“DIIIIEEEEEEE!!!”

It was another invisible attack. Mir used her instinct to dodge. The same was done by Zed. It also used its instinct to avoid the attack.

“I’m already dead, I don’t want to die for the second time! Besides, there are still a lot of comics that I haven’t read yet—!” Mir abruptly pulled Zed away.

She wanted to tell it that it talked too much, but Mir didn’t have any leeway to do so because of the invisible attack coming to her. She gritted her teeth in frustration.

They were already in this situation for fifteen minutes. Well, fifteen minutes for Mir, but it had been hours for Zed. However, they were still in a stalemate, where they were at a disadvantage. All they could do was dodge haphazardly, while their enemy threw a lot of invisible attacks at them.

“There must be its real body, somewhere in this room! Or else, it won’t be able to attack us continuously like this! Mir, try looking for clues—!" Zed yelled as it suddenly dove to the floor to avoid the invisible attack.

Mir nodded. Zed had already thought about this method ever since the beginning. However, because it was alone, the attack from the enemy was relentless so it couldn’t do anything but trying to survive with all its might.

Now, the situation was different. Because Mir was here, the attack was divided between the two of them. So, they had more time, not much, but still, they had more time to look for clues.

…but what kind of clues do I need to look for?

Mir asked this question while gave a quick scan of the room. It was not a big room. The size was only 3 x 4 meters. There was not much space to put something. Moreover, besides the fact that everything in the room looked old, they were tidier than the other rooms in the mansion.

It was as if before everyone in this mansion died, they had been taking care of this room meticulously.

However, there was only a table without any drawers. A single chair. And…

“…skeleton?” Mir gasped as she saw the headless skeleton that sat on the chair. No, the skull was on the floor right beside the skeleton. Thinking that it was probably the main body of the ghost, Mir tried to approach it.

“Don’t bother with the skeleton, it’s not its main body! Oops! I already beheaded its head, but it doesn’t— oops, do anything! Also, it doesn’t have any keys!" Zed commented.

“…” Mir didn’t reply. While dodging the invisible attacks that came from all over the room, Mir gradually came closer to the skeleton. Something was bothering her about the skeleton.

No, actually, it looked like a normal skeleton. It was wearing old traditional clothes for women. The clothes were as old as everything in the mansion. Besides the clothes, however, the skeleton didn’t wear any accessories.

“…”

Mir felt that something was weird with the skeleton. However, she couldn’t put it together. She only felt that something, something unrelated to the supernatural being…

“…Zed.” Mir called out to Zed. She couldn’t dodge everything, so, once in a while, she put a barrier in front of her. However, a barrier could only mitigate some damage, so Mir usually chose to dodge if she could.

“What’s wrong, Mir? Do you find anything?” Zed asked.

“…secret room?” Mir put a barrier on her left.

“…I don’t know, I can’t get out of this room. There’s a supernatural barrier on the walls, ceiling, and floor, so—”

“…” Mir nodded in understanding. While dodging, she also tried to remember everything about the mansion from the memories of the young man.

…a secret room… once, that young man saw the blueprint of this mansion. If I remember correctly, there should be a secret room in this mansion and the door that lead to that secret room should be here. However…

Mir tried to open the door out of this room, but it was locked. No, it was not locked. She felt that something was pushing this door from outside, preventing it to be opened no matter what.

…if the door to the secret room can’t be opened like this, it would be useless whether we find the secret room or not. Something, I need more clues…

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She couldn’t find more clues. The room was devoid of anything else besides the desk, the chair, and the skeleton of a woman sitting on the chair…

…a woman? Who is that woman? I remember the mother of that young man died at an early age and she was buried properly. Maid? No maid would ever wear such expensive-looking clothes—

“Mir, watch out! You really have to stop daydreaming! It’s extremely dangerous!” Zed pulled Mir at the last second. The invisible attack passed through Mir's head, cutting several strands of her hair.

“…Zed.” Mir looked at Zed.

“…You found something?” Zed asked in surprise.

“…who?” Mir pointed at the skeleton.

“Who… you ask me? Who am I asking that question to!? Of course, it’s the skeleton of the ghost that we haven’t seen but keep attacking us! Woah, that was close!”

Mir shook her head. “…no woman.”

“What do you mean by no woman!? Ah, another close one! You mean there shouldn’t be a woman living in this mansion? How do you know that? No, but look at those clothes! They are clearly made for women! Don’t you think so?”

“…nn.” Mir nodded. “…no woman.”

“Uh, alright, so, if there’s no woman, you mean… that’s a skeleton of a man?” The ghost asked.

“…nn.” Mir nodded hesitantly. She wasn’t sure, because that might be the skeleton of a maid who stole expensive-looking clothes from the previous owner. But the chance of that happening was too small. Moreover, she remembered that the one who frequently went down to this basement was…

“…brother.”

“Ah, I don’t understand what you are talking about! Mir, do what you believe is right! I trust you!” Zed couldn’t follow her trains of thought, so it just gave up and decided to trust Mir, no matter what happened.

“…nn.” Mir put up her barrier and walked closer to the skeleton. When she was in front of the skeleton, the barrage of attacks increased in intensity, however, Mir managed to block them all perfectly. Though she felt like she was speeding with a motorcycle through pouring rain without helmet, it was still bearable.

“…Riku.”

Mir knew his name. After all, she had the memories of living with him for years. She was also compared to him all those years. So, not only his name, she knew everything she needed to know about him. However, it seemed that there was something that not even his family was aware of.

“…”

After Mir called his name, everything in the room went silent. Mir, Zed, and the ghost, Riku, no one did anything at all. All the attention was on Mir. And then…

…now what? I never speak to anyone before! Can I calm the ghost… no, can I calm Riku down?

“…”

…and the answer to her question was… she couldn’t. After five seconds of full silence, the ghost started attacking Mir with all its might. It was not only attacking her with countless invisible attacks, but it also appeared.

There was a young… man wearing old traditional woman clothes in front of Mir. His countenance was beautiful. He didn’t look like Riku at all. Mir couldn’t see any resemblance between Riku and the young… woman in front of her.

“Wait, what!? Mir, are you sure she is a he!? Are you really sure!?” Zed exclaimed. It was dumbfounded by the revelation of the secret in front of it.

“…!” Mir couldn’t answer because besides protecting herself from the invisible attacks, she also had to protect herself from the ghost’s unmitigable pressure. The ghost was trying to grab Mir, which Mir prevented by creating a strong barrier between her and the ghost.

“…heavy.” Mir muttered as she felt the ghost was as heavy as a hundred kilos of weight, pressing on her whole body. She couldn’t move, no, she could barely breathe.

Mir took a glance at Zed, asking it for help. However, she saw Zed was already thrown far away because the ghost emitted its force in all directions. Zed was trying to come closer, but its power was far beneath the ghost, Riku, and so, it couldn’t even come closer than three meters away.

“Mir! Hang on! I’m coming!” Zed pushed with all its strength, but the closer it was, the stronger the pressure. Mir noticed that Zed couldn't help her, so, she had to do something herself.

There was only one thing she could do at this moment!

Mir gritted her teeth and undo the barrier protecting her. When she undid the barrier, the barrage of invisible attacks finally hit her body directly.

“Mir!!” Zed screamed in worry. After all, not only she saw Mir’s body was assaulted by countless invisible force from all direction. The ghost also managed to grab her neck and it pushed her to the wall.

“…!”

“Mir, I’m coming! Hang on!!!” Zed used all its strength, but it still couldn’t move forward at all.

Mir felt like she was going to die. She couldn’t breathe. All of her body was in pain as if a thousand knives cut her body. Blood seeped from all of her body. And the pressure coming from the ghost didn’t relent at all. It felt like she was crushed by a huge boulder and she couldn’t do anything about it.

But Mir didn’t think of doing anything about it at all. No, she wasn’t thinking anything like that. When she undid the barrier, she already prepared herself to receive such attacks.

That was why she could concentrate on attacking. No matter how painful it was, as long as she didn’t die, she could attack. With that kind of determination, she undid her barrier and compressed her spiritual energy in front of her face. When the ghost tightened his grasp on her neck, Mir smiled wryly.

…ah, it seems that I have to feel another pain that can’t be described by words. Again…

And with that smile, she shot the compressed spiritual power that she gathered in front of her face silently. The spiritual power… didn’t hit the ghost. No, it hit, but it only grazed the ghost. Though a part of its head was missing, it was still alive because it dodged at the last second.

Mir was surprised. She never expected him to be able to dodge that kind of invisible attack. Even though it didn’t kill him, it screamed and released Mir. Mir coughed as she was dropped to the floor. Mir could barely move. She looked at the ghost who screamed while holding his head with his hand.

…I didn’t manage to kill it. It seems… that I’m the one who is going to… no, I won’t let that to happen to me…!

With the last push, Mir tried to stand up once again, to no avail. She lost too much blood and now, even her consciousness started to fade. But she couldn’t faint. Not here, not now.

“…” Fortunately, with that kind of wound, the ghost stopped emitting its pressure anymore. That was why Zed could come closer to it. With its tentacles, it whipped at the ghost. Once again, the ghost dodged the attack in a hairbreadth!

“Tsk! So stubborn!” Zed complained and kept attacking him with all his power.

“…”

While Zed kept the ghost attention to it, Mir started gathering her spiritual power once again. She only had one last chance. If she missed, she wouldn’t have another chance. That was why, she had to make sure that this last chance wouldn’t miss.

However, both Zed and the ghost moved erratically. Mir wouldn’t be able to aim at the ghost properly. Even if she could, she wouldn’t be able to hit its vital organ. Not that a ghost had a vital organ, but if she blew its head, it would be dead for sure. But it was difficult to aim at its head when the ghost and Zed moved erratically like that.

“Seal of Five Elements!”

That was when the door was abruptly opened and Raleigh threw five talismans at the ghost. Zed managed to step back at the right time, but the ghost wasn’t able to do that. It was surrounded by the five talismans from five different elements and its movement was restricted greatly.

“…now!” Mir shot her compressed spiritual power, right at the ghost’s head. The ghost widened its eyes… and its head exploded beautifully…