Chương 74: Battle in the Forest

We pressed on in silence, continuing toward the source of the spring. As we climbed higher, navigating the dense forest became increasingly difficult. On the bright side, the thick canopy shielded us from most of the rain, allowing us to take off our heavy cloaks for better mobility. I constantly used my long-range vision to gauge our distance from the spring and ensure the group stayed on track.

After several hours of struggling uphill, my supply of cloth markers was nearly exhausted, but we finally reached what appeared to be the headwaters of the spring. It was a wide, steep cliff face, with water trickling out from small crevices in the rock.

"Dead end," Nathan muttered through heavy, ragged breaths. His physical stamina was poor, and he had used every ounce of energy just to keep up. Although we had stopped to rest and eat lunch, continuous mountaineering like this was too much for an ordinary person who didn't focus on physical conditioning. I approached the trickling water and activated the Halunar's Eye. The sight made a shiver run down my spine.

It wasn't just the spring water; the rocks and the air immediately above the surface were all radiating the distinct purple hue of Miasma. I immediately turned to the others.

"Get back. Don't touch the water or the rocks here." The three of them exchanged glances and slowly backed away. The rugged terrain left them with very few places to stand comfortably, but it was still far better than being near such a dense concentration of Miasma. My mana was running low because I hadn't had a significant source of replenishment over the past few days. I also retreated to a safe distance, channeling my last remaining bits of mana to scan the area, and finally spotted what I was looking for.

I pointed toward the top of the cliff ahead.

"There's a structure up there. I can't see it clearly from here." The others squinted, but naturally, they couldn't see a thing. I tied another cloth marker to a branch and began leading the way around to reach that position. With my meager remaining mana, the Halunar's Eye could fail at any moment, so I couldn't afford to use it anymore. This amplified my unease, forcing us to slow our pace and try to move soundlessly. Fortunately, we did. Jonas was the first to notice.

His eyebrows practically knit together as he pointed in a direction.

"Over there... is that a person?" I looked where he was pointing. I didn't even need the divine skills of my eye to realize that whatever it was, it was no longer human—the back of one creature was bent at a grotesque 45-degree angle to the ground. It was a small group of ghouls, loitering aimlessly among the trees. From our current angle, I could only see three. A tense Nathan began unstringing the bow from his shoulder, but I stopped him.

"Hide as far back as possible. Don't do anything unless it's an absolute emergency." I turned to the two church soldiers.

"As for you two, do not let your guard down. They are ghouls; they are much faster and stronger than normal humans. Aim for their vital spots to finish them quickly." Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The soldier named Mantir looked incredibly nervous. He swallowed hard, still reluctant to accept reality.

"Are they... truly ghouls? Is there no way to save them?" I replied in an icy, serious tone, "If you go easy on them out of pity, you'll be the one who ends up dead." Our strategy was simple: I would charge straight ahead to draw their attention, while Mantir and Jonas flanked them to strike at their openings. One of the three ghouls had a dislocated spine, making its movements erratic and clumsy. I targeted it first, delivering a full-force kick.

It flew backward and slammed into a large boulder with a sickening crack. Jonas, who was hiding behind that very boulder, stepped out and finished it by driving his spear through its throat. Another ghoul was drawn toward Jonas by the noise, while I was busy dealing with the remaining one. Jonas failed to react in time to the second creature and was pinned to the ground. Right at that moment, an arrow flew through the air and embedded itself in the ghoul's hip.

Though it felt no pain, the sudden impact caused it to stagger. Taking advantage of the opening, Jonas managed to kick it off him. By then, I had driven my sword into the left shoulder of the ghoul attacking me, using my momentum to shove it toward Mantir's spear. The spearhead pierced its left chest cleanly, causing foul, dark blood to gush out like a fountain. Mantir looked visibly shocked, but I didn't have time to worry about his mental state.

I quickly yanked my sword out to turn toward the last ghoul, but a voice suddenly echoed in my mind.

"Watch out!" I froze just as an arrow whistled past the front of my face and thudded into a nearby tree trunk. Turning toward the trajectory of the shot, I spotted two figures holding weapons that looked like heavy repeating crossbows. Ghouls couldn't use crossbows. These were living people. I hurriedly ducked behind a tree trunk as I saw them raising their weapons again. Two more bolts were fired, thudding into the wood around me. The dense forest wasn't an ideal environment for ranged weapons.

When I peeked out to observe them, the two attackers had already tossed their crossbows aside and drawn their blades. The last ghoul would have to be left for Jonas to handle. I used the thick underbrush to conceal myself, taking a brief moment to analyze my opponents. They wore waist-length cloaks that concealed their arms and any hidden weapons. It seemed they weren't using swords, opting instead to fight with daggers.

As I rapidly scanned their status windows, I realized both were highly skilled warriors adept in both ranged and close-quarters combat. Realistically, I stood no chance in a two-on-one fight against them. Jonas and Mantir couldn't be relied upon either; their skills were only at the level of standard gate guards, not specialized combatants. If they could just work together to kill the remaining ghoul, it would already be a massive help. But there was one stroke of luck: both of my opponents were mana users.

A throbbing ache in my head signaled that my mana had hit critical levels. I likely had just enough left for a single observation of someone's mana flow. I needed one of them to activate their mana, exposing their mana core, so I could use my siphon skill to replenish myself. With no time to waste, I grabbed a large stone and threw it in the opposite direction to create a distraction. The moment they split up to investigate, I lunged at the closest target.

I could feel my left eye burning hot and a trickle of fluid escaping my nose as I forced myself to match my opponent's speed while simultaneously tracing his mana flow. His left hand was slashing his dagger at blinding speed, and his body's mana core was situated right in his left shoulder joint. I ducked to the right, reached out to grab his left shoulder, and activated Mana Siphon. The man's reflexes were incredibly sharp; he instantly twisted his body, shifting into a grappling throw.

I wrapped my other arm tightly around his neck, locking him from behind, holding on for one agonizing second longer until I drained his mana completely dry. His resistance immediately withered, but before I could capitalize on it, his partner returned. The second attacker drew a shortsword from beneath his cloak and thrust it straight toward us. I spun on my heel, shoving my drained captive forward to act as a meat shield. I expected the swordsman to redirect his attack, but he didn't hesitate.

He drove the blade straight through the stomach of his own ally to get to me.