"Watch out!" Bai Xian Ming shouted as he rushed forward to save Musashi Hirata from Su Yan. However, he stopped in his tracks as it was unnecessary.
Meanwhile, Su Yan, who was confident that his spear would strike the young man, frowned as he noticed a smirk on Hirata's face.
Before he could thrust his spear, dozens of Ki Swords surrounded him, each directed towards him.
Su Yan was focused solely on the youngster before him, leaving himself unguarded against the Ki Swords.
The swords swooshed and slubbed, not missing their target. Su Yan's body was pierced by swords from all directions, causing black gas to emit from his wounds.
Bai Xian Ming called out to Musashi Hirata, 'Get away from him!'
After a brief exchange of blows, Bai Xian Ming realized that Su Yan could not be killed by conventional means.
However, he was soon stunned once again. Su Yan released the bone spear from his grasp, and his body continued to emit black gas. Eventually, he collapsed with several Ki Swords impaled in his body.
Bai Xian Ming was perplexed by the situation. he was not sure how Su Yan could survive being split apart, yet succumb to being stabbed by several swords. Nonetheless, he rushed over to Su Yan.
Su Sun Zhou Yi, Bai Xin Yue, and Kang Seo-Yeon also hurried to the scene.
Su Yan's body was covered in swords, but his head remained unharmed. Despite this, his complexion worsened, his face thinning and his cheekbones becoming visible. Despite this, his complexion worsened, his face thinning and his cheekbones becoming visible. Despite this, his complexion worsened, his face thinning and his cheekbones becoming visible. His red eyes also dimmed.
Upon reaching the scene, Bai Xian Yue was alarmed to see a familiar face.
"Grandpa Yan!"
Su Yan was her grandfather's best friend and used to visit the Bai Family residence frequently in the past. This is why Bai Xin Yue immediately recognized Su Yan when she saw his face as a specter.
Upon hearing a woman's voice calling out to him, Su Yan weakly turned towards the sound and saw the face of a young, beautiful woman, causing him to smile weakly.
"Little Xin Yue, you have grown up and become quite beautiful," said the specter.
Musashi Hirata frowned at the comment, while Sun Zhou Yi and Kang Seo-Yeon looked at Bai Xin Yue in shock.
Despite their reactions, Bai Xin Yue said: "Don't you know him?"
"His statue is at the front! He is Su Yan, an Emperor Class Hero - Rank 4 who passed away ten years ago!"
The woman pointed towards the entrance of the Hero League, where the statues of fallen heroes were displayed. Su Yan's statue was the most recent addition, leaving a lasting impression on them.
"So, he didn't die, but defected to the specter's side?" Musashi Hirata asked in a cold voice, deducing the story behind the dying specter. He arrived at this conclusion after learning the specter's identity.
"How is that possible? Grandpa Yan wasn't that kind of person!"
Bai Xin Yue refuted this, but there was a lack of confidence in her tone.
"No, he did not defect to the Specters, he was forced to!" Bai Xian Ming's old voice rang out.
"Can you leave us alone? I will explain everything to you later, everything!"
Musashi Hirata did not answer, but moved away and charged towards the other specters. Sun Zhou Yi nodded his head and followed after Musashi Hirata.
Kang Seo-Yeon also said nothing and turned around, looking for a target for her arrow. Only Bai Xin Yue was reluctant to leave. She took one last look at Su Yan and left his grandfather alone with his best friend.
After the four had left, Su Yan slowly turned his head towards Bai Xian Ming. He had a faint smile on his emaciated face.
Bai Xian Ming knelt down beside Su Yan and held his old friend's hand.
"Don't say anything and don't cut me off! I don't have much time left, just listen to me!" Su Yan spoke in a strong tone despite his weak voice.
"First, the specter's attack this time is just a distraction... They did not plan to conquer the city with this attack... but... they wanted to shake the foundation of the city... by turning the heroes and rankers into a specter... with the seed, I showed you earlier!"
"Second, the real purpose of the attack... is to distract the Hero League! Their target is... Ence Fort! The second dungeon... that was their real purpose..."
"Have a full force... go to Ence Fort... Don't let them have the second... dungeon...! They have a way... of making the creatures inside... obey them... Don't let them... have... that place!"
"Finally, clean your house... Not only your house... But also your neighbor's... Ask the Elder... Also the Musashi boy... who killed me..."
"Ask him... to teach the other... heroes... his secret technique... huh... It's about time..."
Bai Xian Ming nodded his head. He did not speak, ask, or even interrupt Su Yan's words. He listened seriously to every word Su Yan said.
"And my last... request... please... don't... let my family..."
Before Su Yan could finish his words, his body dried up completely, his teeth falling out, leaving only bone and skin.
*** ***
With Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata entering the fray, the battlefield took a sudden turn. The heroes who had been suppressed by the specters were relieved at the sight of Sun Zhou Yi.
The specters were much weaker than Su Yan and were easily killed by his ki swords. The Ki Swords were as if they were alive, chasing after the specters.
Any of the specters struck by the sword would die instantly. The fighting heroes cheered and Sun Zhou Yi's presence boosted their morale.
It did not take long for the heroes to vanquish all the specters. Without Su Yan's command, the ghosts did not retreat, despite being slaughtered by Musashi Hirata and Sun Zhou Yi.
Not long after that, Bai Xian Ming made his move. Not knowing how to kill the ghost, he froze the specters with his ice. He copied his granddaughter, who also froze the specters with her ice.
Within 20 minutes, all of the specters had been vanquished. Most of them were killed by Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata, while the rest were frozen by the granddaughter and grandfather duo.
The heroes cheered as they managed to repel the specter's attack. Their eyes fell on two figures, Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata.
Without them, the heroes would need more time to fight off the specters. Not only that, but the heroes would suffer more casualties.
Thanks to the two of them, not only did the heroes suffer fewer casualties, but they were able to completely destroy the ghosts that had attacked the Hero League headquarters.
Amidst the cheers, several figures flashed towards the headquarters. Long Bin arrived along with Bai Tian Ming, Musashi Kenzan, Wu Shen Lei, Wu Jiang Shan and the other heroes.
They were late because they had to stabilise the situation in the Hero Dome. Bai Tian Ming ordered Sun Zhou Yi's group to go and help first.
The Hero League's headquarters was the home of the heroes, so he ordered Sun Zhou Yi's group to stay here while he and the others subdued the specters that had escaped from Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata's sword.
While they managed to wipe out the specters that had attacked the headquarters. The situation was far from over, as there were more specters wreaking havoc outside.
"Everyone, gather up! We will split into several groups to fight back..."
Before Bai Xian Ming could finish his words, a loud screech was heard.
Screech!!!
The sound came from the north. Everyone looked in the same direction at the same time, but they could not find the source of the screech.
But not long after the screech, the ground began to shake. Not a strong vibration, but they could feel a slight vibration on the ground.
After that there was no follow-up. Everyone, including Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata, was worried.
"D-Dragon!"
One of the heroes pointed to the northern sky. The northern sky darkened, and they saw thunder flashing beyond the dark cloud.
Amidst the thunder, they could see a dragon made of lightning hovering beyond the dark cloud.
At the sight of the dragon, Bai Xian Ming's heart pounded and his hands trembled. The world was evolving, new and strange creatures were appearing all the time.
But this was the first time Bai Xian Ming had seen a dragon. It was not just an evolved lizard or snake, but a real dragon.
Roar!
Along with the roar, the dragon dived down.