The research party had created a treehouse to observe safely from a distance.
The Moorland Menace was still feeding spirits spectral fire, and it had spent a lot of time doing so. The research leader ignored any incoming messages from the Spirit Triad.
He could easily guess what it would be about. It wasn’t known that the Moorland menace could leave the moorlands so it wouldn't be surprising for him to comb the moorlands to find his target.
“Do you think the Moorland Menace can stay hidden for 3 days?”
The research lead shook his head. “While its actions are relatively predictable, the timing isn't. The Spirit Triad also has abilities nobody is too sure of.”
“You employed an adventurer you don't know the capabilities of? Maybe the vice president is correct…”
“Rude! I do know what he can do but… only the basics. We all know that spirits are as much as an enigma as the Moorland Menace over there.”
The research lead gestured toward the Moorland Menace and held up 3 fingers.
“Spirit Triad uses 3 spirits. A bear spirit, a cat spirit and a hawk spirit. The spirits themselves don’t do much themselves, he lets them possess him.”
“Possession… sounds risky.”
“He becomes similar to an Unstoppable Beast when the bear possesses him. It will be difficult to damage him and his physical attacks will be nothing to laugh at.”
A finger went down.
“While he will not be able to fly, the hawk possession boosts his speed to levels similar to Hawkeyes or the adventurer, the Silver Torrent.”
Another finger went down.
“The cat spirit lets him mimic Crimson Eagles. Now he can only possess one spirit at a time and it’s quite clear to know which spirit possesses him but… this alone makes him a whole adventurer’s party in one. Besides spirit magic being extremely strong in this day and age, the flexibility he has also aids to his A-rank.”
Lohr adjusted his glasses. “He is missing something to imitate a Golden Angel though. If I understood this directly, he can still take damage while benign possessed by the cat spirit or the hawk spirit. That might be his weakness”
The lead researcher sighed. “Well nothing could ever exploit that weakness as spirit magic beats standard magic but… I don’t think the bear spirit possession will be able to deal with that guy.”
The two glanced at the armored spirit who had barely moved for almost a day.
“The Moorland Menace is also quite fast so he will have to rely on the other two spirits and to be honest… I feel more comfortable with this matchup when the Inquiring Anesthetist arrives.”
“The others think that the spirit mage will win.” Lohr gestured at the napping research team.
“They’re forgetting that it gave an army a lot of trouble years ago, there had also been sightings that it fought a dragon and as you see it’s still here so it either won or got a draw.”
“About the limited skills outlined in Eileen’s notes. Do you think that's all? 2 skills is… not a lot…”
The researches looked at the descriptions of the skills Eileen had witnessed. There was a flame pillar and an explosion with the gestures belonging to them. There was also the covering of the body or parts of the body, but that was standard behavior for most magic elements so not worthy of detailed descriptions.
“You’re the folklore expert right? What do you think about this?”
Lohr leaned backward. “Well there is a possibility it has more but just didn’t use them. The story of the possible previous iteration described 7 skills. One described a massive sword dropping out of the sky, which matches some sightings over the Moorlands. The notes also describe an inferno, but it’s unsure if that was a skill or just the flames spreading. So that’s 3 or 4 more possible skills that it is holding on to.”
“The Spirit Triad probably thinks the Moorland Menace has 2 spirit magic skills… this could turn out to get quite ugly if they meet up. Do you think we can locate him, inform him, have him listen and prepare before he takes on the Moorland Menace?”
“How should I know? I’m just a folklore expert.”
The lead researcher frowned. “You can’t just use that excuse for everything!”
“Ha! I just did!”
Twigs snapped and birds flew up. There was movement, the Moorland Menace got up, created a ball of fire and started rolling it.
“Lohr, wake up the rest, I will document every move!”
Lohr woke up the research party who cleaned up, grabbed their equipment and started their pursuit.
The team ran over the trail, heading toward the moorlands. Ripped open corpses of abominations laid to the side.
The trail led into the moorlands where the Moorland menace was staring down a man with 3 spectral animals behind him.
The lead researcher was yelling at him but it didn’t appear that the Spirit Triad was listening.
‘Thud, thud, thud.’
A spirit resembling a bear leapt into Spirit Triad who gained a bearlike coat of spirit energy and blocked a claw swipe and retaliated with a claw swipe itself.
The Moorland Menace, grabbed the arm, pulled it down, causing the Spirit Triad to topple and clawed at his back.
The bear like coat protected Spirit Triad who rolled aside to evade a slam.
A claw went for the armored legs of the Moorland Menace but missed as it pulled it’s leg back and used it to stomp down on Spirit Triad’s head.
Human arms resembling bear arms due to the spirit energy got crossed and blocked the stomp.
A shockwave propagated from the interaction and the ground beneath Spirit Triad cracked as the Moorland Menace put more force into its leg.
Spirit Triad, grunted and let out a bear roar as he pushed the Moorland Menace off him and got up.
Bear claws met armored claws and the fighters clawed at each other, occasionally parrying blows or forgoing defense, to land a hit on the torso of the opponent.
Spirit Triad incurred gashes in his protective bear spirit coat while the Moorland Menace got scratches that only appeared to go through the grime covering the Moorland Menace’s body.
“Ugh, unreasonably tough.” He complained.
The exchange of blows continued, but Spirit Triad got pushed back, and its spirit coat got difficult to maintain due to the constant spirit energy needed to repair the ‘wounds’in it.
His real body was unharmed but failing to maintain his [Ursus Spirit Coat] would result in a gruesome death.
He let himself get pushed back and switched to his [Accipiter Spirit Coat] as a bear spirit left his body and the hawk spirit switched in.
Wings of spirit energy sprouted from his wings as did spirit energy talons appear around his feet.
He pushed off from the ground, zipped past the Moorland Menace who tried to follow his movements and continued zipping around in an attempt to confuse his opponent.
A strike hit the cursed armor in its back and got sent flying.
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The armor on it’s back got punctured by the talons, suggesting that the cursed armor wasn’t invincible. It fed the Spirit Triad’s ego, and he kept striking the Moorland Menace from behind.
The Moorland menace couldn't react and was his plaything.
Or so he thought.
Spectral fire covered the Moorland Menace’s body, it turned around and caught the feet of the Spirit Triad. Spectral fire creeped up on the Spirit Triad and started burning through his [Accipiter Spirit Coat].
This wasn’t the Moorland Menace’s attack, however. It pulled the talons of the caught spirit mage into the air and slammed it into the ground. It pulled them up again and slammed. It slammed and slammed, again and again and again.
Not only that, but it was a brutal spectacle as its opponent couldn’t do anything.
The [Accipiter Spirit Coat] wasn’t made for durability but for speed, and it got worn out quite fast.
A hawk flew out of the target that got sung around, and a bear jumped in before the next slam completed.
The legs of the Spirit Triad grew in size, forcing open the grip on them, allowing Spirit Triad to escape.
The spectral fire covering his bod had disappeared as he had switched coats, but one thing was clear; it was unlikely that he would be able to use his [Accipiter Spirit Coat] again. His [Ursus Spirit Coat] also wasn’t suitable to combat this armored menace.
The confidence and pride Spirit Triad had in his capabilities was slowly ebbing away. His [Felis Spirit Coat] had the problem that it had no melee options. His remaining strategy was quick swapping between the bear and feline coats.
A retreat was attempted. A retreat that failed as he got launched into the air by a [Spectral Fire Pillar] into a [Spectral Explosion].
The spirit magical attacks tore through the coat, more than he had ever experienced.
It wasnt often that spirit magic meets spirit magic. Just as the Moorland Menace is ‘weak’ to spirit magic, so are spirit mages.
Lost magic is rare and other forms of lost magic would also work but this was Spirit Triad’s first encounter with an adversary that was a treat.
Spirit mages are used to combatting spirits. They need to either catch and befriend them to then agree to or force contracts on them, to use their services.
Strong spirits are rare but also get avoided for reasons Spirit Triad was experiencing.
A chance presented itself. The combination of these attacks had created distance between the Moorland menace and Spirit Triage.
A bear spirit left his body and a cat spirit jumped in, and Spirit Triad wasted no time and used [Spirit Flare].
‘Thud, thud, thud’
The Moorland Menace evaded the blaze and closed the distance.
[Ursus Spirit Coat] got worn again, and Spirit Triad prepared for an attack, but the Moorland Menace rushed past him.
“Huh, what?”
A feline ‘myow’ shook him and he turned around.
The Moorland menace had slammed the cat into the ground which was being consumed by spectral fire.
“My spirit coat!”
Spirit Triad took his distance as the hawk flying next to him was the next target.
“Ugh, this is bad…”
The first successful attack of the day landed; bear claws tore deep gashes into the left arm of the Moorland Menace, but it did cost him his hawk spirit, locking him into his [Ursus Spirit Coat]. Black fog shot out of the gashes, catching him by surprise, but he focused on his loss after realizing it did not do anything.
The Moorland menace erupted in spectral fire again and walked toward Spirit Triad who backed off.
“Haha… this is bullshit… nobody told me that you were this strong!”
His bear paws dug into the ground and a clump of dirt got flung at the approaching Moorland Menace, buying him time to flee.
The sound of metal clapping sent shivers through his spine.
He looked up to the massive amount of spirit energy he detected.
“What… what is that?!”
Spirit Triad crouched down and used the ability of his [Ursus Spirit Cloak], [Ursus Bunker].
The spirit cloak expanded and turned into something akin to an enormous bear curled up.
The [Spectral Skysword] descended and turned the battlefield into an inferno.
Spectral flames were eating at the [Ursus Bunker], whittling it down.
Another mass of spirit energy appeared above him as the Moorland menace had used another [Spectral Skysword].
The impact depleted most of Spirit Triad’s spirit energy and his spirit coat had been reduced to spirit rags. His body was still unscathed, but it wouldn't take much for that to change.
‘Thud, thud, thud.’
“That's…that’s it! It won’t follow me if I leave the moorlands!”
Spirit Triad made one of his biggest mistakes of his life and ran south toward the nearby jungle.
‘Thud, thud, thud.’
The Moorland Menace was gaining on him. He was running as a bear and thus could greatly exceed the speed a human could run, but this wasn’t enough to outrun the cursed armor coming after him.
All the damage it had taken were some minor scratches and 4 large gashes in its arm.
Spirit Triad laughed as he managed to reach the jungle, and he ran through an easily traversable trail.
A screech startled him and 2 abominations ambushed him, pushing him to the ground and attempting to consume the spirit cloak.
“Get off me vile creatures!”
‘Thud, thud, thud’
Blood drained from Spirit Triad’s face as the Moorland Menace had left the moorlands and had followed him into the jungle.
In a stroke of luck, the abominations were its first targets giving Spirit Triad time to resume fleeing.
But where to? The jungle was unsafe as well.
Spirit Triad kept running, following the trail which lead to a dead end. It would have to make his way through the thicket or…
“Hmm? Is that a treehouse?”
Spirit Triad wasted no moment and climbed into the treehouse which had signs of recent activities.
He curled up and tried to recover spirit energy when ‘thud, thud, thud.’ shook him.
He didn’t dare to move or speak a word. Not only that, but he disarmed his mana and spirit energy to make it extremely difficult for someone or something to detect him.
It was a risky move as he would be unable to defend himself if he got caught in a state of mana disarmament. This was mainly reserved as an indication of surrender or to convince someone you mean no harm, but it had niche applications like the one Spirit Triad employed.
The ‘Thud, thud, thud’ sounds continued, but they got softer and softer, indicating that the Moorland Menace had returned to the moorlands.
This fight had been fully documented by the research party which had been observing and using their equipment to measure certain forces.
The battle might have appeared to be quite long to a certain spirit mage but to observers and anyone else, it only took 11 minutes and 36 seconds for the proud spirit mage to get stripped of his spirit coats, shown the corners of the battlefield and sent packing.
The research party didn't follow Spirit Triad into the jungle as they deemed the situation too dangerous to do such but noticed the Moorland Menace returning after it had followed Spirit Triad.
It was unclear whether Spirit Triad had escaped or had died. The lack of blood on the armor was no guarantee that Spirit Triad was dead, nor the lack of spectral fire erupting from the jungle.
“Ugh, this was what I was afraid of… do you think he’s dead Lohr?”
“How should I know? I’m just a folklore expert.”
“This again…” The lead report hastily finished his report and pushed the rest of his work to his colleagues.
“Do you think we should continue our research or check up on Spirit Triad?” Lohr said unsure as he stared at the jungle.
“This might sound harsh Lohr, but his life isn’t our responsibility. He acted out of pride, and we all know; pride comes to a fall. Now he could still be alive but… I have reason to believe that we only were safe in the jungle because we were near the Moorland Menace. Think about it, we had spent almost a whole day in the jungle. Not a single animal bothered us. The abominations we encountered were after the moorland menace and when we got attacked it killed them for us.”
“You’re right, he is an A-rank adventurer. I’m just a folklore expert… there is nothing I can do for him… Hey, what do we do if he’s dead? We still need a spirit mage…”
“I don’t know Lohr. and the worst part is that he didn’t use any of the attacks we think he’s still hiding. Maybe he didn’t get pushed hard enough… we can only hope that the Inquiring Anesthetist comes with a promising team.”
Lohr sighed. “Does that even matter? They’re not spirit mages…”
The lead researcher wagged his finger. “Of course it does. Spirit magic is only needed to defeat him, he can still be controlled. Too bad we couldn't get the Silver Torrent as well, but that would make this an extremely expensive joke… getting a hold on him also seems to be near impossible, as if he’s a ghost…”
“Maybe he’s a spirit too! Hahaha!”
The researches laughed as there was no way that was the case.
“So did you make plans on how you’re going to pay the vice president back for arranging a spirit mage and the best Golden Angel on the continent?”
The lead researcher put his hands in his hair and screamed out of desperation. “Nooo! I forgot all about that! What do I do?! I’m as poor as a marshland hippo!”
Lohr smirked. “I’m pretty sure she wants your services and not your nonexistent money.’
“But that’s worse! She will work me to the bone! And then work my bones to the marrow! And then until I’m just a single atom!”
“Not my problem, and you can pay us while you’re at it.”
“I will just have to get rich! Le’s find out how to get the Moorland menace to reveal its other skills!”
Lohr sighed again. “Didn’t we come here to find out how to free the one inside? Shouldn't we focus on that?”
“But…but my money… fine. But! Knowing his full kit could be instrumental on defeating him and lifting his curse, don’t you think?” The lead researcher said while moving his eyebrows up and down.
“Life isn’t that convenient, but you might have a point. Fine, I’ll play along. Do note though that we will abandon you the moment we feel our lives are in danger, right guys?”
The rest of the research party agreed with Lohr and plans got made on how to draw these out.
Arguments and debates went on for almost a day, but one thing was clear; the Moorland menace would have to get into a fight to exhibit the behavior they were aiming for, something that neither of them felt like provoking.
“Hey, Lohr, is it possible that my idea was bad?”
“It was…”