Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Berserk mana ran in madness within Wrik's body, with no hold. He needed to get rid of this mana as soon as possible, and the best way would be to vent it on the monster before him.

Wrik left the two girls behind, advanced straight towards the hungry ghoul. Behind him were Evan and Davin, approaching with their weapons as well.

Tanya had two magical tools in her arm: her usual staff and the ugly wooden wand of the goblin shaman. She helped from behind with her ice spells, casting rapidly, though it wasn't of much help. The carapace on the ghoul's body was harder than they had imagined. None of her ice spikes could pierce into it. All the effects the spell caused were only a few dents, which healed rather quickly. But she did succeed in distracting the monster.

On the other hand, Michelle pulled out the golden necklace from her neck and started casting, closing off her eyes. She needed help from the artifact to complete the spell she was preparing.

In the close quarters, Wrik took the lead and attacked immediately at the Ghoul's lower body. He didn't care if he was wasting too much mana. For the first time here, he didn't have to worry about running out of mana.

The sword sliced, almost reaching its bone as it growled out. Blackish liquid flew out of the cut with the awful stench. Wrik twisted his body a bit towards its left side to avoid getting in contact with the poisonous liquid.

The Infector struck its claw at him, which he blocked with his sword on the left with a hanging guard. The impact felt like a train hit him at the moment. His palms went red inside the arm guards.

'It's better to dodge than blocking,' he mused. He took a couple of steps backwards behind the tall monster instantly. While Evan slashed at the thing. His target was the lower body as well.

"Attack its lower body, it's already injured there," Evan shouted as Davin joined him from the other side as well.

Evan's sword got blocked but Davin succeeded in hitting at the same spot where Wrik wounded. This time, it felt less restriction to reach the bones.

The half-ghoul growled in madness. It didn't bother Davin, but thrust a kick towards Evan, which Evan had no time to dodge. It hit him in the abdomen as his body fell three metres away.

The Infector was trying to fight one at a time. But how could Wrik allow that?

Wrik engaged again. He struck with a faint at its right side. His silvery eyes glowed out when he found out that the monster fell for it. The Infector ran its left arm at him when he jerked his sword vertically below the arm and pierced its chest hard.

That wasn't over yet. Wrik twisted his head downwards to dodge the hammering claw. The sword was still struck at its chest. Wrik pierced harder with every bit of his strength as he roared with the monsters. One in passion, while the other in agony.

The sword pierced half the length of a foot inside its chest as it screeched. Then Wrik pulled his sword downwards, making another slash as the cold blade made a vertical scar on its carapace till its abdomen. He retreated half a dozen metres immediately. This was the biggest wound anyone has caused to the ghoul till now.

Wrik gasped for breath. His inside was still raging with mana, though it was considerably less than before. He used a good amount of mana in that last strike, and the result was more than he had expected.

While Wrik took a breath, Tanya attacked the same hole in its chest with her Ice arrows. Though those were not useful before, they turned out to be pretty useful now. The deafening screams were proof of that.

"It only has a beastly intelligence," Wrik said; his vision never left the three feet tall beast. "Attack on its lower body or the spots that were already injured before."

Wrik advanced again; Evan and Davin were on his left and right, respectively. They needed a few dozen seconds more to delay it.

Davin attacked first from the right side with a low swing at its leg while Evan assaulted the other leg as well. But the thing ignored them, leapt towards Wrik with a growling screech. If it was only mad before then now, it's totally out of control.

Wrik blocked the claw with his sword against his right arm. He gritted his teeth harder as he felt the power behind it. He was about to make a turn to slash at its abdomen when he felt another tremor in his arms. The other claw of the thing hammered at his sword.

And the sword broke.

One-third of the sword tip dropped on the ground when the Infector kicked him with all its might. Wrik felt waves of air in his face as he flew dozens of feet away to knock against the wall.

It was faster than before. More painful too. His back, which was already injured from before, snapped with a new cracking sound as he laid against the wall.

Wrik!" Tanya shouted as she defended the thing from approaching him.

A fog of mists condensed in the underground tunnel. Yet it didn't cause any discomfort for Tanya and her companions in their vision. Tanya ignited her innate ability [Mist of Change] at the last moment. Though the mist was quite thick, it wasn't helping much against the ghoul, apart from blinding it.

"It has a good nose," Davin said. He and Evan were doing their best to keep the monster at bay.

"I should thank Ton again for the armour. . ." Wrik coughed out a mouthful of blood and struggled to pick himself up. More than a couple of his ribs were broken, not to mention the impact of hitting the walls. He didn't know if any of his ribs would be left alone if he didn't have this new armour set. "Shit,"

Yet he caught another danger sign coming his way.

Just as he was about to climb up, Wrik desperately rolled sideways as another figure flew towards him with the same momentum he was thrown at.

"Davin, are you still trying to hit me with your body?!" He couldn't help but say, looking at the poor figure of Davin smashed at the same spot.

"I wouldn't. .. cough. . ." Davin said, giving his head a few good shakes. "—If I had any options."

"Are you alright, Pal?" Wrik asked. It appeared that his friend was not as lucky as the last time. "Can you continue?"

Davin focused his gaze by blinking a couple of times. He said, "My head is dizzy. .. but I should be fine."

Wrik looked towards the redhead and noticed weird red and golden runes were forming in front of her in a magic circle. It was quite huge and had about half a metre radius. Her expression was heavy, as she was still closed-eyed, concentrating.

"It looks like the girl is almost finished. Let's go, we have to delay it a bit more." Wrik moved again, both hands on the broken sword. Davin followed him as well. If they didn't finish their work, all be for nothing. And none of them would want that.

The thing was still rampaging. Evan and Tanya were barely keeping it at bay. With a quick exchange of glances, the three of them encircled it while Tanya was at the back.

Wrik advanced recklessly, like before. He already used most of his mana up. Moreover, his sword had lost one-third of its length, he can't play it like before. He and Davin advanced towards it from the front, but didn't attack. Both of them exchanged places as Evan swung his sword at the back of its head, leaping in.

But the huge infector still had its resilience, jerked its arm sideways, twisting its body. The sword was successful at dealing a hit at the back of its neck before it flew away from the impact of the infectors' claw. Even Evan's arms were injured from the impact, but more was yet to come as the Half-Ghoul attacked Evan again.

Most of its attention was on Evan. How could Davin and Wrik miss this chance? Both of them swung their swords lower at its leg, cutting downward. The three-metre-tall infector growled in pain as it kneeled in almost open.

"Girl, it should be a good time." Wrik bellowed as both he and Davin vacated from the infector.

Michelle opened her eyes instantly. Sweat was dripping on her exterior as a hue of scarlet light reflected on her face from the magic circle. Michelle opened her lips and muttered only one word, "Burn."

With that word, the temperature in the tunnel rose as the tunnel became radiant.

The red and golden runic magic circle glowed out in everlasting glory, as blazing red fiery flames charged at the huge infector—kneeling in front of Michelle. In a blink of an eye, the crimson flame caught every part of its body, burning it still as it howled in agony.

"That's a delightful scene to watch," Wrik said. While beside him, Davin nodded in agreement. Evan stood beside them after collecting his sword.

Tanya had an eccentric expression on her face. "What is this spell?" She frowned. It was not something she had seen before.

But the caster of the spell was in the condition to answer her inquiry. Michelle barely kept the magic circle steady. If she did not have the necklace, it would not even be possible.

The blazing crimson flame continued devouring the enormous body of the ghoul as the awful reek lessened up. After half a minute, the flame stopped burning when the ghoul turned into black charcoal.

It broke down into smaller black burned charcoal on the ground.

Every one of them sighed in relief. The hardest thing was over. 'The congratulations notification should appear soon.' Wrik mused inside, as a thin smile appeared on his tensed muscle.

Then he noticed something luminous in the black charcoal. "There's something in it," Wrik said as he approached ashes—the leftover of the ghoul.

He didn't outright pick it up, ran an inspection on it with his innate ability. Who knew what kind of stuff it was? It could be poisonous.

Soon, a blue window appeared in front of him.

[Origin Core

Grade: D.

It's the origin core of the half-ghoul. Very few of the Infectors have an origin core. Its. . .]

Wrik couldn't finish reading, as suddenly he heard a loud 'bang'; his smile tensed to a gloomy glare. His perception told him that the threat was coming his way. Moreover, it was the sound of a firearm.

____________________

End of the chapter: The Hungry Ghoul.

Next Chapter: End of Phase II.

You know what comes after the end of each phase, REWARDS.

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