A silent standoff ensued after matching stares with the ghoul closest to me. Its crouched state, like a leopard preparing to pounce, showed off its muscular frame. Blackened claws, still dripping with blood, dug into the tiled floor as if it were mud as its whole body tensed. The ghoul's elongated jaw, filled with needle-sharp teeth, was grinning at me, screaming maliciousness from all its pores. At that moment I felt like a rat trapped in a corner by a pack of cats. Their evil nature was obvious for anyone to see.
Feeling the suffocating pressure rise, something in the depths of my soul was screaming in fear and suppression. As if there was a flame within me that was previously burning brightly with the will and want to fight, but was now being smothered as every second passed. The flame grew so weak that a simple breath would be all that was needed to extinguish it. Feeling my flagging courage, I knew that if I didn't make a move soon, I wouldn't be able to make a move at all. Fighting these beasts wasn't an option for me; I needed to flee, and flee quickly. My frozen body began to shift. Tensing my leg muscles, I focused on the explosive power I had been trying to keep under control since the moment I awoke from my life transition.
As if sensing the change within me or my intent, the surrounding ghouls as one let out slow, slithering growls. Like a cross between a dog and a snake. I knew that if I were caught or held up by anyone of these monsters for even a second, no amount of fast regeneration would help me from becoming a shredded feast. So, with more focus than I had shown to anything before in my life, I gathered my mind, body, soul, and my everything into my next action. Even though the mansion was as cold as a grave, my forehead began to drip with sweat. One large drop of sweat in particular, ran down my nose before hanging at its tip for several seconds and then falling to the floor noiselessly.
However, to myself and the ghouls, the sound of my sweat hitting the tiled floor was like a starting pistol. As one, the ghouls in the pit, including the largest of the ten, leapt towards me, covering the thirty-odd feet within seconds. Those, however, were actually not my priority at that moment; that was reserved for the ghoul only a handful of feet from me. Its leap brought its claws inches away from my eyes between one blink and the next. With no time to think, I did the only thing someone having his face slashed at could do at that moment. I fell backwards. However, mine was no ordinary fall. Just as I leaned back, I released the bound muscles and pushed off my feet with all I could.
As if I were attempting a backward dive, I shot backwards almost horizontal to the ground in a flash. Although I had thankfully dodged my eyes being poked out, the ghoul was so close that the moment I leaned back it had changed its stab to a downward slash, hitting my chest and stomach. The leather cuirass lasted barely a breath under the sharpness of the ghoul's claws, with the tips entering into my soft flesh underneath with ease. "Ahhh!!" Roaring out in pain, I flew through the air, leaving a trail of blood in my wake before slamming into the door behind, knocking my breath out in the process and causing me to cough up a mouthful of blood.
Even though my chest and stomach were currently on fire and leaking the very life juice that sustains all humans, I wasted not a second on either, as I jumped to my feet and threw the front door wide open. With tightened calves, I pushed off the balls of my feet again and took off straight through the open doorway. A swipe of air cutting a few of my dirty curls off the back of my head spoke to the fact that the ghoul had also not wasted a second after its first attack and had initiated another swipe attack that sliced the air in a scream. The click-clack of other claws landing behind him was all I needed to hear to know that the rest of the ghouls were only a second behind the first.
Pushing my aching muscles to the limit, I kept coalescing force through my legs before slamming them into the ground and bounding away at a speed that shocked me. If I weren't currently running for my very miserable life, I would have been cheering at the fact that I was currently running as fast as some of the genetically altered athletes I had watched on TV. back home. Even though I was running fast and eating up the space between the mansion and the hole in the wall in no time, the pain radiating from not just my legs, but my feet as well overpowered the pain coming from my chest.
Just before reaching the hole in the wall, my tearing leg and feet muscles that felt as if they were seconds from giving out relaxed slightly, as a soothing sensation ran through my entire leg. My legs felt as if they had been submerged in a hot bath, which relaxed my tight muscles in moments. The itch of multiple notifications appeared along with this new feeling, causing me to wonder what had changed. Regardless, the fact that the muscles in my legs that were feeling as if they were about to explode had cleared, brought slight relief to my wildly beating heart. The sound of multiple figures tearing up the dried-up earth behind me, as if I was being followed by a herd of galloping horses, made me not let up for even a moment.
Right before the soothing effect had wrapped around my legs, the mental pressure of focusing on building up extra force in my legs and then exploding it out through my feet the moment they touched the earth was immense. My head began to pound under the strain after a few seconds. However, the moment I focused on doing the action again, it was as if some automatic switch had been flipped in my head, with my body completing the actions on instinct. In fact, along with the newfound ease, I felt as if I was able to exert an even more precise force, allowing my speed to almost double while the previous pain of pushing my muscles past the limit was barely negligible.
While between strides, and marveling at this newfound increase, the roars of the ghouls behind me followed by something slamming into the earth behind me caused me to look back. The sight enlarging in my vision caused my eyes to widen, while a strangled scream tried to escape through my mouth. The originally leading ghoul had now fallen behind, as the one currently leaping at me with claws extended and a bloodthirsty grin wrapped around its face, was the large child-eating ghoul from earlier. Its powerful muscles ballooned around it, giving the impression that the pale humanoid beast had no neck. Feeling the grim reaper knocking on my door and seeing I was only a few feet from the hole in the wall, I realized I had no time to dodge and must do my best to at least deflect the claws that were flying right for me.
Retrieving my knife, I spun around as fast as I could and leapt up into the air. Matching level with the leaping ghoul's claws, I slammed the blade into them as hard as I could, while the ghoul, even in mid-jump, reacted just as quickly to my sudden confrontation and swiped down at my arms with both claws. The force coming from the ghouls' attack felt as if my crossed arms had been hit by a freight train. My knife lasted not even a second and was sent flying out of my grip along with a spray of blood, as the webbing in my righthand split and many of my fingers broke. However, even though my hand looked as if something had run over it, the desperate defence had done its job. The claws slightly diverted, and the force from the ghouls' attack sent my body flying backwards almost as fast as when I was muscle sprinting.
The pain radiating from my mangled hand was immense, but the sight of seeing the ghoul, who was originally only moments from clawing my back into ribbons, stop dead was fantastic. My hurried defence, besides having the benefit of catapulting me towards the hole in the wall, also helped me halt the inertia of the leading ghoul, sending it back to the ground in a furious mess with a bang that made the ghouls behind in pause. This only lasted for a moment though, as the moment my body went through the hole in the wall and slammed onto the cobblestone street in a tumble, was when the large ghoul righted itself and took up a pouncing posture before leaping straight after me, swiftly followed by the other nine ghouls.
After rolling across the street several times, I did my best to get to my feet as quickly as possible, forgetting for a moment that my hand was a mess of broken bones. Putting both palms onto the hard stone to push myself up, I roared out in pain and paused for but a moment before relying more on my left arm and getting up in a stumble. The sensations screaming out of my hand from slamming it onto the cobblestone street made my vision swim as, unable to help it, bile rose up my throat and out of my mouth. Spitting onto the street in a hunched posture, I roared out into the cold night air to vent the pain not just from my hand but my entire body.
Only a breath after roaring, the sound of several heavy objects slamming into the street right in front of my bent-over form caused my pale face to furrow heavily. The ghouls had not bothered going through the human-sized hole in the wall that would certainly not complement their bulk but instead leapt straight over the wall. Once again, the ghouls and I entered a silent standoff. The moonlight, which was slowly being obscured by dark clouds, made the already horrifying monsters take on an even more sinister quality with their shadows elongating across the desolate buildings. Clearly, these were children of the night. I had once remembered several folktales mentioning ghouls; some had them being another form of undead being, and others spoke of them being the lesser familiars of vampires.
At the current sight of the monsters before my very eyes, I guessed that they were maybe a mixture of the two. Regardless of the current low level and injured me, they were way out of my league. Staring at them all in pouncing postures with saliva dripping from their mouths, while their dark red eyes burned holes through me, made me put the pain radiating from almost every inch of my body to the back of my mind. Focusing on my muscles again, I felt the familiar sensation of my body taking over again as I readied myself. Even though I was in almost the same position I had been in the mansion before, I still felt as if my hopes for survival had significantly increased.
The major problem, besides the bloodthirsty human eating bodybuilding monsters before me, was the fact that I was not left with only one direction to go, the one I was hoping not to. The ghouls blocked the direction back to the residential area with a half-moon-shaped line. As much as I didn't like it, it looked like my only option was to head further into the center of the city. A cold wind sprang up, blowing the dust and dirt across the cobblestone street, making my messy curls blow around while my body shivered under the icy feeling prickling my skin. In moments, a small pool of blood had collected around me, the result of several deep injuries. The sight of the vibrant blood gathering around my shoes appeared to excite the ghouls even more. With several of them letting out impatient-sounding growls and hisses before they all gazed at the largest ghoul crouched slightly ahead of the others.
The large ghoul, unable to resist my dripping blood's sweet scent, trembled; its eyes shifted from my own to the red painting the stones, transfixed. A glistening stream of saliva poured from its mouth, forming a small, wet pool. The wind, initially gentle, intensified rapidly, making the wooden shutters on the houses across the street slam and clatter. The new cacophony was once again a symbol of the beginning of a new race of life and death. Without a second thought, I spun around and darted down the street, the pavement blurring beneath my feet.
This time, I surprised the ghouls as they were momentarily drawn to the blood, allowing me to flee before they could react. Looking over my shoulder for but a moment, I saw the leader let out a hiss into the night before it began to bound after me, followed by all but one of the ghouls. One of the ghouls had charged with the rest, but the moment it ran past my puddle of life nectar, it sprang over to it and, like a dog meeting a toilet, it began to slurp down my blood within seconds. A foot-long pointed tongue leading the way.
Now with a second's worth head start, I faced forward and tore ass down the street. Heading further into the city and past multiple buildings of different designs than the ones before. Looking more like large shops, warehouses and forges of some kind. My odd bounding steps ate up the distance, and along with the ever-increasing strength of the wind behind me, I felt like I was almost flying over the ground. The sound of multiple pops reached my more attuned ears as I ran down these new streets, while a skin-prickling pain rang out from each of the fingers on my right hand. Glancing down at my blood-soaked hand, I saw my previously bent fingers and thumb right themselves in a very unnatural way. It was as if an invisible hand was snapping them back into place.
"Shit on me. Why can't I be like the main characters in other novels? They get goblins and rats to kill to level up. I get roided-up vampires. Goddamn it." Lamenting my journey so far into the darkening night, I gritted my teeth against the pain of my regeneration talent fixing the fragile bones in my fingers, hand and wrist. Running down what felt like a never-ending street, I kept my eyes out for any possible buildings or areas that might give me a chance to possibly shake off my pursuers. At least for the moment, I hadn't found one that looked suitable, so instead of trying something I wasn't sure of, I just kept running. Taking the period of not being damaged to at least repair several parts of myself. Soon I reached a crossroads, with streets as wide as the one I was currently on leading to my left and right. As I came up to it, the area looked vaguely familiar for a reason I couldn't fathom. However, the moment I came closer to the center of the crossroads, and looked to my left, I saw a large steepled building halfway down the street, with what looked like winged gargoyles perched upon its top, making me recall what I had previously thought was some kind of church.
Not understanding why, the moment I saw the narrow but tall building, I turned to my left and ran towards it without hesitation. It was like something was calling to me, pulling me towards this building. However, even though I felt the feeling odd, the sudden darkening of my vision and the immense feeling of exhaustion sweeping through my body made all other thoughts pause. The familiar notification itch rang through my head in a sudden fierce attack, as if someone was ringing a warning bell in my mind. I quickly summoned my latest notifications, and although a grin spread on my tired face, it lasted but a moment before an icy chill ran through my whole body, while my heart felt as if it dropped into the pit of my stomach.
[Congratulations! You have independently earned the skill – Spring Step (Uncommon) Level 1]
[Congratulations! Through vigorous training, you have increased your Agility by +1]
[Warning! Stamina has fallen below 50%]
[Warning! Stamina has fallen below 25%]
[Warning! Stamina has fallen below 10%]
How the hell did I lose stamina? I hadn't even seen a change in the stamina bar since I stepped foot in this messed up world! Lowly System, I call hack! After venting in my head for a split second, I focused my now already cloudy brain on the new skill I had somehow acquired and took an educated guess that it was because of this skill I was running out of stamina.
[Spring Step (Uncommon) Level 1 – At the cost of 5 Stamina Points, summon a stream of vital energy to increase your lower body muscle capacity and force to increase your directional speed by 25%.
After reading its details, my guess was proven true. I had unlocked some kind of sprinting skill, and through the tearing and rebuilding of my leg muscles; I had also increased one of my attributes. However, all of that didn't matter at that moment. With an odd feeling of exhaustion gripping every part of me, I felt the force radiating through my legs disappear, along with which was the slight lead I had from the ghouls behind me. My sudden weakening and speed drop caused me to fall into a stumble before I tripped over my feet right in front of the church-like building's iron bar fence, landing in a heap.
This time, because of feeling weakness throughout my entire core, my landing wasn't graceful or controlled. I slammed heavily onto my shoulder first, feeling the arm dislocate with a sickening pop, before flipping over onto my back in a gasp. The little breath I had left was knocked out of me and into the cold, windy night. Dark black clouds that began to rumble with thunder hid almost all the moonlight that had let me see clearly. Making the already haunting city just that little bit more terrifying. Just as a raindrop landed on my cheek, the excited screeches and roars of the ghouls echoed behind me. Followed swiftly by another and then another, before the dark curtains above let out a veritable sea of water across the silent city of death and decay.
Staring up into the sky, with vision blurred and darkness slowly encroaching, I wailed internally at the fact that I hadn't even lasted a full day in this blasted world. I was full of expectation and no small amount of pride, thinking that I was arriving at the so-called system world ahead of time. I hate to admit it and never would to anyone, but for a moment I began to feel as if I were special somehow. That I was finally the one above thousands, not the other way around. Looked like reality, that hateful mistress, had come knocking, and she had brought a big bloody frying pan with her. Not being able to help myself, I began to chuckle softly as my consciousness began to leave me, before a laughter-like roar tore out of my mouth into the rainy sky above. Which was soon followed by the sensation of multiple fine but sharp teeth biting into my body, accompanied by what felt like daggers cutting into my breast plate, guards and pants.
The pain that exploded from every bite and strike was the last straw that broke the camel's back; my darkening vision was the first to leave before the rest of my senses soon followed. However, right before I fell into endless darkness, my hearing picked up what could only be a voice crying out in a mighty bellow, "Begone!!" The voice was so loud that it drowned out the thunder rumbling above; it also had the added effect of slamming into my own ears with enough force that I soon saw nothing but darkness.