The afterglow of the sunset gradually dimmed, casting a blood-red radiance upon the broken tombstones of the Graveyard Area.
A damp and cold Aura permeated the air.
The sound of the wind sweeping through the wild grass sounded like the low sighs of the dead.
Julius wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and took a deep breath. The long investigation had left him somewhat exhausted, but the Squire’s gaze remained focused.
Beside him, Helos sat cross-legged on a collapsed tombstone, holding a sharp Feather Pen in her hand. The paper was densely covered with symbols and lines.
Her Silver Hair shimmered slightly under the dim firelight, and her gaze was focused, unlike her usual shiftless self.
This was the paper and pen she had specifically borrowed from the Caretaker to mark all the Mana Anomaly zones within this area.
“It should be about done, right?” She looked up at Julius, who was standing not far away.
“Yeah, we’ve checked the entire Graveyard Area. As expected, the Mana concentration in these places is a bit off.” Julius nodded and reached out to lift the dim oil lamp. The weak flame flickered in the wind, reflecting his slightly tense expression.
Helos lowered her head, carefully examining the map she had marked.
“Look, although these abnormal points are scattered quite randomly, if you connect them, you’ll find they form a ring. And the center of that ring is right here.” Her slender finger pointed to a spot in the middle of the paper.
Julius followed the direction of her fingertip, his gaze gradually turning solemn.
That area seemed unremarkable, just a few unclaimed graves. The broken tombstones had long since become blurred, eroded by wind and rain until only halves remained, and even the inscriptions on them were illegible.
“You mean the problem lies with the graves here?”
“Exactly.” Helos looked up at him with burning eyes. “These changes in concentration follow a pattern; they seem to spread out around a certain core. As long as we find that core, we’ll know the source of these frequently appearing Will-o’-the-wisps.”
The wind howled past, blowing her Silver Hair into the air.
Julius pondered for a moment before slowly drawing the Longsword at his waist.
“Then let’s go take a look.”
The two of them, one after the other, walked toward the marked area.
The light of the oil lamp seemed even more solitary under the shroud of night. The flickering glow shone on the tombstones like blurred faces, quietly watching them from the darkness.
Helos walked behind him, clutching her Thin Sword tightly. Although her movements still seemed a bit awkward, her gaze was exceptionally serious.
To be honest, during the day, she hadn’t felt this Graveyard Area was very scary. But now that the twilight was heavy and the sky was being swallowed by the night, the surrounding Aura felt completely different.
The broken tombstones were like silent shadows standing in the dimness, and the wild grass swaying in the wind sounded like low whispers.
Moreover, this graveyard would intermittently produce Will-o’-the-wisps. Those floating clusters of blue-green fire reflected in her vision added a few more layers of coldness and eeriness to this place of death.
She subconsciously tightened her grip, her hand clutching the hilt harder as her palm began to sweat slightly.
Even though she kept reminding herself this was an investigation mission, being in such an environment still made her feel an involuntary chill.
When the two of them arrived at the marked area, their footsteps involuntarily slowed down.
Several grave mounds stood quietly in the night, hidden by wild grass with mottled tombstones, appearing no different from any other spot.
Julius frowned and looked around carefully, but still found nothing unusual. He scratched the back of his head and whispered:
“Uh, from the surface, it doesn’t look any different from the other places?” Julius looked back at Helos.
The girl blinked and said: “Which means… the anomaly point is likely inside the grave?”
As soon as she finished speaking, the two of them stared at each other and suddenly fell silent.
After a long while, Julius slowly exhaled, his voice even lower than before, as if he were afraid of being overheard: “So, are we… going to dig up a grave?”
“Well…” Helos blinked, forcing herself to maintain a nonchalant expression, though the corners of her lips were slightly stiff. “Do we have any other choice?”
Despite her words, her heart was thumping.
Even though this Graveyard Area consisted of unclaimed graves, digging up someone’s grave so brazenly… what if they actually disturbed something?
What if she was haunted by a Wraith later?
“Fine.” Julius took a decisive deep breath, turned, and walked quickly to the entrance of the Graveyard Area. He picked out two shovels from the tools borrowed from the Caretaker and walked back.
He handed one of them to Helos and raised an eyebrow. “Then let’s get to work.”
“How about… how about you dig?” Helos put her hands behind her back, her gaze flickering, not daring to take it.
“What? Trying to slack off?” Julius looked at her suspiciously.
“I am not!” The girl shook her head hurriedly, but her voice was as small as a mosquito’s hum. “I… I’m just a little afraid of being haunted by a ghost…”
“Ha.” The Squire scoffed, shouldering the shovel with a certain tone. “What are you afraid of? Isn’t there still me?”
In that moment, Helos dithered, her heart feeling strangely settled.
But in the next second, the girl’s face instantly dropped, turning as dark as the bottom of a pot.
“Besides, with your constitution…” Julius spoke solemnly. His tone was serious, but halfway through, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“A person like that would have been unlucky enough while alive, and then unclaimed after death. If they really became a ghost and haunted you—that would be some truly wretched luck for them.”
“If you don’t know how to talk, you can just shut up!” Helos flared up on the spot, kicking him without a second thought, making the Squire grimace in pain.
Helos huffed, placing her hands on her hips before finally stomping her foot, her Silver Hair swaying with the movement. “I’ll dig! I don’t believe any ghost can withstand my curse!”
Her tone was forceful, carrying a bit of bravado.
However, her flushed cheeks and tensed shoulders made it obvious she was just forcing herself to be brave.
And so, the two of them began their “grave-digging enterprise” with gritted teeth.
The sound of the shovels entering the soil was exceptionally clear in the silent Graveyard Area, accompanied by the occasional splash of dirt and low breaths, making it unspeakably eerie.
An unknown amount of time passed, and the sky had turned completely dark, surrounded by the cold night wind.
Helos looked up, panting, staring at the grave mound that had already been dug through, her forehead covered in sweat.
She simply pulled a Vigor Potion from her robes and gulped it down in one go.
“Phew… this really is physical labor…” She wiped the corner of her mouth, her face full of exhaustion.
“Can’t be helped, who told us to be so unlucky.” Julius continued to swing the shovel while bent over, complaining weakly. “We’ve dug three and found nothing… This last one should have something, right?”
Helos pursed her lips and suddenly blurted out: “The two of us look like those grave rob—”
Her voice came to a screeching halt.
Julius instinctively froze, his movements stopping.
He looked back strangely, only to see Helos’s face turned deathly pale. Her eyes were fixed behind him, her lips slightly parted, but she couldn’t utter a single word.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He frowned, his tone carrying a hint of disdain.
But the moment he instinctively turned around—
A cold wind suddenly rushed at his face.
A Vague Figure, without making a single sound, was quietly floating right before his eyes.
The thing had no feet, appearing like a residual shadow extending from the darkness. Its hollow eye sockets were bottomless, as if they could swallow a person at any moment.
A ghostly light flickered in its chest, making its entire silhouette appear dim and bright intermittently.
The air suddenly fell silent, leaving only Helos’s hurried breathing, which sounded exceptionally piercing in the dead of night.
Hey look a ghost.