A spiral of dark energy appeared on the ground just as Selthia and I were about to meet our end by the snake pit.

It was right on time.

It was as if a portal to a bottomless abyss had opened, and the first thing to reach out was pale, slender hands. It smelled as if a thousand corpses had been dropped in front of us. A ghostly figure then crawled its way out of the abyss.

It was dressed in a tattered black gown, its skin was ashen, and it had long, curly black hair that cascaded down to the ground. Its teeth were as yellow as gold, and its long, twisted fingernails were a deep shade of purple.

"What is that abomination?" Floki questioned, with his jaw hanging open.

But the creature, the wraith, didn’t even spare him a glance. Instead, its eyes were locked on the person he came for; me. Once a wraith sets its sight on someone, it goes after that person until one of them is killed. They were like vultures constantly watching to see which supernatural creature is on the verge of death.

It is said that they have an ability to see a person’s life force, and once it falls below a certain threshold, they make their move. If I had to guess, the ability they have was similar to the ethereal sight skill that I have.

Other than the person the wraith sets its sight on, they didn’t particularly care for anyone else. Once they killed that person, they would leave, usually not harming anyone. Unless they were attacked.

For example, if one were to show up in the territory of a race of supernatural creatures that is known to be vey territorial, like a tribe of skinwalkers, for example, then the wraith would have no choice but to defend itself.

Its bloodlust washed over the entire village like a flood, drawing everyone to it. Selthia clenched her fist, ready to fight back, but I placed my hand on her head.

"Not yet, okay? A few things need to happen before you’re allowed to kill that wraith."

Selthia blushed and nodded her head.

"O-okay, I trust you."

"What should we do, chief?" one of the skinwalkers asked. They all surrounded the wraith, who still had its eyes on me, not paying them any mind.

"What do you expect? Whatever it is, kill it!" Floki shouted.

The first to attack was a skinwalker who transformed his arm to look like that of a tiger. He swung at the ghostly figure, but his claws passed through the wraith without inflicting any damage.

The wraith looked down at the skinwalker who had just attacked it, and its mouth began to open in a crooked shape before its slender hands reached out and grabbed the skinwalker by his throat.

The skinwalker struggled desperately, trying to escape the wraith’s grasp, but he was too weak, and soon his life force was drained, turning him into nothing but a husk. That was another ability the wraith had. It could drain your life force with just a single touch.

Plus, you can’t lay a hand on it if you don’t have the killing intent to match it. The other skinwalkers watched as the wraith killed their friend. They watched his body fall lifelessly to the ground.

Seeing this caused a primal rage to boil within them as they all charged at the wraith. Every able-bodied skinwalker in the village went after the wraith, while the women and children ran off in panic.

Floki watched with clenched fists as his people were slaughtered.

"What is this madness!" he roared. "Kill that thing!"

His skin began to take on a reptilian texture, and he also got much bigger than before.

"Did you... plan this?" Selthia suddenly asked. "You purposefully drove the wraith here. That’s why you allowed us to get captured. You’re going to use the wraith to wipe out the skinwalker tribe."

"Not exactly."

I had no plans of causing a genocide here, even though I purposefully lured a wraith here. My goal was to create despair. True despair, like what I did to Isabella. Only then could I conquer them.

" Hssskraaaahhh! "

Just then, Floki’s entire figure began to change shape as he transformed. His body reconstructed itself and got larger and larger as he turned into a giant snake, the size of a football field. His scales were the color of beautiful jade crystal. His head was twice as large as the buildings in the village.

His transformation reminded me of the world serpent from Norse mythology.

Without any hesitation, he turned his cold gaze towards the wraith and struck within an instant. His attacks tore through buildings and created long scars on the earth itself. The two monsters clashed with one another. Their primal roar was enough to shake the entire village.

Floki used his savage fangs to try and rip the wraith apart. But the ghostly specter flew through them with unimaginable speed and skill.

Personally, I thought it was foolish that he transformed into his giant snake form. All the wraith had to do was touch him to lower his life force. Floki merely created a bigger surface area for the wraith to touch.

Though, he slightly made up for this with his incredible speed and reflexes. Still, fighting at close range with a being that can drain your life force with just a single touch seemed like a bad idea.

That is why Selthia was the perfect person to face off against it.

Floki fought at full strength against the beast, but after a while, it became painfully obvious that he wasn’t a match. His life force had dropped to: [HP: 23/1000]

And he soon collapsed to the ground, creating a crash that sounded as if a sky scraper had tumbled down. His transformation was undone, and he was back to his usual form. He was nothing but a pile of mess lying on the ground. Their fight had destroyed most of the village.

Most of the houses lay in ruin, and there were countless corpses scattered throughout. And moreover, I could see smoke rising from the rubble. The whole village would go up in flames in a matter of time if someone didn’t stop it.

"Keep the wraith distracted for a bit," I told Selthia, to which she nodded and smiled.

"Okay, hun~," she squealed as she licked her lips and ran off.

With the wraith distracted by Selthia, I made my way over to Floki, who was lying a mess on the ground. He was barely breathing and would most likely succumb to his wounds in a matter of minutes as his life force was slowly decreasing.

He coughed up a mouthful of blood as I stood over him.

"Let’s continue discussing our deal," I said.

Cough

Cough

"God, you’re persistent. You really want an alliance so badly," he sneered. His gaze was as sharp as ever, even though he was slowly dying.

"No. I’m talking about a new deal. The first one is off the table."

"Tsk! What deal is that?"

"I want you and everyone in this village to join my pack."