?And searched...
Nick had been searching like this for over two hours by now.
For two hours, he had been scratching every single spot on the floor with his spear.
Was there really a body somewhere in the Swallowing Swamp?
It didn't seem like it.
What if the Specter could move its body, and it simply kept avoiding Nick?
What if it just swam away whenever Nick approached it?
Like this, Nick would never be able to capture it.
Most people would have this concern, but Nick didn't.
After all, for the Specter to avoid him, it would first need to know where Nick was, and if it knew where Nick was, his ability would have deactivated.
Yet, his ability was still active.
The Specter had no idea that Nick was here, even after two hours of Nick poking around the Swallowing Swamp.
By now, it was obvious that the Swallowing Swamp wasn't some kind of predator that just waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.
If it only attacked people after they searched through the swamp for hours, it would have never gained any food, even if the world were filled with life.
So, Nick kept moving his spear back and forth.
For two more hours.
Nick had been inside the swamp for over four hours now, and he was pretty sure that he had checked through almost every part of the center.
'Is it not in the center?' Nick thought with furrowed brows.
Usually, one could find the Specter in the middle of its domain if it had one.
'But there are also cases where Specters are not in the middle of their domain,' Nick thought. 'After all, if the Infestation were in the middle of the infested area, it would have long since been caught.'
'Guess I should check.'
Nick grabbed the spear with his hand while remaining submerged.
Since he was no longer searching through the deepest part, he didn't need to use his legs anymore.
However, Nick stayed submerged since he wanted to be absolutely sure that his ability wasn't deactivated by Jason peeking over.
The search became faster since Nick could now swing his spear much more skillfully and faster.
Feet just weren't made to handle spears.
Nick kept circling around the middle of the Swallowing Swamp for another two hours.
He had been looking for over six hours by now.
However, Nick didn't stop.
Most people would have long since given up, but not Nick.
Nick relied on the accuracy of his ability.
He just kept swimming and swinging.
Swimming and swinging.
Ding.
Nick stopped.
Just now, his ability had deactivated before activating again.
Nick's heart rate increased.
Did he find it?
Nick surfaced and looked around.
There was no one around him.
After submerging again, Nick carefully moved his spear around.
This time, he was moving it much slower.
Clink.
It deactivated again!
Nick's eyes narrowed, and he moved his spear carefully around the object it was currently touching.
It didn't feel any different from a random stone.
It was hard, smooth, and of average length.
The next moment, Nick quickly dove down.
The Nightmare appeared around Nick again, but it barely had any time to cause Nick pain since he was already surfacing again.
Shortly before Nick reached the surface, he stopped.
He couldn't see what he was carrying in his hand due to the dark purple liquid surrounding it, but he was sure that it was the Specter.
After all, even though he hadn't surfaced, his ability was still deactivated, which meant that something or someone was sensing his presence.
'This is it!' Nick thought.
'This has to be the Specter!'
Then, Nick slowly surfaced and looked at the thing he was holding in his hand.
It was a glass bottle.
It looked extremely normal, except for two things.
First, it was filled with the purple sludge.
Second, there was a huge and clear gash going across its body.
Naturally, the gash came from Nick swinging his spear around and hitting it.
One had to remember that each of Nick's big spears weighed way over a hundred kilos, and he had been moving it quite quickly.
A weak Hatchling couldn't possibly resist such a strike.
However, Specters were very difficult to kill, and Nick was quite sure that he wouldn't kill the Specter with a casual swing of his spear.
If he wanted to kill the Specter, he would probably need to throw it against a metal wall with a ton of force.
Only if it exploded into pieces would it die.
Nick held the bottle with its opening facing down.
That was when Nick noticed another peculiar thing.
The dark sludge inside the bottle wasn't coming out of the cut that Nick had made.
It was only leaving through the actual opening.
Nick kept pouring.
And pouring.
And pouring.
And pouring.
Nick's eyebrows rose.
The black sludge had been pouring out of the bottle for over 30 seconds, and while it wasn't moving very fast due to its viscosity, he was certain that it should have already become empty.
Just to be sure, Nick poured out the bottle for another two minutes.
It still looked full.
'That settles it,' Nick thought as he looked at the bottle. 'This is the Specter.'
'It probably produces this toxic sludge infinitely.'
Nick looked around the purple swamp and took note of the bubbles that released the black smoke.
'The amount of sludge the swamp is losing by evaporation is probably around equal to the amount of sludge produced by the bottle.'
Nick looked back at the bottle.
Then, he turned it upright, with its opening facing the sky.
Nick's eyebrows rose.
The sludge stopped coming out of the bottle!
Now, the bottle just looked like a normal-filled bottle.
Although, the sludge was still not coming out of the cut on its side.
'Interesting,' Nick thought.
'So, if it is upside down or tipped over, it infinitely produces the sludge, but if it's standing upright, it's producing none of it.'
'I'm certain that this is a Possession Specter due to its characteristics, and I think I also already have a fitting name for it.'
'The Spilling Bottle.'