Chapter 36: The Nightwraith

“Is… Is that one of your skills?!” Roy asked in amazement.

“Yes. Binary Clone,” Master Abraham said and charged ahead with Roy in tow.

Through the chaos of the battlefield, Roy’s eyes locked onto the real threat far, far ahead.

The Wraith.

It floated behind the undead army, its black cloak billowing despite the absence of wind. The creature’s form was indistinct, as if it existed partially in shadow and partially in reality. Where its face should have been, there was only a deeper darkness, a void.

Roy didn’t want to directly face off against the Gate Boss, so his mind automatically began thinking of alternatives. And immediately came up with one.

“Master, I have an idea! Trust me!” he said as they entered the wave of undead.

Master Abraham gave Roy a short look of approval. He wanted to see what the kid had in store.

Roy scanned around for his Abyss Soul, who was tearing through the weak undead.

“Greymane, attack the Gate Boss! Get me a piece of it!” He commanded it.

The Alpha Veinback Ripper howled in acknowledgment and charged through the battlefield, its speed and ferocity creating a clear path.

The two remaining White Ghouls moved to intercept the soulhound. The Ghouls were agile and strong, and they blocked the strange beast’s path and slashed with their long claws. Greymane evaded a few attacks but was caught in some and injured on its sides.

However, the soulhound didn’t slow down and went straight for the ghost, who was coordinating the battlefield and personally shielding the Gate.

The wraith raised its hand, and dark tendrils of shadow erupted from its cloak, attempting to ensnare Greymane, but the soulhound was too fast, too determined.

With a mighty leap, Greymane lunged at the strange undead, its jaws clamping down on the flowing black cloak. The Veinback Ripper twisted its body mid-air and tore away a small piece of fabric before being knocked away by the Gate Boss.

The wraith let out a piercing shriek, like a thousand screams layered together, and the entire battlefield seemed to tremble.

A deep, deep fear settled in Roy’s heart, and he dropped his weapons to grab his ears.

An undead was about to strike him, but Master Abe immediately decapitated it. This was the first abyss creature he killed since the battle began.

He wasn’t affected by the shriek too much since he was quite a distance away, but mainly because he was a C-Class Executioner and could withstand things like this better, just like the beastly howl of the Alpha Veinback Ripper of before.

“Roy! Get up!” Master Abraham ordered and put up a multi-layered cube around them.

By then, Greymane was already darting back toward Roy with the torn cloak in her mouth. Abyss souls only ever had their masters’ will to enact, so one could say they were incapable of fear.

Pa!

Master Abraham slapped Roy across the face, instantly resetting the boy to his default settings.

“Wh-What the…”

Right then, Greymane appeared at his side and put the piece of cloth in Roy’s hand. Master Abraham had allowed the soulhound in.

“Good girl,” Roy said and dismissed Greymane, dematerializing into blue block particles. His energy was nearly depleted, so he took out another energy crystal and absorbed it. And did so again.

Feeling replenished, he summoned his system interface.

[Miscellaneous: [Apple], [Cursed Ragdoll (2)]…]

Roy took out the Cursed Ragdoll, and a second later, a small, crudely-made doll materialised in his hand.

[Description: “Untold misfortune shall befall whoever is bound to this ragdoll. Bind by applying the target’s hair or blood and destroy the item to activate the curse.”]

The Strange Undead seemed to sense danger from Roy’s actions. Its dark gaze locked onto him, and a wave of pure malevolence washed over the battlefield.

The Gate Boss pointed at Roy and let out another ferocious shriek, causing every undead on the battlefield to charge at Roy with speed, ignoring Master Abraham, his clone, and everything else.

Some had already reached the multi-layered cube and started banging on it, breaking some of its layers.

Homunculus climbed over each other to reach Roy, chanting his name in that horrible, wrong way from the outside, “Roy! Roy! Roy!”

Roy quickly began tying the Strange Undead’s cloak to the doll.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The White Ghouls broke through the layers of the protective cube, but with every layer broken, Master Abe put up a new one. However, the area in the cube became smaller each time, so it was apparent he couldn’t keep this up for long.

Master Abraham’s clone intercepted one of the ghouls and threw it to the group of Homunculi, but it quickly recovered.

With just an intense glance from Master Abe, Roy knew time was running out.

He held the Cursed Ragdoll in his left hand and used his remaining energy to pull off his [2x Multiplier] skill.

An ethereal light flowed out from his hands and settled on the doll.

“You better work,” Roy muttered.

Then he snapped the doll in half!

“…”

“…”

Master Abe and Roy waited, awkwardly to boot. It even seemed like the White Ghouls waited to see what would happen, too.

But nothing happened.

“Did something go wrong?” Master Abraham asked. Every inch of the protective cube was covered by an undead.

“I-I don’t know! I think it needs time to—”

Right then…

The white clouds above the district darkened rapidly.

And then… a thick bolt ran down from the storm cloud and struck the Gate Boss with a thunderclap!

CRACK!

“Shrieeee!!!”

The wraith screamed as the lightning shredded its ghostly body into a million pieces, utterly and truly obliterating it!

Roy stood frozen, the broken pieces of the Cursed Ragdoll still in his hands as he stared at the spot where the Gate Boss had been floating.

A monotone voice resounded in Roy’s mind.

[You have slain the strange undead, Nightwraith.]

[+600 EXP.]

“Holy… shit,” Roy muttered, drawing in a heavy breath.

And then, the more lively voice added:

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 3!]

“I levelled up!” Roy excitedly said.

Master Abraham grinned and tightened his grip on his weapon, whereas Roy picked up the rifle and dagger.

“That was a tier-2 item, with effects amplified by your skill, right?” he asked slowly.

Roy nodded.

“Not bad.”

The three White Ghouls were now upon them, and they broke the final layer of the protective cube.

The battle was fierce, but with the Nightwraith gone, they were less uniform and more beastly.

’This isn’t so bad,’

Roy thought after being thrown by Master Abe to dodge one of the three White Ghouls’ attacks.

’It might even be a bit fun…’

As the White Ghouls were Strange Undead, there were a lot more complications in killing them, but Master Abe and his clone cut their limbs off before having Roy finish them off.

[You have slain the strange undead, White Ghoul.]

[+600 EXP.]

[You have slain the strange undead, White Ghoul.]

[+600 EXP.]

[You have slain the strange undead, White Ghoul.]

[+600 EXP.]

* * *

“Get ’em, Roy!” Donny screamed in excitement.

He watched the entire battle through the monitor screens. The turret systems were hot and ready, but Abraham and Roy had never retreated enough for him to provide fire support.

Bzzt!

The intercom crackled to life, startling him.

“Border Control to Expedition Vehicle Alpha-7, do you copy?”

Donald grabbed the receiver. “This is Alpha-7, I copy.”

“Our sensors are detecting abnormal readings from the Rank 1 Gate in your vicinity. The energy signature is fluctuating wildly, and the gate isn’t closing. We’re dispatching an emergency executioner team, but it will take a while to arrive. Do not engage the Gate and return to border control immediately. I repeat, do not engage the Gate and return to border control immediately.”

Donald’s eyes frantically moved to the monitor showing the gate. The gate itself was pulsing erratically. The red lightning around it didn’t show signs of rescuing; instead, it was intensifying, as though this was a fresh, new gate that had reached breaking point.

“Will relay to our executioner,” he said in a daze and switched to the short-range comm.

“Abe! There’s a problem with the gate!”

However, due to Abraham and Roy’s proximity to the gate, the voice crackled and was quite inaudible.

This seriously distracted Master Abe, who was constantly calculating and trying to remain ten steps ahead of the battle. So, he deemed whatever Donny had to say would just have to wait… and switched off his comm.

“Can you hear—”

For Donald, there was a sudden silence, and he even saw when Abraham switched off his comm.

“Oh my fuckin…!”

Donald stood up in frustration and paced around. Gates behaving this erratically wasn’t a normal feat, and it always happened after the first Gate Boss was down.

This, among many others, was a manner in which that one scenario every executioner feared came to be. A scenario that turned straightforward missions into nightmares.

A false gate.

Donald sighed. ’Screw it. I’m going in.’

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