Ghosts

There was less than a second between Leyzhen's warning and Mayton hearing a whoosh sound as he ducked down while using the staff he got earlier to parry. A piece of rock hit the staff as it changed directions slightly and flew past where his head was a moment ago.

''From under you! Be careful!''

This time the target was Zgar. A ghastly hand rose from the ground, trying to take hold of him but Zgar was aware of it before the warning of Leyzhen thanks to his battle technique as he rolled to the side.

''Damn it, one of them is a cultivator using earth qi! We are at a huge disadvantage inside this place.''

Mayton cursed as he dodged another high velocity piece of rock aimed at him, this time coming from the other side. Their enemy was using the walls and the ground to attack them by chipping a piece off of them and throwing it to them. This gave them very little time to react. Thankfully Leyzhen was also able to use earth type battle techniques and nullified a few of the attacks which prevented any casualties.

''We can't win this fight if we stay in the defensive. We have to find and kill them quickly.''

Mayton shouted as he felt an impact on his chest. When he looked down to see what hit him, he saw a palm fading away, leaving behind a blackish wound. He was starting to panic now because he was unable to see the assailant at all.

He asked for a technique to see souls from Leyzhen since he knew that the Tower of Screams had something to do with souls but, unfortunately, she only knew of a technique that used pure qi for it.

Unlike Mayton, Leyzhen saw the attacker clearly as she arrived in front of Mayton in the blink of an eye and threw a palm attack of her own. Despite seemingly nothing being there, they heard a scream as the silhouette of a humanoid creature without legs appeared and dispersed into white mist at the end of her palm.

Meanwhile, Celyse, who was running to a seemingly random part of the tunnel, stabbed the wall with her hand and after a yelp, the attacks of the earth qi cultivator immediately ceased.

''Found you!''

Celyse shouted victoriously. After a moment, a man wearing the gray robes of the Cult of Unity lifelessly collapsed to the ground.

''How did you find him this quick?''

Zgar asked Celyse, bewildered. He was trying to locate the assailant using his technique ever since the first attack that came their way but all his efforts were for naught. Before he could ascertain even the general direction of him, Celyse found and eliminated the enemy.

''Thanks to my little friends! Hehe, earth qi users might have an advantage in this place but it's us, the devils who holds the absolute advantage here.''

Celyse answered as she patted the empty air in front of her like she was rewarding her pet. When Mayton and Zgar realized what her actions entailed to, they gasped.

''You mean there are souls around us?''

Zgar couldn't help but ask. None of them was really afraid of ghosts or anything superstitious like that since they learned about cultivation, what bothered them was their inability to sense them. Zgar was especially troubled with it as his battle technique was focused on sensing his surroundings.

''They aren't really souls. They are ghosts. Ghosts form when multiple soul fragments amalgamate and after a long time in a suitable place gain a whiff of sentience. They instinctively devour other soul fragments and ghosts to get stronger and smarter.''

Leyzhen said in a monotonous voice while waving her hand to produce a shining white orb that floated near her and illuminated the place. Despite her tone of voice and expression still being bereft of emotion, Mayton knew that she was showing her emotions right now.

'There is no way she would bother to explain anything if it was before' Mayton thought to himself as he looked at Leyzhen's pale face with a satisfied smile.

''Don't worry those ghosts are too weak to harm you. The only one strong enough was under the control of the Cult of Unity and it got exterminated. Ghosts are like devil cultivators in soul form and the thing they are most afraid of is others devouring them. That's why these weaklings are obediently listening to me.''

Celyse completed Leyzhen's explanation as she looked at Mayton while her eyes narrowed to slits.

Mayton didn't understand why Celyse looked at him like that but he gave up trying to understand her thoughts long ago so he just ignored her as he changed the topic to what they were discussing before the enemy's interruption, which way to go.

This time, despite Mayton's unwillingness to trust her with anything, they agreed to let Celyse decide as she was the most qualified one among them thanks to her skill of using ghosts to scout.

''Then we go right since there isn't any enemies on the left side!''

Celyse declared after closing her eyes for a few seconds and muttering incantations.

They knew that she was using them to clear out the place for her mission, but killing all the members of the Cult of Unity present in the Tower of Screams was exactly what Mayton and Zgar wanted too so they went toward the enemy like she said.

''The enemy is right behind the door. Get ready.''

Zgar whispered, feeling a bit better about himself since he found the enemy.

When Zgar pushed the thick, iron door it didn't budge at all as it was locked, so Mayton moved forward to melt the lock. He succeeded in it but of course it alerted the enemy at the other side of the door as they heard a roar of rage from inside.

Waiting for them at the other side was a man who looked like a bear with all the hair on his huge body and a simple bedroll fitting his huge size indicating that he was living here. The man was without a doubt a demonic cultivator using beast qi to cultivate. Behind him stood a spiral staircase that moved up.

''You dare to invade the Cult of Unity's property?''

The man roared again, this time even louder, as he leaped not towards them but backward, towards the stairs that led to the next floor. He knew that if they got past the guard and the ghost defending the hall, then they were definitely stronger than what he can handle. So he roared in a bid to alert the other members of the cult, while trying to run away to regroup with them.

Unfortunately, he was not fast enough to run away and collapsed after Mayton smashed his head with a swing of his staff, instantly killing him. The beast cultivator's cultivation was limited as he was just a simple guard stationed at a place no one thought would get attacked. After all there were a large number of guards defending the entrance of the tower.

''Damn it, now they will swarm over to kill us.''

Mayton muttered angrily. But Celyse's subsequent words relaxed him.

''I doubt it. Communication range is extremely limited in this place, just like it was outside. Didn't you find it odd that despite the earlier commotion the guard here wasn't aware of our presence? You didn't realize it before because we are inside the tower and the tower remains visible no matter how it limits your senses but there is not much difference between this place and the outside.''

Celyse said with a voice like that of a mom lulling her baby. This normally would make Mayton's anger flare once more because Celyse was obviously playing around hiding information, putting them at risk in the process. But he knew that there was nothing he could do to convince her to tell everything she knew, so he just gave up and ignored her.

After they searched the body of the man for any valuables like they always do* other than a few useless miscellaneous items, they found a few gold coins and a normal short sword which they tossed aside without a second look.

''Can you scout the 2nd floor with your ghosts?''

Mayton asked Celyse with a hopeful expression. Unfortunately, he was bound to be disappointed.

''This place doesn't let the souls move around freely. There are even people who say that the Tower of Screams was built in order to trap the souls as the owner of the tower did various experiments on them.''

Celyse answered solemnly. When she mentioned the owner of the tower, there was undisguised reverence in her voice.

Since there wasn't anything left on the first floor, they started to move up the stairs stealthily to avoid alerting anyone waiting in ambush on the second floor.

They had no idea what was waiting for them, and it was better being safe than sorry.