Chapter 111: Are You Even Human? The Helplessness of a Ghost
“Help! Please save me! I don’t want to die!”
A humiliated voice of the ghost sounded within Oliver as he paused.
The Abyss energy clawing away at the ghost’s body also paused momentarily.
Oliver had full control over the Abyss energy, and he stopped the torture for a moment.
Seeing his pleadings had some effect, the ghost was overjoyed. He quickly begged the human child to release him.
“Child, if you let me leave for now, I will give you all my treasures that will make people drool. Please, just let me out this once. I was wrong when I tried to use force earlier. I have realized my wrongdoings and swear to never dare to look back and will repent my actions.”
“Enough of that. Tell me how you sneaked into human territory and state your purpose in doing so,” Oliver stopped him from speaking further and interrogated.
“Y-You know I am from the demon lands!?”
The old ghost was shocked. He had not revealed this to the human yet; it was almost impossible for a child like him to know about his real identity.
At best, even if he was knowledgeable for his age, he should still not have directly suspected him to belong to the demonic lands.
It could also be that he was a leftover remanent of spirit instead of a demonic entity however this kid did not even hesitate and pointed out or concluded that he was a demon from the demonic territory,
He was in a spiritual form, and it was quite hard to point out differences between him and an actual spirit in general.
He could not help but feel it was impossible for a human this young to identify him.
He suspected that Oliver was actually carrying a high-rank identification artifact to be able to guess this.
‘So, I have been the fool this whole time…?’
He could not help but regret his lack of foresight ever since he entered the forest.
He knew that he was usually not this easy, but perhaps the situation and desperation has led him to become like this.
He was very vulnerable and weak at the moment, his defense artifacts were all used up or destroyed by those pesky exorcists and he didn’t even have the time to activate the ones with longer duration.
There was so much going on that he had become like this, to get caught by a mere human child.
Had he been influenced by the air these humans breathe?
He could not help but feel helpless.
Before the torment resumed, he explained to the kid his purpose and what had led him to this point.
This child was really dangerous, this unknown energy that he had never felt or seen before was making his heart beat faster and faster.
He did not dare to lie, fearing the child might even have a lie-detector artifact with him.
It was better to truly confess everything. He was already on the verge of death, and it was better not to try tricks against this strange kid and the strange corrupted energy he had never seen before.
The pain he felt was directly transferred to his very soul, it was nerve-wrecking and extremely painful.
He thought that even this human child did not realize just how much pain it was. The magnitude was very high.
He could not help but groan in a mix of fear and frustration, he had always thought that the demons were the ones who were cruel and sadistic but now he was having second thoughts.
If the child alone was this twisted, he could only imagine how twisted his parents would be.
He rarely had such close and long encounters with any humans, usually the ones he encountered would cower before him in fear before getting killed and devoured by him.
His knowledge about humans was limited to the information recorded by others, but what he had always read was humans were emotional fools and could be easily manipulated by their primitive instincts or their feelings.
Soon, he finished explaining everything from the start to how he ended up in this forest.
“Hmm.”
Oliver hummed in response after listening to the old ghost’s explanations; it did not seem that he was lying either.
His eyes glinted with a sharp, calculating look, as if weighing the truth in the ghost’s words. The hesitation was brief, but it made the ghost’s form tremble in uncertainty.
Anyway, he really did not care much whether the ghost had snuck in intentionally or not or whatever his purpose was.
He demanded, “Hand over all the treasures you have on you.”
“….”
The old ghost could not help but curse internally. The treasures he had were very precious, collected over his long life.
It provided him some relief that he did not carry all of them with him. As long as he could get back to his home base, he could stock them again.
He reluctantly took out a space bracelet from somewhere and held it out in front of him.
“Here it is. This is all I have; you can search me.”
He held out the bracelet and said aloud, fearing that Oliver would not be able to hear him or something else.
He wondered how it was going to be taken outside to the strange human kid.
However, in the next moment, his questions were answered when the same terrifying energy pulsed upwards and covered the bracelet, slowly making it vanish into nothing but darkness.
“Alright, now tell me why you were hiding in the forest.”
Oliver nodded, satisfied with his finds. He would inspect the gains later.
“I know there are spirits present in this old forest. You must know of it too, right? Considering you are a demonic ghost yourself. So the reason must have something to do with it too,” he added.
The old ghost shook his head. He had completely given up any hope by now.
He was completely at the whims of this human child; his survival was on the line here.
How ironic it was that he was comparing the children of the demon clan just a moment ago to these human brats and was feeling gloating over how powerful they were, but now he was captured by the same human brats.
This kid was ruthless and scheming; he wouldn’t lack compared to them at all… he was simply a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“It is as you say. There is a dormant spirit inside one of the ancient statues, but it is guarded by a powerful array, and I needed a physical body to decipher the array properly.”
The old ghost’s voice trailed off for a moment as he said in a low voice, “If you’re willing to lend me your body for a bit, I can break the array for you, then you will be able to… AGH-!”
He could not even finish his sentence as the Abyss energy clawed at his body once again, making him regret even suggesting that.
“I understand I was wrong! I was wrong! Please stop this!”
He cried out as he kept pleading when the torment stopped.
“So, what use do you have for me now?”
Oliver questioned in a heavy tone.
The old ghost’s face could not be any paler at the moment as he anxiously said, “What do you mean? I have given you all of my treasures. You should let me leave. Please…”
Oliver’s expression remained unmoved, a mask of cold indifference. Inside, however, he weighed the potential benefits of keeping the ghost around versus the risks. His hand twitched slightly, as if suppressing an urge to further test the ghost’s limits.
The old ghost knew the chances were slim. He had been stalling for time to gather more and more espera to attack this human child.
After catching him off-guard, he would escape. He had no plans to possess this strange kid anymore, fearing what unknown dangers might be waiting for him inside.
“Hmm?” Oliver just hummed as he pondered the various uses he might have for this old ghost. Given his current standing and power, he could not think of much.
“I can’t think of anything worth it.”
As soon as the ghost heard it, he frantically shook his head as he said loudly, “Wait, I can give you information!”
“Information?” Oliver raised a brow upon hearing the ghost speak, he could already feel the rising panic inside the old ghost’s voice. It was natural to feel that way when you were suddenly captured and surrounded by the corrupt Abyss energy from all sides.
Not knowing when it might attack and eat away your existence. Even the demons would fear being tormented in such a way.
“Information about the demon territories, the military strategies, and many other things. You humans must want these secrets, right? As long as you are willing to spare my life, I will tell you everything I know.”
The old ghost was panicking inside. He still had not gathered enough espera to launch a surprise attack and escape. He had to stall for time.