Bab 42: 42. Spectres

Feran was about to say something to Walric when something horrifying happened to him that shocked not only Orion but all the souls trapped in the temple.

Walric, who was looking at Feran, suddenly clutched his head and started screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Agggahhhh!"

While he screamed, his body underwent a terrifying change. First, green smoke began to emanate from every part of his body, and a burning smell spread in every corner of the hall.

Next, his skin started to change color, and slowly it turned black. The hair on his head began to elongate at a terrifying pace before it reached the length of his waist.

However, that was far from over as his elongated hair slowly turned white from black before all the hairs on his head started to fall down, and in no time, he became bald.

But this was the least of his problems, as a moment later his well-built body went through a horrifying change.

His skin, which had turned black earlier, started to rot, and the muscles in his body began wriggling as they became thinner and thinner over time before his whole body turned sickly.

At this point, he didn't look like a human at all, but something much more terrifying.

Witnessing Walric's transformation, Orion's expression turned ashen, as if he had seen a ghost. It wasn't just the shock of Walric's current appearance that caused this reaction, but also the realization that Walric had taken on the form of the very creatures that had attacked him outside the portal.

Looking around, he saw that every soul in the hall had the same look as him. This confirmed that this wasn't a common occurrence here, but the question still remained.

'What the hell happened to him?'

He wanted to ask Feran about this, but before he could, something even more terrifying happened.

As Walric's transformation was completed, a look of terror appeared on everyone's face in the hall because, at that time, a terrifying pressure descended upon them, causing everyone's body to slam into the ground.

Be it the souls, Orion, or even the two old men, no one was spared. The group of kids, peacefully meditating, were also slammed to the ground. Some even cough blood due to the overwhelming pressure and being disturbed by this much pressure all of a sudden.

At that moment, everyone saw a glowing red dot appear out of nowhere behind Walric. It was in the air, hovering behind him.

Almost instantly, the dot started stretching, morphing into a glowing red line, while two eerie hands emerged from its sides, stretching it further and causing the line to undulate like a crack in the void.

Before long, five creatures resembling Walric but without legs floated out of the crack.

These creatures eerily stared at everyone before fixing their attention on Walric.

As if they had seen their own kin, they started screaming and lunging towards Walric, who had been in an absent-minded state since the transformation was completed.

Without any obstacles, the eerie creatures grasped him with their ghastly hands, slowly retreating and vanishing into the crack, which then disappeared into thin air, taking them with it.

A hushed silence fell over the hall, broken only when everyone felt the oppressive pressure upon them suddenly dissipate.

"What was that?! Senior Walric turned into...those monsters!!"

"I don't know. I have never seen anything like it."

"Senior Walric was one of the strongest, but this is what happened to him. So, do you think the same will happen to us now?"

"Maybe only Senior Feran and Senior Agnar know about what happened to Senior Walric."

"But what if that happens to us? I don't want to become like that. It's better to die than turn into those monsters."

Murmurs rippled through the remaining soul forms scattered throughout the hall.

Some appeared confused, others cowered in fear, and some remained indifferent, resigned to the belief that there was nothing they could do about the situation.

Even Runo's team felt scared after what they witnessed.

'He seemed fine, then all of a sudden he turned into that horror.'

Orion felt that there was much to the situation that met the eye.

Turning around, he saw that the faces of the two other old men appeared sad but not confused.

'They must know something about this.'

Just as he was about to voice his question, a very pleasant voice posed the same inquiry he had in mind.

"What happened just now? Seniors, do you know anything?"

Turning his head, Orion saw that it was again the white-haired girl who posed the question.

'Damn, why did I keep forgetting about her when she is so beautiful?'

He experienced a strange sensation, as if he were seeing the white-haired girl for the first time, even though he knew he had encountered her several times in the temple before.

On the other side, upon hearing the white haired girl's question, Feran heavily sighed.

"It was meant to be a secret, but not anymore," he said, looking at them with sadness evident in his eyes. "When Walric, Agnar, and I arrived at the temple, there was already a man who had been here for a long time. Back then, he seemed much older than any of us do now, and he taught us many things. In fact, the idea of teaching the Three Divine Ways to newcomers was his, and he also instructed us about it, as you witnessed the results firsthand."

"But things didn't end well for him," he said, his voice tinged with dread as he recalled the scene. "Like Walric, he transformed into those monsters and vanished from the temple. It was then that we finally understood something. If a person's soul remains outside of their body for too long, they will gradually lose their sanity and forget common things, even themselves. If that happens, they will eventually transform into the monsters you saw just now. We call them spectres, the guardians of this hellish temple."

Feran's words struck everyone with horror, causing panic to spread uncontrollably among them.

Runo's team members had their faces frowned, their fists clenched when they heard the bitter truth.

Orion himself didn't feel much better.

'This whole temple is cursed. If I had known better, I would have taken chances, escaped from that giant tree, and wouldn't have come here.'

He sighed as he thought about that.

At that moment, Feran, who had fallen silent after delivering the shocking revelation, glanced at everyone before resuming where he had left off.

"The most terrifying aspect of this is that we don't know when or who will undergo this transformation," he stated grimly. "The only way we can identify it is if a person mentions experiencing memory-related issues. However, they won't even remember having such problems until the very moment they begin their transformation, just like what happened with Walric."

His words spread like a plague, instilling terror in all who heard them.

However, before everyone panicked again, he mentioned something that somewhat calmed them.

"Don't worry, this won't happen to everyone here," he reassured. "Only those who have lived in this temple for more than fifty years have a chance of turning. As for the rest, they won't."

Everyone in the hall didn't know what to make of the horror revealed by Feran, but they felt sure that the more time they spent in this temple, the worse their situation would get.