Chapter 94: Electrifying Vengeance! (1)

The first thing that the Northeastern Army did when they arrived at Ghost Island was to build a stronghold. It was important for them to go deep inside Ghost Island but to do that, they would have to kill the void insects that were flocking to them from all sides. And to survive as long as they could, they needed to have a stronghold where they could recuperate.

“All of you, focus on building a base.” 

The troops tried their hardest to build a base on Gustav’s order as they blocked the void insects. 

As the Northeastern troops formed a base, their soldiers that landed one after the other joined them and started to create a defense line on the coast. 

“Iron!” 

“Yes, sir!” 

“Go with the Ghosts and search for the thunderbird.” 

Carl Gustav called the Ghosts as he said so. Then, Iron called Gustav.

“Captain.” 

“Hm?” 

“I don’t think we need to search.” 

Iron pointed to one side as he said so.

Although this state was only temporarily, the enormous divine power that he had in his body had allowed him to clearly feel where the thunderbird was.

“I think the thunderbird is over there.” 

The place was in the middle of Ghost Island.

Gustav nodded heavily when he saw Iron pointing to a pile of stones. 

“I’ll make a way for you by all means. Go and meet with the thunderbird.” 

“I don’t have to meet it personally. If it’s now… I can synchronize with the thunderbird just by being near.” 

Iron had already been connected with the thunderbird once. Perhaps that was the main reason why he could feel the thunderbird’s divine power all over the place as soon as he stepped foot in Ghost Island.

Thunderbird’s energy was all over the place that it was akin to a fog-like scent that wafted through his nose. And Iron, who smelled the scent of the thunderbird, looked up at the sky.

“Is it hard?”

―Ppiiiiii!

Phoenix shook its head lightly at Iron’s question as it continued to breathe its flame up in the sky. However, even if it wasn’t feeling tired nor feeling the difficulty of its task, he could still see that Phoenix was being pushed back by Thulhupus. After all, Thulhupus had greedily sucked in a huge amount of contaminated mana in the surroundings.

However, being pushed back was something that wouldn’t happen if it was the original Phoenix. If a phantom species like Phoenix had its original power, he would be able to deal with God’s apostle. In other words, Phoenix was being pushed back purely because of Iron. His divine beasts were fighting with only a fraction of their power because of Iron’s limited divine power. Hence, why they were being pushed back.

“Take it.” 

―Ppiiiiii!

“It’s alright. You can take more. We have enough right now.” 

Phoenix pondered for a while after seeing Iron’s broad smile before taking a handful of divine power. After seeing that Iron was still fine, Phoenix cried once and breathed out its flames in earnest. 

Thulhupus, who gained power from the contaminated energy, attacked Phoenix as if it wanted to kill the divine beast after it spread its divine flame and purified the area. However, unlike the situation before, Phoenix’s flames were now able to burn Thulhupus gigantic tentacles.

As if proving its weakness against Phoenix’s fire that could purify and burn anything that was unclean, Thulhupus’ tentacles began to burn one by one. Of course, it was not an apostle of God for no reason. Thulhupus was able to continuously regenerate its tentacles. However, it was not as if it couldn’t feel any pain.

―Uwoooooooooo!

As a shriek of pain rang loudly all over Ghost Island, Two Moons, who was helping Phoenix, flew down to the Northeastern Camp. 

―Hoot!

The void insects flocking from all sides turned to dust as beams of light emanated from Two Moons’ eyes. Owl also had the nature of a divine and sacred being so the beams of light from its eyes were able to purify the void insects and transform them into pure mana. 

Baepsae also flew out and showed its power in earnest. It flew in the sky and spread the sacred light that surrounded its tiny body. Perhaps it was because of the sacred light? Everything unclean that the light touched turned into powder and disappeared. In addition, Baepsae’s song, which resonated all over the Ghost Island, revitalized and healed the humans and made the contaminated beings withdraw. 

“This… Won’t we have anything to do?”

Lintel looked embarrassed when he saw the overwhelming performances of the divine beasts.

“…We don’t have time.”

Iron said to the dazed Ghosts.

Out of the three hours that they were allowed to fight, one hour was already almost spent. He needed to awaken the thunderbird within the remaining two hours and play the final round of this battle. 

“Get your grips together!”

The Ghosts came back to their senses at Gustav’s roar. The Northeastern troops also stopped staring blankly as they turned to look at Gustav.

“Thanks to the divine beasts, we have some room to move. So, I will change our plans.” 

Gustav looked at the entire Northeastern troops as he said so.

“All troops will focus on Lieutenant Colonel Iron’s escort mission from now on. We will escort him to the area where the thunderbird is.” 

The troops all moved at once after hearing Gustav’s orders. 

The first to move were the rangers. They quickly moved out of the range of the purification. Then, followed the knights. They moved with all their might to break through their enemies and reach the pile of stones that Iron had pointed at earlier. All of them consumed a tremendous amount of mana, but strangely enough, their mana recovered upon hearing Baepsae’s song. What was more was the fact that they did not feel tired no matter how much they moved.

Ppiiyyyong~ poof!

“Rush!” 

A spark flew in the air.

The knights immediately went into their rush formation when they saw the rangers giving a signal that the void insects were nearby. The Ghosts and the rest of the troops except for the artillery and support unit trekked the mountain and escorted Iron.

Perhaps it was because Two Moons had already cleaned up most of the void insects that they were able to easily clean up the path to the depths of the Ghost Island and arrive at their targeted area, the pile of stones. 

Upon reaching the area, the rangers immediately went near the pile of stones while the knights went into formation and prepared for any attack that would come their way. The Ghosts also gathered near the pile of stones and waited for Iron. The mission that they were aiming for would be over once Iron arrived.

Just then, the pile of stones began to move.

Clatter! Clatter!

Clack, clack, clack, clack!

Bones squeezed out of the moving pile of stones. Lintel shouted loudly as soon as he saw them.

“Undead!”

“Dimensional fish has appeared!”

When one of the knights, who was looking up in the sky, shouted at the same time, all of the troops grabbed their weapons tightly and prepared for the enemies’ attacks. The undead appeared on the ground while the dimensional fish appeared in the sky and blocked any further access to their target. 

Two Moons immediately appeared above them as it obliterated the dimensional fish into powder with its powerful rays. 

“Cocky.”

As soon as the dimensional fish were swept away, black water sprang up in the air as a dark blue-haired man appeared with a staff made of bones. 

“So, you’re the ones who killed the witch in the Northeast!”

The man seemed to know Owl quite well as he swung his staff. A huge black whale appeared in the air as black water continuously spurted out in the sky. 

“Destroy the enemies that appeared here, guardian knight of the fallen mermaid king.”

The huge black whale slowly went in front of the dark blue-haired mermaid. The black whale that used to guard the mermaid king had lost its original appearance after being corroded by the contaminated mana. 

Two Moons rushed towards the black whale, who now had bloodshot eyes instead of its original clear and sparkling ones. 

When the contaminated whale and the sacred owl collided in the air, the undead and the dimensional fish rushed forward as power surged through them at the appearance of the whale.

“Stop them! You powerful idiots! Use your brains!” 

“Don’t deal with them with brute force! Use your techniques!” 

“Morons! Don’t face them directly!” 

The knights shouted loudly as they instructed the soldiers, who arrived later, and fought against the undead. In just one attack, the knights were able to determine the undeads’ weaknesses. The soldiers followed the knights’ instructions and moved accordingly.

It wasn’t only the knights, even the soldiers knew how to utilize their mana. So, the undeads, who were strengthened by contaminated mana, were helplessly pushed back instead of being the ones who were pushing back. In addition, thanks to Baepsae’s light and song that continued to resonate in the sky, sacred energy was infused lightly on the soldiers’ mana and techniques. This power was poison to the undead so no matter how weak it was, the skeleton soldiers would still be hit hard. 

The dark blue-haired man mumbled to himself as he watched from behind. 

“Where!” 

Lintel appeared behind the dark blue-haired man as he tried to cut him down at once. However, as if to show them that his casting was already over, black water once again sprung up and blocked Lintel.

“Too late.” 

“Keuk!” 

The dark blue-haired man responded to Lintel, the Ghost with the fastest swordsmanship. He spoke as he deflected Lintel’s sword with his staff covered in black water.

“The demons of Ghost Island… resolve your resentment through them!” 

As soon as the dark blue-haired man’s voice drifted, the skeleton soldiers, powered by the contaminated mana, grew more powerful and ferocious as they absorbed the demons and evil spirits lingering in the Ghost Island. Their empty sockets were covered with red light as they moved like they were truly alive. 

When the skeleton soldiers, who were naive and only relied on their brute force, became alive and used their heads to fight, a completely different battle unfolded. 

“Naive Imperials… You will never be able to prevent the disaster planned by the Sea God.” 

The dark blue-haired man expressed his strong determination to defend this place no matter what it took. 

Carl Gustav himself stepped forward to deal with the man. But even with his 6th Stage power, he was still unable to break through the black water. 

They believed that the dark blue-haired man was either a sorcerer or a dark mage. And all of the Ghosts agreed that their top priority was killing this man. However, each time they tried to attack, the man moved extraordinarily and left the Ghosts staring blankly at him. 

Despite all ten of the Ghosts at the 5th Stage moving together, the man was still able to block them with his summons that included black crabs, turtles and fishes that held weapons. The creatures that responded to the Ghosts were all covered with contaminated mana which meant that all of them were corrupted. 

“You can never reach the divine beast… Just sit quietly and be a sacrifice to the Sea God.” 

The moment the dark blue-haired man smiled confidently…

The entire Ghost Island shook and trembled. The shaking was so large and intense that it was comparable to when Thulhupus appeared. At the same time, the enormous force that came from the Sea God that pressured everyone in the island suddenly decreased.

The dark blue-haired man instinctively felt that there was a problem with the medium that connected him to the Sea God. So, he immediately went to where the thunderbird was. 

“Where are you going?” 

Lintel shot out his sword and stopped the man from trying to run away. 

“You know, our youngest had said this. He said that he doesn’t need to go all the way to where the thunderbird is…” 

The expression on the dark blue-haired man’s face crumpled when Lintel smiled at him. He realized what the man in front of him was saying.

Then, something bursted out from the pile of stones and soared in the sky. It was a huge blue bird tied with a black chain. The bird, the being called thunderbird, glared fiercely at the dark blue-haired man as it shot a powerful lightning at him. 

“How… did you undo the Sea God’s brainwashing?” 

Iron, who appeared a bit later, smiled and answered the man that was looking incomprehensibly at the thunderbird.

“I think it’s because it said that it likes me more than the Sea God?” 

Iron looked at the transparent notification window that was floating in front of him. 

― The Bird Doctor’s affinity has removed the Sea God’s brainwashing. Please accept the Thunderbird’s heart that it offers to you♥.

― The Sea God’s restraint will be untied upon synchronization.