The ghoul’s gaze had snapped to Alex quickly, but he’d been expecting its focus to move to him. Eye contact was deftly avoided as Alex’s focus moved to its hips and legs. His reaction Enhancement made it only too easy, with the extra effect from Inspire making the ghoul’s movement seem almost slow.

He immediately noticed that this ghoul was reminiscent of the golems earlier. There were patches of mismatched flesh that flowed together. For the golems, this had made them more agile than other monsters in their archetype. In a ghoul, Alex felt that similar results were unlikely. He was certain that it would instead follow the pattern of covering weaknesses. Ghouls were normally physically weak, but he couldn’t expect that to extend to this monster.

The ghoul was a bit more than six and a half feet tall, easily surpassing any other such monsters he’d faced. The only reason he still categorized it as a ghoul was its genderless form. He wasn’t dumb enough to examine the eye sockets to see if they were filled with eyes or just magic.

The clumsy nature of golems and weak physique of ghouls wasn’t something that went away even at later tiers. Undead were generally so numerous that the weaknesses were a lifeline instead of a path to easy victory. The monsters in this trial not sharing those flaws was worrying. Alex couldn’t afford to lose, it would set the boss monster and most likely culprit loose on the world.

Inspire was flowing through him with greater strength than ever before, allowing him to feel thoughts and reactions from it. David had plenty of experience with undead, and his disdain had extended to the mana type. Alex thought of self-preservation as Inspire’s main goal, but right now it felt like nothing mattered outside of putting undead to rest.

These thoughts whirred through Alex’s head during his approach. The time it took him to reach the ghoul was hardly a few seconds, but it felt significantly longer as his reaction Enhancement went to work. He’d wondered what was meant by “effects may vary,” and was impressed by the result.

His mind was moving so quickly that the world around him had slowed down. His body wasn’t able to keep up with the pace of his thoughts, making it feel like he was moving at normal speeds instead of an Inspire-boosted sprint. The extra time let him plan out an approach for a ghoul that was stronger than normal and seemed to have Medusa eyes.

Inspire wasn’t normally one for tactics, but the need to show off had been discarded in the face of a Neophyte undead. There was plenty of glory in removing this blight on existence, no need to showboat.

The ghoul had no weapon, seeming to be a spellcaster, and retreated from Alex’s charge. It called out to the golem, presumably requesting assistance, but was far too late.

Alex’s first strike was a thrust aimed for the monster’s torso. An arm moved to block, which Alex had expected. His Enhancement made it so that he didn’t really need to predict his enemy’s moves, his brain had plenty of time to adjust.

This ghoul didn’t seem to be a pugilist, so Alex didn’t bother avoiding the head-on collision. He wanted to see what it would do with a sword in its arm and had a backup if necessary. He felt that this was likely an attempt to measure his strength, but he couldn’t hold back when Muhammad was on the ground only a few dozen feet away.

Alex had heard Anthony pull their friend’s body behind a tree. Muhammad was still breathing, but it was shallow.

The flame of rage that had been building in Alex’s chest spiked in intensity as his mind turned briefly to his friend’s condition. The slow-moving world around him made it easy for his mind to drift as his body moved according to its demands at an agonizing pace, but his fury brought back clarity.

Things didn’t speed up as his sword met the ghoul’s forearm. Weirdly, it blocked with flesh instead of bone. He quickly learned the reason why as it pulled its arm off to the side with his sword still lodged in the flesh. He started to pull back his weapon, but realized that he would move too slowly to untangle his sword from the arm. The ghoul was using its forearm bones to trap his weapon.

Alex’s experience with the spine of a golem had already taught him that these undead had tough bones that could be further reinforced. This ghoul was a Neophyte, and the extra protections extended to the rest of its body.

He wasn’t looking at it’s face, so he couldn’t see its reaction as his sword was pulled to the side. He didn’t bother contesting it, despite his superior strength. His leverage wasn’t great, so he simply let go of the sword with his left hand.

It was much harder to avoid searching for a reaction when his fist smashed into its neck, but he managed.

Undead didn’t need to breathe, but he’d collapsed its throat with that blow. Neophyte or not, modified body or not, a ghoul was still a ghoul.

A grim smile built on Alex’s face as he dealt the blow. This monster was Tier 1, but he had a clear Strength advantage thanks to Inspire. Even with the extra time to think, he didn’t bother second-guessing the use of the mana type. Right now, taking apart the monster that had hurt his friend was far more important.

He was quite certain this wasn’t the boss of the trial at this point. If the boss was this physically weak, it would have other powers to compensate. The fact that Muhammad was still breathing proved that it didn’t have overwhelming power with its eye attack. Clearly, this was a subordinate.

The ghoul’s right arm grasped for Alex’s throat, but he grabbed the arm before it could reach him. His initial instinct to pull it in for a headbutt was discarded, if his sword couldn’t go through the bones he didn’t want to put his skull to the test, and he instead leaped backwards while pulling.

The ghoul fell off balance, and Alex disengaged to unsheath his second sword.

The ghoul recovered in the time that took. Alex could heard the golem bearing down on him, Jess and Becca not strong enough to get in its way. The grin on Alex’s face only grew as the ghoul moved to flee instead of engage. It was right to fear him, but he wasn’t going to let it get away that easily.

The golem’s punch missed by a mile, and Alex was back on his real target before it had even made it a few feet.

“No chance of escape, I’m afraid,” The words came unbidden, and Alex had to admit that Inspire had impressive flair as he said them. The ghoul’s uncomprehending stare was a reminder that art wasn’t always understood by its audience.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Ah, he’d made eye contact.

He felt the ghoul’s mana sink into his body, attempting to devour his mana for nefarious purposes. Alex didn’t get to find out what, as the foreign energy was burned out of his system with righteous fervor. He already had a parasite that was not interested in sharing him. The ghoul maintained eye contact, but he could see the shock in its eyes as Alex kept moving.

The paralysis that had struck Muhammad was no match for Inspire. Alex took the ghoul’s head off before it stopped channeling the Ability. The spine put up significant resistance, but he pushed through.

The golem behind him let out a roar of anger at the scene, but Alex paid it no heed as he made a few more cuts to make sure the ghoul wasn’t going anywhere. Legs came off the same as the head, but Alex had to grimace as he noticed that each blow left his backup sword a bit more dull. The bones were so tough that they corroded even an enchanted edge.

Alex wouldn’t be surprised if there was some extra magic in the bones to increase the effect. His second sword was significantly worse for wear after only three cuts.

At least he now knew Inspire gave him enough power to go through the bones. He’d expected as much, but the durability of the ghoul’s arms had given him pause. The beheading comfirmed that his lack of success with the forearm had been a result of terrible leverage.

With no head and no legs, the ghoul wouldn’t be going anywhere, and Alex had an angry golem to deal with. Inspire’s presence was already diminished, but he could handle this monster without it.

His perception of time returned to normal as Inspire faded, but dodging away from the golem’s descending fist was simple. His sword slammed into its stomach, leery of his weapon deteriorating further.

Jess and Becca hadn’t reported any unexpected loss in durability for their spears when fighting the golems, but he didn’t want to risk the sword any more than necessary at this point.

The duo that had been engaging the golem quickly caught up, and the three of them steadily took apart their half-blind enemy. The golem was too tough to die quickly, but they were motivated. Alex could no longer hear anything that would update him on Muhammad’s condition, and it was a struggle to focus on the fight instead of worrying over his friend.

Finally, after a minute that felt much longer, the golem stopped trying to get back up. The headless ghoul hadn’t moved, and Alex could see that there wasn’t any mana coming from its aperture. That meant it was either dead or incredibly good at masking its energy.

Both were possible, and some measure of stealth was likely considering it had managed to ambush Muhammad, but Alex rushed back to his friend’s side anyway. The ghoul wasn’t going anywhere.

Muhammad was awake, which was about where the good news ended.

Anthony had him propped up against a tree, but it was clear that the tree was doing most of the work keeping him in a seated position. Muhammad’s face was pale, and Alex could see that he was gritting his teeth from either pain or concentration. The archer’s eyes were closed.

There weren’t any wounds on Muhammad’s body, his pale complexion being the only physical sign of his poor condition. Alex’s Sensitivity painted a very different picture, where Muhammad’s mana was fighting a losing battle against the ghoul’s.

Anthony’s mana was also present, but it was focused on physical restoration without anything to restore.

Actually, Alex realized, Anthony’s mana was doing it’s job perfectly. Whenever the ghoul’s mana managed to do something to Muhammad’s body, the damage was immediately restored. It was so quick that Alex took a second to figure out what the hostile mana was attempting to do.

“Can you tell what’s happening?” Jess whispered to Alex. Her Sensitivity was lower than his, and the mixture of different mana types was a confusing sight. It must be even harder to parse for her.

“I think it’s a turn undead Ability,” Alex replied, matching her quiet tone. Neither wanted to distract Anthony and Muhammad, “The ghoul wasn’t powerful enough to turn Muhammad into a zombie at range, but it was able to land a parasite that uses his own mana to do it. Anthony is reversing any necrosis and keeping his organs from failing.”

“The ghoul’s Ability is fueled by a mana type,” Anthony spoke up despite their efforts to avoid distracting him, “The Ability is maintaining itself as it absorbs Muhammad’s mana. I can’t figure out how to get rid of it.”

“Would finishing off the ghoul help?” Alex asked, “I left it without a head or legs but I’m not sure it’s completely dead.”

“No, it is,” Anthony replied, “I could tell when you killed it because the mana grew less directed. The Ability is less dangerous than it was at first, which is why I’ve managed to restore him to full health.”

“It was worse than this before?” Becca asked. Like Jess, her Sensitivity wasn’t as high as Alex’s. After hearing what was happening, though, it was much easier to determine how things were going.

It was, in a word, grim. Muhammad was clearly focused on his mana, trying to do anything that might prevent losing it. Stubborn defiance and pure mana control just couldn’t match up to an Ability fueled by a mana type. It was like Alex’s experiences with Inspire before he’d burned Guidance on resisting, resistance was little more than a delaying game.

The difference was that this mana type had no interest in keeping Muhammad alive, so it could be far more aggressive. It didn’t have Inspire’s power, but the Ability was designed for exactly this scenario. Additionally, the creator clearly intended to use it to turn Muhammad undead while David had worked to prevent Inspire taking over Alex.

Muhammad was locked in an unwinnable war of attrition. With no mana type of his own he simply couldn’t keep up.

Alex’s first thought was to see if he could help. Without a relevant mana type or any Abilities dedicated to the task, injecting his own mana into Muhammad was a terrible idea. Their mana would clash and he’d do more harm than good.

Alex’s mana control was impressive for an Aspirant, but it wasn’t advanced enough to avoid conflicting with Muhammad.

He wondered if he really didn’t have a relevant mana type, but Inspire was completely silent as he searched for ideas.

This was exactly what the mana type should be for, helping a friend grow stronger. The mana type seemed designed for situations like this. Alex remembered the vision, the suspenseful moment where David had a breakthrough to turn everything in his favor. Why couldn’t he Inspire a similar epiphany for Muhammad?

Alex tried to rouse the mana type manually. Manipulating the Inspire mana in his body before it could be ejected.

“Can we do anything?” Becca asked, “It looks like you can keep him alive, at least.”

“I’m burning mana to keep up,” Anthony replied, “My natural regeneration won’t keep me going for too much longer.”

Alex tried to force a connection with the Inspire mana residing outside of his soul. Surely there was a way he could help. He reminded the mana type of the disgust it had shown towards undead hardly minutes before.

There was no response.

His friends were talking, but Alex was too focused on his mana type. He tried to control the Inspire mana in the world around him, but his knowledge of how to utilize it was too shallow. He could seize control of it, but then what? His own mana was too far beyond him, and he’d worked so hard to comprehend the will behind it instead of how to use it.

He hadn’t wanted to know how to use it. All of his focus had been on getting rid of it, avoiding the temptation to use it out of fear that it would just be another way for the mana to control him.

Now Muhammad was dying in front of him, Inspire was silent, and Alex was left with only one option.

Would you like to use Grand Mana Guidance on Inspire manipulation techniques? (Note: High-quality mana types are dangerous to use at your tier.)

Yes/No

Alex hesitated for a second. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that this was why the parasite was suddenly so reticent. It wanted him to learn how to use it. Inspire was holding one of his best friends hostage.

The term parasite had never felt so apt.

The same rage he’d felt for the ghoul burned in Alex’s chest, but he accepted the prompt all the same.