Volume 11 - CH 6

Chapter 6: The Black Dorm’s Seal

Location: Atlantis  Time: 10:35 AM

“Move back!”

Nile swung his hand to get rid of the dirty stain. Standing in front of me, both of his hands turned to wolflike beast claws. Raising his head, a pair of ears appeared from his golden hair. His originally pale face quickly distorted and completely transformed into a strange beast-like face.

This appearance was very familiar, extremely familar, causing me to directly think of four words—

He is a Werewolf.

I suddenly remembered what Senior told me before.

The commotion from the ceiling interrupted my thoughts. Another evil spirit jumped down from above, and the sound was even louder than just now. I lifted my head, and saw that cracks had already begun to appear on the ceiling.

What do we do?

After transforming into a half-beast, Nile’s movements were clearly much faster. I saw a golden figure flash past my eyes, and a second later, the Ghost Tribe member that fell down had already set foot on the path of his companion from just now. His broken head landed on the ground, then turned into ashes.

“The situation has entered the highest state of alert. We found traces of suspected Spirit Doors being opened. Please have the people guarding the Black Dorm immediately come to the scene.” Nile was speaking, but he wasn’t talking to me. I saw him pressing the headset intercom on his pointed ear with his paw. Then he turned his head, “Mr. Chu, please leave this room as soon as possible.”

“I…” Hearing him say this, I also knew that the situation was very critical, but will Nile be able to handle it alone?

I guess, I should be able to help out a bit at least.

While I was hesitating, all of a sudden, there was a fierce cracking noise from above. In that moment, before I could react, my eyes widened and I saw the entire ceiling abruptly crack open. A piece of the broken ceiling directly fell toward my head.

I reflexively shut my eyes and protected my head. A few seconds later, strangely enough, there wasn’t any pain. I secretly opened my eyes and saw that Nile was already standing in front of me. That piece of the ceiling had been smashed into powder by him until it was scattered all over the place…Speaking of which, wouldn’t this cause us to have money deducted?

“Mr. Chu, please leave quickly.” He said, his blue eyes looking at me, “I’m sorry, please excuse me.”

“What…” Before I could even question him, I suddenly felt my collar being forcefully grabbed by someone, almost directly strangling me to death. As if he caught fire, without letting me finish my words, Nile grabbed my collar and dragged me out.

In the end, the moment we left the room, I saw the ceiling collapse one piece at a time, with the white cotton and evil spirits stuck among them continuously moving above it.

Dragging me out, Nile quickly kicked the door shut with a deafening bang, “Obey my command, and seal the door without exception.” His wolf claw pressed on the door panel, and a strange golden light drew out a small array from his palm. In less than a second, the array immediately disappeared without a trace as if it was absorbed by the door.

Another huge noise came from the opposite side of the door. The whole room was stirred up, and nonstop “dong dong” sounds of hitting came from the door.

“This can only temporarily seal it off for a short time.” Swiftly pulling me out of the hall, Nile closed the last room’s door, and likewise set up a seal on it. Instantly, all the noise disappeared.

I know that wasn’t because the ghosts disappeared, but because the dorm’s sound insulation was pretty good. That bunch of grayish-white-eyed undead are definitely forcefully breaking the door right now and might run out soon.

At the same time the door was sealed, footsteps sounded from behind us.

“Honestly, every time the dorm’s barrier gets reconstructed, something always has to happen. We should really suggest the school to change the method.” With a clank, the sound of the high heels stopped in the corridor, “You two cute little kids, it’s my turn now.”

I turned my head and saw wavy red hair. The person who walked over was the Demon black robe, Nuelle.

“Inside, that…” I didn’t know how to tell her everything that happened inside.

“Shh, you don’t have to be so nervous. I can hear the sound of your fear.” She curved into a sly smile, her red nails drawing across my cheek, “A Demon’s favorite is the sound of your fear.”

I immediately hid behind Nile.

“The fifth floor has a Spirit Door, and it’s been opened for some reason.” The very calm Nile said in a low voice, “The inside is linked to the ghost population, and now evil spirits have appeared. Who knows what else will appear later.”

“Alright, got it.” Nuelle smoothly curved into a smile, as if this wasn’t a challenge at all, “Such a troublesome matter. When I get back, I’m going to ask for a raise from the accounting department.”

While the two of them were chatting, a crashing sound suddenly came from behind the door.

At the same time, a subtle hurrying sound also came from the fourth floor’s corridor and staircase.

“What’s the situation now?” The first one to reach here, Senior glanced at the room’s door, and asked.

“Doesn’t look too good.” Nuelle shook her head and turned to look at the other black robes arriving one after another, as well as Liliya and the others who got Restua to come, “How’s the synchronization between you guys and the dorm’s sealing keys?”

“It’s only at halfway. We might not be able to reconstruct the barrier at the moment.” The one who spoke was Dallow. Like the other three, his face didn’t look that good, “But we can set up an isolation array outside.”

Senior turned his head. His red eyes looked at me and Liliya standing beside me, a bit serious and also a bit sharp, “Why did the Spirit Door on the fifth floor open?”

Once he asked that, I immediately knew…Senior and the others must have already known what was on the fifth floor.

“We don’t know either.” Liliya’s head was lowered, and she said in a very soft voice, “I just wanted to investigate that array’s elemental composition, when it suddenly activated on its own.”

“It’s already too late to ask then now. Let’s think of a way to relock the Spirit Door first.” Putting his hand on Senior’s shoulder, Randall said, likewise having a rarely-seen serious expression on him, “If we let those things in the Spirit Door out of the Black Dorm, the consequences will be unimaginable.”

“Nn.” Senior nodded and didn’t continue to talk.

Just as everyone quieted down, a slamming sound abruptly came from the room’s door. A palm penetrated the wooden door and appeared before our eyes.

“The evil spirits broke through pretty quickly. Looks like there are probably some high-level evil spirits inside.” Watching that palm pull back, a grayish-white eye appeared in the hole in the door, looking outside. Instantly taking out a white crystal from his pocket, Restua let the crystal float above his palm, “I’ll prolong the duration of the seal. Please go outside and lay down an isolation array immediately, so that the evil spirits won’t be able to leave the Black Dorm at least.” The crystal suddenly broke into powder. Bit by bit, the entire door was covered by it, and the surroundings once again became quiet.

At the same time, the several black robes standing nearby disappeared, and not even a shadow of them could be seen.

“Chu Ming Yang, let’s hurry up and leave.” Pulling my arm, Liliya directly dragged me down the stairs.

After going out the Black Dorm’s entrance, Senior and the others, who had already arrived outside, had long since been standing in front of the entrance, forming four diagonals. Nuelle stood on the stairs to the Black Dorm, and a golden array appeared beneath her feet.

“Liliya, there need to be two people guarding them. Stand beside me.” Nuelle glanced at her, and said. Liliya didn’t dare to waste time either, and immediately stood at the other end of the stairs. Similarly, a golden array appeared beneath her.

“Chu, move behind me.” Following Senior’s call, I instantly ran for a long distance.

The black robes at the four corners simultaneously stretched out their hands, and the round, shiny objects that they took out earlier floated up from their palms.

“Sealing Isolation Barrier.”

I saw a huge array appear beneath the entire Black Dorm, slowly rotating.

The things above Senior and the others’ hands emitted a dazzling light, and strange totem patterns formed on them, connecting the whole large-scale array.

“Chu, listen to me now.” Standing in front of me, the back of the figure said, and I hurriedly took two steps closer, “We have to set up an isolation barrier and won’t be able to leave here, so right now we need someone to go in and close the Spirit Door.”

Close the Spirit Door?

I thought of that large ancient array, the unfamiliar array that gave me a familiar feeling.

“Right, that’s the Spirit Door. At that time, when the Ghost King wanted to send troops, he once set up interlinked Spirit Doors in various places. There’s one in the Black Dorm, but it’s been closed and sealed by the barrier for years. Who knows why it’s been opened now, so we need to close it off again.” Maintaining the movement of the large-scale array, Senior didn’t turn his head, “Otherwise, if we keep dragging this out, the opened Spirit Door will attract more high-level evil spirits, and by then, the situation will get out of hand. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I, I understand.” Nodding hard, I looked at the Black Dorm ahead. More and more disturbances could gradually be heard from inside.

At the same time, someone stepped out of the Black Dorm. It was Restua who had stayed behind earlier.

He rushed over to us, “I closed all the rooms and entrances to the hall. Right now, there are already low-level evil spirits pouring into the corridor, and they might head toward the entrance soon.”

So fast?

I looked at the Black Dorm; there were even more sounds coming from inside.

“Chu, I’m not going to say any more. I need you to go in and close the Spirit Door now.”

Turning his head, that pair of red eyes looked at me, without any sign of joking at all, “We can’t wait for other people to come and help. Someone has to go in and close the Spirit Door now.”

I took a step back.

I don’t even know how to open or close the Spirit Door; I don’t know how to do it!

“Icy Flame, that’s too much pressure on him.” Restua’s expression was quite serious, clearly showing that he didn’t agree.

“This is something he can do. Why would you call that too much pressure.” His tone also very unyielding, Senior looked straight at me, “Chu, you just need to say one word: do you dare to go in or not?”

Looking at Senior, my whole mind turned blank with a boom.

“I…I…”

“As long as you believe the Spirit Door can be closed, you can definitely close it. So, what do you say?”

Suddenly dumbfounded, how come I feel like I heard this before somewhere?

“They’re out!” Following Nuelle’s shout, everyone’s attention was pulled over there.

With a boom, the Black Dorm’s entrance was shaken by an unknown powerful force. The entire Black Dorm’s glass was smashed into pieces, and the violent breaking sound spread throughout the surroundings. The first grayish-white-eyed evil spirit walked out from inside, with black glass shards stuck in its body.

[The one who signed a contract with me, allow the attacker to witness your weight.] Nuelle curved into a gorgeous smile and stretched out her hand. A black-red light drew out into a line in her hand, “Come on and play with us.”

With a heavy “dong” sound of something falling on the ground, two heavy hammers that looked like they probably couldn’t be lifted by ordinary people appeared beside her legs. They were almost as tall as a person, their black bodies giving off a dark red glow.

“Nuelle, don’t destroy the Black Dorm.” As soon as he saw her take out her Illusionary Weapon, Restua immediately said in a very tensed way.

“Nah, that’ll have to depend on my mood.” Blowing a kiss, Nuelle picked up that huge hammer with just one hand and instantly smashed it on the head of the evil spirit that came out.

When the weapon moved away, all I could see was a puddle of stinking blood and flesh.

I had a sudden feeling of nausea.

“Chu, you still haven’t answered my question yet.” Senior’s voice made me come to my senses.

Looking at the gradually growing cluster of evil spirits in the Black Dorm, I instinctively stepped back.

Liliya and Nuelle had already started fighting, and the black robes were isolating the area.

Then, am I able to close the Spirit Door?

“There’s nothing that can’t be done. As long as you believe you can do it, you can do it.”

Looking at the Senior and the others, I slowly nodded, “Please let me try. Although…I don’t know if I can do it well.” As long as I believe I can, then, I guess I should be able to do it.

“Chu Ming Yang, you don’t need to be too nervous.” Standing at the other end, Julian shouted toward this side, “If you die, I’ll help you resurrect, since we’re currently in the school anyway. But if you want to be part of my collection, I wouldn’t mind either.”

“I don’t want to be part of your collection.” I immediately retorted in less than a second.

You’re joking, everyone knows that this boss’s favorite thing to collect is called a “corpse.”

“Student Chu, good luck.” Dallow smiled at me, “Don’t worry, it’s very easy.”

In fact, I think it probably won’t be very easy.

“Then, how should I do it?” I looked at Senior in front of me and used a lot of courage to ask.

Senior turned his head to glance at me, “Find the Spirit Door, seal it, and that’s it.”

Isn’t that obvious!?

I felt the surrounding temperature starting to drop.

“Seems like a big one is coming out.” Standing in front of the entrance, Nuelle looked inside. Beneath her feet were clumps of meat patties piled up, and scattered all over the place were blood plasma and skin, temporarily blocking the evil spirits from continuing to gush out.

Big…big what!?

I really feel like turning around and running away.

“Chu, there’s no time. Hurry up and go in. After you find the Spirit Door, you can decide how you want to destroy it. In short, you just have to think of a way to stop the spirit door from working.” Senior’s urging voice sounded.

Easy for you to say, I just don’t know how to stop it from working!

In the midst of the chaos, Senior reached his hand out and patted my shoulder, almost making me jump up in fright, [Elven god, guardian envoy, with a covering as protection, hiding from the eyes of the enemy, the real person puts on false armor, thus confusing the enemy’s eyes.] He chanted a long string of words before withdrawing his hand, “That way, if a rather high-level thing appeared from the Spirit Door, it’ll be less likely to pay attention to you. You can rest assured as you go in. Minas has enough power to repel ordinary members of the Ghost Tribe.”

Aih? Is that so?

I looked at myself closely, but I really couldn’t tell what was different.

“Nile, protect him as he goes upstairs.” At the other end, Randall said to his blonde butler who had already changed back into his original form, “No matter what you encounter, you must make sure he gets to the end.”

Nile nodded, and in the blink of an eye, he was already standing next to me.

“Go.” I was suddenly pushed by Senior, and staggered a few steps forward, entering the range of the barrier.

As soon as I entered the barrier, the surrounding air became colder, and there was also a suffocating feeling. The point is, the moment I went in, the entire room turned darker, a big contrast from outside.

“Ah! I don’t care anymore!”

F**k the sealing method! At any rate, I’ll know how to destroy it once I get there! It’s always like this every time!

I began to rush forward in self-destruction.

Nile followed beside me, not too fast nor slow, at just the same speed as me.

“Kids, good luck!” Standing in front, Nuelle stretched her hand out. A red ball of light appeared above her palm, and with a boom, it passed through the entire Black Dorm’s hall, causing the evil spirits inside to be blasted away all at once, “Come back safe oh.”

There was another sound of something ready to make trouble for us on the stairs.

Stepping into the Black Dorm’s hall, the rooms that were originally visible had all disappeared. Even the places like the kitchen had turned into walls. Only the stairs and corridors leading up were left.

Is this what Restua meant by closing the entrances?

After seeing that the rooms were all sealed, I relaxed slightly, because there were still a lot of things in my room. If they broke into my room and destroyed my things, I’ll cry right in front of them.

An obstacle quickly appeared just as we got on the second floor.

Like cockroaches, the evil spirits persistently regenerated as they emerged from various passages. Grayish-white eyes were everywhere, making me feel extremely disgusted

“Please continue moving forward.”

Throwing over this sentence, Nile stepped forward. With both palms overlapping, he blasted the first incoming evil ghost back with one strike.

“Oh, okay.” Looking at the path being cleared away, I deeply felt that senior Randall really was a good person; I never thought that his personal butler he lent me would be so strong.

Because our goal was to get back to the Spirit Door, we didn’t linger around more than we had to along the way. Ever since Nile drove off the Ghosts, he‘s been running near me, and a long, long line chased behind us.

About ten minutes later, the two of us finally made it back to the fourth floor after much difficulties.

All the rooms’ doors were gone, leaving only that doorway continuously pouring out Ghosts at the end of the long corridor.

The surrounding air became even heavier.

I smelled a mud-like odor.

Shoving away the group of evil spirits that was blocking the way, Nile pulled me along as he rushed straight into the room. There was a black glow in the bedroom, and a strange noise that didn’t sound like a evil spirit.

Then, all the evil spirits stopped moving.

I heard the sound of breathing.

One breath then another, incomparably heavy.

Within the bedroom, one by one, the evil spirits all moved aside. Then the grayish-white eyes all turned to look at us in unison, completely motionless.

At the end of the room was the tiny figure of a back. The commotion quieted down at the same time the figure slowly turned around.

Nile stopped, and a bit of shock appeared in his originally calm expression.

What appeared in front of us was a person, a little elementary-school-aged girl wearing a beautiful black dress. Her gray eyes and pale face made her look like a doll. Falling from her face were big brown curls tied with pretty ribbons.

For a moment, my mind blanked out, and I felt that nothing existed around me.

“Mr. Chu!” All is a sudden, my shoulder was grabbed by someone, and I suddenly woke up. I lifted my head to see Nile’s blue eyes, “Don’t be tricked by the illusion.”

Illusion?

I blinked and saw that the surroundings were still filled with those evil spirits.

The girl stood in the middle of them. If it weren’t for those evil spirits, I really would have thought that she was the most normal little girl.

“Who is she?” I looked at that girl and suddenly had a chilling feeling.

Nile looked at me for a long, long time before slowly opening his mouth…

“Of the seven evil Ghost aristocrats belonging to Evil Ghost King Bishen, and the seven experts of the Ghost King, Katherine.”

The seven experts of Evil Ghost King Bishen.

I remember now: I saw one of them before, the deep water aristocrat, Lylin, who was later forcibly sent back by Senior.

[T/N: I found out from the previous translator’s draft that she appeared in the hard copy. Apparently it happened in V1C8 when Chu blew up the park]

That girl laughed; it was a tiny little sound, and yet it made all the surrounding evil spirits flee the room in a hurry. Even the few that bumped into us didn’t look back.

Very soon, the entire room was cleared out.

“Hee-hee…Sisters said it’s not good to start a fight here…it doesn’t seem that way though…” Her voice was very small but it was enough for me to clearly hear her. Although she wasn’t speaking Mandarin, I was somehow able to understand.

Nile stood in front of me, “Mr. Chu.” His voice was very low, only letting me hear, “Following this, you have to go up on your own.”

“What about you?” I knew he intended to take on the girl in front of us by himself, because many people have done the same for me in the past too.

“I’ll be fine; no deaths can occur in the school. It’s the same even for an expert of the Ghost King.” Looking at the girl who was gradually approaching us, Nile opened his hand, and instantly transformed into a werewolf, “After you find the Spirit Door, as long as you destroy a part of the array rendering it incomplete, it will stop working.”

So it’s actually that easy?

That’s right, I remembered that I did see a similar method before during the competition. No wonder Senior didn’t tell me how to close it.

Senior, sometimes saying a little more wouldn’t kill you, really!

“A werewolf and a human, which is the one my King wants?” The girl stopped a few steps away from us, smiling as she looked at the two of us, “The human looks very weak…no power at all…”

I’m sorry I’m just that weak.

“This isn’t a place the Ghost Tribe should come. Please leave at once.”

Looking at that girl, Nile was tense and alert as if he was about to face a formidable enemy, “Otherwise, you will be forcibly sent back.”

“Hah! A little Werewolf dares to talk to me like this!” Her eyes suddenly widening, the girl’s voice gradually became shriller, almost making you feel some kind of pain of your auditory nerve being scraped, “I am the hellfire aristocrat! You think I will do whatever you tell me to do!?” After she yelled, a black butterfly immediately appeared on her palm.

Black floating flames immediately appeared in the room, drawing into a circle around us like will-o’-the-wisps.

Taking a closer look, those weren’t actual fire; they were the same black butterflies, wing by wing, as they strangely stopped in midair, not flying nor moving away.

I took a step back.

The black butterflies flew in the surroundings, giving one a not-so-good, weird feeling.

“You guys will have to careful oh. Touching my friends will cause you to die without a complete body.” Curving into a dimpled smile, the girl snapped her fingers, and one of the butterflies suddenly flew toward the wall. The moment it touched the wall, a loud bang sounded.

Right before our eyes, a large empty hole was blown out of that wall.

Looking at the whole room full of butterflies, I suddenly felt fearful.

If we were touched by these things, there probably wouldn’t even be a trace left of us, so how are we supposed to be resurrected?

“So, which one of you guys is the one my King is looking for?” She was still smiling, a smile that made one feel cold, “Be good and say it, or else I will let these children keep you company for a while.”

I saw those butterflies slowly moving closer to us.

Just as the first butterfly was about to touch me, I saw that behind the girl, outside the large French window which was already smashed by Nile, a black shadow was rapidly charging over to us.

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way! All of you get out of the way!”

Following the clamoring voice, with a bam, the black shadow directly crashed into the back of the girl who didn’t have time to react. The two people immediately fell into a heap with a very painful “kou dong” sound. The surrounding butterflies also disappeared in the same second.

“Tsk tsk, I’ve already said to get out of the way. If you die from the crash, that’s your own bad luck.” Disregarding the fact that he’s the murderer who knocked over the person, the black shadow laughed. Then he agilely flipped himself up from the ground, and waved at the dumbfounded Nile and me, “Hallo, Yang~~and the Vampire’s butler.”

“Ziray? Why are you here!?”

It’s broad daylight, and I encountered a ghost.