Chapter 375: Chasing Phantoms

A tall stone pillar stood proudly, with a large glowing green gem embedded at the top. The energy it radiated seemed to be what attracted the wraiths— or perhaps was it what was inside?

Sealed in the jewel, a shadowy figure seemed to be trying to escape its green prison. It kinda looked like a wraith, but there was something strange about it. It just felt different from the way it was moving.

Wraiths would usually fly purposelessly in the air, but this one was actively banging on the walls, trying to escape.

"Master, this thing looks smarter than the others. Could it be the wraith king?"

"I'm not sure, but let me clear the mobs first."

Josh waved his hand, summoning even more Blattagriffs to join the fight. Right now, he felt like a goddamn Gu user dispatching his enemies with swarms of demonic insects.

Lots of effort and ghostly wails later, the wraith finally screeched their last. As soon as the path was clear, the both of them began to scale the light-house-looking thing. They used their weapons to create footholds.

"Such a shame. We're damaging some race's historical monument right now." The orc grumbled.

"I thought orcs were pretty keen on destruction." Was that just a stereotype?

"Yes, destruction, not damage. One needs to have standards. You don't just damage a civilization. You utterly crush them, turning them into slaves and finishing off the belligerent ones." The orc explained.

Damn! This sure was dark. Then again, this was how the world worked. Take humans, for instance. How much damage had they caused to the other species? A shitload! All the animal breeding farms worked on the same concept.

Did the difference lie in intelligence? Nope. It was all a matter of power— yet power alone was worthless.

"Master?"

"Nothing, let's climb and meet our new friend, shall we?"

As soon as the specter inside saw them, it began to scream silently. They could see its mouth open and close. Damn, this material had some great soundproofing properties!

"Hello, new low definition friend. Who and what are you?" Josh waved at it as it followed his hand with its gaze. Did it want to devour his energy? Most probably.

"Master, what shall we do?"

"Except if you can carry this gem on your back, we'll have to break the thing out and get the fuck out."

The orc seemed to ponder before he shook his head thoughtfully. This thing was far too heavy. His eyes turned cloudy as he pictured himself reaching such a level one day.

"Here you go. Have fun with destruction." Josh handed him a pickaxe.

"Yes, master!"

The orc went ham on the thing with every hit creating craters and echoing in the entire realm. If this thing wasn't the wraith king, then chances were that it would show up hearing the noise.

— Clang! Clang! —

— Crack! —

— Clang! Clang! —

— Shatter! —

Then the green gem finally gave out as it exploded in tons of pieces that were sent flying everywhere. Heck, some of it was even powder by now, almost looking like crushed candies— the orc swallowing a bit by mistake.

As soon as the gm was pierced, they heard a loud screech. That's when the dark shadow inside charged at them, emitting a ton of killing intent! It was so damn fast too!

Josh struck the creature, his rod flashing with purple energy. He wanted to beat it into submission. But just as it was about to make contact, the thing suddenly turned 90 degrees and flew toward the sky.

"Goddammit!" Josh cursed as the thing disappeared at the horizon.

"Master, it's gone." Captain Obvious commented.

"Yes, I happen to have eyes. Let's chase already!" He ushered as the two of them jumped down the structure ASAP.

But there was one strange thing. The fleeing creature hadn't shown any tag above its name.

For instance, the regular wraiths would show:

< Essence-Devouring Wraith! Lv 28>

While it sounded very ominous, it just happened that Josh's mana was countering them. As for why it was probably related to one of his curses of something (Maybe?). Actually, he had no clue.

This absence of name was as intriguing as a possible lead. Maybe it really was the wraith king, and it had some sneak-related ability? Hiding the shiny name above one's name was a start for sure!

They kept heading toward the direction the creature had fled. But then they encountered something that seemed very familiar.

"Master, it's so pink, and there are so many ghosts around it!"

"I'd do an abortion joke, but I'll refrain." Josh sighed.

In front of them was another lighthouse-looking thing. The color of the jewel was different, but the glow was as maladive as the previous one. Did this mean that there were more of it out there?

Either way, it was time to get to work!

"Go, my powerful Gus, show them who's Boss!" He commanded.

Thus began another session of insect and wraith, with the wraiths disappearing faster than a deadbeat father would his baby mama. One could say it was even magic.

As for the orc, he was now playing with Josh's Fairy. They seemed to fit very well together as the green guy wanted information about very basic stuff— the kind of stuff it had in its database for sure.

He still didn't understand why only this little thing worked in the Tower, but that was to the crafters to figure out.

"Alright, it is done." Josh declared once all the wraiths were gone.

They slowly began scaling the thing and reached the peak, staring at a similar phantom as earlier. But this time, they would be careful.

"Mine it very carefully. I want to see a very tight pink hole. Am I making myself clear?" Josh instructed his companion.

"Yes, Master! You can count on me!"

— Clang! Clang! —

Then it was finally done. Seeing the small hole, the phantom flew to escape its prison but then screeched in horror. Josh was sending his energy inside, making it fill the gem. The pink was now being tainted with his color— lots of cool purple!

The creature avoided the purple energy but soon realized that it was still trapped. The only exit was filled with that deadly energy! What could it do?!

The more mana Josh inserted and the more suffering the creature seemed to be in. All until it stopped moving altogether. Was it unconscious? Could phantoms even get frozen from taking damage to their soul?

But just as he was hesitating, it suddenly came back to unlife as it charged at maximum speed. It had been playing dead! Freedom was right in front of it. It could smell it!— kinda.

It was so damn close! That's when a mighty Blattagriff stood in its way! It didn't have the speed to rival it at all in a large hole. However, it was perfectly able to take care of it right now!

It was another one-sided beat down. Josh and orc sighed in relief, even cheering on the side.

"Blattagriff, I choose you!"

"Master, I'm also rooting for the Blattagriff!"

Duh, was he going to root for the phantom or something?!

After about a minute of intense combat, the phantom finally turned listless, this time not for show. As Josh approached his hand from the listless phantom, the system appeared.

[Congratulation! Pink Soul Acquired!]

[Captured Wraith King Soul Fragment 1/5!]

"Ah, fuck!"

"We'll have to catch that bastard from earlier then...."

The two glanced at one another, annoyed. Well, at least they knew how to proceed. How were they supposed to catch up to the insanely powerful phantom? Oh well, they'd focus on what they could do first.

Thus began a road trip. Two guys chilling on a sweet ride, singing fun songs. At this moment, the poor Nightmare finally realized that there was a fate worse than being used as live bait: suffering their singing!

Josh and the orc grinned at one another as they sang so off-key that the actual melody was unrecognizable. What made it even worse was the song they had come up with.

They were fucking singing about destroying jewels of various colors! This was the kind of song that would be used at a kindergarten to teach the kids the color names. It became an abomination when they were the ones to sing it!

Just like that, they captured one soul after another:

1. Pink

2. Orange

3. Yellow

4. Blue

5. Then there was still the missing green one.

From time to time, they would encounter the phantom. It was either chilling with some regular wraiths or taunting its brethren that were still sealed in their jewels.

But it just kept running away. Whenever it saw Josh, it remembered the damn purple energy and would just rush away as if the Devil himself was after it— arguably, it could have been better.

No matter how fast Nightmare galloped, it couldn't catch up to the thing at all! Right now, it was galloping and neighing as fast as possible, trying to drown the singing with the sound of its hooves.

"Master, we can't seem to catch up."

"Yeah, you're right. But don't worry, I have a plan. We'll need bait." Josh grinned, a scheming look on his face.

Seeing his face, Nightmare straight up ran away, leaving the orc being to deal with this mess. The orc scoffed: "Horsie, you shouldn't be so cowardly! I'll do it!" He valiantly suggested.

"Alright, you need to look as juicy as possible for that green soul wraith thingy."

"Juicy?!"

"Yep, you're baiting it to try and eat your essence. But don't worry, there will be Blattagriffs ready to assist you." Josh reassured him.

"How? There's nowhere to hide for them nearby. It will look too obvious if we start randomly digging holes!"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Now, open wide." Josh evilly grinned as his Blattabriffs all headed toward the orc's mouth to hide inside him.

"What the fuck?!"

"Don't worry. Your aura will camouflage theirs— well, mine that they absorbed."

"That's not what I'm worried about!!"

"Shhh, it will be over soon," Josh whispered, akin to a psychopath. At this moment, the brave orc didn't feel that brave anymore.

In the distance, Nightmare was sneering as it saw it all happen. It had dodged a bullet with its wisdom!

"Oh yeah, make sure you appear super lost. Travolta style. Anyway, good luck and talk later." Josh happily waved goodbye.

The orc king was left alone, feeling the insects wriggle in his mouth, stomach, and windpipe. Goddamnit, this felt bad! He actually celebrated when the green phantom showed up a little later.

The thing saw him and pounced quickly. He felt the thing start to devour his soul, and it was so damn painful. It even got closer to drain faster, just out of his range.

That's when the Blattagriffs went out as if planes on a carrier battleship. They surrounded the phantom and began to trash it. It was slowed because it had been feeding, and now there would be no escape.

Josh showed up just in time to collect the soul with a huge grin. But as he did, the entire realm began shaking.

[Collected all souls!]

[Wraith King Now Spawning!]

Damn...