Chapter 350

349 The Man in Search of His Identity #5

Possession.

It’s a common motif in horror movies involving demons or ghosts.

Malevolent spirits without any tangible form use the physically weak and psychologically fragile as vessels to roam freely in our material world.

Most of the victims tend to be young children or delicate women.

In movies, women who’ve been possessed perform feats like throwing robust men across rooms with ease, levitating, or suddenly chanting Latin they’ve never heard before.

Even I had seen a person possessed by a ghost when I was a child.

It happened in a vegetable field on the outskirts of town where my mother’s greenhouse was located. There was this peculiar, disheveled, and shabby middle-aged woman who wandered around the nearby small rural village.

Considering it was Gaia Continent might make this normal, but in 21st-century South Korea, seeing someone who looked like a vagrant roaming around was quite shocking and left a lasting impression.

Her house, from the living room to the front yard, was filled with trash.

What was worse, she would hurl insults and attempt to resort to violence when people passed by.

One look and it was clear she had some mental issues; being a student back then, I was extremely afraid of her.

The neighborhood said she was possessed by a ghost.

Later, my mother told me more about the woman’s condition, but I refused to entertain the notion that ghost possession could happen in the 21st century.

I thought it was just someone with mental problems.

What happened to her? I wracked my brain but couldn’t recall. I suppose I forgot after going away to college and joining the military. It wasn’t a critical part of my life, after all.

As more familiar scents and sceneries began to reappear, I realized I had inadvertently started flashing back on those memories.

“d*mn, it’s bad.”

Antiope slightly frowned.

In front of her stretched a mountain of random debris and garbage.

Rats, stray kittens, and flies swarmed around, eating the trash, while maggots boiled in the filth — a sight that even made me feel a little nauseous.

“Too dirty! It’s far too dirty!”

Paranoi, who had frolicked around graveyards with ease, seemed unsettled as well.

It was no wonder; memories of the foul-mouthed woman near the greenhouses surfaced given the extreme filth.

I asked,

“Why is it so dirty here?”

Even in the slums of the city, where those on the brink of life’s edge lived without tidying their opium dens, such a degree of disorder is rare. But this was excessive.

Was it just a garbage dump?

“That’s —”

Our poor young guide, Nort, responded to my question.

“That’s… my younger sister just gathers random things. And when we try to throw them out, she gets furious. So, we ended up with all this piled-up garbage.”

I see…

Looking at the skin disease evident under Nort’s collar, I understood the probable cause—indeed, living in such conditions would naturally lead to illnesses.

Snick, Snick…

Antiope, while shuffling through the garbage with her foot, chimed in.

“It’s not uncommon for those possessed to clutter up their surroundings. However, looking at the extent of the chaos here, it must be a fairly strong malevolent spirit.”

Antiope, clearly an expert, having dealt with many possessed individuals in the Shrine Knights.

It was actually the reason why I readily agreed to take on this case of confronting an evil spirit knowing that Antiope was by my side.

If anything happens, Antiope would handle it.

That’s awesome.

But that thought was quickly interrupted.

!!!

A violent scream suddenly pierced my ears like a blade, so strong it felt like an audio bomb or a sinister kung-fu move.

“What the hell is that!?”

A sound so fierce it felt my eardrums were about to rupture.

We had no choice but to cover our ears, enduring it as the screams continued, only stopping when the ringing began to affect my mental clarity.

“What the hell was that? Did everyone else hear it?”

I glanced at those around me. Paranoi, cringing and covering her ears tightly, and Antiope, whose expression barely changed, only slightly furrowed her eyebrows.

Everyone seemed fine.

Except for Nort, who guided us here, pacing nervously.

“It’s…my younger sister must be mad! This is terrible…”

Nort’s fear was apparent; his trembling breaths and shoulders indicated his increasing panic.

“Hassan-sama, please… please save my sister!”

He pleaded again, seeking solace amidst his distress. I could only nod in agreement.

Pushing aside some garbage blocking the entrance like a barricade, I entered what could be called a shack or a rudimentary cabin.

Before I stepped inside, Nort said something.

“By the way, what my sister says is mostly lies meant to deceive us. Even though the Son of God wouldn’t be deceived, it’s best not to listen to her words.”

“Alright, fair enough.”

Squeak, Creak…

What lay inside as the door opened was a woman bound by chains and shackles to a pillar.

Her long brown hair was messy and unkempt, and the beige-colored dress she wore, which might have been pajamas or a dress, looked severely neglected, perhaps from not being washed in a long time.

However, her bright azure eyes sparkled, showing she was just a young girl.

“Who…Who are you?”

The girl looked shocked and panicked upon seeing us enter, pulling her clothing close to herself as if trying to cover up.

Antiope slightly narrowed her eyebrows at this.

“This doesn’t seem right, doesn’t it? I expected some monstrous possessed person.”

“Yeah.”

I concurred with Antiope. I was prepared to throw punches the moment I saw something horrifying. But this was just a regular girl, one you’d likely see in any slum.

She looked pitiful, shaken by fear, tied up as she was.

“Ah, ah, I don’t accept guests today. I’m sick, I told you!”

Guests?

Puzzled by the strange word, I raised a brow when Nort spoke up.

“Don’t listen to my sister’s words… This is someone here to drive away the evil spirit that is consuming her body. Just endure for a bit!”

Looking at us, the younger sister continued talking.

“Please, save me. My brother… He locks me up and lets the men assault me every day…”

Scrape, Scrape…

The sister, chained by her hands and legs, writhed and appealed to Antiope and me.

Was Nort a pimp using his sister for business? Illegal prostitutes and pimps without license from the Venus Shrine are abundant in the slums, so it wasn’t surprising.

“What!? Dare to do such an obscene act?”

This struck a chord with Antiope as a woman and as a younger sister. She growled fiercely, ready to decapitate Nort.

“That’s a lie! She’s trying to deceive us…”

“That’s not a lie! My brother has been touching me inappropriately…”

“That never happened! I swear!”

Scrap, What’s going on?

With all this happening, I started getting a headache. Was it just a comedy of errors? Was this sister suffering from a neurosis because she was being exploited by her brother?

That’s all I could think.

But then Paranoi moved.

Bam!

She was nimble like a squirrel.

Before I could react, Paranoi began punching the sister furiously.

“Aaaah!”

“What? What’s Paranoi doing all of a sudden?”

Trying hastily to stop Paranoi, she ignored me and kept hitting Nort’s sister viciously.

“This is a lie! Paranoi is an expert at identifying lies. How dare this vile woman try to deceive Hassan-sama and his great right-hand, Paranoi! It’s unacceptable!”

“Ugh! You short nymph—!”

With a loud scream after being beaten up by Paranoi, the sister revealed herself. It was a coarse, manly voice, one that scraped the floor of hell.

“Get lost!”

“Hyeeek!”

Bam!

Paranoi was thrown into the air by an almighty shout. Where her body soared, there were sharp edges from the garbage.

Things were about to take a terrible turn.

“Senior!”

Antiope quickly acted, grabbing Paranoi’s collar to prevent a disaster.

Scrape…

Standing up, dragging her chains across the floor, Nort’s sister spoke.

“Meddling intruders…”

Then she started twisting her joints in impossible ways. She arched her back unnaturally like a bridge, and then spun her neck around 180 degrees, several times!

“This body is mine!”

At the sight of the neck spinning 360 degrees—no, 720 degrees—I couldn’t help but scream in sheer terror.

“Uhh, d*mn it! It’s really a ghost-possessed woman!”

I felt foam forming in my mouth. How could this actually be happening? It’s simply unacceptable!

“Everyone…”

In this Gaia Continent, there exists no other method to treat someone possessed by a ghost.

“Everyone, attack together!”

Like when we exorcised the accursed Malco together by beating him, I intended to save this fragile younger sister out of heartfelt determination.

There are only two ways to drive out ghosts—beating them with immense force or hanging them on crosses and having everyone stone them.

The pain would surely make it leave the body.

But the spirit, which was showing extraordinary human deformation moments ago, hesitated.

“That’s a bit… If you do that, she might d*e!”

Hearing that, my meteor-like fists stopped mid-air.

That’s right.

Even with all my strength control, the base is still a young girl who could d*e.

“Hahaha…”

The demon laughed malevolently, occupying the girl’s body.

“d*mn coward…”

What should I do?

I need to beat it with fists, yet if I punch, the hostage dies. d*mn, this vicious trick seems to be set by someone targeting me.

I was almost driven insane. A terrifying and hideous spirit was standing there, and I could do nothing, which was a truly scary situation.

“Master Hassan, please calm down… Haven’t we prepared for this moment…?”

At that moment, Paranoi calmed me down.

“Prepared for this moment?”

“That’s right! That’s it!…”

“Ah….”

That’s when it struck me—I had recently crafted a new weapon secretly.

“Paranoi.”

I pictured the terrifying look of that weapon.

“Bring out the Hellscythe.”

“Understood…! Wheeew….”

A slight sound, and something long began to emerge from between Paranoi’s round lips. It was my newly developed weapon.

An ultimate weapon surpassing cudgels and fists based on the situation.

And that was Puppy Grass.

“Puppy Grass? You think you can fight me with that?”

The spirit, having taken over the girl’s body, laughed derisively at my new weapon, the Hellscythe. Yet, I remained serious, holding the Puppy Grass soaked with Paranoi’s saliva.

As I channeled a slight flow of aura through my palm,

Humminggg…

The Puppy Grass transformed into a robust red switch or whip, its intensity bending the surrounding air and space, making it look ominous.

“Oh, so you’ve cultivated your aura this far already? Red light, impressive.”

Antiope seemed genuinely amazed by my achievement. It seems this was the first time she saw my ultimate move.

“Any weapon can be fatal for a Weapon Master.”

“But Hassan, you’re not a Weapon Master, are you?”

“How about a Puppy Grass Master, then?”

I swung the Puppy Grass and struck the girl’s thigh.

Whish— Smack!

The sound was much more intense than the mere sound of whipping Puppy Grass could produce.

“Kreeeeeek!!”

At once, the spirit screeched in agony, sounding like a drowning pig.

Flailing about, dragging her chains and causing the pillar and roof to shake, the possessed girl stopped momentarily and yelled,

“What? Who are you?”

Before I could answer,

Paranoi spoke up instead, shouting,

“This is Lord Hassan, the son of Pluto! Lower spirit! And I am Paranoi, the great right-hand of Lord Hassan! Bow before Lord Hassan and me, whom he favors…!”

“Son of Pluto, is it…?”

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