I let out an exorcism before he reached me. He wasn’t even trying to use spells at this point. Instead, his face had distorted into something more ghastly and his hands were now dangerous looking claws. Miki enhanced my sword and I managed to start deflecting his spells. With Moderate Swordsmanship, I was just able to keep his wicked slices at bay. Evil Eye and Basic Monster Identify gave me no weaknesses that were apparent for any ghosts.
With the pressure off the girls, they started launching attacks. Miki spiritual attacks weren’t something Karr could dodge, and he was quickly taking damage. However, so was I! Every third slash cut into my skin. It was really painful. I equipped back to White Mage and started healing myself.
{You have been poisoned!}
{You have been cursed!}
I was throwing out spells as rapidly as my mind could work, which was far better after I had spent so much time hunting the level 15 boss. Had I not used that time to grow more familiar with my abilities, I had little doubt that the barrage of attacks right now would have ended me. Being able to cast a stream of spells while also deflecting attacks wasn’t easy. Karr himself was proof of that fact. As soon as he went into physical attack mode, he had abandoned all of his spells in exchange for a fighting style which was much more feral.
“Watch out, this is going to hurt!” I warned the girls. “Create Cushion! Fireball!”
I attempted to blow a fireball between us and then use a cushion to block my own hit. It didn’t work very well. Fire erupted between us and I was blown back, but I didn’t anticipate the flames. Perhaps if I had used fire control, I might have been able to do more, but I was too inexperienced with mage spells. The result was burns all over my body as I rolled away. I had successfully separated us, but my injuries hurt so bad I could barely think.
“Master!” Lydia cried out. “Quick Attack!”
Karr was only temporarily stunned. He recovered quickly and started racing for me, his claws out excitedly. I was on the ground now and the ghost was racing to deliver a brutal attack. I didn’t know if HP existed in this world, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it reached zero after this attack. Grabbing a pinch of fairy dust, I did the only thing I could think of and created water of life. The ghost which was closing in on me suddenly jumped away as the spray of water shot from my hands. I put it straight to my mouth and started drinking. Plus, the water fell all over my body and soothed the burns. The pain disappeared almost like a lie. I only took a breath to cast a moderate heal, and then stood back up.
I was soaking wet, but my burns were almost gone now. As for the ghost, he was staring at me with complete disbelief.
“How… how are you doing that?” Karr demanded.
Rather than answer him, I lifted my fingers. There was another pinch of fairy dust in it.
“Miki!” I cried out. “Cast mana control! Use this!”
I tossed the spirit dust at Miki, and she immediately did as I commanded without question, absorbing the odd mana of the fairy dust and pushing it into her control of magic. She let out a cry of disbelief, then she turned to Karr and held up her hands.
“Resurrection!” Miki cried out.
Resurrection? What? Fairy dust plus mana control is Resurrection? I was hoping she’d gain some kind of ability to control his mana, perhaps a spell interruption. Instead, she unlocked the high-level priest spell resurrection?
A light floated around Karr. He didn’t seem to be pained. Rather, his facial features returned to normal and his face looked to be at peace.
“How… interesting… it is too bad I cannot be truly resurrected, as I died within this cursed place, but moving on feels right too.”
“Karr… what happened to this mansion?” I decided to ask, as Resurrection was a spell that seemed to one-hit KO ghosts, but also took a bit of time to completely cast.
He smiled. “Please go easy on her? Maybe… maybe you’ll have the ability… to help her find peace. Please finish her story… the right way.”
With those words, his body dissipated into bright lights and then floated away.