Chapter 1216 Kalmas And The Blighters
Chapter 1216 Kalmas And The Blighters
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"Yes, of course, it's the least we could do."
Jannis nodded, as she explained to us who Aria was.
"Aria was one of the members of our circle. Our circle used to be much larger," said Jannis. "There were over twenty of us before. But most of them deserted, escaped, or ran away somewhere else. Aria was... alongside Jose, my childhood friends. We knew one another since we were kids, many years ago."
"Really? That long?" I wondered. "But she looked much younger..."
"That is because of the powers that Kalmas has granted her," said Jannis. "Kalmas has power over Death and Decay, naturally, aside from spreading this, she can also revert it, giving Aria and the other Blighters youthful bodies again. Although they come with the price of needing more Mana to maintain themselves, or they'll begin aging rapidly again."
"I wasn't there when it happened, but from what Grandpa Jose said..." Judith muttered. "Aria became a Blighter after her Nature Soul was shattered, right?"
"Yes," said Jannis. "Aria was... she lacked enough faith in herself. She was always the rashest of the three of us. But she was also like our sister, someone that protected us, and that we protected. She was unable to progress her Nature Soul over many years because of this personality of hers. She didn't want to meditate and calm down.
She would rather hunt and explore. She liked to lead others and train. But that also made it so she grew distant from her own concept."
"What... was her original concept?" I asked.
"Aria's Nature Soul was surprisingly not Phantom or something else," said Jannis. "It was a very rare one, Life."
"Just Life?" I wondered.
"She had definitely played her cards well," said Jannis. "I believe Kalmas began a cult based on sacrifices from the corpses of graveyards for many years now.
Her cult kept her barely stable as a minor deity, but now that it must have likely disappeared over the years, she set her eyes on Aria... Perhaps she manipulated her to give the last step, so she could continue her existence through the Blighters that Aria would rise. The ones we fought were only a few, the majority must still be in Ireland. I believe she went back to find them.
whenever we met her again... We might fight the entire cult."
"H-How many are we talking about?" I asked.
"P-Perhaps... over a hundred," muttered Jannis.
"What?!" Rita gasped.
"S-Seriously?" Jenny muttered.
"Oh no..." Lily cried.
"How did she raise so many already?" I wondered. "Aren't Druids rare? Even rarer would be a Blighter that is a corrupted Druid, no?"
"Yes, in normal cases, but Aria is being helped by Kalmas," said Jannis. "She most likely forces a soul to become a Nature Soul somehow, and it corrupts itself immediately with the powers of Kalma. So she doesn't even need to first raise a Druid, anybody with enough talent for magic, or perhaps just the intention to join her would do so... even if doing this would severely reduce their lifespan."
"I see... This is really wicked," I sighed. "But... is killing them all really the way to do this? They're still people after all, we're not dealing with monsters."
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OBS