CHAPTER 43: SHADOWED TOWN

Deklan and Pumple sneaked into the Shadowed Town carefully.

Both stayed extremely alert.

Just nearing the border alone, the two of them already saw multiple bronze-rank Ghosts.

None of them was as strong as the Drifting Skeletal Wolf, but their number was a massive problem.

If Deklan and Pumple were caught by even one of them, they would be swarmed by multiple strong Ghosts in under a minute. Being careful was the way to go, but with only fifteen minutes at hand, they couldn’t be too slow either.

Creak...

Deklan pushed the back door of a house slowly and peeked inside.

Like the outside, the interior of the house was also swallowed by the shadow, including the furniture.

It doesn’t inflict any harmful effects, so it should be fine.

Deklan stepped into the house silently and then held the door for Pumple to also enter.

Once inside, he crouched down to avoid any windows and closed his eyes.

A few seconds passed, and Deklan’s brows dipped into a frown. "I was wrong, it’s not only for show."

Initially, he thought the shadow was only for show, but he was wrong.

As it turns out, it has a suppression effect.

Deklan’s perception was stronger in this ghostly form of his; outside, his perception could easily reach a hundred yards—but from inside the house, his perception couldn’t reach outside. If someone were on the second floor, he wouldn’t know.

Heck, if there was a Ghost right outside the door, he probably wouldn’t be able to sense it.

"Go upstairs silently and check if there’s any Ghost," Deklan whispered.

Heeding his instruction, Pumple’s body hummed with mana—before he leaped and phased through the ceiling.

Staying low, Deklan went to the front door and poked his head by the window.

Since he needed to go to the town hall where the Alpha Ghost should be, he needed to find the safest route to reach that place. But the moment he looked out the window, he realized that reaching that town hall would be a lot more difficult than he had anticipated.

Right outside, Ghosts roamed the street.

All of them are wraiths, which meant they were all Iron-rank Ghosts—but unlike the Gloomy Wraiths he faced, these wraiths were black—and looked like the torso of a person draped in hooded cloaks. And Deklan noted that they were moving in a group of five.

Hmm...? How come they are organized?

Despite being low-intelligence Ghosts, each group was moving with purpose.

It was almost like they were assigned patrolling routes by someone, presumably the Alpha Ghost.

Even though the bronze-rank Ghosts are smarter than the iron-rank Ghosts, the gap shouldn’t be too wide.

Just like the Pale Night Lady, the Alpha Ghost of this Null Zone should not be smart enough to command these wraiths—with a fixed patrolling route like this. Naturally, this would make it even harder for him to scout further.

Rawh!

Deklan shifted his gaze to the right end of the street.

Another type of Ghost appeared.

Unlike the wraiths, this one wasn’t only a torso—but looked complete.

It was standing on two feet, sizzling with dark smoke, and was dragging a black bastard sword.

Each of its steps was trailed by the harsh scrape of steel from the heavy bastard sword dragging at its side, and every low growl it released sent the surrounding groups of wraiths skittering back in fear. It was obvious that this creature stood above them, stronger and more dangerous.

Its presence alone hinted at bronze-rank power already.

"Hmm...?" Deklan furrowed, finding that the edges of his vision were darkening. "What’s happening?"

On top of being slightly dizzy, his vision was getting darker.

Almost like his vision was taken away slowly, the more he fixated on this shadow knight Ghost.

As he blinked, he immediately ducked down when that Ghost turned toward his direction.

[Minor Presence: Shadow Reach has affected the host!]

[Sanity has been decreased by 10 points.]

[Perception has been reduced.]

[Status Effect Applied: Blindness]

[Status Effect Applied: Panic]

Deklan panted heavily as he pressed his back against the wall, reaching for his face as he panicked when his eyesight was gradually being swallowed by the dark. He couldn’t see anything—and there was this urge to scream at the top of his lungs.

But he knew better than to do that.

It was a trap.

Swish!

Just then, the Spirit Talisman he was wearing glowed, helping him fight the Minor Presence.

Additionally, he also regulated his mana to expel the status effects.

It took a good minute for him to finally regain his eyesight, and the moment he did, Pumple was already before him. "I really need something to fight back the Minor Presence more effectively," Deklan thought aloud; his heart still pounding inside his chest.

Even though the Iron Spine passive skill helped him endure Minor Presence better, it wasn’t a defensive skill.

He needed to have one to capitalize on the Iron Spine skill better.

[Notice: Host is suffering from the Shadow Town’s exposure.]

[Sanity has been decreased by 3 points.]

"Hmm...?" Deklan read the notifications in confusion. "The Shadow Town’s exposure? Does that mean all proper Null Zones would slowly but gradually eat away at the sanity of anyone in it? Man... I can already tell being an Exorcist sucks."

Deklan checked his sanity stat, and it was as low as fifty-five points.

"I should buy a few sanity potions if there are any," He sighed, but he put that at the back of his mind.

It seemed like Pumple had something to say.

Wui! Wuii!

"One Ghost upstairs? And I should capture it and let you eat it?" Deklan rubbed his chin, but shrugged eventually, as that doesn’t sound like a bad plan. He still hadn’t paid his debt to Pumple anyway. "Fine, show me the way."

Deklan and Pumple carefully made their way upstairs.

Soon, the two reached a door at the corner of the second floor, which should lead to a bedroom.

"Is it inside?"

Wui!

Deklan nodded, but as he was about to reach the door handle, he stopped.

What am I doing? I have the Elementary Phasing skill now.

Instead of barging through the door, Deklan channeled his mana inside, altering his body composition.

Once he was ready, he phased through the wall with a dash and used his Ghost Conqueror skill to make a big white towel. As soon as it emerged, the black wraith inside—that was lying on the bed was startled, not expecting someone to barge in like this.

As expected, the wraith opened its mouth to alert the others, but Deklan was faster.

He shoved the white towel into its mouth forcefully and punched it hard on the stomach.

Bam!

It was a hard punch that caved the wraith’s body.

At the same time, Pumple headbutted its head, knocking it back down to the bed—as Deklan made his move around the wraith and put it in a chokehold. "Go on then!" Deklan urged as he kept the wraith at bay. "Eat it!"

Wuii!

"Huh? You can’t eat it when you’re outside the ward territory? What kind of bullshit is that?!"

Wuii...

"You want me to capture it and have you eat it later? Tch!"

Even though he wanted to see if he could devour the stronger ones and get stronger skills, today was supposed to be scouting, so there’s no need for him to rush. He could capture this thing for Pumple and get what he wanted tomorrow when he’s more ready.

"System, initiate captu—"

Boom!

Deklan’s sentence was cut short when a loud explosion resounded from outside.

He snapped his head toward the window and, without thinking much, broke the wraith’s neck.

[Shadowling killed: 2 Spooky Dollar obtained!]

Ignoring Pumple’s complaints for killing the Shadowling, Deklan slipped through the floor and dropped back onto the first floor. He rushed toward the window once more and looked outside, only to find there seemed to be chaos.

All of the groups of Shadowlings were running north from his position.

Even the shadow knight Ghost that was lurking in the street not far from the house snapped its head to where the explosion came from before charging in that direction with urgency. One moment, the street was filled with Ghosts, but in the next, the street was empty.

But in the next, the street was empty.

"Now is my chance! Come on, Pumple!"

Deklan rushed out of the house and ran to where the town hall should be.

Despite the chaos that was going on within this Null Zone, he kept his eyes open for any Ghosts around that might see or even cross him and Pumple. Both went from house to house—and inch closer to their destination.

Along the way, there were more explosions in the distance.

Fire that licked skyward could already be seen from where they were.

On top of that, the sound of battle and growls followed, affirming what was inside Deklan’s mind.

Lady Luck is on my side! It seemed the Ghosts from the Shadowed Town and the Ghosts from the Null Zone ahead were hostile toward one another. I can use this to sneak to the town hall, but... I really want to see how Ghosts fight.

Deklan kept glancing at the other end of the street where the battle was.

He really wanted to sneak a peek, but he knew that it would be suicide for him.

It’s true that both sides didn’t get along, but who knows what would happen if he went there?

All of them might turn and attack him for being an odd Ghost that doesn’t belong to either side.

Caging his curiosity, Deklan entered the town hall and pressed his back against the wall.

"Pumple, keep a lookout while I check what’s inside," Deklan whispered—pointing at the town hall entrance, gesturing for Pumple to stay there—and watch the coast. "Just shout when you see something troublesome. It’s rowdy, so it’s fine."

Wui!

Before entering, Deklan peeked through the window, and his eyes fixated on something.

Almost instantly, he abandoned the mission.

"Okay, let’s get the fuck out of here!" He said, inching away with clear fear etched on his face.

Pumple was confused, but he followed anyway.

But after taking a few steps away, a panel emerged in front of him.

...

[Sudden Quest!]

Description: Check the town hall building and scan the Alpha Ghost inside!

Reward: A pat on the back.

Penalty: 1 hour of spanking.

...

Deklan read the short, sudden quest description and then blinked his eyes a couple of times.

He blinked again, making sure he wasn’t dreaming or seeing it wrong.

Perhaps the Minor Presence from earlier was still affecting his vision, and that made sense.

But he didn’t see it wrong.

The System actually gave him a sudden quest—that basically forced him to check inside, as there’s no reward, but there’s a penalty that he clearly didn’t want. "Tell me this is a fucking joke..."