Chapter 255: Ghoul Commander and Undead Butcher
The scream was sharp and short, echoing in the dead silence of the ruins, then quickly swallowed by the heavy seawater and rocks, leaving a terror of being abruptly choked off in its wake.
Li Wen and Moria exchanged a glance, and without any superfluous words, they reached a consensus and rushed towards the source of the sound.
They passed through a maze of ruined buildings, the source of the scream growing closer, and the cold, decaying aura of the sunken ghouls becoming more potent in the air.
Finally, in a relatively open area resembling a plaza, they saw the source of the commotion.
Seven or eight corpses of followers of the Divine Cult of Eternal Blessing lay scattered on the ground of the plaza, their deaths no different from those seen before – brutally torn apart and dismembered, blood and internal organs staining the gray sediment. At the far end of the plaza, the remaining three followers stood back-to-back, putting up a last desperate fight.
Their faces were filled with terror and despair, their weapons long gone. They could only rely on instinct and some crude defensive magic items to barely resist. One of them appeared to be a player, surrounded by a faint magical shield that seemed on the verge of shattering at any moment, but the shield was already precarious under the onslaught.
Besieging them were more than ten sunken ghouls, like hungry wolves surrounding the last prey. They let out occasional hoarse growls, the blue soulflame in their empty eye sockets flickering with greed and brutality.
Behind the ghoul horde stood a particularly unusual monster.
Its physique was a size larger than that of ordinary ghouls. Its withered body was covered in a layer of keratin-like, dark cyan tough skin, with some faintly phosphorescent deep-sea fungi even parasitizing the gaps in the skin. Its limbs were thicker, and its bone claws were longer and sharper, presenting an ominous ink-black color. Most chillingly, the soulflame burning in its empty eye sockets was not blue, but a deeper, eerily scarlet hue. It exuded not pure brutality, but a cold cruelty bordering on intelligence.
It did not participate in the siege, but stood there quietly, like a lord appreciating a hunting feast. With every low growl, the attacks of the surrounding ghouls became even more frantic.
“Is that… a Ghoul Commander?” Moria frowned slightly. By rights, such a high-level undead creation required meticulous rituals and a sufficient amount of corpses or death to be brought forth.
Li Wen remained silent, her gaze fixed on the ghoul that was clearly the leader. The cold aura emanating from it was far richer than that of other ghouls, even subtly touching upon a higher level of power domain. Its strength was likely approaching that of a Stage Three Transcendent.
Just then, the player follower’s magical shield finally let out a crisp wail under the siege of several ghoul claws, shattering like glass.
Despair instantly gripped his heart.
“Save…”
Before the plea for help could fully escape his lips, a ghoul’s claw swung down, about to rip him open.
However, the expected death did not arrive.
A steady figure stood in front of him like a rock – it was Moria. He had rushed into the battlefield at some point, drawing his sword, sidestepping and blocking the fatal claw. The ghoul’s sharp bone claw collided with the sword edge, emitting a dull clang like metal striking metal.
“Fall back,” Moria growled without turning his head, exerting a sudden force with his arm. A condensed burst of power erupted, sending the ghoul staggering backward repeatedly.
The player follower stared blankly at the figure in front of him, which appeared like a divine soldier descending from the heavens, momentarily forgetting to react.
Moria’s intervention instantly drew the attention of all the ghouls. They let out a series of angry roars, abandoning their readily available prey and lunging towards this uninvited guest who dared to interfere with their hunt.
The scarlet soulflame in the Ghoul Commander’s eyes flickered. It let out a sharper shriek, as if issuing some command. The previously chaotic ghoul horde instantly became orderly. They no longer rushed forward en masse, but divided into several small teams, launching a tactical encirclement on Moria from different angles.
Facing this sudden pressure, Moria’s expression remained unchanged. He even had the leisure to enchant his longsword with flame.
Just when everyone thought it would be a difficult battle,
The longsword swept out, and the scorching sword wind wove a dense fire net in front of Moria, forcing all the ghouls back.
Then, a silver glint flashed in Moria’s eyes as the Holy See Knight’s trial – Undead Butcher – was activated.
This was similar to Spellbreaker; it was a special training direction developed by the Knights of the Holy See to deal with certain specific enemies. Holy See Knights who passed this trial could master various skills for fighting against undead-related monsters and Transcendent beings.
A faint silver glow flashed and disappeared from the depths of Moria’s eyes. His aura seemed to become sharp and focused in an instant. The flame-adorned longsword in his hand became even steadier, the flame light flowing on the blade becoming more restrained, but gaining a chilling aura capable of severing souls.
He made no superfluous movements, merely holding the longsword flat in front of him, then taking a step forward and executing a simple, clean horizontal swing.
A near-invisible silver gleam flashed and disappeared from the sword’s edge. The light was not scorching; instead, it carried a chilling coldness that could freeze souls. In the next moment, an unbelievable scene occurred – the charging sunken ghouls suddenly stiffened. The blue soulflame burning in their eye sockets flickered violently like candle flames buffeted by a gale, and then completely extinguished. Their withered bodies, deprived of soulflame support, collapsed silently like sandcastles, crumbling and finally turning into a pile of foul-smelling black dust.
With just one sword, more than ten ferocious undead creations were annihilated.
The scarlet soulflame in the Ghoul Commander’s eye sockets flickered violently. Its limited intelligence finally grasped the terrifying power possessed by this human, a power that could crush it. Fear overwhelmed brutality. Without any hesitation, it turned around and lunged furiously towards the shadows on the other side of the plaza.
However, a figure faster than it had already appeared ghost-like in its optimal escape path. Li Wen stood there quietly, her cloak’s shadow obscuring her face. The Raven Feather Dagger held reverse in her hand emitted a chilling, faint glow under the illumination of the blue aura.
Blocked by Li Wen, the Ghoul Commander, having missed the best escape window, had no time to react before Moria’s figure silently arrived. The flame-burning longsword traced a concise and fatal arc in the air, precisely slicing across its neck.
Its grotesque head flew high, tumbling in mid-air, the scarlet soulflame in its eye sockets completely extinguished. The headless giant body stumbled forward a few steps, finally collapsing heavily onto the ground, silent once more.
