Life Howling - Chapter 17

That’s what I was thinking as I headed towards his collapsed rear leg where the corpses were still moving. I swung my flail at them mercilessly. 

A blue spark lit up every time I hit them. 

I must’ve exorcised around ten zombies or so when his body began to fall apart. 

kekeke. This is when I take my step back.

And, that’s when it happened.

Hwahhhk!

I saw Hye-Won in a nearby place, shooting fire. I could see that she was going pale, but her flames had already engulfed his entire body. 

His body immediately fell down.

It appears that the bond that was holding the corpses together had lost its strength. All the zombies were now moving on their own, seeming like it was part of a hell scene.

As they were moving, twitching, there was something in the midst of them that took notice.

He was definitely different from the zombies, and it sent a shiver down my spine just at the site of it. 

Firstly, he was very slender. It was like a mummy with long, skinny, and dried up figure with even longer fingernails to boast for. And, I could see the two blue lights in his eyes. Is he one?

While I was thinking, he crouched down. Then, he jumped. 

Pahht!

What? How is he so fast?

In an instant, he jumped over 4 meters in height, and about 10 meters in distance before coming at me like a wild beast.

“God damn it!”

I gripped my flail as hard as I could while focusing on the Divine Power. I ran towards him as light was shining bright as ever on the three spikes.

So, you jumped?

Alright, then! I cocked my harm back and released my flail on to his head.

But, I knew something went wrong immediately. Was his hand covering his face?

kaahhhng!

His hand clashed with my flail. His arm twisted back, and his body forced down from the pressure.

A blue flame sparked on his arm.

But, he didn’t lose his aggression towards me, and crouched like a wolf, staring at me, as he fell on the ground.

Fuck, he’s not going to make it easy, is he? To make matters worse… he wasn’t making any puhk sounds. I was hearing kaaahhng. It even felt like I was hitting rock…

Is he a ghoul?

In video games, there are undead monsters called ghouls that are ranked higher than zombies. But… ghouls are originally evil spirits from Arab histories. It was only adapted as an undead monster in the modern society. 

First, the ghoul’s characteristics are that… they are faster than zombies. And, their bodies are much harder. That is all I know right now.

I believe that right there is a ghoul. The thing is… it appears to be rather much stronger than the ghouls that I’ve seen in games.

Wasn’t he supposed to be hard as a rock? My flail infused with Divine Power did only that much damage?

grrrrrrr.

The ghoul was making its move while spurting a threatening sound from its mouth. The zombies began to move.

Dan!

There must be around 30 zombies…. if I was to get surrounded by them and the ghoul here, there’s no way I’d win.

If that’s the case… I’ll need to this end this soon… but how am I going to pull that ghoul in when he’s so careful?

I guess… I’ll just have to give him something to bite, so I can smash his head in.

Sigh. Sometimes my bravery gets the best of me.

Kwahhhk!

His dirty fangs sank into my arm. kek! Fuck! that hurts! He was biting down, but his fangs weren’t piercing my skin. I wonder… if it’s because of the steel body ability? It’s working alright!

I released my grip on the flail from my right hand. Then, I tightly wrapped its chains around his neck as hard as I could.

You’re not going anywhere now, you bastard!

hwaahk!

kuwahh!

I activated the Divine Power with him in my lock. His face sparked blue flames, burning smoke into the air.

It’s a flame that doesn’t burn anything from the real world. The ghoul screams. It tries as hard as it can to get away, but I stood my ground, holding him in my arms as hard as I could.

Do they expect me to beat this thing to its death? I’m just going to burn his ass with my Divine Power!

Keeeeeek!

The ghoul screamed once last time before it got quiet. I could feel its body harden right after.

“Huk. huk.”

I tossed his dead weight over to the side to get some air.

“Lowest injury heal.”

paaht.

Damn. That hit the spot.

I pushed myself up, and picked up my flail. I could see zombies walking towards me.

Hwaahhk!

I saw a fireball, the size of their head, flying towards them.

hwaahrrrk!

It hit their head. They fall to the ground suffering. I turned to my side to see where it came from. I twas Hye-Won throwing the fireballs.

Did she learn a new trick?

It’s quite impressive.

I, too, went over to kill the zombies that were heading towards me.

Puk! Puk!

Did we exorcise them all?

One. two. three. four.

Yeah, they’re all dead.

“Yo, that was pretty good!”

I waved as I walked towards Hye-Won, but I could see her face as white as snow.

“This… hahk. is hard….”

“I can see it. Try looking for something when you see reward search window again. You’ll need to make sure your stamina doesn’t get consumed as much. Don’t you agree? We could be up against something even stronger next time. If you want to live, try looking for it.”