After its sinister proclaim, the ancestral spirit fell silent once more.
Benjamin furrowed his brows.
…... It's still just an ancestral spirit, why was it being so difficult?
He turned around and glanced at the thin red barrier. Its integrity was much tougher than he thought. The System just conducted an urgent analysis and soon notified him that aside from spiritual energy, there existed many other unknown substances. The System couldn't determine what these substances were, which naturally meant that it had no way to counter them.
With no way to counter, he had to rely on brute force alone.
Benjamin quickly arrived at the entrance and threw everything he got at it. Whether it be the various elements he had at his disposal, or Elemental Order - Damage... aside from "Descending of Water", he used every other technique that he had up his sleeve. But still, the wall remained unfazed.
It was similar to Mile's magic-immune physique.
"This sort of revenant-esque power seems to repel magic." The System analyzed and said, "Although I haven't investigated it thoroughly, I'm afraid that it would be difficult for you to make even a dent in this barrier with just element-based attacks — it probably wouldn't budge even if you unleashed everything you got."
Benjamin was mildly frustrated. He had been stuck here for too long without any updates on the situation outside, now was not the time to be patiently conducting research.
"The two of you, try using your psychic powers - use your spiritual energy to break through that barrier," He immediately ordered the siblings.
But by now, the two had already begun trying it out. Soon after, Benjamin could sense wave after wave of spiritual energy emanating from the thin barrier; their spiritual energies had collided with the thin barrier.
A few minutes later, the siblings were on their knees gasping for breath.
"Our... our spiritual energy is no match for the ancestral spirit."
The ancestral spirit spoke up once more, "Give up, it's impossible for you to leave. My powers have spread out over the expanse of the volcano for thousands of years now. Even if you're able to fight against me, there's no possible way to go against the limitations of established laws."
... Limitations of established laws, huh?
Benjamin squinted his eyes and looked at the Heart of Souls sealed in the bubble.
Although he was unclear of what this stone could do, he was quite sure that it was very important to the ancestral spirit. Benjamin could feel the massive amount of spiritual energy within it.
Could this be the core of the ancestral spirit?
If this was the core, then the ancestral spirit shouldn't be able to speak the moment he tries to seal it in the Anti-Magic Waterball.
As he thought about this, Benjamin shook his head. No matter the case, he believed that this stone might be their only way to escape from this predicament.
"What can you two sense from this stone?" He asked the siblings.
"A... a massive amount of spiritual energy, along with the presence of the ancestral spirit." The young boy hesitated and said, "Master Benjamin, do you plan to use it against the ancestral spirit itself?"
Benjamin didn't manage to reply in time before the voice of the ancestral spirit reverberated again.
"Hmph, you all can try, but I doubt you could truly harness the power within the Heart of Souls," There was a mocking tone in his voice, almost as though it was enjoying seeing them struggle.
As if it was tempting Benjamin to break the stone.
Benjamin then became suspicious.
Could this stone be another trap set up by the ancestral spirit?
He had been careful whenever handling it, never touching the Heart of Souls directly, always holding it through magic, and putting a seal on it to top it off. But if he were to use the Heart of Souls, he had to undo the seal.
Tricky.
As Benjamin was thinking of this, a high-pitched screech suddenly pierced the air out of nowhere. Soon after, the three stared in shock as a black shadow went straight through the thin barrier around the entrance and flew in from outside.
"That's..."
Upon closer inspection, Benjamin's eyes gleamed.
That withered, ugly Spirit Sparrow fluttered its wings of shadow. Rays of red shot out from its eyes; it bore some resemblance to the crimson red orbs of light.
It answered the young girls summon and slowly perched on top of the soundproof ice sphere.
Glee spread across the young girl's face.
"You finally found it!"
Undoubtedly, the one who found this turn of events most difficult to believe was the ancestral spirit. A few seconds of dead silence later, it suddenly raised his voice in anger, "What... what is this? Another ancestral spirit? What did you all do!? You all have tainted a soul, even plotting to ascend beyond that of the Goddess! You..."
The Spirit Sparrow's appearance seemed to have triggered it greatly – so much so that it was struggling to even form coherent sentences.
A grin started to emerge on Benjamin's lips.
"... Looks like you're in some trouble."
He recalled the young girl's earliest process of taming the Spirit Sparrow, which was similar to what the worshippers across the sea referred to as "spirit taming". Though the ancestral spirit here didn't seem like it was tamed, Benjamin was hoping that the Spirit Sparrow and it shared many structural similarities.
The Spirit Sparrow's flight through the barrier kind of proved this.
It was possible that they were even the same species!
At that moment, Benjamin immediately let the Spirit Sparrow into the ice sphere. Soon after, he couldn't help but grin and raise his hand. With the Heart of Souls at his palm, he slowly brought it closer to the Spirit Sparrow.
The young girl grew nervous.
"It... it's reacting to this stone!" After communicating telepathically, she immediately shouted out.
Benjamin listened and nodded, all the while ignoring the uproar from the ancestral spirit. With a wave of his hand, he tossed the Heart of Stones towards the Spirit Sparrow. The Spirit Sparrow didn't disappoint and in one gulp, it swallowed the stone containing the huge mass of spiritual energy!
At that moment, time stood still.
After five seconds of dead silence, the ancestral spirit shrieked like it was about to explode, piercing the ears of everyone present!
Benjamin and company instinctively covered their ears, yet, it did little to suppress the sound of the agonizing shrieking.
However, the Spirit Sparrow didn't react, rather the red light in its eyes grew brighter. Soon after, it started to flap its wings to prepare for flight. Without warning, with a surge of new-found power, it burst through the soundproof ice sphere in one hit!
Benjamin hastily covered the hole, then, looked on as the Spirit Sparrow charged directly towards the dancing crimson orbs of light, seemingly in a frenzy.
One gulp, two gulps, three gulps... it was like a fugitive who had not eaten for days as it relentlessly gulped down every single orb. The young girl was stunned as she couldn't understand why the Spirit Sparrow which she had been psychic-linked with, was carrying out such unbelievable actions.
The more orbs it swallowed, however, the softer the cries of the ancestral spirit as if someone had taken a remote control lowered its volume little by little.
Benjamin couldn't help but become mystified.
He gazed at the cavern below and at the Spirit Sparrow's eyes turning redder and redder, and suddenly became somewhat excited. Cannibalism? Fusion? He had no clue on what was going on, but... this was what he's been waiting for!
"Calm down, maintain your spiritual link with the Spirit Sparrow, ensure that it does not get severed!" He suddenly turned around and shouted to the young girl.
The young girl stared blankly but quickly nodded before closing her eyes to focus. Then a red string of spiritual energy shot out from her before wrapping around the rampaging Spirit Sparrow.
Benjamin then shifted his focus to the young girl.
"Monitor her spiritual state carefully - immediately inform me the moment there's a possibility of her mind being possessed, or of her mental state being shattered!" He ordered the System.
The System briefly fell silent, then asked, "Well... what if she's possessed?"
Benjamin's sternness was somewhat intimidating as he refused to answer.
After its sinister proclaim, the ancestral spirit fell silent once more.
Benjamin furrowed his brows.
…... It's still just an ancestral spirit, why was it being so difficult?
He turned around and glanced at the thin red barrier. Its integrity was much tougher than he thought. The System just conducted an urgent analysis and soon notified him that aside from spiritual energy, there existed many other unknown substances. The System couldn't determine what these substances were, which naturally meant that it had no way to counter them.
With no way to counter, he had to rely on brute force alone.
Benjamin quickly arrived at the entrance and threw everything he got at it. Whether it be the various elements he had at his disposal, or Elemental Order - Damage... aside from "Descending of Water", he used every other technique that he had up his sleeve. But still, the wall remained unfazed.
It was similar to Mile's magic-immune physique.
"This sort of revenant-esque power seems to repel magic." The System analyzed and said, "Although I haven't investigated it thoroughly, I'm afraid that it would be difficult for you to make even a dent in this barrier with just element-based attacks — it probably wouldn't budge even if you unleashed everything you got."
Benjamin was mildly frustrated. He had been stuck here for too long without any updates on the situation outside, now was not the time to be patiently conducting research.
"The two of you, try using your psychic powers - use your spiritual energy to break through that barrier," He immediately ordered the siblings.
But by now, the two had already begun trying it out. Soon after, Benjamin could sense wave after wave of spiritual energy emanating from the thin barrier; their spiritual energies had collided with the thin barrier.
A few minutes later, the siblings were on their knees gasping for breath.
"Our... our spiritual energy is no match for the ancestral spirit."
The ancestral spirit spoke up once more, "Give up, it's impossible for you to leave. My powers have spread out over the expanse of the volcano for thousands of years now. Even if you're able to fight against me, there's no possible way to go against the limitations of established laws."
... Limitations of established laws, huh?
Benjamin squinted his eyes and looked at the Heart of Souls sealed in the bubble.
Although he was unclear of what this stone could do, he was quite sure that it was very important to the ancestral spirit. Benjamin could feel the massive amount of spiritual energy within it.
Could this be the core of the ancestral spirit?
If this was the core, then the ancestral spirit shouldn't be able to speak the moment he tries to seal it in the Anti-Magic Waterball.
As he thought about this, Benjamin shook his head. No matter the case, he believed that this stone might be their only way to escape from this predicament.
"What can you two sense from this stone?" He asked the siblings.
"A... a massive amount of spiritual energy, along with the presence of the ancestral spirit." The young boy hesitated and said, "Master Benjamin, do you plan to use it against the ancestral spirit itself?"
Benjamin didn't manage to reply in time before the voice of the ancestral spirit reverberated again.
"Hmph, you all can try, but I doubt you could truly harness the power within the Heart of Souls," There was a mocking tone in his voice, almost as though it was enjoying seeing them struggle.
As if it was tempting Benjamin to break the stone.
Benjamin then became suspicious.
Could this stone be another trap set up by the ancestral spirit?
He had been careful whenever handling it, never touching the Heart of Souls directly, always holding it through magic, and putting a seal on it to top it off. But if he were to use the Heart of Souls, he had to undo the seal.
Tricky.
As Benjamin was thinking of this, a high-pitched screech suddenly pierced the air out of nowhere. Soon after, the three stared in shock as a black shadow went straight through the thin barrier around the entrance and flew in from outside.
"That's..."
Upon closer inspection, Benjamin's eyes gleamed.
That withered, ugly Spirit Sparrow fluttered its wings of shadow. Rays of red shot out from its eyes; it bore some resemblance to the crimson red orbs of light.
It answered the young girls summon and slowly perched on top of the soundproof ice sphere.
Glee spread across the young girl's face.
"You finally found it!"
Undoubtedly, the one who found this turn of events most difficult to believe was the ancestral spirit. A few seconds of dead silence later, it suddenly raised his voice in anger, "What... what is this? Another ancestral spirit? What did you all do!? You all have tainted a soul, even plotting to ascend beyond that of the Goddess! You..."
The Spirit Sparrow's appearance seemed to have triggered it greatly – so much so that it was struggling to even form coherent sentences.
A grin started to emerge on Benjamin's lips.
"... Looks like you're in some trouble."
He recalled the young girl's earliest process of taming the Spirit Sparrow, which was similar to what the worshippers across the sea referred to as "spirit taming". Though the ancestral spirit here didn't seem like it was tamed, Benjamin was hoping that the Spirit Sparrow and it shared many structural similarities.
The Spirit Sparrow's flight through the barrier kind of proved this.
It was possible that they were even the same species!
At that moment, Benjamin immediately let the Spirit Sparrow into the ice sphere. Soon after, he couldn't help but grin and raise his hand. With the Heart of Souls at his palm, he slowly brought it closer to the Spirit Sparrow.
The young girl grew nervous.
"It... it's reacting to this stone!" After communicating telepathically, she immediately shouted out.
Benjamin listened and nodded, all the while ignoring the uproar from the ancestral spirit. With a wave of his hand, he tossed the Heart of Stones towards the Spirit Sparrow. The Spirit Sparrow didn't disappoint and in one gulp, it swallowed the stone containing the huge mass of spiritual energy!
At that moment, time stood still.
After five seconds of dead silence, the ancestral spirit shrieked like it was about to explode, piercing the ears of everyone present!
Benjamin and company instinctively covered their ears, yet, it did little to suppress the sound of the agonizing shrieking.
However, the Spirit Sparrow didn't react, rather the red light in its eyes grew brighter. Soon after, it started to flap its wings to prepare for flight. Without warning, with a surge of new-found power, it burst through the soundproof ice sphere in one hit!
Benjamin hastily covered the hole, then, looked on as the Spirit Sparrow charged directly towards the dancing crimson orbs of light, seemingly in a frenzy.
One gulp, two gulps, three gulps... it was like a fugitive who had not eaten for days as it relentlessly gulped down every single orb. The young girl was stunned as she couldn't understand why the Spirit Sparrow which she had been psychic-linked with, was carrying out such unbelievable actions.
The more orbs it swallowed, however, the softer the cries of the ancestral spirit as if someone had taken a remote control lowered its volume little by little.
Benjamin couldn't help but become mystified.
He gazed at the cavern below and at the Spirit Sparrow's eyes turning redder and redder, and suddenly became somewhat excited. Cannibalism? Fusion? He had no clue on what was going on, but... this was what he's been waiting for!
"Calm down, maintain your spiritual link with the Spirit Sparrow, ensure that it does not get severed!" He suddenly turned around and shouted to the young girl.
The young girl stared blankly but quickly nodded before closing her eyes to focus. Then a red string of spiritual energy shot out from her before wrapping around the rampaging Spirit Sparrow.
Benjamin then shifted his focus to the young girl.
"Monitor her spiritual state carefully - immediately inform me the moment there's a possibility of her mind being possessed, or of her mental state being shattered!" He ordered the System.
The System briefly fell silent, then asked, "Well... what if she's possessed?"
Benjamin's sternness was somewhat intimidating as he refused to answer.
