The moment he heard the demon's words, Elias's nerves, which had been stretched as tight as a bowstring, finally went slack.
The fingers gripping his cane slowly loosened.
"Whew..."
He let out a long, heavy breath.
It was only at this moment that he finally reached a definitive verdict in his heart.
He was not in a hallucination.
The logic was simple.
The core mechanism of the dream demon curse was to dig into the prey's subconscious fears and desires, trapping them in a desperate hallucination to serve as food for its spirituality.
An evil curse would never proactively teach him how to use a holy relic to identify a hallucination.
He must have returned to reality after that last stimulation.
The potions on the ground were real.
The pile of soul coins radiating the aura of death was also real.
Elias lowered his cane, leaned over, and picked up the translucent, milky-white candle.
He held it in his hand, examining it closely.
The surface of the object carried a hint of warmth.
It emitted an oily scent with a faint, fishy tang.
"This smell..."
Elias frowned.
He was all too familiar with this scent. It was nearly identical to the fuel he used to light the lamps back at the lighthouse.
It was the scent of phosphor whale oil.
However, the scent on this candle was much purer.
"You take your time looking, Excellency, but I'm off!"
While Elias was studying the Sacred Candle, Guss's impatient voice drifted from beside him.
Elias turned to look.
The demon's massive frame was crouched on the ground, its movements so fast they were a blur.
It had pulled out a repulsive, crimson bag from somewhere. The material looked like a creature's stomach, its surface covered in pulsing blood vessels.
Guss was frantically stuffing handfuls of soul coins from the ground into this fleshy sack.
Soon, he had packed away his half of the share.
"Respected Excellency."
Guss quickly tied the opening of the flesh bag shut, turned around, and offered Elias an extremely respectful expression.
"That candle is no joke."
He pointed at the holy relic in Elias's hand, a deep wariness flickering in his massive vertical pupils.
"Once it starts burning, for those of us from Calovius or those lowly evil spirits..."
"Those mad dogs from the Dawn Church can smell it from two streets away!"
Guss shrugged his massive shoulders.
"I'm only here to collect a debt today."
"I have no desire to run into those lunatics."
Guss squeezed out a hideous attempt at a genial smile.
He pointed to the remaining pile of coins on the floor, which constituted more than half the original total.
"The rest of these soul coins are yours, as agreed."
"As for the information about that candle, consider it a little extra gift from me personally."
Despite his generous words, his eyes couldn't help but linger uncontrollably on the coins left on the ground.
"If you ever run into any trouble in the living world in the future..."
The demon reluctantly pulled his gaze away.
"If you have a need, you can summon me at any time."
With that, Guss's arm whipped upward, and a dark object arced through the air, heading straight for Elias.
Elias reached out and caught it.
The moment it touched his hand, an icy sensation spread from his palm. It was a circular token with the texture of obsidian.
The surface of the token was not smooth; instead, it was carved with a sinister rune that made one feel physically ill just by looking at it.
"What's this?" Elias asked, weighing the token in his hand.
"It is my token of recognition," Guss said, his tone gaining a hint of shrewdness.
"You only need to draw a Calovius inverted triangle on the ground and place this token at the very center of the ritual."
"No matter which layer of Calovius I am on, I will respond to your summons immediately."
"I can help you resolve any trouble."
"However..."
Guss rubbed his fingers together.
"Depending on the size of the trouble you've caused, you will only need to pay me a corresponding amount of soul coins."
Hearing this, Elias let out a cold laugh in his mind.
He saw right through it.
This guy was greedy to the very bone!
It was clearly eyeing the soul coins he had just received! It couldn't rob him outright, so it wanted to use this disguised 'employment service' to funnel the money back into its own pockets!
"As expected, the greatest capitalists are often demons," Elias thought as he casually shoved the cold obsidian token into his pocket.
"By the way, Excellency."
Guss, who was just about to flee, seemed to remember something vital.
He leaned in half a step with an extremely fawning air, his massive body bowing slightly.
"Please remember..."
"The next time you encounter that great being who gave you the bone flute..."
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, please put in a good word for me! Just a word or two of praise will do!"
The demon's tone was filled with humble pleading, as if the being who had gifted the bone flute was a taboo whose name he didn't even dare mention.
After saying this, Guss's gaze finally turned toward the corner.
There, the dissociative Herm lay slumped in the ruins, covered in blood and barely breathing, hovering between life and death.
"Count him lucky!" Guss snorted with disdain, a flash of brutality in his eyes.
"I won't trouble you to finish him off. Just leave him here to rot."
Elias nodded slightly.
He looked at the obsidian token in his hand and looked up, wanting to take the opportunity to ask a few more questions.
However, his vision blurred for a moment.
The massive figure had already scrambled into a spirit world rift that had been torn open.
Elias stared dumbfounded at the empty ruins.
"Damn, he sure knows how to make a quick exit!"
The sprawling ruins fell back into a deathly silence, save for the occasional crackle of a few pieces of wood still burning with the Ever-Burning Sword's flames in the corner.
Elias took a deep breath.
Just to be safe, he decided to verify the so-called holy relic in his hand.
He walked over to a nearby pile of burning debris and carefully brought the wickless, milky-white candle toward the ordinary flames.
Whoosh!
Without any resistance, the Sacred Candle ignited the moment it touched the ordinary fire.
As the mundane flames met the candle's special wax, they instantly transformed into a piercingly holy radiance.
The entire ruins were illuminated in an instant, bringing every dark corner into sharp relief. The dim light from the ordinary fire paled in comparison.
It had the same flashbang effect as burning whale oil, yet it was different.
Elias immediately noticed an extremely gentle spiritual fluctuation contained within the light!
Bathed in this glow, Elias felt his mind clear instantly.
His spirit, which had been strained from continuous combat and resisting hallucinations, received a sudden jolt of vitality!
The exhaustion accumulated in his limbs was swept away.
Even more incredible, the stinging pain from the abrasions on his body vanished completely!
"Holy crap!"
Elias's eyes widened as he felt the staggering changes in his body.
This thing... was more effective than any energy drink from his previous life!
Tired or sleepy? Just light a candle for a refreshing boost and fatigue resistance!
"Praise the Moon Lord!"
Just as Elias was marveling at the miraculous effects of the Sacred Candle, that familiar, aged voice echoed in the depths of his mind without warning.
With the demon's departure, Old Ed had finally come back online.
Hearing this slightly noisy voice, Elias didn't feel annoyed; instead, he felt completely at ease.
"Is that thing a Sacred Candle?!" Old Ed's voice echoed wildly in his mind, filled with unmasked excitement and his typical talkative nature.
"It feels like high-grade whale oil on steroids!" Old Ed marveled.
However, he immediately followed up by cruelly dousing Elias with a bucket of cold water.
"Though, I strongly suggest you blow that thing out."
"You wouldn't want the people from the Seventh Agency to barge in and confiscate these soul coins and potions you nearly died for..."
"...and treat them as illegal contraband, would you?"
Elias smacked his forehead, thinking that wealth truly did cloud the mind. With such a pile of good things, he had almost forgotten he needed to make a run for it!
Mester's big brother alchemy puppet, keep it up! Hold them off a bit longer for me!
He quickly and decisively pinched out the Sacred Candle.
Tucking the item into his coat, he nimbly began gathering the items on the ground.
Suddenly, he froze.
His face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
How did this old man know everything?
"So, you shameless old man, you were spectating the whole time?!"
Rate on N.U.
