Chapter 7 – One Down

Scaling down the hole, I used the shimmering marble to look for small crevices and cracks to hold on to as I descended to down the hole.

After few minutes of climbing down, I heard a shout coming from below. “What are you doing?”

“Rappelling down,” I shouted back.

“That’s pointless; just jump. I have a way to break up your fall.”

Going down? From this height? I pondered whether I should listen to him and really jump or not. It wasn’t only a matter of fear; it was also a matter of trust. I didn’t know the guy to trust him with something this high-risk. The only reason I was contemplating this was because it appeared that we would fight together if we find the ghoul.

Considering that this might be a chance to see whether I can trust him or not, I decided to jump. I had already known I was going to risk my life when I went through the portal, and this was a good reason to risk it.

When I let go of the rope, it shattered into numerous shards, and I fell through the gushing air. There was practically no way to break my fall now. I hoped he really had a way to break my fall.

There was no need for my shimmering bead because as I drew closer to the ground, I began to see a light being emitted from the floor. It didn’t take a few seconds for me to see it was Rich right beneath me with his screen dome facing upward.

I could feel my heartbeat racing faster and faster as I got nearer to the shield. I wasn’t going to lie to myself at this point, I didn’t trust him, and out of impulse, I conjured a dagger behind my back. If I was going to die, I was taking him with me.

When I hit the arched dome, countless ripples undulated across its surface. I didn’t feel any pain; I just suddenly stopped. When the undulation calmed down, the screen flickered, and I was bounced off a few inches away then fell to the ground.

Huge relief filled my body when I hit the ground. I took a couple of deep breaths to calm down, and as I got up, I dissipated the dagger that was in my hand.

When I was on my two feet, I said, “Thankfully, you really did catch me.”

“Why did you even rappel…” Rich trailed off. “It slipped by me you were a newbie. If I were going to let you rappel down, I would have discussed it with you beforehand. Where did you even fasten the rope to scale down?”

“I tied the rope to the staff, then planted it into the ground,” I answered. “I didn't think this would happen. To be honest, I was going to stab you with a dagger if you had failed.”

He raised his eyebrow and looked at me strangely. “What?” I inquired.

“I didn’t think you would come forward with it,” he answered.

“I did distrust you. So I am making up for it.”

“Just don’t do it again.” He said, “We can do this later; we need to continue before we lose all the trails of the ghoul.”

Nodding, I followed Rich as he turned around to shed light on the tunnel we were inside. Inside the hole we were in, there was only one way available, which went westward.

We trod the rocky ground as we followed the trail of blood on the ground. The tunnel didn’t continue straight. At one point, it winded left, then right, then split into multiple tunnels. This didn’t happen once or twice, but as we continued following the trail, it became evident to us that this was a maze tunnel.

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Fortunately, we had the blood on the ground to follow, and out of caution, we had made marks on the wall to find our way back. It bewildered me how the ghoul could spill so much blood; it should have died by now. But as we continued, the blood marks were beginning to faint down with no traces of the ghoul.

When I was about to lose patience and succumb to the possibility that we might have lost the ghoul, I heard a loud thud to the ground nearby. It startled me at first, but when I heard a growling noise, I knew what was there.

I looked at Rich for confirmation, and he nodded, insinuating that this was really the ghoul.

Me and Rich didn’t need any type of signal to get ready. He raised his sword and shield, and I conjured a staff in one hand and a dagger in the other. We inched forward towards the source of the sounds.

Eventually, we got a clear vision of the ghoul. It wasn’t bleeding, no bone spurs were jutting out now, and its muscles which were colored red blood had a tinge of paleness to them. The ghoul was trying to scale up what seemed to be another aperture that led upwards. However, its legs failed it whenever it clawed on the wall, crumbling under the weight of its own body. It didn’t look like an inherent inability to climb up, but the multiple injuries we had inflicted on its legs were finally taking their toll.

I turned towards Rich, and as I was about to ask him how to proceed, he whispered, “There’s no need for a plan. It’s very feeble right now; Just don’t relent in your attacks.”

There was no need for further explanations, he charged towards the ghoul, and I followed behind him. The sound of our gait alerted the beast. It crouched and growled in an attempt to daunt us away. But it was of no use, in a manner of seconds, we had closed in on the ghoul.

The beast didn’t wait for us to strike first. It threw itself towards and attempted to ram into Rich. There was a trait I wanted to try back in the inn but was afraid of its aftereffects, however, this seemed to be an excellent time to try it. Taking in as much air as I can, I howled as I directed my attention to the ghoul.

Whenever I had used [Weapon of Judgment], I would always feel a formless air as a part of my body moving and squirming. This time was no different. The sensation of that air being exerted overcame me as it moved towards my throat.

A reverberating howl came out of my mouth, one I never thought I could produce. Like the first time when I had used [Weapon of Judgment], I instinctively knew the use of this trait. The howl had frozen the beast's movement while it was still in the middle of its rush. With its movement restricted, the inertia sent it tumbling on the ground.

Even though I attempted this howl without telling Rich, he reacted instantly to the result. When the ghoul skidded towards him, Rich did nothing, his body stagnating. However, a second after, he cut the beast's head with his sword as a thin transparent blade extended from its edges.

Following up on Rich’s attack, I pounced on its head with my dagger and drove it inside the cut Rich created. I discarded the staff and produced another dagger which I also drove into the cut. When I conjured the second dagger, I felt a sudden heart clench. I had no time to comprehend what was happening, there were only three seconds, and two had passed. With both daggers, I tried to split its head into two parts.

Unfortunately, the three seconds were quickly over without being able to accomplish my aim. Being this close was extremely dangerous. I took out my daggers and retreated back a few steps before the ghoul could attack me. The beast got up with a ghastly furious screech as the blood dripped from the huge gash on its head. Before it could finish its screech, Rich struck his sword upward. In an instant, the transparent adjunct edge extended even more and then shrank back. I didn’t understand what happened, but I saw the ghoul had stopped moving, and two-thirds of its head was starting to slide off.

“That was anti-climactic,” I said.

“Did you prefer to fight with your life in danger?”

“I am good.” I said, “Just surprised it ended this quick.”

“The gash you opened with your daggers was well-executed. I was able to line up my cut with it, cutting away a significant part of the ghoul's head without the need to penetrate its tough exterior. Also, the screech it did was a good opportunity to strike. In the end, it was still just a beast.”

I nodded my head in understanding and asked, “So do we go back now?”

He shook his head. “We first need to dissect the beast.” He then pointed upwards towards the aperture, “Then, we should look where the beast was heading.”

Rich crouched down, and as he extended his forward. A ring on one of his fingers glimmered slightly, and a bunch of stuff suddenly appeared on the ground. There was a rope, two knives, a bunch of metal spikes, and four axes.

I had already accepted the supernatural powers that were around to not care about how this stuff came out of the blue, but what itched my thoughts was why he hadn’t taken those things out earlier. Furrowing my eyebrows, I asked, “If you had this stuff from the start, why did we do what we did when were descending?”

“It’s a bit complicated,” He answered as he reached out for the two knives.