And so, each time the Ghost Sword released another wave of blood men, Wu Ling released another wave of bone soldiers. By the end, more than a thousand blood men and over two hundred bone soldiers were locked in a chaotic melee. The numbers were still small by true battlefield standards, but the scale and noise were no weaker than some minor wars.
Either swarm, taken on its own, could have slaughtered a small city like Notting City back and forth without much effort. Yet now, both sides had gathered in this tiny place to decide a winner.
The Ghost Sword had more blood men under its command, but Wu Ling's bone soldiers were of higher quality. With his reinforcement layered over them, a single beast-bone soldier of the same grade could hold off three blood men.
As for the terrifying amount of Spirit Power being consumed, Wu Ling was not afraid even after temporarily shutting down his Spirit Power circuits. He still had three Titled Sage-grade Spirit Power blocks as backup energy. This was where having powerful backers showed its value.
During the melee, a few blood men occasionally slipped past the bone soldiers by finding gaps in the line and stepped into Wu Ling's Workshop. But the instant they entered, three to five Magecraft arrays activated. Before they could take a second step, they were blasted into scraps.
One person and one sword remained deadlocked for roughly twenty minutes. By then, both armies had been reduced to less than half their original numbers. Seeing that even this could not take Wu Ling down, the Ghost Sword gradually developed a bad feeling.
"I have not gone outside for so many years. Are Spirit Masters nowadays all this terrifying?"
"Those soldiers made from bone, and those strangely shaped patterns... none of these seem to be his Spirit Skills. Why can he use skills without using Spirit Skills?"
The Ghost Sword could still generate more blood men, but after seeing how relaxed Wu Ling remained, it abandoned the idea.
"After such a long fight, why does that fellow's Spirit Power feel bottomless? No. I cannot drag this out any longer. I hate to admit it, but if this continues, I might... lose!"
Once it realized the tide was turning against it, the Ghost Sword made a swift decision. It drew every blood man back into its own body, used the recovered Spirit Power as fuel, and turned its sword body into a projectile that shot straight toward Wu Ling.
The launched Ghost Sword pierced through one Spirit Leader-grade beast-bone soldier and three Spirit Meister-grade beast-bone soldiers with lightning speed. But Wu Ling was not worried. Instead, he smiled with faint mockery.
By the time the Ghost Sword realized something was wrong, it was already too late. It had entered Wu Ling's Workshop.
Anyone who knew Type-Moon background understood that a magus with a Workshop and a magus without one were practically two different creatures. Wu Ling's current Workshop was nowhere near as complete as the one in Spirit Hall, but for his present situation, it was more than enough.
When the Ghost Sword was only three meters from Wu Ling, space in front of it rippled. In the next instant, it flew away from Wu Ling instead.
"What!"
Wu Ling smiled faintly. "I cannot twist space itself, but twisting perception a little is still within my ability."
As he finished speaking, Wu Ling reached toward the turning Ghost Sword and clenched his hand. Eight Magecraft arrays lit up in the air. Four of them fired elemental attacks of earth, water, fire, and wind, while the other four extended chains that lashed toward the Ghost Sword.
The Ghost Sword spun several times in midair, dodging the elemental bullets and slipping through the encirclement of four chains. Finally, after closing in on Wu Ling, it used all its strength and cleaved down toward his head.
Clang.
The blade stopped less than half a meter from Wu Ling's skull, unable to advance even an inch. Eight more Magecraft arrays had appeared around him, and eight chains shot out to bind the Ghost Sword in place.
"I told you. The moment you entered my Workshop, victory was already in my hand." Wu Ling smiled with confidence and pulled a long blade from his shadow, one reinforced for hardness.
The Ghost Sword did not sit still after being bound. It kept using its corrosion ability to erode the chains. Just as it finally broke free, Wu Ling had already raised the hardened long blade in front of himself.
The Ghost Sword was about to continue striking when a blue-haired figure suddenly appeared behind it. The figure held a lightning-shaped dagger. Before the Ghost Sword could react, the figure did not slash or stab. He merely touched it lightly.
The instant that touch landed, the Ghost Sword's consciousness went blank.
Wu Ling looked at the Ghost Sword on the ground after Soulbreaker touched it and rubbed his chin. "Ordinary Soul Beasts can still keep consciousness and flesh after losing Spirit Power, but weapon-type Soul Beasts cannot even maintain consciousness without Spirit Power supporting them? That counts as a new discovery."
Then Wu Ling drew another long blade from his shadow, this one reinforced for sharpness.
"Winner takes all. You said that yourself." After saying so, Wu Ling swung the blade down toward the Ghost Sword's body.
"This Spirit Ring does not feel that different from an ordinary one, but its awakening range is the widest so far."
"The sword body might summon Saber-class Servants. That soldier-summoning ability just now also matches a few Servants. And that corrosion ability keeps looking more and more like a certain urban legend nicknamed Kami."
"Then, Ember, help me watch the entrance. Do not let those people come in and disturb me. The thrilling card-draw moment has arrived again!"
Wu Ling drew the Spirit Ring over. Facing that forty-thousand-year black Spirit Ring, he began absorbing it as if it were nothing unusual at all. There was not the slightest trace of tension or excitement over absorbing far beyond his level.
Half an hour later, Wu Ling finished absorbing the Spirit Ring and walked out of the underground stone chamber while stretching his body. The moment he stepped through the entrance, he saw a palm-sized straw doll lying on the stairs.
Wu Ling froze when he saw it. He immediately thought of the straw-haired elder, but he soon rejected that guess. He could not sense even a trace of Spirit Power from the little doll.
When Wu Ling walked past it, the faint breeze stirred by his movement brushed across the doll's body. The straw doll seemed to have decayed for many years. That tiny current of air was enough to make it fall apart into fragments.
"Thank you."
Wu Ling's raised foot paused for a moment. But in the next instant, he stepped down and continued toward the surface.
After returning aboveground, Wu Ling checked the houses one by one. There was no one inside any of them. All he found were an urn of ashes, a human-skin mask, three monkey statues covering their mouths, eyes, and ears, and other such remains.
Every one of those objects turned to ash with the lightest touch.
Finally, in Allie's house, Wu Ling found a pair of embroidered shoes. They looked both new and old, as if they had never been worn after being made, yet had still endured the passage of countless years.
Unlike the other objects, those embroidered shoes looked the oldest but did not crumble into ash. Wu Ling carefully picked them up. He even used his fourth Spirit Skill to do it.
Looking at the red patterns covering the shoes, Wu Ling said, "Come on. I will take you to see the outside world."