Episode 3

I felt no fear, of course. I was convinced that no one could stop me. A feeling that only increased, naturally, when the tentacles passed through me without doing any damage.

And then one of the tentacles pierced my shoulder and this time it hurt. Fuck. What had changed, how did this work? I really needed an instruction manual.

I cut the tentacle that had hurt me with the spear.

It required a single blow, but the pain didn't go away immediately. Was it a 'wound', even though I had no body? If so, how to heal it? It's not like I could go to a hospital and ask to be treated, or could I? Would there be specialists in spirits and shit like that in this crazy world?

All that nonsense ran through my head as I was raging at the tentacles. I would later learn that that was the creature itself, and that it had simply been controlling the animal carcass as its own meat puppet. Not that it mattered, though.

With every attack it received, the creature spilled blood. But it was black in color, it looked like tar.

While receiving attacks without making much effort to defend itself, or so it seemed, the creature curled a few tentacles around the shaft of the spear. Intended to take it away, of course.

I brandished it to the side, dragging the tangle of tentacles with it. Pulling it to the side, away from the carcass of the animal, and against the carriage. It was a good impact. Hard, but still that creature didn't let go.

I was starting to get worried, to tell you the truth.

The princess crawled out of the carriage on all fours. I'd never seen her before in my life, of course, but it couldn't be anyone else. In doing so she soiled her pretty dress. Probably for the first time in her life.

She was a child, but at the same time she was a privileged fucking rich girl. Suddenly I wasn't sure whether to help her or leave her to her fate.

What helped me make up my mind was thinking about what my little sister would say, if she were here to see this.

I sighed.

I had other more important problems to worry about anyway.

Finally, it happened. It ripped the spear out of my hands. Didn't break it, but it did throw it far enough away that it would be impractical to go retrieve it, so it was pretty much the same thing at the end of the day.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I turned and broke into a run, running through a few of the few surviving guards. Again, not exactly the weirdest thing about this, but weird as fuck. Like a cold wind had passed through my body, every time I touched them and passed through them. The whole ghost powers thing might have sounded cool, but I didn't feel like repeating it in any way.

Maybe the creature was zeroing in on me, but a few more died when the attacks simply passed through me and hit those poor bastards. That's life. So bitchy.

I took the sword from one of those suckers and he made a move to try to get it back, as if he could do a better job than me.

Seriously, why am I going out of my way for these stupid motherfuckers? Get eaten by that creepy critter, what do I care?

That's what I was thinking. That's what I couldn't help but think.

I charged back at Mr. Tentacles.

I had no experience with anything but guns, swords or spears, only firearms, but the sword seemed easier to handle than the spear. Maybe because it weighed less.

Anyway, the point is that I chopped up that damn octopus with the sword and whatever happened so it could hurt me didn't happen again. So it was easy.

The pain hadn't gone away, but I stopped feeling it thanks to the high of victory. My smile must have looked wild, very much in contrast to my appearance as a brat fresh out of the oven, that is, an innocent brat who hadn't been kicked in the mouth enough to learn how the world worked.

I was so happy that I turned around with arms wide open.

“Congratulations, boys. You were able to stay out of my way and not interrupt me—teamwork!”

Only they hadn't interrupted me because they were dead. The only thing around me were corpses. The only survivor was the little girl who was supposed to be the princess. I didn't know from where, but she should have been able to afford a better escort, that was my immediate thought. Maybe she's not even a rich girl. Maybe she's only a noblewoman by title and her country has gone to shit, I don't know, I don't know, but I have no regrets about saving her.

I extended a hand toward her.

She didn't take it. She got up on her own.

Oh yeah. Ghost.

That was going to be hard to get used to. In a sense, I wished this was a really crazy acid trip or something. But, just as the news of my death didn't affect me too much, for some reason I just went with the flow of events.

The poor thing was breathing hard, even though she hadn't done anything. Surely this was the first time she had feared for her life. Another token of her privilege, but I decided I would be nice to her. Or at least I would do my best.

“I don't know what you're doing here, spirit. But... Thank you. I'll make sure to reward you...”

She couldn't finish the sentence.

It was hard to do that without, well, a mouth. And everything else. I jumped back, more disgusted than scared, still. For the second time I'd thought I'd killed that thing, and for the second time it had risen again.

The princess's head was gone. On her neck was nothing but the creature's tangle of tentacles.

Which meant I was the last man standing.

“What a waste of time.”

Not a bit of sympathy or regret for how things had turned out. Just that cold statement because I wasn't going to get a reward for my efforts, some help, however minimal.

That's when I began to suspect something was wrong.

Really wrong. Worse than the fact that I was dead.

Episode 3: FIN