Chapter 223: Rescue

Meanwhile, in the Mortal World, the only two captains left in the base were Holn and Lu. After the other three captains left, the base was in chaos but manageable. Yano's talisman has sealed off almost the whole country, pushing the vengeful ghosts to crowd any areas void of the talisman. These areas were then quickly purged by the exorcists.

The situation in other countries wasn't too different. They were managing well, fortunately, although the reason was unknown, no more ghosts were sent to the Mortal World. At least for now.

However, with only Holn and Lu remaining, both of them had to change and take on the responsibility. Lu couldn't afford to be lazy anymore, even though his whole body screamed to lay down at any given moment, while Holn had to get serious and leave Lu alone. Managing to get everything under control, there was only one thing that wasn't. The base.

Right now the base was filled with homeless mortals as their cities were wrecked during the purge or sealed off to purge the ghosts. Holn and Lu didn't want to resort to this but due to their negligence, these mortals have come to find out-

"Oh great immortal," a man in his thirties relentlessly chased after Lu with sparkling eyes, "Please show us your superpower again!"

Holn had no time to laugh about Lu's misfortune as he himself was stuck in the same situation. Somehow the mortals spread rumours about them being immortals from another world and were here to purge ghosts.

It was obvious that people would make up stories when they didn't know the truth but this was frighteningly correct. Their stories and rumours hit the bullseye. Holn was sure if Yano or Skyla found out, Holn would be skinned alive.

"Oh, immortals!"

Lu was currently running away from the mortals who camped in the base and treated it as an evacuation camp. They even set up tents for medical purposes and tents to hand out food and drinks.

It wasn't only Lu and Holn who were the subject of admiration but all exorcists.

"Lu! B-Base!" Holn managed to choke out as he was in the middle of a bunch of women surrounding him. In normal cases, Holn would be rejoicing but right now things didn't look good enough to talk in awe and popularity.

After a whole lot of struggles, "Ladies, I'll get back to you. Please wait." and "Of course, I care about you," and "Please leave me some time," to desperately making excuses, "I'm into men!", Holn was finally able to get into the base and make his way to the centre.

Mentally beaten up, Holn laid over a black cushion and succumbed to despair. Lu already sat there and raised an eyebrow.

"Don't judge me!" Holn quickly said, "I'm a goner. All the females will now think I-I messed up," seeing Holn being so dejected for the first time in 10 years Lu was surprised.

It also kind of felt good that the teasing Holn didn't have the strength to do what he did best.

"Lu!" suddenly Holn shot up, "We got to manage things here before Yano or fierce reddy figure it out!"

"Skyla will kill you," Lu bored said but knew things were dire for them.

"But there are more gripping problems," Lu added.

"Yes, the Immortal World... The Ghost King won't stop, so it's best to fight him there rather than hold our forte here," Holn knew how the things looked like in the Immortal World, right when Mil and Skyla arrived, they briefed them. Also saying how it'd be the best for Holn and Lu to also come.

"But will it be enough?" Holn wasn't confident fighting the army knowing how the last battle went.

"We'll help you!"

1, 2, 3 seconds passed before Holn and Lu mechanically turned their heads to 1, 2, 3- 10 grinning people.

"Fucking hell! Didn't I tell you guys not to come here!" Holn jumped up and tried to shoo the mortals aways who once again sneaked into the base.

"Alright, the Immortal World sounds mad. We, the captains, will help," one of the males said and pointed at everyone.

Not only Holn but also Lu scowled. Since the purge, around 2000 mortals made their homes in the base and the 10 strongest have proclaimed themselves as the captains of the mortals, mimicking Holn and Lu.

"You mortals are going to be useless! You won't even survive a second!" Holn wanted to rip off their grins but it only made them more excited, "C'mon we survived the ghosts here!"

"This and that are two different matters! Damn it! Get a reality check!" Holn was despairing.

The previous happy-go-lucky Holn who loved to prank and mischievously tease turned into an angry, scolding grandpa.

Lu didn't know how he should feel about this.

"Invading the Immortal World sounds amazing!" a female spoke up.

"I wanna see how the Immortal World looks!" another male shouted.

Lu sighed but didn't say anything. Even if mortals managed to get into the Immortal World, they'd be teleported back to the Mortal World after a while. But the downside was they'd die, only their corpses would remain.

"You'll die, mortals can't be in the Immortal World," Lu finally said.

"Does it matter?" surprisingly the mortals didn't seem to mind, "If there's a dude who plays god and wants to destroy our world, we'll die anyways. So the best option is to beat him in his own home turf!"

***

"That's basically the story hahaha!" Holn scratched the back of his head as Skyla and Yano glared at him.

"Wow, this is the Immortal World?"

"Doesn't look much different…hmm..."

"Oh, more immortals!"

"So handsome!"

"Beauties!"

"He's cute!"

Yano shielded Lia from the stares of the mortals and grabbed Lu and Holn by the ear, "So you thought it'd be great to bring 200 mortals here? Right in front of my house?"

"T-They can help!" Holn forgot just how painful Yano's punishments were.

"Tell me how?"

"T-They said it!"

"You just believe them like this?" Yano was at his wit's end.

He didn't know Holn and Lu could be so stupid and bold to actually bring the mortals to the Immortal World. It was basically a suicide mission. This has and should've never happened.

The mortals all curiously squirmed around the place and went everywhere. Everyone from the base was brought here, even kids, elderly and injured people. Lia was quite shocked when she stepped out of the house wanting to execute the plan they've come up with to infiltrate the palace.

Now, it seemed like they had to change plans.

Suddenly screams emerged.

"H-Help! Ghosts!" the other mortals hearing this all went on a rampage and chaos erupted.

The ghosts Lia used for her corpses were curious about the new arrivals and pulled on the mortals for fun.

"Can they see ghosts?" Lia was perplexed if mortals could magically see ghosts once they came to the Immortal World.

"Nope, shouldn't," Yano answered.

Well, it wouldn't be hard for mortals to guess that there were ghosts if they were magically taken into the air.

"H-Help!" the mortals panicked thinking the ghosts were bad.

Not even thinking about it, Lia rushed to the mortals and then exclaimed, "Leave them alone or you won't get a body anymore."

The ghosts instantly let go of the mortals and surrounded Lia. They pressed themselves against Lia and rubbed their cheeks on her body as if to ask for forgiveness and hoped Lia wouldn't actually leave them hanging.

"Just go and enjoy your time somewhere else," Lia's words caused the ghosts to scatter.

"W-We're safe?" the mortals realised nothing was picking on them and they stared with big, grateful eyes at Lia.

"Our saviour! Hooray!" Now it was their turn to crowd Lia and grab her hands.

"I think she's the strongest!"

"Yes! She just needs to talk and the ghosts instantly listen to her! She doesn't even need to purge them!"

"So OP!"

Lia didn't have time to clear up the misunderstanding as Yano slung his arms around Lia and said, "She's my girlfriend. Find your own."

Then he rushed away with Lia in his arms.

"So cool!" the girls all swooned and stared with envious eyes after Yano while Lia pressed her lips into a fine line.

"You-"

"Wifey, I'm sorry. I should've said you're my wifey!"

Hiding behind the mansion, Yano knelt in front of Lia.

"I- you! We aren't- You!" Lia was too angry and frustrated to argue with him.

She ended up stumbling over her own words before giving up. Seeing that Lia's anger seemed to have ceased, Yano once again took her into his arms. Well, Lia couldn't say she wasn't happy that Yano made a declaration like that. It actually felt good to hear.

In the background, the volume increasingly got louder to the point that even Oldie, Skyla's and Mil's parents came out to see what was going on. The mortals went wild with adrenaline and excitement pumping them up. It was a good thing they couldn't leave this place on their own.

While the circus went on, Lia found herself helplessly in Yano's embrace sitting on the grass. Suddenly, scenes of the time Lia had to murder mortals during the infiltration in the ghost facility came welling up, "They all have to die, don't they?"

Yano heard the sad tone in Lia's voice and squeezed her a bit, "It's the decision they've made. We have to respect it."

Lia just nodded at the unusual wise words Yano spoke and absent-mindedly traced Yano's arms up and down with her fingers. The ticklish and soft feeling brought a smile on Yano's face. He really loved Lia too much to ever let her go.

Both of them were so immersed in their own little world, they didn't even notice the approaching figure. It was a mortal. Seeing the happy couple, the innocent mortal went, "Oh…" involuntarily catching the immortals' attention.

The guy flustered, backed off mumbled, "Sorry," before he took a closer look and then exclaimed, "Ohh!!!!"

He excitingly pointed at Lia and then himself, "Do you remember? Do you? No wonder! You're an immortal! So, it's like that! From that day I couldn't forget you!"

The mortal happily approached Lia, not noticing the narrowed eyes of Yano who also went, "Oh?" but Yano's was more dangerous as if he was hearing something interesting.

"I didn't know my wife left such a deep impression on someone," Yano's arm tightened around Lia while Lia didn't know whether to cry or to laugh. Yano's jealousy was something else.

"Oh, I didn't know you were married!"

Lia helplessly looked at the male but couldn't remember him, "I'm sorry but I can't remember you."

The guy looked a bit hurt before excitingly chatting away while Yano was a bit happier, "I'm the bartender who helped you! Do you remember? You came in, beat up around 10 guys and then asked about ghosts not knowing how to use the internet! Now it all makes sense, yes, yes!"

"Oh!" Lia now slowly recognised the bartender from that night, "Thank you again for your help!"

"It's no biggie!"

"But why are you here in the Immortal World?" him being here meant it was inevitable for him to die and Lia didn't want that.