[Darn it!]

Lapis cursed. The situation was getting worse.

However, Aeron's eyes were glued to the wondrous phenomenon that whipped out waves of fear, as evident by all the cries and screeches of ghosts that echoed from the forest.

He saw with his eyes as the tornado was cut into two from the middle with a glowing blood-red line and a giant mirage of Shear before five more giant Shear appeared and started cutting the tens-of-kilometer-tall dark tornado into pieces.

[We are in an open space and that'll make you an easy target for Haunts, Aeron. Run as fast as possible towards the dark hill following this east river stream. Hurry!]

"Tell me what's going on while I run," Aeron held the spear's mid-part tightly and started running with a focus on his front vision, moderately fast running, and consistent pace in case a sudden Haunt attacked him.

[Leo died precisely because of the mess happening in this Dark Ruin's core area.]

[Genering a quest…]

Lapis' expression changed.

Aeron heard a sudden monotone voice and was surprised. 'What's this?'

Lapis sighed with a wry smile.

[Aeron, could you stop getting thrilled over this? You can generate a quest every day, but the quest generation depends on your location, surroundings, knowledge you discover, and desires.]

[I am also discovering the features of your Phantom Spark, and was about to tell you about the quest, but well…too late.]

'Daily one quest? Interesting. But what's this mess about?'

[You know about the Haunts. Next is Dark Ruins. You are currently in an open-type Z-rank Dark Ruin known as Dark Claw Forest.]

However, before Lapis could continue, she was interrupted as the quest finished generating.

[Quest generated.]

[Dark Claw's Uninvited Bad Guest]—Difficulty: SSS-rank.

_Task: Restore the balance to this dark ruin, Dark Claw Forest.

'Restore Balance?'

[This Dark Claw forest is a magical dark ruin of large magnitude and is an important location for Fourth Sanctuary City.]

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

'Oh? How?' Aeron was surprised, though he continued running with complete focus on his front and surroundings.

[First of all, Dark Ruins are places where Haunts live and curse power gather, producing cursed resources, but there are multiple types of Dark Ruins, multiple types of Haunts, and multiple ways to deal with them.]

'Understandable.

[Z-rank Dark Ruins of any type are considered strongest and largest. This Dark Claw forest is open-type, attracts all sorts of Haunts, and even produces them, while also nurturing cursed resources that Phantom Hunters can utilize.]

[The strongest Haunts are in the center, and the weakest ones are in the periphery, so this location is good for new generations of Phantom Hunters to train and get powerful.]

'I see, then this forest is indeed a good Dark Ruin for the city,' Aeron internally nodded. 'But now, there's this bad uninvited guest that's messing things up, eh?'

Lapis weakly smiled and replied.

[Yep. But this uninvited guest is not just any Haunt, but….a Supreme Haunt.]

Aeron's eyes flashed. 'The so-called strongest Haunts?'

[Sigh, indeed. It's an X-rank Haunt, a Sinister.]

'Sinister?' Aeron raised his eyebrows.

[Sinister is a term…given to the strongest of Haunts. Even the strongest of Phantom Hunters can't do anything to them for now.]

[This Sinister's name is Lady Shear. It arrived here and is occupying the core of this Dark Ruin. After that, it started eating all Haunts in the surroundings. This destroyed balance in the forest, so even powerful Haunts from the core were running towards the periphery of the forest, running away from this Dark Ruin.]

Lapis's expression turned grave.

[Many also ran away towards Fourth Sanctuary City, and even more are coming. Hurry to the dark hill so we can hide and hunt.]

'What a trouble,' Aeron ruefully smiled. 'So how exactly powerful is this Lady Shear?

Lapis's expression turned unnatural with some hesitation as she thought of something for a second.

[If…this Sinister decides to have some fun in the Fourth Sanctuary City, then the least number of deaths we can expect is still above a hundred thousand, and that's a huge loss for humanity.]

'What the…fuck?!' Aeron's balls went cold hearing that, and he almost fell flat on his face while running.

'A hundred fucking thousand…minimum.'

Aeron's eyes narrowed, and his sunset-colored pupils brightened as if responding to his spirit.

[According to what I know, Lady Shear looks like a woman wearing a noble black dress and a dark gray veil on her face that would only show a pair of misty red eyes.]

[She has a large black scissor with eccentric, dark silver and red patterns on it, and her curse power is cutting and related to scissors.]

[She can cut anything. If she snaps her scissors, she can cut the entire Fourth Sanctuary City into two. If she snaps her scissors once while influencing a certain area, then all people in that area would be cut into pieces, as if cut by a big Shear at once. And this is not even everything.]

'What?!'

Aleron couldn't believe that a ghost possessing such devastating powers was haunting this world, and it was only one of the many. Sweat beads formed on his forehead when he imagined himself before such a ghost.

It was too shocking and despairing!

And…exciting!

'Lapis, don't you think we should hunt that Lady Shear? Come on, think of something. I want to see her,' Aeron grinned.

Lapis rolled her eyes.

[We are at the dark hill. There it is.]

'I see it. Wow, it's all black.'

Lapis snorted.

[Let's first learn how to use your powers and some basics. After that, you can dream about meeting Lady Shears.]