The village wasn't too big, so after just a few minutes of walking, Alex arrived at the eastern outskirts.
'Hmm, the winds here are cold, and there's a light fog covering this place. The further I move away from the village, the denser the fog becomes.' Alex thought as he assessed his surroundings.
Though it was far from winter, there was a slight chill in the wind. The air was thick and musty, giving off an ominous vibe that could unsettle the weak-hearted.
As night fell, the moon shone brightly, its silver light illuminating the landscape. However, as he moved further from the village, the fog grew denser, blocking the moonlight and making it hard to see more than a few meters ahead.
This wasn't a problem for Alex, thanks to his passive skills, Enhanced Senses and Night Vision. For him, it was no different than walking normally without any obstructions to his vision.
Suddenly, he started hearing some mournful voices. The noises were like the shrill cries of an animal—high-pitched and sharp on the ears.
Instantly, Alex erected a barrier around himself and drew his sword from his inventory. A pitch-black blob of feathers attacked him from above, but the Dark Barrier shielded him from the strike.
"Hmm?! A Deathraven? Aren't these creatures supposed to be gathered where there are dead, like a graveyard or something?"
With a single strike, he slew the black-feathered crow-like monster. The system notification popped up, confirming his first kill of the day.
==============================
[The Host has killed a F rank Monster]
[+30 XP and +1 SP]
==============================
Alex remained vigilant as he carefully traversed the fog. The mournful, shrill noises persisted, and now Alex understood their source.
Deathravens, low-rank crow-like monsters, festered where there had been deaths, making shrill, mournful cries.
Soon, another Deathraven attacked, followed by another, until he was swarmed by them.
"What the hell! I'll just burn you all to ashes." Alex shouted as he cast
The heat from the spell caused the water droplets in the fog to evaporate, reducing the fog density in that specific area.
Though not the safest method due to the risk of fire spreading and the relatively small, temporary impact it would have on the fog, it was effective in this empty plot of land.
==============================
[The Host has killed a F rank Monster] X 12
[+360 XP and +12 SP]
==============================
With the remaining Deathravens flying away in fear from the sudden explosion of flames, the area fell eerily silent. Although the shrill cries had vanished, the dense fog and ghastly atmosphere remained unexplained.
'This ghastly atmosphere and presence of Deathravens doesn't seem right. Don't tell me there are really ghosts here.' Alex thought, feeling a chill run down his spine at the sudden conclusion.
Adjusting to this new world and his encounter with Aurora, Alex had read and gathered much information about ghosts and spirits.
In this world, burying the dead was considered unwise. The free-flowing energy, mana, could affect buried corpses, causing their resentment or negative emotions to fester and turn them into malign specters or ghosts.
Alex kept his barrier up, knowing physical attacks had no effect on such entities and that they could only be stopped by magic. He hoped his conjecture was wrong, but his fears were confirmed when his barrier was attacked by a hideous, formless gaseous entity.
The entity had a translucent, greyish fog-like body, constantly shifting and churning. Its dull white eyes flickered within the mist, like eerie orbs within the murky haze.
As it moved, the air grew colder, and an overwhelming sense of dread filled the atmosphere, accompanied by faint whispers of sorrow and rage that seemed to echo from its tortured soul.
"
Despite the victory, the unnerving feeling lingered. 'If there are more of these things, this village is in serious trouble.' Alex thought.
Determined, he prepared himself for further encounters, knowing he had to uncover the source of these hauntings and put an end to them for the sake of Opal Village.
Killing them or putting them to rest once again as they were already in a way dead didn't trigger the system notification stating he had killed something.
According to Alex's analysis either of two situations were possible, either they were to low level for the system to reward him or killing these things didn't count as monsters for the system.
Leaving this aside and moving forward Alex discovered more of these ghost like entities. Their strength also kept on increasing as he found more of such spectral entities.
'There seems to be no end to them, this was my thirteenth in the last hour. The last few were almost had the strength of E rank.'
The strength of these entities could be determined by the transparency of their fog like body. The more opaque it was, the stronger they were.
Alex had no problem navigating and exterminating these ghosts. The only problem was they would surround him and try breaking in his barrier to suck out his lifeforce, slowing him down.
Near the centre of this place the fog was thickest and the ghosts also started to become more stronger.
Some E rank ones seemed to be mixture of others as they had multiple eyes and attacked crazily at him from different angles
'According to Aurora these things are mindless and clueless beings. They only have the most basic instinct left. The prey on the living and deprive them of their life force.'
If one would guess there were more than a few dozens of these things but now the question begged why were there only concentrated here and not moving forward towards the village where there were living beings present.
Alex had the same question in mind. It seemed like they were trapped here and couldn't leave this place.
All was going well until Alex spotted it. It was a completely different from the rest. It's body was not like the other ghosts which were formless.
This one seemed to be special as it had clear human like outlined shape. That was not all, it also seemed to have a sword in his hand. It was also less ethereal.
'Judging by the opaqueness and form, this ghost seems to be around D rank. I should wait and observe and not rashly move forward and attack this thing.'
Alex decided to first gather some intel on his new and strong foe, before thinking of doing something.
The human shaped ghost seemed less violent and more calm and rational than the others. It seemed to have patrolled the areas of the forest and not letting any other ghost to leave this area.
After observing for some more, Alex decided to launch his attack. He started by dual casting
The attack seemed to have some impact but the ghost was mostly unfazed as it slashed his ethereal ghost sword at Alex.
Its attack seemed to have made a crack in his barrier and the swordsmanship displayed by it was remarkable.
Alex was amazed by how this ghost blocked his attacks by his sword and was able to continuously attack his barrier and make cracks in it.
Maintaining the barrier and attacking at the same time seemed to make it difficult for Alex to focus.
Focusing on his opponent ahead, Alex poured a lot of mana into his barrier then focused on overcharging his spell to make the final kill.
"You seem to have somewhat kept your rationale and protect this place. But you are still one of these ghostly entities, and I cannot let you be. I'll have to put you to rest once more but don't worry, I will make all the others to rest forever."
Alex wasn't specifically taking to the human shaped ghost but it seemed to somehow understand him as it faintly smiled, or so it appeared to be before the overcharged
'Was it just me or did that thing smile? Anyways it's about time I get done with things here and wrap up.'
In just more than an hour he took care of all the other ghosts. The fog also started dissipating, meaning this village was now safe.