Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation(1-3VOL)

Purification Spell

"But didn't we feel the aura of the dark elements dissipating when we first came in?" I offered my observation, which showed that the situation was improving. Even if we couldn't find the source yet, it didn't seem to be a big issue.

"That would be best," Selene agreed, but she still looked worried.

I also felt it was too much of a coincidence that things started improving right after we arrived.

"Hila, do you know when the dark elements...when people first started falling ill?" Selene had wanted to ask when the dark elements first became so prevalent in the air, but realizing the other person was just an ordinary villager without the ability to sense elements, she rephrased her question. After all, among human mages, only light mages could accurately sense dark elements, and those skilled in light magic were rare and precious to begin with.

"About four days ago, I think," Hila looked up as she recalled.

"Gavin was the first one. He collapsed after coming back from gathering herbs up the mountain. Then that night, a few more people also fell ill one after another and wouldn't wake up."

"Did anything special happen that day?" I wondered.

"Special?" She sounded puzzled, but still tried to remember before answering, "Nothing special really...Oh right, except for Kane! He ran into a monster in the woods near town and killed it. He even brought it back to show off to everyone."

"Kane?" The name sounded familiar. I immediately remembered he was the person Pastor Simon had mentioned who was sent to the capital with a letter.

"That Kane could kill a monster?" Selene also seemed surprised. To have someone so capable in a remote mountain town?

"Yes," Hila sounded like it was very normal. "Kane is the strongest person here. He was a hunter all along and often bragged about being a 3rd rank adventurer. Almost everyone in town knew."

"Is 3rd rank really that impressive?" Hearing that, Hila couldn't help asking us for confirmation.

"Haha...it's pretty good, truly impressive," I awkwardly glanced away, just in time to see Selene giving me a weird look. I quickly changed the subject, "What about the monster's corpse?"

"Since more people fell ill the next day, some suspected there was something wrong with the monster. So they disposed of the corpse far away early on." She sighed as she explained, seeing we were so curious about the monster. "So you also think it was caused by that monster? Kane thought so too at first and felt very guilty, so he volunteered to be sent to the capital."

"That's not possible," Selene shook her head, now certain it was not some infectious disease. She immediately rejected the idea, "One monster could not have caused such extensive dark pollution, even if it was ten...no, a hundred, it wouldn't be possible."

After asking Hila a few more questions, we still couldn't find any clues about the source.

"In the end, we still haven't found the cause," I looked at Selene helplessly.

"Then let me get another patient for you to save," Sister Hila offered carefully when she saw we were getting nowhere. Now her last hope rested solely on Selene since backup would likely not arrive soon.

"Alright, go quickly," Selene nodded and told Simon to rest while I accompanied her out of the room.

Hila also hurriedly left the church to find someone.

"How are you holding up?" Seeing a hint of fatigue on Selene's face, I asked with some concern, "Can you keep going?"

"Should be okay," she leaned against a long bench in the hall with her eyes closed to rest herself. The back-to-back spells had drained not just her mana but stamina too.