"Cohen, step back."
A female voice called from behind the ghost soldier. Hearing this, the ghost soldier immediately nodded and stepped back, disappearing into obscurity.
However, Alka could still clearly sense him standing guard at the mine entrance.
The person who had arrived was none other than Lumina, who had come to their camp a few nights ago to inform them of the situation.
"Alka, right? You haven't left yet. Do you still want to peek at this treasure?" Lumina frowned, looking at Alka with some confusion.
Alka was indeed a saint of the Holy Mother Church. To be a saint of the Holy Mother Church, he couldn't be a fool.
Furthermore, if he forcibly took the treasure under such circumstances, not only them, but the Holy Mother Church would also be unlikely to let him go.
This truly baffled her.
Or was this treasure truly important to him?
Hearing this, Alka shook her head and said, "No, we're still here because we want to solve the problems here.
So I need to gain a deeper understanding of some of the issues here."
"Solve? Over the years, many have come here trying to solve the problems here.
But you see, we're still here, and those evil spirits are still here."
Lumina gestured around and spoke without hesitation.
It seemed the female ghost before her had lost most hope.
Perhaps she remained here so that the guardian's treasure wouldn't malfunction and cause further problems.
Thinking of this, Alka looked at her and suddenly asked, "Where are those demonic spirits?"
Lumina frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, "Right around the treasure. They're actually its last line of defense."
Hearing this, Alka couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
How interesting.
She still managed to express her point: "How about this? I'll completely destroy these demon souls first, how about that?"
"Do you have a way to completely destroy these demon souls?" Lumina frowned, staring at Alka with some disbelief.
If it were somewhere else, she would have believed it.
After all, these demons had become spirits, not their former living forms, allowing their souls to return to the Abyss.
But the problem was that this place was not far from the World Scar, and there lay a massive rift leading to the Abyss.
The aura of the Abyss perpetually infested this land.
Trying to completely destroy the demon souls in a place like this, preventing them from returning to the Abyss and resurrecting, was an extremely difficult task.
"Don't be surprised. Before coming here, I had already permanently returned some demons to death."
Lumina looked at Alka.
After a long moment of thought, she turned to look at Cohen behind her.
"Cohen, go in and tell Henges to help bind one of the weakest demon souls and bring it outside."
Cohen nodded at Lumina's words and walked through the cave entrance.
Arka stood outside, waiting.
After about half an hour, Alka heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the mine.
Riding a horse in a mine? Truly a soul.
Henges, riding a ghostly warhorse, emerged.
Behind him followed two ghostly soldiers in heavy armor.
In their hands, the two soldiers bound a small demon with some kind of soul-like chain.
Arka looked at the demon.
It was a third-stage micro-terror demon, a child-sized, yet incredibly fast, assassin-like demon.
Even bound by chains, he roared incessantly.
"What's wrong? Are you damned humans finally giving up?"
Even after being chained and dragged outside, he continued to roar.
Then he began to curse non-stop.
Looking at the demon, Lumina waved her hand slightly, and a soul-like mist enveloped the demon's mouth, leaving him with only humming noises.
"Come on, show us your power and make us trust you."
Hearing these words...
A mercury-like mirror surface emerged from beneath Alka's feet and flowed over.
Seeing the mirror-like liquid covering them, the ghosts before them did not dodge.
Until the mirror transformed everyone's feet into mirrored surfaces.
The mirror flipped, and everyone entered the reverse dimension within.
Lumina took in her surroundings and quickly realized what was happening. She asked, "Is this the world inside the mirror?"
Arka nodded without further explanation.
The surroundings began to distort, and light and shadows appeared, as if reality were falling into a dream.
Arka was gradually perfecting her abilities.
As she fell, the surroundings gradually transformed into a dream.
Lumina was worthy of being a scholar of the Saralan Empire's Spell Council.
Her expression clearly showed that she recognized the source of the changes in her surroundings.
"Dream?"
With this questioning voice,
The surroundings had completely entered a dreamlike environment.
The mirror world shattered, and a mist-like creature emerged.
It was a mist-like creature, like an ordinary cloud.
A seemingly harmless face was imprinted on the cloud.
Lumina's eyes widened as she watched the scene unfold. This was a legendary creature, once seen only in books and dreams.
"Your Majesty."
Arka nodded, then pointed at the demon chained by two ghost soldiers.
"Take him to the furnace."
The cloud looked at the demon and shook himself.
Henges waved his hand at the situation, and the two ghost soldiers silently released the chains.
The demon clearly had some experience, as if recognizing the dream environment and the mist-like creature before them.
The moment the chains were released, it began dodging throughout the dream's mirrored space, attempting to escape.
But its mouth remained bound.
Finally freeing itself from the restraints, the cloud-like dream creature instantly transformed into a rope-like form, tightly binding the demon.
"Damn human, what do you want to do? No! You can't take me into the dream world! Let me go! The abyss will curse you!"
It was clear that the demon before them wasn't as reckless and bloodthirsty as most of their kind.
It was a rare moment for him to display his fearful and timid side.
And judging by his terrified expression, it was clear that this demon before them seemed to understand something about the conditions within this world's dream world.
It was once said that the World Forge had long ago forged demons into the essence of the world.
This was also why most demons chose not to invade the dream world. Unless, like the Devouring Mouth, their target was a god hidden within the dream world, most demons would choose to avoid it.
This was a lesson learned in blood.
The ghosts before them could already see it.
Arka seemed to truly possess the ability to completely destroy demons, causing the demon's soul to howl incessantly. It was a rare sight for them, even the first time in their lives... well, in their afterlife, they felt fear at seeing a demon.
A cloud-like mist creature bound the demon and sealed its mouth once again. It dragged the soul through the breach and returned to the true dream world.
Alka gently stroked the ground in front of him.
The dream before him, like a scene, peeled back, revealing the World Forge.
Before Lumina and the others, the full extent of the World Forge appeared.
And so, they watched as the cloud that bound the demon dragged it to the edge of the forge.
The World Forge already had a dedicated team of maintainers and users.
Among the new mist creatures that had joined them in the past few months were some experienced users.
Looking at the demon brought in, a giant-like mist creature grasped it in its hand and tossed it directly into the molten flames.
The demon's soul instantly burned, transforming into a long stream of smoke that drifted upward, filtered through the upper reaches of the smelting tower and transformed into pure energy.
It seemed a new mist creature would be born.
Arka didn't dismiss the scene until it faded.
He turned to look at Lumina.
"Well? I've proven my ability."
Lumina looked at Arka with surprise and disbelief, asking, "Are you a Dream King?"
There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.
It seemed she possessed considerable knowledge, having discerned some of the characteristics of the Dream Realm through the image just now.
And from the respectful title the mist creature had given her, she knew Arka's identity.
Arka nodded.
"But... how is that possible? You're human, not a creature of the dream. You still have a physical body in reality."
Clearly, this contradicted everything she had learned and understood.
"The world is vast, and there are always many exceptions that can't be replicated."
Hearing Alka's words, Lumina's spirit took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
"Yes, you did it. Now tell us your idea. If it's feasible, we will naturally assist you with all our might."
Her status as a Saint of the Holy Mother of Alkaa had earned their trust, and her status as a Dream King, combined with her recent actions, had completely earned their trust.
Such a being would covet a scepter-level treasure, even at the cost of offending the very deity they worshipped.
Obviously, this was completely inappropriate and foolish.
After all, Alka had never even seen the scepter itself.
Hearing Lumina's words, Alka nodded, and the world in the mirror flipped. In an instant, they left the reversed mirror world and returned to reality.
"First question, are those evil spirits unable to leave this mountain range? Is it because of the treasure and the anchoring ritual surrounding it?"
"You're right. It's not that they can't leave the mountains, but they can't leave a certain area. This is the core of the entire mountain range. A very rare mineral was once mined here.
So even if they can reach the farthest distance, it's within the mountains. They can't spread beyond."
Lumina explained.
Hearing this, Alka nodded, as if it was consistent with what Lucelia had said.
"Second question, the Cloud Staff is the core of the ritual. These evil spirits seem to be able to revive. Is this because of the ritual?"
Lumina nodded. "Yes, the Cloud Staff accounts for almost 80% of the ritual's power.
We were able to eliminate those demons here because of the immortality of their souls anchored by this artifact.
If it weren't for the artifact, such a feat wouldn't be possible, let alone a scepter-level artifact that elevates the ritual to a level it doesn't belong to.
The price is that the ritual's power will remain. Fortunately, the Cloud Staff was powerful enough at the time, making it easy to maintain the ritual's power.
But now, that initial benefit has become a difficult problem."
If the ritual is canceled, the evil spirits will immediately leave and scatter.
Even Lumina and the others have no idea of their number.
In that situation, they have no idea how many civilians there are.
Because even they knew, the number of soldiers and civilians transformed into evil spirits was already tens of thousands.
In the battles with the demons, influenced by the Abyss, the strength of these evil spirits had long since surpassed what they had once imagined.
"The Alliance on the front lines couldn't possibly be unaware of the problems here. How are they solving them? How are they thinking about it?"
Alka asked.
"The simplest solution is to dispatch sufficient troops to surround the mountain's exit. At the moment of seemingly freeing it, clear out the surging demons.
As long as the vast majority of the evil spirits are eliminated, the remaining ones won't pose much of a problem.
However, the problem is that too many troops are required. The front lines will always need troops to defend them. And the demons won't give up this serious vulnerability so easily. Not only us demons are well aware of the situation here."
Alka nodded at this. Sure enough, the demons also have this consideration.
These demons can't help but exploit the problems in this area.
Fortunately, these demons won't come here, because these evil spirits have gradually become maddened and transformed into evil spirits during their battles with demons, and their special attacks against them are only stronger.
After thinking for a moment, Alka looked at them and said, "If I can quickly move the ritual and the area where it's taking place to another dimension, could that solve the problem?"
"What do you mean?" Lumina asked, a little unresponsive. She came over and frowned.
"This area is the ritual's range, right?"
Alka pointed around, meaning somewhere further away.
The area where the ritual circle was located was quite large.
Lumina understood his meaning and nodded.
"I mean, if I excavate this entire area and bring it to a closed space, would that solve the problem?"
Hearing this explanation, Lumina couldn't help but ponder.
Observing the situation, Alka waited quietly without interrupting.
After a long moment, Lumina nodded uncertainly.
"If you remove the entire piece, including the Cloud Staff, then the ritual will still exist. It will remain intact. It will no longer pose a threat to this place."
"Are you sure?" Alka looked at him seriously and asked.
Lumina nodded. "If you can guarantee that the entire piece can be removed without affecting the operation of the Cloud Staff itself, and that it is a closed space."
"Excellent."
Then the main problem is solved.
Alka opened his palm, and the Heart of Vasteva emerged from it.
"This is a scepter-level treasure of mine. It contains a small world, and I have strong control over this small world."
Then the Earth Card emerged from his side. "And this can
Treasures that control the elements of the earth can help us accomplish this task."
Before they could speak, Alka spoke again, "But there's a problem. After we dig them out, the evil spirits will also be free, right?"
Lumina nodded. This was the point she was about to address.
"So the most important issue now is gathering all these evil spirits back together. Do you have any ideas?"
Hearing this, Lumina pondered for a moment before shaking her head. "Perhaps, but it won't be easy. We need to think carefully and research."
Alka nodded. "My companions will also consider this. I invite you and those with relevant knowledge and skills to join us in this research.
By pooling our wisdom, more people can come up with better solutions." "
Lumina nodded, agreeing to the request, for she saw a glimmer of hope.
This glimmer of hope was enough.
After confirming their connection, Alka left.
After Alka left, Henges and the others remained where they were.
"Is it possible?"
Henges' words left Lumina staring blankly ahead.
"No, what else can we do? We don't have any other options, do we? Perhaps... we shouldn't have made this choice back then." "
As she spoke, Lumina looked around, watching the evil spirits occasionally linger from every corner.
She knew every one of them by name.
The brave soldiers and civilians who had accompanied them to the end still lingered here.
They were all her former companions, comrades, friends, even family.
However, during her rituals, fiercely battling demons, their souls were extinguished again and again, enduring pain they should never have suffered.
Even after vanquishing the demons, they could not find rest, transformed into such a terrifying form by the abyssal aura of the battles.
The abyssal aura persisted in this area, preventing them from ever returning to the form of a normal soul.
They had become... the monsters they once fought.
"He is a follower of the Virgin Mary. I can feel her gaze upon him. This time, let us pray that he can bring us true peace." "
Henges dismounted and patted Lumina on the shoulder.
Lumina nodded.
Then the figures of the ghosts vanished from the spot.
Alka also returned to the camp where the stone house was located and discussed the communication matters he had agreed on with Sofia and the others.
Then he began to prepare.
Preparing for mutual discussion and consideration, as well as the final response to this matter.