Phantoms of the Dead Frieren acknowledges ten years is potentially a tenth of Fern’s lifespan but Fern decides to follow her. A short way into the journey they enter a village where several people disappeared after seeing ghosts of their deceased relatives. Frieren suspects an Einsam, a monster that lures victims with illusion magic. The illusions are easily destroyed with attack magic, but as this involves attacking the ghosts of people they loved even experienced warriors cannot fight back and become its prey. Fern is almost caught by Heiter’s ghost but Frieren easily shoots Himmel’s ghost, exposing the Einsam so Fern can destroy it. Continuing on the journey Frieren decides to kill a dragon to collect a grimoire from its nest. This requires a strong warrior so they seek out Stark, one of Eisen’s students who once defeated the dragon in a staring contest and now lives nearby. Stark admits he has never killed a monster before and only won the famous staring contest because he was frozen with fear. Frieren gives him until morning to decide to help. Fern doubts he is capable but Frieren is confident since, thanks to Eisen’s training, Stark possesses the strength to cut through solid rock with his axe.