Chapter 137: Ghosts

"So this is where you wanted to go to?" Zenkichi dryly said as he looked around the luminescent cavern they walked into. "Not what I expected," he muttered.

It was located just underneath Uruk and instead of a muddy cave or a rocky terrain you'd expect from an ancient civilization, it looked like a well-maintained sewer system minus the modern pipes and all.

The walls were lined with smooth, ancient stones and clay, and a series of aqueducts ran along the sides, the clear water on the ground illuminated by bioluminescent fungi and algae growing in patches. The light from these natural sources cast an eerie but beautiful glow, reflecting off the water and giving the entire place an almost mystical atmosphere.

Moreover, the unexpected cleanliness and orderliness of the sewers, the air was fresh, with a gentle breeze flowing through the space, carrying the faint scent of the luminescent plants growing between the stones.

"I had no idea a clean sewer system existed underneath Uruk. I mean, I know that there was but I didn't expect it to be so...clean? I thought all sewers were gross and filled with all kinds of waste." Gudako commented as she looked around curiously.

Mash added, "Uruk is quite advanced for its time. The Mesopotamians introduced clay sewer pipes around 4000 BCE, and the earliest examples were found in the Temple of Bel at Nippur and at Eshnunna. They used these systems to remove wastewater from sites and capture rainwater in wells."

"Well, where's the waste? The filth? Because all I see is clean and purified looking water, which somehow looks cleaner than the water we drink from our timeline! I'm....not gonna lie, I'm a bit tempted to take a sip of this." Gudako tilted her head towards the luminescent water and raised her eyebrows, looking quite curious.

"Senpai! P-Please don't drink the water!" Mash exclaimed frantically, locking both her arms around her master's stomach and pulled her back. "E-Even if it looks clean, it still from the sewer! It's gross!"

Gudako merely giggled. "Hehehe. It was just a joke, Mash~ I wasn't going to drink it."

"R-Really?"

"...No, I actually was tempted to drink it."

"Senpai!"

Zenkichi shook his head at their shenanigan and turned towards the person who guided them to this location, "I didn't expect you to bring us here, so I'm guessing there's something important you want to do here?"

"Yes," Ana replied, her voice firm but slightly hesitant. "There's some...dangerous creatures lurking here that need to be purged."

"Is it really that big enough of a threat that you needed to bring us all into this creepy sewer?" Zenkichi quipped, though his tone was more curious than annoyed.

Ana nodded. "Zenkichi-nii, did you notice that...something off was happening in Uruk?"

Zenkichi's expression turned serious. "How could I not? It's like a disease, all sorts of people have started to fall into an eternal slumber, starting from the weak ones. Wait, is the reason for the sudden comas for the people in the city..."

"It might have something to do with the creatures down here, yes." Ana nodded, her expression grave. Although she usually tries to conceal her emotions with a stoic demeanor, the concern in her eyes was unmistakable.

"When did you find out about this place?"

"A couple of days ago."

Zenkichi paused and turned towards Ana in disbelief. "A couple of days ago? Why didn't you inform us with something this important?"

Ana lips thinned and she looked away, thankful that her hood hides her ears or else they would've seen it turn incredibly red from embarrassment. "I...you were all busy almost all the time and I didn't want to bother anyone with my worries. I thought I could handle it on my own."

'And that I wasn't mentally prepared to bring this up with you all yet,' Was the unsaid words in her mind.

"Oh, you sweet child," Altria chimed in, her voice gentle but firm as she placed a comforting hand on Ana's head. "We're all in this together. You don't have to bear the burden alone. Next time, please don't hesitate to share what's on your mind. We're here to support each other."

Ana glanced up at Altria, grateful for her understanding, and offered a small, appreciative smile.

On the side, Zenkichi glanced at Brunhilde.

"Remind me again on how you planted yourself as a big sister figure in Altria's heart?"

"Shut up."

Just as they were about to continue on 'flirting', almost everyone froze at the spot as a bone chilling screech echoed through the cavern, sending shivers down their spines.

"Master!" Mash and Altria respectively called for their masters, stepping forward and prepared to protect everyone. Mash especially took vanguard with her large shield in position to protect her friends.

"Those are..."

Zenkichi furrowed his brows as he looked up too see several floating 'ghosts': they were entirely blue in color and their figures were skeletal, with only their upper body and spinal cord floating with a white long veil over their head, and their skeletal hands were large and looked sharp as blades.

Before anyone could say anything, the ghosts let out a loud shrill like a fork running down a chalkboard and they started to attack them.

"Son of a-!" Zenkichi gritted his teeth in agitation and used Encounter, creating an invisible shield before them to repel the ghosts, causing their attacks to be reflected on them but their attacks caused no damage on them.

"So I'm guessing these are the creatures we're dealing with?" He asked as he used enchantments to boost everyone's defenses and enhanced Gudako's physiology to help her recover faster.

Ana nodded with a serious expression, holding up her scythe tightly. "Yes, these are the creatures. We need to be careful. Their attacks can not only physically harm us directly, but they can also drain our energy and weaken us over time."

"Ghosts? We're dealing with screaming ghosts!?" Gudako exclaimed in disbelief, the ringing in her ears from the ghostly shrill gradually disappeared.

"Sure looks like it, this is the first time I've seen an actual ghost." Zenkichi muttered, looking at the group of ghosts, relentlessly attacking his shields and Mash's. The ghosts slashing at his Encounter shields should've been affected by their own attacks, wasn't it a physical and spiritual-type kind of attacks? Were they just invulnerable to their own attacks?

"How do you want to deal with this, master?" Altria asked.

Zenkichi blinked and turned towards her. "You sound like you have a plan? Oh right, you have a Holy Lance. Wait, you're not gonna use it here now, are you?!"

"Have you so little faith in my intelligence?! No, I'm not gonna use Rhongomyniad in such a small space." Altria looked at her master in disbelief. "No, I was going to ask Brunhilde to take care of these evil spirits."

Brunhilde blinked as everyone turned towards her.

"Me?! I mean, dealing with spirits is kinda my forte as a Valkyrie...but that was back on my world! This, this is different." She frowned and clenched both her hands. "I feel like I have no jurisdiction, no, I have no right to guide this twisted soul to the afterlife, which I can't because the people here worship a whole different pantheon than I'm from. I don't want to piss off any Sumerian Gods."

"These things....they aren't just mere mortal souls." She looked at the screeching ghosts with a sympathetic look. "These aren't souls who died with deep resentment that some usually see. They're more like Grim Reapers."

"Grim reapers?" Zenkichi blinked, confused.

Ana added, "In this era, in what you call the Age of Gods, physical death is different than spiritual death, Even if the body is fine, if the soul is taken away by a grim reaper, then it means death for that human."

She sighed, "Except having the soul taken away is not quite "death." It's more like being asleep. As long as the body is safe, returning a person's soul will wake them up."

"So they're the ones behind for people getting into comas huh... Wait, Brunhilde, you said that they're like Grim Reapers? Shouldn't they bring the souls to the afterlife here? Uh, Kur, right?" Gudako said.

Brunhilde replied. "I said "like", to clarify, they're not true grim reapers. They have no intelligence or consciousness like other reapers. They are like rouge reapers, driven solely by their instinct, they come and harvest souls out of people, even when it is not their time to go yet as it seems."

"Uh, so how are we going to handle them?" Mash asked, still holding her shield firmly against the relentless attacks.

Brunhilde shrugged and placed a palm against her fist. "We just beat them up."

"...That's it?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes. These evil spirits, or ghosts, act more like monsters. Chop, chop! As much as this place looks beautiful, I still want to go on that date with Zenkichi and Altria."

"E-Eh? Date?"

"Well, if it's going to be that simple..." Zenkichi muttered and bright blue hellish flames surged out of his left hand, at the same time, he deactivated his Encounter shields and allowed the ghostly figures to close in. The flames twisted and writhed around his hand, casting an eerie light across his face as he punched out with a powerful, fiery blow that sent a wave of intense blue flames surging toward the ghosts. The flames engulfed the spectral figures, their eerie wails intensifying as they were consumed by the inferno.

"Let's finish this quickly," Zenkichi commanded, his voice resolute. "We don't want any more surprises."

Altria and Brunhilde leapt into action, their weapons glowing with holy energy. Altria's Holy Spear sliced through the air with precision, cutting down the ghosts with ease. Brunhilde's sword and daggers whirled in a deadly dance, its deadly blades shining with an emerald light that seemed to burned the ghosts on contact.

Mash held the line with her shield, blocking any attacks that managed to slip past Zenkichi's flames. Gudako stayed close, casting supportive spells to bolster their defenses and enhance their attacks.

As they fought, Ana moved with a grim determination, her scythe slicing through the air with lethal precision. Each swing cleaved through the ghosts, her movements a blur of deadly grace thanks to her smaller stature.

The ghosts, despite their initial ferocity, were quickly overwhelmed by the combined might of the team. The cavern echoed with the sound of clashing weapons and the ghostly wails of their enemies as one by one, the spectral figures fell.

"Skreeeeee!"

Suddenly, a larger, more malevolent looking ghost emerged from the shadows, its form towering over the others. Unlike the smaller ghosts, this one had a more demonic appearance, with a longer white veil over it that seemed to ripple with dark energy. Numerous other fused skulls that acted as its body's torso seemed to 'throb'. Its main skull's eyes glowed with an eerie, malevolent light, and its skeletal hands were even sharper and more menacing. Strangely, there was some sort of red flower atop its head.

"This must be the boss," Zenkichi muttered, cracking his fists. "Well, this shouldn't take long. How are all going to-"

"Skre!" The large ghost boss let out a much, softer, screech and slowly floated towards them before...going down onto a seiza position?

Zenkichi paused, as he and the rest stared at the ghost boss in complete confusion. They all shared a look, not knowing what to do at this moment.

"Should we...kill it?"

"N-No? I mean, it's showing such vulnerability. As a knight, I can't just strike a foe that isn't attacking."

"Is it surrendering?" Mash wondered aloud, her shield still held defensively.

"How does it know that position anyway?" Gudako muttered.

Just as they were hesitating on what to do, the large ghost boss suddenly began to move.

"What the-?!" Zenkichi looked down to see a an extremely complicated looking magical circle. Before he could do anything, he disappeared.

"Zenkichi!" His friends cried out in unison, their voices filled with concern and alarm. The large ghost cackled maniacally and Altria unhesitatingly smashed it to pieces with a powerful strike from her Holy Spear with a wrathful expression.

"Where did he go?!" Gudako frantically asked.

"This was...! It's ancient teleportation magic! And judging by the wisp of divinity emanating from it, it's the work of a God!" Brunhilde gritted her teeth as she observed the magical circle with wide eyes.

"W-Where do you think he was transported to?" Mash's question hung heavy in the air as the group stared at the remnants of the magical circle, their minds racing with worry for Zenkichi's safety.

Ana stepped forward, her expression resolute. "We need to find him."

"Yeah, but where are we going to start?"

Altria narrowed her eyes. "Merlin."

/////

In the deepest place known to man, of the land of the dead and the place where people rest, Zenkichi blinked in confusion.

"Did...did I just go to hell?"

"H-Help...me...."

...

AN: What up?

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