The Nine Lords Of Order - Chapter 30

‘After all this time Mars and Louis are probably rank 3 already If it was just me, it would be incredibly difficult to deal with them now. Luckily those fools offended the Ascending Devils Faction. Not only did they give me an opportunity to join this faction and earn merit points, it also saved me the trouble of dealing with them personally…’ He checked his token and when he saw that he owned around 21 thousand merit points he smiled.

Suddenly he heard someone knocking his room’s door. One of the perks of joining a strong faction was that these kind of factions owned their own buildings so its members could live within and pay a very low amount of merit points to stay in the city. However he still had to share a room. Not that he would mind though.

After standing up and opening the door, a middle aged man greeted him. “Derik, the Devil’s Spectre has not made an appearance for a few weeks already. The leader has decided to resume the rank 3 operations. Hehe! You’re in this time!”

“I’m in?!” As soon as Derik heard those words his face paled. “As soon as the Devil’s Spectre becomes aware that we resumed the rank 3 operations he will attack again!”

“Don’t worry so much! The information you delivered back then was not that useful anyways. You have been benefitting from the faction but have done nothing! It’s about time you do something for the faction.”

“But what if the Devil’s Spectre appears again?” Derik retorted.

“Well, there will be four rank 4 experts going along with you. Besides, the Devil’s Spectre can’t haunt us forever, right? Maybe he already forgot about us. Be ready, you must be at the gates before the sun rises. If you escape, I will make sure the faction deals with you later!” After saying those words the middle aged man laughed and quickly left. Apparently he didn’t like Derik very much.

Slamming the door shut Derik paced back and forward within his room.

“I should have been more determined. I should have left this faction already! If I suddenly decide to leave after being assigned this mission, the faction will definitely deal with me later! Damn!” Derik couldn’t help but curse at his bad luck. He now thought that if he had not decided to mess with Mars and Louis he wouldn’t have gotten in so much trouble.

He was also a bit dissatisfied. The Ascending Devil faction had not found Louis or Mars yet. In fact, if it wasn’t because of the Devil’s Spectre suddenly appearing, the faction would have more time to concentrate in their search for Mars and Louis. How did the Ascending Devils faction offend such a fearsome figure anyways? Now he was in potential danger as well.

The next day Derik and around fifteen other experts were traveling stealthily through the forest. They had been very careful when exiting the city. Although the Devil’s Spectre had not attacked any of their squads for a couple of weeks, they were still fearful!

They did not even wear the faction’s emblem or clothes. Maybe he would not recognize them that way.

Four rank 4 experts travelled along with them however they mixed together with the other rank 3 experts. If the Devil’s Spectre attacked they would try to ambush him. However they did not have high hopes for this plan. They had already tried many strategies to capture or kill the Devil’s Spectre but none of those ever worked. This ghost who was haunting them was mysterious and cunning. Who knew what kind of deep grudge the spectre had with them.

Everyone within the group was nervous the whole time. Having their guard up all the time also contributed to their mental fatigue. However even after they completed the quest nothing had happened.

In the end, they finally relaxed.

Maybe the Devil’s Spectre was not going to ambush them this time around. Maybe he was done with them. That’s what everyone was thinking as they headed back to the city.

Derik was also relaxing. ‘After delivering this quest I’ll definitely leave the Ascending Devil’s and join another faction. Although I was lucky this time, who knows if I will be lucky the next one’

Just as he was planning what he was going to do in the future he heard someone shout.

“Hey where is Tom? He was behind me just a second ago!”

“Henry is also missing!”

“Loren is not here as well! It’s must be the Devil’s Spectre! He is on us!” Another person started shouting with a trembling voice.

“Gather! Everyone gather! Form groups of three and give each one of them your back! Quick!”

Everyone within the group immediately clustered together in groups of three and waited for the Devil’s Spectre to continue his attack.

Derik broke into a cold sweat and cursed out loud, “In the end he still came for us! Fudge! Fudge! Fudge!”

However even after half an hour of waiting nothing else happened. Everyone was extremely tense and did not know what to do. Keeping the battle stance for so long was not possible either. Just circulating their power was a waste of energy.

“Should we continue?” A youth asked hesitantly.

“Where is Tom, Mars and Loren? Usually the Devil’s Spectre only absorbs energy but he kidnapped them this time around Could it be they are” Another youth with a shaky voice asked in fear.

One of the rank four experts within the group frowned. He already knew resuming operations wouldn’t be a good idea. He was even planning on leaving the Ascending Devil’s faction and join another strong faction. Although he was a rank 4 expert, he was only a low level one. He had heard that a couple of rank 4 members had suddenly become rank 2 nobodies after being ambushed by the Devil’s Spectre, so he did not feel safe at all in this place. In the end he gave the order, “Let’s continue forward in a triangle formation! Make sure to observe your companions at all times! We are half a day away from the city, so this will be a long trip!”

In the end everyone agreed and started moving forward again.

After traveling for a few hundred meters they found three people lying in the ground unconscious. They were their three companions who had previously disappeared, however their energies had been absorbed and they were a whole rank lower now…

“So it is the Devil’s Spectre”

“Where are doomed this time!”

“Quick! John, Terry and Max, you carry them! We will increase our speed!” A rank 4 expert ordered and they resumed their journey.

However things were not going to end up well for them.

Throughout their journey they would lose members occasionally and then find them ahead. Each person they found had dropped a whole rank in power. What made things worse that as they carried more people with them, these people became burdens which left openings within the formation.

The rank 4 experts had thought leaving them behind, however that would completely crush the morale of the whole squad. The decision might end up having the opposite effect and fear would soon overwhelm everyone. Besides, what if they were the ones who were suddenly ambushed? They might get left behind for giving a stupid order. In the end they still carried the burdens.

Derik was sweating bullets and he would stick around a rank 4 expert. He did not even notice how his teammates disappeared. They just kept banishing!

However after ten members from the squad were taken down silently, the ambushes stopped.

After a few more hours of traveling passed, the members from the squad were finally approaching the city. They were even starting to relax thinking they had survived this catastrophe.

Crack!

It was at this moment that a sudden crack of thunder echoed through the forest. Several arcs of red lightning flashed and attacked the blind spots of several members within the squad.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Some managed to barely fend off the attack, however some were not so lucky and where sent flying away from the squad after they were hit. A quick figure faster than gods and devils quickly captured each of the figures who were sent flying and disappeared in the distance.

“It’s Devil’s Spectre! He took more of us away!”

“Groups of three! The same formation as before!”

Everyone quickly moved and silence permeated the area for a few seconds. Soon, more crackles of thunder were echoed through the forest.

“He is here again! Be careful!”

A shadow was seen flying straight towards a group of three.

“There! Attack!” watching this shadow a youth shouted as he and many others send attacks flying in that direction.

“No!! Stop it!” A rank 4 who could clearly tell what was going on panicked and sent a gust of wind towards the flying figure and deviated his direction.

Once this figure fell to the ground it didn’t move… Apparently it was one of the members who had just been taken a few seconds ago.

Suddenly, a streak of red lightning appeared among the group who had just attacked and smashed the floor creating an expansive wave which separated everyone who was together.

Afterwards, a man who wore black clothes and a mask took out two more people and disappeared within the forest.

“It was decoy!” A youth was sweating. He almost killed a comrade just now. Worst news, the Spectre took two more of his companions!

The squad who had just regrouped again suddenly saw three more shadows flying towards them and panicked. Should they attack or not? Is it another decoy?

Crackle!

Arcs of red lightning streaked across from one of the shadows and the same scene repeated again. The members within the squad were caught offward and after they were separated, two more members were quickly taken out.

“This is not working! Everyone run in all directions!” A man in his thirties felt desperate and broke into a run.

“Stop it idiot!” A rank 4 expert was furious and was about to stop him but

“He is right! Let’s make a run for it!” Another expert yelled an ran in another direction.

Soon more people started running away. The situation instantly turned chaotic.

Derik was panicking as well and ran away as well. ‘Screw this! Everyone is running away now, why should I stay and wait my for turn?’ He soon had dashed several kilometers away from the group, and kept running as he could. He was rank 3, crossing several kilometers within seconds was extremely easy for him.

He ran with the fastest speed he could muster, he could only hear the sound his breath, and leaves and sticks breaking under his feet. He thought he might be leaving a trail behind so he jumped on top of a tree and continued his escape above the ground.

However something unexpected happened. He suddenly felt a rope tugging his ankle and he fell to the ground. He was startled by this turn of events. He tried to move but his body was sluggish. He turned his head with difficult and saw that around his ankle was a red whip made of electricity

“Nooooo!!”

He suddenly felt the whip pull him and he immediately inserted his fingers in the ground as if that would help him resist the pull. He was dragged through the mud while he screamed in desperation. The moment he saw the red lightning he knew he was screwed. Who else could be? It must be the Devil’s Spectre!

“He chose me? Many ran away! There is no way he got all of them! Why did he pick me!” He kept screaming as his fingernails got filled with mud.

Suddenly he felt a hand on his neck. After a fierce pull he was then smashed directly into the ground.

Bang!

Puh! Derik couldn’t help but cough some blood. This impact was very powerful and he guessed many of his bones were probably broken

He felt someone tugging him from his hair and raised him from the ground.

A figure with black clothes and a clean mask on his face

Derik looked listless and blood dripped from the corners of his mouth He knew he was screwed this time…

Suddenly the figure placed his hand on his mask and removed it.

“Beck! Recognize me?” Mars who was under the mask coldly smiled. He had finally found this shady looking guy!

I was actually planning on releasing two chapters today, however I read a comment saying that making a glossary for this novel would be a good idea… So yeah, I’ve been working on that! I made this chapter a bit longer in compensation.

—

This is the current glossary for the novel, I plan to update it every ten chapters or so. I will also be posting the link after every chapter.

Glossary:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iJtnlk8K9p2me8tEJI-NEUGUzjgRNS0uU-S8W3Aan5g/edit?usp=sharing