Ghoul.

That was the first word that came into my mind at the time I had a clear look at the four-legged silhouette.

At first, I thought it was an animal beast or so. But I then realized that it was actually a human. The shape of its skull was that of a human. It didn’t have a protruding, pointed nose like most four-legged animals had.

Furthermore, the figure of the silhouette was like a chimpanzee’s. But slimmer.

The man was crawling that it made me wonder what had happened to his state of mind. No man in the right state of mind would do something like that; Eating a corpse of a cat raw.

And I wasn’t even sure if the cat was actually dead.

Upon witnessing the scene, I took a step back and posed my right hand forward, still holding my knife.

As my mind had calmed down a bit, I later on realized that there was no need for me to observe the man eating the corpse. In fact, it was a great opportunity to make my move since he was still occupied with something.

Or should I just escape?

Yeah, that would be better.

Slowly, I left the dirt path and entered the woods behind me. However, I decided not to go far away from the path. The dirt path is the one that divides the woods into two. It's the only guide for me if I’m hoping to find a town or a village, so leaving it would be a bit unreasonable.

While there’s no telling that there aren’t any more beasts around here, getting away from that ghoul should be my first priority.

As I took a couple of steps, I decided to still keep my eyes on the ghoul while also making sure not to get too far away from the path. Although the distance between us could already be described as safe, it’s not bad to stay cautious.

And it was indeed the right choice. Just a few seconds later, the ghoul’s silhouette lifted its head, seemingly finished from eating the cat, and looked around. Then, looking in my direction, he slowly began to walk towards me.

At first, he seemed like a normal person approaching me. But later on, he started running and even went on four limbs like a rabid dog, chasing its prey.

Shit.

The scene was straight out of a horror movie. All the necessary conditions were achieved; It was nighttime, there was a sole path in the middle of the woods, the full moon was present, and lastly, there was a poor victim named Leighton Grenville running for his life.

As soon as I noticed that the ghoul was close behind me, I turned left and hid myself in a tree.

Continuing to run was useless because there was no way for me to outmatch his terrifying speed, so I looked at a quite large rock, and…

Shapeshift!

In an instant, my body had taken into the shape of the same rock.

Looking to my right, I saw the ghoul went past me as he dug his fingers to the ground, stopping himself from moving any further. The sudden stop had caused him to tumble many times until he was finally lying face down on the ground.

Damn, he’s insane.

As if nothing had happened, he slowly got up on his feet and began looking around, seemingly sniffing. Because he was now on the dirt path, out of the trees’ obstruction of moonlight, I had managed to get a clearer look on his appearance.

He was half-naked, only wearing shorts that was obviously not in a good condition. His body was full of wounds and scratches. And because of what happened just now, there were lots of dirt on him, mainly on his face; The blood surrounding his mouth had been completely covered with dirt.

“Blood… blood… blood… blood… blood…”

With a hoarse voice, he kept on repeating those words as if he was chanting. And slowly, he looked in my direction and locked his gaze at the tree behind me…

Or it was actually me…

Then, he began crawling this way, causing my heart to skip a beat in terror.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

As the distance between us lessened, my heartbeat grew faster and louder that it actually worried me if he could hear it.

Trust in Shapeshift. It will not fail… It absolutely won't…

Now that the ghoul was at arm’s length away from me, I froze. Not a single beat was heard from my heart as if it had decided to be quiet. Or rather, it was my body turning numb and shifting its entire focus on the monster in front of me.

Suddenly, the man raised his hand and scratched me.

“AAAAAAAAGHHH!!” I felt a sharp pain on my right hand, making me realize that I was back in my original form. “Wh-what…?!”

“MOOOORE BLOOD…!” he shouted his lungs out, breaking me out of my shock.

On impulse, I stabbed his stomach and kicked him to retrieve back my knife. He was thrown in only a meter away, but I immediately took the opportunity to get up on my feet and escape.

He sensed me… how…?

If the devilish cats didn’t not manage, how did he?

As I looked back to check on him while I was running, he was already back on his feet, surprising me.

“This is difficult…”

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I decided to stop running when an idea came to my head.

Staring at the man as he chases me on four limbs, I spread open my arms as if about to embrace him.

“Come here, dog!”

Seemingly provoked, he growled and leapt at me with excess force — which was technically my goal.

As he aimed for my upper body, I ducked and pointed my knife upward, letting it slice through his chest down to his stomach while he was in mid-air.

“GRAAAAAAAHH!” he yelled in pain as he began writhing on the ground.

I was expecting that I had rendered him immobile. But to my surprise, he leapt at me again.

I was caught this time.

Managing to pin me down to the ground, he immediately bit me on my left shoulder blade.

“AAAAAARGHH” I felt my throat getting ripped out as I screamed abnormally loud, enduring the pain.

This isn’t supposed to happen. This ghoul here looks like he won’t run out of energy unless he was dead.

A human should not be able to move for a short while when in pain, but he immediately recovered in only a few seconds.

It’s no joke anymore to call this inhuman beast a ghoul.

I have to use them now.

M-mimic!

Right away, my eyes glowed in red as I felt a familiar sensation throughout my whole body.

Notice: You have mimicked the following spells:

1. Bloodlust - A passive spell. You’ll have an extreme thirst for blood. Whenever you manage to drink blood, you gain strength and it increases your health recovery for a few seconds.

2. Bloodseek - An active spell. In a small area from your current position, you’ll be able to smell a single living creature with the highest blood amount in their body. Thus, locating it.

Manacost: Very Low

Cooldown: 15 seconds

3. Bloodpool - An active spell. Upon touch, you can convert a dead body into blood.

Manacost: High

Cooldown: 20 minutes

And…

Spellsteal!

Again, my eyes glowed in red. But it was brighter this time. The strange sensation was more intense than what I had felt from Mimic.

Notice: You have stolen the following spell:

Rabid - An active spell. It makes your body numb from any pain for a single minute, also increasing your strength and speed.

Manacost: Medium

Cooldown: 3 minutes

At the moment I heard about the spell Bloodseek, it made me realize why I was found out earlier. However, I don’t think rocks have blood.

I can only assume that, while Shapeshift changes my appearance entirely, there would still be a state of my original self lingering on it.

Suddenly, I felt a strong urge surging in me. It was like lava rising out of a volcano near eruption. Alongside with it, an itch was spreading throughout my entire body — an incurable one.

Slowly, my mind became clouded until I could only think of one thing…

Blood.

“BLOOD… BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD! BLOOOOOOD!” I later on realized that I was already shouting it.

All my movements felt unnatural. I was barely in control of my body at all. It was like I was only watching myself from a third-person perspective.

My body had only been seeking for one thing, and that was no other than blood. The fact that a moving vessel of blood — the man — was right in front of me tempted me more to go berserk.

While my mind was somehow still in my control, I couldn’t deny the fact that the word ‘blood’ was bombarding all my senses.

Surprised, I watched myself flip the table as the situation had taken a turn to the opposite.

I was now pinning him down to the ground.

He growled in response, scratching and kicking me in hopes of throwing me out. But my body didn’t budge an inch, making me notice that he had gotten weaker.

Was it because I stole his Rabid, nullifying its effect from the original owner?

That seemed to be the case.

Then, my independent body proceeded to land continuous swipes on his chest, giving him lots of grazes.

Because I wanted to end this soon, I decided to use a certain spell.

Rabid!

Instantly, my whole body overflowed with strength that it made me think that I would explode.

Because the stolen ultimate spell was 25% stronger than the owner's, each of the swipes I’ve landed had caused him deep gashes.

The man’s chest was turned into a complete mess. His ribcage was broken as he was lying lifelessly on the pool of his own blood.

I watched myself cannibalizing the man.

Not using the spell Bloodpool was a decision I’ve made. Because in the first place, the reason why I left the house was because of hunger. If I turned his body into blood — a liquid — that won’t be food anymore, so I should just wait until it’s finished.

Suddenly, a voice had reached my mind, shocking me on what I’ve heard.

Formless has killed Leech.

My mind was temporarily frozen, unable to comprehend the information I’ve heard. As I regained a bit of composure, I slowly connected the dots and came into a conclusion.

This man...

It scared me to think that Mimic can copy spells ‘10% weaker’. If Bloodlust was at full strength, I doubt I still would have the ability to think of anything aside from blood. It was understandable that this man had become a complete psycho.

But to think that he was a human from Earth…

I decided not to think further and focused on what I should be doing next. After all, I’m in serious trouble.

The spells I’ve mimicked will remain in me until I’ve used Mimic on another creature that has spells.

In other words, my body will act independently like a wild animal as long as I have Bloodlust.

As I was finished eating the corpse, I observed the surroundings as I let myself wander around the woods. I also kept on using Bloodseek frequently to search for living creatures nearby.

It took me an hour to find a deer that has spells. I waited for a while until the deer was in a near-dead state from the brutal attacks of my uncontrollable body and finally used Mimic.

Shortly after, a voice resounded in my mind.

Notice: You have mimicked the following spells:

1. Sprint - An active spell. Increases your running speed for 30 seconds.

Manacost: Very Low

Cooldown: 1 minute

At last, the effects of Bloodlust had vanished, making me puke as I regained control of my body along with my sense of taste; There was fresh blood inside my mouth, and of course it tasted bad. I spat on the ground many times to get rid of the remaining blood.

A little satisfied, I lay down on the ground, exhausted from all that happened. I also had a few wounds on some parts of my body, but the tiredness I was feeling was so great that I didn’t really care.

Closing my eyes, a few words had escaped from my mouth before I broke into a sigh.

“Leech… That would be my last time using Mimic on you…”