The Record of Unusual Creature

The sound made by the plated armors resonated through the tunnels of the crypt. There was no way Hao Ren could figure out the enemy’s position and number. The trio retreated as they fought. They had been trapped in the crypt tunnels for dozens of minutes and still could not find the exit to the surface. Hao Ren relied on the MDT to navigate though the complex tunnel system. Without the device, he would have been as good as blind.

Humans are strange creatures; so weak yet, so strong at the same time. People often display extraordinary strength in the face of challenges and Hao Ren was one of them. However, he felt that his strength was a little ludicrous. He was already gasping for air after some intense fighting. Nevertheless, he showed bravery and strength despite the onslaught of a legion of fearsome wraiths. While the wraiths were armed, they were clumsy and had seemingly forgotten how to use their weapons. They were clearly not fully awake. Making use of his agility, Hao Ren managed to knock down some wraiths that came his way. He only experienced minor pain in his leg and stomach.

He was in high spirits and felt strong but he paled in comparison to the two maidens. His power was just child’s play. Lily swung her ‘war hammer’ with sheer strength to clear the way ahead. The wraith had a bad day as it was grabbed and swung like a hammer from one tomb to another. The armored wraith ended up like a pile of scrap and it had stopped making any sound for a long time. Life had seemingly left the wraith’s body..

“How far to go?” Vivian was the most elegant of them and without much stress, the first-class vampire unleashed her specialty—blood magic—on the wraiths. She flew close to the ceiling and used her cold shock wave and Bloody-Mary blade to kill wraiths from meters away. (Farther away, the power would not have been easy to control as there was a risk of the tunnel caving in). Bodies of armor were strewn along the path. Some were slain into pieces while some were simply frozen and turned into ashes. The walls of the crypt were left with countless battle marks. But Vivian was worried just like Hao Ren. She could not reach her full potential in the confined space. “Does your radar work? I can only fly a meter high. This place cramps my style… Ouch, I hit my head again!”

So far, her injuries were only of her own making because she flew too high and hit the ceiling.

“We’re only halfway through!” Hao Ren was exasperated. “We overshot the exit earlier. Now, we’ve got to go through another crypt. Lily, I’m talking to you! Watch where you’re heading!”

All Hao Ren heard was only a muffled roar from Lily. After battling for so long, Lily had probably gone bonkers, he thought.

“Has she gone crazy?” Seeing Lily behave strangely, Hao Ren was worried. “Looks like werewolf’s are prone to be crazy.”

“Don’t worry. She’s okay. I just saw her taking out a piece of bread from her pocket. She ate it as she ran.”

They came to the end of the passage yet, another crypt was awaiting them. Hao Ren was praying that it was not another graveyard. He could not withstand anymore onslaught from wraith knights. His prayer was answered when he saw that the crypt before them was empty. There were no wraith knights, no tomb covers on the floor, nothing.

A shield knight approached from behind. Hao Ren was too exhausted to confront it head on. He leapt forward and rolled his body into the empty crypt. He then shouted to Vivian, “Seal the passage!”

As the three of them escaped into the crypt, the vampire maiden immediately transformed into thousands of bats. The bats split and formed two swirls in the air. The tips of the cone-shaped swirls pointed towards the passage entrance and a blinding blue light formed in front of the swirls. Seconds later, the swirling bats charged at the passage entrance all at once. Half of the passage collapsed with a boom under the extreme impact.

The sound of falling stones and objects resonated in the crypt as the passage caved in. Even things were falling from the ceiling in the crypt. Hao Ren had to cover his head and he screamed, “Is this place collapsing?”

“Don’t worry. I got it under control.” Vivian’s voice seemed to be omnipresent.

As the bats regrouped, they transformed back into Vivian. Then she descended from the air with a smirk. “At last, the space is large enough for me to exert my power. What do you think? After a little chat with Faraday, my Lightning Strike move can now produce a twin arc…”

Hao Ren was speechless.

Although the passage behind them had been cut off, they were not out of danger yet. There were a few sword knights that managed to skip through before the passage collapsed. These sword knights, which became more agile and clever after some warming up took cover at the corners when the passage crumbled. They staggered to their feet and raised their swords to attack the intruders.

“How many people are actually buried here?” Hao Ren was breathing heavily. “Did the last Yorkford owner bury his entire army down here? Like The Terracotta Army—the English version?”

“Do you know why after so long, their numbers are still so many?” Vivian had noticed something. She pointed at the sword knight which had been struck by Lily. “That won’t kill them.”

The sword knight hit the wall and broke into pieces—arms, limbs, breast plate, helmet and whatnot strewn all over the floor. However seconds later, the pieces came together and assembled themselves back into an armored knight.

“It seem like those things are hollow inside.” During the battle, Hao Ren did not observe the armored wraiths carefully enough. Nonetheless, he could finally see through the gaps of the armor. “Did we just fight with a bunch of empty metal-plated armor?”

“It’s spirit-possessed armor. Nice!” Vivian emanated a fierce storm, freezing the ‘empty-shelled knights’ until they crumbled into a pile of ashes. “Unless they are turned into ashes or beaten into pieces, they’ll resurrect in no time.”

By this time, Lily had snapped out of her violent werewolf state. The ‘war hammer’ she held was clearly dead. All that was left was a limb. She turned the limb upside down. “See, it’s really hollow inside. I should have beaten them harder.”

“Is this the demon hunter’s magic?” Hao Ren drew close to Lily, poking the hollow limb. He asked, “Is there a spirit inside?”

“It’s gone. Once the armor turns into ashes, the spirit will also be destroyed,” Vivian said in a tone of voice which was full of disdain. “These things were fanatics. They were ready and willing to be sacrificed; to be placed into the armor. People called them ‘Hero Souls’. Essentially, they were a bunch of avenging spirits. Their obsessive behavior has little difference from that of avenging spirits if you noticed. Don’t be surprised, there will be more to come.”

Hao Ren just smiled at her. He noticed that their surroundings were unusually quiet. “That’s weird. Is the hostile party gone?”

The crypt was so silent you could hear a pin drop. There was no more sound of grinding plated armor.