Chapter 112: Soul Terror

The body had been calling Neil since the moment he had arrived, as if it had sensed something familiar.

Especially the moment when he transformed into a phantom, when he evolved the call got stronger.

And now that he was finally here, it seemed to have found its long lost soul, rapidly climbing onto his body.

Within moments, Neil was swallowed by the dark fluid that started to rip him apart.

His skin, flesh, organs, bones, to the very cell, all of it was being swallowed and replaced, and merged by the terrifying phantom.

Neil felt so much pain that even he ended up screaming, feeling as if every cell of his body was getting destroyed.

At one point, he couldn’t handle the pain and fainted, the process was completely out of his control.

He wasn’t even sure if it was going to kill him, but there was nothing he could do about it.

…

Time passed, from minutes to hours, to days…

Everyone in the domain was worried but having Magnar there, they were at least sure Neil was still alive.

And then there was Nemo too, who confirmed it.

Leon wanted to lead a team to search for him but Nemo stopped them all.

Knowing how powerful the beast inside is, they would just end up dying.

She told them about Neil’s situation but now even she wasn’t sure what was happening with him.

A whole week had passed, yet Neil was yet to return.

Ileana felt heartbroken as she waited for him listlessly, her eyes looking lifeless.

…

Back in the sea, Neil felt as if he had slept for a long time.

His eyes slowly opened and he found himself still trapped in the darkness.

He breathed in, looking at the big jade stone but now the body of the phantom was missing.

Neil felt strange, he felt complete, as if the phantom part that was missing had now been completed.

But he couldn’t stay there for long, what if that crazy octo attacked again?

’What the hell happened earlier? Where did that corpse disappear off to?’

Hidden inside another bubble, Neil swam up quickly.

Before long, he reached the top, and then got out of the water.

“Haa Damnit this place is full of dangers, I have to get out of here asap!” Neil thought, with the bubble still around him he sprinted forward.

All his injuries were gone, his speed felt a lot faster than before.

While running in his hidden state, he quickly opened his status.

『

[Lord Title]: Dead Man Walking

[Name]: Neil Yates

[Rank]: 3rd Origin

[Talent]: 3rd tier (31 percent)

[Domain Rank]: 2nd Order Mythic Class

[Soul Space]: Phantom’s Imprint, Soul Terror

』

“Did I actually end up absorbing that phantom? Thankfully it didn’t possess any consciousness or I would be long dead.”

Now, he felt like a complete and true phantom.

A thought alone would be enough to transform into his true form.

“That locked status is gone, I wonder what this 3rd Phase means.” He spoke out loud.

“Master SOB I am so happy, we can stay together, I thought we were going to die…” Nemo spoke suddenly.

“Yes yes, anyway you know something about this my dear Nemo?” he asked, chuckling at her reaction.

“Hmm I am not sure, but when phantoms fight they seem to be able to transform into different advanced forms, maybe it is that.” She said.

“Does that mean, all this time, I have been using the 1st phase of phantom transformation?” Neil muttered in surprise.

If that really was the case then how strong would the 2nd and 3rd phase be?

What changes would they bring?

And how strong would further phases be?

He felt quite excited, but then his gaze landed on the last line.

“I think I can use Phantom’s imprint now, but why is there another one?” he said out loud.

“It might be because you kinda devoured another phantom’s body, so you stole its soul space too maybe…?” Nemo said.

“…” Neil didn’t know what to say, he just wondered what it could do.

The testing of his strength and checking of rewards could wait, he wanted to get into his domain first.

His speed and stamina had really increased, he didn’t feel tired at all despite sprinting for so long.

Soon, the domain came into view.

The blurry figure entered the domain before anyone could notice.

With the frost bear gone, the blizzard had stopped and snow was starting to melt.

“Lord!” the two archers standing on the towers were the first to notice him, as they bowed respectfully.

Soon, all the other subjects rushed out, stopping whatever they were doing.

Ileana too ran out of the main building, her eyes were puffed up after waiting for him.

She jumped into his arms, hugging him with every bit of her strength, sobbing in his embrace.

“I am fine, Eli. See, not even hurt.” He consoled her gently, caressing her back.

It took some time but finally she calmed down.

“Lord, as per your orders, I have cleared all the nearby links I could find, leaving only one behind.” Leon reported, sighing in relief.

“Well done, I guess now we can continue to head towards those bars.” Neil gazed away at the enormous bars.

Finally, with the beasts gone, there shouldn’t be any big troubles.

He wondered how much his strength had increased after that last process, or whatever it was.

’I still need to test the phases of the phantom transformation, test the soul space skills, check the rewards and test my strength.’

But he also wanted to go and meet with his teacher immediately.

Only one link was left which was for the scorpions, this had opened before the explosion.

So it worked perfectly fine.

Few scorpions were locked up in the prison, while the other creatures were already dead.

“We are already close to the link, Nemo send a message to teacher, I will first go meet her.” Neil said.

After spending some time with them, he walked towards the core room.

***

“Princess, are you going out again today?” a snake woman asked respectfully.

“Yes, take care of things in the domain, I will be late.” Cinthia said dismissively.

“I understand, I will inform you if anything happens here.” After bowing she left the room.

It was early morning, Cinthia sat over a throne staring at the ground.

“Sigh you have been going to the clash realm for over a month now, how long are you even going to wait? He might already be dead… he was talented but I am sure you can replace him with someone to fool your parents.” El, her AI assistant spoke.

“No, he can’t be replaced. I mean, there is no one as talented, and I don’t believe he is dead. I will wait a little more.” Cinthia replied, her face as emotionless as ever.

But her voice and heart were not, guilt and worry filled her heart.

Her mood had been really bad recently, she remained angrier than usual.

She stood up, and was soon inside the clash realm.

Sitting over a wooden chair, she stared at the empty field and waited, just like usual.

DING

Just then a message popped, she absentmindedly opened it.

Cinthia was used to receiving messages all the time, people would always want favours from her or just form connections.

But just as she was about to remove it, she was pulled back to her senses, seeing the name of the sender.

-Dead Man Walking-

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