Old Man Ryu stared at Max's retreating figure, his expression solemn.
Ever since he was young, Paul had been his best friend. But right before Magnus, Max's father, got married, Paul had left Whitecliff City. When he returned many years later, Damian had already become the City Lord and had begun controlling everything.
After observing everything for a few days, Paul had foretold that Damian's rise was unstoppable and things for the citizens might become tough.
Since there had been a track record for the dictators to be overbearing, they decided they shouldn't interact with each other to give themselves a place to hide from the Damian if such a need arose in future.
To that end, they had orchestrated a fight and broken-off all relations.
After Magnus died, he had told Max while talking that if someday they couldn't pay the taxes, they could go to Paul's house and since more than a decade had passed since their fight, almost no one remembered he used to be friends with Paul.
So, the City Lord's people, more likely than not, would not look for them there and they could safely stay in hiding at his house until they figured out a way to leave the city.
Therefore, when Max told him to go to Paul's house, he knew something bad had happened.
He clenched his fists and turned to look at the City Lord Mansion, rage flickering in his eyes. 'You are targeting my family… again…'
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to calm down because going to Paul's house was more important. So, he rushed back home, took Anna, who had already packed the essential items in a cloth bag and stealthily left for Paul's house in the western part of the city.
…
Max soon arrived at the city gate and since the guard had yet to report to the City Lord Mansion, no one stopped him from leaving but the guards of duty did give him a few extra glances.
Of course, Max knew it was because he wasn't carrying his axe like usual and also because they must have witnessed him being carried to the city a few days and were just surprised to see him up and about so soon.
One should know, while a few doctors could be found in the city, they could only deal with some minor stuff probably because there was no science in this world, so the medical field hadn't developed much.
Therefore, unless it was some minor illness such as cold or minor wounds, people usually had to lay in bed for weeks and months even.
Ignoring them, Max headed toward the woods, to the place he had encountered the ghost.
Step! Step! Step!
While his steps didn't falter, his heart rate was increasing.
If not for the City Lord Mansion's threat, he would have liked to train and condition himself and also learn to wield the dagger properly before coming to the woods to kill the ghost.
But he was here, without any preparation and since what he was going to face was a supernatural entity, he was anxious and scared.
However, he kept telling himself that with the dagger, he could kill it without any problem, so there was no need to be scared. Moreover, once he succeeded, he could use the system to get stronger, beginning his journey in this world.
At that time, he would no longer need to be afraid of anything.
Soon, he entered the woods and even before he arrived at the spot he previously met the ghost, he heard the familiar footsteps.
Ba-Dum! Ba-Dum! Ba-Dum!
His heart rate increased even further and he stealthily put his right hand in his upper robe and clasped the hilt of the dagger tightly while maintaining his walking speed, acting like he hadn't noticed anything.
At the same time, he was thinking, 'Damn, why did it come so soon? I needed a little more time to calm down.'
Right then, his pupils constricted for a split second because he saw a blurry figure standing fifty meters ahead of him.
Though he couldn't see its features and wasn't sure if it was because of the system that he was able to see it, he knew it was another Specter. Moreover, he could even tell that it was different from the one that killed the previous Max.
'Fuck! As if killing one was easy, two have appeared.' He cursed in his mind.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
When he was only 20 meters away from the Specter ahead, the one rushing from behind arrived right behind him.
Shua!
Max's heart tensed and he suddenly stopped. Then he turned around just in time to see the same grotesque entity he was in Max's memories extend its claw toward his head.
Immediately, he stepped forward, ducked slightly and stabbed the digger in its chest.
Maybe because the Specter hadn't expected him to dodge its claws and attack it, the dagger pierced its chest and Max's eyes lit up.
However, in the next moment, his expression changed because he didn't feel the dagger strike anything.
Just as he thought the dagger had failed and he was dead…
Skcreeeeee~
The Specter let out a high pitched scream, dizzying him.
Then as he watched, its already twisted features twisted and stretched even more before it burst apart into a dark mist which soon dispersed in the air.
Shua!
Right at that moment, Max heard the faint sound from behind him and spun on his heels and swung the dagger in an horizontal arc.
Hiss!
A hissing noise sound as the dagger blade sliced through the figure covered in the dark mist.
However, unlike before, the Specter didn't explode into nothingness. However, as it moved back, he noticed the dark mist around it was no longer as dense and he could vaguely see the Specter's features which were similar to the previous one.
Its eyes focused on the dagger and then to Max's surprise, it spoke, "Why do you have that madman's blade? Are you the son of Damian Whitecliff? Is he revolting?"
Max's eyes narrowed when he heard this and speculations whirled in his mind.