5 – Abduction (2)

It was still early for the sun to set, and there was no problem with the wagon road across the meadow.

But the coachman stopped the carriage.

“Beyond this leads to unexplored lands. I’ve heard quite a bit about the news of the coachmen who tried to cross this road and were killed. I’ll just do it this far Even if you give me more money, I can’t go. No matter how old or insignificant I am, I know that life is precious.”

I packed my things and got off the wagon.

“This is enough. Take a look.”

“Are you going to keep going?”

I nodded.

“I don’t know what the pitiful story is at such a young age, but I wish you Goddess Acates to take care of you.”

“thank you.”

“There are many ghouls in the unexplored lands ahead, so hide yourself at night. Just because you see a blue light at night, don’t blindly follow it. Luminous ghouls emit light from their backs to attract people. All I can say is this.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

I lightly bowed my head to the coachman and walked along the carriage road.

As we progressed, the wagon became rougher and weeds grew, making it difficult to set foot on.

I was entering the savage land in earnest.

Occasionally in the vicinity of the carriages we encountered shattered wagon wheels and the rotting carcasses of horses. Rotten flesh hung here and there from the wooden planks and wheels, as if there had been an explosion.

I covered my nose because of the flying flies and the stench.

I left the carriage road, half part of nature, and turned toward a wooded area. Before the sun went down, we had to find a place to hide.

I moved along the boundary between the forest and the meadow. In the meantime, I found an old tree with exposed roots. Digging a root gap just below the trunk of the tree revealed a space large enough for one person to enter. It seemed like enough to hide.

I had a simple dinner in the neighborhood. Then it erased the traces of the meal and went under the root. Then they blocked the entrance with dirt and spent the night.

Early in the morning, I heard the dull, noisy footsteps of a four-legged beast. It seemed that they were walking around in groups of about a dozen, not just one. I could feel it better because I was under the ground.

The cries of the four-legged animal were not those of any wild animal in my memory. It was the most hideous, ghastly cry I had ever heard in my life.

When dawn broke, I scooped up the dirt and came out to the ground. And, as usual, we ate breakfast of dry bread and beef jerky.

I myself wondered where the courage to step into the unexplored land of ghouls and corpses in a city of two-legged people and warm stew came from.

Maybe he lost his cowardly head because he had already pierced his belly skin.

I moved again toward the northwest unexplored land where the stars had blown away.

***

“In a way, ghouls are also mysterious beings.”

The children looked shocked at the words of the priest standing in the church. Even the children knew what a ghoul was. ‘Are you mysterious? The ghoul?’ It is a look that For children, mystery was a word used in the world of dreams and innocence.

“A ghoul was originally a human. Even a person who lived an extremely ordinary life becomes a completely different entity when he dies and transforms into a ghoul. I have the same body, but there are thorns on my back, and my strength is four or five times stronger than the one I used in my life. Thick new canines grow from the gums. All of his human instincts and memories disappear, and he becomes a monster with a strong appetite for living creatures.”

A child raised a hand.

The priest motioned for him to speak, and the boy hurriedly asked a question.

“Why is that?”

“Um… In a way, you can say that ghouls are relatively common monsters, but I still don’t know why. Some scholars disagree about whether death is a process of evolution or a curse that takes away rest.”

A child who heard that shouted.

“I don’t want to become a ghoul.”

Then the priest laughed and said.

“Then you just have to burn to death.”

I took a deep breath.

“Huh!”

It’s a dream.

It is a dream that leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. The memory of taking classes at Lorail Hall as a child came to me in a dream. However, I did not remember the terrible sound of burning to death.

Nearly four days had passed since we camped in unexplored land. Perhaps because of the heinous atmosphere, the number of strange dreams increased. I took several deep breaths to calm my pounding heart.

I carefully removed the leaves covering my upper body with my hands.

It was just dawning. Just in case, I held my breath and listened to see if there was a sign around.

After about 5 minutes, I confirmed that there was no sign of anything, so I cleared the leaves and got up. I cleaned up and packed my things.

There were many traces of ghouls around the site where I slept. I swallowed my saliva. If the ghouls passed by, even talking in their sleep, I would have been dead.

I thought I should pay more attention to my sleep.

I started moving again.

After crossing the forest area, a vast wilderness unfolded. It wasn’t good. I had to cross this place, but it was so vast that it was difficult to hide when camping. I couldn’t even see a good place to draw water.

There is no other way. I just have to speed up a little more.

I just kept walking until noon.

I checked the water tank. I had about half the water left, but I didn’t know how far I would have to walk.

As the sun warmed the ground and created a haze, I rested for a while in the shade beside a rock.

After noon and a couple of hours passed, the clouds gradually began to form. When it rained, there was nowhere to hide. I retook my steps.

The sun was blocked by the clouds, and it got darker and darker, and the rain fell drop by drop.

It seemed like something was moving at a distance. I rubbed my eyes and looked there.

It was a ghoul. As the sunlight faded, the ghouls began crawling out of their burrows. I thought ghouls were only active at night, but that was purely my mistake. The ghoul crawled out little by little as there was no sunlight.

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Judging by the movement of the clouds, it wasn’t just a shower.

I ran all of a sudden. He intended to disappear from the ghoul’s sight by crossing the small hill in front of him.

However, the ghoul’s cry could be heard from the other direction. It seemed that the ghoul’s tunnel was not one. Moreover, this time it was quite close.

The ghoul roared loudly again. Then he started chasing me.

I ran to the crest of the hill. Shortly thereafter, a small cabin appeared below. There was no other place to escape. I ran towards the cabin at full speed.

Dozens of ghouls were running behind me at breakneck speed.

I went inside the cabin and hung the doorknob. The ghouls that followed me started headbutting the door. I looked inside the cabin. It was used as a warehouse.

However, the items stored were a bit strange. Oiled torches, coal, gunpowder, and barrels of oil were lined up.

The ghoul’s hand broke through the door. The ghouls who coveted my body were tearing open the door with terrifying momentum.

“Damn, damn.”

It was then. A scene from a dream passed through my mind.

‘Then I just need to burn to death.’

I immediately took out the flint. Then he picked up a torch and lit it.

All the doors were ripped open and ghouls burst into the cabin.

I raised a flaming torch and threatened the ghoul.

It worked. Seeing the fire, the ghouls screamed and retreated.

I stepped out the door brandishing a torch.

Damn.

Dozens of ghouls surrounded the cabin in an instant. The ghouls were salivating at me from a distance of three or four steps.

One or two drops of rain fell in torrents.

“No no!”

The torch didn’t go out right away, but it was gradually losing power. I hurriedly picked up another torch and lit it. It was even worse. Rainwater had penetrated the roof and was slowly soaking the torches and coals.

I could never get through the night in this state.

The ghouls swung their hands to strike my torch, or stomped in place to pounce on me, watching my liver.

I lifted a bunch of torches with one arm, tucked them under my side, and covered them with a cloak from the rain. And ran out of the cabin. The ghouls were already destroying the back of the hut where the light of the torches could not reach.

“Damn it.”

No breakthrough was seen.

It was then.

Booung

A dull shockwave echoed over the hills to the northwest. Soon after, a pillar of pure white light soared into the sky from where the sound was heard. The ghouls who saw this were shaken.

I didn’t know what that light was, but I had no other choice. I sprinted toward the pillar of light.

The ghouls didn’t attack me because of their torches, but they followed me and kept the siege. The ghoul’s running speed was so fast that it couldn’t be compared to mine, so it was impossible to escape.

I climbed up the ridge of the hill and looked across to the epicenter of the light.

“What is that?”

Beyond that was a huge crater. And in the center was a huge meteorite half buried.

“⋯!”

And in that stone, there was a sword that glowed when a bird struck. A column of intense light surrounding the sword stretched into the sky.

“⋯Do you have a sword?”

I ran with all my might into the center of the crater.

The ghouls couldn’t chase me as close as before. It seemed to be wary of the light emanating from the center of the sword.

Before I knew it, dozens of ghouls had swelled to hundreds taking advantage of the commotion. The ghouls were somewhat cautious in their movements inside the crater. Like a predator aiming for its prey, lowering its body and making a sound, the ghouls slowly tightened their grip around me with slow steps.

Ghouls filled the inside of the crater from all directions.

My heart felt like it would explode.

I reached the center of the crater. As I moved closer to the sword, the pillar of light oscillated even more.

I narrowed the distance to the point where I could touch it with just my sword and hand.

I have no other way.

I gulped and put my hand inside the pillar of light. Then he grabbed the handle of the sword and pulled it up.

There was no heaviness peculiar to metal. Its shape was similar to that of a thin long longsword. However, there was no sense of weight. It was long enough to be held with two hands, but there was no difficulty in holding it with one hand.

I picked up my sword and looked. I couldn’t believe it. From the blade to the handle of this sword, everything was made of light.

As I held the sword in my hand, the pillar of light that reached the sky gradually faded.

Several ghouls surrounding me roared loudly. Soon after, the ghouls, like wolves, continued to roar simultaneously.

As the pillar of light disappeared, the ghouls gradually narrowed the siege. There was no time to indulge in the mysterious figure of the sword. I gritted my teeth and took a guarded posture. The confrontation with the ghouls continued for a while.

Soon after, the one who was drooling in front threw himself and tried to attack me.

I reflexively swung the knife at the ghoul’s body.

Smack!

With the sound of flesh splitting, the ghoul’s upper body was neatly cut in two vertically and plummeted to the floor.

“What is this?”

I didn’t feel any resistance when I cut the ghoul. It was as if he had just swung it into the air, but the ghoul’s hard bones and flesh were split in two. It was an astonishing cutting power.

Another jumped at me. I swung my sword in a large semicircle.

Booung!

A shockwave of white light flew along the trajectory of my swing. The shock wave wiped out not only the ghouls that attacked me, but all ghouls in its path.

“What, how did you do it?”

The sound of a ghoul kicking the ground came from the back of his head.

I immediately turned around and swung the knife in the other direction.

Again, the shockwave wiped out everything in its path.

It was jaw-dropping power. However, when the shock wave was released, my body’s energy was drained in an instant.

The frequency of the ghouls throwing themselves at me increased. Perhaps because I was wary of the light, I mainly aimed at my back, where I couldn’t see the sword very well.

“Damn it.”

I swung the sword with only my reflexes, but there was no option to block that many ghouls.

There was also another problem.

As time passed while holding the sword, vision became blurry and dizziness arose.

This sword was eating my sanity. As I gradually got used to the sword, I was convinced.

After another slash at the ghoul that was attacking me with its mouth open, I staggered greatly.

“… Damn it.”

Taking advantage of the opportunity, three ghouls threw themselves at me at the same time. I stepped backwards, dodged one, and cut off the heads of two ghouls at the same time.

Then, he stanced again and thrust his sword into the back of the remaining one.

Rotten blood gushed from the ghoul’s back.

Even a little movement consumes a lot of energy. I felt dizzy as if all the blood had drained from my head. My mental energy was so exhausted that I felt like I was going to vomit. I shook my head wildly to clear my mind.

The light emitted from the sword was gradually fading. It seemed to respond to my mental powers. Less than five minutes after holding the sword, I was on the verge of passing out.

“Let’s hold on a little longer. a little bit… .”

Taking advantage of the moment I lost my senses, a ghoul jumped out and slashed my side with its claws.

A terrible pain came over me, as if the flesh of my side had been ripped at random.

I gritted my teeth and thrust my sword into the muzzle of the ghoul that attacked me.

He grabbed his side with his left hand. Blood leaked out.

In the aftermath of the bleeding, I felt like I was about to pass out.

It was then.

Quaang!

An explosion echoed from the corner of the crater. Startled, I reflexively crouched down. My ears were deafened by the aftermath of the explosion.

All the ghouls’ attention was focused on the explosion.

I turned in the direction of the explosion.

Where the explosion occurred, red flames the size of a house and black smoke soared. Around it, ghouls were shattered in the aftermath of the explosion.

And in the flames, the silhouette of a person swayed.

Am I looking at nothing?

I closed my eyes and opened them. It wasn’t in vain. As the flames gradually subsided, the silhouette became clearer. In the smoke, In-young slowly walked forward.

A gust of wind blew the smoke away, revealing the woman’s figure.

A large cone hat and dark red hair that came down to his waist. It was a tall woman wearing a black dress that left one thigh exposed.

A small ball of fire floated above the woman’s hand.

The woman tossed the sphere aside like a swallow.

A strong wind rose from the place where the sphere landed, and in an instant, a whirlpool of red flame erupted.

She walked out slowly and waved her hand.

Then, a huge whirlpool of flames swept across the crater and swept away the ghouls with a roar.

The ghoul colony, which had been crowded like a swarm of ants, quickly turned into mayhem.

It was an overwhelming sight, as if a natural disaster had occurred, the first time in my life. I couldn’t believe that this transcendent power came from just one person.

I don’t know what it is, but I lived for now.

My legs gave out and I sat down on the floor. The sword in my hand was gradually losing its light and fading. I couldn’t stay conscious any longer.

I lost consciousness and hit my head on the dirt floor.