Compass Carburettor arrived before Runka, having already absorbed Fowma's Invoked Spirit, staring at the unconscious figure before him. He didn't attack the other party though, for that wasn't his intention.
It was impossible to absorb Mental fragments from someone's Dreamland. If Runka dies now, only the Mental Fragments of his body would be available to absorb. As for his Invoked Spirit, it would vanish.
The only means of obtaining it too was to trap the Invoked Spirit in the mist. And the only way to do it was to kill him the moment he summoned it while ensuring his Invoked Spirit was trapped within the mist.
This was pretty tricky, a reason he had been biding for time all along. After all, even if he trapped Runka's Invoked Spirit in his mist before, the moment he dies, his Invoked Spirit would start deteriorating, despite being trapped in the mist.
This had been the case originally when Pilkan absorbed Mental Fragments from the Invoked Spirits of Duketace's underlings.
Though, the mist there was also eating up the Invoked Spirits. But in Compass Carburettor's case now, this only resulted in the mist's growth while resulting in the loss of both the quality and quantity of the Mental Fragments obtained from the trapped Invoked Spirits.
Though, being a merchant, he had already formed a plan to derive the maximum profit from this situation as Compass Carburettor pulled out a vine from a nearby tree and haphazardly wrapped it around Runka.
Based on his calculations, it would take Runka at least a dozen seconds to pry out of these bindings, which was more than enough to complete the task.
…
Runka's eyes shot open as a ringing sensation resounded in his head due to his severe blood loss. His Mental Strength too had dropped down to dangerous levels, enough for his vision to turn blurry.
'Where…am I?' He thought, looking around to see that he was in the same spot as before, on the ground, unable to move as a wet, slimy sensation pervaded his pants. It was a result of his blood coagulating there from prolonged exposure to air.
He tried to get up but noticed a vine coiled around his body haphazardly, wriggling as he tried to pry out of it. He looked above, observing vines on the tree branches, and judging by their height, he would have been tangled into one of them when he fell out of his Invoked Spirit's hands.
As it spanned a height of five metres, he was pretty high up above the ground when it happened. But, he felt a tad puzzled, 'Were there vines on this tree before?'
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Upon hearing the sounds of someone running, Runka turned around, noticing Pilkan rushing at him from afar, eyes red, screaming at the top of his lungs, "You damn bastard! How dare you kill my sister!"
There were more than thirty metres between the two as Runka noticed the clothes of the other party were bloody, his footsteps haggard, and seemingly lacking the strength to run. He was running through sheer determination alone, spurred by hatred.
Honestly, someone only needed to trip Pilkan to make him drop unconscious immediately in response. As a veteran, Runka was able to determine this in an instant. But, what he was puzzled about was why Pilkan was in such a state.
After all, in his mind, it was Pilkan that had targeted them. Though, this also raised a doubt that he had been harbouring all along.
It had only been a day since Pilkan became a Human Invoker. And even though he hadn't displayed his Invoked Spirit, it shouldn't have been anything. There was a good chance Pilkan hadn't even begun developing his Nascent Soul yet.
After all, it wasn't as if an Invoker could build their Invoked Spirit in a day, despite having access to boundless resources. Time was a necessity.
Even Peika needed at least a month to develop her Nascent Soul into an Invoked Spirit if she were to repeat it now. An average Invoker spent months making a basic working framework for an Invoked Spirit.
This is why the time one spent as an Inferior Invoker was the longest. Once they gained enough experience, it was just a concept of building a second and third floor. So, as long as they had the potential, they would climb through Common Invoker and Superior Invoker Stages at a faster pace.
Therefore, logically speaking, there was no way Pilkan had the ability to kill his comrades and reduce him to this stage. After all, whether it was the blade that severed his legs, the spear that killed Fowma, or the sheer strength required to crush Heela's neck, Pilkan didn't have the capability.
'Did he trigger a trap? Or…' Runka's eyes widened in shock, coming to a certain realisation, 'Did we stumble into the Dreamland of a Conjurer?'
That was a valid possibility. Only that would make sense about the mist's appearance, not to mention Pilkan's current state.
Thoughts hurriedly flashed through his mind before Runka shouted, "Wait, Pilkan! I don't know what you're talking about. Someone ambushed me and killed Fowma and Heela…"
"You murderer! You were the one that killed Fowma!" Pilkan shouted, eyes seething in rage as he rushed Runka, taking out a knife from his pocket as he leaped forth at Runka.
Even though his legs had been severed, Runka was still a veteran. Therefore, a simple lunge from Pilkan was easy to evade as he rolled forward a little, using his back as an obstacle to stumble Pilkan, causing his face to plant on the ground.
The force of impact seemed to have been pretty hard as Pilkan couldn't move easily after that, wriggling on the ground from pain.
He then slowly turned around, staring at Runka with killing intent, grabbing the knife that had fallen nearby as he crawled towards Runka.
In response, Runka rolled once again, grabbing Pilkan's hands to climb atop him somehow, keeping the knife at bay, "Listen…to…me!"
"Shut up!" Pilkan shouted in rage, but it was apparent that he lacked the strength to do anything. Runka could feel that a simple push from him was enough to pry the knife out of Pilkan's hands and kill him.
But, the situation was too strange, so he didn't go in for the kill. Moreover, Pilkan's words caused him to realise that there was a chance his comrades were alive. For, he had witnessed them being killed before his eyes. But if Pilkan's words had any substance, in his point of view, Fowma was killed by him.
This meant that everyone might have witnessed different variations of the event, something like an illusion mixed amid traps. Conjurers were capable of creating such a phenomenon easily.
Runka had killed enough people, having seen all sides of humans. Therefore, he could bet using his experience that Pilkan wasn't lying. Or at least, Pilkan seemed to truly believe that whatever he was saying had happened.
