Chapter 6
Chapter 6
There was a lightness in my body. Maybe it was due to the training in the waiting room.
My muscles had been damaged and then recovered through the waiting room’s authority, almost like rehabilitation.
Even without circulating internal energy, it felt easier to move using pure muscle.
Thud!
A massive chunk of scrap metal crushed the ground. Even in the darkness, a deeper darkness seemed to exist within it.
Those eyes that wriggled like earthworms. A pair of disgusting eyeballs staring at me.
Don’t avoid it.
I remembered the advice. So I didn’t look away. I faced it head-on.
Then the statue’s movement stopped. Only its writhing eyes remained vivid.
“Phew…”
I exhaled deeply as I approached it.
Hot energy seeped out between my lips.
From my lower dantian, the raging sacred flame surged through the twelve meridians.
As if refusing to bow to something like this insignificant worm.
The sacred flame, as if it had a will of its own, flowed down my arm and into the blade.
A sensation I had repeated all day.
I thrust the sword toward its side.
Severing Mountain.
Clang!
My wrist went numb.
Blocked.
Its guan dao had stopped my blade.
So it’s going with a defensive approach, huh?
A shock that felt like my bones were about to shatter ran through me, but the muscles I had trained in the waiting room held firm.
Look at me.
I didn’t look away.
I wasn’t afraid anymore.
The guan dao came crashing down.
Compared to when I first died to it, the motion felt slower.
So that girl was right.
Ghost stories have rules, and not looking away was probably one of them.
I didn’t block. I stepped aside instead.
Boom!
The guan dao split the concrete floor.
Fragments scattered.
Splitting Sea.
Instead of aiming for the monster itself, I swung toward the horse it was riding.
With a single slash, the horse’s neck was cut down.
As it collapsed with its mount, I gathered all my internal energy into the tip of my sword, as if pulling everything from my dantian.
Heaven Demon Three Swords, Heaven Breaker.
Bang!
The compressed sacred flame inside the blade exploded.
There was no resistance at all as it pierced through the creature’s neck.
Sssss…
Its body scattered into ash.
“Haa… haa…”
The backlash hit me late.
My hand trembled slightly.
My dantian felt hollow from pouring out too much energy.
Even if this was only the first of five trials.
I had taken revenge on that damn execution enthusiast.
Who said revenge was meaningless?
Even as my legs weakened and I leaned on my sword, it felt this exhilarating.
Revenge is meaningless? Only those who never tried it would say that.
“Hm?”
Something sparkled where the Kim Yushin statue had disappeared.
I narrowed my eyes.
Under the faint streetlight, there was a marble-sized orb.
Crack.
The moment I bent down to pick it up, it shattered.
A dark, ominous energy seeped out and invaded my body through my meridians.
Immediately, the sacred flame surged and devoured it.
The dying flame flared up again, using that energy as fuel.
Before I could even enjoy the strange feeling of discomfort turning into relief—
Clatter.
A sound like chains echoed.
A chill ran down my spine.
I had just finished a fight. If another apparition appeared now, could I handle it?
Thanks to the orb left by the statue, my energy was stabilizing, but I still needed time.
Even fire needs time to catch.
I didn’t want to risk dying unnecessarily when I could just return upon regression.
I quickly entered a nearby building and suppressed my breathing.
Clatter… clatter…
The chain sound grew closer.
Clatter.
It stopped right in front of me.
A strong urge to see what it was surged through me, but I held it back.
Curiosity kills the cat, after all.
I didn’t know how long passed.
Clatter… clatter…
The sound slowly faded.
Eventually, silence returned.
I peeked out.
No one.
Status window?
Nothing appeared.
Clear Condition.
Expel the five great ghost stories of Inshin Middle School.
Ah, it appeared.
Statue was marked as complete.
The human specimen was probably in the science lab.
I was at the very end of the main building.
There should be a floor map in the center.
I walked carefully through the dark hallway.
Even I felt tense walking alone in a pitch-black school.
Something like before could jump out again.
“Phew.”
Fortunately, there was no interference.
A huge floor map hung on the wall of the central lobby.
The science lab was on the second floor. The fourth floor seemed to be regular classrooms.
As I alternated my gaze between the map and the stairs, I realized something.
There was a basement in the main building.
The Killer.
Even the word felt unsettling.
If there was a killer ghost story, where would it be?
Most likely the basement.
Criminals always hide underground.
What troubled me more than fear was hesitation.
If it were a real human, could I cut them down?
Even if they were a vicious murderer, the moment I struck, I would also become a murderer. Could I bear that?
I stopped in front of the basement stairs.
This wasn’t the real world. It was the tower’s world.
Just ghost stories.
Everything would reset when I regressed.
Even if the killer was human, it wouldn’t be a living, breathing person.
Let’s think of it that way.
I gripped my sword and descended.
Cold air mixed with the smell of mold rose up.
The basement was a single floor.
A narrow corridor stretched ahead, with a machine room and a storage room at the end.
A faint light leaked from the storage room.
Sobbing.
A faint crying echoed.
I steadied my goosebumps and carefully entered.
Someone was crouched in a corner facing the wall.
Long black hair, small frame.
A schoolgirl?
Suspicion and curiosity rose at once.
Why was she alone here?
A ghost? The female student ghost story?
While I hesitated—
The girl turned around.
She looked surprisingly ordinary, not like a ghost.
“Who… are you?”
I had prepared fake identities like exorcist, occult investigator, even police officer, expecting screams.
But she asked calmly.
Not even startled by a sword-wielding stranger.
Either she was unusual, or she was too terrified to think straight.
“I’m here to resolve what’s happening.”
“Your school?”
“My uniform is just a disguise. Don’t mind it.”
“Oh…”
She sniffled, wiped her tears, and stood up.
Even in the dim light, she was strikingly pretty.
Maybe an idol trainee.
Big round blue eyes looked at me.
“Can you explain what happened?”
“I don’t really know. My friend sent a creepy ghost story on chat and I tried it, and then it got dark and something appeared…”
“Were your friends with you?”
Her shoulders twitched slightly.
I glanced down.
Her shoes were too clean for a dusty storage room.
No tear marks on the floor either.
“I was alone… I just ran and hid, and ended up here…”
“Last question.”
“T-that’s scary…”
“Why don’t you have a shadow?”
I instinctively stepped back and tightened my grip on the sword.
The sacred flame surged violently—
“Shadow? Wait, why don’t I? Why don’t I have one?”
Her confusion was even greater than mine.
Strange.
I expected the classic ghost story behavior.
Like suddenly revealing her true form and laughing about cutting my throat.
But instead—
“Mommm…”
She started crying again, curling up.
For now, I’ll put this aside.
She looked like just a frightened middle school girl.
But still.
I reached out my hand.
It passed straight through her.
Her eyes widened.
“Aaaaaah! MOMMM!”
She screamed loudly.
If she keeps screaming like that, all the ghost stories will come running.
“Calm down. You’ll attract them. Stop crying.”
I sighed, suddenly finding myself comforting her.
She stopped, frightened even of the situation.
“What’s your name?”
What?
I could hear her voice, but the name itself didn’t register.
“What?”
“I said.”
A sharp static noise rang in my ears like a heart monitor flatlining.
I looked at her name tag.
It looked like it had been scribbled over with a marker.
“You might be a ghost.”
“I know… what do I do… mom…”
She curled up again.
I stood beside her, watching the entrance.
That chain sound kept echoing in my head.
“When did it start?”
“What?”
“When you were here.”
“I don’t know… it was dark, I was scared…”
“Where was the place you tried the ghost story?”
“My classroom. Fourth floor.”
So she was alone in the place where the killer ghost story was expected.
I glanced behind her.
If she was the female student ghost story, what would I even do?
She didn’t seem like a killer ghost.
Too harmless.
“Want to wait here while I deal with the others?”
“No! I’m too scared to be alone…”
So that’s how it is.
“I have a condition.”
“A condition?”
“Don’t interfere while I move. Stay away during fights.”
“I’m a ghost… what could I even do?”
“That’s the problem. Neither of us knows what you can or can’t do.”
She looked down at her hands.
Unable to hold anything.
Tears welled again.
“I shouldn’t cry…”
“Yeah.”
“You’re mean…”
“It’s for your own good.”
“Okay… I won’t cry.”
She stood up.
Clatter.
At that moment, the chain sound echoed from the hallway.
I signaled her to be quiet.
She nodded and hid in the corner.
Cute and surprisingly obedient.
I might give her a certificate later.
The approaching ghost story was probably the killer or the janitor.
If it had a physical body, the solution was simple.
Cut it down.
Clatter.
A massive shadow appeared through the gap of the storage room door.
The sacred flame reacted to my will and ignited.
Heat surged through my meridians into the blade.
Heaven Demon Sword style begins with initiative.
First strike decides everything.
Boom.
I exploded forward with flame bursting beneath my feet.
Clarity noted. If you want, I can continue Chapter 7 in the same style.