“Roger! K!” the two mages howled in anger. Their bloodshot eyes filled with pain as they mumbled powerful spells to avenge their fallen comrades.

“Look out!” Dorian warned.

To where Isaac, Pedro, and the two mages stood, green light burst from the ground, followed by the Wraith’s tentacles.

Pedro summoned his beast, a winged griffin, and he swept Isaac on its back before the two escaped the beams of greenish light.

The two mages who didn’t notice and were still mumbling incantation were struck by hundreds of tentacles, turning to dust within seconds.

Isaac gritted his teeth and shot Pedro a horrified look. “Brother . . .”

Pedro didn’t respond. He couldn’t speak even if he wanted to. He was focused on getting them out from death’s grasp. That Wraith was beyond any of them could defeat.

At least . . .

At least . . . Isaac had to live! Pedro was determined to escape. Isaac was just fourteen years old! He was a gifted light mage which was a rare element. His future was limitless. He must not die here!

Isaac’s chin crumpled, and he turned back to Dorian’s minuscule form. And then to his comrades’ fallen corpses. He shut his eyes closed, and blood flowed from his chapped lips. He then looked ahead with determined eyes.

I’m sorry, everyone. I promised I would avenge you.

Flying above, they couldn’t see where they were going because of the fog. But they were confident that the Wraith couldn’t catch up to their speed. If they flew higher and faster, they’d escape the domain and the dominion’s influence.

If they flew higher and faster . . . Isaac’s eyes shone with hope, and the sparkle in his eyes was overshadowed with hundreds and hundreds of greenish tentacles.

“W-where . . . did it come from?” Isaac croaked.

In front of them, a giant pentagram appeared, and it opened a dimension where the rays of tentacles passed through.

“Isaac!” Dorian screamed in terror as the tentacles swallowed Isaac and Pedro. With a terrifying screech of thousands of souls, the last thing escaped from Isaac’s lips was anguish sobs as their souls sucked out and their body weathered to dust.

“Nooo!!” Dorian almost went to his knees. His heart was compressing with dread. His breathing turned labored in pants.

Is this . . . is this . . . the end . . . ?

“Fools.”

Dorian snapped at Ferris, who was standing not far from him. She was composed even in the face of their inevitable death. The Wraith was too strong for B-class mercs like them, and even if Ferris was a half-demon, she didn’t have horns, and she was still a kid.

“Kuk.” Dorian’s sweat-soaked his clothes, and his limbs shook from their impending doom. The biting ice of foreseeable death was looming closer.

NO! I must not die here! I’ve overcome so many deaths to reach this far. Madness crossed Dorian’s eyes, and he appeared at Ferris’s back.

Ferris looked at Dorian, but he held her arms behind her back, and she bent from the force.

“Hoi . . . what do you think you’re doing?” Ferris said, slit eyes burning scarlet.

“Sorry, Ferris.” Dorian grinned. A warped grin that twisted his face. “While that thing is absorbing you, I’m going to escape.”

“Idiot. You can never escape a domain unless you defeat its dominion.”

“I have a few rounds of [Blink] left.” Dorian huffed. “I’ll take my chances.”

Ferris was quiet for a moment before laughter boomed in her throat. “See. I told you that we should have eliminated these humans from the start. Saves us so much time.”

“What are you talking about?” Dorian frowned, but when Ferris’s dilated eyes shot him a look, the air left his lungs.

“Deceitful human. You don’t know who you’re messing with.”

Dorian’s eyes widened when Ferris childlike voice turned into a woman, and the skin of her face shed like a snake. Her body grew that he was forced to let her go and jumped at a safe distance as she transformed into a demoness with multiple horns on her head and multiple raven-like wings on her back.

Her beauty was a calamity, and her body was enough to put anyone under a spell. She was naked, and her enormous breasts bounced with any slight movement. Dorian would be aroused, but even his cock froze in fear.

One, two, three, four . . . Dorian didn’t know how many horns. Long, big horns on her forehead, on the side, and so much more on the top of her head, forming a crown.

Dorian moved a step back. His heart was bursting from the pressure the demoness was exerting. He felt like, with just a snap of her hand, he’d burst into pieces. The heavy smoldering aura emanating from her dampened and oppressed all else around them.

A sudden silent assault threatened to overwhelm Dorian with its oppressive weight. “W-who . . . who are you,” he gasped amidst the thinning of his breath.

Ferris grinned, fangs on display as she raised a hand. “You don’t have to know.” Her fingers curled to her palms.

Dorian felt like all air left him as her body was squeezed to the maximum. There was a faint shadow holding him. Clutching him. It was an incredible force, and he couldn’t do anything to escape. His eyes popped from their sockets, and blood oozed from his orifices.

“N-no . . .” Dorian rasped, and he burst into pieces. His blood splattered on the ground, and his flesh and bones were pulverized beneath the force.

Hmp! Ferris flipped her hair and shot the dominion a look. The Wraith visibly trembled, and the soul cries ceased.

In the blink of an eye, the Wraith disappeared.

Ferris sneered, “A wise choice. But don’t think your domain will protect you.”

Ferris sliced the air with a straight cut of her sharp nails, and a dimensional tear appeared. She then grabbed the opened dimension and ripped it apart just enough so she could enter. The Wraith backed away inside the protective space of nothingness.

Ferris’s lips curved upward. “Found you.”

The Wraith attacked, greenish light rays shot through Ferris, but all it struck was her after image.

Before the Wraith could move, Ferris was holding its neck, the souls in its tentacles shriek. “Lesser being. Know who your master is.”

The Wraith struggled, but the souls it absorbed were being absorbed into Ferris’s body. Its hallowed eyes glowed green until it faded.

Ferris licked her lips when he finished absorbing all the souls while what remained of the Wraith was just its cloak, and a talisman fell from its empty robe.

Ferris licked her blood-red lips and picked up the enchanted talisman on the ground.

No wonder Corpse mountain became a domain. Someone evolved the specter into a Wraith. And since it just became a Wraith, Ferris could easily defeat it.

A hundred-year-old Wraith was much trickier to defeat.

Ferris burned the enchanted talisman. It was a very rare item that lets beasts and monsters evolved. And she only knew one store that sells them.

“Oroborough tavern.”