The interior of the villa was… acceptable.
Orsaga gave it a cursory glance before looking away, his gaze shifting downward.
From his perspective, someone was observing him from the shadows below.
Ever since stepping into the villa, Orsaga hadn't bothered to conceal his presence, which was why the other party had noticed him at all.
To that, he offered a polite greeting:
"You staring at a hammer or what?"
Then, without waiting for a response—
FWOOSH!
A glob of molten lava-spit shot out.
"Ssssss—!"
With a loud sizzle, the floor instantly melted through, and the ghostlike entity lurking beneath was vaporized on the spot.
To Orsaga, that so-called "anomaly" was nothing more than a mutated ghost.
To a normal person, perhaps a considerable threat. But to a demon who treats souls like after-dinner mints?. Just bottom-tier prey on the food chain—free food at best.
Staring at the dissipating remains, Orsaga's expression didn't change. He could clearly sense that the strange energy in the area hadn't faded. This meant the matter was far from over.
Patiently waiting, he watched as the ceramic tiles on the ground began to regenerate—growing back like plants, even the patterns perfectly identical to before.
And the ghostly being… began to reconstitute itself as well.
It forcibly reformed from the void!
Judging by the effect, it was vaguely reminiscent of Orsaga's own [Unholy WraithBody].
The moment it revived, the ghost seemed confused.
Or perhaps more accurately, it hadn't fully registered the fact that it had just died.
Instant kill.
It had lived its life bullying the weak. Never before had it encountered something like this.
Once it finally came to its senses and met Orsaga's disdainful gaze, it immediately recalled the earlier gob of lava-spit—and was struck with a feeling of absolute humiliation.
Its not-so-bright, slightly dazed brain was instantly consumed by fury.
With a loud roar, it charged at Orsaga with reckless abandon!
"Noisy."
Faced with the sluggish, clumsy attack, Orsaga casually slapped it aside.
His force, precisely calibrated, dispersed evenly across every part of the ghost's body.
It was a ghost, sure. But now, it got to experience the pleasure of being pulverized.
And with his innate ability [Agony – Intensification] in effect, that pain was magnified dozens of times over.
In less than 0.1 seconds, what had merely been a grievously injured ghost died again—this time, from the pain alone.
Meanwhile, Orsaga continued observing the creature's resurrection mechanics.
Sure enough, a few seconds later, the ghost revived again right in front of him. Its energy signature unchanged—clearly, no power had been consumed.
Its eyes fluttered open—
It saw Orsaga again.
Without a word, it howled and lunged once more.
Orsaga didn't bother being polite—another slap.
This time with his other hand. After all, he believed in equal treatment.
A few more seconds passed.
The ghost resurrected again—and charged again.
This time, Orsaga didn't even bother with his hands.
He delivered a spinning kick that shattered the ghost's right cheek.
Before it could even fly off, a reverse spin-kick shattered the left.
And so, over the next few minutes, thanks to Orsaga's immaculate control over his strength, the ghost remained airborne the entire time—spinning through the air, never once touching the ground.
Tears involuntarily leaked from its ghostly eyes, splashing down onto the floor below…
Several more minutes passed.
And with each round of unbearable pain and humiliation, the ghost was finally kicked into tiny pieces.
But…
It revived again.
This time, the moment it reformed and saw Orsaga, it began trembling uncontrollably—then made a frantic attempt to flee.
But who was Orsaga? What kind of demon?
You think he'd let that happen?
With a casual flick, his tail lashed out—skewering the ghost like a kebab.
He then activated a siphoning ability, draining the creature's energy down to the last drop.
And still… it revived again.
This time, it was practically crawling in fear, bolting into a corner of the room.
Orsaga didn't bother chasing it.
Instead, he stared at the evolution points visibly increasing on his system panel, eyes flashing with curiosity:
"It still revived, even after I drained all its energy? Could it be… a time-based ability?"
He still hadn't fully figured out how the resurrection worked.
But after pondering for a bit…
His eyes lit up as he stared at the increasing counter.
"Maybe I'm thinking about this the wrong way."
"So what if I don't get it? The point is… this thing's basically a walking point farm!"
"You keep reviving—I keep earning points!"
"Genius!!"
Realizing he'd just received a divine gift from fate, Orsaga couldn't hold back a wide grin.
He softly sang to himself in a playful tone:
"Come out, little cutie~~~ Where aaare you~~?"
His eerily sweet voice echoed through the villa's halls, blending with the naturally creepy atmosphere and creating a bone-chilling effect.
The ghost, now curled up in a closet, trembled like a quail facing a starving wolf.
Every footstep echoing closer made it flinch harder. Only when the steps moved away did it dare breathe a little easier.
If it weren't trapped in this house, it would've fled to another country by now and never looked back.
After a few seconds, its dim-witted brain realized that staying in one place meant eventual discovery—so it decided to sneak out while Orsaga was gone.
Slowly, it began crawling out of the closet…
But before it could get far, a spine-chilling voice whispered in its ear:
"Little cutie~~ what do you think you're doing?"
It froze on the spot—paralyzed with fear.
In the reflection of the polished floor tiles, it saw Orsaga's glowing golden eyes.
Those eyes were filled with a cruel, cat-playing-with-mouse kind of malice.
The same kind of look it once gave to humans.
Only now, Orsaga's version was a hundred times more terrifying.
Before it could beg for mercy, its head met its own feet—twisted into a knot, forming a compact little ball.
SNAP.
Orsaga snapped his fingers.
A one-meter-long metal skewer appeared in his hand.
So did a portable barbecue grill in the living room.
And a full selection of seasonings.
He spat a glob of bloodflame onto the grill—carefully adjusting the temperature and burn range.
Then he turned to the ghost, whose eyes were filled with utter despair, and said:
"Never grilled a ghost before. Don't let me down."
Shortly afterward…
Outside the villa, a middle-aged woman twitched her nose and frowned.
"Didn't we evacuate all the nearby residents? Why does it smell like… barbecue?"
Her subordinate looked just as confused.
"This… shouldn't be possible. We cleared out the area… But uh, Captain, it does smell kinda good…"
While they were trying to figure it out—
Inside the house, Orsaga had already finished his barbecue and was now making himself fresh juice.
The juicer? Found it in the kitchen. One quick enchantment, and it worked perfectly.
The main ingredient?
The freshly revived ghost—shrunk to fist-size and tossed in.
After sniffing the resulting beverage, Orsaga downed it in one gulp.
"Mmm… Delicious."
Satisfied, he pulled out a mountain of ingredients from his portable storage.
He was ready to tackle some high-class cuisine—drawing from the 103,000 cookbooks he had absorbed into his mind.
---
Two Days Later
An old man in white robes, red-faced with rage, slammed the table and shouted:
"Goddammit! Who the hell keeps cooking around here?! And why does it smell so damn good?! I can't even eat any of it! WHO COULD STAND THIS?!"
Everyone around him nodded in furious agreement—faces full of righteous indignation.
Back inside the villa, Orsaga was equally annoyed.
He had just discovered the anomaly had stopped reviving.
And he had only gotten in a measly six hundred rounds!
Out of 103,000 cookbooks, he'd only used four!
How could the main ingredient already be gone?!
After searching for a while longer and confirming the ghost was truly dead for good, Orsaga let out a helpless sigh.
In the end, he turned and left.
But before departing, he casually set the villa on fire.
After all, the contract he'd signed did require him to eliminate the place.
Outside, the baffled observers watched as flames suddenly erupted from the house.
Not a single one had any clue what had just happened.
____
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