Transmigrated as a Ghost

'You have leveled up to level seventy-five.'

Not long after finishing off Sato, Marcus heard the message from the system that he had leveled up.

Normally he would have felt a sense of elation from this, but this time it only left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He had done what he had to do to protect those he cared about. Still, killing someone that originally came from Earth just the same as he did was not easy.

'Would I end up exactly like him if Mrazivý or Lilia died?' Marcus thought, picturing a grim future in which he cast off all of his morals.

He already knew he had the capacity to turn into a truly horrifying monster. One bad day was all it would take for him to potential snap.

"But that's not happening today."

Marcus watched Mrazivý approaching him with a reassuring smile on her face. From her expression, it was easy for him to tell that she was trying to comfort him.

When she reached him, she grabbed him in a vice-like embrace that caused his body to creak from the power she was exerting. Experience amazing tales on m vl-em|p-yr

"Do you feel a bit better now?"

"Yeah, thanks. I really needed that."

He may not have wanted to, but he killed Sato to protect what he cared about most. It was not a desirable outcome, but he would not regret it. No matter who it was, he could not let anyone get away with threatening his family or friends.

"Looks like everyone else has finished up their battles. We'd better start wrapping things up so we can get out of here. Truthfully, I don't want to spend anther day in this place." Mrazivy said.

Naturally Marcus went along with her, and the two of them headed towards where the others were congregating.

Once they arrived, they found Sato's party members, Lisa and Adonis unconscious and restrained. Fianna and her party had come out victorious over their fellow adamantine ranked adventurers.

Along with them, there were five other captives. Each of them had been leading other cultist in this attack and were being detained for questioning. The higherups in Borealia had requested that Marcus and his companions make sure to capture some of their attackers. Their organization had caused all manner of trouble both in Borealia and in several other nations.

Finding out anything about other plans they had was imperative.

"Nobody's suffered any major injuries, or been poisoned or cursed, right?" Marcus asked once everyone had gathered.

Thankfully, they were all in decent shape. Some minor wounds had been incurred by some of them, but nothing bad enough that it would require Marcus to use his abilities to treat.

"I hope you don't mind that we'll be taking these two with us. Seeing as how they are top ranking adventurers, the guild will want to deal with them personally." Fianna said to Marcus.

"I understand. Your assistance in this matter was invaluable. Just please make sure to relay any information you get out of them to us. Their party targeted us, so I want to know everything we can about their motives and any other allies they might have."

Nodding her head, Fianna agreed to Marcus' request and assured him that she would personally see to it that he was kept in the loop on this matter.

With their prisoners in tow, Fianna pulled out a talisman that had a teleportation spell sealed within it and used the item to warp her group away.

"James, would you mind dealing with these guys. We still have some things to deal with here before we could leave and having them around would undoubtedly complicate matters." Mrazivý said to her brother.

"Got it. I'll bring these guys back home. Both Boreas and Alexandra were keen on questioning them."

Using a sending stone, James contacted a Borelian archmage who was a space magic specialist that had been aiding Marcus and his companions. They actually had quite a few more refinements on standby just in case their opponents had been stronger than anticipated. Fortunately, they had managed to get by with only needing limited assistance.

"I'll see all of you back at the castle. Make sure to drop by before heading out on your next inevitable journey."

James waved goodbye after saying this, and a spatial portal soon formed around him and transported his group to the other side of the continent.

Now that the others were gone, it was only Marcus and his original compassion left standing in the wasteland that had once been Houten's royal castle.

The multitude of high-level fights had leveled every building within several kilometers, and the earth was left scared in several locations. It looked like a series of truly devastating natural disasters had struck the area.

"Any chance that we could put things back together?" Alaric said, gazing at the destruction around them.

This comment received a number of chuckles from the others, as they could tell that he was not being serious.

"I suppose we could all switch our professions and become a construction crew. In half a year, I bet we could rebuild the place." Lilia said, continuing the joke.

Of course, if this area had actually been someone's home, they would not have been able to accept the devastation they had caused so lightly. Luckily, Houten's old capital had been abandoned by the living for centuries.

The loss of a few hundred buildings that no one was using was not going to weigh heavily on any of their consciences.

"Wait, where's Inten?"

Looking around at every one of his companions, Marcus noticed a certain great diamond mouse was missing. He could feel through the connection of their contract that Inten was still in the area, but he was no longer with them. At some point he had slipped away.

"Oh, he told me that he was going to look for treasure. Apparently, he sensed something nearby." Blitz said, being the last one to interact with Inten.

"That's right, we got so caught up in the back-to-back battles that we forget that one of our goals was raiding the castle's treasury. We'd better get to it before Houten's army reaches this place." Mrazivy said enthusiastically. It seemed that her draconic side could not resist the allure of uncovering treasure.