"Shit."
*Swoosh*
Like a demon emerging from the abyss, something that the summoned woman had called forth came out of the crack.
With a torn black robe, a skeletal head burning with dark purple fire, and carrying a scythe, the death spirit from myth appeared in reality.
"Hahaha! Watch! This is my masterpiece! No enemy who has ever seen this has come back alive!"
Argus laughed like a maniac.
Rijal saw all of this and trembled, but not because of the death spirit or Taufik. It was because he recognized the woman his father had summoned.
That woman was none other than his mother.
"...Mother?"
--------
The Dai-Yak princess, Argus's wife, and Rijal's mother.
Argus loved his wife. He was happy when he married the Dai-Yak Tribe princess. It was pure love until that love turned twisted.
After his wife became the main culprit in his brother's murder, Argus's plan had been perfect, but he hadn't expected someone to pull the strings from behind and accuse his wife. His denial at the time was real. He had truly defended her, but one month after the accident, something happened.
The Dai-Yak Tribe princess, Mawinei Nara Anggun, wanted to teach Argus about spirits. And of course, Argus was eager to learn. However, over time, they discovered that Argus had no talent for spiritualism.
The truth was that spirits could read Argus, understanding who he was and what his character was like. None of the spirits wanted to form a contract with him, but Anggun never told Argus this.
As the patriarch of the Runes Family, Argus believed that if he could become both a spiritualist and a magician, he would elevate his family to new heights. So, when he realized he could not become a spiritualist, he was deeply disappointed.
--------
The Runes Family, which specialized in illusion magic, had many forbidden books. As the patriarch, Argus naturally had access to them.
Among those books, he found something interesting:
Marionette Magic.
That was the name of the book.
This illusion magic directly attacks a person's soul. If someone fell victim to this magic, they would become a puppet, their soul trapped in an endless illusion.
The book was considered forbidden because this magic could not be undone. The ancestor who created it had sealed it away due to its extreme danger.
But Argus found the magic fascinating and wanted to learn it.
This magic was extremely complex because it directly manipulated the soul. It took Argus ten years of study to master it.
During those ten years, Argus's wife, Anggun, grew even stronger in her spiritual power, forming numerous contracts with spirits.
Argus was not pleased with this, because that power was not his. He believed that if he possessed that power, he could make the Runes Family rise to even greater heights.
Although the alliance with the Dai-Yak Tribe had already made them more prosperous than ever, it was not enough for Argus, who had been willing to sacrifice his own brother for power. Since then, the pure love he had for his wife had become twisted.
He then recreated the same poison that had killed his brother, placed it inside a box along with a receipt for the poison, hid it among his wife's belongings, and ensured his son would find it.
Anggun knew this was all Argus's doing. Only he knew about her tribe's techniques and specialties. But because of her love for Argus, she turned a blind eye, a deaf ear, and a silent mouth.
That was how deeply she loved him, a true fool.
Argus knew that his wife was aware of his scheme. But the rice had already become porridge. His ambition had blinded him. He could not stop what he had begun. With a clouded mind, he used "Marionette Magic" on his wife.
"... I'm sorry, my love"
And just like that, twenty years passed. Anggun, now Argus's puppet, obeyed his every command. Over those two decades, she formed a contract with the death spirit. With that spirit, Argus had done many things.
Eliminated his competitors and made the Runes Family more prosperous, elevating them to second place in rank.
--------
"...M-Mother?"
Rijal, seeing his mother for the first time in twenty years, was shocked and heartbroken.
He never knew that his father had orchestrated the discovery of the box that led to his mother's imprisonment. He had always felt guilty and, to forget that feeling had taken it out on others.
He was a child trapped in an adult's body, consumed by guilt.
"...F-Father, I thought you said Mom died years ago. So what is this?!"
"She is already dead in my mind"
"B-But-"
"Shut up!! She's already dead! So think of her as dead!!"
Taufik ignored the family drama unfolding before him and focused on the death spirit.
He did not know what power it had or how strong it was, so he remained on alert.
Anggun then ordered the spirit to attack Taufik.
"...Attack... him!"
The spirit's eyes glowed with a purple light. It raised its scythe, and then something straight out of a horror movie unfolded before Taufik's eyes.
Skeletons emerged from the ground. These skeletons still had remnants of rotting flesh clinging to their bones. They wielded various weapons.
Swords, bows, spears, shields, hammers, and more. Their numbers exceeded a hundred.
"Grahh!!!"
At the spirit's command, the skeletons charged toward Taufik, the melee fighters in the front, while the archers prepared to fire from behind.
*woosh*
Seeing numerous arrows flying toward him, Taufik raised his katana.
'SwordMagic - Wind Form: Thousand Slashes!'
Taufik swung his katana.
*Slash!*
At first, it was just one invisible wave of sword energy. But as it advanced, it split into more and more, multiplying until it reached a thousand, just as its name implied.
Since the sword energy was created from wind essence, it raged like a tornado.
Struck by this attack, every skeleton, even the archers in the back, was cut into pieces.
"...Just like that?"
Taufik asked. Though he had destroyed all the skeletons.
But then, something incredible happened. The skeletons, despite being in pieces, began to merge back together.
"Hahahaha! Watch! This is the power of the death spirit! He controls death itself! No matter how many times you cut them, they will just rise again and again! Hahaha! What? Are you afraid now? Want to run away with your bird?!"
Argus laughed at Taufik.
"Hmm... Is that so? But can they rise again after this attack?!"
'SwordMagic - Fire Form: Purifying Fire Pillar!'
Taufik stabbed his katana into the ground.
*Boom!*
"Grahh?!"
As the name implied, two fire pillars erupted from the ground. Unlike his usual blue fire, this time the flames were slightly white. The skeletons hit by these flames instantly turned to ash.
"..."
Seeing his army reduced to ash by fire imbued with holy energy, the death spirit panicked.
"Gr-Grahh!!"
It opened a crack and fled.
--------
For the Death Spirit, holy energy is their weakness. If the holy energy is weaker, they will be okay, but the amount that Taufik is showing is too much for him, so running is the best choice.
Usually, the spirit that is being summoned can't leave without the summoner's permission, but Anggun was a special case. She didn't have any will, and she only moved because of Argus's command. So the Death Spirit could leave whenever he wanted. Even if Argus forbade it, he could still leave because his contractor was Anggun, not Argus.
"..."
Argus was speechless, seeing the Death Spirit running away. Argus, who was a magician, couldn't feel the holy energy.
Mana and holy energy are different, so that is why only the Exorcists can kill the inferior demons because only a holy attack can work the best on them.
So Argus didn't know why the Death Spirit was running away.
How can a human use holy energy? Let's discuss that another time.
"Pfftt~ Ahaha~ What is that? Hahaha~"
"..."
"So now, only two of you are remaining. Hm~... Three of you? So what are you gonna do now?"
"..."
"Haa~ Let's finish this quickly... My goal in coming here was only to kill Rijal, but look!! I almost destroyed the forest, so let's finish this before the night comes"
"..."
Argus couldn't say anything. Everything that he built was smashed in front of his eyes, and the last hope he thought could help him just ran off for no reason.
All that was left was the good-for-nothing son and his puppet wife.
Looking at Argus, who had lost the will to live anymore, Taufik took a deep breath and then got close to Argus.
Even after Taufik got close to Argus, Argus didn't have any reaction. He just stood there, looking at nothing.
"Haa~ I will kill you without pain... Consider this my mercy to you. Do you have any last words?"
Argus heard that, looking at his wife and his son.
"... My wife... and that good-for-nothing son of mine... Can you spare them?"
"..."
Taufik didn't answer Argus. He maybe could spare that woman, but Rijal?
It was hard.
"...I can't promise that"
Argus just smiled and closed his eyes. Looking at this, Taufik then pointed his katana at Argus's head.
'Incinerate!'
*Swoosh*
Not even a second had passed, and Argus had become ash. Rijal, who saw his father turning to ash, lost his mind.
"F-FATHER!!!"
Rijal could only cry. Looking at this, Taufik took a deep breath again.
'Haa~ Why does it look like the villain here is me?'
But the system notifications didn't appear yet, so the quest was not over. Looking at Rijal, who was crying like that, Taufik couldn't do anything.
"If you start something, you have to see it through to the end. You started all of this, so you have to end it too. So don't blame me, Rijal"
Taufik then approached Rijal, who was close to his father's ashes. But when he was close enough, someone grabbed his leg. Looking behind, he saw the woman whom Argus had summoned before.
"P-please spare my son. You can kill me instead. I don't know what he did to you, but please spare him"
Anggun said in a small voice.
"M-Mother!"
Rijal, who saw his mother like that, quickly got to her side and hugged her.
"N-no, as you said, I started all of this, so please just kill me. I only want one thing. Please let my mother live!!"
Rijal then kneeled with his head on the ground like when they first met, but this time, it was for a different reason.
"If you-"
"Me too, please spare them!"
Taufik's voice was cut off again by someone coming from the forest. It was an old man who looked like someone from a tribe, and many people followed behind him. Taufik recognized one of them.
"...Jaan?"
"We meet again, Mr. Taufik. Like my chief, I also ask you to please spare our princess?!"
Jaan said, bowing his head.
And like a trigger, after Jaan, the others also bowed their heads.
"We ask you too! Please spare our princess!!" x(Many)
"..."
Taufik was speechless.
"You guys... are you planning all of this? You're making it look like I'm the bad person here"
He said while massaging his nose bridge.
"PLEASE!!!" x(MANY)
The tribe said again.
"....Haaa~ alright, I'll spare them. Satisfied?"
[DING]
[QUEST - If You Poke Me, I Will Slap You - A, Has Been Completed]
Hearing that, the chief and some Panglima were happy.
"Thank you very much! We will never forget this. When you need something from us, you are welcome to come anytime!"
"Yeah~"
--------
After that, the Dai-Yak Tribe approached Anggun and Rijal to give them first aid. Although they didn't like the Runes, Rijal was still their princess's son, so they still treated him. But something was wrong with their princess when they treated her.
She was alive, but she was like someone already dead. Their shaman said that her soul was trapped by some magic, so she was like a dead person.
When the chief asked the shaman if he could cure her, the shaman shook his head. A soul was something very complex, so the shaman couldn't do anything.
Hearing that, the chief felt complicated. He felt happy that he could see his daughter again but also felt sad, angry, and hopeless.
Jaan, who saw this, sought help from Taufik, thinking maybe he could do something.
"I feel shy asking this, after all that you have done for us, but Mr. Taufik, can you do something about our princess's soul?"
Taufik, who was still reviewing his reward, heard Jaan.
"Hmm, what about her?"
"The shaman said our princess's soul is trapped by some magic. So although she is alive, she is like someone dead. Can you do something about that?"
"Hmm? But a while ago, after I killed Argus, she was just fine. She even talked to me and asked me to spare her son"
"About that, the shaman said that because of her instinct as a mother who wanted to protect her son, that made her move. But after that, she went back to her dead-alive state. So can you do something?"
"If it's about the soul, maybe I can do something. But do not expect too much. I've never used this technique on someone else before, so I don't know if it will succeed"
"It's okay, it's okay~ At least we try something"
"If you say so"
Taufik then went to where the princess was receiving her treatment.
"Chief, Mr. Taufik said that he has some method to save the princess"
"Is it true? What are you waiting for? Let him do it!"
Taufik then came to Anggun and drew his katana, but the others who saw this stopped him.
"Mr, we asked you to save her, not kill her! If you can't, just say so. We will not mock you, so it's fine"
Taufik just looked at them. He didn't feel offended by what they said. It was normal for them to react that way because where would you find someone curing another with a katana? So he explained it to them.
"Don't worry. My technique is a bit special. I will not hurt her. Trust me. If you feel worried, please close your eyes. If something happens to your princess, I will bear the consequences"
Hearing that, the Dai-Yak Tribe felt relieved.
"No, Mr. Taufik, we'll trust you. Please continue"
"Okay"
Getting their approval, Taufik continued what he had to do. He drew his katana. Although some of the Dai-Yak Tribe still felt nervous, they didn't stop him.
'SwordMagic - Light Form: Dispel!'
*Swing*
His katana went through Anggun's body, but her body didn't get cut or anything. Then, when Taufik withdrew his katana, they heard a sound like broken glass.
*...* (Fill in the sound yourself)
After that, the light in Anggun's eyes came back, and then she fainted again.
"She will be fine now. She is just tired. She will wake up later, just wait. I will take my leave now, so take care of it yourself"
"Yes! Thank you, really, thank you! You've done a lot for us, and we don't know how to repay you"
"It's okay, don't mind."
Then, he is ready to go home, but before that, he approaches Rijal to tell him something.
"Rijal, this is the second time I've shown you mercy. I hope there won't be a third"
"Y-yes, I understand"
"You can hate me, but don't try to take revenge. No, I won't forbid you, but if you seek revenge, think twice... Think about whether you're ready to lose everything again. Think about your mother, think about your father. If you're truly ready to lose everything, then come to me. I'll play with you... Do you understand?"
"...Yes"
*Pat~ pat~*
Taufik then patted Rijal's shoulder twice, summoned Nāgāntaka, rode him, and went back home.
With that, his business with The Runes finished
....
...
..
.