“You guys could hear it this time?” Gaia asked.

  “Yep. I think it might be because it had been freed and wasn’t being drained any more. Or that’s my best guess at least. I never expected to actually speak to a ghost before now.” Griff replied.

  There were a few moments of silence before Fergus spoke. “Shall we head back to the entrance to eat and let the scouts know what we discovered? That way they can let the Guild Master know while we continue our exploration. Also, the cold’s starting to get through my gear.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Griff replied.

  They moved towards the entrance which took around an hour and a half to reach, as they got disoriented and had to follow the wall for a bit. They relayed what they learned to a scout group who had also found a similar ghost. They’d completed its request as well and were about to go report the information anyway. They just added the fact that Fauna had found and completed one as well.

  The party ate their lunch, which consisted of a couple sandwiches and some fruits. One of the cooks had made it for them so they could bring it with them, including meals for Gaia’s bonds. After they finished eating, they went back into the fourth floor and focused on trying to find more ghosts.

  The ghosts and wraiths were very different from what they understood. The ghosts seemed to be small flickering balls of light, similar to the one they’d found, with little differences. The wraiths were more humanoid but monstrous. They were overall in the shape of whatever their original race was, but looked decayed. Similar to how one expected a corpse or zombie to look, but transparent and without the lower half of the body.

  These wraiths were known to have an ability to instinctually cause fear for any who laid their eyes upon them. This could be mitigated by various items, abilities, or a strong willpower. This wasn’t going to be much of a problem since Gaia was likely immune to this ability. The biggest issue would be to find the ghosts and completing their requests before a wraith attacked them or the ghost. This was a possibility since one group of scouts Fauna had encountered had seen a wraith attack a ghost. The ghost quickly dissipated and another wraith was created from the destroyed ghost.

  They didn’t find another ghost for the rest of the day and returned to camp. They stopped by the Guild Master’s house, but she hadn’t learned anything else since the ghosts were discovered. It was almost time for dinner by this point so they relaxed in their rooms doing whatever they wanted before meeting back up for dinner. They enjoyed the meal that consisted mostly of fruits and some kind of meat that tasted similar to chicken. After this they moved back to the inn to plan for the next day. They had already decided to go explore the next day, so the planning session was really just to decide on the priority of the next day’s exploration.

  “Alright. What do we want to focus on tomorrow? Do we want to try and specifically search for ghosts, focus on exploring the floor more, or try and fight one of the wraiths?” Griff asked the others.

  “I want to focus on finding more ghosts. I feel like the more we help the easier the fight will be for the floor, at least if there is one.” Gaia replied.

  “I figure we can focus on exploring, but give priority to any ghosts we find. That way we can do a bit of it all. I mean if we find a wraith attacking a ghost we’ll probably step in, right?” Stephanie asked.

  “Yeah. I kinda want to try and fight a wraith so we can know what will work in case we come across more later on. I like Stephanie’s idea. We focus on exploring and do the other two if we find any.” Fergus added.

  “Okay. Then all who agree with focusing on exploration and doing the other two objectives if we encounter them say aye.” Griff stated.

  “Aye.” All of them said.

  “That settles it. We’re in agreement. We’ll follow that plan and leave any adjustments to it for emergencies.” Griff finished.

  With their planning session finished the group relaxed and once again told stories. This time they mostly had to deal with ghosts or other paranormal events. Gaia mostly stayed quiet during the story telling, since she didn’t have many such stories herself. She had a few from her childhood that her dad had told her and her siblings, but they were mostly fake or just entertaining. The others stories were extremely interesting though. Most had to deal with hunters fighting them or resolving their dying wishes for them to pass on. They continued telling these stories until they fell asleep. The next morning had them returning to the ruins, but they stopped to talk to the Guild Master.

  “Hey. Is there any new information?” Griff asked the Guild Master after they greeted each other.

  “Not much. There have been two more ghosts discovered, but the scouts hadn’t been able to hear them speak. I understand Gaia heard them, right?” Delilah’s asked.

  “Yes, but only when I was right beside it.” Gaia replied.

  “Ok. I’m gonna guess you have something that boosts your hearing.” Delilah stated.

  “Once again. Yes.”

  “Ok. Then only those with something to heighten their hearing can hear the ghosts. Which means that there only three groups that can hear the ghosts. One of those three is you guys. I’m also starting to realize how much we rely on your party to explore the ruins.”

  “It’s alright, we’re enjoying the exploration.” Fergus replied.

  “Then would you guys mind being the dedicated hunters for the ruins?” Delilah’s asked.

  “What exactly does that mean?” Griff asked immediately.

  “Essentially, you wouldn’t be obligated to be on the walls and instead could enter the ruins at anytime for exploration. We would still send in scouts before you like we have been. Honestly, not much would change, aside from you being able to enter and explore the ruins every day if you wanted. You could also still take a watch on the walls, but it wouldn’t be required for you to be on them six days a week. You would all still be paid the same as you did while on watch, as long as you were either exploring or on the wall. We would also still require one day off from exploring or the wall each week for safety sake.” Delilah explained.

  There was silence for a while as the party digested what they had just heard.

  “Do we have to decide now?” Stephanie asked.

  “No, just if you do decide to take the responsibility, I need to know. It will likely take a week from then to fill the hole on the wall. So, it’ll be a week from when you tell me to when it kicks in.”

  “Then we’ll let you know on our first rest day next week. I don’t want to rush the decision.” Griff stated.

  “Sounds fair. Then, you guys stay safe down there today. I’ll have a scout guide you to where one of the ghosts was. The other two groups are already inside and helping the others that had been found.” Delilah finished as she motioned them out.

  They met a scout outside who led them into the ruins and to where one of the ghosts had been found. When they arrived nothing was there, but Gaia could sense that something else was coming towards them. It was similar to the ghost she’d sensed the day before but felt more stable. She alerted the others and focused on it to try and analyze it.

  Name – Wraith (Soul-Bound)

  Level – 64

  It was one of the wraiths that had found them. The party quickly prepared to fight it, hoping their attacks would work on it. Gaia’s poison had already started trying to work, but didn’t seem to have started working yet. Fergus prepared a gust shot, while Griff moved towards the front and readied a ranged kick. Stephanie as usual had her lever action rifle ready and the scout had a crossbow with some kind of enchanted arrow.

  When the Wraith passed through the wall towards them they all let their attacks fly. Fergus’ gust shot, Stephanie’s bullet and the scouts bolt hit it first all dealing some damage. It appeared Fergus’ arrow dealt the most damage due to the magical nature of the arrow. Griff let loose his kick with his leg armor activating and a tentacle shot out while wrapped in mana. It hit the Wraith and the monster dissipated. They knew it was defeated, but they didn’t gain any souls from it.

  “That was a quick fight. Did we kill it? Or would it be rekilled?” Stephanie asked.

  “I can’t sense it anymore, so I think we killed it.” Gaia replied.

  “Did any of you notice how magic seemed to work on it? I noticed Fergus’ arrow dealing more damage than the other attacks. I think it may be due to the fact your arrows are created with mana.” Griff stated.

  “I’ll put that in my report when we get back. Thank you guys. If it had been just me I probably would have been hurt or had to flee.” The scout stated.

  “Well, we know we can kill the Wraiths without too much effort, so shall we search around for some more ghosts?” Fergus asked.

  “Yeah. Let’s do that.” Griff replied.

  The party continued searching for ghosts while dealing with the occasional Wraith. There was one time they had to flee when there was a large group of them. They were able to help two ghosts which they found, but didn’t find any others for the rest of the day. This was their last day off for the week so they returned to the camp while thinking about whether to take the Guild Master up on her offer.

  The next morning was a usual one with the start of their days on watch for the week. The days felt like they passed much slower than they actually did for the group. There were constant monster attacks to the point they didn’t get a chance for a break almost everyday. The other walls were in similar situations, but their wall had the most attacks overall. In the six days they were on watch, there were around fifty or sixty attacks just on their section of the wall.

  When their free days came, they felt like they’d earned them. They decided to rest for the first day since they’d been on high alert at all times the last few days. They needed a break to relax and de-stress themselves. In their first free day, Gaia spent almost the entire day in her garden or training with her bonds, when she wasn’t taking a nap. Fergus spent most of the day carving some figurines in his room or sleeping. Griff woke up very late and went to the stalls to try and find some books to read or any items that caught his eye. Stephanie spent her time in her forge tinkering with her weapons or working on a new project which she refused to tell anyone about. They met up for meals or sparring sessions together but otherwise split up. This day they all got together to discuss their opinions on the offer from the Guild Master.

  “What is everyone’s opinion on the idea of being the dedicated hunters for Xerios?” Griff asked.

  “I like the idea of taking it. We’re not obligated to explore and can still take watches. We could also explore more often which I like too.” Fergus replied.

  “Same for me. I want to see if there are any interesting drops from monsters on the lower floors. I wonder what I could do with them?” She started before finishing a moment later. “Sorry. I like the freedom of it.”

  “I’m of a similar thought. I like the idea of taking it. I won’t lie; I’m starting to get tired of the camp. I want to finish up the exploration so we can go back. If we become dedicated hunters, we can hopefully speed up the exploration.” Gaia added.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Alright. I’m starting to get tired of the camp too. We’ve been here for at least half a year now. I miss taking requests. I’ll let Delilah know we want to take the offer in the morning then.” Griff finished.

  After the discussion they all split up and went to bed. The next day started as usual, but they went straight to the Guild Master to let her know they wanted to take the offer. She was happy to hear it and started the process to relieve them from the watch. She also let them know the scouts had found and helped another ten ghosts since they’d left the week before. Now, they weren’t sure how many, if any were left. Fauna decided to go check for themselves. It was time to go back in the ruins and help some ghosts.

  They got to the fourth floor relatively quickly thanks to the shortcuts from clearing the previous floors. Once there, they immediately moved towards the center where all of the ghosts had been found. There were many more Wraiths this time than last and they ended up having to fight a multitude of them. This was very different from last time since the Wraiths usually only attacked when they got close. Now they were actively seeking out and chasing the party when they were discovered. They would even shriek to call other Wraiths over to attack. This made the search difficult and time consuming.

  They could only move so much before being spotted and having to fight a couple waves of Wraiths. Then repeating the process a little while later. The Wraiths also didn’t seem to dwindle in number as they’d probably killed a hundred of them by the time they got hungry for lunch, and yet even more chased them. It was becoming a war of attrition as the party could only continue fighting against the constant waves and onslaught of enemies.

  They ended up having to retreat to the floors entrance after another two hours of fighting. When they exited the floor the Wraiths stayed for a moment before turning and flying back towards the center of the floor. They realized that the closer they’d gotten to the center of the floor, the more Wraiths they had to fight at once and when they retreated the Wraiths followed them until they exited the floor.

  “Is it just me or does it seem like they were protecting something?” Fergus asked.

  “I got a similar feeling. There were more and more the closer we got to the center. Then they followed us till we left the floor.” Gaia replied.

  “If they’re not protecting something, then I have no idea what they’re doing.” Griff added.

  “We should probably go report this. I doubt we’ll be able to kill enough of them by ourselves to reach the center, so we’ll need help.” Stephanie said.

  They all quickly ran to the camp and relayed the situation to the Guild Master. She quickly called for a meeting. This included the hunters that were off for the day and the bronze rank parties. They came as soon as they got the summons. The Guild Master let them all know the situation and offered extra pay for helping. There were a few groups that immediately agreed, mainly the parties Fauna were friends with, and a few others were swayed after hearing what they were facing.

  The other parties that agreed had mostly magic users or at least had the ability to deal magical damage. It didn’t matter whether it was due to an enchantment in a weapon or an ability the hunter had, as long as it could deal magical damage, it could harm the Wraiths. After all of the parties that refused to participate left, none of which being penalized as exploring was optional, the remaining parties were split into a few different groups.

  One group consisted of the Mighty Brigade and Flora, another had the Legion and Fauna, and the last consisted of a group from the Journeyman’s Guild. This was decided since Douglas could block and taunt incorporeal enemies which would synergize well with Gaia’s conditions. Jess could deal damage from range with Jeoff who could coat his arrows with magic. The frontlines for Flora and the Mighty Brigade could coat their weapons with mana allowing them to harm the Wraiths, but to a lesser degree.

  The Journeyman’s Guild group had someone with the class called Runic Supporter. It allowed them to make a rune with mana and attach it to an item allowing the item to do something based on the rune. It would allow the group to fight the Wraiths without any magic users. With their three groups made, Delilah put a scout with each group to ensure they could navigate the floor, and they started to plan.

  The discussion took a few hours as they ironed out the details, but they eventually had the plan made. All three groups would split up immediately once they entered the floor to make it harder for them all to be spotted. They hoped that if one or two groups were discovered the last would be able to make it to the center and destroy or kill whatever the Wraiths were protecting while the others were distracting the bulk of the monsters.

  It was planned for Fauna’s group to go straight towards the center while the other two branched off and moved towards it from other angles. The hope was that they would be one of the distraction teams since they were more defense oriented with Gaia, Douglas, Malachite, and Fern as a healer. The group they were hoping to deal with whatever was being protected was Flora’s group. Their group was geared more towards dealing damage and moving quickly. The Guild Master would be joining the mission, but only as support since she didn’t have a way to deal magical damage.

  With the plan finished, the groups moved into the ruins. They reached the fourth floor after about an hour, as they rushed there. Once they reached the entrance to the fourth floor, they went over the plan one last time to get a couple minutes of rest before what was likely going to be a long-drawn-out battle. It was finally time to enter the fourth floor and hopefully clear it, as they could only guess whatever was being protected would let them complete the floor.

  They all entered after a quick check of their gear and split off into their groups. Flora and the Mighty Brigade were extremely quick and were moving faster than everyone else. The Journeyman’s Guild’s group was also quick, but not near the extent Flora was. They were soon off to their designated area as well. Fauna and Legion were the slowest group, this was mainly due to the defensive nature of their composition. They were able to keep up with the timetable they had planned by hopping on Malachite’s shell. He was able to grow large enough to carry them all now, granted it was quite squished with eight people on his shell. They swiftly progressed through the floor, occasionally killing the odd Wraiths they found alone as they moved. When they reached the area they planned to hunker down in they dismounted Malachite and got into their positions.

  They waited for Wraiths to appear, they were in the area the Wraiths usually crowded in. Their only guess was that the other groups had been discovered earlier than planned or something was different. They waited for about ten minutes for any signs of Wraiths and when they didn’t find any they pushed forwards slowly, ready for any sudden attacks. Still none came, so they began to worry and move further inwards when they found a Wraith. As soon as it saw them, it let out a moaning wail which deafened and disoriented Gaia and Shadow. It also likely doubles as a call for reinforcements. Not a few moments later more Wraiths began to arrive in the area.

  “Well, looks like we really will be a distraction like we planned. Gaia stay close to me, I know your range is drastically shortened so it’ll likely be safer and easier as long as your close. Have your bonds assist everyone as best they can.” Douglas yelled.

  The only problem was Gaia couldn’t hear him so she didn’t know he was giving out orders. She immediately started moving like she usually did in a fight. She worked on focusing the Wraiths and trying to stack her poison more as her other skills and abilities wouldn’t work on them. Her Miasma might work, but she needed direct contact with it, which she didn’t think was possible, with them being incorporeal. Malachite fired water shots and attempted to use his shell bash which was unsuccessful. Liv fired poison but was equally ineffective. The two who seemed to be doing the most damage were Shadow and Antonio.

  Shadow was able to become incorporeal so she could slash them like she did any other monster while Antonio’s magic was able to affect the Wraiths due to it being psychic in nature. Fern discovered her healing magic was exceptionally effective against the Wraiths as well. She knew that most undead monsters were vulnerable to both holy and healing magic so she tried it and could nearly one hit kill a Wraith with a basic healing shot. Gaia tried this as well hoping it might be a loophole as she was technically healing it, but it was ineffective and actually ended up healing the Wraith.

  The group continued fighting with Griff, Jeff, and Ava focusing on the monsters Douglas taunted, while Fergus, Stephanie, and Fern attacked the Wraiths moving towards them. Gaia was near Douglas, but not where he wanted her. He realized that the Wraith’s screech had likely deafened her so she couldn’t hear him. He had been moving closer to her so he can defend her if needed, but she was still separated from most of the group. They just had to hope her bonds could keep her safe since he had the others to protect.

  The fight continued for hours with Fauna and Legion being continuously attacked by Wraiths.

  Every time they would clear most of them out, one of the remaining Wraiths would screech disorienting and deafening Gaia along with calling more allies. Gaia was slowly being forced further and further from the rest of the group as they focused on the enemies around them and every time she got disoriented she didn’t know what way she was facing. This led to her slowly being pushed back by the Wraiths she and her bonds were fighting and getting further separated from the rest of the group.

  The Wraiths weren’t able to hurt her though. Her resistance was high enough that they hadn’t been able to break through and hurt her, but she was getting hit regularly due to the fact she was surrounded. Shadow was able to block the occasional strike when she regained her senses, but the screeches had started coming from the group around Gaia, and the Wraiths surrounding the rest of her group.

  Thankfully her poison was working, and her radiation was able to hurt the Wraiths when they struck so she was slowly hurting them. The Wraiths eventually slowed their attacks on her and she was able to move away from them. This was when she heard the most horrifying sound she’d ever heard. It sounded like a mix between gurgling and demonic growling. It wasn’t loud, but pierced through the cacophony of noise like a knife.

  The worst part was it seemed to be coming from behind her. She turned but couldn’t sense anything so she moved forward slightly. She heard the noise again, but it sounded closer. As she approached all of the other noise was drowned out to complete silence aside from the growling. When she finally got close enough to sense it she had an idea of what it was coming from.

  What she sensed was the same as the Wraiths, but consisted of an entire body that was warped. The body seemed to be humanoid with two arms and two legs with a long tail, but that was where the similarities stopped. The head was large and didn’t have a neck with two massive mandibles on each side of a mouth. Sprouting from its elbows were two massive blades and instead of fingers it had sharpened talons. All along its body were numerous plates, of what she guessed was chitin, and its feet were just a pair of claws that could open to be flat or clench to grip surfaces. When she analyzed it she was extremely worried.

  Name –Resurrected Spectre

  Level – 73

  She had definitely just found the floor’s guardian and worst of all it was just her and her bonds there to fight it. She wasn’t sure how far her companions or the other groups were from her, but she guessed this would be a fight with just her, her bonds, a couple Wraiths and the Spectre. Luckily, her poison was already trying to effect the Spectre. She had no other skills or abilities she could use on it so she just had to hold out and hope it started working. The Spectre leisurely floated towards her as its Wraith minions surrounded her so she couldn’t flee.

  When it was directly in front of her it raised one of its hands and tapped her on the forehead. She expected pain and braced for it, but nothing happened. She felt it tap her a few more times, each quicker than the last. After the seventh time it growled in what she could only guess was annoyance and disbelief. Whatever it was trying to do wasn’t working. This was when she realized something. It had touched her, she could feel it, which meant she might be able hurt it with her vines. Or at least might be able to inflict it with Miasma since it required touch.

  First she needed to try and touch it which she dashed forward to try and it worked. She could feel its incorporeal form like a regular body aside from it being extremely cold and a bit more malleable than skin. As she touched it, she placed her hex on it which worked immediately as it was a being made entirely of mana. This caused a slow change to occur with where she touched it, the mana changed to miasma extremely slowly, but it caused the mana to disperse due to the change. It tried to attack her and managed to hit her a few times. It had an ability to attack the spirit of someone so she took some damage, but from the amount of damage her spirit had already gone through, it was minor damage. To most it would have been defeating since spiritual attacks were rare.

  Now that she knew she could touch it, she started lashing at it with her vines. She gave the vampiric vine some of her blood and noticed that the Spectre started to be inflicted with the bleed condition after a few minutes of slashing. She also activated her Tainted Flower’s ability and it bit into the ghost injecting a large amount of miasma. This caused the mana’s collapse to escalate and her slashes only continued to worsen the conditions. Her poison had also started to effect it causing more damage to it. At this point, most of her conditions had been inflicted and started stacking. Antonio’s curses were dealing small amounts of damage whereas Shadow’s attacks were wounding the monster easily.

  It may be high level stone rank, but it seemed to be weak to attacks that could actually hurt it. Shadows attacks were dealing much more damage than they usually did to monsters so that was her only guess as to why. This fight, while seeming to be difficult in the beginning, was soon finished. It had taken her around three hours to kill the Spectre since Shadow was the only one able to deal large amounts of damage to it, but she’d succeeded in killing it. Once it was dead the Wraiths stopped spawning and everyone was able to slowly finish off the horde of them.

  After finishing off the Wraiths surrounding her, Gaia picked up an item that had dropped when the Spectre had died. The item was some kind of perfectly spherical orb that was both warm and chilly to the touch. When the Spectre had died, the unnatural cold and darkness of the floor dissipated massively, so the other groups were able to reach her. The floor was still chilly and dark, but they were able to see much further than before. As for Gaia, her mana field was no longer reduced to twenty feet and was up to fifty feet now. The other groups moved to her and Flora, along with Fauna, checked her to make sure she was alright.

  “I’m fine guys. It was only able to attack the spirit so it wasn’t bad.” Gaia stated.

  “What do you mean? An attack in the spirit is horrible!” The Guild Master Delilah exclaimed.

  Gaia had forgotten she didn’t know about her situation and instead motioned to her leg for her friends who then understood. “I’ll explain later.” She said to the incredulous Delilah who was even more flabbergasted by the nonchalance from the others.“What’s that?” Fergus asked as he motioned towards the item in her hand.

  “I don’t know. The Spectre dropped it. Let me analyze it.” She replied as the screen for the item appeared.

  Name – Aura of Rebirth