Chapter 22 18: Fear

Q: What's the most frightening thing about the Undead?

A: It is not that they are hard to kill, nor was it because they have uncanny abilities. It's the corruption.

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We did not wait for the vampire lord to give orders. Yeriel ran first, and Lily carried the wounded Professor Ranyan on her back.

Yasmine didn't seem ready to leave Lorne alone, so I nudged her before pulling her away. Julies, on the other hand, was by my side, ready with the daggers in his arms. Ben and Kyle joined in the run as well, though they were the last of us.

My mind was already numbed with adrenaline as we rushed. We'd never be able to outrun that ghoul. Well, Yasmine could with her wind attribute, and as she was the only one who had reached the level of a general Knight and only needed a ceremony to garner the title, but she would not run.

We had caught up with Yeriel and Lily, who were carrying the wounded professor, and by then the ghoul was already upon on Ben and Kyle. Even with the two of them together, Ben and Kyle would not be a challenge to the ghoul. All they could do would be to delay it for a little longer.

Would that time be enough for us to get away? I wondered. Possibly. But that would mean we would have to leave the duo behind to die. In no way, in my right mind, could I make that decision with a clear conscience, yet my legs did not stop.

There was another person who would not leave others behind, and she did not have even a tad bit of cowardice in her. Yasmine stopped in her tracks abruptly and took a deep breath, narrowing her eyes at the undead creature.

Bearing her sword in her arms, she went to help the duo while I stopped. My mind and body froze as I panted. The three together might have a chance, but there was more of a chance of them being hurt, as well as something serious.

I did not want to see that, especially Yasmine. I tried to muster up my courage and then felt a nudge on my shoulder.

"Boss, what's the plan?" Julies asked.

"I . . ." I said nothing. In the book, Scar was a character that had the courage of a lion, like a king, yet here I'm struggling to even make a decision about my actions.

Pathetic, I yelled in my head, and here I was thinking about ending the story while I could not even deal with an unforeseen incident. Gritting my teeth, I muster everything to pretend I am not frightened. Which was actually a challenging task, but I am a master at pretending. I calmed down, imaging a black void in my mind.

Abruptly, a shout woke me up from my stupor.

"No!" Kyle shouted in the middle of the fight, as abruptly, a body flew away towards us, spraying blood in the air.

It was Ben. A huge wound was in his chest, with a big hole through the breastplate and leather jerkins. Blood was oozing out in large amounts as Ben coughed.

"Nayam!" Yeriel cried.

My mind rang, and I rushed to him. I never seen some on bleeding so much. Without thinking, I stooped down, pressing my palms against his chest, trying to stop the blood from coming out. Not that it helped properly.

My breathing was troubled just seeing the quantity of blood in my palm. There was no stopping it. It was like a damn leakage in a water pipe, spraying with my palm pressed against the wound.

"Yeriel!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, forgetting the fact that I could do a little healing with Purgatory. It was not that I was unsure of my healing ability, but I clearly had forgotten about it entirely at the moment, though it would not be of much help.

Ben will die if his wounds are not taken care of. There was no stopping to the blood that rushed out of his chest. "Yeriel, please come and help!"

Yeriel had noticed it before I even shouted for help. She rushed towards us instantly, ignoring the fact that there was a two metre tall monster just half a dozen yards away. Yasmine and Kyle could barely keep it at bay.

"Oh, Ishar." she said at once, seeing the wound. "Nayam, help me!"

She crouched down and swirled the spirit force in her body.

"We have to stop the blood from rushing out of the body first."

She did not start healing first, but started preparing an octagonal magic circle. Within seconds, the circle was lit in the white afterglow of the spirit force. From the knowledge of the book, I knew what she was trying to do. The moment her spell was complete, I withdrew my palms, and the spell restricted the blood from rushing from the wound. It did damn good of a job than what I did with my hands.

Sweat beads formed on her forehead as Yeriel was about to start the healing when we heard the deafening screech of the ghoul.

There was only Yasmine now who was keeping the monster at bay. She was not injured, but the same could not be said for Kyle, who was thrown away with a dropkick.

"Lord Vallod said not to kill the women. That's why you are still alive, human girl." the ghoul said to Yasmine as if trying to dismay her into thinking that she was not a match for it. Perhaps the ghoul really thought that, and perhaps that really was the truth.

"Boss, I'm going to help them." Julies said, with knives in both of his arms. "We have to play it together to stop it or buy time for Sir Lorne to help us."

My eyes narrowed as I watched him move to help Yasmine. I stood up, eyes glued to the undead. Even though it was dark, my vision was clearing, and the spirit force was surging in my body. I can do nothing to help in the healing, but there was something else I can be of great help.

"Scar, would you mind helping here?" Yasmine yelled in the middle.

Clearly, she was having trouble dealing with the ghoul alone. Julies was there, but he was not much of a help. He was fast and sneaky, but his attacks had low damage, and the ghoul could heal within a couple of seconds.

Yeriel was still doing her healing and so far it was working, though it would take about a minute for her to close the wound. There was nothing like instant healing that did not leave even a mark behind, and even if there was, Yeriel, who only had the experience of a year, did not know it.

She whispered, "He had lost a lot of blood and there was a wound in his lungs. He might live, but I . . ."

She did not complete her phrase, but I have some ideas about what she was trying to say. I did not want to think that now, as there was a greater and immediate danger before us. What else was there to do? I pick up the sword and throw myself at the ghoul.

Instinct pulled my body as I rushed at the ghoul, lurching my sword into a horizontal slash, spirit force churning in the blade. The sword hit in its torso, as grey-red blood oozed out of the cut. I did not have the time to celebrate as the cut closed up in naked eyes. I cursed the ghoul and its super regeneration, withdrawing.

Yasmine took my place, blocked the arm that the ghoul shot at me. "Your fire attribute will be more effective against this undead," she yelled again, "and I can complement it with the wi--" It did not even let her complete the phrase, hammering towards her head with its freearm.

Her sword blocked the ghoul's claw as she rotated behind it to deal a blow. She had failed, but Julies lurched up from her behind and shoved his dagger on its neck.

Getting the chance, my short underling pulled himself up and ran his other dagger over the jaws of the ghoul. But a hammer of an arm jerked towards him and threw him away, crushing a few of his ribs as his body crushed again on the rocky ground. His glasses flung away in the midway as he cried in pain.

The Undead yanked back the dagger from his neck as the wound started to close up. It was the only threatening would they would have managed to deal, unfortunately it rendered useless against its super regeneration. It screeched and rushed to the figure of Julies, intending to get its meal, ignoring Yasmine.

"You . . . have . . . made . . . me . . . hungry!" it said. All the regeneration comes at a cost, the ghoul needs to eat flesh to sustain its body and its ability. It crept at the immobile Julies, who looked at it straight in the eyes.

My mind rang, and my legs just started moving, but I knew I would not make it when a water cannon fired from behind me towards the ghoul.

It was Yeriel who used her spells. The swirling water gun showered like a freaking Niagara waterfall on the ghoul, yet it could not have an impact. All it did was delay the ghoul from approaching Julies, and that quick moment was enough for me to creep close to it.

My blood was swelling, burning in passion, not just rhetorically. Still, I did not give up on the basics that I learned in these few days. Even though the thing was a hideous and terrifying existence and could kill me, I pulled my sword without shaking.

I shoved my sword at the lower body of the ghoul at once, and I felt like it was piercing a stone pillar. I surged with more spirit force. If there's one that I did not lack, it was spirit force. The spirit force strengthened the sword, augment its piercing power, as the blade reached its bone.

The huge undead creature threw a hammer of claw at me. I twisted my head downwards, yanking back the sword as it lurched into a block right at the side of my shoulder. The claw hammered against my sword as both collided against my shoulder, calling a yelp from me.

A flame of fury rose in my heart, and I could tell it was the bloodline. Even though the bloodline of Emberheart is still slumbering in my veins, it will never bow to these dark creatures. My eyes narrowed further as the red pupils seemed to glow a little in the dark. The churning spirit force turned red, raging hot.

My vision was far better now. The others were coming in. Kyle stood up and looked at the ghoul with cold eyes. Yasmine was ready to use her wind, while Julies was already standing with his broken ribs. And that was not all. My half-sister arrived bearing the ancestral sword.

Funny, how pathetic I have been at the first sight of this monster. The helplessness I felt a couple minute ago, the helplessness that froze me still, was nowhere to be seen.

I still fear the huge, ugly, inhuman creature, but it was not enough to freeze me. I rose to the challenge with an unyielding presence in my will.

It was time to put the purging flames of Purgatory to use.

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Edited by Mysteries. Proofread by kqwxz.