The Phantom

A translucent body, that seemed to be disappearing and reappearing every second. A silvery-white hair, that when paired with her black clear eyes made her an astonishing beauty.

However, the definitive feature of this strange humanoid was her ghostlike clothes and the fact that her feet weren't touching the ground, but instead, hovering a few inches above it.

Seeing this, Talon murmured the only name this creature could be, ".....A ghost!"

However, the two brothers, with their broken mouths, went emotional at the sight of the creature.

"Impossible…...Lillian?!"

......….

With the appearance of the ghost-like creature, the two brothers and Talon became dumbfounded.

They found it hard to believe what they were seeing and it was the same for the female ghost who kept looking at the two brothers as she cocked her head at them.

It seemed that she was also confused about what was happening, which, ironically, was caused because of her appearance.

Meanwhile, Talon was currently underground an intense scrutinization.

'She is a ghost?.... No, she's not! But she looks like one. No! If speaking appearance-wise, her looks are more defined to be a ghost. So, does that mean she is a Phantom?... Yes, that would explain why she was able to stop me!'

Different from the two brothers, Talon was well-versed in Netheran knowledge.

Due to him behind a hybrid, a half-zombie, Talon took it upon himself to understand the Netherans' world.

Apart from zombies, there were other Netherans that were present during the Nether wars, but for some reason, Zombies were the main Netherans that mostly come out of a [Nether Rift].

It was unknown why it was that way, but it has been like that for almost all the rifts on the planet.

Yet, there was a Phantom opposite him right now.

Phantoms were one of the rarer Netherans as they belonged to the [Undead Appariton] Class.

The only place he knew in the southern continent that possessed creatures of this class was the Weeping Island. However, Aztec Kingdom was not close to the island, so there was no way the phantom in front of him migrated from that place.

Which leaves the only place she could emerge from, the rift, to be more direct, the rift that was a few distances away from them, blocked by the earth wall his men erected!

However, why did the phantom protect the king and his brother?

Most Netherans were evil from birth, so it made no sense that this one should be a special case.

It even got more confusing when the two brothers seemed to know the phantom.

Talon repeated their words in his mind, "Lillian….."

The only person he knew called Lillian that could be related to the two brothers was the dead queen of Aztec, Queen Lillian.

'Impossible. She died…..in Eden's Garden, here...here…...here?' Talon felt a massive headache coming his way.

It was very coincidental that the phantom, which resembled the former Queen Lillian, appeared here!

Too coincidental!

Even more coincidental that the phantom was protecting the two brothers!

The only thing that made him think the phantom wasn't Queen Lillian was the fact that the phantom didn't recognize the two brothers.

Instead, was more curious about them!

'Heh. So, that's how it is….' Talon finalized his thoughts.

He had gained a theory that could be further backed up by the fact that the phantom was had a clueless expression.

However, phantom or not, he had a mission to complete.

Since it was in his way, he had to kill it!

Talon ruminated the knowledge he had on phantoms.

They were ghost-like being that when born were able to equal [Realm-3] in terms of pure power. Some of them even went beyond that!

They were also an evolutionary path for ghosts, which were a lower sister race.

Likewise, phantoms were the "lower sister race" of Spectres, ghost-like creatures that possessed a body that could be said to have physical attributes.

They were also the evolutionary path for phantoms.

Specters were akin to myths on the planet, and if any cultivator should see them, then they should better say their last words, no matter how strong the cultivator is.

That was how terrifying specters were said to be!

Even phantom and ghosts were very terrifying, much less a specter

However, Talon could tell based on the phantom's expression that she was in her beginning phase and just learning about her abilities and herself.

He could use that to his advantage and kill the obstacle.

Having made up his mind, Talon to a surprise attack at the phantom with his [Nether Bolt] attacks, which sent a complicated bolt of Nether energy at his opponent.

The attacks seemed to be victorious as the phantom, even the two brothers, did not notice, but when it touched the phantom, it passed through her translucent body like it was air.

Afterward, the phantom noticed and snarled at him.

It seemed that she understood when something was a threat as she rushed at Talon, with her feet hovering above the ground.

The phantom wasn't that fast in the eyes of Talon, but her every movement seemed ordained and impossible to stop, due to her ghost-like physique.

She passed through every obstacle as if she had no substance.

By the time she got to Talon, the latter had already prepared multiple [Nether Bolts] for her, despite his previous attack not having any effect on her.

The phantom got hit by his attacks, but due to the number of attacks, she received a tiny amount of damage while they passed through her.

This made Talon understand that he needed to dish out attacks that were too much for her to "phase" through.

He reached out his hand to punch her, but not with his physical power, but with his fist that was powered with [Nether Energy].

He pushed his hands forwards, but she evaded the attack and released a dreamy transparent energy that blasted Talon away.

Blood dripped from Talon's arm that he used to block the attack and he sighed, "Sure, enough. Only a Netheran could fight a Netheran."

However, he couldn't find away way to deal substantial damage to the phantom.

Even his [Nether Bolt] wasn't enough to threaten her life. It could only deal a little amount of damage to her.

Still, Talon didn't give up. He stilled his mind as he walked back to the fight.

The energy from creatures like phantoms had a negative effect on the mind of its target.

That was why Talon had to cool himself, or he would be left vulnerable to all sorts of mental ailments.

This was not hard for him, as he was used to suppressing his emotions when needed.

So, technically the additional effect of a phantom, at least the one facing him, had no effect on him.

However, Talon still had no way of affecting the phantom.

The two Netheran exchanged more than one hundred attacks, and in each exchange, the phantom came out victorious.

This was expected as Talon could not physically harm her, but the phantom could hurt Talon.

This was how overpowered Netherans were.

Yet, worst of all, Talon was massively injured by this phantom.

His arms were profusely bleeding due to the number of times he had tanked the phantom's attack.

Seeing no hope of winning, Talon decided to use his last attack, "[Phantasm Mirage]!"

Following his words, multiple "Talons" appeared around the phantom, with each of them resembling each other, giving no way for the phantom to find the original.

However, it seemed that the phantom had no plans for that, and she sent out a ring of light from her body that crushed all the "Talons".

All of them without anyone left, which was very strange, and begged the question.

Where was Talon?

The two brothers checked their surroundings and gave the same answer, "He has escaped."

It was not hard to notice as Talon had no chance of killing them after the intervention of the phantom.

After a while, the phantom appeared beside them and stared into the eyes of Caspian.

She seemed to be thinking about something.

When she opened her mouth, an cluster of sounds came out, "#############"

Not getting any reply apart from the brother's confusion, she repeated her words, "#############"

Yet, they couldn't understand her!

Caspian said to his brother, "What do you think, brother?"

"She can't speak the universal language, only the innate language of Netherans," explained Conan.

Still, he wasn't familiar with the language. So, he couldn't decipher it.

This led to a lot of issues between the three of them as they found it hard to communicate.

Ultimately, after a few more cryptic words, the phantom got angry and disappeared.

"Lillian!" shouted Caspian after he saw the phantom disappear, but it was to no avail.

His brother urged him, "We can't deal with this right now. There is something going on on the surface."

His words were true as both of them could sense continuous tremors happening above ground.

Remembering his responsibility, Caspian gave another look to the place that the phantom disappeared and sighed, "Ok."

The two began to heal themselves as they took the path that led to the surface