As he readied himself to face the newly-evolved monster with his ears ringing like the bells of a church—
"Boss!"
"Master!"
—The shouts filled the chamber, followed by the ergence of two n into the storage room.
Phoenix and August both rushed in without any hesitation. While it was the sort of headstrong attitude he admired from them, in the mont, it was a knife in the heart:
"No, don’t—!" Leon shouted.
It was too late; both the bodyguard and brawling butler launched their attacks on the steel-fleshed ghoul.
August swung his fist with the strength of a thousand n, while Phoenix cast forth a bird of fire. Both forces hit the ghoul at the sa ti, exploding into a burst of sparks.
"Did we get ’em?" Phoenix wondered, looking towards the smoke.
August exhaled, pulling his fist back, "Hey! You good, Master?! Don’t worry, Salvatore and the paladin got Thorgul–"
Witnessing the ignorant reactions from the others, Leon gritted his teeth, shouting across the room, "Why did you do that, you idiots?!"
"Huh—?" Phoenix gasped.
"That thing was the enemy, right?!" August questioned.
Leon moved himself over to the side of the room the two stayed at, positioned near the archway leading to the stairwell, keeping his sword ready, "If you don’t bring it down in one attack, all it will do is make it even stronger. You have to aim for the head, what you both did—it might’ve been our last shot."
"Wait, seriously? Boss, you’re not saying that not when you can’t..." Phoenix lingered his words.
As the smoke was dismissed from the slamming of the lance-arm against the ground, the ghoul stood there with flesh unburnt, unmarked by the attacks it received.
Instead, the body ford of tal slted into its unnatural, crooked body was left with a pearly complexion.
["Ghoul of Despair"] [Level: 32]
"What’s this bastard made of? I hit it with everything I had," August bitterly questioned, clenching his fists.
With the two n at his side, at the very least, he was thankful to have their strength in the mont, "Alright...I’m going to need you both to hit it with everything you’ve got, again."
"Didn’t you just tell us that was a bad idea?" Phoenix asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I’ve got a plan now," Leon said, looking towards the pristine fiend across the storage room. "So, are you with ?"
"I’m down!" Augustus agreed readily without hesitation, slamming his own chest.
"’Course I’m with ya," Phoenix also agreed, commanding the burning elent to roar across his sword.
The evolved ghoul seed ready as well as it charged across the concrete floor with killing intent. Its feet had shifted to hooves, making each of its steps echo with an imposing drum, drawing its weaponized arm back like a jousting knight.
Together, Augustus and Phoenix moved to et it halfway; the butler’s right arm swelled to twice the size of the left, inflating with trendous strength; the blazing adventurer raised his blade, bringing forth a condensed wave of slicing fire.
"Ruuah!"
"Hyaaaah!"
Together, the butler and bodyguard unleashed their united effort as Augustus’ punch intercepted the ghoul’s lance. Without needing to make contact, the fist imbued with terrific strength used wind pressure to block the being of flesh and steel back.
As it was thrown to the wall, Phoenix swung his blade, sending forth a slash of raging flas that connected from the ceiling to the floor, cutting through the air before reaching the ghoul.
"It’s up to you now, Boss!" Phoenix shouted, huffing as he wiped the sweat from his chin.
"Let ’em have it!" Augustus shouted.
["Body of The Self-Realized Storm"]
With the essence of lightning guiding his body with imperceivable speed, a single step brought him in front of the ghoul. Bludgeoned, burned, and eviscerated, the ever-adapting being began to pick itself up from the ss of shattered crates while its flesh morphed and toughened.
"I’m a hero...aren’t I? I’m only doing...what I can, what others can’t..." The distorted, sorrowful voice emitted from the ghoul’s mouth.
Leon held his blade over his head, flexing his entire body as sparks traced over every fiber of muscle within him. The perfect strike; an imitation of the Paladin’s refined ability was put forth with replication down to even the timing of breaths.
In one mont, the sword was above Leon’s head, and in the next, it was already swung, casting with it a wind pressure so sharp it was as if the air itself was manipulated as a sword of the world.
An unprejudiced blade; it severed the life of the monster, right down the middle. Left in two halves, the inhuman’s ghoul hand reached out towards a distant sothing, longingly so.
["...I just wanted to save them. I wanted to be a hero, but I was twisted into this thing...I’m thankful you’ve brought down this monster, Lord Schoeller–thank you for saving anybody else from being hurt by my hand."]
Leon felt an indistinct pity when looking upon the groaning monster as it reached towards him before–it went limp, soon dispersing into ash dissolved in the wind.
[EXP: 50,000]
[Level Up!] [30] [38000/100000]
[Physical Attributes: 15]
[Magical Attributes: 15]
[New Skill(s) Obtained: Lordship Rally]
"It’s...done? That thing is dead?" Phoenix questioned.
"This thing...It was Jon," Leon admitted, carefully returning his sword to his sheath as he turned towards the others.
The red-haired adventurer went pale at the information, putting his hand on his forehead, "Shit...Shit. We were just chatting it up a few hours ago. He seed a bit under the weather, but nothing out of the ordinary–we all felt tired."
"It’s unfortunate. I heard he was a good man," Augustus mourned with a quiet breath.
While the ghoul was dispatched, it wasn’t a victory free from loss; the twins were buried, though nothing of the turned adventurer was left to share the sa conclusion. With every last person checked thoroughly for markings, the last of the ghouls’ threat subsided, though the people were left unnerved by the incident.
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