I Have a Task Log

Chapter 319: Chapter 318: Mansion of Ghosts

The moment Colin stepped into the kitchen, he cast a spell, instantly shrouding his body in a silver mist.

The next moment, the scene before his eyes changed from the kitchen to a window sealed shut with wooden planks.

A golden light flashed from the blade of Burning Blood in his hand as he swung at the planks nailed across the window. Holy Energy instantly tore the rotten wood to shreds, showering the air with splinters.

Colin fell onto a shelf below, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The wooden shelf wobbled twice, but thankfully, it didn’t collapse.

"Aaaah!!!"

Brilliant sunlight streamed into the kitchen. The Noisy Spirit screamed and covered its eyes, but its transparent hands and eyelids offered no protection from the light whatsoever.

Hearing the sound, Ale retaliated with a Flaming Arrow.

Colin watched as the flame exploded on the Noisy Spirit’s body.

The creature flickered twice, as if short-circuiting, then returned to normal.

Most physical attacks are ineffective against Ghosts. Even spells that inflict Elemental Damage barely affect them. Thankfully, their resistance is useless against Magic Weapons.

Casting Misty Step again, Colin swung his blade even before the silver mist in his vision had fully dissipated.

A flash of golden light traced a perfect arc through the kitchen, slicing the Ghost clean in half at the waist.

The Noisy Spirit stopped screaming and stared angrily at the mortal standing before it.

It muttered an incantation, and a fiery light burst forth from its right hand.

Colin thrust a hand toward it, focusing hard to gather the surrounding Magic Net into a ball and blast it toward his opponent’s side. The fiery light in the Noisy Spirit’s hand went WHOOSH, then collapsed inward and vanished.

Counterspell successful!

The next moment, another spark of fire exploded behind the Noisy Spirit. Ale had accurately pinpointed its location by the sounds it made.

Just as Colin was about to swing his sword, a bone-chilling cold suddenly shot up his calf.

Looking down, he saw several Skeletons shrouded in an eerie blue light passing through the floor, clinging tightly to his calf.

He could clearly see fine wisps of life force seeping out from the surface of his boots, being greedily sucked into the mouths of the Skeleton heads.

Colin frowned. ’So there are other Ghosts!’

"Iz Mor Kash!"

Ale’s sharp cry reached his ears, followed immediately by a visible, frosty wind that swept in, filling every corner of the room.

A layer of frost visibly formed on the Ghosts’ surfaces. The eerie blue light surrounding the Skeletons began to flicker like short-circuiting light bulbs.

But under the control of Cautious Magic, Colin, who was also within the spell’s range, remained completely unharmed.

He flipped his wrist, reversing his grip on his Hand Half Sword.

He aimed the blade at his feet and yanked it sharply. The keen tip traced a perfect arc by his feet, slicing with incredible precision into each Ghost.

The Ghosts instantly let out shrill screams.

The sound of Ale chanting a spell reached his ears again.

As another wave of cold wind swept over them, the Ghosts clinging to Colin’s leg began to fade, disappearing without a trace moments later.

The shells of ice that had formed on them instantly shattered, falling to the ground as tiny shards.

"This is my inn, you scoundrels! Murderers!"

The Noisy Spirit began to shriek.

Colin sensed a flash of red light. Looking up, he saw it was coming from the Noisy Spirit floating in mid-air.

In that instant, his body was suddenly flung toward the ceiling.

Colin felt as if gravity had suddenly reversed, or as if a large, invisible hand was hoisting him violently upward. He had no time to react.

THWACK!

Slamming into the ceiling, Colin felt a loud thud against his back, the immense impact forcing all the air from his lungs.

Before he could even catch his breath, gravity took hold again, pulling him back toward the floor.

Colin was forced to brace for impact with his elbows.

The floor, abandoned for who knows how long, couldn’t withstand such abuse. The moment his elbow hit the ground, he heard the crack of splintering wood. A jagged crack appeared in the floorboards right before his eyes.

Thankfully, it was still tenuously connected somewhere. Colin quickly regained his balance, and it seemed he wouldn’t fall any further.

"Murderer, murderer!"

The Noisy Spirit’s screams reached his ears again.

Just as Colin looked up, another spark of fire erupted behind the Noisy Spirit.

The Ghost, which only had half its body left, burst apart with a WHOOSH. It dissolved into a cloud of sparkling dust that spread outward, revealing Ale standing behind it.

"It’s over."

Colin quickly shouted to Ale, who was about to cast another spell, afraid she’d set the whole house on fire with a Flaming Arrow.

At that point, forget about negotiating with the Hundred Eyes Gang; it’d be a question of whether Old Black Heart would even let him into the tavern.

Ale extinguished the Flame in her hand. She looked at her companion with some curiosity and was about to go help him up.

Colin quickly shouted at her, "Don’t come over! The floorboards are about to break!"

As he shouted, the floor beneath him began to creak and crack again.

Just when Colin thought he was safe, there was another loud CRACK. He felt the floor give way beneath him, and gravity instantly dragged him into the darkness.

Dust that had accumulated for who knows how many years flew everywhere. Still wearing his Helmet, Colin couldn’t see a thing around him.

He landed on something, and from the sound of it, he broke a few more planks and fell a little further down.

When things settled down and the dust cleared, Colin found he seemed to have fallen into a basement, crushing a crate in the process.

Ale had fallen with him and was now pushing herself up from the floor.

"Are you alright?" Colin asked.

Ale shook her head, frowning as she bent down to rub her knee.

After her reply, Colin also struggled up from the pile of splintered wood.

He looked up. It was a pretty high ceiling, but the fall hadn’t hurt much.

’Looks like my physique has gotten a lot stronger,’ Colin thought. ’Aside from the growth of my system, it’s probably related to my increased Casting Ability. The books did say that as a Caster’s ability grows, the Magic Net strengthens their body.’

Colin said, "Well, that’s over with. Old Black Heart probably won’t make us pay for this broken floor..."

As Colin was speaking, Ale suddenly shuddered.

In a flash, she leaped onto a nearby wooden pillar, scurrying all the way to the top. Her eyes were fixed on the spot where she had just been standing.

’Something’s here?!’

Colin immediately readied himself for a fight and followed her gaze—