Bruno looked Ethan up and down, seemingly trying to find something special about him. But no matter how he looked, Ethan appeared to be just an ordinary young man, no different from countless other young adventurers.
If there was a difference... it was that this young man didn’t have any magic stone equipment. That was truly unbelievable. How had he accomplished so much without any magic stone gear?
"Is it because of that staff?"
He suspected that the staff in Ethan’s hand was a very special piece of magic stone equipment, one so powerful that even Lord Beckford’s Death Castle couldn’t suppress it. That might explain why this young man was able to do such astonishing things.
Just as Bruno was about to speak, a figure suddenly appeared behind him, wrapping an arm tightly around his neck. A blade of energy radiating a sacred aura pierced through from Bruno’s front.
Struck in a vital spot, Bruno felt all his strength drain away. He didn’t even have the energy to speak. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out before he collapsed to the ground.
After Bruno fell, everyone clearly saw that the one who had dealt the fatal blow was Ethan.
Logan turned his head to look at where Ethan had been standing earlier. He saw another Ethan still standing there, but it was slowly dissipating—clearly, it had been an illusion created by Ethan.
"No wonder Loki is so fond of this move. Sometimes, it really is useful."
The moment Bruno appeared, Ethan had silently cast an illusion, leaving an image of himself in place while quietly moving behind Bruno. Just as the man was about to speak, Ethan cleanly and decisively delivered a backstab.
Logan had been on his ship for a long time, and Ethan had learned many practical techniques from this experienced warrior, including how to strike from behind for an instant kill. He had especially practiced targeting the kidneys.
As for what Bruno wanted to say? Ethan couldn’t be bothered to listen. The situation was already clear. This guy was obviously a spy planted by Beckford. Now that all of Beckford’s other plans had failed, this "loyal" subordinate had finally stepped forward to confront Ethan and the others.
Ethan didn’t know whether he intended to fight them or had some other objective, but since he was confirmed to be an enemy, it was best to strike first.
"Too bad about my Battle Cross."
The Battle Cross in his hand was hissing with black smoke. After backstabbing Bruno, Ethan discovered that the negative energy within the man was astonishingly intense. The energy blade of the Battle Cross had been corroded, and even the weapon’s core structure had been affected.
He tried using Holy Light to dispel or purify the corruption, but too much Holy Light had already been consumed from the earlier sea blessing. The remaining Holy Light energy wasn’t enough to cleanse the dark energy invading the weapon’s interior.
It wasn’t that there were no methods to "save" the weapon, but doing so would take too much time and effort. Besides, the Battle Cross was gradually falling behind Ethan’s current needs. So he let it be eroded and destroyed. There was no dramatic transformation into a corrupted weapon or anything like that. The overwhelming negative energy simply destroyed the weapon’s inner structure. On the surface, it still looked intact, but in reality, it was now just a hunk of metal, devoid of any special properties.
"This guy is a bit strange."
Ethan tossed the ruined weapon aside and looked down at Bruno’s corpse. It was still radiating terrifying energy. Compared to before, when the energy had been hidden and difficult to detect, now even those with the weakest perception could feel how dreadful it was.
"Still playing tricks even after death?"
Ethan observed for a moment and quickly understood what was happening. Although the body was dead, the massive amount of death energy inside was protecting the soul and beginning to transform Bruno into an undead. Realizing this, Ethan immediately extracted his soul.
In the past, Ethan didn’t have the ability to casually extract souls. When he had divided and extracted Professor Charles’s psychic body, it had only been possible with the professor’s full cooperation and several preparatory steps.
Even now, he couldn’t just extract a soul from a living body. But in Bruno’s case, the body was already dead, and his soul was being forcibly held within by special energy. That made it easy for Ethan to handle.
As Ethan raised his hands, a chain of pale white light appeared. Bruno’s soul, saturated with death energy and already in the process of transformation, was drawn out of his body and into Ethan’s grasp.
It looked like Ethan was grabbing Bruno by the neck and lifting him, but this Bruno was a translucent soul with no physical weight.
Souls were fragile—Ethan had long known that.
Moreover, once separated from the body, it seemed that certain mental barriers vanished. In soul form, many beings found it difficult to conceal their thoughts, and secrets were often exposed.
Back then, Wilson hadn’t been able to hold his tongue in soul form and had blurted out Beckford’s name, revealing a more powerful mastermind behind the scenes.
Now that Ethan had captured another one, it would be a waste not to interrogate him properly. He still had the Holy Light Cross in hand, which was highly effective against evil souls.
And Selene could use this soul to practice Mind Flay, a spell that directly affected soul bodies.
It didn’t take much effort to get Bruno to spill everything.
First, Beckford wasn’t on the island at all. After setting things up in the northern route, the mastermind had already moved on to another region to carry out similar preparations.
Second, the Magic Heart was actually within Bruno’s body. That explained the massive amount of negative energy radiating from his corpse.
As Ethan had previously speculated, the island’s purpose was to trap adventurers in this sea region and gradually transform everyone in both this area and the Sea of Calm into undead creatures.
As for the ultimate goal, Bruno didn’t know. He himself had been an adventurer in the Sea of Calm. During a voyage, he encountered Beckford, who had recently returned. After being easily defeated, Bruno had surrendered without hesitation.
Beckford had already settled on his plan by then, but he was wary of unforeseen developments, so he didn’t turn Bruno into an undead right away. Instead, he had him return to the central island to gather intelligence so Beckford could be better prepared.
That was why Bruno had agreed so readily to join Brent’s team. He was there specifically to gather information up close.
Everything that needed to be said had been said, and as the situation was now under control, Brent and the others arrived and heard the entire "confession." At this point, Brent understood everything. But he still wanted to know—why had Bruno chosen to surrender?
In soul form, Bruno couldn’t control his thoughts very well. He blurted out whatever was on his mind, and after being tortured by Ethan, his spirit had become unstable.
"You think I wanted to die like that? Even if I become an undead, at least I can keep ’living’."
"That’s what you call living?"
"Why not?" Bruno’s expression grew more twisted, and now he looked no different from a malicious spirit. "I can think. I can move freely. I’ll become even stronger!"
Bruno, now fully deranged, seemed to forget that he was still in Ethan’s grasp. He suddenly went berserk and tried to lunge at Brent, but no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t break free from Ethan’s hand.
Seeing that he was completely insane, and having already learned everything he needed, Ethan’s hand flared with a golden-yellow light even brighter than before. Holy Light surged into Bruno’s soul, purifying this maddened evil spirit, now tainted by vast amounts of death energy.
With the soul destroyed, Ethan casually destroyed the body as well. From Bruno’s confession, he had already learned that the island’s Magic Heart had fused with the man’s body and could no longer be separated.
Bruno had been tasked with guarding the Magic Heart. If things went badly, he was supposed to merge with the heart and gain powerful strength to deal with the problem. But once the merging began, he would never be able to leave the island again.
However, just as the merging process started, Ethan’s backstab had killed him. The power hadn’t even fully awakened before it was lost.
"So, we just need to destroy his body, and then we can leave the island, right?"
This island was formed and sustained by the energy from the Magic Heart. As long as the Magic Heart was destroyed, the island would immediately collapse.
"We have to move quickly, or we’ll end up sinking with it."
Ethan released the remaining Holy Light from the Holy Light Cross, transforming it into a golden-yellow flame filled with sacred energy that ignited Bruno’s corpse.
As the flames burned, the Magic Heart fused with the body began to suffer damage. The island also started to show signs of collapse.
The dark clouds that had loomed over the sea gradually dispersed, and the negative energy saturating the island began to fade.
Just as everyone made their way toward the beach, they looked back and could no longer see any trace of the castle. The ground beneath them began to shake, and the tremors grew stronger with each passing moment.
"The island is collapsing."
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