The specters in the world of witchers are ugly; this was Guilliman's first impression.
If he had to describe them, it would be like a corpse that had been buried and rotted for several months, suddenly flailing its limbs, with putrid flesh flying everywhere, its face contorted in a ferocious grimace as it lunged at you.
The moment he saw the specter appear, Guilliman's body moved.
Without the hesitation and fear that ordinary people would show towards a spectral monster, he took two quick strides and charged in front of the ghost, sweeping his sword horizontally at its waist.
The silver-white blade moved incredibly fast, slicing through the specter's body like cutting tofu, causing its translucent, mist-like form to instantly dissipate significantly.
However, specters are different from ordinary flesh-and-blood monsters; their bodies are primarily composed of necromantic energy, they have no physical form, and there is no such thing as a fatal wound for them. They possess strong resistance to physical damage.
As long as they disperse their bodies like mist, unless they reappear, it's very difficult to hit them again, even with a silver sword or ordinary magic.
After being hit by one strike, the specter in front of him let out a mournful wail, presumably due to the specter oil and silver sword taking effect, and then began to emit mist from its entire body, seemingly trying to escape.
However, just as its body began to atomize and disperse, before it could spread out in all directions, Guilliman, who was already prepared, immediately extended his left hand and cast a Soul Absorption Sign.
Zzzzz!
A faint light emanated from his hand, forming the sign, enveloping the area in front of him.
The specter, in the midst of atomizing, was frozen in place, then, like an invisible wisp of smoke caught in a powerful vortex, it wailed and twisted, transforming into a small, constantly struggling ball of light, which was finally absorbed into Guilliman's forehead.
Only a pile of dust, emitting a chilling aura, remained on the spot.
After a brief struggle, the tiny ball of light was quickly crushed, eroded, and absorbed by the invisible storm within the soul space.
Then, a familiar mechanical voice sounded... "A weak soul has been absorbed, Soul Power +3..." Whoosh!
Guilliman exhaled, his heart filled with joy.
The Soul Absorption Sign was indeed powerful, and as he had predicted, it was extremely effective against wraith-type creatures, practically a bane to ghosts.
This was a conclusion he had reached after extensively absorbing the souls of monsters during this period.
He remembered that the spiritual bodies of low-level monsters like ghouls and drowners had no power to resist the Soul Absorption Sign.
The specter's soul was certainly stronger than theirs, but its overall power should still be in the same tier, which is why he dared to hunt these specters without knowing other witcher signs.
And the specter's recent attempt to escape by directly dispersing its body into mist was like actively dropping all defenses and impaling itself on the enemy's blade, inviting death.
However, precisely because he knew specters would act with this kind of logic, he seized the opportunity to defeat the enemy with a single Soul Absorption Sign.
After easily dispatching the enemy, Guilliman did not relax his guard. He still gripped his long sword tightly, vigilantly surveying his surroundings, wary of sneak attacks from other specters.
He remembered very clearly that there was more than one specter in this graveyard; at least three. If there was only one, then Kogelgrim, who was killed by a specter, would have been too weak.
However, for some unknown reason, after waiting for several minutes, no other specters appeared. It seemed that, just like in the game, they were bound within the catacombs and unable to come outside.
Seeing this, Guilliman no longer hesitated. He let out a soft breath and walked with firm steps towards the catacombs.
It was dusk, and looking through the narrow catacomb entrance, the underground crypt was pitch black, devoid of any light.
Only gusts of chilling wind, mixed with the scent of decay, blew out, like a terrifying ghoul opening its mouth, waiting for its prey to walk into the trap.
Even a witcher, without the Cat potion, would not be able to fight in such an environment. Even with a trump card against specters, Guilliman was not confident he could defeat the elusive specters in the dark.
However, Guilliman's expression remained calm, clearly having prepared for this.
He reached forward with both hands, and a burning fire starter and a torch appeared out of thin air in his hands.
Then, he lit the torch, approached the entrance, and threw it into the darkness.
The orange flame, following the movement of the torch, quickly illuminated a large area, breaking the darkness of the catacombs and making it seem less terrifying.
However, after throwing one torch, Guilliman's actions did not stop. Another torch quickly appeared in his hand, was lit by the fire starter, and thrown into another corner.
Next came the third, fourth, fifth... until he had thrown a full ten burning torches, illuminating the entire catacombs brightly, dispelling all darkness, only then did Guilliman stop, grip his silver sword, and walk into the crypt.
Woooo! Wooooo!
Perhaps his recent actions had angered the specters in the catacombs.
As soon as he stepped into the catacombs, a chilling wind immediately arose around him, causing the flames of the surrounding torches to flicker wildly.
Accompanied by a chorus of specter wails, three specters, covered in decaying flesh and wielding dark, sword-like weapons, emerged from three directions, surrounding Guilliman.
No words were needed; specters inherently hated living beings. Any creature that approached them would be attacked by specters until they fled or died.
As soon as the three specters appeared, they simultaneously raised their dark swords and swung them at Guilliman in the center.
Facing this situation, Guilliman remained completely calm. He raised one hand above his head, and a thick wooden shield appeared in his hand, precisely blocking the attacks of two specters.
His other hand, holding the silver sword, mercilessly slashed downwards, causing the specter in front of him to become blurry and emit a piercing shriek.
This specter clearly didn't know what had happened outside, and like the previous specter, after suffering heavy damage, it immediately began to atomize and flee, attempting to get away from the witcher in front of it.
Unfortunately, Guilliman was waiting for this very moment.
The long sword in his hand instantly disappeared, and the wooden shield creaked under the blows of the other specters.
In less than a second, the gesture for the Soul Absorption Sign was completed.
Amidst a silver-white glow, just as before, the specter in front of him, halfway through its atomization, had its soul body frozen.
After only a moment of resistance, its soul, under the influence of mysterious power, turned into a cluster of light and was absorbed into Guilliman's forehead.
Seeing this, the other two specters seemed to sense a fatal threat.
Without giving Guilliman time to react, their bodies transformed into a cloud of mist and dispersed.
After all, they were specters formed from humans; although their intelligence had degenerated significantly, when faced with an irresistible enemy, even specters knew to temporarily avoid the confrontation.
From the start of the battle, in less than half a minute, the catacombs seemed to return to quiet, with only the crackling sound of burning torches echoing in his ears.
After waiting a few more minutes, until he confirmed that the specters would not reappear for a while, Guilliman exhaled.
He took a glass bottle from his storage space and carefully collected the specter dust left behind after the specter's death into the bottle.
This was good stuff, much more expensive than ordinary monster materials.
A small bottle, filled with three portions of specter dust, if sold well, could fetch over a hundred orens, enough to buy a cow.