Ch.44. Predator

Deia leaves.

In the silence that returned, I first cleaned up the spilled tea.

The tea, irregularly spread across the floor, looked almost like the shape of Deia’s emotions submerged in anger.

‘That type has always been difficult to deal with.’

I sigh.

Even back when I attended school, people with intense emotions or large emotional fluctuations were hard to handle.

It felt like we were completely incompatible.

Yet uncomfortably, some of those people found me frustrating and would either force their way until they got tired and gave up, or they would get angry instead.

‘This time, I’m the one who’s at fault though.’

No, not me but Deus’s fault, but since I’ve taken over his body…

It can’t be helped.

Personally, I wanted to build a new relationship with Deia, so I planned to tolerate her grumbling as much as possible.

It could be seen as helping release her grudge, something I learned while dealing with ghosts.

‘Family, huh.’

My relationship with my family in my previous life couldn’t be called good even as a polite lie.

My shaman grandmother.

My mother who despised that grandmother terribly.

My mother hated the fact that I could see ghosts, and when told I would only live a full life if I became a shaman, she sent me away to my grandmother’s house.

Despite that, my father who occasionally came to visit me.

I didn’t know the details, but my father worked as a manager of a large factory.

Every time he came to see me, the number of ghost-like employees following behind him increased one by one.

Being young at the time, I thoughtlessly asked about it.

And my father, with a terrified expression, never came to see me again.

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t lonely.

To say I have no illusions about family would be ridiculously self-deceptive.

“This time, I might be able to do a little better.”

With that resolution, I clean up the tea and sit back down, collecting myself.

I don’t need to go to work or prepare lectures, but I’m still busy.

‘It’s a shame I couldn’t bring my research materials.’

If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have used the tools provided by the Academy.

Since all my research results were Academy property, I had no choice but to leave them behind.

‘Even if it costs money, I should use personal items.’

Though I say this, I wasn’t financially abundant.

Simply resolving to do so if money came in, I begin to summon mana to my open palm.

The blue mana, bubbling and popping like foam, soon begins to darken.

The purple mana that gradually clumps together forms a beautiful circle.

The important part is the white light inside the sphere. Like the filling in rice cake, the light enveloped by black mana was a materialized soul.

Whose?

Obviously mine.

‘To be precise, the soul is being protected by mana.’

In this world, this was called Black Magic.

On this continent, Black Magic is something to be avoided, a discipline that shouldn’t be learned carelessly, but I had no choice but to learn it.

Because with Deus’s body, which was pathetically untalented, I couldn’t be of any help in preventing the calamity coming to this continent.

No matter how hard I try, in all other aspects, the protagonist’s companions are superior versions.

For example, even in simple magic, I fall short compared to my fiancée, Erika Bright.

She has the potential to reach the level of a Grand Mage.

The Verdi family isn’t particularly outstanding financially either.

While they live lavishly in the northern frontier, to the central nobles, they’re just one of many insignificant families.

They only receive recognition because they defend against the frequent attacks by foreign tribes at the border.

For someone like me to be helpful to the protagonist, or more precisely, to survive in this terrible game, Black Magic was the only way.

In that area, I overflowed with talent.

I want to be precise about this.

It’s not that Deus Verdi has talent, but that the human ‘Shinwoo Kim’ overflowed with talent.

Black Magic included numerous spells dealing with the dead, such as necromancy and curses.

A discipline aimed at inflicting pain, cursing others, and complete destruction.

Created solely for selfish purposes, it was legally prohibited by the kingdom, but it wasn’t difficult to obtain in the city where Robern was, as it could be traded secretly.

‘I’ve learned the basics of necromancy.’

Everyone living on this continent accumulates at least some mana in their bodies.

Because the continent’s air contains traces of mana.

If you can accumulate more than others and transform it within yourself, that makes you a mage.

In short, it’s fair to say that people live their entire lives immersed in mana.

Is it just the body that’s soaked in mana?

No.

A person’s soul also lives steeped in mana throughout life, and the necromancy I intend to use is based on this.

[Kekeke! Verdi’s idiot! You’re back!]

[Look at him getting cursed out by his own sister!]

[Of course! He’s a crazy bastard who wanted to have sex with his sister!]

[Kukukuku! That’s because I showed him Deia naked in his dream!]

[Where did he learn to ask his sister to suck him off just because he saw that?]

Damn evil spirits noisily circling around.

‘I’ve thought this before, but this mansion has too many ghosts.’

I don’t know what the Verdi family did, but this place had so many ghosts it could be called a spiritual hotspot.

“Hoo.”

It worked out well.

Before I had to do this, Skral came to me first.

I didn’t need to trick a useful ghost.

From the black sphere enveloping my soul in my palm, a hand stretches out.

Grab!

It accurately catches one of the souls that had been circling around me, laughing among themselves.

It was the one who claimed to have shown Deia naked in a dream.

[Kieek! Wh-what is this!]

[H-he got caught?]

The other evil spirits were startled too, but the expression of the caught one was the most entertaining.

I clenched my fist as if to crush it.

Crunch!

[Kuaaaaaaaaaaaaa!]

A scream so wretched it envelops the entire mansion. What a fine soprano singer.

Though no living person can hear it.

For the dead, it must be noise disturbing their peace.

“Gather.”

Ghosts came from the walls, floor, and ceiling, drawn by the scream.

Among them were some who simply wandered, unable to move on, but unfortunately, most were evil spirits.

[Verdi! Verdi! Verdi!]

Some just mindlessly called the family name.

[Can I bite your hand just once?]

[I, I prefer tongues.]

Some were cannibals.

[How dare you! You disturb my peace!]

[Verdi’s ruffian? Ah, someone with absolutely no dignity as a noble has returned.]

Some appeared to be nobles.

All spirits, whether peacefully resting or waiting for an opportunity, gathered in the room.

[Has the talentless, womanizing Verdi idiot returned?]

[Why didn’t you tell me? It’s so fun to enter this bastard’s dreams!]

[Kekeke! Let’s have fun again, Deus!]

[I’ll make him wet the bed!]

Being dead must make them oblivious.

Can’t they see the soul currently caught in my mana?

“I am not the Deus you knew.”

The ghosts blink at me, seemingly surprised that I responded.

During the three months I lived with the family, I pretended not to see ghosts, just as in my previous life.

But now there’s no need for that.

“The soul contains mana.”

That’s why the supernatural phenomena caused by ghosts materialize.

“Conversely.”

The captured evil spirit is absorbed and disappears.

The black sphere made of mana swirled small in my palm.

“You are all essentially clumps of mana with will.”

[R-run away!]

A quick-witted noble soul immediately turned to flee, but it was already too late.

The moment you entered this room, your future ceased to exist.

The dead are beautiful only when they remain dead.

With a sardonic smile, I applied pressure to my hand and declared:

“You useless waste, at least you can be of some help.”

The souls begin to be sucked toward the sphere. They screamed trying to escape, but couldn’t overcome the suction and were pulled into the sphere.

I feel mana rising throughout my body. The faded power of those who had handled mana in life, such as mages or knights, came sweetly like a delicacy.

An action I couldn’t perform on the souls at the Academy.

“It’s somewhat reduced, but…”

Perhaps because the ghosts’ mana now resides with me?

I thought all the ghosts in the mansion had come, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Rather, those who came were all just insignificant evil spirits.

“You wretched ones.”

Clenching my fist tightly, I declared:

“I will devour you all.”