Apocalypse Hunter

< The Time of Evil Spirits and Storms (Part 2) >

—Crack! —

Dark clouds covered the sky and a bolt of lightning struck the ground. Shortly afterward, heavy rain began to fall along with gusts of fierce wind.

—Dribble drip drip drip! Krrrrooooom! —

“What the?”

“It’s starting to pour!”

—Crack!

With a flash of lightning, a heavy storm hit the area around the castle. Not a minute passed before heavy rain began pouring from the sky.

The sudden change in climate, which resulted in their tents being blown away, astonished the Reavers.

Their camp of thousands soon devolved into a chaos. Lightning descended from the sky and some debris blown around by the wind injured a few people. Night had already fallen and there was limited visibility.

“What the hell is this!?” One of the Reavers yelled, but the sound was dampened by the powerful storm.

On such an open field, the Reavers didn’t have anywhere to find shelter from the storm. The wind blew from all different directions. It definitely wasn’t an ordinary storm.. They began to regret attacking a spiritual place, thinking that the storm was a form of punishment for their actions. It was so strong that even opening their eyes was an impossible feat.

The only place the Reavers could hide in was the small caves they had drilled into the rock. They couldn’t communicate with each other as they crawled inside. The holes were wide enough for a person to crawl through, so many Reavers pushed at each other to fit inside.

“Stop pushing! Stop pushing, damn it!”

“Stop! My foot! My foot!”

“I can’t…breathe.”

The storm continued as the Reavers fought to fit inside the caves. Most of them leaned against the cliff where the holes had been drilled. The area became very crowded.

“Damn…What the hell is going on?”

“I’ve had a bad feeling about this place since the beginning. We’re being punished for trying to attack this holy mountain!”

The Reavers leaning against the cliff were screaming. They had simply been following Asura’s orders but were hesitant to attack the Heavenly Power Castle. As superstitious people, they believed that spiritual places were off limits.

The idea that the storm was retaliation for attacking the Heavenly Power Temple circulated through the group. Since the storm didn’t look like it was going to subside any time soon, many Reavers believed they were about to die.

“We need to get away from here!”

To survive, they had to flee from this hellish storm. In the midst of the chaos, it was impossible to find the field officers. The Reavers’ thoughts then turned toward the junkwagons. Although driving away on a junkwagon in such weather was a crazy idea, many of them thought that it would be better than getting killed by the storm. Some ran to where the junkwagons were parked. Others ran in the wrong direction. The running Reavers who fell down because of the strong wind started crawling toward the junkwagons.

Some smart Reavers found the bigger junkwagons and hid in the trunk. As they did so, other Reavers took the junkwagons and drove away without realizing that some of their comrades were inside.

The sudden storm frightened all of them.

Those who drove away on the junkwagons thought about hiding in whatever place they could find—rocks, cliffs, old buildings, ruins, anything.

That was their plan.

—Aaaaaaaaaaaargggh! —

“What the—!?”

Before they could drive very far, something swarmed toward them from the darkness.

—Kyahahahahaha! —

A wave of evil spirits approached the Reavers. The storm had sent the army of Reavers into a blind panic, and now a wave of spirits was closing in attack them.

—-

The group of evil spirits that had been drawn by the seal covered the area surrounding the Heavenly Power Castle. So many ghosts rarely gathered in one place, but the evil energy emanating from the seal was so powerful that it could even draw ghosts from far away.

Just like moths to a flame, ghosts were attracted by strong spiritual energy. The location of the Immortal’s seal produced a great amount of energy, which attracted many ghosts.

A wave of ghosts arrived at the castle and more were on their way.

They instinctively began attacking the Reavers.

“Nggaaaaargh!”

The ghosts penetrated the Reavers’ bodies, which then collapsed onto the ground. They attacked with rage, and although they couldn’t inflict any physical damage, they could cause pain to the Reavers’ souls.

Terror reigned.

The ghosts inflicted pain on the Reavers as they ripped apart their souls.

Although the ghosts also roamed around the Heavenly Power Castle along with the base of the cliff, the castle was prepared because there were people hiding inside. The force field prevented the ghosts from entering, so they moved on to places where they could inflict damage.

“Hehehehehehe…ehehe!”

—Ratatatatatat!—

The possessed Reavers started shooting their rifles.

“Diiiiiiiiiiiiiieee!”

—Click! —

“Yoooou craaaaaaazy baaaaaastard!”

—Kaboooom! —

Some of the Reavers inside the cave blew up their chipbusters and died in the explosion along with other Reavers. Others died from hundreds of bullet holes as the ghosts took over their heads.

Possessed Reavers killed each other and themselves. The area had become a hell as the rainstorm continuing to pour down.

“What’s going on over there?” Ramphil murmured with a nervous expression.

Zin and the team were waiting inside the AV to avoid the storm. They paid attention to the ghost sounds echoing all over the place.

Luckily, Cho-Yul had set up a force field inside the AV that the ghosts could not penetrate. He concentrated on maintaining the force field.

“It looks like the Heavenly Power castle hasn’t been idle.” Zin knew of the existence of the Heavenly Power Stone and the effect it had. He briefly explained to the team what was happening outside. What the castle had done might become a bigger issue later on.

The ghosts wouldn’t go away even if they reactivated the Heavenly Power Stone. Once the Reavers were defeated, the sorcerers of the castle would need to perform a massive amount of exorcisms. Sorcerers were not people who exorcised spirits. They usually only utilized them.

“Are you able to hold it?” Zin asked Cho-Yul.

“Yes, thankfully there are only weak ghosts.”

Even though he had set up the force field in a hurry, Cho-Yul could keep the ghosts out of the AV. Leona could feel the evil energy outside and worriedly remained quiet.

The situation had changed. Most of the Reavers would have survived if it had only been rainstorm since they could have driven away on their junkwagons. However, with the ghosts’ attack, they began killing each other and blowing things up. As a result, most of the army had died.

This didn’t bode well in the long run. It was clear that the Group would return to exact vengeance on the castle. Their attack would only be postponed until a later date.

—Dribble. Drip! Drip! —

The heavy rain continued to hit the AV as multiple explosions sounded at the base of the cliff. However, the team couldn’t hear the sound of the motorcycle engine because of it.

In order to fight against a sorcerer, a person had to learn how to use sorcery. The Reavers knew how to kill people, but they didn’t know how to kill ghosts. They had no way of retaliating. Their weapons had no effect against the ghosts as they continued to lay waste on the Reaver army.

However, there was at least one person who knew how.

The person riding the motorcycle in the middle of the storm heard the explosions and the cries of the ghosts.

“…”

They couldn’t see the chaotic scene. The person wore an Asura mask and a black leather jacket with black leather pants. Their long, black hair streamed out behind the mask and the curvature of their clothing meant that she was female.

She had ordered the army to take over the Heavenly Power Castle and was on her way back after visiting other cities. She governed many regions so she couldn’t stay in one place indefinitely.

However, she hadn’t expected the Heavenly Power Castle to counterattack with powerful sorcery.

—Buzzzz!—

The several ghosts that rushed toward her were vanquished in a flash. She continued to observe the scene in silence, not outright displaying any emotion, yet her aura revealed her fury.

Something is strange.

She kept traveling through the storm and the enraged ghosts.

It’s impossible for someone other than a high-leveled sorcerer to cast this kind of spell.

She dismounted and walked toward the cluster of ghosts.

Is there another high-leveled sorcerer besides me and my fellow student? If that’s the case, then the world is full of surprises.

She slowly took off the mask, revealing a pale face and red lips.

Or he could be fooling around here.

She wondered why that drunkard would be interfering with her plans all of a sudden. She couldn’t think of a reason. Perhaps there was a hidden secret in the Heavenly Power Castle, which she was trying to conquer for strategic purposes.

Asura took out a scroll from her leather jacket.

As a sorcerer, she had recorded numerous spells.

Unlike Cho-Yul who had been hiding his powers, Asura had studied methods to maximize and accurately utilize her power.

She thought of a line of spell and dark ink floated into the air.

The Godly Fighters would be perfect for handling the ghosts.

Dark ink from the scroll formed multiple humanoid shapes, which rose up holding spears, swords, and other such weapons. These figures used to be Godly Fighters in the past.

They had previously been part of myths, but were no longer so, and had the power to fight against the ghosts.

Many sorcerers traveled the world in search of the forgotten Godly Fighters. Some were able to find them and use them as protection against ghosts.

However, Asura used as a means of attack. Having a single Godly Fighter was already considered a blessing for a sorcerer, but Asura had more than a hundred Godly Fighters under her control. They became both her protectors and attackers when she traveled to dangerous places.

The Godly Fighters were limited in physical fights but were extremely helpful against ghosts.

The hundred figures lined up in front of Asura.

“It’s a mess in front of me. Clean them all up,” she ordered.

They nodded without reply and leaped forward on steeds made of spirits.

—Gallop! Gallop!—

Kyaaaaaah!

Keeeeeeeh!

The galloping of the horses could be heard. Shortly after, the Godly Fighters began slaying the ghosts. Asura was no ordinary expert sorcerer. She continued training and had invested much time in creating new charms.

Next, she retrieved a murky yellow marble from her jacket. While staring at the marble, she murmured a spell.

“Dragon Pearl, go and deactivate the spell.”

As soon as Asura finished speaking, the marble became bright. Many shockwaves shot out of it.

—Kabooom!—

As the shockwaves spread around the area, the rain stopped and the sky cleared. In a short moment, the rain had stopped completely and the clear moon shone down upon the earth.

Only the ghosts remained, all of them quickly killed off by the Godly Fighters. Asura surveyed the area where the rainstorm had been.

The Dragon Pearl.

Asura had traveled to the land of the sleeping dragons in order to find the charm. She had originally gone there to get dragon blood, but that had been impossible. Instead, she was able to gain the Dragon Pearl. It was an extremely valuable and powerful charm and was well worth the trip.

[Darkborn Energy – 19.94% Reaching limit of replacement energy.]

[Unable to replenish energy level using replacement energy.]

[Please search for the blood of a devil]

Asura had to use energy in order to activate the Dragon Pearl. She became annoyed by the message that appeared in front of her eyes.

It wasn’t possible to search for something that no longer existed, but it was okay if she couldn’t find any yet.

She stood up under a clear, night sky. The Reavers near the cliff were confused by the sudden stop of the rain.

She put on the mask again.

“Your king is here!” Asura shouted.

The Reavers who had been terrified a couple of minutes ago became happy once more.

“The king is here!”

“We’re going to be okay now!”

They ran toward Asura as if they had met a savior.