NOVEL NEXT Chapter 19
Chapter 19 – Greysoul Cemetery (5)
Sungjin blazed through Greysoul Cemetery, searching. ‘Swift Paw – Wolf’s step’s’ effect was stronger than anticipated.
Because it gave ten times the normal movement speed, Sungjin was actually forced to slow down.
But the result was magnificent; It effectively reduced the time spent on searching to a tenth.
Sungjin thought of what he had just heard moments before, as he continued to search between the many tombstones.
“Well, You know, a female ghost like those you see in scary movies. With pale skin and blood dripping from the lips…”
A hint came from an unexpected source.
‘…I am certain that the ghost has something to do with the hidden boss or the hidden piece.’
Now that he thought of it, he had heard some rumors of a ghost in chapter 3. Hunters from the previous life sometimes gossipped about it.
‘And here I thought that I should have used the ‘Treasure Hunter’ active skill right after the boss…’
Sungjin saved his active skill for now. He already got a hint about at least one of the two things, and there was a possibility that the hint the Operator provides is on the same subject.
There was not one undead remaining in the entire Greysoul Cemetery. Most were wiped out during his search, and the stragglers were hunted down by the other four hunters.
‘…Ghost…where are you?’
Sungjin checked his surroundings as he sped through the Cemetery. And finally, his speed gradually started decreasing.
‘It’s been 30 seconds already? I haven’t located the ghost yet…’
Soon Sungjin was back to running at his normal speed. He paused for a moment.
He was surrounded by an indistinguishable sea of tombstones.
‘Damn…’
Sungjin turned his head while swearing, and just then he saw something white floating in the distance; a woman in a white dress.
‘There!’
Sungjin sprinted at his normal speed towards the ghost.
*
“Sensei!”
Hiro tried to keep up with Kei, but it was impossible. Kei ran at impossible speeds, and Hiro lost sight of him in mere moments.
He paused and stared towards the general direction Kei disappeared to. Anyone else would have given up at this point. But not Hiro.
“Holy cow! Sensei is so amazing!”
After taking a quick breather, Hiro continued with his chase.
After about 2 minutes, he spotted the ghost he saw earlier.
“Eek!”
Hiro stopped immediately. In fact, he subconsciously took a step back. He was alone without Henrik, Kultu or Akanna.
Hiro was not afraid of Skeletons or Zombies, but the ghost scared the wits out of him. Then, he spotted Kei next to the ghost.
“What should I do…?”
Hiro nibbled on his nails and began to fret. He was in a dilemma due to the forces of attraction and repulsion being gathered in one spot.
‘…I am a man of martial arts. I need to overcome my fears…’
Hiro finally made up his mind and approached Kei and the ghost. Once he got within earshot, Kei turned to look at him.
“…Hmm? What? How did you catch up?”
Moments later, the ghost turned to look at him as well.
“Eee!”
Being stared at by a ghost with an ashen face and completely black eyes, Hiro wanted to run away. But, Kei stopped him.
“Don’t worry. This ghost is…non-hostile.”
Kei was right. The Ghost never showed intentions to attack anyone. But Hiro still could not approach the apparition.
Hostile or not, the appearance of the ghost was enough to inspire fear in a man’s heart.
And while Hiro was keeping his distance from the ghost, the ghost looked towards Kei. And in a similar manner, as she had done with Henrik, she raised her hands to point far in the distance and
“Hiiiiii….”
Let out a strange noise. Kei was completely unafraid of the ghost. He simply stroked his chin.
“This thing… I think it’s trying to say something…”
Was all he said. Suddenly, the ghost began to float away towards the direction she had pointed out moments ago. Kei followed her without another word. Hiro watched for a moment.
“Sen…Sensei!”
He called after Kei, but Kei did not respond. Hiro had no choice but to follow the two, albeit from a few steps behind.
After a long while, the ghost stopped again and
“Haaaaaa….”
Let out a strange noise. Kei stopped next to her.
“Hmmm… Is there something here?”
He mused to himself.
“Operator.”
He suddenly called out the Operator.
“Salamander’s ash.”
He took out a Salamander’s ash from the inventory. Hiro was familiar with that item. He used it in Chapter 1 to hunt the Trolls, and against the wolves in Chapter 2.
Kei opened the package and spread the ash across his Katana.
‘Foof’
The katana lit up on fire and illuminated the area. Using the Katana as a torch, he checked the immediate surroundings. And exactly under the ghost,
He spotted a stone crypt door engraved with an image of two identical girls, standing back to back.
“…Twins…”
Kei spoke to himself and sliced the door open with his Katana.
“Kahaaa~”
The Ghost screamed out loud. It was still layered with an unholy cadence but, this time, it seemed…happy.
She spun in the air once and then flew into the stone entrance. Kei and Hiro peaked into the opening in the stone doorway.
It was difficult to see what was inside. Once Kei inserted the sword between the crack. A large pile of bones could be seen below.
“Hiiie!”
Hiro gasped in terror again. On the other hand, Kei moved to enter the crypt fearlessly. Hiro grabbed his shirt and pulled him back.
“Sensei, are you not afraid of ghosts?”
Kei looked back towards Hiro and
“…I’ve already died once. Why would I fear ghosts?”
Said something Hiro didn’t quite understand. Before Hiro could respond, Kei entered the crypt. The entryway was too small and dark. Hiro made an excuse for himself.
“I can just wait for sensei out here…”
He sat down in front of the Crypt. What Kei just said moments before: ‘I’ve already died once’, was completely and utterly ignored.
*
Sungjin entered the Columbarium alone. Using the Katana as a torch, he illuminated different parts of the room. The Columbarium was damp and narrow. Despite it all, Sungjin entered confidently taking no mind to the environment.
For him, it was beyond a doubt that this place was what he had been searching for all along. At the end of the narrow walkway, a small space of about 30 meters cubed emerged.
And within, the female Ghost who led him here was waiting for him. Standing inside of a crypt surrounded by bones, looking up at a bloodied ghost, Sungjin thought
‘…yeah I think I can understand why people might be afraid.’
“Hyaaa…”
The ghost let out a strange noise and once again raised her hands. When Sungjin saw her hands, he thought it was different from before.
Her hands were not in a grip and were held in their natural state with the fingers slightly curled. But Sungjin thought she had her pointer finger raised slightly higher than the rest as if pointing towards something.
‘What is she pointing to?’
Sungjin followed the direction of her finger. She was pointing at one of the walls of the Columbarium.
Sungjin slowly moved towards the wall. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that one of the bricks was slightly pushed out compared to the rest of the bricks of that wall.
Sungjin carefully gripped the brick and pulled it out gingerly.
The brick came out much easier than expected. And inside of the wall, Sungjin could see a wrapped object.
‘What is this…?’
Sungjin reached in and pulled it out. The wrapped object slid out easily and kept on coming out of the wall. Much like a sword.
Once Sungjin had it all the way out, the wrappings unwound themselves with a “Pam!” and a sword sheathed in extremely shabby and worn out scabbard revealed itself.
The grip was so weathered that it looked as if it would break if pulled too hard from the scabbard. Sungjin gently grasped the handle of the sword and drew the blade.
‘Holy…’
Sungjin couldn’t help but exclaim out loud. Hidden within the worn out grip and scabbard was a pristine blade, giving off a soft blue glow.
Once the blade was drawn, the ghost next to him disintegrated into a cloud of smoke and was sucked into the blade.
“Kyahaaa~”
Without fail, the ghost managed to let out a strange noise. Once the ghost was gone,
[Congratulations]
Sungjin could hear the Operator’s voice.
[You have found the Hidden Piece]
[Moon Spectre – Possessed Sword Obtained.]
“…Good.”
Sungjin grinned as he inspected his sword.
Moon Spectre – Possessed Sword
Legendary Katana – Strength S Dexterity A Mind B
Passive Skill
Soul Absorption(II)
Recover 2% of the total mana per hit.
Active Skill
Deathly Wail (IV)
A ghost will induce fear to all nearby creatures. Cooldown 10 minutes
Katana imbued with the power of ghosts. It is unknown if the vengeful spirit was originally the owner of the Katana, or if the soul became vengeful upon being slain by the Katana.
“…Legendary?”
He received a completed Legendary item. It was unbelievable. He wished he had known about such an easy to obtain Legendary class weapon the first time around.
Sungjin glanced over to the specs. The most eye-catching stats were obviously the S rank Strength and A rank Dex bonus damages.
“Operator, what was the bonus per ranks again?”
[Rank affects stats as follows.]
[Rank E – x0.1 | Rank D – x0.2 | Rank C – x0.5]
[Rank B – x1.0 | Rank A – x1.5 | Rank S – x2.0]
[Rank SS – x3.0 | Rank SSS – x4.0]
Sungjin had not come across an enemy yet that he could not kill in a single strike with his Strength C Dex D basic Katana. And yet, he just received an S and an A grade Legendary Katana, effectively raising his damage by four times.
‘Well… I guess for the next few chapters, all the enemies are basically going to be made of wet paper mache…’
Sungjin mused over his stats as he read the notes for skills. ‘Deathly Wail(IV)’ seemed fairly useful.
And upon realizing that there was more to the stat bonuses, he returned to the Sword’s ranks. Rank B bonus damage from Mind Power.
This meant that raising STR by 1 would increase his damage by 2, but raising MND would also provide 1 bonus damage.
‘Putting MND stat damage boost on a Katana… means…’
Furthermore, it also had a passive skill ‘Soul Absorption(II)’ as well.
‘In other words, this is a sword designed for a magic swordsman.’
The base stats were great, but Sungjin needed to think about this one.
‘I’ll come back to it another time.’
Sungjin finally put the sword back in the scabbard.
“Shink!”
The sound of the blade sliding into the scabbard was crisp. Sungjin left the Columbarium, with the Moon Spectre hanging from his side.