Chapter 32: Race to Level 10 IX

The eerie silence of the hallway, illuminated by the gloomy soul lamps, was suddenly broken as rapid footsteps echoed off the walls, followed by heavy breathing.

“Fuck!”

The one responsible for those sounds, Dan, peeked from over his shoulder and couldn’t stop himself from cursing out. Lagging a few meters behind was a horde of zombies whose sheer numbers nearly made him pee in his pants.

“These damn bastards are persistent as fuck!” The dread of the situation had made his vocabulary quite colorful. Why am I so unlucky?

Being chased by a ghoul had already shaved a decade of his remaining old life. He thought the calamity had passed after the ghoul was distracted by those two he met on the way. As such, he threw caution to the wind and ran without looking back. How’d he know there was a horde of zombies waiting ahead?

“Le… leader, they’re catching up.” Lane barely formed a sentence amid his struggle for oxygen. His face was full of sweat, and signs of exhaustion were becoming apparent on his body.

“I know… that… already. Run!! Talk less!” Dan grunted between his heaves. I don’t have mana left to activate Wing Legs. He thought, frowning.

On Blanka’s orders, they applied all the points obtained from level-ups to Strength and Speed in a ratio of 4-4-2; those last two points went to MAG. Thanks to that, he awakened two skills: [Wing Legs], an agility-enhancing skill, and [Empower], a strength booster.

He preferred [Wing Legs] more for the versatility it added to his skillsets. Attack, retreat, dodging, all these were possible with this ability. The only downside was that it drained his mana fast. A mere second would cost him almost one-third of his total reserves.

“Le… leader. Look. Something is standing there!”

Dan’s gaze flew in the pointed direction; sure enough, there was a tall humanoid silhouette. Even though the dim light made it impossible to determine its appearance, somehow, that figure struck Dan with a dreadful familiarity.

Squinting his eyes, he put [Observe] to work.

Ghoul Level 1

HP: 26/500

Dan’s [Observe] had reached level two after he used one skill point to upgrade. Therefore, he could only see the name and remaining health, not the mental state of the monster.

“Fuck!”

Lane, too, came to a screeching halt by Dan’s side, an aghast expression etched on his face.

“We are fucked.” He gasped, eyes wide as dinner plates in horror. His gaze shifted toward trembling Dan, “lea- leader, what are we going to do?”

Dan’s complexion was pale like a sheet of paper. His fingers lost grip on the wooden beginner sword, which fell to the ground with a resounding thud. “We will die. We are fucking going to die!” His screams echoed off the walls of the narrow passage. Trapped between a rock and a hard place, Dan could care less about keeping his volume in check.

“Leader? What… what are you saying?” Lane’s voice trembled as much as his hands and legs. He followed his gaze to where Dan was looking and gasped. “Gh.. ghoul!”

His head whipped at Dan, face aghast, “le-leader! It’s the ghoul! What… what will we do?”

However, the older man was in no state to formulate an answer. He had already given up and was ready to accept death. Behind them was a horde of zombies, and ahead was the grim reaper, the ghoul. What else could he do?

“Leader…”

Even though Lane was screaming right beside him, Dan wasn’t listening. He lost his rationality and turned into a statue.

Hidden in the shadows, Teo stifled a laugh. He finally got the revenge he wanted for leading that ghoul to them. After having enough fun, he signaled his new minion to initiate.

The ghoul took its first step, toned thigh muscles propelling the hulking beast toward the bunch of zombies. In the span of a few breaths, it had already arrived in the faces of Dan and Lane, a clawed hand pulled back, ready to dice its prey.

The two uniformed men closed their eyes, ready to accept their fates begrudgingly. They had no other choice, after all. They finally knew why Lyria’s Cemetery was called an unclearable dungeon. The monsters within were too perverse, not something newbies like them could hope to beat.

Their eyes snapped open, however, when they heard growling from behind their backs. The ghoul had ignored them and was going nuts on the zombies, tearing them apart with its sharp claws and jaws. It was a macabre display of blood and gore.

You killed a zombie level 1

+10 EXP

+5 Tutorial coins.

You killed a zombie….

+10 …

Teo’s eyes were glued to the HP bar of the ghoul instead of the experience gain notifications. With every death of a zombie, it recovered by a few points. Gloria was right; ghouls could replenish their health by consuming flesh.

The battle was already over before Dan and Lane could make sense of the things. They found it hard to wrap their heads around the happenings of the previous few minutes.

They blinked, eyeballing the back of the crouched-down ghoul, who was busy devouring the flesh of the zombies it killed. It seemed to have forgotten about them entirely.

Lane elbowed Dan, eye-signaling at the ghoul while facing him. The elderly man, who was called leader, shook his head negatively. His meaning was clear; he had no clue whatsoever.

At the same time, they both took careful steps back. Even though the beast was ignoring them now, they are not sure if this situation would persist after it was done with the meal. They should run while it was distracted.

“Where are you two going?” A voice loud enough to resound in the narrow path sent chills down their spines. It came out of nowhere and caught them off guard. They whipped their heads around and fixed their glares on the one who dared to make the sound.

Standing only a few meters from them was a young man in his early twenties, who had a robust build and dressed in cheap garbs, one that you could buy with only a few points. A lopsided grin plastered on his face as he rocked a wooden sword on his left shoulder blade.

Dan’s eyes widened in surprise, for he recognized him. Before they encountered this bunch of zombies, they were chased around by a ghoul. Luckily, they encountered a man and woman on their way, which successfully diverted that horrifying monster’s attention. He was the man of that pair.

He is still alive! How? More importantly, what does he want? Revenge?

All sorts of thoughts appeared inside Dan’s head, making his complexion paler.

Lane was also in a similar situation.

Teo inspected their aghast expressions and smiled inwardly. He could guess the range of thoughts they were having inside their heads, and it amused him. Some of the anger he had towards them began to vanish. Though, he was nowhere close to forgiving them.

Out of nowhere, Dan hugged Teo’s legs, his head touching his knees. He was so quick in his actions that it caught Teo by surprise.

“I am sorry for bringing this beast to you back then, sir. But believe me, we didn’t know you were there. Please don’t kill me! I will do whatever you ask me to. Just don’t kill me.”