Chapter 484

Chapter 370: Asking the Spirit

South Tivyán, Bishop Square.

On the chaotic New Year’s Eve, under the dark nightfall, a simple spirit summoning ritual was taking place in the alleys surrounding Bishop Square, but it encountered an unexpected factor.

“Not only are you, teacher, performing the spirit summoning… are there others also holding a summoning ritual to call that spirit?”

Looking at Nephnis, who was seated on the ground relying on Uta’s shard soul, Kapak asked. Nephnis slowly nodded and spoke in a somber tone.

“Yes, I have already found the newly deceased spirit named Duke Barlett Despenser in the River of Shadows, but when I located him, I found that he was being drawn by another force, attempting to lead him to a certain place in the physical world. This is indicative of a summoning.”

With murky gaze looking ahead, Nephnis, supported by Uta’s shard soul, spoke softly. Her words were overheard by Brandon, Dorothy’s zombie puppet, prompting a slight furrow in Dorothy’s brow.

‘Barlett’s spirit is currently being summoned by someone else? Who is conducting the ritual to summon him? The royal family or the An Yin Bureau? No… it shouldn’t be them. They’ve just received news of the assassination of the royal family, so they wouldn’t have enough time to gather mediums and prepare extraordinary beings. The summoning of Barlett’s spirit must have begun before us; the opponent likely started right after Barlett died.

‘So… this summoner must be from Eight Pinnacle Nest. If their assassination of Barlett was due to his research on the Mirror Moon Statue touching their secrets, then merely killing him won’t suffice; the soul must also be eliminated. Otherwise, if the An Yin Bureau manages to summon Barlett later and gain some key information regarding the Mirror Moon Statue, they will certainly elevate their focus on researching it, significantly reducing the effectiveness of this assassination.

‘Thus, Eight Pinnacle Nest should have prepared the summoning ritual aimed at Barlett beforehand. As soon as Barlett dies, they initiate the summoning. Once the soul is summoned over, whether they seal it in the Coffin of Spirits or refine it away directly, it will leave the An Yin Bureau with nothing to summon later. In that case, their plan to completely silence him would be fulfilled.’

Crouching with her knees hugged at the street corner, Dorothy pondered with a frown. As a reasonably sized society, Eight Pinnacle Nest must have their own Extraordinary Being for summoning services. From earlier information obtained from Kapak, it was known that Sado and others were tricked here by an indigenous man named Banu to assist Eight Pinnacle in their terror attack, and Banu was previously confirmed to be associated with the Underworld Coffin Cult. Thus, the possibility of cooperation between Eight Pinnacle Nest and the Underworld Coffin Cult in this matter was quite high; hence, the Underworld could also provide summoning services for Eight Pinnacle.

In summary, Dorothy understood that this summoning was likely a follow-up to the assassination plan against Duke Barlett and had been meticulously prepared, commencing immediately after Barlett’s d*ath.

“Excuse me, what is the current state of Barlett’s soul? If someone else summoned him first, will that spirit be drawn to them?”

Dorothy instructed Brandon to ask Nephnis, reliant upon Uta. Nephnis sighed and slowly replied.

“No… When a soul is being summoned by multiple parties, it will go to the side with the stronger pull, rather than simply following whoever summons first. The strength of this pull relies mainly on two factors: the relevance and completeness of the medium, and the quality of the summoner themselves.

“I can feel and analyze that the medium used in that other summoning ritual is much more complete and powerful than mine. However, the person leading that ritual has no more than an ordinary shaman’s quality, far inferior to me. Consequently, the pull on that spirit is currently in a relatively balanced state; neither side can summon the spirit over.

“If I were to conduct the summoning ritual in my true form, even with just this small piece of medium, I would easily overpower an ordinary shaman. Unfortunately, the one performing the ritual now is merely a little girl possessed by my shard soul.”

Uta, residing within Nephnis, slowly explained to Brandon. Upon hearing this, Dorothy first felt a sense of relief, glad that Barlett’s soul had not been irretrievably lost to Eight Pinnacle’s earlier summoning. She then began contemplating how to break this stalemate.

“Sir, what should we do to defeat the opponent and summon Duke Barlett’s soul to our side?”

Dorothy continued to have Brandon ask. Uta, within Nephnis, quickly responded.

“It’s simple; we just need to enhance the pull. However, this must be done quickly. My shard soul, though of a higher rank, is still just a fragment and cannot maintain this for long.”

As Nephnis spoke this way, Dorothy began to seriously consider methods to enhance the pull. According to Uta’s earlier words, the pull exerted on a soul during summoning primarily depends on the medium and the quality of the ritual host. Given the current situation, it would be difficult to upgrade the quality of the ritual host, so the focus must be on improving the medium.

Mediums can be divided into physical and informational types. On the physical side, Dorothy was using Duke Barlett’s newly slain bl**d, which, according to Kapak, was already an excellent physical medium. Enhancing this would likely require moving Barlett’s entire corpse, which was impossible; Blue Weave Street Number 1 had been cordoned off, and a large number of official Extraordinary Beings were en-route. Attempting to move Barlett’s body at this time was too risky.

Therefore, the best option was to obtain more informational mediums. Presently, Dorothy only knew Barlett’s name and time of d*ath. If she could learn more details, it might break the current stalemate.

However, the question was… how could she obtain more information about Barlett?

As Dorothy pondered this in her heart, she soon had an idea. Crouched at the street corner, she closed her eyes and connected with Vania through prayer.

—

In the chaotic hall of Blue Weave Street Number 1, Vania was currently directing her medical team and remaining guards to clean up the scene and treat the severely wounded, who had not yet died. Suddenly, she felt a familiar voice from within her heart – Dorothy’s words resonating out of nowhere, causing her to pause slightly.

‘Miss Dorothy, do you want new information about Duke Barlett? It seems their side’s work isn’t over yet…’

Stunned for a moment, Vania quickly regained her composure and began taking action based on Dorothy’s suggestion.

“Everyone, is there anyone among you who is a guard for Her Highness the Princess? Is there anyone here who is a guard for His Grace the Duke? I have something to inquire about.”

Vania addressed the surrounding guards; the guards for the princess and duke had not all been wiped out. Aside from a few personal bodyguards who were very close to the explosion site, the remaining guards who were farther away from the explosion and were not on the affected floors were mostly just severely injured. Most of them were now gathered to receive Vania’s treatment.