Chapter 17 – Greysoul Cemetery (3)

Henrik raised his axe and shouted

“Kultu!”

“I got it!”

At least Kultu was still acting sane. The ghost approached very slowly. Kultu nocked his arrow and carefully aimed for the ghost’s head. Pulling back on the string, and then letting go of the arrow, he let it fly.

‘Pew’

The Arrow flew straight and true. But when it reached the ghost, it simply passed through it.

“… Damn it, what are we supposed to do….?”

Henrik looked around him briefly.

‘I’m so scared!”

Hiro continued to cower behind him, hanging on to the hem of his shirt.

“Labeh Ahondi Russo oh”

Akanna continued to chant and bow

“What should we do?”

Kultu stared at him, terrified. There was no one dependable. Henrik looked ahead again. The female Ghost was now nearly upon them.

Henrik tightly gripped his axe. It was the only thing he could depend on. Pale face, crimson lips, bloodshot eyes. For a moment, Henrik and the ghost stared at each other.

“Huh…”

Henry had been planning to swing his axe as soon as the ghost approached close enough. But once he looked into the ghost’s eyes, he froze up. He found that he could not move.

The ghost stopped moving closer as well. She raised one arm,

‘Hyaaaaa…”

And let out a strange noise.

‘…Come on, move!’

Henrik commanded his body to defend itself, but he couldn’t shake off the petrifying terror taking over his body. But after a few seconds,

The Ghost turned around and left in the direction she pointed.

Once she disappeared, Henrik was able to move again after a moment. Finally, he let out a sigh of relief.

“What was that?”

“Is it gone?”

Kultu answered Hiro’s question.

“Eh? It’s just leaving without doing anything?”

Once the ghost left,

“Emma Gordi Sabath”

Akanna stopped chanting and stood back up.

Everyone else turned to look at him. And for the first time, Akanna spoke words they understood.

“Thank you, blessed ancestor!”

Henrik was shocked and blurted out

“What? Akanna can speak!”

Akanna closed his mouth in response and blinked few times. Henrik was at a loss for words. Kultu spoke up.

“Excuse me, but since the ghost is gone… let’s get moving again. It’s been about 10 minutes since the raid began. Shouldn’t we go and clear it?”

Henrik snapped himself awake and fixed his grip on the lantern.

“Y…yeah… I guess that ghost was not a monster.”

The four men quickly moved from the spot. They did not wish to remain long where the ghost had appeared. But…

“Awooo~”

They heard a wolf’s cry in the distance. It was a sound none of them wanted to hear again after completing chapter 2. Hiro said

“Wait… was that a wolf?”

Kultu also tilted his head and asked

“There are wolves in the cemetery?”

Henrik bit his lips. This chapter had too many surprises. He didn’t know what to expect.

*

Sungjin searched feverishly through the Greysoul Cemetery. Already ‘living’ monsters were becoming difficult to find.

In other words, he was running in circles. But he didn’t have any other choice; it was so dark in Greysoul Cemetery that it was difficult to tell right from left.

Finally, the flame on the katana went out; 5 minutes had elapsed. Sungjin was plunged into the oppressive darkness once more.

‘Wait, 5 minutes passed already? I don’t have much time…!’

Sungjin called the Operator out of instinct.

“Operator.”

[Yes?]

“Give me….”

He was about to ask for another Salamander’s ash when he remembered that he had Cain.

‘Ah…right…’

[Please go on]

“Ah, nevermind.”

Sungjin reached into his pocket to retrieve a small wolf figurine. He threw it in the air.

Before reaching the ground, the small figurine transformed into a large wolf. Sungjin couldn’t help but smile looking at Cain.

‘Wolves have superior night vision.’

Cain, who made an appearance for the first time in a raid,

“Awooo~”

Let out a long drawn out howl to announce his presence. Sungjin walked up to Cain.

“Cain, it’s too dark for me to see properly. Lead me in the way. We’re searching for an altar with a red pentagram. Understood? It should resemble a pile of rocks.”

Cain let out short barks to convey that he understood.

“Woof woof”

“Search for corpses… not the unmoving ones on the ground, but the ones that are still moving. Seeking out surviving enemies should lead us to the boss.”

Sungjin tried to explain in detail, but Cain had already begun his search. Sungjin followed behind Cain’s wagging tail.

After a while, Cain stopped and bared his teeth.

“Grrrr…”

He let out a warning.

“What did you find, Cain?”

Sungjin caught up with Cain, and from afar

‘Creak click’

He could hear the sounds of ghouls and skeletons. Enemies. The numbers were great. Cain must have growled to warn Sungjin of what’s ahead. Sungjin drew out his Katana.

*

“Sigh… No enemies…”

Hiro complained about the lack of enemies to fight. Henrik agreed with him.

“Yeah…”

Henrik preferred safety over recklessness, but Hiro was right. Once in awhile, the group would run across some bones or rotting tissue, but they were always found to be ripped apart to pieces.

And while wandering around bored, the four Hunters heard another strange noise.

‘Shing! Woof! Kaaack!’

It was a sound of conflict. The hunters’ gazed towards the source. Henrik looked at each of the other hunters and asked

“… should we go check it out?”

No one refused. Since the run-in with the ghost, they had not seen a single enemy alive. They headed towards the source of the conflict.

“…Peerless Warrior…”

Akanna said his second coherent sentence. The hunters raised their lantern high and continued to walk towards the commotion.

And soon, they were able to see Kei fight. He, who wielded his katana with speed and power that rivaled bolts of lightning.

Each swing of his blade cut apart three or four zombies.

Ghouls attempted to launch surprise attacks from his blind spot from time to time, but Sungjin seemed to have eyes on the back of his head; he would stop them with his scabbard and bisect them with his katana’s follow-up attack.

“Krrruughaaggg”

In the face of Sungjin’s mighty blade, Ghouls were cut away like pieces of paper.

A skeleton attempted to stab Sungjin with a spear, but Sungjin dodged it easily by leaning back. And

“Kaa!”

The skeleton was knocked down by the wolf. The Skeleton struggled for a moment on the floor, but the wolf ripped it apart with its claws.

“Wow…”

Henrik whispered in awe. Hiro was good, but when judged as a human being.

What he witnessed in Kei’s fight was beyond the level of a mere human being; It was like watching a War God of old.

‘Hiro.’

Henrik remembered Hiro and turned to look at him. Hiro was watching the fight with his mouth agape as well.

‘I wonder what he’s feeling right now.’

And by the time he finished his thoughts, the commotion ended. The sound of fighting stopped, and Henrik looked over to Sungjin. He was surrounded by nothing but undead corpses.

Kei frowned as he wiped off the blood and gore from his katana. The wolf next to him turned to look at them briefly before barking.

“Awo.”

Kei finally turned to look at the four hunters.

“Ah… You’ve come.”

But

“Grrr”

The wolf next to him bared its fangs threateningly. Kei noticed and chastised the wolf.

“Hey, don’t do that Cain. These hunters are not enemies.”

At his words, the Wolf relaxed and walked in between Sungjin’s legs. He was tame and loyal to his master. After telling off his wolf, Sungjin looked up.

*

Sungjin quickly did a head count.

‘One, two, three, four,’

Evidently, no one died. No one seemed particularly injured. He didn’t have a chance to see, but most likely the Veteran Spearman and the Mid-Level Samurai had protected the group well.

“It is a rather talented group.’

Unbeknownst to him, the main reason for their safety was that nearly all the monsters were annihilated by his hands. The North European standing at the front approached him and began to speak.

“That was amazing back there, Kei.”

Sungjin welcomed him.

“I am glad that all of you are fine.”

“I couldn’t believe how skilled you were… Enough to survive alone.”

“Ah, thanks.”

Sungjin glossed over his praises. There were more important things to discuss. He pointed out the pile of rocks forming an altar.

“So… I am about to go for the boss… What would you like to do?”

It was the Magic Summoning circle used to summon “Lich Deathmond’. It was discovered by Cain while searching through the darkness.

The North European man saw the altar and tensed up. The Japanese boy next to him stepped forward.

“What do you mean? We fight.”

The African man behind them continued to stare with a blank face.

The Nepali behind the whole group seemed anxious. Sungjin directed his words to him

“Well, I won’t ask you not to participate. But even I can’t fight and protect at the same time. If you don’t feel like you can handle it, please feel free to drop out of the fight. In fact, it’ll be okay if you don’t participate at all, I can clear the raid for us.”

The boss ‘Lich Deathmond’ was a troublesome enemy; he used magic attacks. Many strong individuals had met their sudden demise by his magic.

At his words, the North European Henrik and the Nepali Kultu stepped back. Only three remained.

Sungjin, the Japanese teenager Hiro, and the African Akanna. Sungjin quickly glanced over them.

‘Well… at the very least they’re not at a level where they would do more harm than good.’

Sungjin stood in front of the altar. On top, a satanic pentagram was drawn.

Arranged at its center, were ribs and pelvic bones emitting blue lights.

“Hey Samurai, There should be some blue glowing bones laying around. Go get them for me.”

Hiro silently gathered the bones as Sungjin asked. Sungjin also searched and found three blueish bones.

Right Femur, Right Humerus, and the skull. The Samurai brought the Left Humerus and the Left Femur. Sungjin pointed towards the Magic circle and explained

“Arrange those on the pentagram over there. The body forms the center, so place those two bones on the left side. You understand, right?”

And as instructed, the Samurai placed the bones on the left side of the ribs and pelvic bone.

Sungjin followed suit and placed the right Femur and Humerus on the pentagram. He paused for a moment before turning to the other two hunters.

“Get ready, Mid-Level Samurai and Veteran Spearman.”

The two men nodded slightly. Sungjin placed the last piece, the skull, on the pentagram.

The Red Magic circle lit up, casting shadows all around. The bones began to reattach themselves to each other. The Operator gave out an announcement.

[Warning! Boss Monster]

[Lich ‘Deathmond’ has appeared!]