Chapter 73: A Ritual Undone

Its light was soft, devoid of any heat or power.

It seeped into the corpse’s body, akin to spring water melting solid ice.

Lia’s magic was now embarking on a daring reverse invasion, tracing the control pathways left by the old monster.

Her magic had already parsed that crude and inefficient control model.

This model, intent only on absolute obedience, completely disregarded the lingering fragments of the controlled entity’s consciousness, and it was precisely this oversight that fueled the intense conflict.

“Ugh…”

A guttural groan slowly subsided in the three-ring corpse’s throat.

The wild magical fluctuations emanating from its body also receded.

The madness and chaos in its eyes faded, replaced once more by a desolate, deathly stillness.

However, this time, it did not attack Lia; instead, it stood quietly in place, resembling a true sculpture.

‘It’s done.’

Lia withdrew her hand, the profound drain on her mental energy causing a needle-like prickling pain deep within her mind.

Gazing at the corpse before her, she murmured, “Grant me one last favor, and I shall grant you eternal rest.”

The corpse offered no response.

Yet, Lia sensed its silent agreement.

Without further hesitation, she swiftly unfurled the Inertia Shackles scroll, placing it carefully upon the pedestal beneath the woodpile.

As magic surged forth, an invisible dormancy field instantly materialized, enveloping the entire pedestal.

Now, any magical item placed within this area would have its energy forcibly lulled into slumber.

Having completed this task, Lia did not linger for a single moment.

She retrieved a map of Leaf-fall Town from her spatial ring, and as she rapidly cross-referenced it, her mind simultaneously sketched out the critical nodes she had previously glimpsed through the mark on the blueprint.

Thanks to her mental training in geometric constructs, she possessed an almost photographic memory, having already committed several crucial coordinates to her unwavering recollection.

“Next location.”

Lia’s consciousness, channeled through the mark, issued its first command to the corpse.

The corpse rigidly turned, then began to stride out of the lumber mill.

Lia’s figure trailed closely behind, the Veil of the Hidden shrouding her perfectly within the darkness of the night.

***

Deep within the stone house.

The old monster stood before a colossal magic array blueprint, his face flushed with a sickly hue.

He could feel that the ‘child’ he had dispatched had already reached the first predetermined location.

“Let the feast begin… my grand feast!”

He extended a withered finger, touching the node representing the lumber mill at the center of the blueprint, and poured his magic into it.

He anticipated the resonant surge of energy as the array activated.

However, nothing occurred.

His magic vanished as if into a bottomless abyss, leaving no trace.

That node remained utterly silent.

“Hmm?”

The fanaticism on the old monster’s face froze.

‘Failed?’

‘Had the ‘child’ placed it incorrectly? Or had the obsidian’s energy been depleted during transit?’

He suppressed a flicker of irritation within his heart.

Centuries of waiting could not be swayed by such a minor setback.

The failure of a single node was inconsequential; as long as the majority of nodes succeeded, the array could still be activated, albeit with a reduced range and power.

He shifted his finger to the second node on the map: the Wishing Well.

“Then we shall begin here.”

Magic flowed in once more.

Still, there was only a profound silence, as if his magic had been swallowed by an unseen black hole.

The old monster’s movements ceased.

If the first instance was an accident, then two consecutive silences were assuredly no coincidence.

His masterpiece, meticulously prepared over centuries, had encountered a critical flaw at the most crucial juncture.

The initial rush of impetuousness rapidly receded, replaced by a chilling prudence that reclaimed his thoughts.

He made no further attempt at the third node.

Slowly, he straightened, a perilous gleam flickering in his murky eyes.

‘Someone is sabotaging my plan from the shadows.’

‘Who could it be?’

He closed his eyes, his mental energy extending along the unseen connection he shared with the corpse.

A moment later, he abruptly opened his eyes, his face contorted with icy fury.

“Found you… So it was you!?”

The old monster’s figure blurred on the spot, and in the next instant, he vanished from the stone house.

…

Leaf-fall Town, Central Plaza.

Lia had just finished deploying the second Inertia Willow Scroll at the bottom of the Wishing Well.

She sensed that, moments ago, two surges of magic had successively attempted to link the lumber mill and Wishing Well nodes from afar, yet both were rendered futile by the Inertia Willow’s freezing effect.

‘They failed, as expected.’

‘She had assumed the old monster would at least wait for all the nodes to be in place before activation, but to her surprise, he proved so impatient!’

‘The old monster had likely already detected that something was amiss.’

‘She had to be faster!’

“Faster!”

Lia hissed at the corpse beside her, and the pair—one living, one dead—immediately sprinted across the silent plaza towards their next objective.

Her mental energy was severely depleted; each additional second she maintained control over the corpse, each extra binding spell she laid, felt akin to sandpaper abrading her brain.

Yet, she could not stop.

The third node: the granary.

The fourth node: the church bell tower.

By the time Lia had deployed the final binding scroll at the fifth node, beneath the blacksmith’s forge on the west side of town, her entire body was already swaying precariously.

‘All the scrolls were used.’

‘She could only hope these five nodes were the entirety of them.’

She leaned against the cold wall, gasping for breath, attempting to quell the dizzying sensation brought on by the excessive drain on her mental energy.

The three-ring corpse stood silently beside her, its mission accomplished.

“Thank you,” Lia murmured, looking at it.

She raised her hand, preparing to fulfill her promise: to utterly sever its connection to this world with a purification spell, granting true repose to its lingering remnant soul.

Yet, just as her fingertips were about to brush the corpse’s forehead.

An ineffable pressure, without warning, enveloped the entire blacksmith’s shop.

The air abruptly solidified, and the surrounding light began to twist eerily.

Lia’s movements froze.

Her heart was seized by an invisible hand, each contraction bringing suffocating agony, making even breathing arduous.

A twisted shadow slowly coalesced into form at the entrance of the blacksmith’s shop.

It was the old monster.

His face was a mask of icy stillness.

He first glanced at the forge pedestal, where a binding spell had been deployed, then at the motionless corpse beside Lia.

Finally, his gaze settled upon Lia.

‘From the situation here, he had been thoroughly played.’

‘This little girl, who had so unhesitatingly used two seven-ring scrolls to scout ahead when she first entered the valley, had apparently been putting on a performance for him all along.’

‘She had feigned stealthily taking the false treasures, allowing him to lower his guard.’

‘Then, she had secretly tampered with his ‘child,’ even successfully seizing control.’

‘Ultimately, at the most critical juncture of his ritual, she had precisely sabotaged all his arrangements.’

‘Centuries of meticulous planning, undone.’

‘Undone by a mere girl who appeared not yet to have reached adulthood.’

Slowly, a smile spread across the old monster’s face.

“Little mouse,” he drawled, “you have surprised me greatly.”

His voice, though calm, was laced with bone-chilling coldness.

“Did your family never teach you not to casually delve into the secrets of others?”

Lia’s back was instantly drenched in cold sweat, every muscle in her body tensed to its absolute limit.

‘Escape?’

The thought flickered into existence only to be immediately extinguished.

Before an eight-ring mage, she stood no chance of flight.

‘Her only lifeline lay within that spatial ring.’

Observing Lia’s silence, the old monster took a step forward.

Lia felt the space around her violently constrict, as if filled with solid rock, making even the slightest movement of her limbs incredibly arduous.

Such was the power of an eight-ring mage.

They needed not even construct complex spell models; a mere extension of their will could warp the very fabric of reality.

“Now, tell me, how did you discover and accomplish this?”

The old monster took another step forward, far more intrigued by how Lia had thwarted his plans than by simply ending her life.

Lia gritted her teeth, pouring every ounce of her remaining strength into probing her spatial ring with a sliver of mental energy.

Just as her intent was about to brush against one of the black scrolls within—

A low hum resonated from Lia’s chest.

The Guardian’s Heart amulet on her chest suddenly emitted a soft, protective glow.

The spatial pressure that had bound her entire body melted away beneath this gentle aura, like spring snow yielding to warmth.

Lia instantly felt her entire being lighten.

The old monster’s smile vanished.

His eyes, fixed intently on the small medal adorning Lia’s chest, first betrayed a flicker of disbelief, then were swiftly consumed by astonishment and furious hatred.

“This emblem… This magical fluctuation… Impossible…”

His voice, as if he had witnessed a specter that should not exist in this world, warped into an unnatural pitch.

“You are… Horace’s minion, that old fool’s pawn?!”