In the next instant, he sat on the ground while pointing the burning wood upward.
*Burn!*
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The stairwell corridor lit up, the ghosts burned as easily as a flammable mattress.
[HP: 283/310]
[HP: 261/320]
[HP: 279/310]
[HP: 221/300]
What Theo saw was very revealing; he shook the spray deodorant can and sprayed it.
The moment the product came into contact with the fire, it was like a flamethrower.
What caught him by surprise was that while they were burning, they seemed to lose their intangibility, making it impossible to escape through the walls.
'Things are getting interesting...!'
"Stop, stop!"
"Ahhhhhhh!"
*Beng*
Dropping the empty spray can, Theo grabbed another deodorant spray.
When they realized this, the ghosts' panic was like a swarm of wasps exposed to smoke, trying to flee in all directions in a disorganized manner.
Theo pressed the spray, but it didn't work.
"…"
He forgot to remove the safety lock.
Unlocking it, he tried again.
*Spray~!*
At the sound of the spray being used, when it came into contact with the fire, once again like a flamethrower, he began to burn the ghosts.
[HP: 129/310]
[HP: 144/320]
[HP: 131/310]
[HP: 109/300]
Realizing they couldn't pass through walls, the ghosts gave up even trying to attack him; as for those that escaped at the beginning, they never returned.
Only the four remained and began to fly in flames up the stairs.
'How can it be so easy to mess with me?'
Theo stood up.
He let the can fall to the ground and took the sledgehammer from his inventory.
Running after them, he hammered when he reached the first one.
*POW!*
"Ahhhhhhhh!"
[HP: 98/320]
Storing the sledgehammer, he took out a large kitchen knife and threw it.
*Beng!*
"DAMN YOU!!"
[HP: 76/300]
Taking the sledgehammer back, he hammered the ghost.
[HP: 0/300]
The ghost turned to ash and began to dissolve in the air.
Extending his hand, he touched the core and sent it straight to the inventory, then started chasing the other three ghosts that had reached the top of the stairs.
Storing the sledgehammer, he threw another large knife.
[HP: 71/300]
It only grazed, but the ghost was still burning, losing HP constantly.
'By the way, are there only female ghosts?' He thought randomly.
Raising his free hand in the air, he made the sledgehammer appear.
[HP: 305/305]
"…"
When he saw a head emerge from the wall, Theo hammered the ghost's head with the sledgehammer without thinking twice.
[HP: 0/305]
Perhaps out of shock, he struck with such force that he killed the ghost in one hit, and it was a male ghost.
'Weak ghost.' He thought, but didn't see a core appear.
'Damn, it must be on the other side.'
Ghosts are different from zombies; when killed, the core isn't necessarily located in the head.
He felt a terrible sensation for not being able to get the core, but he also didn't want to stop chasing the other three ghosts that were about to stop burning.
"Stop running." He said uselessly.
'Why do I feel like I'm the villain here now?' Theo had another strange thought.
Jumping, he managed to reach one of the ghosts.
With the sledgehammer in the air, he brought it down hard toward the ghost's back.
*POW!*
[HP: 0/320]
He paused, watching the ghost turn to charcoal ashes, sending the sledgehammer to his inventory. He raised his forearm to shield his eyes as some ash fell on him.
When he saw the core glowing among the ashes, he grabbed it in the air and sent it to his inventory.
When he wanted to chase after the other two ghosts, he realized they had already disappeared.
"…"
"I want to take a shower…" He murmured.
Since he lost sight of the other two, it was very likely they had regained their intangible form to pass through walls.
He paused, calculating which apartment the core of the ghost he accidentally killed was in and began walking with large strides.
…
When he arrived at the floor of the apartment in question, there were several ghosts; this time, there was only one little girl ghost, and the rest were all male ghosts, more than twenty of them.
The little girl ghost seemed very different from the other ghosts; just like the open mouths of the ghosts, her eyes were also pitch black. Besides that, she had more strands of black hair. It was the first one he saw that didn't have white hair.
[HP: 395/395]
Another thing was her HP, which was quite high compared to the other ghosts.
When the ghosts saw him, they floated toward him.
"Shihahaha"
"Look, look"
"High, low, inside, hot"
"Drink, fall, vomit"
"…"
'These ghosts are different…' Theo thought.
They didn't even seem to want to attack him, just lying in the air with their hands behind their heads or pretending to swim in the air.
They seemed to be enjoying their 'life' floating around him, without getting too close.
"Hey, hey, have you seen my dad?"
The little girl ghost came to talk to him.
She seemed to fear the fire but appeared friendly.
Of course, Theo wasn't foolish enough to underestimate her just because she looked like a young ghost.
Who knows how many years this ghost lived as a little girl.
She might even be older than his grandfather.
"How rude to ignore me like that…"
'Her dad? It wasn't the ghost I killed by accident, right?' He thought to himself.
She tried to make a cute expression, but seriously, don't these ghosts know how creepy they look?
'I miss the zombies. At least they don't keep blabbering…'
Theo sighed.
He went to the apartment door and entered.
The little girl ghost followed him, as did the rest.
But so far, none of them had tried to attack him.
'Strange…'
"Hey, hey, you're pretty handsome, wanna be my boyfriend?"
"…"
'What is this child ghost talking about?' He shook his head and kept ignoring her.
"Don't ignore me!"
When she shouted, Theo finally understood why none of them were attacking him.
She was the one calling the shots!
The male ghosts reacted to the little girl ghost's shout.
'Is she some kind of ghost boss?' Theo gave a wry smile.
Theo stored the sledgehammer and took another can of spray deodorant from his inventory as a precaution.
Just as a warning, he sprayed it into the air and passed it over the torch.
When it caught fire, the ghosts got scared and kept their distance.
Even the little girl did the same.
Meanwhile, in the corner of the room, he finally saw what he was looking for.
"If you don't want to be my boyfriend, just say so, you don't need to be so rude! By the way, how about being my dad then? You could be my twenty-ninth dad. Actually, it's still a small number; my dream is to have the same number of dads I used to have. A total of 80! Isn't that amazing~!?"
Theo crouched down and picked up the core, sending it straight to his inventory.
He turned to her and said, "Yeah, your mom is amazing… in many ways."
"Wrong! I'm the amazing one. My daddies only wanted mommy because of me, bleahhh~"
She probably meant to stick out her tongue, but when she opened her mouth, there was only pure darkness.
Some disturbing images flashed through his mind, and Theo quickly shook them off.
"Okay, you're amazing," he said.
"Hehe, I knew you'd understand~"
She started floating around him.
"Hey, you still haven't answered, do you want to be my dad?"
"If I agree, will you help me kill them?" Theo asked.
When he said that, the male ghosts got agitated.
"Seriously?" She seemed delighted: "If I help, you'll become my dad?"
"…"
'I know I'm the one who suggested it, but I didn't expect her to go for it…' Theo thought, confused: 'And, does she really want to be my daughter? Would I then become the adoptive father of a little ghost girl?'
Why did the idea of adopting a little ghost girl as a daughter seem… kind of interesting to him?
'Being the father of a ghost… That's definitely going on my resume.' He thought.
"Sure," Theo confirmed, making the spray can disappear and bringing the sledgehammer back.
"You promised!" she exclaimed, then turned to the tense ghosts and said, "Don't move!"
When she did that, all 27 ghosts stopped moving.
'She has a skill that can immobilize ghosts!'
She turned to him and said in a softer voice, "Daddy, you can kill the fake daddies~ I don't want them anymore, I only want the real daddy~"
'Does she mean she only wants a living dad, not a ghost?' Theo thought.
He didn't know if that was it or not, but… he wasn't one to turn down a free lunch.
"Thanks," Theo said, advancing with the sledgehammer.
He was still cautious, worried it might be a trick from the little ghost girl.
However, when he went and hammered the first ghost, he saw the ghost's health reduced by half, but other than that, nothing unusual happened.
He continued.
"Ahhhhh, no!"
The ghost screamed, but Theo had no mercy.
*POW!*
When the sledgehammer struck, the ghost turned to ashes.
Stepping back, he grabbed the core in the air.
He continued.