Chapter 57

Chapter 57

The blue-grey eyes fluttered in fear.

‘…A ghost.’

When Celine first arrived at Bernoulli Castle, she recalled Leonhard’s reaction to ghosts.

‘He has never heard of the rumor, so I treated it like it was nothing.’

But now, a ghost.

“Leonhard, what is that…”

“Shh.”

The next moment, he pulled Celine to hide her in his arms.

All sorts of thoughts ran through her mind. Perhaps, Leonhardt was deeply mistaken. The abandoned village was one of the stages she cleared in ⎡ Celine’s Nightmare ⎦, and she probably knows better than Leonhard himself. Still, she did not move or speak in his arms, as he had wanted.

‘Leonhard won’t say it for nothing.’

When he behaved like that, it meant that he must have his own reasons and convictions. Celine’s whole body tensed.

—Screeecchh!

The horrifying sound came again, now only a few steps away from them. Her body was trembling instinctively, but thanks to Leonhard, who was standing calmly without moving, Celine was able to calm it down quickly.

—Thud!

She dazedly hit her face towards the ground.

It was because all of a sudden, Leonhard pushed her away. Celine immediately kicked the ground and stood up, and looked towards him. Even if she fell, it was right nearby. Leonhard’s figure caught her eye immediately.

‘….?’

Leonhard was wielding Rashir.

Rashir drew the most spectacular trajectory of movements she had ever seen, but the opponent was neither seen nor felt.

—Screeecchh!

For a moment, Celine was terrified and almost screamed.

The sound was piercing her ear as if scratching a blackboard with the nails, and it came from exactly where Leonhardt was.

It was only then that she realized that Leonhard was not simply wielding Rashir at an unseen enemy, wrapped in a pure white mist. It wrapped around his whole body, and even if it was split by Rashir for a moment, the white mass that immediately merged was not a fog no matter how.

That would be the ghost Leonhardt spoke of and the enemy of this stage.

“Le…”

Celine bit her mouth to call Leonhard, then she slowly rekindled her memories of what the enemy in this abandoned village was.

‘…It was a ghost here, too.’

The player must avoid the whitish ghost and pass through the stage by picking up various items.

Unlike the ghosts of the Hidden Stage, the ghosts here had little presence as they were nothing more than masses with no particular shape, but in terms of danger, they were no less than the enemies of other stages.

The moment the player came into contact with the ghost, the player’s stamina wore out at an alarming rate, reaching a dead end.

‘Then, Leonhard…!’

At the thought, cold sweat trickled down Celine’s forehead, already soaked with sweat as she had already crossed the lava field. Leonhard would not die as easily as her, who was weak in the game. Nonetheless, how long would he be able to survive like that?

‘I have to do something.’

Gone were the days when she was helpless due to the recoil. Celine had regained her magic, and now she had completely mastered even Ringzor.

‘Yes, there’s Lingzor…!’

Celine recalled how she felt when she had caught Ringzor and cast a spell a while ago as if shooting a cannon right in front of the target—with sharpness and power.

The next moment, she slowly pulled Ringzor from her arms.

‘I can’t let that notice me.’

In the game, her knowledge of the ghosts she had been avoiding was zero. So, she had no choice but to rely on Leonhard’s whispers of his brief knowledge.

‘He told me not to make it obvious.’

Celine focused her mind only on Leonhardt.

It wasn’t difficult.

Leonhard, who was at first glance visible through the ghost, was clearly visible in her eyes. Blue eyes that seem detached and piercing through enemies, a sculpted nose and jawline, broad chest, long, strong legs…

Soon enough, the white lump had disappeared from Celine’s mind.

She could tell that the time was now. Taking Ringzor swiftly from her arms, she muttered as she was aiming at Leonhard.

‘I’m sorry, Leonhard. But since it’s you, can you do it without hurting a single strand of hair?’

Ringzor rejoiced at the command of its true master and began to reveal all the power it possessed.

Celine felt that the magic, which she had originally possessed, and the magic sleeping in Ringzor were slowly merging. The enormous energy began to radiate at high speed from her fingertips to Ringzor’s hilt—from the hilt to the tip of the sword, and from the tip of the sword to Leonhard.

‘Leonhard…!’

She tried to calm her urge to call Leonhard. Because if she did, it would just tell the ghost of her existence, location, and even plans to destroy the ghost.

—Screeeeeeccccchhhh!

The moment the energy reached Leonhard, there was an unusually creepy sound.

However, Celine focused her mind only on his strong hands and Rashir. Since Rashir was accustomed to passing her magic without a single wave, Leonhard’s hand holding it didn’t look difficult at all.

After a while.

—Rattle!

Celine dropped Ringzor while panting for breath as she sat down. All the power in her body was drained out, making it difficult to even breathe.

A tear spurted from her eyes as she lost her strength.

“Celine.”

Suddenly, a familiar figure squatted in front of her and supported her body with tender hands.

“Leonhard… That, how—”

“If it’s hard, don’t speak. It ran away, so rest assured.”

“…What a relief.”

Celine smiled weakly. Seeing her like that, Leonhard whispered into her ear in a voice that seemed to be choked for some reason.

“Really, you’ve gotten stronger.”

“Are you hurt?”

“I thought I might get hurt, for a moment.”

At those words, Celine flinched for a moment. Though realized soon after that Leonhard did not scold her, but rather, his expression was admiring her and was relieved at the same time, and she smiled slightly.

“What is… a ghost?”

Leonhard paused for a moment.

“I’ve only dealt with it once, but… No, this is the second time.”

Even though she suddenly wondered about the ghost that Leonhard had dealt with before today, Celine didn’t ask. It must have been a painful experience.

“They are no different from monsters either. It kills all life.”

“But, I didn’t feel an evil energy or stench.”

Celine pointed out her doubts.

If it had a pungent stench like the boss monster or exuded evil energy enough to subdue the atmosphere like a warlock, she would have been much more wary. However, the ghost only made a creepy sound.

“Yes, that’s the saddest thing.”

“What…?”

“They were all once human.”

“….!”

Her body hardened, and she trembled.

“It’s surprising.”

Of course, Leonhard seemed to think that Celine was simply surprised.

‘…Natasha.’

Then, she remembered Leonhardt’s younger siblings and the escort maids, who rushed to kill the player in the game.

‘It was like that.’

In the meantime, Celine had been thinking that ghosts did not really exist in this world… But, within five years, no four years. Leonhard would turn into a killer with red eyes, and Natasha, the maids, and the youngest son of the Grand Ducal couple, would turn into ghosts.

“How, how do you become a ghost? Warlocks are fallen wizards, but… Are ghosts also corrupt people?”

As soon as Celine put the guess out of her mouth, she realized she was wrong.

It may be for Natasha and the escort maids. However, could an ordinary boy who appeared to be about five years old, not even having the magical qualities of Baron Elmer’s son, be totally corrupted…?

Leonhard sighed.

“I’m not sure since the ghosts themselves are rare. Still, what has been reported so far has something in common.”

Celine’s heart pounded so hard that her chest ached.

“Everyone was so obsessed that they couldn’t close their eyes even in death.”

“That, kind of…”

“Mainly, it was an obsession to protect the living. Family, parents, lover… The subject has been variously reported.”

He paused for a moment, then hesitantly continued, “The human that the ghost I had slain before was supposed to protect a young grandchild. The ghost went crazy and killed everyone who came near the grandchild.”

“….”

“It is right for the dead to rest in peace in their graves. For themselves and for the living.”

“Leonhard…”

Although Celine knew it was going to feel out of place, she called him in a trembling voice. It was because she had seen how much Leonhard loved his two younger siblings.

‘Maybe, he went crazy because he couldn’t annihilate his siblings or leave them alone.’

Her mouth went bitter at the speculation.

‘…Calm down, you’re here to stop it.’

Celine grabbed Leonhard and stood up.

“Come on.”

“Where?”

“….”

While fighting the ghost, they even lost their direction.

Celine closed her eyes tightly and recalled the items she had to pick up at this stage. In fact, she mostly used items to avoid or defend ghosts, so it seemed to be of no use now that she had already faced them.

‘…Ah.’

Among them, there were items that she must find to clear the stage.

As she entered the largest building in the abandoned village, there were human bones scattered in a mess in the corner. If she picked up the bones and put them in the shape of a person lying down, the ghosts no longer chased them, and the door to the next stage would open.

“We have to find the biggest building here.”

“It’s so foggy. How can we find it?”

“That…”

Suddenly, something flashed in Celine’s mind. The roof of the building had a huge iron ornament.

‘…Iron reflects light.’

She immediately picked up Ringzor that had fallen on the floor.

‘….?’

In Ringsor, she felt a little bit like human emotions.

A smirk came out.

Ringzor was protesting after getting itself thrown on the floor.

“Sorry.”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Celine gripped Ringzor and stretched her arms out before aiming at a straight position. Then, she gathered all her remaining power to create a bright light.

“Leonhard, do you have good eyes?”

“Not bad.”

“Then, look. Is there any place that reflects this light?”

Saying so, she turned around slowly. Celine had to clench her teeth and squeeze out her magic because she had already exhausted almost all of her magic in chasing away the ghost earlier.

“There.”

The moment she heard Leonhard’s excited voice, she stopped her movement and narrowed her eyes. Somewhere in the distance, in the mist, a gigantic iron eagle shone majestically.

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