The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 101: Undertaking

"And ways to dispel it are?" Aria worriedly asked.

"It will have to depend on the specific type of curse. However, in general, ways to dispel this type of curse.. There is only three. First, break the curse using the Destruction method. Since the ingredient and information we need isn't here, that method is impossible. Second, overpower the curse and push it out using your spiritual concentration, essentially detoxifying yourself and corroding the curse. This can't be done by anyone other than Alena, which makes it impossible. Third.. is the one that's a little bit complicated, but could be accomplished for our current conditions," Rallaka explained.

"..What is that?" Aria asked. By the tone of Rallaka's voice and the way he stated it, it couldn't have been a good process to go through. The previous two options were bad, but this third one could be even worse.

"Using the Ice spirit to merge with the girl.. And by that, I don't mean that she takes control over the spirit, but they have to achieve that process. As a Summoner, you must be familiar with it. The Undertaking," Rallaka said.

Aria was indeed quite familiar with this process. She had even done it once in the past.

The Undertaking. By the name, it sounded like something out of a formal contract, but in this case, the meaning was different. The Undertaking meant that the owner and the spirit would have to trade their spiritual essences with each other.

In the past, she had only done this with one spirit. His name was Igna, a pure fire spirit who fell into a deep destruction and needed a strong person's essence combined with his to stabilize his conditions. The person he came across was Aria Schreiner, who he had sought as a last resort since he couldn't find any means to heal himself on his own.

Because Aria was also interested in the spirit, she made him enter a contract with her. The payment for the spirit would be to lend Aria a helping hand as his master, whereas Aria would have to treat Igna using her spiritual essence. The process of trading essences required both parties to be extremely pure to success smoothly. The essences would essentially be turned into a soluble mixture, binding with each other and creating an unbreakable bond between the parties.

In this case, Ilyin's spiritual essence could indeed be a plausible temporary cure for the curse. A suppressor of sorts. However, since Alena's body, which contained a deadly cursed inside her was far from the desired 'pure' status, both parties will have to suffer through arduous processes if they wanted to go on with this particular plan. When she did it with Igna, she also had to suffer a heavy pain due to Igna not being in his best condition.

Knowing Alena's currently dying state, she couldn't even imagine what would happen to her if the process even goes through and gets started.

But on top of all that, they still had to consider whether Ilyin even wanted to enter the process or not.

At that time, Igna was a young spirit who was desperate to live. If not for his inability to defend himself, and his willpower to live, he wouldn't even have thought about wanting to bond with Aria. After all, the process required both parties to be tied down. A high ranked spirit like him was hesitant, but there was no other choice.

Ilyin, however, was made into a puppet by Aria out of force.

"How do we make the ice spirit follow through this process? She's not dumb. She must know the severity of this process. If we force her, then that could backfire instead and harm Alena, do you think that this is a possible matter? Even in the slight off chance that Ilyin is willing to participate, Alena's pain tolerance..." Aria sighed.

"She's a puppeteer, right? If so, then there is a way using her powers, but it'll have to require her to suffer for much more than the pain she felt just now. It would be an unimaginable pain striking her like no other day. That's why, if she's not prepared enough to last through it, then her life would be lost. When this is brought to the equation.. There is only one lingering question left. Whether she wants to take the risk and experience the worst pain possible, or whether she would just choose to pass away.. because if this curse isn't relieved before we go out of this dungeon, then her life could be counted as forfeited," Rallaka continued stating, making Aria's heart tingle even more with pity over the child.

"What is that way?" Aria asked, racking her brains up to think of such a way. To make an unwilling high ranked spirit obey and participate in the process.

This thing couldn't be done over a short span of time, it required both parties to be aware of the pain for quite a long time. It didn't reach up into hours, but a minimal of fifteen minutes had to be gone through.

"..Pretty simple. It's the 'subdue' function," Rallaka said. "We are going to brand the spirit down,"

Aria frowned upon hearing Rallaka's words. She already started to form an inkling about the mentioned process. The spirit then told more about the details and his views upon it, and it left Aria feeling conflicted over what she should do. She looked over to Alena as she digested the troubling news with a heavy heart.

The child was still unconscious, and she showed signs of evasive movements, as if she was trying to get as far as possible from the pain she was feeling. Could she really face and bear the pain through the end?

When she thought about Rallaka's words the first time he said it, she thought that it was too severe. Death. The matter of death was so easy to say, but applying it into reality was much more grim than she thought. Furthermore, remembering Alena's condition a while back, Aria's worries skyrocketed and truly feared for the child's life. As if death was really knocking at her doorstep and would have no qualms in taking the child's life.

Aria sighed, her mood dropping down to unbelievable degrees. She didn't think that this little ally she just picked up out of nowhere actually had such a serious underlying condition and was about to go down this early into the game. The information she gave were all of high importance. The tower reveal hasn't even started yet, and this child would have to die? Such a fact was hard to digest.

"First, I will nourish her to the best of my abilities. We will wake her up after that... and let her decide," Aria ultimately resolved.

With the aid of Dianthe and her own mana, she soothed Alena's condition, but the effects weren't all that great. Alena was still suffering. Her condition just bettered by the slightest bit.

After waiting for a few minutes, the child's eyes opened and landed on Aria's figure immediately. The child's mouth opened and closed. Aria poured clear water down her throat and told her to just stay laying down as she was about to deliver the harsh news.

The time they had was not infinite, and they still had to remember the three hours limit Gin gave them. Surpassing that would still be a plausible choice, but it was best not to do that.

Fiddling with her fingers, Aria tapped in a rhythmic manner as she kept her expression up.

"I have something to say," Aria said to the child, who could only respond with a weak nod, telling the elder that she's all ears.

Aria started to explain the situation to the child and presented her with the choices she had to pick one from. Learning that her life was on the bedrocks, Alena revealed a rather calm expression for someone who just learned that she had an extremely high chance to lose her life today.

"..Are you alright?" Aria asked, her brows creased together and forming a frown as she watched the girl break into small fits of laughter.

She coughed a couple times before starting to talk.

"I am alright, big sister. Ever since this condition started, I've never gotten used to it, and I thought that I could just live on with the struggles for the first few times.. But once the symptoms kept coming back, I knew that it was getting worse with each time it arrived. I knew that.. one day, this kind of dooming result would come, but I didn't expect it to be today,"

"Ahh.. just right when I did well inside a dungeon, this happens. It truly sucks," Alena covered her face with her palms. Light sniffles came from her, as the child tried to hide her overflowing emotions from the rest. "..It sucks, but it's not an unpredictable result. I have been waiting for this day to come. Where my life would tilt so far towards to death line that.. I would feel fear,"