Chapter 14
The number of half-soul ghosts visible in the clearing seemed to be at least thirty.
As mentioned earlier, numbers are power.
Even if they were weak half-soul ghosts, this many was a bit overwhelming.
'Moreover, the condition for subjugation isn't complete annihilation.'
'Subjugation', the derived skill that appeared along with the level up of the familiar spirit skill last time.
This skill, which subjugates ghosts and makes them familiar spirits, had conditions.
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*This is a derived skill of the 'Familiar Spirit' skill.
Name: Subjugation
Classification: Activation-type Skill
Description: You can make 'ghosts' who submit to you or are completely defeated your familiar spirits.
Condition: Complete victory over the ghost.
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Originally, subjugation was the most representative method of creating familiar spirits.
Subjugating malicious beings and using them as familiar spirits.
This is the basics of familiar spirits.
'Hwa-ryeon is a special case.'
Rather, cases like Hwa-ryeon and Heuk-rang were special cases.
Those two expressed their desire to become familiar spirits without showing hostility towards me.
Usually, such cases are extremely rare.
...That's what I read in the books at home.
"Subduing without killing, then subjugating the soul, it's going to be a bit difficult."
"Even if they're half-soul ghosts, they're still ghosts, and with this many, it's going to be a bit tough."
I nodded at Hwa-ryeon's words and looked at Jeon Ha-ryeong, but she just smiled faintly and didn't do anything.
She probably won't help.
Anyway, I had to do this alone now.
There were three things I needed to prepare.
This was time that would never be given in a real situation.
But in this place, preparation time was absolutely necessary for me.
Those half-soul ghosts wouldn't attack unless I entered the clearing first.
So the first thing I did was,
"Familiar spirits Hwa-ryeon and Heuk-rang, manifest at my call."
To increase our numbers as well.
Although there were only two more, each of them was strong.
3 vs many was different in difficulty from 1 vs many.
[Familiar spirit, 'Hwa-ryeon' materializes.]
[Familiar spirit, 'Heuk-rang' is summoned here.]
Hwa-ryeon, who was right beside me, immediately materialized from her ghost body into a physical form.
Heuk-rang, who was probably lying down in my house, emerged from a black shadow.
As expected, it seemed he was sleeping until just now, as he appeared in a lying position.
-Sleep. Woke up.
"You're a familiar spirit, you need to work at least once. Now is that time."
-Hmm... Understood.
Although he spoke as if he wasn't particularly willing, Heuk-rang faithfully followed my orders.
After all, he's my familiar spirit.
Even while feeling sleepy, Heuk-rang circled around me as if ready to spring into action at any moment.
Anyway, now that I've done the summoning first, the second thing to do was possession.
"Familiar spirit, I speak to Heuk-rang. Lend me your power."
As I uttered these words, now a bit less embarrassing, a window appeared before my eyes as I had seen before.
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[Skill List: Heuk-rang]
Shadow Claw Lv. 8
Black Spirit Lv. 4
※Due to low skill proficiency, only one skill can be used.
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Originally, I couldn't use possession along with summoning familiar spirits.
But that wasn't a structural impossibility, just a lack of my proficiency.
It was possible if I just raised my proficiency.
Now that my level has increased, although it's only one skill, possession was possible.
'This is why levels are important.'
There's a reason I said levels are important.
With just one level increase, so many things change significantly.
And this time, the target of this possession was Heuk-rang.
Hwa-ryeon's side is good too, but
Heuk-rang was closer to a test. I hadn't used him even once yet.
"I'll choose Shadow Claw."
[The skill 'Shadow Claw Lv.8' is temporarily granted to you.]
[A part of the familiar spirit Heuk-rang's soul is possessed by you.]
From looking at the skills earlier, Shadow Claw is an attack skill, while Black Spirit is a movement and utility skill.
Both are not bad in performance.
But in this limited space, it was natural that Shadow Claw would be more efficient.
With the second step finished like this,
The last thing to do was, of course, shamanism.
"What dances is the sword, what scatters is the blood cloud."
I raised my sword and stepped into the clearing.
This shamanic technique doesn't complete just by standing still.
It was a quite tricky technique that required satisfying its activation conditions.
[Skill, 'Shamanism Lv.3' is activated.]
[The shamanic technique, 'Dance of the Sword Against Spirits' descends upon your sword and body.]
[Please perform the sword dance to activate the shamanic technique.]
Shamanic technique, Dance of the Sword Against Spirits.
Among the shamanic techniques I knew, it boasted the best performance in sustained fights.
More precisely, when dealing with ghosts.
"Let's go."
Now it was finally time to properly face them.
I raised my sword and led my body, enhanced by the shamanic technique, towards them.
-Grrrr...
-...
The bodies of the half-soul ghosts weren't much different from humans.
However, their eyes lacked focus, and they had large wounds in various parts as if they had received fatal injuries.
The biggest difference was, of course, their reason.
They were low-level evil spirits acting instinctively without reason.
Yes, evil spirits that hold unconditional hostility towards living beings.
As soon as I stepped into the clearing, they noticed my presence and rushed at me.
Seeing the half-soul ghosts like this, I spoke to the two:
"Heuk-rang, block those approaching me, and Hwa-ryeon, disperse their attention so they don't concentrate in one place."
"Yes, understood, my lord."
-Understood.
Hwa-ryeon or Heuk-rang could probably take them down, but that wouldn't be good.
The condition for subjugation is 'to me'.
Of course, they are also my familiar spirits, so it might not be that different.
But what if there's a possibility?
So I planned to handle it directly as much as possible.
-Grrrr!
As soon as I gave the order, both of them immediately performed their roles.
Heuk-rang checked the half-soul ghosts to prevent too many from rushing at me at once.
Not killing them.
Just pushing them away with his huge front paws, or biting and tearing them to cause large wounds.
Thud!
Crunch-
Because of this, terribly brutal sounds of flesh tearing and bones shattering were heard.
That much should be fine.
...Probably.
"Look this way, half-soul ghosts."
Hwa-ryeon, who had somehow flown to the opposite side, shot fox fires to check the half-soul ghosts.
Not causing too much damage.
Just drawing a bit of their attention towards her.
In this way, the thirty half-soul ghosts scattered,
And I wedged between them and swung my sword.
"You're the first."
A half-soul ghost in the form of a sturdy man.
After deflecting the arm of the one rushing at me without reason with the back of my sword,
I cut off its arm.
[The blessing of the shamanic technique 'Dance of the Sword Against Spirits' is strengthened.]
Dance of the Sword Against Spirits is a shamanic technique that gets stronger the more you dance with the sword.
It was perfect for this kind of sustained battle.
I danced with the sword among the half-soul ghosts.
The chest, or other limbs,
I didn't cut shallowly. That would be meaningless.
The half-soul ghosts with physical abilities at the level of well-trained men.
That was a small power level that even trivial spirits possessed.
Even the spirit of a newborn baby had that much power.
Then why do they, even though low-level, bear the title of evil spirit or ghost?
It was because of their regenerative ability.
-Grrrr!!
It wasn't such an amazing regenerative ability.
The biggest drawback of their regenerative ability was its extremely slow speed.
It would take about 30 minutes to heal even a small sword wound.
Too slow to be useful in actual combat.
But conversely, the advantage of this regenerative ability was that there was no end to this regeneration.
'Nothing is unrecoverable.'
Even if an arm is cut off, even if the heart is pierced.
Given enough time, they recover. It's just that the time is long.
As long as their weak point, the neck, isn't cut, they don't die.
That was the biggest characteristic of the half-soul ghosts.
And it was the best news for me.
'As long as it's not the neck, I can cut anything.'
That's why I'm freely cutting off their limbs now.
Slash!
[The blessing of the shamanic technique 'Dance of the Sword Against Spirits' is further strengthened.]
[It will soon reach a critical point.]
The more I cut them down, the stronger my sword feels.
And at the same time,
I planted my shamanic power into a half-soul ghost lying on the ground in a near-death state.
[The target, 'half-soul ghost' is contracted as your familiar spirit.]
[It has been subordinated to your soul.]
Contracts by subjugation and contracts by mutual consent are different.
In the latter case, names are called with mutual respect to make the contract.
In the former case, forced contracts were possible without naming if the shaman didn't want to.
'There's no need to name each one.'
Unless distinction is needed later.
At least not now.
"Shadow Claw."
[Skill, 'Shadow Claw Lv.8' is activated.]
I swung my sword while using the skill towards those jumping at my back.
As I used the skill, black shamanic power bloomed on my sword.
No, the energy mixed with my shamanic power and Heuk-rang's spiritual energy rose fiercely.
And soon that ink-black sword,
Literally tore apart the half-soul ghost.
'It's rough.'
It wasn't cut by the sword.
The black energy bursting from the sword tore the half-soul ghost like a beast's claws.
From the waist to the shoulders.
The half-soul ghost fell to the ground, completely torn.
The power was extremely strong. It's probably stronger than fox fire against a single target.
If there's a drawback, it's that it consumes a lot of power.
It uses both my body's shamanic power and external spiritual energy, so the consumption is quite significant.
"Heuk-rang, Hwa-ryeon. Send them all to me."
"Yes, my lord."
Still, it's a powerful skill.
After confirming the power of Shadow Claw like this,
When the number of half-soul ghosts I had subjugated exceeded about 10,
I said to the two who were working hard around me.
There was no need for checks anymore.
The shamanic technique was almost complete while I continued to cut and tear them.
-Grrrr!
As those who were interfering disappeared, they all rushed towards me at once.
They came at me, trampling over the corpses of their comrades.
And as I cut down the half-soul ghost swinging its arm at me from the very front,
[The shamanic technique 'Dance of the Sword Against Spirits' is completed.]
[The blessing of the shamanic technique 'Dance of the Sword Against Spirits' descends upon your body.]
[Attacks against 'ghosts' increase for a certain time.]
The shamanic technique was completed.
Numerous energies instantly filled my body.
It was an amplification incomparable to when it was just gradually increasing.
'But this is just a system, things only shown in numbers.'
There was something else that wasn't shown in the numbers.
The power of the sword god.
The system can't contain the power of a god.
Dance of the Sword Against Spirits was a shamanic technique that allowed one to use the power of the god by dancing the sword dance for the god.
It was really, truly just a tiny bit of power, but.
[The blessing skill of the shamanic technique 'Dance of the Sword Against Spirits', 'Heavenly Wind Strike' is activated.]
And the greatest strike of that power.
I raised my shamanic power and swung my sword towards the rushing half-soul ghosts.
A huge storm of shamanic power bursting from my sword swept them away.