As long as you have the courage, fierce ghosts go on maternity leave.

The whirr of engines reverberated through the sky.

Over half a month had passed, and Alexander was finally greeted by the airship destined for Cangshan City.

He was not lacking the necessary items to enter the Mist Instance; similar items were plentiful in the supermarket of Mist. Whether it was entering in advance or mid-way, anything was possible as long as he willed it.

But given that his purpose for entering the Mist Instance was not entirely straightforward, he opted for a more conventional approach.

Standing on the rooftop of the Fierce Ghost Apartment complex, Alexander looked toward the horizon. The airship was initially a mere speck in the sky, gradually enlarging as it approached.

"What’s the situation?" Alexander’s brows furrowed as footsteps sounded beside him. Turning, he saw it was Edward.

Alice and Louis had remained missing for the past two weeks, and even Blizzard had vanished since the great battle.

Now, Dark Hell City was firmly under Alexander’s governance.His control over the city was unprecedented, especially since he had absorbed the Ghost Alliance, forming an enormous army numbering in the billions.

Dark Hell, Nether World, and Undead City were also assembling their own billion-strong super-legions. The once-hundred-million-strong Fierce Ghost Army had been dismantled and dispersed, its members serving as lower- and mid-level commanders.

Not exactly a military state, but Alexander had transformed nearly 90% of the ghostly population into an army. This was almost inconceivable, even in a world as strange as the Horror World.

After all, who else but Alexander, with his ability to convert a massive amount of Ghost Food, could sustain such an army?

But even Alexander found it challenging to maintain this extensive force. He had pinned his hopes on discovering a method to mass-produce Ghost Pills during his upcoming journey to the Mist Instance.

With this, even the lowest of the ghosts could be empowered by forbidden energy, unleashing the true might of a "sea of ghosts" strategy..

"The situation is far from optimistic," Edward shook his head as he began:

"The Mist has already infiltrated the ghost cities in the first, fourth, and fifth ghost domains. Particularly in the fifth domain, one large city and two medium-sized ghost cities have been swallowed whole."

Edward’s words tightened something in Alexander’s chest. This was precisely why he had decided to enter the Mist Instance immediately upon returning from the real world.

The Mist World had started to shift; the white mist, for unknown reasons, had begun to expand at an accelerated rate about half a month ago. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that the Mist World, which had already engulfed the entire Horror World, was now contracting toward its center.

This had happened before. The original Horror World had twelve major ghost domains, now reduced by half due to the expansion of the Mist.

When the Mist areas first emerged thousands of years ago, Hell Warriors were a different breed. They led the way, and where they and the Mist went, nothing remained.

They moved faster than most ghosts, and many, who were not powerful enough to outrun the encroaching Mist, had no choice but to head toward the central region.

This grim reality even earned a name among ghosts: "Running from the Poison."

The Mist was deadly to ghosts. Then Hades emerged into the world. His greatest achievement wasn’t severely wounding the Guardians, but shattering the heavens to create the Horror System.

From that point on, those acknowledged by the Horror System no longer had to flee aimlessly from the Hell Warriors; their Instance properties would be protected by the system.

Most crucially, the appearance of the Horror System slowed the expansion of the Mist World. Otherwise, at its initial rate, the entire Horror World would have been consumed by the Mist within another century.

Now, the Mist World was contracting once again, seemingly bypassing the Horror System and directly invading the ghost cities.

"Could it be that I’ve inadvertently triggered some mechanism, causing the Mist World to contract once more?" Alexander pondered inwardly. However, this was but a speculation within the depths of his mind.

"My lord, there’s no need to worry about this for now," Edward said, interrupting Alexander’s musings.

"Why? Do you have a solution?" Alexander asked, surprised.

"Don’t joke; what could I possibly do?" Edward shook his head. "What I mean is, compared to the contraction of the Mist World, there’s an even greater problem at hand that needs our immediate attention.

Ten days ago, Kevin from the Endless Abyss announced that the previous Ghost Emperor who ruled the Endless Abyss has died in the Mist Instance. Kevin has taken over and become the new Inheritance Ghost Emperor.

He claims that Dark Hell is colluding with the Mist World and harming the ghosts. He’s now sent out invitations and rallied almost all the forces from the third ghost domain, except for those surrounding us in Dark Hell, Nether World, and Undead City. He’s preparing to assemble a combined ghost army to attack Dark Hell."

"It seems he’s desperate," Alexander noted.

Despite having a long-range eavesdropping device, he hadn’t been paying attention to this ’Mr. K’ and had just learned of these developments.

"Well, it works out. For Endless Abyss to consolidate the entire third ghost domain will take at least two to three months. By then, I’ll already have returned from the Mist Instance.

We don’t have much time with the Mist World becoming active again; instead of taking them on one by one, it might be better if they all come together. Mr. K is quite obliging!"

"Are you sure?" Edward’s eyes widened.

He had thought that Alexander would take the opportunity to break down the enemy forces before they could fully assemble. After all, they were talking about the military strength of an entire ghost domain!

Excluding Dark Hell, Nether World, and Undead City, there are dozens of large cities, hundreds of medium-sized ghost cities, and an even greater number of small ghost cities—over ten thousand, to be more precise.

Altogether, they could likely form an army of tens of billions. Such a terrifying coalition should not be underestimated, yet Alexander seemed grateful to Mr. K for the assist. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Could Alexander be mistaken?

Even if he were a Guardian, possessing forbidden powers, he’s still human after all.

Even if he were truly a Guardian, could he protect not only himself but Dark Hell as well? He couldn’t possibly carry Dark Hell on his shoulders and charge forward like Karin did with her own man, could he?

Edward, failing to understand Alexander’s surprising reaction, asked with a puzzled expression, "The combined ghost army would be in the tens of billions! Even when they intercepted Karin of the Purple Clothes in the eighth ghost domain, they never deployed such a massive force.

The Blood Queen is unwilling to make a move. Besides your forbidden power, what other cards do we have up our sleeves?"

"Not many," Alexander shook his head, appearing somewhat embarrassed. "Maybe three or four cards to play. Not much, but they’re still usable."

Just... three or four?

Edward was flabbergasted!

Previously, when faced with an army of tens of millions, Alexander hesitated for quite a while before reluctantly admitting he had one trump card up his sleeve.

Now, in just half a month’s time, facing a coalition army numbering in the billions, he audaciously claimed to have three or four aces to play.