What burst in was a humanoid monster crawling on the ground, but it had no skin, its flesh and blood completely exposed.
Its face was twisted, looking like a dog and a mouse, its sharp teeth and gums fully visible.
The skin on its face was like a tattered rag draped over it.
Its claws were long and slender, glinting with a faint, cold light, exceptionally sharp.
Facing the pouncing ghoul, Aleris struck its head with the pommel of her sword.
The heavy blow sent the ghoul crashing to the ground. Aleris held her sword vertically and plunged it downward.
The sharp blade instantly pierced the enemy's head, pinning it to the ground.
Using the momentum of pulling out her sword, she rolled to the side.
The other ghoul that followed close behind pounced on empty air.
The roll severely squeezed her broken leg, and the sharp pain made Aleris's eyes widen for a moment as she gritted her teeth to endure it.
This momentary pain amplified her exhausted state, causing her to miss her chance.
The backhand swing of her sword didn't decapitate the enemy, but instead struck its waist and abdomen.
A large amount of foul-smelling liquid, like blood yet also like pus, flowed out.
Failing to hit a vital point with one strike, Aleris immediately supported herself with one hand on the ground, not trying to get up, but forcefully moving her body forward a bit.
She wanted to quickly thrust the sword in her hand into the enemy's head.
Her combat experience along the way told her that this kind of monster felt no pain, and unless its head was chopped off in one go, it would be extremely difficult to deal with.
The roof shattered, and a large amount of wood debris fell down in front of her, blocking Aleris's movement.
She could only raise her hand to block the debris falling from the ceiling.
A giant bat stomped down from the roof, folded its wings, and accurately landed its claws on Aleris's body.
With its wings folded, its body pressed down hard, and it opened its gaping maw, biting directly at Aleris's neck.
Aleris could already smell the foul stench.
It's over.
If not for the battles and exhaustion along the way, if not for the wounds all over her body.
Even if her leg was just a little more agile.
Unfortunately, there were no such "ifs."
However, the pain did not come.
A figure jumped down from the hole, and thunder roared.
The light illuminated the figure's face.
The sharp blade in his hand, glinting with a cold light, followed the force of his jump, piercing through the back of the giant bat's head and protruding from its open mouth.
With the force of the jump, he pulled down sharply after the thrust, and half of the giant bat's head was sliced off.
Thick, foul-smelling liquid gushed out.
The giant bat shrieked, its wings flapping wildly around the room.
Karna bit the hilt of his sword, crouched down, and wrapped his hands around Aleris's arms, dragging her out from under the giant bat.
Her face was covered in a large amount of blood, but her eyes remained fixed on Karna.
"I'll support you, let's go, this commotion is too big, all the monsters around will swarm over."
Helping Aleris up, Karna quickly ran out through the opening.
"Boom!"
The flash of lightning once again illuminated the small town.
Karna looked at the well in the town square, and the small clock tower next to it, about 3 stories high.
This place is... so it's here.
Before he could think, Aleris's voice rang in his ear: "Watch out."
He whipped his head around, and a ghoul jumped down from a nearby roof, crashing directly into Karna and sending him flying.
It made him feel once again how weak this body's constitution was.
Before the flying Karna could adjust his body, the ghoul pounced on him, its gaping maw biting straight for his neck.
He quickly raised his sword to block the monster's mouth.
Such great strength.
A mob that could be easily cleared in the game was so difficult to deal with in the real world.
If this were the game.
Unfortunately, this isn't a game, this is reality.
If he didn't fight with all his might, he would become one of these monsters.
A new ghoul meant another squad.
A vampire scouting party was a classic combination of one giant bat and two ghouls.
In mid-air, a giant bat swooped down, its claws reaching for Karna.
At this moment, Aleris was on the ground, one of her arms bitten by a ghoul, being dragged fiercely.
In addition, another ghoul that she hadn't managed to kill earlier, which was only covered in wounds from the roof tiles, was also biting her other leg.
In the current situation, Aleris had no time to care about anything else, her eyes fixed on Karna a few meters away.
Seeing the giant bat about to descend.
Ignoring the ghouls beside her, she threw her sword without hesitation.
A silver light streaked across the dark night.
"Swoosh!"
The blade directly pierced the giant bat's head, with more than half of the blade emerging from the other side.
The immense force made its entire body tilt, and it crashed right next to Karna, its flapping wings even hitting the ghoul on top of him.
But the ghoul on him paid no attention at all.
Although its mouth was blocked by the sword, the ghoul's sharp claws had already pierced his body.
He was as good as dead.
"Die, you stinking things!"
A roar came from the side, and a long spear was fiercely thrust into the ghoul on Karna, pushing it away.
The one who attacked was the soldier captain.
He had arrived here at some unknown time.
Karna felt a lightness on his body, but he had no strength left, and his vision was starting to go black.
A sharp pain came from his chest, and his breathing was like a broken bellows.
"Cough cough~ Ugh..."
As he coughed, a mouthful of blood came out of his mouth.
He looked around with his darkening vision.
Aleris was being torn at by two ghouls biting her arm and leg.
Without her weapon, she was angrily grabbing the mouth of the ghoul biting her arm with her hands, forcefully tearing its head into two halves.
However, the other ghoul was tearing at her other good leg, and even if she killed both ghouls now, she wouldn't be able to escape.
The soldier captain, who had rushed over for some unknown reason, was in a tangle with the other ghoul, but the captain was also covered in wounds.
He was almost at the end of his rope.
Even though this ghoul had been sneak-attacked and pierced with a spear, it was still difficult for him to kill it.
Another howl sounded in his ears, and a ringing sensation came.
Another squad had arrived.
His vision grew darker, and only then did Karna see that his chest was already a mangled mess.
When the ghoul was wrestling with him on top of him, its sharp claws had almost pierced his chest.
"Cough cough..."
Another cough, and a large amount of blood was spat out.
His vision was almost completely black.
The only thing he could see was Aleris, who had already dealt with the two ghouls on her with her bare hands.
She was crawling towards him, clawing at the dirt with both hands.
Karna's current state filled Aleris's eyes with madness.
As expected of you, Aleris.
Damn it, just this kind of injury.
Just being pinned down by a ghoul and scratched a couple of times was actually going to take his life.
If this were the game, it would have taken at most 1/4 of his health.
Even with his current stats.
But just a light scratch and a stab had pierced his chest, and besides the mangled mess on his chest, it seemed to have damaged his lungs as well.
Even breathing was extremely difficult, pain, weakness, difficulty breathing.
Was a body of flesh and blood so weak when facing these monsters?
If it were a digitized body from the game...
If...
His vision, about to go completely dark, seemed to fluctuate like an old TV with a bad signal, flickering, the image distorting.
It was as if patterns of shimmering light points were dancing in his eyes.
Even his vision was seeing double.
His head was groggy, completely incapable of thought, and his eyelids were about to close completely, to fall into an eternal sleep.
Eternal... sleep?
Huh?
It hurts so much!
But, the fatigue dissipated, the mental weakness dissipated.
The stimulus of the intense pain in his chest made him suddenly widen his eyes.
His vision fully recovered, but jumbled data appeared in front of him, seemingly arranging itself.
[Per@/sonal Pan-&'el]