The Legendary Ghost Hunter

"The Dungeon's mechanism, huh…" Finn muttered, furrowing his brows.

"There's an opening here!" Yun Xin called out, standing above the left corner of the church, pointing down. "It seems to be leading down…"

"That should be correspondent with the swooping falcon symbol," Tian Long analyzed. "If that's the case, then…"

He rushed over to the other corner across from this one — and indeed, found another hole.

"Yep, there's one over here too. It also seems to be be leading down."

"That's the eagle… then what about the owl in the middle?" Iris asked.

"… There's a door right here," Qi Ling said, having walked behind the statue. "But… it's locked."

Immediately, everyone looked to Jim for help, but he merely shrugged and closed his eyes, a wry smile on his face. It was clear he wouldn't be providing any further help after that single statement he made.

"Well… I dunno if I'm right, but most of the time in video games, if there's two separate pathways and a locked door leading to a third one, it usually means we gotta beat the other two first and this one will unlock, right?" Octane suggested, scratching his head.

"Video games?" Pang Zi scoffed. "Sorry, but I don't think we can use that logic here, little buddy."

"No… what he said has a point," Qi Ling muttered, narrowing her eyes deep in thought. "There isn't any other way to go anyway unless I built a pathway over to the graveyard up on the hill, but I doubt that is where we are meant to go given these symbols. In which case, there is only one answer."

"Right, so we go down these two pathways, right?" Tian Long said. "But if we do it one at a time, it'll probably take a long time. So… why don't we split up into two teams?"

"Hoho… ya sure ya wanna do that, kid?" Jim chuckled, leaning against one of the few still-standing pillars inside the church. "Splittin' up ain't exactly a good thing to be doin' inside a Dungeon. Not for ya youngsters, at least. It could be very bloody dangerous, y'know?"

"Er… that's…"

"No, we'll still split up," Finn interjected. "Squadron 154 on one side, while the Big Five take the other."

"Um, but…" Tian Long trailed off hesitantly, eyeing Jim. "You only have four people..."

"So what?" Finn cut in. "If you think we can't do it… we'll show you we can."

"That's right!" Octane chimed in excitedly, grinning like a true daredevil. "What do we Ghost Hunters do again?"

Jim, hearing this, sighed. "Live by fightin' the impossible, huh?"

"Exactly!" Octane cried. "We'll show you, Master — just watch!"

"Alright, alright… I said, I won't interfere. It's up to y'all how this goes. Though I will at least say, if nothin' else… I admire yer courage. I'll be waitin' here for ya to come back, yeah?"

"Then it's decided," Qi Ling said, folding her arms. "We will take the right side, you can take left."

Finn nodded briskly in agreement as everyone hurried down their respective sides, not wasting any time. And as Jim watched Finn's figure go, he chuckled lightly.

"Kid… yer one piece of work, y'know that?"

*****

The 154th Squadron of the Phantom Slayer Corps soon found themselves within a dimly lit corridor, similar to the one they had been in when they first entered the Dungeon — just much smaller and narrower in size. The same lotus-shaped white lamps lined the edges of the granite floor, though there were more of them here than the previous one, which meant it was much easier to see.

Jim may have been praising Finn, but little did he know, Finn had ulterior motives to splitting up with the Big Five and Jim himself. Finn wasn't some hero who wanted to prove himself to Jim — he was just a broken man trying to make the best of what he has left.

Finn was usually pretty quiet already, but just now, there was another reason why Finn hadn't talked at all until the very end — Zelestria had been speaking to him inside his mind.

'… I've done it.' Finn said to her within his mind. 'Now can you tell me about the power you said I would be able to obtain from the Ghost ahead?'

[Fufu~ so impatient.] Zelestria giggled softly. [You'll see in a second, no? Where's the fun if I just told you everything now~?]

Finn sighed in resignation but realized she wouldn't tell him anything even if he insisted on it, so he just gave up and waited to see how things would turn out.

Zelestria had told him just now that there are two Boss-level Ghosts in the area — one on the left side and one on the right, where they were going now. Of the two, the one on the left possessed the power of invisibility, which wasn't all that useful considering Finn already obtained the Nightstalker Angelica from Elder Hua.

The one on the right, however… Zelestria had described it as a 'must-have'.

Because of this, Finn was insistent on splitting up from the Big Five. After all, stealing a Ghost's power required him to consume its blood via either the mouth or the skin. Since the members of Squadron 154 have already seen him accomplish this with the Titan-class Major Phantom from a while back, this was no big deal to them.

The Big Five, however, were a different story. If they saw Finn become stained with Ghost blood and walk out just fine, they would definitely question it.

No… after that encounter with Qi Ling during the obstacle course training, Finn knew they were already onto him. If they saw him doing anything a normal Ghost Hunter wouldn't be able to, that would only confirm their suspicions.

Thus, splitting up was the only way.

In order to eradicate all the Ghosts from this world like he once promised and gain the vengeance he once swore to have, he needed to get stronger. So far, he had only been facing the small fry, but very soon, stronger Ghosts would stand in his way — and he must be able to conquer them if he wanted to continue his path of slaying to finally fulfill his promise.

The journey to Finn's revenge is not an easy one. Allies will die, lives will be lost, and wounds that won't ever heal will be inflicted. Ridding the world of the same entities that have plagued it for centuries… seems impossible, doesn't it?

But at the same time, one also ought to remember…

… The dark fuel empowering Finn Thresher — Ace — is also the strongest emotion there is:

Hate.