"RAAAAHHAHAA!!!"
"It took a while but yeah... You're a human after all!" Pishacha laughed as he enjoyed Red-Hairs suffering.
"That being said, how come you two still on your feet..." A bit confused, Pishachas directed their attention at me and Curna.
Pishachas have ability to mess with material mind. They may possess one and alter their thoughts. This mostly leds victims afflicted with a variety of maladies and abnormality like insanity. Since they feed on one's life energy, Pishachas may leave Red-Hairs inflicted both physically, mentally, and spiritually.
๐๐ง ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ-๐๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ...
Of course I was immune to such nuisance but I was still curious about Curna. And surely he got me...
"Bad for you, I couldn't be affected by any of your Mayas..." As Curna struck he right earring with his thumb.
Both ends of his ears were radiating glow.
His earrings were surely a bless to him.
"Now then, prepare yourself!"
Curna notified his opponents as he pulled the string of his bow. Amazingly, this time the arrows were all in flame, discarding Pishachas' formation.
"You go help Neulon!"
"As you wish,"
Using the distraction created, I made my way to Red-Hairs who was still suffering in pain, and carried him.
"Not Like That!!!" One of the Pishacha attacked me. For his worthless attempt, number of arrows penetrated dark mist making Pishacha scream in pain.
"RAAAHHHA!!!"
In that moment, I retreated back to Curna with Red-Hairs by my shoulder as I thanked Curna with light nod.
"You really are something... Got such brilliant accuracy,"
"Why thank you," Curna glanced at Red-Hairs.
"They are trying to take over his mind completely... The more he resist, the more painful it'll be!"
"What should weโ do?" Curna murmured as he shoot arrows at Pishachas.
"How come you're not affected by any of their forces?" I asked Curna.
"The Earrings... They protect my mind from corruption. Non sort of Magic, Maya or ridiculous tricks could possibly harm me."
"That's just, impressive..."
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฑ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ... ๐๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ,
"By the way, how come you're still fine?"
Curna asked me.
"...Oh yeah, I know this technique," Unable to comprehend reason, I simply demonstrated a trick to him.
I chanted few mantras on Red-Hairs. All his sufferings vanished as he looked up.
"Nghh... What...? How...?"
"You seem fine to me... C'mon, we have job to do,"
I supported Red-Hairs to get back on his feet as I handed him his marvelous sword.
Red-Hairs held it and support himself with the stick.
๐๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต, ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ-๐๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ...
"Neulon, you stay here...I'll finish this for you real quick,"
๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ... ๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
"W-Wait... I can do t-thisโ"
"Just wait right there." I silenced Red-Hairs as I turned my attention to Pishachas, Curna had been holding back until now.
"Now then..." I charged at a Pishacha, nearest to me, and ready to unleash attack.
"Fool!!! You're Dead Now, Hahahaha!!!!" Pishacha, scoffing, threw fire at me.
"Fool, huh...? Is it me, or is it you..."
Without any ado, touching the mistโ
"...How?!!"
I released ever last bit of concentrated energy from my plam...
There wasn't anything left behind.
The seemingly leader of Pishacha's, his very existence in itself, vanished in nothingness...
"2 down, 3 to go..."
I turned my attention to other three Pishachas who here terror-stricken by the play.
"Still not running away?" I asked Pishachas.
As if realising, they turned their back at me,
"Fuck!! Get away, These GUYS ARE MONSTERS!!!"
Crying, they tried to escape... only to get slaughtered.
"O Fire, AGNEYASTRA!!!" Calling for Agni, the fire, Curna released 3 arrows from his bow.
The Blazing Arrows hit all 3 of the Pishachas at the back of their head, setting them on conflagration.
"AHAHAAAAAH!!!"
"RAGAGHAHAHHHAA!!!"
"ARGAHAHAAA!!!"
Screaming in agony, Pishachas vaporized in the Burning Flames of Agneyastra...
Not even the ashes remain.
"With that, we may rest assured... for now,"
"You doing fine, Red-Hairs?"
"Somehow..." He supported himself with the stick.
"How come you're unaffected by Pishachas' malevolent aura...?"
"Cause I ain't that weak." I mocked Red-Hairs which obviously irritated him.
"Youโ!"
"Anyways, Curna..." I ignored Red-Hairs.
"Hm?"
"Your earings, is it possible for you to protect other's mind with them?"
"Well, I never tried so I have no clue,"
"How about you give it a go. If possible, you may able to protect mine and Red-Hairs' mind form any deceiving force,"
"Ok, I'll try..." With that, Curna closed his eyes. Not a delay before he open his eyes and looked straight at me.
"Done... I think this will work,"
"So... You managed to increase the effective range of your earings?"
"Yeah. I'm not entirely sure about this but I do believe it'll work,"
Wheather it works or not, we'll eventually know. If anything, I do believe that we'll encounter any more Pishachas so...
"Hmm... Still, how come there are Pishachas here of all the places?" Red-Hairs raised a fair point.
This rather unusual encounter was out of place which also forced me be on guard.
I must interrogate the event and maybe... it could be connected in some way or another.
"We better get going... It wouldn't be surprise if guards arrive here." Though I casted a barrier avoiding to escape any sound, we couldn't waste much of our time.
"Yes, you're right. Let's get going, after all we have a job to do." Curna responded.
"The Church will surely have the answers,"
Surrounded by high walls, the church was in the centre of area. A garden at entrance, and dorms behind within the walls.
"So, where start our ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต?" Neulon asked.
"How about we split? This will make things much easier," I suggested.
"You sure...?" Curna asked, a bit concerned.
"Whose There?!!" A knight yelled. They were probably on round.
We all stopped in our track and hide our presence in tall bushes.
"Must be a dog..." Another knight replied as the knight scanned his surrounding. He did tried to sense our presence.
๐๐ฎ๐ฎ...
I erased our presence just in case...
"Oh, he is talking about you, commoner..." Red-Hairs, as always, tried to insult Curna, who again... ignored him.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐จ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต...
The Knights paid no mind when once they finished observing. Satisfied, they then carried on their round.
"Maybe we should split..." Curna said.
If we split here, we can survey expeditiously and I to can work efficiently but the only problem is...
"Well then, I'll go right, you two go left..." I proposed.
"Hauh?! I ain't going with this guy... Why should I?!" Red-Hairs straight out refused to tag along with Curna.
"I too don't want to go with Neulon... He will just get in the way," Curna too, refused.
"What did ya say?!! I'll beatโ,"
"Now now, how about we be more rational... Look, we encounter any Pishachas, there is possibility that you'll faint Neulon. Neither I nor Curna can be affected by Pishachas' impulsive forces. That leaves you alone. It would be better if you tag along with Curna since he is adequate enough to prevent any harm to your mind from Pishachas."
"... If you say so," Curna somewhat agreed, but Red-Hairs still showed sign of disagreement so I just cornered him.
I said in his ear, "The thing is, I want you to keep an eye on Curna while I do my inspection." With that, Red-Hairs' expression changed.
I distanced myself from him and said a bit loud, "This is all for your own sake after all,"
"... Well then, I'll go with this trash."
Curna and Red-Hairs turned their heels and charged in opposite direction as mine, as I casted barrier around Red-Hairs just to be on safe side.
"I better get going too..."
. . . . .