Chapter 106

As the undead lunged toward him, Ethan remained calm and issued a firm command to Philip.

"Step back!"

At the same time, he moved forward, and the cloak draped over his shoulders transformed, erupting into a wave of fire.

Just as the undead reached him, a torrent of flames surged forward, engulfing the spirit in a blazing inferno.

"Ahhh!"

The undead let out a piercing wail, a sound that seemed to claw directly at the soul.

Unfortunately for it, Ethan had already anticipated this kind of spiritual attack and was fully prepared. The attempt at a mental assault had no effect on him.

The magical flames continued to burn with intensity. Within moments, the spirit was completely consumed, leaving no trace behind.

With the enemy destroyed, the flames receded, returning to Ethan's back and reforming into an ordinary-looking cloak.

Everything returned to how it had been before, as if nothing had happened at all.

The deck was silent.

The best method for dealing with undead was holy energy, as it embodied absolute positive force.

Next in effectiveness was natural energy, overflowing with life and vitality.

Fire wasn't necessarily weaker than natural energy, it had its own strengths and weaknesses. In terms of pure lethality, fire magic was only slightly less effective than holy energy.

Ethan had never mastered true holy power. The artificial version he had previously developed was good enough for deceiving Wilson, but its effectiveness against actual undead was limited.

So instead of relying on a weaker imitation, he chose fire, a force he was already highly proficient in controlling.

This was the first time his flame-cloak had been used offensively in this world.

Philip and the others were stunned.

They had thought Ethan's cloak was just a simple piece of clothing. Never had they imagined it was a powerful magical artifact.

Still wearing his glasses, Ethan continued scanning for other undead.

He quickly noticed something strange, the moment he had destroyed the first spirit, the remaining ones began to move.

They weren't moving along the ship's corridors like normal beings.

They were moving freely, ignoring the physical structure of the ship entirely.

"They can phase through solid matter freely. That's going to be annoying."

Luckily, Ethan's magic wand and fire cloak both delivered pure energy attacks, perfect for obliterating these creatures.

If he were using conventional weapons, his attacks would likely just pass right through them.

Now that he had confirmed the best method of attack, these undead didn't seem so threatening anymore.

Ethan was about to engage the next spirit when he noticed something else—

The ambient negative energy in the air was rising rapidly.

A warning flashed on his glasses' display:

"Caution: High concentrations of negative energy detected. Prolonged exposure may have unpredictable effects on biological subjects. Recommended action—evacuate immediately."

Ethan ignored the warning and focused on analyzing the energy instead.

The negative energy wasn't just floating in the air, it was actively trying to invade his mind.

"Mental attack? Or maybe mental pollution?"

His spiritual power was strong enough to resist the influence, but the others behind him were not so lucky.

Ethan could already see subtle changes in their expressions.

The increasing negativity was affecting their minds and also slowly draining their physical stamina.

If they stayed here for too long, they wouldn't even need to be attacked, the energy alone would eventually kill them.

Ethan quickly pulled out several protective charms from his storage and handed them over.

"Take these. Keep them on you at all times."

The charms were simple defensive tools, nothing particularly powerful, but they were enough to block out passive negative energy.

That would at least keep them from collapsing before the real fight even started.

But the mental interference…

Ethan realized that the scene around him was changing.

The ship's worn-down wooden walls twisted and warped, shifting into something far more decrepit and ominous.

The entire space felt distorted.

Even more concerning—

The cabin door ahead of him, which had only been a few steps away, now appeared hundreds of meters in the distance.

"Spatial magic?"

No…

Ethan quickly dismissed that possibility.

He hadn't felt even the slightest fluctuation of space-based energy.

Which meant…

"This isn't real. It's a mental illusion."

Ethan closed his eyes, focusing his mind inward to examine himself. It didn't take long to pinpoint the anomaly, an elusive, almost intangible energy lingering within him.

Rather than attempting to invade his mind directly, this energy deliberately avoided his spiritual defenses, instead embedding itself in his body to manipulate his senses.

Opening his eyes, he activated his glasses and scanned his surroundings again.

The readings showed that the undead had not moved at all.

They were still exactly where they had been before, which meant—

"Tsk… Illusions."

There were several types of illusions. Some worked by directly altering an opponent's senses, tricking them into making the wrong judgments. Others created false images to manipulate visual perception.

The first method was more invasive, but easier to resist for those with strong mental power.

The second method was harder to dispel, though its effectiveness wasn't as great.

These undead had combined both methods, making the illusion more immersive and harder to detect.

Even after removing the energy affecting his body, the distorted scene in front of Ethan remained unchanged.

However, as he walked forward, he noticed something.

The environment shifted in sync with his movements, adjusting to maintain the illusion.

"Interesting. It's persistent, but not adaptive."

To test their reaction, Ethan fired an energy blast from his wand.

He focused his spiritual power into the attack, watching closely to see how the undead would respond.

At first, the energy blast looked normal in his vision, moving rapidly across the ship's deck.

But the reality was different.

In truth, the blast was moving in slow motion, its energy gradually being eroded by an unknown force. Before it could hit anything, it dissipated completely.

In his illusion-altered vision, however, the attack appeared to fly normally before fading due to distance.

"So that's how it works…"

Ethan had spent most of his time studying spiritual power and improving his raw combat ability.

His understanding of illusions and mental interference was comparatively shallow.

Even the cursed ring Zul had given him had gone completely unused.

This experience made him realize just how useful these kinds of techniques could be.

"If used correctly, illusions can be incredibly effective…"

Unfortunately, Ethan was not the type to engage in drawn-out battles of wit.

What he preferred was a straightforward and overwhelming approach.

He didn't need to unravel the illusion, he just needed to obliterate it.

Gripping his wand, he slammed it into the ground with force.

At the same time, he raised his right hand, making a precise motion as if grasping something in the air.

His palm hovered above the wand, fingers flexing in concentration.

In response to his actions, blue lines of magical energy surged across the wand's shaft.

The glow spread rapidly, forming a circular magic array beneath his feet.

Simultaneously, a second, smaller array appeared at the wand's tip, mirroring the intricate patterns now etched into Ethan's right hand.

A surge of pure energy erupted outward, sending a powerful shockwave through the deck.

Philip and the others, unprepared for the sudden blast, were knocked back several steps.

Strangely, from Ethan's perspective, they had barely moved only shifting slightly within the illusion's distortion.

Philip stared in disbelief as the energy gathered at the wand's tip.

Even with his years of experience sailing the seas, he had never encountered anything like this.

The sheer power radiating from Ethan's spell sent a chill down his spine.

"Can someone this young… really control such terrifying magic?"

Philip wasn't the only one shaken, Sean and Stephen also felt the unmistakable pressure of immense magical energy.

A part of Philip feared that if Ethan lost control, they wouldn't need the undead to kill them, they'd be obliterated instantly.

Yet, when he looked at Ethan's calm and focused expression, he couldn't detect even the slightest sign of strain.

Just as the energy reached its peak, Ethan noticed something on his glasses' display.

Several negative energy sources from below deck were rising, attempting a sneak attack from beneath their feet.

"Smart," Ethan muttered, his tone laced with sarcasm.

"They've realized the power of my artillery."

His eyes flicked downward in disdain, but he didn't move.

"Too bad for them, I already prepared for this."

This attack method was something Ethan had developed by combining various technologies, magical knowledge, and Tony Stark's expertise.

It was a pure energy-based offensive spell, but it came with a drawback.

It required time to charge.

During that window, Ethan was vulnerable to interruptions and counterattacks.

To compensate, he had integrated multiple layers of defensive magic into the spell's activation.

The glowing magic array beneath his feet wasn't just for show.

As the undead lunged upward, attempting to phase through the deck, they slammed directly into an invisible barrier.

The solid energy wall repelled them instantly, inflicting heavy damage on their incorporeal forms.

The impact was so severe that several of them were instantly destroyed.

The remaining undead, realizing the situation was turning against them, changed tactics.

Instead of attacking from below, they rushed onto the deck, surrounding Ethan and the others from all directions.

Ethan barely even glanced at them.

"Too late."

His glasses displayed their every movement, and more importantly.

They highlighted a single entity that had remained stationary this entire time.

It hadn't moved once, yet its negative energy signature was the strongest of them all.

Ethan knew immediately.

"That's the real target."

With a final sharp movement, Ethan raised his wand.

The magic circle on his right hand connected seamlessly with the one at the wand's tip.

The moment they aligned, a massive energy conduit formed, linking the two points with a series of intricate symbols and sigils.

The wand's glowing magic circle expanded dramatically, its runes shifting into even more complex patterns.

Ethan's voice rang out.

"Locking on."

The energy at the wand's core pulsed, the final phase had begun.

Then, with a single decisive command, he released the spell.

"Fire!"

The condensed energy, now at full charge, surged forward.

A blinding beam of pure magical force erupted, streaking directly toward the source of the negative energy.

***

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