SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will - Chapter 369 The Spirits

Chapter 369  The Spirits

Mirage carried the unconscious woman while Moon rode the doppelganger beside them. He didn’t push deeper toward the peak. Instead, he turned back, taking the route toward the underground hideout.

Surprisingly, the woman woke up before they arrived.

“Mm-hm.” She groaned, her eyelashes fluttering as her eyes opened slowly. Pain creased her face as her consciousness dragged her back to reality.

Her eyes widened as she felt the movement beneath her, the rhythmic sway of a horse’s gait. She looked down, realized she was draped across the back of the white steed from before. Then, she turned her head sharply.

Moon sat on a second horse a few meters to her left. A horse that looked identical to the one she was riding.

“You woke up? We’re heading back to the underground base. We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” Moon said, glancing over at her.

Isabelle’s body jerked upright from her slouched position. “Where is the spirit? It’s dead, right?”

Moon nodded. “Yes. It’s in my storage ring.”

Her body went rigid, “I-It’s what?” Isabelle stammered. “In my storage ring?” Moon repeated, confused by her reaction.

“STOP!” She shouted, her head whipping around in every direction. Her eyes were wide, scanning the terrain around them with a frantic urgency that hadn’t been there even when the spirit was trying to kill her.

“Turn around, immediately!”

Moon commanded Mirage to a halt. He didn’t know why she was acting like this, but he wasn’t stupid. Apparently, something about storing the spirit’s body was very, very wrong.

“You need to throw this body away from here! You will kill us and everyone in that shelter!”

Moon didn’t hesitate. He leapt off the doppelganger, pulled the spirit’s corpse from his storage ring, and threw it across the clone’s back.

“Is there anything valuable I can take from the corpse before I get rid of it?”

“Yes!” Isabelle nodded frantically. “The spiritual stone in its chest. Where the heart is. Take it and get this thing away from here. Now!” Moon drew his sword and cut the spirit’s chest open in a single motion. He reached inside, his fingers closing around something hard and smooth.

He pulled it free. A diamond-shaped stone, pale white, pulsing faintly with residual energy. It was warm in his palm.

He shoved it into his storage ring and stepped back from the doppelganger.

“Go.” Moon commanded.

The clone took off, carrying the spirit’s body away from their position at full gallop. It headed in the opposite direction of the shelter, away from the hideout, away from the other Evolvers, deeper into the island’s open terrain.

Moon jumped onto Mirage’s back, sitting behind Isabelle.

“Explain this to me later.”

Mirage surged forward, and the two of them raced toward the hideout without looking back.

Five minutes later.

The doppelganger continued to gallop across the rocky terrain, weaving between boulders and trees, carrying the spirit’s corpse further from the hideout with every stride.

Whoosh!

A gush of cutting wind came from nowhere cutting through the air in a violent way, striking the doppelganger across the neck.

The clone dissolved instantly as the wind cut through it entirely. The spirit’s body dropped as the doppelgänger dissipated, but it never hit the ground.

A turbulent column of wind erupted from beneath it, catching the corpse mid-fall and suspending it gently in the air. The body rotated slowly, held aloft by currents that moved with care, as if cradling a precious gem.

From the trees, figures began to emerge.

They walked alongside each other, five of them, each one bearing the same diamond-shaped white symbol on their foreheads. Their movements were synchronized, unhurried, and their expressions were unreadable as they approached the floating corpse.

They gathered around it in silence.

The tallest among them reached out and turned the body until the face was visible or what was left of it. The burnt skin, the burned remnants of its white bodysuit, the hollow cavity where the spiritual stone had been cut from its chest.

“Whose child is this?”

The voice was soft and gentle. It carried a profound sadness that could be felt by anyone present. “To die this young.” Another spoke, its pale eyes tracing the burns across the body. “Who would be cruel enough to do such a thing?”

A third spirit knelt beside the suspended corpse and examined the wounds more closely. Its fingers hovered over the scorched flesh without touching it.

“Fire element. The burns are deep, layered. Whoever did this struck multiple times.” It paused, tilting its head. “There are also traces of lightning damage beneath the burns to the muscles.”

The tall spirit’s expression didn’t change, but the wind around them grew colder.

“This could only have been done by one kind.”

“Humans.” The other spirit finished with a grim expression.

A heavy silence fell over the group. The wind that suspended the body seemed to tighten around it, pulling it closer, cradling it like a mother cradles her newborn child.

The tallest spirit spoke again. Its voice was quiet, but there was nothing soft about it anymore.

“There are humans nearby. Somewhere nearby, hiding like the vermin they are.” Its pale eyes swept across the horizon, toward the rocky terrain where the doppelganger had come from. “We need to find them. Every single one.”

It turned to the others.

“Don’t leave a single one of them alive.”

The spirits stood motionless for a moment, before nodding their heads.

“First, we take this child back to the pavilion. The parents deserve to see their child. To mourn properly.”

The tall spirit nodded slowly. “We also need to notify the pavilion that humans are present in this area. If there is one, there may be more.”

The wind moved beneath the body, lifting it higher. The group formed around it in a protective circle, and together they began the walk back toward the castle on the distant peak.

Their pace was slow. But the look in their eyes promised something far faster was coming.