Hup, Huff, Huff, Hup.
I wiped down the sweat running across my forehead.
I completed my daily exercise routine along with the swordplay.
Finishing up, I quickly took a quick bath in the nearby stream and wore a fresh pair of clothes.
Alice as usual was collecting rocks, a peculiar hobby which makes no sense.
I strapped my hilt to the belt and ventured outside the cave.
"Nero, so what's the situation??",
"Well, it's a bit confusing. The number of beasts near the vicinity keeps decreasing day by day. At first the possiblity of the predators migrating was an option. But even the predators seem to be decreasing.",
"What do you mean?? Even the predators are decreasing. Hmm, Nero what did you see yesterday?,"
"I saw a bloodpede carcass. It was sucked out dry. Only the chitinius shell was remaining. The insides seemed sucked out.",
'Sucked out?? This phenomena I think I observed this somewhere. Where did I???'
Realization struck me. The mass genocide. The genocide that occurred eight months back. During that time too, the dead bodies were sucked out dry. They were drained of any organic matter but for some reason they couldn't eat the outer shell and the inner bony skeleton.
This was dangerous. I turned to look at Nero and his expressions explained everything.
He was scared. He had the same look, 8 months back. The time we first saw such a revolting scene.
"Nero, I think it's the work of the ghoul. Let's go to the place where you observed the dead carcass."
"I...I don't know. It's really disturbing. I mean didn't Sir Rey say that it would take almost two years for it to once again start attacking. It's too early. It hasn't even been a whole year",
"Nero, we don't have time for your nonsense. At this point we have been given a few roles and we must fulfill them.This is to make sure we can survive."
"Survive?? ROY ARE YOU AN IDIOT. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK CRAWLING OUR WAY INTO A LIONS DEN ENSURES OUR SURVIVAL??"
"Lions den?? Nero, use your head. If the carcass was truly left unattended what do you think is going to happen?? It will attract scavengers and decomposers. Do think the ghoul will strike us when it's trespassing an enemy's territory??.
Secondly, the scavengers and others won't attack us. As long as we stay out of their way, they stay out of ours. All we have to do is observe."
"Hmmm, that's right. As expected you're worthy to be my rival. Hahahahahahah",
Sigh,
"Alice, Jack, let's move. Pick up your rations. Wear your gears and we will head togeather."
I said sitting on my horse.
Everyone sat on their respective horses and began traversing the rough terrain.
As it was a beautiful morning, the clouds cleared and the pure blue sky radiating the rays of the mighty Sun, chances of any beasts appearing were quite low.
"Alice, you alright?? Make sure you sit tight and if you feel like loosing balance you can sit with me",
"You can screw yourself Roy. I can ride my own horse. You don't have to babysit me."
She said with a pout.
Quickly assembling the group we sped up traveling towards our destination.
The thick lushy trees started to lessen and the foul smell of a rotten body began to circulate.
As we traveled deeper the stench got worse.
Nero who was leading us quickly stopped near a dead tree. Or that's what it looked like.
The tree which was devoid of any leaves was crimson red in colour.
Mostly because of the blood which seeped into the bark of the tree.
'Wait didn't the blood get sucked out too. How on earth did this eerie looking tree get such a blood red colour then??'
After tying our horses to a nearby tree we wondered off into the woods.
"Jack be on guard but don't draw out your weapons. If they know we are armed it might create a negative impact",
Jack and the others nodded.
Nimbly moving a huge centipede like creature came into view.
It was vast, almost 20 feet tall on length. But this was still an youngling.
It was flipped upside down. The most gruesome thing was its face. Its pincers were blown apart and the face was squashed. I don't exactly know how the ghoul sucks the organs out but you can imagine it like a super-powerful vacuum cleaner.
Alice was trembling, likely remembering what transpired a few months back.
She held my hands tightly, with her eyes shut.
"Alice, it's alright, we've seen worse. Now is not the time"
She gave a small nod, but didn't let go.
Crunch, Crunch,.....
I could hear something crunching, most likely an animal feeding on the remains of the dead.
I stuck my head in the direction and saw a huge wolf, chewing the carcass.
For my astonishment, there was no one near the body other than the wolf.
'A wolf?? Are wolves scavengers. They are supposed to be active predators.'
"Jack, are wolves scavengers??" I asked trying to confirm my suspicion.
"No, not to my rememberance",
The wolf was huge. Very huge. It was at the size of a Siberian tiger. Or maybe even larger than that.
It was covered by scars and wounds. It looked quite recent. There was a big bite mark near its hindleg, deadly enough to take a life.
The white fur was drenched in red, and the body looked quite malnourished.
I don't know what exactly happened but I could tell, it was highly unlikely that it would survive.
As I was pondering, the wolf glanced at our direction.
It made no move, quietly observing us. Trying to Guage our threat level.
I didn't move, just stayed still. I was trying to show that we were harmless and it could continue with it was doing.
That was until-
"Aaaaagh, Roy, Jack, it's a wolf. Shit. It looks quite injured, let's finish it off fast" he said drawing out his greatsword.
Shit. We're fcked.
"Nero, I told you to stay pu-",
Awooooooo,
The beast growled. It quickly started to dash towards us.
Despite its injuries it was fast. Very fast.
Fck me.
I quickly drew out my scimitars and enhanced my senses.
Alice took out her rapier and took her stance.
I gave them all a nod.
Jack quickly took out his slingshot and drew out a small needle.
Slightly imbibing it with mana, he shot at the wolf.
It seamlessly dodged as if it was an easy job and dashed towards us even faster.
Quickly switching in formation, Nero took the lead and acted as a tank for the team.
Using his greatsword as a shield he blocked the wolves claw attack.
Clang,
The wolf which was obviously overpowering him suddenly jumped back.
"Trewà vine",
Alice swiftly gathered vines from the ground and thrusted them towards the wolf.
Alice who could use three nature spells was naturally quite adept at wielding them.
Using this opportunity, I swiftly created two wind bullets and shot them at the wolf.
As both the vines and my bullets were being barraged, it couldn't risk getting offensive especially with its wounds being fresh.
As it began to retreat trying another way, Nero quickly slashed diagonally.
His slash brimming with nothing but pure sword power and muscle created a small wave like pattern, hitting the wolf.
The wolf looked at Nero with sharp glint eyes and quickly disappeared.
'Too fast' I thought.
'This won't do. Alice is way out of range and Jack can't defend and attack at the same time, which means-',
I quickly imbued myself with as much mana as possible and surrounded myself in a layer of wind.
Gathering mana to my limbs I shot forward. My speed was something that was impossible to achieve for someone my age.
Drawing my scimitars I quickly parried the wolves claws.
Taken aback by my sudden appearance the wolf staggered back a bit. That time interval was enough for me.
'Diagonal slash',
I quickly somersaulted and slashed diagonally towards the wolf's gut.
It nimbly leaped mid air trying to jump to the side, using this opportunity, I kicked it's place of injury which was now unguarded.
The wolf sudden stumbled back in pain or not... but it didn't growl or whimper.
It just stepped back and locked its gaze with me.
Using this chance, Alice quickly began pouring in a barrage of thrusts at the wolf.
Even though some of them connected it couldn't pierce the tough skin of the wolf.
Using these events Nero with a blur arrived in front of the wolf and uttered,
'Sword thrust',
Nero thrusted his sword with incredible energy and power.
It couldn't pierce the wolf but definetly left an impact.
Waiting for this moment, I slid down the body of the wolf and gradually arrived at the huge bite mark.
Holding the densely created wind bullet, I shot it at the already bleeding wound.
Boom!!
The wolf got sent back a few meters, and the bleeding which had begined to clot once again started to ooze blood out.
Huff, Huff,
We were tired. Way too tired. I don't think any of us would be able to continue this fight.
But I didn't show it in my face.
But then the wolf suddenly turned at a direction and grew a whole lot bigger.
The timid and weak looking wolf disappeared.
Right now a huge mammoth of a beast was between us and behind the beast was something that we all knew.
Something that terrified us to the core.
A GHOUL.