System of the Beast Slayer [litrpg Adventure]
Copyright© 1999 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 312: Devouring the Shadows Within
The laboratory.
Five Witchers gathered around the hexagram at the end of the passage, and the lifelike feline statue, inspecting them again and again, studying every detail.
In the end, they found, with some frustration, that the magic circle was nothing more than the most common kind of summoning circle, drawn with ivory powder mixed with blood, recorded in countless ancient texts.
There were innumerable otherworldly creatures that could answer such a summoning.
But the most critical elements, the incantation, and the components used for the summoning spell, were completely absent.
Too much time had passed. Even Witcher Senses could not pick up any useful trace. They had no way of identifying what kind of evil spirit had taken the magpie’s nest inside Kaen, no way to treat it at the source.
As for the statue.
It was steeped in a chill presence. The Witchers’ keen perception picked up its strangeness at once.
“This statue is not carved from ordinary stone ... It is mixed with materials that conduct magic well ... moonstone, obsidian, or something similar.” Kael’s broad hand ran along the sleek spine of the leopard statue. “Every bit of magic I pour into it gets absorbed. It gives no response.”
“Steingard went to great lengths to place this statue before the summoning circle. There must be a purpose behind it.”
“Then let’s smash the damned thing!” Orin stroked the statue’s long tail. “That abomination may be anchored to it. Break the statue, the malevolent entity disappears, and Kaen returns to normal at once!”
“We do not yet understand the principle. Destroying it outright would be reckless,” Flavius shook his head. “More likely we would cut off any chance Kaen has of recovering.”
“When you searched the living and experimental areas, did you not find any books related to summoning, or any spatial storage?” Roy frowned. “We found the key to open this laboratory. It makes no sense that there would be no related materials.”
“One of the participants was devoured by drowners. The other survived. Perhaps the one who lived took the materials with him.”
Letho spoke.
“Judging by this, his crimes are more than one. Not only did he perform forbidden experiments on living bodies, he also summoned a malevolent entity from another world to harm the innocent ... Count the charges together, if reported to the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, he would at least be expelled from the registry.”
“That is if we can find him first.”
They discussed it a while longer. All agreed the statue was closely tied to the malevolent entity. So they placed Kaen, bound like a wrapped dumpling, back where he had been, kneeling within the magic circle, facing the statue.
And watched.
“No ... good ... no evil ... only emptiness ... forever.”
“No ... evil ... or justice ... only pain is real.”
It worked. Once brought near the statue, the frequency of Kaen’s muttering dropped noticeably. His crimson, lightning-like eyes seemed drawn to it, always drifting back to the statue.
“That look...” Roy waved a hand before his eyes. Kaen noticed the “intruders,” and the muttering quickened again.
“Affinity. And desire...” Kael murmured.
Orin and Letho dragged Kaen forward again, binding him directly to the statue, skin to stone.
In an instant.
Kaen closed his eyes. All struggle ceased. He became docile beyond measure.
As if he had returned to a warm, safe harbor.
But ten seconds later, the madness returned. The muttering resumed, his hollow red gaze flickering between the statue and the men.
It was enough.
They saw the pattern, and a hypothesis formed.
“The malevolent entity from another world first took possession of this statue when it entered our world. Or rather, Steingard set up this statue of special materials to lure it here.”
Kael reasoned.
“Later, that sorcerer used some method to forcibly transfer the abomination into Kaen, whose mind had already broken under torment.”
“A sorcerer without conscience, full of ambition, trying to control a dual existence and make it serve him.”
Letho concluded. “But his scheme failed. Kaen could not be controlled. Only slaughter and destruction filled his mind.”
“After that,” Roy completed the chain of events, “one of Steingard and his student Sicula died by accident, devoured by drowners. The other, disheartened, sealed this laboratory beneath Temple Isle with illusion and left. Perhaps he found another place to continue his work.”
“As for how to save him...”
“We reverse the summoning.” Griffin paced around his bound friend. “Open the channel between Kaen and the statue. Attack the abomination inside him. Force it back to a more suitable vessel, back into the statue.”
“Methods that target the body will not work,” Letho said, thoughtful. “We try Axii.”
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