Continue to Hunt

With his cautious approach, Pro didn't even bother to take a bath in the light. He dived back into the nearby apartment as soon as he saw a change in the flickering of the lantern.

Pro easily avoided most of the attack, but he still noticed that parts of his clothes were aged a bit while some parts of his skin were wrinkly as if they grew old. Fortunately, those parts gradually recovered using the energy from the assimilated toilet. On the other hand, his domain suffered some damage that his toilet couldn't repair, and a notification popped up requiring 40 points for repair.

After a while, Pro checked with his domain perception and made sure the light was completely out. Then, he decisively swooped out and gave the lantern its final blow.

The lantern shattered into pieces with one blow as a blinding light spilled out of it. When Pro recovered his sight, he sighed as he was forced to watch another cut-scene.

This time, he seemed to have the illusion that he was in an old, backwater village. Pro was able to see an assortment of shadowy black mist figures moving around in the village as an old man's hoarse voice narrated the scene.

"During my patrol in the village, I discovered that brother Khan actually has an affair with widow Freya. He was also the reason she ended up as a widow."

"I found out that Chief Miller actually has a secret hole under his shack. I seem to hear the cries of girls there every night ..."

"I overheard that the useless ones are put on the dinner table! I can't live here any longer. I need to escape!"

"How can I escape? There's nowhere to run to! This village is in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by unknown mountains! Wait ... how did I even end up here in the first place? Why can't I remember?!"

"Today ... finally, I have found a way to escape without being noticed ... I've been delaying for years, I can't delay any longer!"

"They were always watching! They found me! I was a sacrifice offered by the black robe man!"

The scene then blurred and faded away as Pro realized he was still standing in the fourth floor hallway. Glancing at the dark lantern being absorbed by his domain, he finally breathed a sigh of relief once he got the system notification.

[Host has eliminated an intruder in your domain. Domain is now absorbing the remains of the intruder ...]

[Absorption completed. Intruder was determined to be a Mid-Level Baleful Spirit. System Library updated with new info.]

[After absorbing a powerful spirit, host gains 955 life points.]

"Holy sh*t! It's only a mid-level baleful spirit and it already gives more than 900 points! As expected of a baleful spirit with a special ability that can even affect blood spirits to some extent," Pro exclaimed in excitement, "This brings my total up to 3720 points! I'm getting closer to the level upgrade!"

After cheering for joy for a bit, Pro then calmed down as he felt his hunger for more points.

"Should I go back to hunting? It will be fairly risky now because the entire floor of spirits is alert. Although I'm not afraid of lingering spirits coming out to join the fun, the baleful spirits on the other side may also be troublesome. I still don't know some of their abilities yet."

Pro frowned a bit due to his worry regarding the strange abilities that the baleful spirits have this time.

"Although I can easily avoid physical attacks, that is under the fact that I can freely move around. So, the most dangerous one to me is the baleful spirit with the illusion ability. If it works together with the vacuum spirit or the chainsaw guy, then I may end up taking a heavy hit."

Imagining his head being sawed off while he dumbly stood in place, Pro shivered a bit. Although there is a chance he might not die even without a head, he didn't want to test that out.

"Perhaps ... it's time that I stop fighting alone," Pro muttered as he remembered that he had some silly and cute subordinates.

Although he kept them out of danger by sheltering them during most fights, Pro knew this was not conductive to their growth. However, Pro was selfish to some extent and he didn't want to watch them die. Although he could bring them back with points, Pro didn't want to watch the ones he wanted to protect perishing before his eyes.

Still, Pro knew that the day where all of them will have to fight will eventually have to come. In the future, Pro may fail to deal with all the invaders alone. If he fights solo, he might be outnumbered or the enemy might ignore him to target the others.

"Well, although the sixth floor is a bit risky, I haven't discovered any blood spirit. So, these baleful spirits can contribute to the combat experience of my subordinate," Pro finally made the tough decision to allow his cute family to experience the harshness of life ... well, the undead life.

After digging through his bedroom drawers and finding some old earplugs that he used for a 'peaceful' night's sleep, Pro then headed off to get his subordinates. Teleporting down to the first floor, Pro brought his family and his subordinates back to the fourth floor. He then patiently explained to them the situation and requested them to fight with him.

"Yay~ Alice gets to fight with master! Alice finally gets to play! Alice is so happy!" the happy go-lucky Alice happily cheered in excitement when she heard the news.

Sitting on Alice's shoulder, Ali also flapped her plushy arms up and down to agree in excitement. The other spirits also did a bit of dance on their own. On the other hand, Toi Toi had a bad feeling and he slumped onto the ground to cry like Amumu from L*ague of L*gends.

Pro ignored the crying spirit. It can't escape the fate that Pro had prepared for it. Turning to Alice and Ali, Pro warned "Well, don't be so relaxed Alice and Ali. This fight can be very dangerous. Especially since most of the evil spirits are stronger than you two. Try to stay hidden and ambush them. Got it?"

"Mmm! Alice will listen to master!" Alice cheerfully answered while saluting by putting her hand in front of her forehead.

Ali also tried to imitate Alice, but she could only cutely raise her plushy hand in the air, but failed to reach her forehead because her plushy hand is not long enough. Pro chuckled a bit over their cuteness.

Then, Pro led the ground up the stairway to the sixth floor. Unlike Pro who could use the teleport to different floors, his group of spirits can't leave the domain. So, they could not pass through the linked doorway unless it leads to the fourth floor hallway. Basically, they can't fast travel over to the destination, but they can teleport home to escape.

After a cheerful journey up the stairway, the group finally reached the sixth floor. Pro then commanded his spirits to lay in ambush by the doorway. Ali will stay at the center to command her two dolls to serve as distraction. Alice will hide in the back to cover the rear and also to wait for a chance to ambush.

The two security uniform spirits will guard Ali from harm, even if they had to sacrifice themselves. As for Toi Toi ... he got his usual job of being the sacrifice at the front line, which happens to be in front of the sixth floor door this time.

"Alright, I'll do my best to lead the enemy in, then we will tackle them together. We won't be afraid of their overwhelming number this way. Even if they are strong, just do your best to hold them off, and I will eventually come over after finishing them off one by one," Pro reiterated his plan.

The group of spirits nodded their heads in their own way in acknowledgement. Seeing this, Pro gave another command to Alice, "Remember, if I'm standing still, it means I'm trapped in an illusion or cut-scene. Alice, it will be your job to hold off the enemies while I'm frozen. Don't hold back."

"Yes, master! Although Alice doesn't want to hurt master, but if it helps master, Alice will do anything!" Alice agreed as she giggled while fantasizing about some things.

Pro didn't pay attention to this. He gave a final notice to his spirits, "Alright, get ready. Alice, put on the earplugs. Remember, when I call for retreat or you see others retreating, everyone head through the sixth floor door."

Although he didn't know if it was effective, Pro also put on his own earplugs. Afterwards, Pro slipped into the sixth floor once more. Although he was still alone, he actually had backup this time. He won't be afraid he can't retreat even if he gets heavily injured. As long as he makes it back to the stairway, his subordinates will be able to bring him back to the fourth floor to recover.

Glancing at apartment 661 that housed the illusion spirit, Pro didn't go provoke it because he doesn't want to end up trapped in an illusion until he runs back into his stairway. So, Pro turned his gaze towards apartment 664, where the vacuum spirit seemed to stay.

The vacuum spirit was also a troublesome spirit due to its ability to suck up spirits in ghost form. Its power may also be super effective against floating spirits like the security uniform spirits and the small ones like the dolls. Assuming the illusion spirit didn't come to join the fun, Pro decided to handle it first.

Rrrrrrr! Suddenly, the roar of a chainsaw was heard. Glancing behind him, Pro noticed that the chainsaw spirit had just walked around the corner!

"It seemed the evil spirits on this floor had assigned a patrol for the night. They aren't too dumb after all," Pro muttered as he watched the doors to multiple apartments slam open while screams echoed in the hallway.

Of course, Pro didn't wait to be swarmed. Before all the evil spirits could file out, he decided to at least try to take one down first.

Shing! Pro's claws popped out as he switched to physical form. He then pounced towards the chainsaw spirit who was also charging his way.

Rrrrrr! The chainsaw spirit waved his chainsaw in an attempt to slice Pro into pieces. Pro didn't fight him head on. With a tap of his foot, Pro sidestepped out of the trajectory of the attack before giving the chainsaw spirit a quick swipe with his claws.

Puff! The hand of the chainsaw spirit was easily sent flying as the chainsaw spirit roared in anger. It didn't seem to feel the pain as it smashed its other hand, that was not a chainsaw, at Pro.

Thud! It had ... barely any effect. Pro was only knocked back a couple of steps before he stabilized himself. He even had the time to turn his gaze to check on apartment 661.

At this time, the humpbacked spirit was walking out of the apartment and Pro saw it was preparing to scream. Not wanting to end up at the receiving end of the illusion attack, Pro swiftly dived forward and grabbed the chainsaw hand that was cut off.

With a wave of his hands, he smashed the body of the chainsaw spirit away with its own chainsaw. He then swiftly pulled open the door to the sixth floor and retreated into the stairway while pulling the door shut.

Fortunately, Pro made it just in time. A familiar, but muffled scream echoed from behind him as Pro felt his surrounding distort once more as Pro found himself in a blurry, grey forest that was half mixed with the hallway. However, it didn't take long for it to distort again before returning Pro back to the stairway.

The door was already shut, and Pro could barely hear a faint scream through the doorway. It seems soundproofing of the walls are extremely well done in this old apartment or maybe there is some other reasons.

"It seems the earplugs worked somewhat, but not completely," Pro muttered, but he didn't have time to think further along this line of thought.

Screeee! A screech echoed in the stairway as the sixth floor door was kicked open by the chainsaw spirit that was missing its arm. Pro sneered as he saw this. He took the arm for a reason. Even if the rest of the spirits on the floor won't come in, this chainsaw spirit had no choice!

Of course, it seems that the floor's spirit finally decided to confront him. The humpbacked spirit had stopped screaming and was now squeezing in behind the chainsaw spirit. A variety of different screams gradually became louder as their owners charged over to the doorway. Pro also noticed the vacuum spirit phasing through the wall!

It was time for battle!