บท 37: Zone Breaking

*KA-BOOOOOM!!!*

With tremendous power, a bolt of gigantic lightning broke out from Joe's fingertip and pierced the Jade Spider Queen's head through the hole.

*CRACK!*

*BAM!*

Like throwing a watermelon strongly onto the ground, the creature's head exploded instantly, making its huge body fall to the floor lifelessly.

"Nice kill! But Joe, you need to think for something else for this 'Pew' sound you say, especially when you shot a terrifying attack like that.", said Greg with a wry smile to Joe.

Joe laughed and while walking toward the spider's corpse he said, "I will, but I just wanted to see your reaction. It was just as I expected."

Hearing this, Greg could only shake his head helplessly and walked before the corpse too with Emma and Mila on his side.

Crouching down next to the spider's colossal body, Emma took out a blue crystal size of a human baby.

"This should definitely be a high-class crystal.", said Mila after seeing the big crystal.

Greg took out his bag and said, "Everyone, pour your crystals out. Let's split the loot."

With a nod Joe, Mila and Emma took out their bags and poured out the crystals from them onto the ground.

*CLATTER*

Seeing so many energy crystals in one place, Greg was satisfied and said, "If I'm right, we have 166 energy crystals with the huge one and also the zone's core. So how should we split it?"

Joe thought for a while, but before he could say anything, Mila on the side talked.

"I know it's a selfish request, but if it's not a problem, can I take the dimensional core? I don't need anything else."

Hearing this, Joe smiled and said, "Sure. Besides, we have two more zones, so it's okay. Then let's split like this. Mila gets the zone's core, Emma will get 55 plus the Queen's energy crystal, while I and Greg will split the rest."

Emma heard this was shocked and asked, "Why me? I didn't do simply anything to deserve this and also you two were the ones to kill the creature."

Greg shook his head and said, "I agree with Joe. From the four of us, you are the only ones who are still on the first rank, so you need help."

"Yes, just like what Greg said, if we can make you rank up fast, we don't need to worry about healing, so these are yours."

Emma was surprised and with a slight bow, she said, "I really appreciate your help. I will pay back your kindness for sure!"

Joe and Greg just smiled, split the energy crystals as they discussed earlier, and started to consume them one by one.

'Low-class energy crystal consumed'

'Middle-class energy crystal consumed'

'Low-class energy crystal consumed'

Greg heard one piece of information after another in his head and after consuming his last one he looked at his data on his watch.

{Name: Greg Hyde}

○ Rank: Manifester

○ Soul Stone: Black

○ Guardian Name: Unknown

○ Guardian's Power: 6 Elements

- Physical power: 4.5/10

- Body Speed: 6.5/10

- Stamina: 8/10

- Agility: 7.2/10

• Soul Creatures: 3 (Information)

• Energy Crystals: 191/500

After consuming 51 Low-class and 4 Middle-class energy crystals, his stat went up from 73 to 191.

With a satisfied smile, Greg closed the screen on his device and looked at the others.

Mila was standing next to the orb and seeing as the others have finished consuming the crystals, she grabbed the core.

In an instant, it disappeared into her chest, while the environment around them changed back to where they went inside in the beginning.

"Let's go. We have two more.", said Joe and he started to walk away while looking at the route on his watch.

Greg and the others followed him and after almost half an hour of walking, they finally arrived at the next dimensional zone.

Huge trees and half-destroyed buildings were all around them, while the zone's entrance was floating gently before a church's ruin.

Looking around and confirming they were in the right place, they walked through the crack without any hesitation.

After stepping through the entrance of the zone, everything went smooth.

In the zone, there were only small bird-like creatures, which were killed almost instantly by Joe's lightning and Greg's pet.

After killing every monster in there, they arrived before the zone's core.

Just like before, they split the loot fairly. Now Emma got the zone's core, while Mila, Joe, and Greg got 24 energy crystals each.

However because the quality of the crystals were all Low-class ones, Greg's stat could only climb up from 191 to 239.

"Almost halfway. After the next zone, I will definitely reach the halfway point.", thought Greg while consuming his last crystal.

"Okay, that wasn't hard at all. Let's go to the last zone.", said Joe, while the scenery around them changed back.

Just as Greg wanted to say something, suddenly all four of their watch started to shine with a red light and a warning sign appeared before them.

'Attention! Zone breaking occurred in the vicinity! Attention! Zone breaking occurred in the vicinity! Everyone who sees this message must escape to safety right away!'

• Zone Rank: Soul Collector

• Creature Type: Ghost

Seeing the pieces of information on their watch, Greg and the others were dumbstruck.

"Zone breaking? Aren't those a rare occurrence?", asked Emma with a shocked expression.

"Well yes, but it depends on the rank of the zone. If it's the lowest level one, it has 7 days to be cleaned before a zone break, however, if it's the highest one, then it has almost a year.", said Joe while looking at the warning on his watch.

Hearing what just Joe said, Greg asked instantly, "Then after how much time will a Soul Collecter ranked zone reach the point of zone breaking?"

After thinking for a while, Joe looked up and said with certainty, "Should be around 2 and half a month."

"Almost 3 months and the Soul Association couldn't clear it in time? How?", asked Greg with a surprised face.

"I think because of the type of creature they needed to fight against.", said Mila quietly.

Seeing as the three looked at her with a questioning look, she explained, "I had once heard stories about Ghost-type creatures from my father. He said that they have a special ability, which makes them almost invincible. No physical attacks can hurt them, but they can possess the human body at will. Only with spiritual abilities or after they have control over a body can they be killed."

"That's a bit too overpowered," said Emma.

"Well yeah, but because they are this strong they are very few in numbers. However, the ghosts in my father's story were only Manifester ranked ones. And after seeing that this zone was a Soul Collecter ranked one, I don't really want to imagine just what is happening over there."

As Mila was talking, suddenly Greg felt that his Silver Wolf's sixth sense ability activated automatically and in an instant it made his neck feel a bit numb.

"Quiet!"

Hearing Greg's serious voice, Joe and the others looked at him, only seeing him looking here and there from time to time.

After a while later, Greg shifted his gaze toward his right and his sight instantly turned black and white.

As he was looking deep into the distance, suddenly he saw 6 red figures slowly coming their way between the woods.

"Hey Mila. Did your father tell you what the ghosts looked like?"

Hearing the strange question Mila knew that something must have happened and said, "Yeah, he did. They have different forms, but the most common feature they have is that all of them can float above the ground and their bodies are half-transparent."

"And what about after they possess someone?", asked Greg without taking away his eyes from the approaching figures.

"Umm... He told me that their movements will get a bit slow and unstable, while their eyes lose all focus. There are sometimes when the body changes depending on the ghost form."

Greg hearing this, looked at all the approaching figures one by one from head to toe and a while later he opened his mouth.

"Well, we have some company then."