Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Chapter 998- Hidden Quest (6)

[KIEEEEE!!!]

When the light from the ancient symbols touched it, it was as if the spectre had met its natural enemy. Its agonising scream rang all across the space of the formation.

"It is weak to the power of the Ancient Symbols!!" Vincent made an amused expression at the unexpected discovery of the enemy's weakness.

[Kuhh… How dare you low class creatures harm this king's body. I'll incinerate your souls and make your bodies into one of my brood offerings… KIEEE!!!]

The spectre lashed out but before it could say much with that foul mouth of its, the light from the ancient symbols dropped down on it once again.

"Shut up!" Vincent snapped, his voice sharp as a blade. "You'll only speak when told to. If you spout any more nonsense, I'll personally incinerate your soul."

The threat seemed to possess incredible effect, as the spectre which moments ago had been buzzing like an annoying fly, suddenly grew silent.

This unexpected reaction did not go unnoticed by Itherion and Vincent. The spectre had survived without its head and had even attempted to obliterate them all through self detonating itself, seemed almost invisible.

It had no weakness, even destroying its body meant nothing. Yet, in the face of the Ancient Symbols, it was so afraid.

Vincent exchanged a meaningful look with Itherion "Could it be…"

"…that the spectre can be killed using the power of the Ancient Symbols?" Watching from the distance, Simon muttered to himself.

Both warriors, although still wary, began testing the idea, pouring more power into the cage created by the glowing runes.

Itherion questioned, "If you don't want to die, answer my previous question."

"However, if you start spouting nonsense once again, you'll feel that excruciating pain all over again" Vincent added threateningly.

Having experienced the pain before, the spectre writhed in fright, its form glitching and spasming in unnatural ways. After a moment of silence, it spoke in a voice trembling with desperation.

[Wait, no more! I give up! It's my loss! Just… don't use the Ancient Symbols on me anymore!]

"Hoh, then speak." Itherion's narrowed his eyes, his full attention locked onto the spectre. He didn't know why, but for some reason, he couldn't get the words spoken by the spectre earlier out of his head.

Those words that held deeper meaning, what could they have actually meant? What was he missing? He wanted to wring out all the information from the spectre.

[Fine, I'll tell you… The war… it's all… ■■■■. The ■■■ is ■■■■ to ■■■■. The end… ■■■■.]

In the middle of its sentence, the spectre's words suddenly started becoming fractured and incomprehensible.

"What are you saying?" the two tried to make sense of the situation when the space behind the spectre began to distort.

CRICK… CRACK… the area around the cage grew dense, trembling as though it could no longer contain itself. Then, with a violent RIP, the very fabric of space tore apart.

From within the shattered space, a hideous green hand emerged. The hand was massive, dwarfing even the three meter spectre. Dark pulsating lines marked its finger and it was covered in a sickly green scales.

The mere sight of it was enough to evoke a deep, primal fear in anyone.

The moment the hand appeared, the atmosphere shifted drastically. The oppressive energy that radiated from it was unlike anything Simon had ever experienced. It was a suffocating force that seemed to crush his very soul, a palpable sense of despair that made his entire body tremble involuntarily.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and his throat became dry just from looking at that hand. What's more, this level of pressure was something that was brought forth from just a hand, what if the entire being appeared here?

 Simon couldn't help but break out in cold sweat. This sense of danger, even when compared to the Dmeon Archdukes he saw from Walpurgis and Hexennacht, was leagues beyond.

Whatever that thing was, cannot be allowed to come here.

Simon's gaze shifted to Itherion and Vincent. For the first time since meeting them, he saw genuine apprehension etched onto their faces. The two warriors, who had stood unshaken against everything they'd faced, now wore grave expressions as they stared at the entity emerging from the rift.

"This could be dangerous, I didn't expect to put my life on the line here" Vincent muttered, preparing himself to face the new enemy.

Meanwhile, the disposition of the Spectre changed the moment it saw the huge green hand appearing from the space. It was as if it had seen its worst nightmare, its body started trembling intensely.

[No… No! Why are YOU here? This... no, please, not me! No, I can still do it!]

The spectre pleaded desperately. Its voice was even more desperate than when it was pleading for its life from Itherion and Vincent. All of its smug and menacing aura was gone and it shrank back against the wall of the cage like a beaten dog.

[I swear I wasn't going to betray the ■■■■■■■ … I didn't mean to fail! It was the humans and the demon! THEY FORCED ME! PLEASE, LORD ■■■■, I BEG YOU!]

The spectre's pleas were drowned out by the hand which mercilessly grabbed the Spectre and pulled it inside the space beyond.

The sound of the spectre's scream and unfiltered horror rang out for a while before everything turned silent. The formation entrapping them faded along with the wailing energy, and they were back on Mount Gorger once again.

 Every trace of the fact that they fought the spectre disappeared as if it was never there to begin with. That is if not for the shattered space in the sky and their memories they would have seriously doubted if any of these events actually occurred.

"This, I can't believe we missed our chance to finish off that spectre" Vincent muttered in frustration.

"Yeah, there were many things I wanted to ask it" Itherion added, His eyes continued to stare at the shattered space with an undreadble expression.