"Watch out!" Bai Xian Ming called out as he rushed forward, trying to save Musashi Hirata from Su Yan. But he stopped his steps right after that as there was no need to make his move.
Meanwhile, Su Yan who was sure that his spear would kill the youngsters frowned. He furrowed his brows as he noticed a smirk on Hirata's face.
Before he could push his spear forward, dozens of Ki Swords surrounded him. Each of the swords directed toward him.
Su Yan set all of his focus on the youngster before him. So he was totally unguarded to the Ki Swords.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Slub! Slub! Slub!
None of the swords missed the target. All swords pierced Su Yan's body from all directions. His body emitted black gas out from the wound.
"Get away from him, Musashi Hirata!" Bai Xian Ming called out.
After a short exchange of blows, he could tell that Su Yan could not be killed by a normal means.
But soon, he was stunned again. Su Yan dropped the bone spear from his hands. The body also did not stop emitting black gas. Soon, Su Yan's body collapsed with dozens of Ki Swords stuck on his body.
Bai Xian Ming totally did not understand what happened. He saw Su Yan was totally fine even after his body was split apart, but how could he fall by just getting stabbed by dozens of swords.
With bewilderment filled his mind, Bai Xian Ming rushed over. At the same time, Sun Zhou Yi, Bai Xin Yue, and Kang Seo-Yeon also rushed over.
Su Yan's body was covered by swords, but his head was totally unharmed. Even so, his complexion turned worse. His face thinned down a lot as his cheekbone could be seen from his face and his red eyes dimmed.
As soon as Bai Xian Yue reached the place, she was alarmed upon the sight of a familiar face.
"Grandpa Yan!"
Su Yan was her grandfather's best friend. In the past, he often stopped by the Bai Family residence. That was why Bai Xin Yue recognized Su Yan as soon as she saw the specter's face.
Hearing a woman's voice called him, Su Yan weakly turned toward the voice. When he saw a young beautiful woman's face, he weakly smiled.
"You have grown up and pretty, Little Xin Yue, "
At the specter's words, Musashi Hirata turned toward Bai Xin Yue with a frown while Sun Zhou Yi and Kang Seo-Yeon looked at Bai Xin Yue with a shocked look.
Bai Xin Yue certainly knew what they thought of her and so she told them the specter's identity.
"Don't you guys know him? He has his statue in the front! He is Su Yan, Emperor Class Hero - Rank 4 who died ten years ago!"
She pointed toward the Hero League's entrance, where the fallen hero statues were displayed. Su Yan's statue was the latest one, so it left a solid impression on them.
"So he did not die but defected to specter's side?" Musashi Hirata deducted the story behind the dying specter in a cold voice. He took into this conclusion after hearing the specter's identity.
"How could it be possible! Grandpa Yan was not that kind of person!"
Bai Xin Yue refuted, but her words lacked confidence in her tone.
"No, he did not defect to the specter, he was forced to!" Bai Xian Ming's old voice rang.
"Can you leave us alone? I will explain everything to you guys later, everything!"
Musashi Hirata did not give his reply, but he moved away, charging toward 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 of her arrow. Only Bai Xin Yue who was reluctant to leave. She gave a last glance at Su Yan and left his grandpa alone with his best friend.
After the four left, Su Yan slowly turned his head toward Bai Xian Ming. He had a weak smile on his thinned face.
Bai Xian Ming knelt next to Su Yan and held his thinned old friend's hand.
"Don't say anything and don't cut my words! I don't have much time left, just listen to what I say!" Su Yan spoke in a strong tone despite his weak voice
"First, the specter's attack this time is just a distraction… They were not planning to capture the city with this attack… but... they wanted to shake the city's foundation... by turning the heroes and the 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 aim is… Ence Fort! The second dungeon… it was their real purpose…"
"Have a full force... to go to Ence Fort… Don't let them have the second… dungeon…! They have a way… to make the creatures inside… to obey them… Don't let them... have… That place!"
"Lastly, clean your house… Not only your house… But also your neighbor… Ask The Elder to… 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 cut Su Yan's words. He listened to each of Su Yan's words seriously.
"And my last… request… please… don't… let my fami…"
Before Su Yan could finish his words, his body completely dried up, his teeth fell off, leaving only bone and skin.
*** ***
With Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata joining the fray, the battlefield took a sudden turn. The heroes who were getting suppressed by the specters were relieved upon the sight of Sun Zhou Yi.
The specters were much weaker than Su Yan. They were easily killed by Sun Zhou Yi's Ki Sword. The Ki Sword was as if alive, it chased after the specter only.
Each of the specters who was getting struck by the sword would immediately die. The struggling heroes cheered and Sun Zhou Yi's presence boosted their morale.
It did not take a long time before the heroes cleaned all the specters. Without Su Yan's command, the specters did not retreat despite being slaughtered by Musashi Hirata and Sun Zhou Yi.
Not long after that, Bai Xian Ming also made his move. He did not know how to kill the specter, so he froze the specters with his ice. He copied his granddaughter who also froze the specter with her ice.
Within 20 minutes, all the specters were cleared. Most of them were killed by Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata while the rest of the specters were frozen by the pair's granddaughter and grandfather.
The heroes cheered as they managed to negate the specter's attack. Their gazes were falling to two figures, Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata.
Without them, it would take the heroes a longer time to repel the specters. Not only that, but the heroes would also suffer more casualties.
Thanks to the two, not only the heroes suffered fewer casualties, but they completely wiped out the specters that attacked the Hero League HQ.
Amidst the cheers, several figures flashed to the HQ. Long Bin along with Bai Tian Ming, Musashi Kenzan, Wu Shen Lei, Wu Jiang Shan, and the other heroes came over.
They were late because they had to stabilize the situation in the Hero Dome. Bai Tian Ming ordered the Sun Zhou Yi's groups to go first to help.
The Hero League HQ was the heroes' home, so he ordered Sun Zhou Yi's group over here while he and the others subdued the specters that slipped out from Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata's sword.
While they managed to wipe out the specters that attacked the HQ. The situation was still far from over as there were more specters creating chaos outside there.
"Everyone, gather! We will split into a few groups to repel…"
Before Bai Xian Ming could finish his words, a loud screech resounded.
Screech!!!
The sound was coming from the north. Everyone looked toward the same direction simultaneously, but they could not find the source of the screech.
But not long after the screech, the ground shook. Not a strong vibration, but they could feel a little vibration on the ground.
There was no follow up after the vibration. Everyone, including Sun Zhou Yi and Musashi Hirata, were worried.
"D-Dragon!"
One of the heroes pointed toward the north's sky. The north's sky darkened, they saw the thunder flashed beyond the dark cloud.
Amidst the thunder, they could see a dragon made of lightning hovering beyond the black the dark cloud.
At the sight of the dragon, Bai Xian Ming's heart pounded fiercely and his hands shook. The world kept evolving, new and weird creatures kept appearing.
However, this was the first time for Bai Xian Ming to see a dragon. It was not just an evolved lizard or snake, but a real one, a real dragon.
Roar!
Along with the roar, the dragon dived down.