“Psssht!”

The loud, ear-grating sounds of the corpse-eaters’ groans echoed in the night air, but another, more violent sound, interrupted them.

Deafening cracks that sounded more like explosions and the distinct noise of tearing flesh sounded out as Mican ran ahead of Harold and his children, clearing the path for them in a shower of gore.

“Urah!” Mican’s fists flew out with an unstoppable force, shattering the heads of every creature that came even remotely close to him.

Kicks splattered their remains onto the creatures behind them, their dead bodies serving to slow their movement.

The eyes of the teenager gleamed in his father’s grasp, even despite his wounds. Time seemed to slow down as he watched the dark figure in front of him, the noise of the world shutting itself out from his ears.

Through his eyes, he saw a god of war, separating the path for him with ease and an unrivaled fury. It was as if a rain of blood followed his path.

The young man’s eyes were dark and ruthless, and yet, to the teenager, they seemed as if they shone in the dark. He was like a shining star in the night sky, leading the lost traveller to safety, and warmth.

He was cruel, ferocious, and terrifying…

…Awe-inspiring…

“Harold! Which way?!” Mican shouted out behind him as he fought, his momentum plowing through the creatures in his path.

“R-right!” Shielding his children with his body, Harold crouched down low as he trailed behind Mican, giving the man a wide berth to fight. “At the right, there’s an opening in the trees! It leads to the clearing where Boss Melinda and the others are!”

Turning his head left, Mican did indeed notice a large gap between the trees, through the light of the moon, but he also noticed a major problem.

The skinless zombie-like creatures continued to stream through the trees, and they made their way towards the largest commotion in the area, as if following their instincts. Even the corpse-eaters battling the adventurers stopped their assault, turning towards the four with empty eyes.

Their numbers were intense, and far more than Mican had assumed from otherwise. There must have been at least two-hundred of the creatures trailing through the forests and the clearing, gradually marching towards them.

A few beads of sweat condensed on Mican’s forehead at the sight, his brows furrowing and his face hardening.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Harold, follow behind me closely!” The young man swiftly turned his head, bellowing towards the blacksmith behind him.

As the creatures streamed towards them, Mican picked up his pace, plowing through the freaks with a renewed burst of energy. He had wanted to conserve at least some of his strength, but he didn’t know if he would last through the endless waves if there were even more of them.

He wanted to burst through the pack by virtue of his strength, but soon quickly realized the futility of his plan as the swarm piled up around him.

The creatures were like a wave of flesh, rolling and convulsing with him at their center. It was like a whirlpool of red meat and bone. He had only ever seen such a sight before in the vast crowds at concerts in his previous life, but they weren’t so gruesome.

Groans and moans were screeched into the air, their voices combining to shatter Mican’s train of thought and throwing his mind into disarray.

“GRAHHH!” Mican’s eyes turned red, and he roared into the air, throwing caution to the wind.

There was only one objective that he needed to follow, and that was punch, smash, and kill. Kill until he could no longer move, until he was killed himself. That was the only thing he could do in such a situation.

His charge slowed to a mere crawl as the creatures began surrounding him, grabbing and tearing at his clothes and blocking his path with their rotting bodies. He trailed ahead still, punching, kicking, and bashing his way through the crowd, Harold trailing behind him with his head lowered and his eyes nearly shut tight.

The young man felt as if he was wading through a river, fighting against the current. The creatures stuck to him in a hungered manner, clinging and grabbing. They slowed his movements and sucked out his strength.

“RAH!” Mican grabbed at his shoulder, ripping away a corpse-eater that had been chewing at his shoulder, along with a small chunk of his flesh.

Flinging the creature into the crowd, he wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his arm.

The young man felt blood trail down his arm as his strength seeped out of the wound on his shoulder, but it didn’t worry him too much. The only thing he was worried about was the potential infection left over by their rotting teeth, but it was a matter he could save for later.

Through battling the disgusting creatures, he had found that their attack could not harm him too much. Their strength was literally incapable, akin to a human’s fist against a fully grown bear. Their nails could claw small wounds into him, but their teeth couldn’t even penetrate his skin if he hardened his muscles.

He would have been long dead if his strength, vitality, and stamina weren’t as powerful as they were. Even so, he felt that their seemingly endless numbers could wear him down and eventually kill him, so long as he lost all of his strength.

“Hang on, Mican, please! We’re almost there!” Harold shouted at Mican, having even joined in kicking away at the creatures himself.

Despite their snail-like speed, the young man’s efforts bore fruit as the four neared the large gap between the trees. Behind it, Mican could see the orange light of several fires blazing, and the distinct noises of battle and shouting became clearer.

Several dead corpse-eaters lay on the ground outside of the gap between the trees. Their entrails lay hanging out of their bodies, and their limbs had been strewn around the area from cuts of a surgical precision.

The sights and sounds gave Mican a renewed strength, and he forced himself to breath in motion as he massacred his way through the crowd.

“That is enough, halt, all of you.” Just before the entrance to the other clearing, a commanding voice sounded out from behind the crowd.

The voice was ugly, dark, and grating. It invoked feelings of intense disgust in Mican, and he could recognize it from anywhere.