“Where is Spirit Triad?” The Inquiring Anesthetist inquired after arriving with 4 others.
“You tell him Lohr!”
“It’s an honor meeting you, my name is Lohr and this here is the lead researcher ehhm… what was your name again?”
“How rude! I thought that we were friends! My name is Ynze!”
Lohr pointed toward the jungle to the south. “Anyway… about Spirit Triad. He… went ahead and lost to the Moorland Menace. We don’t know if he’s dead or alive. The fight happened 3 days ago, and he hasn’t appeared yet.”
The Inquiring Anesthetist rubbed his chin and shifted his blue, piercing eyes to the south. “Did all his spirit coats run out or did they stay intact?”
“The spirits responsible for the cat coat and the hawk coat got destroyed by the Moorland menace while the bear coat got reduced to rags, taught was the state he fled in.” Lohr said as he handed the report to the Inquiring Anesthetist who flipped through it.
“I see. He might be prideful, but he is an A-rank adventurer, he is alive I can assure you. Now for why he hasn’t appeared yet… he must be catching spirits.”
“Catching? I thought they needed a mutual contract for this.”
“Hmm well that’s true, unfortunately that’s not what happens. What do you think would happen if the spirit mage puts in a lot of effort to subdue or befriend a spirit and the spirit refuses. You have first handed experienced how prideful he is.”
Lohr balled his fist. “But isn’t that illegal?”
The Inquiring Anesthetist shook his head. “Unfortunately, spirits have no rights as hardly anyone can study them or even interact with them. Enforcing any rules concerning spirits is extremely difficult, that’s why the Moorland menace is so intriguing. Mind if I see your reports on him? I’m familiar with Eileen’s notes. Poor child. I’ve only met her once. She had such a bright future in front of her but… leaving behind something that they will be remembered by is a dream of every Golden Angel, so I’m also glad that she found something. I just hope my foolish pupil doesn't choose a silly topic to get remembered by…”
The Inquiring Anesthetist and his team read through the notes of the research party while Lohr inspected the other party members.
“Uhhm sir, is it possible that they’re…”
The Inquiring Anesthetist turned around. Oh this is team Moch, they all have the Silver Torrent role. I couldn't get the man himself nor could I contact my pupil who is close with him, so I had to go for the only other individuals that hold the role.
2 busty women, one with red hair and one with blonde hair approached Lohr.
“My name is Christina.” The red head said as she shook Lohr’s hand
“I’m Hailey, that guy there is our leader Mo.” the blonde shook his hand and pointed at a wide man with blonde spiky hair.
“Uhh, the name is Lohr, forgive me but… you don’t look much like adventurers.”
Hailey lagged and slapped her thigh. “Hahaha! Everyone tells us that! Don’t worry we agree but the Silver Torrent role is to ensure that nothing moves and nothing takes damage, within reason of course. We will keep the Moorland menace under control while the spirit mage whittles it down and Rubert lifts the curse.”
Lohr cocked his head. “Rubert?”
Hailey pointed at the Inquiring Anesthetist who had joined Mo and were interrogating the lead researcher who wore despair on his face as team Moch was also quite expensive.
‘Tania, that witch! I will get you for this!” was his complaint as he balled his fist.
Mo, the wide man walked toward his team and Lohr.
“Crissy, Hailey, we will retrieve Spirit Triad, dead or alive. Rubert will stay behind to monitor the Moorland Menace. Let’s go.”
Christina and Hailey nodded and went south after Christina created a frozen road toward it. The 3 adventurers ice-skated over it at great speed and entered the jungle in no time.
A strange jungle trail reached a dead end and the adventurers were about to decide their next course of action when Mo noticed a treehouse.
Christina and Mo kept a lookout while Hailey entered to discover a space that had been inhabited quite recently.
‘We might have found him! Someone has been living in this treehouse!” Hailey shouted as she waved through the window of the treehouse.
“Don’t shout Hailey, we’re in a dangerous jungle…”
The thicket shook and rustled.
Team Moch got ready to retaliate but a tired looking man appeared from within, covered in leaves and dirt.
“Who are you? Wait adventurers?”
Christina crossed her arms and inspected the man. “You’re Spirit Triad right? Glad to see you alive. We’re here to retrieve you. Don’t make any mistake though, you brought this upon yourself so you won’t get our pity.”
“I can’t take revenge yet. I’m missing a spirit for long range attacks.” Spirit Triad gestured to the toucan and tiger spirit behind him.
“We don’t care. What you’re doing falls in gray territory, and we want to have nothing to do with it. Just use your own spirit energy to attack from a distance. This wouldn't have happened if you waited for our arrival. Mo, I’m counting on you.”
Mo put himself between Christina and Spirit Triad who showed signs of aggression. “You might be a spirit mage but do you truly want to fight 3 Silver Torrents right here and now?”
Mo gestured to Hailey in the treehouse who was ready for combat.
“Fine… just know that this will be expensive!”
Mo shook his head. “That’s not how this works. You violated the rules and regulations for personal gain, you will be fined instead, helping us out will lessen that fine. Come on, we don’t have time for this.”
A sled out of ice got created for Spirit Triad and team Moch escorted him back to the Moorland like this while ice skating.
“So what happened there? Did you lose?” Hailey asked, even though she knew what had happened due to the reports of the research partner.
“The Moorland Menace cheated, and I lost due to incomplete information.”
“If only you had a team to support you!” Hailey said in a mocking tone.
“Pff, what would you know. I’m sure you got into the Silver Torrent role due to nepotism. There is no way you 3 made it in, and I couldn't.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Don’t think I don’t know who you are. The Silver Torrent role is quite simple on paper; control the opponent to the point that a Golden Angel isn't needed. It’s quite difficult to pull off. You failed because you rely on defeating opponents before they get a chance to do anything, and you do this by, working alone and your unique magic that makes it, so nothing could realistically defend against you or counter you. Only now are holes being poked in your strategy.”
Spirit Triad’s face filled with contempt. “We will see. We will see how the Moorland Menace will overpower you and destroy you.”
The team met up with the Inquiring Anesthetist and the research party. Spirit Triad got a medical checkup and put in a condition where he could fight.
The Inquiring Anestestist sat down next to Spirit Triad who had recovered and handed him some candy. “It’s to promote mana regeneration.”
Spirit Triad accepted and consumed the candy.
“Have you seen anything on the Moorland menace that could be a clue to it’s curse?”
Spirit Triad shook his head. “I don’t know what to look for and besides being tough, nothing indicates a curse. I also have no idea how it would manifest itselfvisually.”
The Inquiring Anesthetist took a box out of his bag and took out a series of magic tools; all lenses.
He observed the Moorland menace with several lenses and shook his head.
“I can’t find anything. Do you see some strange fog, miasma, marks, writings or anything that looks like a seal?”
Spirit Triad pointed at the blue glowing patterns that were difficult to see through the grime covering the armor. “What about those?”
“Those have all been researched. The symbols have appeared before. It belongs to an ancient language, but nobody can read it, unfortunately.”
Spirit Triad leaned forward and squinted his eyes. “Isn’t that just an indication of a curse then?”
The Inquiring Anesthetist shook his head. “The symbols are almost identical to those on some other items found as if it’s… a signature, lie how artist sign their art. The other objects in question don’t show cursed behavior. Some experts...” The Inquiring Anesthetist gestured to the research party in their camp. “... Are sure that those markings and the curse are unrelated.”
“Hmm, some black fog left the wound I had left behind on it’s arm.” The Spirit Triad pointe at the only visible mark that indicated that he had fought the Moorland Menace.
“Do you remember the feeling it gave off?”
Spirit Triad shook his head. “It didn’t give off any feeling.”
The Inquiring Anesthetist put his hand to his forehead. “I see… thank you…”
“Do you know what’s going on?”
“No but the fog lacking any feeling indicates either that the life force of the one trapped inside has fully escaped or that his or her emotions’have ceased. We might find a corpse or an emotionless husk inside. I hope I’m wrong but unfortunately, I haven’t been in a long time.”
The Inquiring Anesthetist got up. “Team Moch, the focus of our mission changes slightly. Take the more aggressive route. The chances of saving the one trapped within the Moorland Menace ha plummeted drastically. I can’t risk any lives on an uncertainty.”
Team Moch nodded and made preparations.
“As for you Spirit Triad, forgo all defenses and break open that armor. I will ensure you will stay alive. Do note that this doesn’t guarantee that you won't get injured. Are you okay with that?”
“My [Panthera Spirit Cloak] is way more offensive than the [Ursus Spirit Cloak] so that would work. I would have preferred to also gain something for long range attacks, but I’m okay with this plan as long as I can get revenge on that thing.”
The Inquiring Anesthetist grabbed Spirit Triad’s arm. “This is a subjugation, not a revenge ego trip, please remember that. You do know how the saying goes right? ‘Don’t piss off your Golden Angel’. I might not be able to put the Moorland menace to sleep but putting you to sleep should be no problem, I will remove you the moment you start becoming a problem to our mission. Understood?”
This Golden Angel, a role known for low to no offensive capabilities gave off an intimidation strong enough for Spirit Triad to just nod and comply.
No offensive power was quite deceptive as there were methods of dealing damage without physical or magical means. Medicine, gasses, damaging social reputation, causing financial loss due to him instructing the Golden Angel community to double their prices when Spirit Triad needed medical aid.
More importantly the Inquiring Anesthetist’s adventurer’s name suggested that he was skilled at putting opponents and patients alike to sleep.
Surgery wasn't regarded as an offensive skill, but anyone could imagine that a malicious surgery after messing with the Inquiring Anesthetist could turn out to be worse than getting hit by a claw swipe or getting hit by a [Fireball].
“I… I will keep that in mind.”
The Inquiring Anesthetist dropped his intimidating aura, smiled and clapped his hands. “Good! Now here is the plan. You keep attacking, team Moch will ensure the Moorland menace can hardly do anything. As for me, I will try to crack open the curse and lift it, while keeping you alive in case of unforeseen circumstances. I will try to identify the curse in the first 10 minutes. If I fail, we will have to abandon the rescue and destroy the Moorland Menace. If I do identify the curse I will need at least half an hour to lift it. This is where team Moch becomes really important. After I give the sign we can shift to breaking the armor.”
“That’s clear. When do we start?”
The inquiring Anesthetist shifted his gaze to the sky. “The sun will set in about an hour. It’s best we wait for daybreak. Things will go relatively fast in the worst case scenario, but we don’t know how long things will take in the best case scenario as we will have to break open the armor while trying to preserve the one trapped inside.”
The subjugation team and the research team prepared from the night while still monitoring hte Moorland Menace.
Lohr approached the Inquiring Anestestist far after the sun had set. “Hey Rubert… is it true that you think that the person within is…gone?”
“I’m not sure but in these types of curse, the miasma or fog that escapes is the only way the cursed one can communicate to the outside world. It’s not conscious, however. Skilled Golden Angels like me can more or less determine how healthy the person inside is due to that. It either contains something I would call life force or emotions. These types often have strong negative emotions because, let’s be real, who likes being trapped, having all his autonomy stripped?”
“So the fog not giving off any feeling means he’s gone? Can’t that mean that he or she is asleep?”
“In all my years of being a Golden Angel and saving people from similar situations, I’ve never encountered a case where the victim was able to lose consciousness. Some in my field think it’s because the curse would lose grip if the victim loses consciousness. I myself am not too sure on why but this and the constant negative emotions mixed in the miasma or fog support that every waking moment of the victim is spent in pain, suffering, agony, torment or anything similar as the curse marks them do unspeakable things.”
Lohr sighed. “So no emotions or life force means that the victim is gone but… how can the curse still keep its hold?”
“That I do not know. It’s the reason I am skeptical on the theory of curses needing their victims to be conscious at all time. And death doesn't need to be the outcome. The victim could also have been hollowed out and turned into an emotionless husk but… I’m not sure what is worse. It certainly will be difficult to return the victim to society, that’s for sure.”
“Will you be guiding the victim?”
The Inquiring Anesthetist shook his head. “Another Golden Angel will be in charge of that. While many roles are seeing more and more members, the numbers of the Golden Angels are dwindling and the number o f competent Golden Angels are even lower. While I would love to help the victim, others need to get training on this kind of help as well. Most start to rely purely on their magical skills and forgoing knowledge. Magic is useless in cases like these. Knowledge and care is needed.”
The Inquiring anesthetist sighed. “If things continue like this we might not have enough individuals to fill the ‘Golden Angel’ role, and it would have to get scrapped. It’s a crisis nobody talks about, and I’m taking on as many pupils as I can, but I’m just one man.”
“Thank you for trying to keep a crucial role afloat.” Lohr patted the shoulder of the tired Golden Angel.
“At least the vice president of the Adventurer’s Association has heard my concerns, but it’s not like she can force people to become Golden Angels and study for at least 6 years… Anyway! That’s not what we’re here for! I will need a good night rest as tomorrow will be rough. You guys prepare to document everything. The more we know, the more likely we are to prevent things like this from happening.”
The parties went to rest, ensuring they would be rested for the next day. But not one person.
This person got up and confirmed everyone was asleep.
A single researcher was keeping the night watch but was faced away from the camp so didn’t notice this individual sneaking away. The individual used [Rampasthos Spirit Cloak] and sped toward the jungle.
“Just one more spirit… I don’t care what animal type…”
The individual used his speed and jumped from branch to branch. It didn't go as smooth as he had seen other adventurers do.
Branches, vines and leaves slapped his face as he navigated through the trees sending out weak [Spectral Pulses] to attract spirits.
He got sniped out of a tree by something moist that had the consistency of mud. It also stank.
The suspicious individual pinched his nose with one hand and wiped off the strange substance with its other hand. “Aah, my nose!”
A spirit monkey with 4 arms clapped its hands and started flinging [Spirit Turds], fruit, rocks and [Stones]. The [Stone] in particular drew this individual’s attention.
“I hate this… but I have no choice… Spirits that know standard magic are quite rare…”
Spirit Triad shifted to his [Panthera Spirit Cloak] and prepared himself to catch a spirit monkey.