Hex Spectre

-Breaking News! White Crusaders clears another Black Hex; Sarimbal Guild rewards Notable members-

"I don't know if we should be happy or angry about this News! I mean c'mon we know the truth that we failed to leave even a single scratch to the boss, isn't it right, Saintess?," The Archangel who is still recovering from the injuries, sarcastically told Tesa.

"This is no time to mind such irrelevant things! We must keep this controversy a secret! The public must not knew any of it, the Sarimbal Guild's reputation will be compromised!," the Saintess refuted with growing temper.

"Imagine it, an A-rank group known for using divine magic and being a protector of mankind sacrificed a low-ranking hunter for the sake of saving themselves! How pathetic!," Nephtys angrily said.

"Shut up, Lucy! You know that we have no choice at that time!," Nicholas, the Spearhead, argue.

"Doesn't change the fact that we sacrificed that guy's life over ours!"

"So what if we sacrificed him?," White wolf who is leaning against the wall while both of his arms folded, said calmly, "Does his life value anything in the first place?! I mean, he didn't do anything in the dungeon besides his failed attempts at assisting us! In fact, he even held back some of our men, causing us to double-up our work! Phew! Pathetic guy! I must say abandoning him is not even enough, we should have killed him alongside that boss monster!," his argument.

"Don't make me laugh, Nomer! You couldn't even damaged that boss' thick skin, yet you are uttering those shits? Are you an idiot? Um.... Well... That should not even be a question huh?," Merlin insulted White Wolf.

White wolf's eyes turned red, a sign that he was about to kill the person who insulted him in front of their colleagues. Merlin on the other hand, was not fazed, instead he parried White wolf's eyes with his own darkened gazed.

"Anyways," He tapped White wolf's broad shoulder and proceeded to take the center space of the room, "We must forget that these things ever happened. In the first place, what we are doing is not just for the White Crusaders' reputation but rather for the Sarimbal Guild as a whole."

"And who's stopping me from exposing everything?," Nephtys threatened.

"Me..."

The source of that voice is from the tall man in his 30's that is walking towards the group, his aura exceeded that which they possess and his complexion is so beautiful, everyone who saw it will think that they don't even deserve seeing it with their filthy eyes.

"Guild master Trace! Good Evening!," Everyone bowed their head while adrenaline is rushing on every part of their nervous system.

The man was without a doubt, the Guild master of the Sarimbal Guild himself, Trace Malaya Antonio, one of the hunters who succeeded in awakening with an X rank, the highest possible rank a hunter could be awakened.

"What's bothering you, my dear White Crusaders?," his voice is calm yet full of power and of course threat, "Are my rewards not yet enough to zip-down that filthy mouth of yours?"

"No, Guildmas-," Archangel didn't finished his words because Guildmaster Trace made a small but deep incision on his throat which made him unable to breath.

"H-help m-me!"

"I'm afraid you're not allowed to speak unless I said so, didn't you think my beloved Nephtys?," his gazed turned to the powerful female tanker on his side.

"I-I'm s-sorry f-for s-s-speaking...,"Lucy apologized out of fear.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, my own Goddess! After all, your contribution exceeded that of any of these useless things in front of me..."

Everyone bowed their head in silence. These hunters are powerful and a league of their own but in front of the Guild master, no one would dare to speak in front of him without his permission. Doing it would be asking for your own death.

"Do you know why I named this guild, Sarimbal?"

Silence engulfed the surroundings.

"Because, all of its members are expected to work smoothly without any flaws on their movements like the legendary boat that drifts alongside the vast waves of the sea. I supposed you understand that, right Saintess?," he told them while showing a replica of the Sarimbal.

(Sarimbal/ Salimbal= a golden mythical boat used by the hero, Agyu. It can fly to the air, where his kingdom resides)

"Y-yes G-guild M-master!," The Saintess, although powerful, is on the verge of crying like a puppy.

"What do I say to you before about weakness? White Wolf?"

"Weaklings are not allowed on our guild," White Wolf spoke while lying his head down.

"That's right but I wonder if our dear Saintess here forgot about that," he suddenly showed up in front of the Saintess and held her neck tightly.

"Who told you to include a weakling in your group, huh?," his eyes are full of rage and annoyance that one who saw it would call him an Outsider.

"S-stop M-master I-I c-ccant b-breath," Saintess.

"Plus, you failed to subjugate the boss, I thought you said you will do anything for me? Yet, you cannot even kill a mere demigod or what bullshit that thing is!"

"I-im s-sor...ry...," the Saintess managed to utter the words.

Fortunately, the Guild master let go of her before she died of choking. The Saintess, still gasping for air, cried profusely.

"I'm afraid I must remind you again, Tesa, about our agreement before! In order for you to stay outside of jail, you must serve me forever with no failure and weakness!"

"Y-yes m-master!"

"And make sure that no one would knew anything about these things! If ever someone managed to acquire this information, I'll slaughter your whole party with my own hands," he told with authority.

"Understood, master!"

"By the way, White Wolf, are you sure the body was never found. that of the G-rank hunter?"

"That's right Master, the dungeon closed abruptly after all the soldiers left. Those who rushed to return to the battlefield, did not saw anything even the bodies of the outsiders and the boss."

"That should do it... Anyway...", he whispered something to White Wolf, "Tell Andros to stop shitting while I'm talking!"

"Understood"

The Guild master slowly left the room, leaving the heads of the White Crusaders, gasping for air.

"Andros! I'll heal you!," The Saintess rushed to the Archangel's aid by healing him quickly, "I'm really sorry!"

"It's not your fault," he whispered, trying to hold his rage, "We shouldn't accepted the proposal in the first place."

Saintess only nodded while trying to wipe away her tears.

"They were right," Andros added, "We should forget about anything that happened yesterday..."

Once again, the Saintess only nodded, it pains her to see her younger brother, the Archangel, suffer because of her selfish decision to join the Sarimbal guild.

"Weak...," White wolf looked at the siblings pitifully, "All this time, I wonder, why did the Guild Master even entrusted you the position to lead us... hmm? Whatever!"

***

On a hill in Antipolo, overlooking the distant metropolis of Metro Manila, the now recovered, Mike Sandoval, checked out his system. 

Name- Mike Sandoval

Weapon- K'lung and K'filan

Class- The Spectre

Rank- Unknown

Stats >

Defense- 61%

Agility- 61%

Speed-62%

Strength-63%

Intelligence-70%

Skills>

Godly Swordsmanship (S)

Advance Spearmanship (S-)

Basic Bowmanship (E)

Moon Magic (S)

Ungodly Incantation (A)

SPECIALIZED:

Astra Control (X)

"I wonder what kind of things this guys could do, hmm?," he checked another system tab for the weapons that he acquired during the last battle. "

K'lung and K'filan

- The twin weapons of the hero Tud Bulul in the form of Sword and Shield. They were created using the dust of the six moons swallowed by bakunawa and the divine metal of Bathala, the supreme being.

Class- Moon Armament (S)

Type- Sentient

Duration- None

Affinity- Moon Energy

*Skills>

Blood Moon- Turns the sword's color into crimson, symbolizing the death of many armies. The sword would not stop attacking the enemy unless they absorbed enough blood to unleash its ultimate form, Cresciente.

Duration- 5 minutes

Strength Stat increased to 5%

Intelligence Stat increased to 5%

Linay Mogul- The shield will form a temporary domain that would protect the user from any physical and magic attacks. Enemies are unable to attack you and would be stunned within the duration of the skill usage until the shield turns into its ultimate form, Luna.

Duration- 5 minutes

Defense Stat increased to 101%

Intelligence Stat increased to 5%

Passive>

Six Moons

*a skill that allows the user to harness the energy of the dragon god, Bakunawa. An aura will always be available everytime the weapons are used. Whenever a basic attack was inflicted, it will multiply sixfold on the target without any evation.

"This is the first time that I heard of a weapon with a separate class apart from the one its user possesses... I could be killed right now if they knew that I possessed such powerful weapons... Anyways, I wonder how this Astra Manifestation thing works...," he opened another system tab.

-Astra Manifestation-

Rank- (X)

Status- Class-Exclusive

Mana Cost- 1,000

Duration- Infinite

Requirement- Kill or Please a God

*You can permanently summon mythical weapons imbued with their own class and abilities. However, the class and ability depends on the user's stats and mastery.

*All stats will be temporarily enhanced by 5% when using an Astra

*Due to your extreme affinity with Magic and Weaponry, the skill's percentage would rise to 99.9% everytime used.

*Everytime a new Astra was summoned, it will have initial 2 skills. New skills will develop if a certain level was reached. 

*At least one Passive skill will be applied to an Astra when manifested

*Due to the user's current level, summoning more than 1 Astra is not yet available. 

Mike gasp seeing the newly added overpowered abilities on his arsenal. One thing that also caught his attention is the new system that was bestowed to him by an unknown being-- The Dagitab.

"System, may I ask you about your purpose on bestowing yourself to me?"

"I cannot answer that, Master..."

"Why?"

"Because we ar..r...r.."

The system glitched itself as soon as it tried to answer Mike's question. For him, it is really strange for a hunter to be deprived of an answer by his own system. Normally, the system are obliged to answer every question by their master yet this particular one didn't seem to be bothered not giving him an adequate response.

"Forget it, just give me an answer about what this Astra thing is all about."

"Good thing you asked! Astras are powerful weapons created using the God's powers. Their origins did not came from this world but rather on the realm of the unknown. These weapons' powers are limitless and when wielded by a worthy hunter whom they deemed as their master, it gives them omniscient abilities that kill even the Gods themselves!"

"How many hunters in my country possess the same powers that I have?"

"Data confirmed! You are the only hunter on Earth who could wield the "Spectre" class!"

"Talking about Spectre, tell me about it!"

"I'm glad you asked! Would you like to hear the whole story?"

"Yes!"

"Spectre is a class that originated since time immemorial. Long before even the Gods decided to create the gates known as the Hexes. A certain group of beings that came from the outskirts of the universe bestowed some worthy humans the power to kill the Gods themselves. No one knows why they did it but it gave the humans the ability to unshackle themselves from the chains that bounded them to the Gods. Many years have passed, and the human civilization flourished without their help. This in turn angered them since their pride was shattered by the humanity's intellect which the Gods deemed inferior to their own..."

"So that's what this thing is all about..," Mike is now starting to connect everything.

"As a consequence, they sent out plagues, disasters, and other calamities," The system continued narrating, "The Gods thought that they are now winning until the Humans bestowed by the ability to kill this great beings started to massacre an uncountable number of Pantheons. For the first time, the Gods felt an emotion so foreign yet powerful-- They went crazy. They now decided to eradicate the humans indiscriminately without even a single vision of rebuilding this world. The Humans who possessed those abilities tried to fight back using all their might but in the end, they failed as the Gods' powers are proved to be too overwhelming and domineering. One by one, they were killed until none of them were left to defend humanity. the Gods remembered them as a Ghost of the past that continues to haunt their consciousness, they called those humans.... The Spectres!"

Mike only listened as the system's narration caught his attention, "As a punishment for humanity's defiance, the Gods created the four trials. Humanity successfully passed the previous three with ease yet somehow the fourth one proved to be so hard, up until now, they failed to solve it."

"So the fourth trial is the sudden appearance of the Hexes?"

"Indeed!"

"What happens if we failed to pass this trial?"

"Well...", the System's voice started to sound colder, Mike could feel it, "It would certainly be the End of the world."

As shocking as it may seem, Mike was not surprised ever since he defeated a hero-god. After all, Punishments are part of the Gods' game to keep the humans in check. Now that he heard the system tell about these things, it became clearer.

"The system wants me to be stronger and kill the Gods!"

As he walked along the trail of the hill that leads to the downtown of Antipolo City, he spotted a dressing shop that sells a variety of magical armor and clothing.The building looks modern and welcoming

"Excuse me!," He called one of the saleslady who supervises a row full of armors, "Can you perhaps lend me a helping hand in finding a new set of armor and clothes? I just came from a raid and badly need a replacement immediately..."

"Of course sir! Ano po bang type ang gusto niyo? We have heavy armor here if you preferred strong tanking, you can also use a light version if you wanted to maintain your speed while hunting Outsiders..."

"Do you have something that can be used by a close-combat mage?"

"Well, I'm going to be honest, this is the first time that I heard something like a close-combat mage class! Let us see, what we can find here!"

She started to frantically look for any clothing that this hunter can use. If he's a special one, she shouldn't be giving him a mediocre armor. After all, customers are hard to come by for a store who's located at the foot of a hill. 

"This is not it!"

"This one is the worse!"

"Ugh! Ugly!"

"Weak!"

"No!"

"Oh this is it!"

After a half an hour of endless mess, the Saleslady presented him a black armor. It is hooded and sleeveless. To come out with a style and high defense, the mineral that was used is very flexible and seems to have camouflage properties, making it look like it's not an armor at all.

"System, appraised this armor!," he instructed the system silently.

"Analyzing the item... this may take a few seconds!"

"You must take this sir, from what I heard from the owner, no one wants this armor because of its unappealing look. If you are going to ask me about its origin, a mysterious lad just sold this to us and fetched us for a high price. He said that it's very powerful, that's why we took it. I don't like it to be called a scam but let's just say that it is. But I promise you, this armor is really strong! You won't regret this!"

"You don't need to say that!," A wicked smile revealed itself from the lips of Mike.

"Analysis of the item complete! You may now review the details!"

"Click!"

-Hood of Loki-

Loki, the god of Deception, formerly owned this armor which enhances his invisibility. Its color will automatically change based on the environment. The solid metal that envelops the inner layer of the armor is made out of a rare material that could only be found in Helheim while the cloth is made out of a small piece of Ymir the Giant's skin, when Loki killed him.

Class- None

Rank- S

Type- Armor

Duration- None

Affinity- Dark Magic

Skills>

*Invisibility- makes the user invisble. (Duration 2 minutes)!

Defense stat risen to 2%

*Camouflage- allows the user to change his body according to the environment in order to hide his presence from foes. (Duration 2 minutes)!

Defense stat risen to 4%

Passive>

*Leap of the Jotunns- allows the user to leap 1 kilometer, thereby shortening the distance of the travel.

"I'll have this!," a smile plastered on Mike's eyes as he saw the potential of the armor, "How much would this set me back?"

"The owner told me to give it for free since it has been stuck to the Warehouse for five years. Instead, you can just voluntarily give us any materials as a form of payment!"

"How about this?," he handed her one of the giant werewolf's claws.

A shocked expression appeared on the Saleslady's eyes which she immediately changed to normal, "T-this s-should be more than enough!"

"Alright, I'll return here again someday, See you around!," he hurriedly ran to the exit door in excitement.

As she watched the mysterious hunter leave, She can't help but be so delightful seeing a very valuable material on her hand, "What a peculiar man! At least he gave me something so valuable!"

****

"This is the fifth time that a God appeared as a boss in a Black Hex. Though, we managed to subjugate it again, the losses are too catastrophic! If we can't find a solution to aid this, what would happen to our Guild?"

In a secret hall beneath the Sarimbal Guild's tall building, the Guildmaster alongside the heads representing the seven sub-groups of the Guild, are having a meeting. Their main problem is the strange appearances of the Gods to many high-ranking Hexes, most of whom are in their mandate.

"The recent god who appeared managed to massacre a third of the White Crusaders group. The Saintess and the Templars were forced to file a leave for a whole month because of their critical conditions. If this continues, how many of our men would be sacrificed again just to keep those beings in check?," Lance Adorado, the head of the Red Berserkers group, told the council.

"That's right, I think it is better if we coordinate with the other top guilds and the Philippine Association of Hunters in order to solve this problem. I believe that nothing good would sprout from these recent developments now that one of the Pillars are unable to hunt for some time," Janus Zarate of the Black Shamans agreeance.

"And what will happen if we seek their help? Our reputation would be tarnished. A great guild cowering behind the aid of the other Guilds and the Association? What a ridiculous idea! I would rather die than to seek help from those opportunists!," Raymond La'Rotiere, the pillar representing the Vermilion Archers, argued.

"That's only applicable for you, whose thoughts are only empowered by brainless decisions! If you don't mind Raymond, you should just stay silent especially if it's about solutions that we're talking about! Strategies are not your forte...," The Black Shaman head's rebutt.

"What did you just fucking said?"

"I just want to say that you are a total idiot!"

As the two pillars were about to clash one another, a loud thump of the table halted their rage.

"Enough of you two...," Trace Antonio threatened them.

"I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry!"

"I understand where some of you are coming from. After all, the loss of many lives were indeed devastating for our manpower especially now that the other top guilds are now busy amassing their own armament while we are undeniably falling behind. Even so we should not seek their help as this would compromise our own image to the public. If you're worrying about solutions, our good pal from the Mad Scientists team might have something useful for us, right?"

"That's right, Master!," A young man in a scientist attire responded, "I, Nash Santos, the Pillar of the Mad Scientists would like to present my new invention to each and everyone of you!"

He took a small white glowing pebble from his pocket then raised it for everyone to see, "This thing that you're seeing right now is what I'd like to call as the Heavenly Stone! I made this using the gems that are found on the Hexes and the energy of our own gift from the gods!"

"Don't tell me you used our Guild's divine artifact for this? That's not what happened, right Guildmaster?"

The Pillar is hoping that the answer is Yes. Sadly, the Guildmaster only laughed on his question...

"Guildmaster! You know that it is illegal for us to use our divine artifact for one's own gains, right? Why would you use it to create these abominations?"

The Pillar finally lost it when the Guildmaster is not answering any of his questions.

"Illegal? Own gains? Hahahahahahaha! Ridiculous! I'm doing these things just for our guild to be saved in case a battle would happen. I want each and every single one of us to be saved! Can't you understand, my dear Pillars?"

Only a silence met his reasoning.

"CAN'T YOU JUST SUPPORT AND UNDERSTAND ME?!!"

All of the individuals present in the hall were forced to kneel down in front of him as the air trembled while the ground vibrated in response to the powerful aura energy of his presence.

"I'M GOING TO REPEAT THIS AGAIN IN CASE YOU FORGOT!," he shouted, "DO-NOT-DE-FY-ME, THAT's MY NUMBER ONE RULE, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? MY FUCKING PILLARS?"

"Y-yes M-master!," they forced to subject their own opinions under his decision. They know how much impatient the Guildmaster is.

As everything seems to have been calmed down, everyone returned to their seats. All of them, except for Guildmaster Trace, looked like they were hit by some sort of a typhoon as shown in their ragged clothes and bruised faces.

It is so scary to think that a fraction of the Guildmaster's aura presence is enough to cause this much damage. At that point, everyone witnessed what the power of an X-rank hunter is.

"Ehem!," the Mad Scientists' head broke the cold silence, "By the way, I requested for the Saintess to distribute some of the soldiers with 5 of this randomly and you know what the reports are?"

Just silence.

"Well, t-that seems embarrassing... anyway," the pillar who's expecting a legendary reaction was only disappointed with their uninterested faces, "They were able to level-up their stats within a certain period of time temporarily. Because of that, most of them were able to repel the attacks from C-rank and higher monsters. However, some of their body parts became raptured because of the overwhelming power of the stones. If we could somehow stabilize it, we could have an army of A-rank hunters or much higher!"

"See? We don't need the other guilds' nor the association's help to overcome this," the Guildmaster convinced them, "How long do you need in order to stabilize it?"

"B-but m-master, I-I'm not.. yet su-"

"I don't care! I need results!"

"I-I understand, I'll try my best to give it to you after a month!"

"Don't try it, DO IT!"

"Y-yes!"

"If that's all, meeting's adjourned!"

After that meeting, some of the Pillars admitted to each other that do not agree with the Guildmaster's extrajudicial decisions. That includes the usage of their Guild's divine artifact for an unsure experiment that they believe will jeopardize their guild's manpower more.

"We need to do something about this!"

Back to Mike Sandoval's Antipolo Odyssey, he enlisted himself to participate in another Hex Raid by one of the Great Guilds. The hunter, now clothed with the Hood of Loki, and armed with his new weapons and abilities, stared at the entrance of the Hex.

"I need to be stronger!"