Chapter 64 - Necklace

Leon raised an eyebrow.

"This person is quite arrogant to think that anybody reading this desires to learn resurrection magic."

Mark chuckled.

"It seems he was able to succeed to a certain extent, given the crying kid. Perhaps if he had chosen to go through with this, his existence would have been erased."

Mark tossed the paper to the side.

The last words on that sheet of paper left an impression on me.

'THERE IS A PRICE TO CHEAT DEATH'

...I've already died a few times.

Was there a price I paid?

My eyes narrowed.

The piece of paper Mark tossed aside floated around, landing right under the skeleton's feet.

Osric's face twitched.

"Hold on, is that going to be-"

Osric did not finish his sentence.

A soft wind stirred up around us. The piece of paper on the ground gradually flew upwards.

A strange grey light was softly emitting from the piece of paper.

Mark raised an eyebrow.

"Haha, did this piece of paper matter to him enough for his soul to descend onto it?"

The grey light began to flicker. It appeared to be shrinking itself but would burgeon every time it did so.

It was then, the gemstone Osric was holding started to act up. There was a grey vortex inside and the mana from it was being withdrawn.

The mana coalesced around the piece of paper, while the paper itself was fluttering.

A painful groan was being emitted from the paper. While they were first of normal volume, they gradually became louder, and of anger.

Leon turned to Mark.

"It appears to be mad."

Mark shrugged his shoulders.

"Just let it be mad."

Osric sighed after looking at the gemstone on his shoulder and watched along with Mark and Leon. They did not seem concerned about what was happening.

The skeleton in the middle started to shake. Before long, the skeleton split among its cracks, into many small pieces that flew around in the wind.

The dagger and necklace were also caught up in the wind and circulated us as well. All of the little bits and pieces reached us as they circulated the room.

A few pieces of bone hit me here and there, but other than making white marks against my skin, they did not do anything.

Leon did not bother dodging as did Osric. In Mark's case, the pieces just barely did not reach him.

The pieces of bone continued circulating around the room and the groans of anger quieted down.

The winds became gentle. The pieces of bone were slowly revolving around the piece of paper.

A voice was emitted from the paper in the middle.

"Amy... Yes, Amy, I will get right to it!"

The voice paused for a moment.

"Haha, don't worry about it! My cooking senses are sharp, you will be eating the food your mother cooked you in no time!"

The winds became unsteady.

"Sorry if this is too far but... How did you deal with your mother leaving?"

The pieces of bone in the wind began to quiver.

"Ah, I see. You have been strong Amy."

The winds began to speed up.

"Amy! Amy! Look at this necklace, do you want it?"

The necklace began hovering in front of the paper.

My head turned to the other three. They were curiously observing what was happening.

The winds began to blow faster.

"Amy?... Amy, why aren't you answering me. Amy?"

The winds became violent and the paper was furiously trembling.

"Amy...why did you leave?"

The necklace was brought closer to the paper.

"...Where did my arms go?"

The paper flipped around.

"What is this place? Who am I?"

The piece of paper crumpled together.

"I can bring Amy back? ...All I have to do is drop this necklace?"

The necklace gradually lowered down to the middle but stopped before it hit the ground.

"Why... Why can't I do it? Who is stopping me? WHO?"

Osric turned to Mark.

"Are you who he is referring to?"

Mark rolled his eyes.

"Why would I be bothered with such trifling matters?"

The winds circulated faster.

"It must be you! You are stopping Amy from coming back to me. How could you?"

The pieces of bone were thrown at us quite fast.

My hand caught one bone piece that was about to hit me, but another slipped past and grazed my shoulder.

Mark sighed as the pieces of bone just barely missed him.

"This is annoying. This thing is hogging all the mana."

Leon turned to me.

"Can your crystal do anything?"

My shoulders shrugged.

"I guess I can try."

The black crystal floating above me slowly moved forward. Despite the violent gales in the room, it leisurely went forward, unabated.

Once the paper was in range, my mind made the crystal pulsate.

The pieces of bone nearby dropped to the ground, but the wind still moved them across the floor.

Strangely enough, the piece of paper was still floating.

My hand rubbed my chin.

"I guess it doesn't operate off of mana?"

Leon narrowed his eyes.

"But without mana, it is essentially powerless."

My eyes landed on Osric, specifically the gemstone he was holding.

"The mana it gets is from that gemstone."

Beads of sweat formed on Osric's forehead.

"So what? Who said we had to fully explore everything?"

...You were so adamant about not backing out before.

Leon held his forehead with his hand.

"Regardless, that thing is absorbing the mana around us. Without mana, it will be a huge waste of time to get out of here."

Osric's face twitched.

"Not if we figure out how to draw mana from it."

Leon frowned.

"And do you know how to do that?"

The corner of Osric's lip twitched.

"No."

Leon sighed.

"Is it really that valuable in the first place?"

Hearing Leon say that, Osric's face twitched.

"Alright, alright."

Leon looked at me.

"Can you bring your crystal back?"

After nodding, my mind commanded the crystal to come back to us.

Once the crystal was in the range of the gemstone, it did not crack like all of us thought it would, but the vortex in the middle was gone.

The winds sped up.

"What? Why is this happening?"

The necklace lowered abruptly, then was caught.

"No, no stop."

The pieces of bone all fell to the floor.

"No... No."

The necklace was slowly falling.

My brows furrowed.

"Should we be worried about that?"

Mark shrugged his shoulders.

How little he cared about the situation rubbed off on me.

The necklace continued falling.

"No, no, no, no."

The necklace was held just barely above the ground.

"NO."

The necklace dropped to the ground.

The piece of paper began to contort and rip apart. The voice was screaming in pain.

"No Amy! Don't look at me. Please don't look..."

The piece of paper was ripped into pieces, while a slow wind began to blow.

The whistle of the winds became eerie and the necklace was trembling and emitted a faint dark mist.

The blood scrawlings faded as did the glowing green beans.

The mist from the necklace did remind me of the strange body I had when trying to reach the baby, but it was different.

The mist from the necklace was unlike dust and appeared to be composed of tendrils. It appeared similar to an octopus, using its tentacles to get a feel for its surroundings.

The winds began to pick up, as did the whistle. The sound of the wind gradually became a shriek.

The necklace slowly raised from the ground and a shrill scream emanated from it.

"How... dare you. How dare you kill my child?"

Mark sighed.

"We are blamed once more simply because we were nearby."

Leon shrugged his shoulders.

The mana around us was sparse, so much so that it would be hard for me to cast the fire spell.

That was why I had been surprised, seeing the dagger across the floor slowly lift up.

"Um, can you guys use the mana around you?"

The corner of Leon's lip twitched.

"Hardly."

My eye turned to the floating necklace and dagger that were both emitting a black mist.

"Will that be a problem?"

As those words left my mouth, the dagger shot straight to my chest. Even though I instinctively dodged, it still grazed the coat on my arm.

A large part of my coat began to decompose into something grey and brittle, breaking off. Though the dagger did not touch my skin, a small patch of my skin became grey and wrinkled.

Leon looked at my wound.

"...This is going to be a problem."

Osric had set the gemstone on the ground.

"Perhaps if the necklace is destroyed this will stop?"

Leon and Mark charged towards the necklace. Seeing them do so, I followed behind.

Osric stayed behind, though, to his dismay, the dagger's new target was him.

Though the dagger was fast, it only traveled in a straight line. Though Osric could not match the speed of the dagger, he was still able to dodge by predicting where the dagger would aim next.

As for Leon, he threw his fist at the necklace. The necklace flew across the room and hit the wall, but was undamaged.

As for Leon, a tiny patch of grey appeared on his knuckle.