Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 196: One hundred and forty-seven: Conversation (3)

Chapter 196: One hundred and forty-seven: Conversation (3)

Gaiate’s return for Malin was like a wanderer who finally comes home after being away in all directions, bringing neither fine gifts nor good news. Since before Malin and Maya came into the picture, it seemed as if he had been searching for something.

Maya never said anything, and Malin wouldn’t ask, either. To Malin, whether it was Maya or Gaiate, they were both reticent. Gaiate was simply not a good father—what father wanders off for a year without returning home? He wasn’t part of a geological expedition or an adventurer.

Although Malin also knew that there must be a story behind the middle-aged man’s melancholic eyes... if he didn’t tell, who could know?

What he saw was just a prodigal who seldom returned home, searching for something.

If someone asked him if Gaiate was good, Malin would definitely say he was—but as a father, he was somewhat derelict.

Thinking of this, Malin felt a pang of regret—if only he could have matured a bit earlier, maybe he could have been of help to Gaiate. Although he resented the man for carelessly leaving his foster daughter in the care of a foster son with his irresponsible behavior, Malin also understood that if it weren’t for Gaiate picking him up from the streets that day, he might have starved to death long ago.

So, Malin had always wanted to help this middle-aged man. As a foster son, it was his duty.

"I hear your foster father has made it back alive from Pitzport, that’s really impressive." Logan, acting as an intermediary today, would naturally attend the summoning ritual.

Putting his foster father’s behaviors aside, Malin began to focus on the spell formation in front of him—Shelton Brice’s task was to summon a wraith spirit, kill it, obtain its essence, and if suitable, use it as the core material for an advancement potion. If not, then sell it to save money for materials.

Initially, Malin thought this task, offering him five thousand, might bankrupt this fellow’s grandmother’s house.

It was only later that he learned besides summoning a targeted wraith spirit, this spell formation could also summon all wraith spirits within a certain distance. If it were the Church of Justice, it could probably easily pull out a Level Six Undead Hunter and grind endlessly.

But this task was issued by the Church of Justice, and Shelton wanted to advance to Grand Holy Knight, so he had to complete this ritual. With his spellcasting abilities, he was likely to be devoured alive by the wraiths.

Hearing of Malin’s strength, he approached Logan, asking him to invite Malin as an intermediary.

Logan had also told Malin that the fee he offered Malin was only two thousand—after all, Malin was still an Apprentice at Level Ten.

Then this fellow came along, demanding five thousand right off the bat. Logan thought that this must also be one of the reasons why the House of Brice wanted to get closer to Malin.

Malin, of course, gratefully accepted the money and also took this job very seriously.

Confident about his own capabilities, the Assistant Priest from the Church of Justice attending the ceremony also held considerable faith in Malin. However, Shelton’s other sister, who had come over by boat yesterday afternoon, was somewhat worried—she had heard that her brother was to complete a ritual, so she said she wanted to help. Helpers from the same family and generation were allowed, so the Assistant Priest from the Church of Justice didn’t object.

But this giantess, whose stature was like that of Kenjiro, halted the ritual the moment she caught sight of Malin, convinced beyond doubt that Malin could not be of any help to her brother.

It wasn’t until Malin let Bishop cast a full suite of protective arrays on the girl, and then with a small twig, hit a home run that sent her flying at least three hundred meters away. Shelton, the Assistant Priest, and Logan watched in stunned silence as the girl soared through the air. By the time she tumbled to the ground, got up, and ran back, she had put on the most professional of smiles.

"I’m counting on you to help my brother."

It was so very earnest.

"The summoning formation is ready." The Assistant Priest nodded after confirming the safety of the array—it was essential to ensure safety. If the security couldn’t be guaranteed, it meant the formation might summon spirits no one wanted to summon at any moment.

If they were relatively weaker, that was manageable, but if it accidentally summoned some cataclysmic entity, then they’d have to flee, saving whoever they could.

Malin checked and discovered that the slowest one here was probably Logan—the Assistant Priest of the Church of Justice surely wouldn’t run, so there was no need to count him in.

"Malin, are you ready?" the Assistant Priest asked as he stepped away from the Array, just as Shelton approached the edge of the Array.

"Ready," Malin nodded,

"Shelton, begin," the Assistant Priest said, and so Shelton dropped a blood offering into the core of the Array—a pitiable rabbit.

It was guaranteed not to be a Therian.

The Array immediately started its operation, and Malin saw a subspace rift appear in the center of the Array. First, a skeletal hand gripped the sides, then a skull peeked out.

"A Lich! There’s something wrong with the Array!" the Assistant Priest exclaimed in horror.

Then Malin saw the Lich turn its gaze toward him.

The atmosphere at the scene froze for a moment, and then something unexpected happened—the Lich, which had already exposed the majority of its body, suddenly retreated back into the rift upon confirming Malin’s identity. Then, in front of everyone’s eyes, a large ghoul spirit jumped out like a dog.

"A Ghoul! An elite version!" Even before Malin could react, the Assistant Priest had identified the Undead creature.

The Ghoul also shrieked as it opened its maw-wide mouth, scanning over everyone present. Then, its gaze could no longer move away from Malin.

The atmosphere at the scene froze once again, and eventually, everyone watched the Ghoul howl, attempting to squeeze back into the rift, but the rift had already closed during its shrieking.

It didn’t seem like a natural closure.

"Say, what’s the situation now?" Malin asked the Assistant Priest.

"How would I know? I only know the summoning ceremony went wrong. We were supposed to summon a creature from the Spectral Plane, but what was clearly opened was the Corpse Plane," the Assistant Priest said while watching the howling Ghoul: "Shall we kill it?"

"This thing... is it different from the ghouls in our plane?" Malin looked at the ghoul that was now facing the corner, whining like a puppy in front of them, with an embarrassed expression: "Why do I feel like we’re the psychotic killers here, look at this Undead."

"Indeed," the Assistant Priest was also embarrassed, but he was deservedly an experienced one: "However, the ghouls from the Corpse Plane clearly differ from those in our world. They possess enough intelligence, whereas our world’s ghouls do not, which makes their brains and hearts quite valuable as rare commodities. It’s better we take it down. Mr. Shelton should be able to make a small profit this time."

"I see," Malin put down his gun and moved toward it, wielding a twig-version of Blood Roar.

Then everyone noticed the ghoul scream and shrink back into the corner like it had seen its natural predator, until Malin got very close. It was only then, cornered and with no escape, that the ghoul launched an attack—only to be split in half at the waist by Malin’s axe.

"Malin, it looked like it was afraid of you," Logan said to Malin as he turned around.

To that, Malin looked unhappy: "How can you say it was only scared when it saw me? It was obviously frightened of the big axe in my hand!"

Everyone on the scene clearly didn’t believe him.

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