Red looked at Rog in a hurry. “Do you have talismans with you?”

The hunter nodded. “Two shielding ones.”

Red frowned. “Only that?”

“Wasn’t hoping to fight anyone this outing.” Rog said. “Besides, you know we don’t have much left.”

The youth knew it only too well. They received a bounty of Spirit Stone from the trial a long time ago, but that wasn’t enough to sustain their constant consumption while fighting the forest monsters. Not to mention that the sect barely even made a single Spirit Stone a month, so resupplying their dwindling stock of talismans was almost impossible.

Red picked something out of his pouch and handed it to Rog. It was a talisman.

“Fireball.” Red said. “You use that and I use my Wind Blade talisman and we break past the ghoul in the south.”

“That won’t be enough.” Aurelia said.

The youth ignored her.

“A ghoul?” Rog looked surprised.

“Just do as I say. We don’t have enough time.”

Rog nodded, but he still carried a worried expression. “What about the other two?”

“We split up after that. This way, we both will have a chance to make it out of this alive.”

The hunter shook his head. “We are not splitting up.”

Red sighed. “… Fine.”

Rog saw through his plan in an instant. They both knew that the ghouls were after Red, judging by the fact they used Rog to lure him in, which meant that if they split up, they would probably all go after the youth.

The hunter wouldn’t let that come to pass, though.

Another set of roars, this time closer.

Red tensed up and drew his sword. “Don’t use the shielding talisman unless absolutely necessary. We need to make every moment count.”

Rog nodded and pulled out his bow. “I’m behind you.”

With all brief preparations done, there was nothing more to do than to run straight at their enemy. Although the two of them had a lot of experience dealing with Lesser Ring Realm enemies, this didn’t mean they weren’t a threat to them.

Most of their encounters against such enemies were in the form of monsters, and their victories all happened through ambushes or thorough planning and overwhelming through numbers. They didn’t engage in straight up combat against Lesser Ring Realm creatures, and much less allowed themselves to be ambushed by them.

The last time Red and his companions were ambushed by a Lesser Ring Realm monster was back in the trial, in the form of a fireleaf deer, and back then, Rog almost died. Now they were facing against three ghouls, each one probably more dangerous than that deer back then, and all seemingly coordinated enough to surround and kill the two of them. Even with Red’s special abilities, this was, without doubt, a terrible situation for them.

Death was knocking at their door, and the only reason the two of them remained calm was because of all their years of experience in life or death situations. Their chances for success might be slim, but if they hesitated or froze in the face of danger, then they would definitely die.

Red led the way in his sprint, focusing on his crimson sense for the appearance of the ghoul.

“Wait for my signal before activating the talisman!” the youth said.

Rog grunted in affirmation.

It didn’t take Red too long to feel the ghoul approaching them behind the trees. The strength of its fluctuation immediately proved that Aurelia was right in her earlier warnings.

Red shouted at Rog. “Start chanting now!”

The youth started doing the same thing. Talismans took a few seconds to activate, which meant one needed to have precise timing if they wanted to use it in combat.

It took just a few seconds for the two of them to spot their target amidst the tree, charging in their direction.

The ghoul, which was a man in life, carried much of the same characteristics as the zombies Red saw before - pale, blueish skin, signs of rot, exposed bone and flesh, falling hair - and yet the difference was evident upon further examination. For one, the ghoul’s expression carried an animalistic savagery, a bigger display of emotion than any zombie was capable of. This was not the only thing the ghoul shared in common with a monster, as its darkened fingernails were long and sharp, resembling claws more than anything, and its canines were also far bigger than normal. There were also its movements, as the ghoul seemed to prefer running on all fours than on both legs.

The creature was so different from a common man that it was almost impossible to think it was alive at one point in the past. Yet, here it was, probably far stronger than it ever was in life, charging towards Red and Rog with a maddened gaze and a hunger for human flesh.

“Now!” Red gave the signal.

Rog threw his talisman first. A small fireball formed in front of him before flying towards the ghoul. The undead saw it coming and jumped away with surprising dexterity, avoiding direct impact.

Still, the fireball exploded against the ground, and an expanding ball of flame consumed the ghoul. The creature let out a roar of pain, but it was clear it wasn’t dead even through the smoke and dust barring their vision.

Red squinted his eyes and used his crimson sense to locate the ghoul and let his own talisman loose. The air in front of him started to condense, forming a blade of wind that flew towards the ghoul even quicker than the fireball.

The burst of wind dispersed the dust from the air, allowing Red to see the blade flying towards the ghoul. The creature turned around and tried to jump away, but it was too slow.

The blade of wind lopped off both of its legs, making it fall down to the ground in a slump. This should have been enough to kill any living creature, but Red knew that the ghoul would definitely not die with just this much.

Sure enough, the ghoul roared in pain at its lost legs, but it didn’t stop moving. Instead, it used its hands to crawl along the ground with surprising speed towards the duo. Still, it wasn’t fast enough to catch up with them any longer.

Red ignored the undead and turned towards Rog. “Leave it be and let’s move quickly!”

Rog nodded at him and turned to run.

Behind them, Red heard the sound of the other two ghouls getting even closer. The youth was painfully aware that they wouldn’t be able to outrun these creatures, but he had a plan.

“Can you distract them?!” Red asked.

“Me?!” Rog seemed confused.

“Not you!” The youth shook his head.

Aurelia’s voice came right by the side of his head. “Hold the core up.”

Red did as much. The crystal began to glow with an intense light before two beams of light shot out from them in different directions.

“What just happened?” Rog asked with a bewildered gaze.

“This might buy us enough time to run away.” Red said. “But we need to run as fast as we can.”

The hunter scratched his beard and nodded. “I’ll do my best to keep up.”

‘That’s right.’

For the first time in Red’s life at the surface, he was the one who needed to slow down for his companion to keep up with him. It was a rather sudden change from the youth’s perspective, but now that he opened all twelve of his veins, he was technically physically superior to almost everyone in the sect, barring Allen and Hector.

Still, he didn’t dwell on the matter.

He continued to run, at the fastest speed that Rog was comfortable with. Just as Red was planning a route and trying to find a place to hide, he heard the sounds of roars behind him again, still approaching their location.

“They’re not biting!” Aurelia said with an urgent tone.

Rog also looked behind them with an alarmed expression. “They’re still coming!”

Red was suddenly at a loss. This same strategy worked before when he tried to throw a ghoul out of his trail, so why wouldn’t it work now?

“Are they being controlled?!” Red asked.

Rog looked at him in confusion. “How would I know?!”

“I can’t find any other gathering of undead energy nearby!” Aurelia said. “If they’re being controlled, it’s from farther than five kilometers away from us!”

‘Further than five kilometers…’

Red’s hopes were quickly dashed. If the ghouls were being controlled, then maybe they could kill whoever was commanding them and then escape with the same strategy. However, there were apparently no necromancers even within a five kilometer radius of them. One kilometer of distance in this situation was already too much, but more than five and without even knowing what direction to go on? By the time they found where this supposed necromancer was, the ghouls would have already long caught up with them.

Red was starting to feel hopeless about their situation, and Rog was quick to pick up on it, even with the youth’s cold expression.

“I’ll hold them back, kid!” the hunter said. “You can use that chance to escape!”

Red frowned. “Be quiet!”

The hunter smiled. “So what’s the other option? Fighting to the death?”

“We’ll do that if we must.”

Rog laughed. “Fine. But if I decide to sacrifice myself like a hero, don’t waste my life by being stubborn.”

Red ignored his words. “There’s a hill nearby. We’ll fight them there.” He picked something out of his pouch before throwing it towards the hunter. “I still have another offensive talisman! Take it!”

Rog grabbed the talisman. “What is it?”

“Chain lightning.”

The hunter’s smile widened. “I always did want to use one of these.”

They approached the hill, taking positions on higher terrain as the ghouls were quick approaching. When they stopped, it would probably take no more than ten seconds for their enemies to arrive.

“Here!” Rog said.

Red followed his advice and ducked behind a tree. Without hesitation, the youth pulled out another talisman from his pouch - his last resort - and something that had cost him almost three Spirit Stones alone to buy. Still, Red wouldn’t be stingy in using it if his life was in danger.

He began to chant and rubbed at one spot on the talisman. Then, almost four seconds later, electric energy started to spread from the talisman, and without hesitation Red plastered the slip of paper against his arm.

A surge of energy spread through his body, and just at that moment, the figure of the two other ghouls appeared in their vision. It was time to make their final stand here.