already scattered backward as well. Seeing this, the wraith ignored Dick and continued pursuing Odin III.
Dick was right between them and immediately raised his sword to block it.
Once the wraith flew into the Magic Trap, its flickering body slowly became solid.
Dick slashed diagonally, striking the wraith squarely in the body.
Some translucent green substance seeped from the wraith's wound.
It let out a scream. Everyone found the sound piercing and grating, and nausea rose in their chests.
Dick was closest to the wraith, and the sensation was even stronger for him.
Forcing down the churning in his stomach, he spun and swung his longsword again, only for the wraith to block it with its nails. A clang of metal against stone abruptly rang out.
Meanwhile, the soldiers nearby had all drawn their crossbows and fired at the wraith.
Once the wraith became visible inside the Magic Trap, ordinary weapons could hurt it, even if they were not as deadly as silver weapons.
In moments, more than a dozen bolts struck the wraith, and even its movements began to slow.
Dick seized the opportunity to add several more wounds to its body, then found an opening and swept his sword horizontally, striking its torso.
This time, the wraith abruptly dissipated in midair with a piercing cry that lingered like an echo through a mountain valley.
Only after a while did the sound fade completely.
Dick wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned to look at the fire. The remains had almost completely burned away.
Odin III approached from behind him again. "Well? Witcher, has the wraith been dealt with?"
"No, not yet," Dick said. "Look at the flames."
"What's wrong with the flames? What is it?" Odin III looked in confusion at the flames burning the remains.
"The flames haven't disappeared. That means it hasn't been destroyed either."
"What exactly is going on? Witcher, didn't you say you had a way to deal with it?"
"I do have a way to deal with it," Dick explained. "But I must be missing some information. What do you say, Odin III?"
"What do you mean by that? Don't think I'll let you do as you please just because you're a witcher.
"Do you think I don't know how you've been bullying the commoners these past few days?
"Hmph. I only refrained from holding you accountable out of respect for the Witcher Order."
"Some of what I did before was indeed wrong. But let's stick to the matter at hand. You've been hiding something about this.
"Don't think that wraith can no longer hurt you. She had merely reached her limit.
"This Nightwraith makes the place where it died its lair, but it will gradually expand that lair.
"At first, it was confined to the room. By tonight, it could already come outside.
"And as its resentment grows, it will gradually begin roaming the entire fortress.
"When that happens, you'll have no choice but to move out."
As he listened to Dick's explanation, Odin III's expression shifted uncertainly.
Just then, Little Odin approached and demanded loudly, "Father, what exactly have you been hiding from me?"
Odin III heaved a heavy sigh. "That girl... that girl was pregnant before she died."
"Pregnant? You mean that was my child?" Little Odin shouted.
Agitated, he clamped both hands around his father's shoulders and shook him. "Why? That was your grandson! How could you be so cruel?"
Kebi and the soldiers nearby hurriedly pulled the distraught Little Odin away.
Odin III's expression was grave. "I only wanted to teach her a lesson, to make her understand that servants must not seduce their masters.
"The truth is, I didn't know she was pregnant either. I only confirmed it after she died."
"Then... then where is my child? Why didn't the witcher find him?"
"The child was still five or six months away from being born. I already had his remains removed and buried in our family's ancestral graveyard. However low that woman's status was, he was still my grandson."
"How could you be so heartless? Was it just because you wanted me to marry Duke Amara's daughter so you could rise in rank? All this time, I've only been a tool to you. More precisely, Kebi and I have both been nothing but tools to you."
Odin III's expression darkened. "No, you have never been tools to me. You can hear me out."
Seeing that their argument was getting out of hand, and that Kebi was about to speak as well, Dick could only hurry to interject, "Everyone, can we deal with family matters later?
"Shouldn't our first priority be stopping this wraith from doing more harm and growing stronger?"
Only then did they calm down. Odin III asked, "Then what should we do?"
"It's simple. Bring back the unborn infant's remains, then we'll light the fire again and burn mother and daughter together. We'll see whether the wraith disappears then.
"Rest assured, I'm ninety percent certain the wraith will disappear completely."
"And what about the remaining ten percent?"
Dick shook his head slightly and said nothing more.
But Odin III already understood what his silence meant. If it could not be dealt with, everyone in the fortress would have to evacuate.
"Someone!" Odin III began issuing orders.
Fisher, the soldier captain who had previously made things difficult for Dick, came to Odin III's side.
"Your orders, my lord?"
"I now order you to send men to our ancestral graveyard and retrieve that infant's body. You helped bury him back then. You still remember the location, don't you?"
"Understood." Captain Fisher nodded and left.
Odin III then ordered the servants to carry away the soldier who had been badly injured by the wraith earlier. The soldier was lucky to be alive, but the wraith had drained his vital energy, and it would probably take him some time to recover.
After that, everyone fell silent.
Little Odin's face was filled with grief;
Kebi looked bewildered, seemingly thinking about what his younger brother had said earlier:
Am I really nothing but a tool to my adoptive father?
Meanwhile, Xiya gazed at the fire with some boredom. There was no telling what she was thinking.
A little while later, Captain Fisher returned, carrying a small bundle in both hands.
Trembling, Little Odin slowly walked over to him and said quietly, "Open it."