Iron unknowingly let out a gasp of exclamation. He couldn't help but be in awe at the shocking sight of a single sword strike creating a storm and sweeping the surrounding area.

He had felt this in his previous life too, but at that time he believed that the existence of masters was already beyond the human realm.

However, despite their unusually monstrous strength, these masters were also not some kind of superhumans. The scholars had concluded that the true superhuman were existences that went beyond that level and stood firmly on the grand master level. 

‘Looking at this… it’s obvious that a sound like that will come out from my mouth, right?’

Iron’s head was blank as he stared at the scene. 

Masters were usually referred to as monsters. They were existences that stood at the peak of the human race. A one man army. The last stage that a human could reach. The realm of monsters that lay beyond that of the realm of geniuses. All of these were words that described what a master was. 

And today, Iron had no choice but to agree that these words speak of the truth. 

“But isn’t it still dangerous?”

Iron turned to Carl Gustav.

As soon as he asked, a strong and powerful black beam of light, the same power that aimed for Carl Gustav, aimed for the master that was wreaking havoc with his storm sword. 

As a master, that person could easily deflect the attack of the dark elf that aimed at him. However, that wasn’t all there was to it. Not only were the dark elves that hid deep within the Winter Mountains had indecipherable strength, there were also high-ranking monsters that lurked in all corners waiting for the right moment to pounce on him.

Even though the master had an extremely powerful sword storm to the point that he could wreak havoc in the white wyverns’ territory and even damage the cold wings’ territory, it would still be too much for him to deal with both monsters and the dark elves lurking by the shadows all by himself. If that was possible, then Crimson Halo, the Northeastern Commander, would have already wiped them all out before.

“Isn’t that why we called him?”

“Yes?”

Iron couldn’t understand Carl Gustav. Carl smiled when he saw Iron’s dumbfounded expression.

“Ghosts always pursue the perfect completion of our operations. Do you think we’ll only put all of our trust in one master in our strategy?”

When Lintel saw that Iron still couldn’t understand Carl’s words, he spoke up to explain. 

“He’s not the Northern Commander.”

Skeptical, Iron turned to look at the master that was causing a huge storm before him. Iron’s eyes widened when he felt a familiar energy from within the storm.

“Ah!”

“That’s right. He’s the commander of the Northeast. And the person we called for is the Northern Commander.”

Iron’s gaze turned blank once again as he watched Crimson, a person who had reached the master level for quite a long time, unleash his power. He was unaware of the extent of Crimson’s power since he had never seen him in his previous life. And there was no chance for him to see his power even after he came to the Northeast. Perhaps that was the reason why he was in awe at the sight in front of him.

“Storm Sword…”

Lintel thought that Iron was cute when he saw him mumbling the name of the sword technique that the Northeastern Commander was using.

“The person that we called for is now coming over.”

A drake appeared from the distant sky.

Rays of light suddenly erupted from the sky and divided the storm that Crimson had created. Even Crimson added to the chaos and plunged his sword down. All of these created a huge shockwave that brought forth a massive avalanche that swallowed the monsters in the vicinity.

All of the people present couldn’t help but stare blankly at the masters’ majesty. They were in awe at these strong people who could bring forth natural disasters with just a single move. 

“Are all masters monsters?”

“I agree.”

“The all high and mighty Billie Brandt agrees with me?”

Billie Brandt, the 2nd in the rankings, nodded his head in agreement to Lintel’s words.

The two of them were usually at odds. But right at this very moment, they had no choice but to stand in agreement while staring awestruck at the masters.

―Tweet!

While everyone was staring at the two masters in a daze, Baepsae hurriedly tweeted and pecked Iron’s head. It even flapped its wings and flew to block Iron’s view. Seeing Baepsae in front of him, Iron hurriedly gathered his hands and provided a place where Baepsae could perch on.

―Tweet, tweet, tweet!

―Hoot.

Baepsae told Iron that this was not the time for him to stare up in a daze. Owl even hooted and agreed with Baepsae.

“Why?” 

―Tweet!

Baepsae used its tiny wings to point at the blurry figure of the bird from afar.

“Ah!” 

―Tweet!

Only then did Iron realize what Baepsae was trying to tell him. Remembering the reason why they were here, he tried to call out to Carl Gustav. However, the scene in front of him made him pause once again.

‘Can I also reach that place?’

When he had seen the masters’ easily causing natural disasters, that thought flashed in Iron’s head. The scene in front of him was so spectacular that his mind flew away once again.

Lightning fell and struck the white wyverns. The white wyverns roared and let out their breath while the cold wings appeared and hovered in the air above them. Even the dark elves tried to stay standing on the ground to resist and attack their enemies with their own power.

“What’s wrong?”

Carl asked the absent-minded Iron. Thanks to Carl’s words, Iron finally woke up from his trance.

“Ah. Baepsae… No, I…” 

“Calm down.” 

Iron took a deep breath to untangle his twisted thoughts and regain his senses. 

“I think we need to find the divine beast which is presumed to be the phoenix.” 

“Find…” 

“I haven’t confirmed it yet but there seems to be a connection between the divine beast and the dimensional crack.” 

The Ghosts looked at Iron in confusion. Gustav had secretly listened to his conversation with his divine beasts earlier but it seemed like he did not hear everything since he was urging him to tell them more.

“I pondered about it earlier while we were running away.” 

Iron began to tell them the thoughts and pieces of evidence that he had considered while he was flying with Owl all the way here. 

The first thing that he explained was the reason why the dark elves were here. Then, he told them their association with the dimensional crack based on what he had inferred when they committed suicide earlier. He also told them that he was confident that the divine beast and the dimensional crack was related because he had received confirmation from Baepsae and Owl.

“Connection between the divine beast and the dimensional crack… Interesting.” 

The other Ghosts also looked interested. They nodded their heads in agreement to Carl Gustav’s words. 

“The divine beast contractor is truly more precious than a spiritualist.”  

Lintel smiled and expressed his interest while all the other Ghosts agreed. 

Although they did not explicitly show it, there were some Ghosts who were dissatisfied with Iron. He was someone who had not reached the 5th Stage yet, but he was brazen enough to come knocking on their door just because he was a rare divine beast contractor. Even if he was active in the academy and he had plenty of tactics and proposals that the Command had approved and disseminated, the Ghosts still believe that him joining them was extremely ridiculous.

All of the members of Ghost were proud individuals. They were people who were next to none and had accumulated a lot of merits. They did not want someone so weak to join their ranks just because he had some rare power.

However their prideful ideas were completely overturned today. They had no choice but to admit his strengths. This young child in front of them had found clues about a dimensional crack, something that would cause a monster wave in the future, as well as its connection with the divine beast. These were achievements that none of the Ghosts could make even if they were strong. 

“Hurry up and reach the 5th Stage.” 

“Yes?” 

Billie Brandt, the second among the Ghosts and the person that he had seen for the first time today, gave Iron a threatening glare. 

Iron looked flustered when he was suddenly threatened like that. Lintel couldn’t help but giggle as he explained Billie’s inexplicable behavior.

“He’s saying that he likes you. He wanted to tell you that people will stop saying useless things about your assignment to Ghost if you get to the 5th Stage. So, you should hurry up and climb quickly.” 

“Ah…” 

“In fact, he had just admitted that your skills and abilities are suitable for Ghost.” 

The other Ghosts also smiled faintly when they heard Lintel’s words. 

“Well then! Let’s stop chatting… From now on, follow my orders as Captain Ghost. Our operation name is ‘Phoenix Rescue’.” 

Everyone turned to look at Carl Gustav. 

“Where is the phoenix… will the cute divine beast tell us the way?” 

Hearing Carl’s question, Iron turned to look at Baepsae. Baepsae just tilted its head and pointed to the translucent bird that was staring at them from afar. 

“I think that guy over there will tell us.” 

Carl frowned when he heard Iron’s words. It was because he couldn’t see what he was pointing at with his own eyes. Even the other Ghosts only saw air.

So, all of them stared back at Iron in doubt.

“Ahem, ahem… does that mean that we just have to follow the being that you suspect as the phoenix?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

Iron was only barely able to hold back his laughter as he replied to Carl who was pointing his finger at nothing in particular while coughing in embarrassment. 

“Good. Let’s start the phoenix rescue operation.” 

Carl began to draw on the ground as he started to explain the details of their operation. 

First off, they would go to the place where the phoenix was believed to be located while avoiding the masters’ fight. To do this, they needed to go up in the sky, a process which needed the help of drakes. 

When Carl blew a special whistle, the drake that carried the Northern Commander slowly descended to where they were. 

After they entered the place where the phoenix was assumed to be, Iron would then guide them to where the phoenix was. 

The main focus of their plan was to find the phoenix with only a small number of people. This was so they could still leave some Ghost behind to defend against attacks that would probably come their way. 

“Group 1 would be me, Iron and Lintel. The rest would be in Group 2. You guys will focus on blocking the enemies.” 

“Yes, sir!” 

The Ghosts answered Carl in unison. 

“Good. Then, this is the last one.” 

Carl continued to explain the final part of their plan. 

“If a dangerous situation happens when we go to where the phoenix is, Iron will focus on escaping to the outside.” 

“That… all by myself?” 

“That’s right.” 

Carl immediately answered Iron’s question. 

“I know what you’re worried about. But as a Ghost, you have to prioritize your mission above all else.” 

Iron nodded heavily at Carl’s words. 

“Even if this operation kills all of us and you’re the sole survivor. There wouldn’t be any problems.” 

Everyone nodded in agreement. 

“There was also a time when I’m the only survivor in an operation. However, the operation was successful and there were numerous lives that had been saved because of it. And this operation is far more important than that operation.” 

Carl Gustav placed his hand on Iron’s shoulders. 

“You have to keep in mind that the operation comes first. Understand?”

“…Yes, sir.” 

Carl nodded in satisfaction when he received an affirmative from Iron. 

“We’ll carry out the operation now. It could prove to be an extremely difficult operation so make sure that your determination is at its fullest.” 

“Yes, sir!” 

All of them answered immediately. 

Then, the drake knight, who was watching them from above, slowly lowered the drake. 

“Please take care of us.” 

“I’ll do my best.” 

The drake knight knew that Carl was a Ghost so he couldn’t help but gulp in nervousness.

It was a bit too much for the drake to carry all of the Ghosts present today but when the drake knight considered that this was a very important mission, he did his best and forced the drake to carry all of the Ghosts. There were even Ghosts hanging on the drake’s feet just so they could all move through the air. 

“Is your body alright?” 

Carl turned to ask Iron, who was standing behind him. 

“I can endure it.” 

Carl was asking worriedly. He knew that Iron had suffered from severe internal injuries earlier. However, there were no big problems so far because Baepsae had helped him recover. And thanks to Baepsae, he was still currently being healed. Perhaps, it was also thanks to Baepsae’s song that Carl’s injuries were also recovering little by little. 

“Amazing.” 

―Tweet, tweet, tweet!

Carl looked at the diligently singing Baepsae in awe. Even the other Ghosts were staring at Baepsae blankly. They felt that their bodies were slowly being energized the longer they listened to Baepsae’s singing. 

While all of them were listening to Baepsae’s singing in satisfaction, the drake had already entered the aerial territory where the stormy fight was happening. Fortunately, no monsters cared about the drake that was flying over their heads thanks to the two masters occupying their attention. 

However, the situation changed once they went deeper.

Bang!

Carl Gustav immediately raised his sword and blocked the black arrow that flew at them. 

“It’s a bit dangerous but please go a bit further inside.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

The drake knight nodded his head upon hearing Carl’s request. He took the risk and flew them further inside the dangerous areas. 

“We will start to descend now. Since the beings, which we assume to be dark elves, are targeting us, we will conduct a two-stage operation as soon as we land.”

“Yes, sir!”

All of the Ghosts jumped down from the drake upon hearing Carl’s orders. 

“I pray for your success.”

Iron bowed his head to the drake knight before finally jumping down from the drake.