The female wraith's eyes that were just moist a moment before had produced two distinct lines of tears on her cheeks now. But contrary to the belief associated with the tears, the monster seemed ecstatic.
The female wraith stretched her tongue and reached towards the tears running down her shrivelled cheeks. She used the tip of her tongue to lift the drop of the clear liquid that had a dash of purple-blue hue mixed in it.
She sent those drops down her throat using her excessively long tongue as a slide. Then she traced the moist path of the tears they left behind with her tongue. The female wraith looked like she had the biggest orgasm of her afterlife when she drank those tears.
Eren felt a chill run down his spine as he witnessed that. Things were not looking rosy for him from the very first night of the trial. He looked down at his caught-on-fire shrivelled hand that was slowly gaining colour and returning to its previous state as he kept on running his fire-element mana through it.
'What the fuck was that, Alephee?'
Eren asked while looking at the three immediate opponents that were closing in on him. Alphee didn't take long to reply:
'Life Drain!'
Alephee said. But before she could provide Eren with an explanation, Layla's voice sounded in his head:
"That was the Life Drain ability of the Wraiths. A few deviant wraiths can suck the vitality of their opponents. Be careful and don't let them touch you again."
'Hey! I was about to say that. This mischievous rascal beat me to it.'
Alephee's unpleasant voice echoed in Eren's head as he had dark lines on his forehead. He asked Alephee in a grim voice:
'You knew about this?'
'Well, yeah.'
'Don't give me your casual 'yeah'. Say stuff like this before they fatally injure me, damn it.'
Eren replied with a burst of anger. He soon heard Alephee's sulky response:
'But I was only reminded of it when the female wraith's ability worked on you.'
Eren sighed internally before asking the gem's spirit in a comforting tone:
'Alright, alright. What else can you tell me about it? Is there anything I can do? Is there any way I can prevent the old hag from getting high on my life force?'
There was no point in wallowing in the things that had already happened. The pragmatist in Eren showed himself at the time of his crisis and enabled him to ask the right questions:
'No, Eren. You can't block the ability with your mana defence layer as you did with the wraiths' screech. Technically, the mana layer and your mana itself would be a part of your life force.
The vitality-sucking wraith would be able to suck your vitality as soon as she touched you. You can only try to avoid contact. That's the right way. The second best is that you cut her arms first before destroying her body.
Still, the discovery of a deviant wraith isn't all terrible. Hehe! I'll tell you of another measure you can use against these wraiths which the cheeky rascal conveniently avoided sharing with you.
Deviant's wraith's eyes turn the ethereal energy found in the life force into a liquid form-- those tears. Do you understand what I'm trying to say?'
Eren processed what Alephee told him as he watched as the mini battles between his fire snakes and the wraiths intensified. He immediately felt as if he had a salty taste in his mouth. He confirmed to be sure:
'You mean, I have to…'
'Yepp! You can drink the tears to gain your lost vitality back and then some more. It won't taste salty or anything unpalatable despite how it looks.
You can also store it away for later use. Even a single drop will do the trick. If you process it using your ranking technique properly, it can be beneficial for you and help you get over the bottleneck in your ranking.
I'd suggest you take out the eyeballs of that wraith and store them inside your ID storage. They would be able to produce a drop or two within a week or two on their own even after they are taken out.
The removed eyes can keep on producing those tears for a few months…'
'Keep it concise, Alephee. We don't have much time here.'
Eren stopped Alephee from rambling about the health benefits of having a deviant wraith's eyes in his possession. That's because soon his three attackers and he would be within striking distance of each other.
The fire-element mana did affect the wraiths, causing them to slow down considerably. But it couldn't finish them off. The fire snakes were also going to disappear because Eren felt like his headache would soon make him dispel the animated spell.
Furthermore, taking care of the many fire snakes around him was also taxing on his mana expenditure. It meant that the longer he fought the horde of the wraiths, the grimmer his prospect was going to be in the end. What if he had to be in the fight with them for seven days straight?
Eren had a depressing look on his face when he realized the kind of soup he had found himself in. As if to take pity on him, Layla spoke in his mind and tried to give him some hope:
'Don't worry, Eren. This place follows the rules of real life for the most part. The wraiths can't exist in daylight. You only need to fight them till dawn arrives, which is ten hours from now as per your perception of time.
Their bodies would burn, and their spectral forms would be destroyed. They'll be taken care of on their own when that happens.
You don't necessarily have to win against all of the wraiths. As I said earlier, you just need to survive the seven days on the first floor. Hehe! Isn't it easy? Do your best.'
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AN: Thanks A9C for the gifts.