Chapter 124 Life Drain
Just as I was about to smile at him to show encouragement, a black shadow suddenly lunged at me from the side. I felt like I was hit by a speeding truck and was thrown to the ground, my whole body aching.
The black shadow tackled me to the ground. When I looked closely, it was a Water Ghost. All the Water Ghosts around had been defeated by my magic, but this one had slipped in from the side.
Our neighbors were not as powerful as Jayad, nor did they have weapons like those thugs. They were already suffering heavy casualties and could only hide in the caves, fighting desperately, relying on the terrain.
The Water Ghost pinning me opened its mouth, revealing its bone-white teeth. I thought of the countless people bitten to death by Water Ghosts just now and instinctively raised my left hand to protect my throat.
With a muffled “crack,” my arm throbbed with intense pain. The Water Ghost had bitten my arm with tremendous force. The pain was so severe that for a moment I wondered if my arm had been severed.
Jayad desperately tried to stand up to save me, but he had just received First Aid and was completely weak. He collapsed back to the ground as soon as he tried to get up, and there was no one else around to help.
“Aaaah! Let, let go of me!” I raised my right fist and hit the Water Ghost’s rotten face with all my might. Each blow peeled off a layer of skin and splattered disgusting corpse water.
But it was useless. It held tightly onto my arm, refusing to let go no matter how I hit it. Moving my bitten left arm sent tearing pain through me. It kept chewing my arm while its other hand clawed at my body.
It hurt so much! It really hurt! I desperately tried to use magic, but I had just used Crimson Ray, and all the magic power in my body was depleted. I had also released the Maggots earlier and hadn’t retrieved them yet.
Finally, with no other options, I could only tear at its rotten face with my right hand, instinctively trying to pull it away. Just then, I suddenly felt my body lighten as a cool stream flowed from my palm into me.
At first, it was just a little, then more and more. This cool stream felt cold and dark, like taking a big gulp of ice water down my throat, all the way to my stomach. I couldn’t help but shiver.
However, my arm gradually stopped hurting. It took me a while to realize that the Water Ghost had stopped moving. The skin I was holding, which had felt soft, wet, and disgusting from being soaked, now felt like old tree bark.
Upon closer inspection, it had turned into a mummy. Its corpse water had dried up at some point, and its previously swollen skin had become thin and dry, like a mummified corpse after being air-dried. Such a huge change had occurred in such a short time.
The blue light in its pupils had also vanished; it was completely dead. I pried its teeth open with force and pulled out my left hand. A large chunk of flesh had been bitten off my wrist, and blood was gushing out.
It’s over. In a panic, I grabbed a cloth to press against the wound, hoping to stop the bleeding. But even if I didn’t die from excessive blood loss, I would likely get infected. Being bitten by such a dirty Water Ghost, I might soon turn into one myself. The thought of a Witch becoming like that made me shudder—I didn’t want that!
Just as I was lost and in a panic, a piece of knowledge surfaced again: Water Ghosts are not contagious. To create more of their kind, Water Ghosts must drag people into magically contaminated water sources. Just being bitten is nothing to fear.
That was close. So, being bitten won’t turn me into one. But even so, my current situation is dire. The bleeding won’t stop. Blood stained the torn cloth I was using to press the wound, it stained my clothes, and it kept dripping down, forming a pool of bright red blood beneath me.
When I blocked, my wrist was bitten, and it seemed an artery had been torn. Now, the blood was flowing like a torrent, and I couldn’t stop it. My body was gradually feeling cold, and my consciousness was becoming blurry.
Am I going to die? No, I can’t die yet. At least, not now.
Jayad hasn’t recovered yet. If I die, he will surely be bitten to death by the Water Ghosts. I can already see more Water Ghosts surrounding Jayad.
Damn it, if only I could cast another spell to defeat them. How did I defeat the Water Ghost that bit me just now?
Subconsciously, I raised my injured left hand and aimed it at them. Unknowingly, my posture was identical to the Witch’s back then. I was recalling the feeling from before, while the instinct from severe blood loss kept screaming at me, demanding blood.
“Whoosh!” I saw it. A wisp of blood energy rose from the Water Ghosts, but it wasn’t the bright red blood mist I saw at the Execution Ground before. It was a filthy black mist, like a drop of ink falling into clear water.
That wisp of blood energy was drawn to me, sinking into my palm. Just like before, a chillingly cold, clear stream flowed into my body. But as soon as it entered, my vision went black, and the feeling of my body being weak and limp greatly improved.
The Water Ghosts almost instantly collapsed to the ground. They had long since lost their lives, their decaying bodies animated solely by magic. When I absorbed the magic they had left, their false lives ended once again.
If only attacked physically, Water Ghosts are very difficult to kill. As long as their form can retain enough magic to sustain them, they will continue to act. However, the magic within these low-level Undead is so meager that it’s gone as soon as I absorb it.
The Witch’s spell, Life Drain. It was the technique I most wanted to learn. I had personally witnessed her silently kill many people at the heavily guarded Execution Ground, creating chaos and escaping.
Now, in a situation of extreme danger, I had finally learned it instinctively. And I was incredibly fortunate to have learned this technique first; otherwise, I would be in danger now.
Even after the Water Ghosts fell, I didn’t stop. I continued to absorb them, turning them all into mummies, before I felt even slightly better.
But it wasn’t enough. I turned my attention to the Water Ghosts still entangled with our neighbors and extended my hands toward them, recalling the previous feeling and channeling my magic.
Again, masses of black mist were drawn from the bodies of the Water Ghosts, and they immediately collapsed to the ground. Our neighbors were on the brink of despair, just one step away from giving up and accepting death. But they were astonished to find that the Water Ghosts outside the cave suddenly keeled over. For a moment, they didn’t dare to go out and confirm. The joy of escaping death gradually filled their hearts, which had been consumed by despair.
Not enough, completely not enough. The blood was still flowing, and the blood energy of these lifeless Water Ghosts was nowhere near enough for me!
A voice in my heart seemed to be constantly tempting me, urging me to reach out to the living people. In my eyes, they appeared as fragrant and tempting delicacies.
If I just reach out to them, I can obtain the blood energy I need, and I can survive. I raised my hand and pointed it at those living people, who thought they had escaped death but were completely unaware of the disaster looming over them.
