Chương 67: Beheading a ghoul

Watching Thenos follow the trail back down the mountain, the church soldier looked visibly anxious. I asked him:"What's your name?"

"Just call me Kamarti."

"Right, Kamarti. Thanks for coming with me on this trip. If we find any clues, I'll make sure Lealia tells the Church that you played a major role." Hearing that, the tension on the soldier's face eased slightly. I pulled out the compass I had bought in town and determined the direction of the upstream spring. Then, we began following the trail Thenos had pointed out to gain more elevation. Kamarti asked, "Why not just climb along the stream? Wouldn't it be harder to get lost that way?"

I countered, "Have you ever been mountain climbing?"

"... No."

"Climbing up a waterfall route is extremely dangerous. It's usually steep and covered in moss, making it incredibly slippery. If you fall onto the rocks, you're dead for sure." I shared a few more forest survival tips I knew, mostly to prevent the silence from becoming too heavy. But as we progressed, the trail veered further from the waterfall and the undergrowth grew denser. When the path vanished entirely behind thickets, we had to stop and decide our next move.

Using the Halunar's Eye, I scanned the surroundings. The waterfall was still within my visual range, so I simply needed to pick a sparser section of the forest running parallel to it. I drew my sword, hacked through some brush, and told Kamarti:"The path ends here. Stay close to me from now on." Even picking the easiest spots, the next stretch was exhausting and time-consuming.

I checked the sky; I estimated only about two hours until total darkness, and even with the maximum range of Halunar's Eye, I saw nothing but trees. Kamarti, panting heavily, said, "Maybe we should head back and come again tomorrow morning. It's getting dark." Though reluctant, I had to agree. Starting at dawn tomorrow would allow us to cover much more ground than this. However, just as I turned around, something unusual caught the corner of my eye.

I told Kamarti to wait a moment, then focused my vision in that direction. It looked like a man, but not a normal man. His stance was unnaturally crooked, his head hung low, and his skin was a sickly pale blue with prominent, bulging veins. A frenzy-type victim of Miasma - a ghoul. Fighting a ghoul in an area filled with obstacles like this is never a good idea, but I couldn't risk letting this creature wander into town. I lowered my voice to Kamarti: "Don't make a sound. There's a ghoul over there."

The soldier looked like he was about to shout something but caught himself. He squinted toward where I was pointing but couldn't see anything at such a distance.

"A ghoul... you mean...?"

"Yes, someone infected by Miasma." Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"But...?"

"There's no time to explain everything. We can't let it escape or reach the town. I'll approach it. If it moves this way, you block it, understood?" I didn't have time for Kamarti to mentally prepare; I immediately moved toward the creature. It had been over ten years since I last faced a ghoul. I thought I might have forgotten the feeling, but as I held my sword toward that horrific form, it felt as though it had only been yesterday. In a sense, a ghoul was still "alive"; it was just no longer human.

The first time I stabbed a ghoul to death, I lost an entire night's sleep. But that was just a physiological instinct; I didn't feel guilt. These people couldn't be saved anymore. A ghoul's hearing and sight were worse than a human's, but their reaction speed and strength were triple that of a normal person. You could approach stealthily, but once you struck, they would catch up.

Ghouls functioned through a modified circulatory system and brain control, but basically, the way to kill them was the same as killing a human. Piercing the heart, crushing the head, destroying the spinal cord, or causing massive blood loss are the fastest ways. They didn't feel pain, so wounds wouldn't slow them down, but they could still bleed out. I didn't bother moving silently; I walked straight toward it. This way, when it attacked, I could easily predict its trajectory.

The ghoul reacted when I was three meters away. As expected, it lunged at me from the front without a shred of calculation. I thrust my sword forward. It pierced the chest but veered slightly to the right. The creature's powerful momentum slammed me into a tree trunk behind me. The ghoul's body was impaled all the way to the hilt, and I couldn't pull it out from this position. I drew the dagger at my hip and plunged it deep into its carotid artery. Blood sprayed violently, soaking half my face.

Ghoul blood wasn't warm like human blood; it was a dark, blackish-red and has an incredibly foul odor. Fortunately, this blood didn't infect others. Having lost a significant amount of blood, the ghoul's strength visibly waned. I gripped the sword hilt and kicked its stomach with all my might. The blade successfully slid out of the corpse. I swung the sword, aiming for the neck, wanting to take it off in one blow. But I really should have found a stone and sharpened the blade before entering the forest.

This cheap sword from town wasn't sharp enough; it couldn't even cut through the neck bone. Luckily, an injury of this magnitude was enough to paralyze it. It collapsed with its neck half-severed, blood staining the ground black. Only then could I examine the creature closely. It was shirtless, wearing only tattered trousers. More importantly, both its wrists were fitted with iron shackles, with a snapped chain hanging between them.

The question was: had this person been shackled before or after turning into a ghoul? Was he an escaped test subject of the Church? And how many more of these had escaped? To find the answer, I had to keep climbing. But the sun was nearly gone. With the Halunar's Eye, I didn't mind the forest at night. This area didn't seem to have dangerous predators, and I could hope that the venomous snakes and insects had been killed off by the Miasma. Kamarti, however, was a different story.

I also wasn't confident enough to go alone; if something happened, having someone to run back for help was better. So, despite my reluctance, I decided to return tomorrow.

"Asher... AGHHH!" Kamarti shrieked when I turned back at his call. He jumped in terror and fell backward. I swear I heard a small crack. I went to help him up, but his face was deathly pale as he stammered: "Your... your face... that thing..." I touched my face, remembering I was caked in ghoul blood. Combined with the half-decapitated corpse on the ground, it made sense that Kamarti was terrified. I wiped my face with my sleeve, but it didn't do much.

I had a little drinking water in my bag, so I used it to wash up.

"It's okay, I'm not hurt," I comforted him.

"It looks scary, but ghoul blood isn't dangerous." He sat frozen on the ground, not daring to move. I was a bit annoyed, what kind of soldier is this cowardly?

"Get up. I don't bite."

"..." Kamarti gave a forced laugh.

"I think... I think I sprained my ankle."

"..." He had indeed sprained it; it was already swelling into a large lump. I had intended to carry the corpse back to town for identification, but now I had to help Kamarti down the mountain. Moreover, leaving the body here was a huge risk. If I returned tomorrow and it was gone, it meant whoever took it was aware that we knew about the Miasma. And if I brought others here and there was no ghoul, they wouldn't believe me. So, I helped Kamarti up and leaned him against a tree.

Then, I swung the sword again, finally hacking the ghoul's head all the way off. I turned to Kamarti.

"Your hands are fine, right? I'll support you, but you need to carry this." Kamarti's face turned whiter than the ghoul's. He shook his head violently, looking like he was about to vomit. I sighed and dragged the ghoul's torso into a dense thicket to hide it. As for the head, I buried it in the ground quite a distance away and marked a nearby tree.