Chapter 017 – 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!]