Bahuwirya, Farrel's old ghost friend that enabled him to punch through walls with his bare hand and kill a person without touching them, was an incredibly strong ghost.
From dozens of meters away, Farrel would be able to sense his enormous presence and the waves of intense negative energy just from being in the near vicinity of the ghost.
However, the same thing couldn't be said if it was from hundreds of meters away.
A little nagging sense was all that Farrel could sense from the huge ghost if he were that far away from it.
His sixth sense would tell him of an unusual presence, but he would not be overwhelmed by Bahuwirya's leaking energy.
But now, just like how Joy started shaking the moment he noticed the negative energy, Farrel could also feel the intense feeling coming from that certain direction.
The only time he ever felt this kind of stifling pressure was one time when he encountered a demon cult performing a ritual that involves tens of people as human sacrifice.
And he had only felt such an enormous amount of energy once all throughout his decades of experiences as a shaman.
'Am I really dealing with a demon?'
Farrel walked closer in that direction.
Inching one step at a time to make sure that he could turn away as fast as he could as soon as he felt something was off.
"Farrel? Are you sure you'll be going there…?" Joy followed after Farrel, floating as close as possible to his body.
Joy was afraid.
Different from Farrel that still had a physical body in the mortal realm, Joy's whole existence was located in the ghost's realm.
The intensity the kid felt from the being was at least double what Farrel felt.
His instinct told him that whatever lay there, it would mean danger for him.
He didn't know if a ghost could die again, but Joy didn't have any plans to find out about it.
However, he didn't want to leave Farrel's side.
Other than the fact that he thought it would be more dangerous if he went alone, he also had said that he would follow Farrel wherever he goes. He was a man- or rather, a ghost of his words.
So even with his whole being covered with dread, Joy stuck close to Farrel.
And an inaudible sigh escaped his lips after Farrel stopped moving.
"Fortunately, I am sure this is not a demon's doing," Farrel said after getting a better sense of the energy enveloping him.
After meeting demons a couple of times, Farrel had already memorized the feeling that he would get every time those entities came near him.
And right now, that feeling was nonexistent despite the overwhelming negative energy that he felt.
"Well Joy, whatever it was living deep inside, I hope that our plan will succeed."
Just imagining what kind of power he would get after making a deal with such an entity made Farrel's conviction even stronger.
The case might not be as the rumors had told. The intense negative energy might be from a group of ghosts.
But Farrel could also make several deals instead of one, so he wouldn't be affected too much by that difference.
The only thing that matters was that he got the power and energy that he needed to keep himself safe.
'No matter if it were a single ghost that had caused this or an army of them, I could manage with either of the two.'
With his senses flaring up to the max and a firm step forward, Farrel continued moving deeper into the rich negative energy region, closer to the source that had caused it all.
Joy had practically been gluing himself onto Farrel's body all this time. His head moved around in all directions, being wary of even a small movement of a tree branch.
But as he got more used to the stifling pressure, Joy braced himself.
"Farrel, I will scout ahead."
Joy had been doing the scouting duty all this time when Farrel was traveling throughout the forest.
Making sure Farrel didn't have to deal with beasts when he didn't want to and meet any of the other bandit groups.
And Joy was happy that he was entrusted with the responsibility of keeping Farrel out of trouble using his own ability.
He forgot about that job for a few moments when his instincts told him of great danger lying ahead, but now that he had gotten used to it, Joy remembered what he should be doing.
"Are you sure Joy? It's okay if you don't want to do it."
"This is different from the forest we've been traveling through in the past couple of days."
Shaking his head and floating forward, Joy replied, "No, I will make sure that we won't run into anything dangerous without knowing about it."
"Okay," Farrel nodded, "Just make sure you prioritize your own safety. Run away the second you feel like running away."
Always trusting one's instinct was one way to enhance it.
Even if it turns out to be wrong the first couple of times, the more you know yourself, the more you can differentiate whether it was really your instinct telling you to do something or a certain emotion that was pushing you to do it.
Just like beasts in the wilds that could know whether they were walking in a predator's line of sight or not just based on their feeling.
And in the case of a supernatural being and a supernatural occurrence, that instinct would be enhanced even more as the two were linked to each other.
'Okay,' Joy answered telepathically after he had flown a distance away from Farrel.
The moment the two had made the deal, the two could now communicate using telepathy without Farrel having to use another spell like he did before.
Using the deal they made, the two were already connected to each other, even without using a spell.
The second Joy left his side, Farrel made his own preparation as he drew the cursed sword from its scabbard and called upon the souls of the bandits to empower himself.
'It's safe here.'
Following Joy's lead, Farrel moved forward with ease as he knew that Joy had made sure it was safe.
'Safe'
'Safe'
'Safe'
The two continued their journey closer and closer and the overwhelming energy finally felt so thick that Farrel could physically feel his body getting slightly heavier as he moved forward.
Knowing how much it must have affected ghosts if it had affected him this much, Farrel called out to Joy.
'Joy, why don't you return here? Let's continue the rest of the journey together. I'm sure we're almost there.'
From their connection, he felt Joy's determination and fear, the former slightly overpowering the latter as he scouted ahead of him.
But the latter feeling quickly and surely caught up to the former and Farrel didn't want his little ghost friend to freeze in place due to fear if he did find something dangerous ahead.
'Don't worry Farrel, I'm good. There's nothing to fear-'
Without being able to finish his sentence, the sense of dread that had slowly been building up inside Joy suddenly burst up, catching Farrel off guard as the feeling transferred to him.
But Farrel didn't have any time to be surprised or freeze in fear as he heard a loud, panicked scream in his head.
'FARREL, SAVE ME!!!'