Finding a spectre wouldn’t be easy. I hadn’t met a single one of them until my attempt at climbing the roofs. By returning to the area they were searching for me the risk of other undead getting in the way would increase, but so would the chance of finding a spectre. It might have been safer to search somewhere else, but I couldn’t afford to delay this any longer.

I hadn’t thought of it until then, but there was no way the necromancers didn’t notice me blowing up the tower. Destruction on such a scale must have put them in a state of alarm. They would use all of their forces to search for me.

And then the whole castle would be swarming with undead, many of them stronger and/or faster than spectre. Getting the crystal of a spectre and learning how to use its spells would be essential for my survival.

With no time to waste I hurried towards my destination, wishing I hadn’t been so slow at finding my way back. After I navigated through the castle and arrived in the area, I began searching for a suitable target.

Soon I encountered a group of skeletons, but found it to be too dangerous to engage them. I could have beaten them by keeping my distance and using the explosion spell, but it would have attracted all spectres in the vicinity and I wasn’t confident in fighting more than one of them at a time. This problem wouldn’t appear when directly finding a spectre because I was planning on luring it far away from where other undead might get drawn into our fight.

A few minutes after meeting the skeletons I found a spectre. Unluckily it wasn’t alone. It was accompanied by a fighter-zombie. I retreated as fast as possible, hoping it hadn’t seen me. These things are dangerous. Fighter-zombies are faster, stronger and more resilent than a living human.

If one of these things spotted me then I probably wouldn’t be able to escape. Meeting one of them here also meant that my fears had come true: strong undead were searching for me. I could only avoid them until I found a suitable target.

After this encounter I was more careful. There was no more benefit to being fast, since the enemy had already spread out. I continued onwards, slowly crawling through the rooms and corridors.

I had to hide from two more groups of skeletons and one fighter-zombie before I finally found what I had been searching. A spectre was keeping watch over an intersection while hovering just below the ceiling.

It had yet to notice me, giving me enough time to make a plan before I stepped into its field of vision. As soon as it reacted, I began running in the direction I had discerned to be the one with the least risks of running into other spectres or a fighter-zombie. Skeletons weren’t a problem, since I could just outrun them.

The spectre wasn’t far behind me, firing an occasional shot in my direction. Dodging them wasn’t hard, since I just had to move slightly to the left or right to let the slide by. My shield might have protected me from taking damage, but the impact would have interrupted the rhythm of my movements.

By choosing the route with the least risk I managed to pull the spectre into the vicinity of the basements entrance without any incidents. I didn't get too close though. I feared that it might attract too much attention if the remains of a spectre were found near it, since the surroundings were already littered with destroyed skeletons.

Instead I lured it into one of the larger empty rooms some distance from there. Once inside I moved away from the door and waited for the spectre while preparing an explosion within the doorframe. As soon as tried to enter I set off the spell.

It hit the left side of its ribcage, tearing off a few ribs. The force of the explosion threw the spectre into the room, leaving it hanging in the air. It would have been a good opportunity, but I had to wait a bit after using the spell if I wanted it to work quickly.

While it was possible to use spells continuously, I preferred to wait and let my mana recharge. This way I could use it all at once instead of stretching it over a span of time. This was another fact I found out while experimenting.

And because the explosion spell relied on gathering gases at a specific point, it’s target can’t be changed easily without starting all over again. Therefore, I waited until my reserves had recharged before preparing my next attack.

It proved to be the right decision. As soon as the spectre recovered, it retreated to a point further away and began shooting at me. I evaded its attacks while trying to maintain a steady distance. I hoped the spectre would keep its position as long I didn’t get too close.

When I could be sure that it worked I started preparing the next explosion. This time I was targeting the neck in hopes of disconnecting head and torso. I continued amassing gas, even after my reserves had run out. It was slow, but I wanted to end our fight as soon as possible.

After one minute I noticed the spectre beginning to act and I just so managed to set off the spell before it could move too much. The explosion tore the undead apart. Its parts were smashed into floor and ceiling. Dust fell from above.

When I could be relatively sure the ceiling wouldn’t collapse above my head and everything had fallen to the ground, I approached the remains. Most of the larger bones had shattered and the skull had burst open.

When I looked inside I could see the crystal. Unlike the crystals of normal skeletons which had random shapes, this one was a perfect round. It had a small crack, but was okay otherwise.

As I absorbed it, I finally knew that all this effort was well worth it. I acquired large amount of memories as well as five new spells. Not willing to take the risk of being interrupted during integrating this new knowledge, I returned to my hideout before investigating them closer.

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The undead-glossary has ben updated.