The Legendary Ghost Hunter

While they waited for the other group to return, Finn decided to ask Zelestria about what power he obtained from Yokru.

[Yokru's special ability was actually built into that ring Iris has.]

That was the response he received.

In other words, he could also control those knights Iris could, but really, such an ability was somewhat useless. If he did suddenly control them, the other Ghost Hunters would be suspicious of how he was doing it when Iris had the ring. This ability was pretty much useless to him, quite unfortunately.

But according to Zelestria, the other boss was basically Yokru but as a Phantom, and had the same ability as him. Only… instead of knights, they had archers to deal with, while the Phantom boss was doing the melee attacks. It was essentially the opposite of what happened with Yokru and the knights.

Soon after, the other group returned.

Or rather… some of it.

Of the ten people that were originally in the group, only three remained: Ripple, Duke, and Jester. Upon seeing this, everyone in the chamber immediately erupted.

"Oi! Where is everyone else?!" Obo roared, grabbing the collar of Duke, who shoved him away. "Ngh-!"

"Your friends got killed in the fight. Too bad."

"Got killed in the fight my ass!" Toth yelled, stepping forward. "You're telling me all the people from the Thousand Dragons Sect and the Theocracy of Light died, and only you House of Crimson Moons people survived?! Huh?!"

At this point, Duke couldn't take it anymore and cracked his knuckles.

"If you want to pick a fight… just say it outright. Your friends were too weak, so they died. Why are you accusing us of harming them?"

"Oh? Accuse?" Finn cut in coldly, arms folded. "We never accused you of anything."

Realizing his mistake, Duke hurriedly attempted to cover it up with a calm facade, snorting in ignorance.

"Judging from your tone, it's clear you guys think we sabotaged the mission somehow," Ripple said, saving them. "However, we really didn't. They died to the Phantom boss we fought, and while that is regrettable, there was nothing we could've done. As for why only the three of us returned… we were just lucky enough not to get hit."

"What he means to say…" Duke added with a nasty smirk. "… Is that we weren't as stupid as your friends, and therefore ended up living."

"Bastard…!" Obo gritted his teeth and looked like he was ready to kill, but Acaya stopped him.

"… I can see what you are trying to say, but please understand that we are somewhat suspicious. After all, coincidences like this don't happen everyday. It is natural to assume some underhanded tactics were used."

"What, your own teammates were too weak, and now it's our fault?" Duke laughed. "Jester, you hearing this?"

"Heheheheh…" The creepy-looking one wearing an elongated mask beside Duke laughed like an old witch.

"So… following your theory… your leader was too weak as well, huh?" Finn chuckled deeply.

Duke narrowed his eyes. "… What?"

"And I thought I was the blind one. Do you see your beloved leader anywhere? I think his name was… Hurricane, was it?"

"Wha- he's right — where's Hurricane?!" Ripple cried, looking around in shock.

"He died to a trap, of course," Finn replied, as calmly as ever.

"Damn it… don't screw with me, kid!" Duke yelled, stepping forward and rearing his fist back, about to sink a punch into Finn's face.

But then, a shadow moved in front of Finn, and intercepted the blow with his palm.

"… No."

"Shadow- why are you helping them?! Those bastards killed Hurricane, it's obvious!"

"Just as it's obvious you killed the others," Iris shot back, a wry smile on her face.

"Tch…! Let me go, Shadow! I'm going to punch this loser's face in, then have some fun with the girl!"

"No," Shadow said again, in a more intense tone this time. "… You don't want to fight him."

"H-Huh? The hell do you mean?!"

"Trust me. You do not want to fight him."

Duke glanced at Finn, then back at Shadow, then back at Finn again.

"D-Damn it…"

He slowly moved away, gritting his teeth in anger.

"A wise decision," Finn said, continuing to taunt him. "Had he not stopped you, your head would be on the floor right now. Your body, though… I'm not too sure about that."

"Big words, brat! But look at how skinny you are — bet you're sweating bullets right now just from carrying that girl, huh?!"

"Duke… don't," Shadow warned for the third time. In his eyes was fear. He knew the truth about what happened to Hurricane. If Finn could beat him, then no one else on the House of Crimson Moons team stood a chance.

"Do you see the flaw in your philosophy yet?" Finn asked calmly, but his entire body was radiating with a terrifying aura that seemed to inject fear into all who witnessed it. "When we suspected you of harming our allies, you immediately accused us of 'assuming' things. But when you heard that your own ally was slain, the first thing you thought of was us killing him. How hypocritical."

"Tch…"

"… Please, let's not fight while we're in here," Acaya pleaded. "Whatever conflicts we have can be settled once we complete this Temple Raid. But for now… set your differences aside. We have an Emperor to take down."

He was right. Finn didn't want to start any conflict in here either, since there was no telling how the Emperor might respond. They were in his domain now.

Obo and Toth glared at Duke, who ignored them and fixated his gaze on Finn instead. Ripple and even Jester were now both alert, and what they originally thought to be a one-sided massacre by them had just turned into an actual inner war.

"… What's your name?" Duke asked, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"If you had participated in the self-introductions, you would know," Finn replied with a gentle tone, but his demeanor was anything but that.

"… Hmph. This isn't over, brat," he said with a smirk. "Oh, and watch your back… you never know when I might come for ya."

"I don't need to. The moment you come for me… will be the moment you lose your feeble life."