"You stay here!"
Lex said quickly, rushing into the living room. As he entered, he saw Denise with her mouth wide open, struggling to breathe. She was frantically clawing at her own neck like a madwoman, as if trying to grasp something.
At the same time, Lex felt the temperature in the living room drop unnaturally. He immediately activated his Spiritual Vision.
He then saw a phantom, almost transparent figure, choking Denise's neck.
A Soul!
But the Soul before him was wearing clothes that did not belong to this era, nor even to the Loen Kingdom. It seemed to sense Lex's gaze and sharply turned its head.
This allowed Lex to see clearly that it was an old woman, with facial features distinctly different from those of Loen people, looking more like a race from the South Continent.
A South Continent Soul?
Lex was filled with questions, but still reached into his pocket and pulled out the tin pot of holy water he had prepared earlier.
Twisting open the lid, Lex shook the pot vigorously towards Denise, sprinkling the holy water onto the Soul on her body.
Instantly.
The Soul erupted in a wisp of phantom white smoke, letting out a brain-piercing, phantom shriek, and its figure quickly vanished into the air.
Just as Lex breathed a sigh of relief, Amanchi's surprised cry echoed from outside the corridor. He frowned and rushed out of the living room.
Harribel's brows were tightly furrowed, and her mouth was wide open, as if she was desperately trying to inhale.
Her condition was identical to Denise's.
Behind her, there was also a phantom, almost transparent figure, but this time it was a man, with a terrifying wound on his face, as if he had been struck by a sword. It was choking Harribel's neck, and after Lex splashed holy water, it let out a roar and disappeared.
Harribel then began to cough violently, her small face turning red from the coughing. Lex gently patted her back until her breathing returned to normal.
"Why was I attacked too?"
The girl, having caught her breath, first cast a bewildered look at Lex, then said to Amanchi: "Go get Denise. You two need to go to St. Witt's Church."
"You go too."
Lex said with a serious expression: "You were also attacked just now. Perhaps we were wrong, and the three Souls needed for the exchange don't necessarily have to be participants in the ritual."
"Moreover, 'Yarling the Immortal' might have already returned."
Only after watching his sister and the other two enter the church did Lex feel relieved enough to leave. Originally, he had hoped the church would handle this matter, but if the exchanged Souls didn't necessarily need to be ritual participants, then everyone in the Town would be in danger.
So the most urgent task was to find Erica, and to find 'Yarling' who might have already returned.
Judging from the content of the ritual in the book of eternal life, 'Yarling's' return should involve using the body of his descendant. In that case, finding Erica would mean finding 'Yarling'.
As for where Erica might be, Lex had thought of a place.
The graveyard!
Even if 'Yarling' returned, his state would certainly be incomplete until he obtained the three Souls.
At this time, it would inevitably be weak, so it couldn't personally collect the Souls, only dispatch Souls.
Considering that Erica and her group performed the ritual in the graveyard, 'Yarling' was very likely still in the graveyard. Enki Town has two graveyards.
One is 'Resting Garden' on the west side of the Town, which is managed by dedicated personnel. It's unlikely Erica and her group would go there to perform a ritual, as there would be a high chance of being discovered by the administrators.
So, if Erica was in a graveyard, it could only be the 'Mass Grave' outside the Town, near Eberly Mountain.
Resting Garden charges a fee, and some people who can't afford it, or don't want to spend money on such things, bury their deceased in this nameless graveyard.
Some graves here don't even have tombstones, some have exposed remains because the grave pits weren't dug deep enough, and some simply use wooden stakes carved with names to replace tombstones.
Without management or planning, this graveyard is overgrown with weeds, becoming a haven for snakes and rats.
Taking out a Seer coin, Lex silently chanted: "Erica Bolin Terrence is in this graveyard before me."
He flicked the coin, and seeing the pattern side up, Lex put the coin away. Then he affixed the half-iron mask and fake beard, thus becoming 'the Duke'.
Without rushing to find Erica, Lex first placed several matchboxes he usually carried around him. Then he released his Spirituality, causing flames to rise from his palm, and subsequently constructed several small 'flame landmines', burying them in several locations to be used as traps.
He didn't expect these 'flame landmines' to cause lethal damage; something so ancient that could still return through a ritual certainly couldn't be eliminated by a few landmines.
Lex only hoped that if the situation turned bad, and he had to retreat, these landmines could serve as an obstruction, and that would be enough.
If 'Yarling' hadn't been unable to return by its own power, Lex would never have attempted a hunt, but would have taken his family and left the Town overnight.
Even so, he dared not be careless, not seeking merit, but seeking to avoid mistakes.
Entering the graveyard, Lex immediately felt a change in temperature. Then, activating his Spiritual Vision, he saw translucent, phantom figures appearing around the unmanned graveyard, converging towards the central area.
These figures were wearing Loen clothing, and their styles were not ancient. Most of these Souls were elderly people.
Lex even saw Mrs. Paris among them. Her appearance was still as harsh as when she was alive, now with an added hint of eeriness.
"Are these Souls attracted by something?"
Through these Souls, Lex quickly pinpointed Erica's location, as the Souls naturally gathered around a grave.
A grave that had already been dug open, exposing a coffin.
At this moment, Lex emitted an aura that all non-human entities found repulsive; this was 'Provocation', a supernatural ability.
The Souls around immediately looked at Lex. These 'gentlemen' or 'ladies' were all expressionless, their faces and bodies showing more or less terrifying marks of decay down to the bone.
But they didn't pounce immediately, as if controlled by something. However, the coffin in the grave began to shake, and then the lid flew off, a pale hand with greenish veins gripping the edge of the coffin.
A girl sat up from the coffin, and beneath her was a body that had not yet fully decayed!
The girl herself seemed to have no strong feelings about this. She was expressionless, her eyes hollow. A horizontal slit opened on her forehead, and suddenly a red-glowing eyeball rolled open.
That was not Erica's own eye, but the thing 'living' in her body, peering out at the world.
This eye had a hollow, numb gaze, as if in the endless passage of time, it had long lost something.
All that remained was instinct.