'Crows?'
Vale remained silent as he heard Yvaine's warning. The last time he had to deal with some strange crows was when he encountered the Summoner acquainted with Larkin a few weeks ago.
He then turned to Cressida and asked if she noticed something was off. He wanted to make sure of something.
"Hmm? I don't think there's a problem… Do you think we're still being followed? I left a few Banshee in various areas around this village. If there's a danger, they will inform me about it." Cressida replied.
This confirmed Vale's suspicion that she was incapable of detecting the Summoned Creatures of the Summoners.
He then triggered his Spirit Vision spell and confirmed that there were crows emitting some strange fluctuation of energy around the village.
'Let's not think too much. It might even be the protector of this village.' Vale replied to Yvaine, but it didn't mean that he would lower his guard.
He found it weird that the doctor was confident that no one would bother them inside the village. Vale could only think of one reason for that, and that was probably because of a strong Arcane Arts Practitioner staying within the village.
Nevertheless, Vale's Divine Sense and Phantasm State couldn't detect this person, so they were probably stronger than him by several levels, or they had a Royal Rank or even a Noble Rank Mystical Item to hide their presence.
As soon as Vale entered his rented room, he didn't immediately relax as he monitored the surroundings with his Divine Sense and Phantasm State.
After confirming that there are no hidden dangers around, he finally had the time to check his status and his Spell Lights.
He had a strange feeling that his Incorruptible Body had improved once more!
[ Name: Kyle Marshall ]
[ Attributes: Strength 42.11, Agility 40.90, Intelligence 59.12, Vitality 46.05 ]
[ Dark Arts: Spell Dispersion Lv4, Ghost Hand Lv7, Incorruptible Body Lv8, Darkness Manipulation Lv6, Spirit Vision Lv4, Light Absorption Lv4, Create Shadow Soldier Lv0, Cursed Breath Lv4 ]
[ Holy Arts: Divine Sense Lv4, Blessed Healing Lv4 ]
[ Celestial Arts: Call of the Divine Lightning Lv0, Shadow Mutilation Lv0 ]
[ Summoning Art: Grimoire Attraction Lv4 ]
[ Neutral Ability: Extrasensory Perception Spell Lv6, Traceless Shift Lv7, Lightspeed Lv4]
[ Available Energy: 1344 ]
[ Available Divinity: 3.28 ]
"It's really in the mid-stage of the Advanced Realm. Master Heinz would probably go crazy if he learned about this." Vale muttered in excitement as his Master only expected him to reach the intermediate realm after a dozen years.
Obviously, Vale had long broken the record since only about two years had passed!
Unfortunately, there was no one he could brag about this achievement, so he could only celebrate by himself.
***
Vale soon felt tired, but he didn't rest yet. He still had to meditate to hasten his recovery.
'Yvaine… Guard me for a few hours.' Vale said to Yvaine before he started his meditation.
Yvaine only grunted at him as she was already used to this job.
Vale only stopped his meditation when he recovered most of the Dark Energy he had spent today.
After this, he ordered Yvaine to guard him while he was asleep. In any case, this Dark Spirit doesn't need to sleep, so he might as well fully utilize her presence.
During the night, as Yvaine was lurking around Vale's room to pass the time, she noticed some movements outside their rented room.
To be exact, it came from the next room where Cressida was staying at.
Yvaine didn't wake Vale yet as she observed the situation first…
However, because of her decision, Cressida had enough time to complete her preparation.
A strong wave of negative energy spread throughout the whole village before focusing it on Vale's room!
At this moment, Yvaine didn't have to wake Vincent up as he already opened his eyes after being attacked!
He felt that he was being suffocated and something was trying to enter his body!
'Possession?!' Vale looked at Yvaine and realized that she was also stunned at this situation.
"The attack came from Cressida. I can try and redirect the energy to my body." Yvaine acted quickly as she used a strange ability to redirect some of the negative energy going to Vale into her body.
However, as she tried doing this, Vale immediately warned her to stop!
'Stop! There are Banshees everywhere! Take care of them!' Vale shouted in his mind. With his unique connection with Yvaine, they could communicate without any voice… Of course, he ordered her to do this since he felt his body was able to resist the possession ritual on him.
'So Cressida is really up to no good…' Vale's eyes turned cold as he focused on resisting the possession ritual.
It appears that Cressida had really prepared a lot for this, as she seems to have used a high-level Possession Ritual.
Perhaps, if she were trying to take control of someone else, she would've succeeded in just a few seconds.
However, Vale's Incorruptible Body had already reached the Advanced Realm and it was something that she would never think of…
Vale smirked at this as she used his Extrasensory Perception's Telepathy and targeted Cressida in the other room.
"Senior Cressida… You can stop now. You won't succeed. I've known about your plan all along. You're just wasting your energy."
Vale said directly into Cressida's mind. Of course, he was bluffing.
However, this would certainly put pressure on Cressida, and there is a high chance she would really stop.
As expected, the latter was shocked as soon as she heard Vale's voice inside her head.
'How is this possible?!' Cressida couldn't believe it.
Vale had only studied in the Academy for a year, but he could already use the Telepathy that not even the Professors could pull off!
She couldn't even reply to Vale since she had no idea how to use Telepathy like him!
"I have to leave…" Cressida made up her mind to escape. She miscalculated Vale's tenacity.
Normally, the ritual she made was enough to take the soul of her target. Once she succeeded, she could then take the uniqueness of the body that had just lost its soul.
She has been doing this all this time, so she could now accommodate a total of 22 Banshees in her body.
She was expecting to be capable of accommodating another 10 or even 15 Banshee once she devoured Vale's Tyrannical Saint's Physique…
'I should've just targeted the Dark Spirit… I was too greedy.' Cressida frowned at her current predicament.
She was expecting to be capable of accommodating at least another 3 or 4 Banshees in her body after consuming the Dark Spirit, but her chances have vanished now that Vale realized her plan.
Unfortunately, before she could escape, the village's guardian made its move as he released a powerful pressure leaving Vale and Cressida frozen in their spot.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om