Chapter 152 - Damaged

Dropping Chan down almost gently once this snow white Ghost made an entrance, the 10 foot tall woman being curious of the interrupting Ghost's thoughts, couldn't help but ask. "What do you suggest for us to do, Grand Leader." Grand Leader? This could explain his importance in front of these ghosts. This is a tribe of Ghosts after all, and although their society mostly unseen, they have their own lifestyles for sure.

"This man, might not show our best interest at heart." Expressed the Grand Leader, as he glared upon Chan with not little but a lot disappointment. He noticed that Chan was far to lost, with Ale in his mind. "It's not that I like him, it's not that I respect his mindset." The Grand Leader continued to express, expecting Chan to not react badly to such words or at this point, facts.

"Wow, so welcoming." Expressed Guard Commander Chan in strong sarcasm. Sarcasm isn't usually his thing, in fact the Ghost didn't even hurt his feelings. King Xakro made him immune due to the countless threats and offensive sentences he threw towards Chan. No no, Chan expressed himself that way because he didn't want to stay quiet while others are offending him.

But he regretted it almost instantly when he noticed the Grand Leader's deadly glare, and felt himself being lifted a few inches above the ground, slowly but it was sure adrenaline rushing. Do perhaps different Ghosts have different Powers who might not be based on any of the 8 (or now best described 7) Sources? But saving his soul with an unintentional offension due to the fact that he was close to pissing his pants, Chan actually apologized. "Sorry, Mister WildBoar Grand Leader sir." As he felt smaller second by second. To his luck, the apology worked, his feet were on the ground once more. If Guard Commander Chan is to develop Ghost phobia, it would be because of the Grand Master.

Seeing that Chan has been tamed, the Grand Leader actually proceeded with a lot of sympathy. I suppose Chan stopped the Grand Leader mid sentence. "However, when I was able to read the deep recesses of his mind, he is just a broken soul. It should dawn to us that he lost his Parents at such a young age, and it got the best out of him." At such expression, the 10 foot tall lady ghost had nothing to say about it. She was left speechless and actually felt sympathy, a bit of guilt too. She was too quick to judge but Chan was being an ass too. These Ghosts all lost families before, in both lives to be exact. The Grand Leader continued to express. "Furthermore although intentions different he aims to harm strong evil. An enemy of our enemy is our friend. That's why I brought him here, we shall let him chop down the tree if he feels capable to do so."

"But our..."

Clearly considering the lost souls before he even made this decision, he too agrees with Chan. They can't bring back the lost souls but they can save other souls with this approach. "Tell him the word!" Ordered the Leader with a thicker louder tone, which got the ground underneath their feet to shake, and small rocks disrupted, flying off the ground for a couple of feet.

Even though she can't understand the Grand Leader's choices completely, she does have strong trust in him. "Fine. The word is "Azr.a.p.etos". She agreed because the Grand Leader is the wisest Ghost here, she didn't agree because of the sense of authority.

As soon as the tall lady finished that sentence, it was like a Command to other Ghosts nearby. The man who convinced her is the Grand Leader yes. But this lady could be the Leader(specifically one rank below). It really isn't certain. As if by Command, an Axe appeared on Chan's hand. A heavy one actually. The metal itself weighed around 10 Kilograms and the wooden tail on it was a couple meters long. So to Chan, it would feel more like swinging a battle axe. 

The leader(tall woman) grabbed Chan's shoulder, and to his surprise the scene changed big time. Well not entirely, he still saw trees and snow, which became usual by now. But Also, he saw a few(tens) of paranormal activities. He was able to see the rest of the Ghosts who refused to appear in front of Chan with a solid form.

Their seemingly natural form was something you would expect in stereotypical Ghosts. Whitish, half faded, blobby form. There were a lot of those, but there were a few who had more of a Mammal form. For some reason, they seem to mimic an animal form perfectly. Why do they have different results when they try to mimic Human forms? He saw pigs, boars, bears, deer, chickens.

A lot of creatures, but he got mostly scared of the bears instead of the actual other Ghosts. His trauma towards Bears is strong thanks to the Source Bear he ran into, but somehow he is chatting it up with Ghosts like they were alive, barely being creeped out from them. Is this similar to what Mogranius sees? He did claim that he can see the unliving.

The Grand Leader approached a few steps closer. His appearance became more bizarre by the step. Well more like, his size. When he was only a few feet away, his height seemed normal. But now that he is only a foot away from Chan, the Grand Leader is standing almost ten feet tall. Almost twice Chan's size. Some sort of Ghostly illusion maybe?

As chan moved his way upwards to glance upon the Grand Leader's pure white face, he proceeded to ask. "So which way is the Ghost Tree?" He is so close to finishing his task, his willpower faced a large spike upwards.

The Grand Leader sharing the same goal, an aim to get this task over with as quickly as possible, expressed his answer with a dash in his tone. "You're roughly half a mile away. We can't risk going anywhere around 300 feet near, in fact we prefer to stay half a mile or above it away from that living breathing evil sensation." Living tree? That's interesting, what does it do? Walk? It's full of Ghosts to begin with so we can't be sure. When Chan was about to ask another question, the Grand Leader prevented him from doing so by continuing with his explanations, in order to save time.

Pointing at the dense way behind Guard Commander Chan, the Grand Leader stated. "You need to go straight towards this direction, you have the "undead's vision" for 24 hours only! So keep that in mind. You will be able to see living predators before they even approach, you will be able to predict their appearance simply because of your temporary vision."

"Well, that's one problem solved. What about the Ghost tree? Is it like the rest of this trees?" He couldn't help but interrupting. Wow. But it was an insightful question!

"With a normal vision, yes quite a lot. Which is why some Human bodies were disintegrated on the spot when they tried to axe down that tree, not being aware of its power, their soul trapped from that day onwards. At least, until the tree feeds on those souls, but you won't share the same fate. Just keep repeating the word, since we aren't sure how long the protection it offers, lasts. You should be fine."

"Thanks, but how will i be able to tell it apart from the rest of the trees?"

"You don't pay much attention do you?" Towards that question, Chan smiled with his teeth shining. Embarrassed but proud of his title.

"The Aura. That tree's Aura is different. A dark portal like form will be in the middle of the tree, it will make you feel like you are being dragged in that dark sensation. Each time you cut a branch, it will feel like that black figure is sucking you in. But in fact it is just the Evil Tree's suckage radius becoming smaller. You will be entirely safe with this word by your side!"

Feeling respect for the Grand Leader, who expressed why Chan is this way, better than Chan could ever explain himself. His sense of ego for convincing all these ghosts to work on his favour faded. His ego and pride got replaced with gratitude. Imagine it, people have been trying to help him change for a decade, but he listened to Ghosts instead? "I sincerely apologize if I offended any of you. I feel sure that I offended some of you. But i just want to get this task over with and the cold got my nerves compressed all in one place. I'm honoured to help your Ghost kind." Proceeding with a strong burden that has been tiring his soul, he told them. "But I won't apologize to the Ghost who portrayed himself as my father, it damaged my heart so badly."

Confused about Chan's experience, the Grand Leader replied while shaking his head in disagreement. "Chan, no Ghost did that. If they did, I would be the second to know, i know what every Ghost does."

Wildily bewildered of the fact that he didn't face a Ghost, Chan was lost in his thoughts but still asked. "So that Ghos..."

"Wasn't a Ghost. It isn't our work."