Transmigrated as a Ghost

'Why can't I cut him?!'

Sato wore a grim expression as he fought intensely against Marcus.

Things had been seemingly going well from the start. The ambush he launched with his party members and his demon allies appeared to go off without a hitch.

He had opened up with his One-Stroke Kill, the attack skill that he had earned his epithet from.

Marcus' head looked to have been severed from his neck, but that had only been a ruse.

When Sato and his companions had approached what they assumed to be a dead body and the mysterious woman that had been accompanying Marcus, they thought that they were still in control. Find additional tales at m,vl-em,py-r

However, things quickly took a turn for the worse.

The target that Sato thought he had eliminated rose back up and unleashed two powerful attack spells with almost no warning.

Along with his two party members, Sato managed to escape mostly unscathed but only one of the demons had survived the surprise attack.

After that, things went from bad to worse.

Sato had never met them before, but he recognized the recently promoted adamantine party Intrepid, led by the famed huntress Fianna. Their sudden appearance had been wholly unexpected and turned what should have been a successful ambush into a fierce struggle.

Now Sato was alone battling it out with his fellow transmigration. His party members Lisa and Adonis locked in combat with Intrepid and the woman that called herself Marcus' adjutant.

So far, he had tried to slice through his opponent's neck five times, but each one of his attacks just passed through harmlessly.

'Creature Appraisal says that he's human. Is this some sort of unique skill? But if that was the case, I should be able to reach him with my own unique skills. Is it maybe a Supreme Skill? But almost no one has one of those. They're mostly talked about like some sort of myth.'

As Sato continued to try out different skills and abilities against Marcus, his mind was racing all the while.

Still, nothing he used made any difference. The sword skills he prided himself on passed through Marcus' body without so much as leaving a scratch.

"Ah, so that's how your weapon works. I was wondering how it was reaching me when you're keeping your distance. It can extend and retract with almost no time lag." Marcus commented with an expression of realization on his face.

Sato ground his teeth when he heard his opponent correctly assess the power of his blade.

His Murasume, the name he had given to his sword, was capable of extending up to three kilometers and retracting back to its normal length in a little more than two seconds.

If the distance was shorter, the time it took to extend and retract dropped even further. Only those at a high level and with impeccable kinetic vision or some other means of detection could keep track of his blade's movements.

Normally he could land a decisive blow without his target ever realizing that they had been struck down. What he had thought had happened at the start of this engagement.

'Damn, he suddenly became a lot more aggressive!' Sato thought, avoiding a powerful lightning magic spell that nearly engulfed him.

While Marcus had been mostly passive before figuring out the trick behind Murasume, now that he knew, he was unleashing a barrage of magic and ranged mana attacks that were keeping Sato on his toes. Evidently, he was perfectly fine with keeping their fight at a distance.

When he finally got the chance to attack again, Sato switched from his usual slash attacks and pointed his sword forward to unleash a quick thrust.

Rapidly extending and retracting his sword's blade, he pierced through Marcus body dozens of times, hoping that there was a limit to the number of times he could use whatever sort of phasing power he had

Unfortunately, every one of his strikes passed through his opponent without so much as leaving a scratch. All the while, Marcus just stood there confidently and unleashed another flurry of spells.

'Wait, where did his scythe go?'

During their quick exchange of attacks, Sato noticed the system recognized weapon that his enemy had been wielding was nowhere to be seen.

In a sudden flash of remembrance, Sato recalled seeing one of the demons that had been accompanying his party sliced in half by Marcus' scythe while it was out of its wielder's hands.

Thanks to his correct observation, Sato noticed when the weapon suddenly appeared behind him.

Its strike came down fast, aimed at the back of his left knee where there was a gap in his armor.

Twisting around he deflected the scythe with his sword before leaping backwards to avoid a spell that came flying at him in tandem with the phantom weapon's attack.

Even in his slightly more than two centuries being on Mirrion, Sato had never faced an opponent like Marcus. His fellow transmigration was absurdly strong and had a deep bag of tricks that would give any opponent a hard time.

'How is it moving like that?!'

Sato found himself being persistently pursued by Marcus' scythe.

He had seen a few weapons capable of autonomously attacking before, but nothing like this.

Normally such weapons could only move in set patterns and were easy enough to figure out.

However, Marcus' scythe moved as if it had a mind of its own. It was able to feint, abruptly break away before flying around and attacking at another angle, and even use attack skills. All things that should have been impossible.

Sato could not even block the scythe with his sword, since it seemed to have the same ability to become incorporeal, just like its master. He could only keep dodging it while also avoiding Marcus' magic.

'It feels like I'm dancing in the palm of his hand. Why hasn't anything I've tried worked on him?' Sato thought as his frustration as reaching its peak.

It was not long before the answer to all of his questions was answered. Though learning the truth did not bring him any solace.

"You can't use spiritual energy, can you? I thought you might be trying to lure me into a sense of false security to catch me off guard, but after this long, I think it is safe to say that you really don't have any means to harm a spiritual entity."