Even at its most mild form, the first active stage of Wendigo Psychosis had lowered Dominque’s spirit stat by five percent and given her an ever-present fatigue that reduced her physical abilities.

This was pretty nasty for a condition that came on so fast and was practically undetectable. Over time it would certainly advance even further until it had eaten away at her mind, and she gave into a craving for the flesh of her companions.

‘At its first stage it is still manageable, but if left untreated she likely would have only had a few days until she stopped being able to function normally. And I doubt she would have been the only one.’

After Dominque proved that they were indeed under attack, everyone else swiftly checked their statuses.

Unfortunately, the results were not at all favorable.

While only Dominque had an active case of Wendigo Psychosis, the curse had wormed its way into seven other members of the expedition squad and was dormant for the moment. 

If Marcus had not caught onto the Wendigo so quickly, there was a very real chance that an all-out battle between those that were afflicted and those that were not would have broken out within a week.

‘The only problem is that I can only use my Ultimate Refresh four more times today. I won’t be able to keep up with this many people.’ Marcus thought, a grimace on his face.

Certainly, he could just wait for his skill’s limit to rest and cure everyone he could not get to today, but that would only work if the wendigo left them alone. And Marcus highly doubted that it would.

From what he knew they were incredibly persistent monsters that would stalk a group of people for weeks until someone broke and went mad.

It was also possible it might get fed up at some point and simply attack them, though he doubted that would happen.

This wendigo was almost certainly intelligent enough to realize it could not beat them in a straight up fight. 

‘Evette, do you happen to have a healing magic spell that might help? True restoration did not work. I only cured Mrazivý using another skill of mine.’ Marcus said over telepathy.

Out of everyone in the expedition squad Evette was the most skilled and knowledgeable when it came to healing. If anyone might have a chance at curing this curse, it was her as a supreme spirit of life and death.

‘I do not have a spell that would work on this if true restoration is ineffective. Specialized curses like these are incredibly potent and sometimes beyond the scope of what healing magic can fix. I believe that sacred magic is more likely to have an answer.’ Evette replied, looking towards Miguel.

Following her gaze, Marcus looked at Miguel as well.

“You need something. I already said I don’t have the condition.” Miguel said, not happy that Marcus was bringing attention towards him.

“Yeah, I wanted to ask you if your sacred magic might be able to remove the curse. I already confirmed with Evette that normal healing magic does not have a fix for it, but that sacred magic might. The skill I use has a limited number of uses so a more usable option would be preferable.”

Miguel sighed when he noticed he had become the center of attention, with those afflicted with Wendigo Psychosis looking at him hopefully.

For nearly a minute he just stood there with a contemplative expression, but in the end, he shook his head.

“I have a protection spell that I could use to protect a single person from any sort of status condition, but I can only use it on one person at a time. I’m personally immune to curses, so I never bothered to pick up a spell that can dispel them. It is also possible that my sacred magic is not high enough level to unlock such a spell.” Miguel said with a shrug.

Marcus wanted to ask if Miguel could use skill points to level up his sacred magic but decided against it.

He knew what the system given spell for sacred magic was up to level eight thanks to Tesia. That meant that Miguel would need level nine sacred magic to even have a chance at getting the spell they needed. 

It was possible that Miguel did not even have enough skill points stockpiled to do this, and even if he did, he probably would not.

‘I suppose that in the worst-case scenario just being able to protect one other person is already useful enough.’ Marcus thought, contemplating what to do next.

Killing the wendigo would naturally be the most direct solution. Unfortunately, with the perpetual fog limiting their ability to detect far away threats, it would be nearly impossible to find it if it wanted to stay hidden. This was honestly the best environment for it to thrive in.

Yet, as Marcus was busy contemplating what to do, Evette reached back into his mind with telepathy.

‘I did not want to mention his since I am not sure if it will work and it does pose some risk to me, but I do have an ability that might be able root out the curse. It is called spirit healing and can heal physical wounds as well as their souls. I have never used it to dispel a curse, though, in theory it should be possible.’

‘Gha, you’re right! I should have thought of that earlier!’ Marcus replied. Leaving Evette baffled.

Once he realized that he had confused her, Marcus explained that he also had had the spirit healing specter power and that he had once used it to remove a curse from himself.

‘I have never tried it on another person like this. Still, I think if we work together, it might work. We should exhaust all of our options before moving to more drastic solutions.’

If they did not find a reliable way to remove the Wendigo Psychosis, then at the very least they would need to send away some of those that had been afflicted and downsize their already limited expedition squad. In the worst case, they might just need to abandon the island altogether.