The tunnel ahead branched off, curving in two separate directions. To the right was the ugliest ghoul I’d ever seen; and having killed a lot of the horrors, that is saying something.

Yellow-green skin, oozing pus and riddled with pox marks, stretched over a distended stomach. Ape-like arms with massive black taloned claws nearly dragged along the ground because of its hunched posture. Each of its eyes twitched rapidly, almost in tandem with the flies buzzing around the wretch. The stench coming off the creature was so powerful it felt physical, easily blowing past my power Masking Smell. I was sure that a living creature would have fainted from the potent stench.

Worse, the awful creature pointed one long finger at us, and a horde of ghouls burst out from around the corner.

“There are too many!” yelled Rissah, but she needn't have wasted her breath.

I mentally commanded the champion and Vlad to go down the left tunnel behind us, because I knew going back the way we’d come would be a mistake. The ghouls would have backed us up against a shaft with a several hundred foot fall, and no good would come from that.

Rissah ran ahead of all of us, shooting down the tunnel at a sprint I envied. Vlad caught up with me soon after, clopping along like we were out for a stroll after brunch. But there was no sign of my knight.

I still sensed a connection with it through the mask and ordered it to stall the ghouls and try to kill the ghast. Though I knew its chances of holding back the tide were slim, I counted on the hardy minion to survive the onslaught.

Right after I turned a corner, I almost crashed into Rissah, who was standing in the middle of the rocky corridor with her hands in the air.

“Get behind me!” she ordered.

You don’t have to ask me twice!

After crossing some unseen threshold, a static discharge popped, and a vibrating half-circle of air blocked the approach behind us. Not but three seconds later, the horde of ghouls crashed into the handmaiden’s magic barrier, slobbering and smashing their faces against it in a tangle of limbs.

Rissah looked about to fall over from the mana expenditure, so I swept her up and threw her on the back of Vlad. Her skin was cool to the touch, and she was practically weightless, resembling a balloon that had just come out of a refrigerator.

We’d traveled about two hundred yards down the dark channel when I suddenly felt the connection to the skeletal knight sever.

That’s really not good.

I couldn't determine if the ghouls had destroyed my protector or if I had created too much distance between us, but in any case, our party was now a lot weaker. The only upside was that I wouldn’t have to wear that ridiculous mask anymore.

“The spell will break soon, and they are much faster than we are,” Rissah said.

I didn’t take that as the bad news she did. In my mind, that spell had ended several hundred feet ago! That meant we had a far more considerable lead than I thought.

I gave Rissah a thumbs up and a smile to let her know things were probably going to be okay.

Abruptly, the corridor opened up to reveal a small stone tiled room with a large black iron gate ahead of us. I pointed at Rissah to keep running, then turned to face the way we’d just come.

I knew the spear would be useless for stopping so many foes that could ignore basic injuries, so I whipped out the big black burning bastard sword. Channeling the finger bone of my good pal Algeron, I got into a ready stance.

“It's got a magic lock,” Rissah yelled from behind. I could hear her delicate attempts at manipulating the gate.

Of course it does.

“I’ll have it open soon!”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Scratches and slavering noises echoed down the hall like a clarion call for dogs competing in the canine special olympics. They didn’t make us wait long.

When our pursuers surged around the corner, climbing on the walls and floors in a stampede, I didn’t just sit there and wait for them with a bone up my ass.

I charged them with a bone up my ass. There was no sense in getting surrounded in the more spacious chamber.

Vlad ran at top speed, which, to be fair, wasn’t that fast, but at the last second, I had a ludicrous idea. And given that I had nothing to lose, I tried it anyway.

Using Spring Forward, I leaped forward off of my bouncing skeleton’s back with my bastard sword thrust forward. Ghouls broke apart in midair, practically exploding along my path, either from the sword or the sheer force of my speed.

When I landed, I let out a primal moan and swung the sword from wall to wall. Every hit against the sides of the tunnel sent a shockwave through my arms, and ghoul parts flying. There was no technique or skill to my flourishes, despite having a bone channeling mastery otherwise. Savage butchery was all I had the appetite for just then, and fortunately, it was all that was required.

Claws raked across my arms, chest and legs, but none of it was even remotely enough to stop my momentum. My leather armor protected me from the worst of the ghoul’s assault, especially the magically reinforced gloves. Still, a cold, calculating part of my brain gave me a few minutes before the pests dog piled me. But I would make those horrid creatures pay for every second.

How dare you lick me! I’ll never forgive you! Never!

I felt the skull mask rip away after a lucky talon nearly hit me in the eye, and that forced me to take a step back. Vlad, who until then had been trying to keep up, slammed into the lead ghoul and forced several of them back. With my newest minion working as a mid-height obstacle, I resumed my massacre, directing my blade at chest height. Each swing left burning cuts that ignited on undead flesh. The flames weren’t that strong, and the creepers usually put them out by moving, but a few had turned into torches. And they were spreading the fire to the reinforcing undead.

That was how I learned ghouls don’t like fire.

The near constant stream of mana flowing from my defeated adversaries suddenly cut off, and I realized I was standing alone in a circle of flaming corpses. I sent a command to Vlad to leap over the line of fire, and together we retreated toward Rissah and the gate.

I tried to search for the skull mask amidst the carnage of smoking limbs and disemboweled monsters, but couldn’t spot it.

On the return trip, the distance I had traveled away from the room astounded me. I had been so focused on hurting the disgusting creatures I hadn’t even realized what I was doing.

“Hurry!” Rissah shouted in the distance. I saw her standing on the other side of the tall black bars, having left a small crack between the door for me.

From the scraping noises coming in fast behind me, I knew I would never make it to her before they got their stinky hands on my backside. So, I hopped up on Vlad again, and swung my leg over to face the enemies coming from behind.

The first contestant on Chop till you drop, leaped at me from the smoky cloud and impaled itself on my blade. I tossed the thrashing undead aside, more stunned by its stupidity than anything else.

They say that zombies are the dumb ones? Sheesh.

Two more came after that, and got quickly disassembled. However, one ghoul's hand latched on to the back hoof of my mount and tripped it up. Vlad nearly buckled over and wasted precious seconds trying to get its feet back under it.

Then the smell came.

Charging down the hall at a speed far faster than any ghoul I’d ever seen was the disgusting green paunch that kicked this nightmare off.

“Yeeeet sheeeeet!” I moaned, and I knew I was in trouble.

This creature was far above my level. Worse, I suspected the stinker had killed my strongest minion. Which meant that I would be no harder to crush than one of those flies that flew around it.

I glanced backward to see how far from the gate I was and my heart fell. Rissah was about ten yards ahead with her lips drawn in a tight line. One hand kept the black barred gate open, and I got the impression that she was seconds away from closing it.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. Third time’s the charm?

Right before the monster caught up to me, an immense wave of force sent it stumbling backward.

Not one for taking unnecessary risks, I used Spring Forward again, and slid through the gate, almost knocking Rissah off her feet. She hurried to slam the door home, but Vlad knocked her back a second time and she fell on the floor next to me.

The unsanitary hulk had already resumed its blurring pursuit. On my back, I watched in horror as it leapt forward, black talons reaching out to rend us apart, when suddenly, Handy Davis Jr. slammed the gate on its face.

A spit filled cry of frustration emanated from the gibbering cretin. With a savage smile, I stood up and prepared to bring my blade down on its questing arm. Only to find, in the few seconds it took for me to stand, the monster was gone.

Not gone as in, it ran off. Or was absent. I mean gone as in; the monster had its head lopped off and left a pool of yellow blood on the floor.

In its place stood my skeleton. And its baleful green eyes glared absolute hatred.