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[NR] Ghouls - Chapter 673
🕑 Added 2025-01-29 23:18:14 +0000 UTCThe current wave of zombies is soon dead. It takes a little bit longer than the night before, but that is mostly because even though you can kill the zombies with pure damage, it does take a while longer than using magic and skills that can hit the animating magic directly. In fact, with Jason blocking some of the wave, the zombies only got two-thirds of the distance they did yesterday.
And with the next wave, nothing changed. A mass of pure zombies surged up out of the ground and Jason once again faced them head on using mostly just his body. The Energy which covers his hands more to prevent any diseases or rot that undead sometimes carry.
With the third wave, though, skeletons are reintroduced to try and snipe Jason. Except for Jason, this was an excellent foe to train against! Instead of standing toe to toe with the zombies, Jason backed off.
Bone arrows rained down around him as Jason kites the zombies around, slowing them even more. Maybe if the skeleton archers had been aiming directly at him, this would have been more of a challenge. Instead, they are forced to arch their arrows up over the mass of zombies in front of them.
Not that it was easy for Jason. The skeleton archers never have to worry about running out of arrows and aren’t exactly worrying about pinpoint accuracy. They just shot as fast as their arrows form in about the right direction. Magic taking over for where skills and natural ability normally would.
Then there was the issue of the zombies. Or rather, non-issue as they kept coming after him and getting accidentally team killed by the skeletons. After all, their arrows run on the same magic and are perfectly capable of hitting the zombies “weak point”. The magic which animates them. While skeletons and zombies aren’t specifically geared to fight themselves, they are not specifically geared to defend against themselves.
And so, with the third wave complete, whatever force is behind these undead decide to change it up again. Fewer zombies crawl up out of the ground, no skeletons appear, but one new addition can be found. Five circles where only at the center does there appear to be an undead clawing their way to the surface.
As the ground breaks, a supernaturally rank scent washes over the field. The fingers, still fleshy, but at the tips the bones extend out as spikes of malice as long as the original fingers. Skin a sick purple tinge overtop the grey of death and a belly bloated as only starvation can cause.
Five ghouls make their way into the field. Down on all fours, the near mindless undead pawns rush towards Jason. The plan behind this wave is clear. Paralyze him with poison and then tear him apart.
Jason smiles as he takes a deep breath, yet his skill to resist poison and venom doesn’t twinge. This confirms for him that he is facing just ghouls this time around. If there was a ghast, the scent would carry a magical nasua. That left only the paralysis poison on their claws and teeth, as well as potentially ghoul fever from a bite.
Jason wasn’t sure on that last bit though. Unlike zombies and skeletons who at the most base level don’t have a true method of “reproducing”, the next step up the undead hierarchy tended to. With ghouls, if they were more than just the most recently raised, this method was ghoul fever.
The ghouls reach Jason, their claws outstretched to rend flesh from bone. Within his body, Jason grabs onto the natural flow of power and takes a step while ducking. Then he is under the claws and past them in a single step.
A powerful back kick combined with a War Stomp. Jason releases a blooming flower using the very stamina that the undead inherently lack. This flower of power scythes through the ghoul, detaching the arms. Not that it matters as the undead monster doesn’t survive the strike.
Pulling on the power around him and three steps later has Jason back between the ghouls and the wall. Jason shouts back, “Infection-less Ghouls around the third bottleneck!”
While technically Jason hadn’t even tested the paralysis poison, he had figured them out. Ghouls being a relatively common form of undead, seemingly universal as they existed in his last life, irl stories, and NeoRealm with shocking levels of matching details.
Of course, knowing about them doesn’t stop them and the four remaining ghouls find Jason again and attack. Except now that he is facing a more dangerous threat, Jason continues to use Freeform Energy Movement. And while it isn’t teleportation, to the ghouls it might as well be. Their rotten eyes could not truly appreciate the movement sub-skill.
Though now that Jason has their measure, he returns to not using his combat skills. Instead beating down the ghouls and any zombies that make it to him with basic martial arts. His basic forms elevated to elegance through the simple application of his movement technique.
Like trying to swat a fly, the ghouls flail around. All the while Jason ducks in and around to deliver punches and kicks to the limbs and spines. While not technically weak points, a broken arm or spine is still going to weaken a ghoul. Maybe more so than even with a zombie or skeleton. The additional complexity taking away some of that natural magical glue that holds the lesser undead together.
All the while, Jason subtly pulls the ghouls closer to the wall. Not up to the point that the zombies made it the previous night, but close enough that once the ghouls do eventually fall, he isn’t instantly caught up in the next wave.
He isn’t tired, but Jason certainly isn’t stupid. So as he watches the next wave begin to pull themselves out of the ground, he sprints over to the wall and with a leap, grabs hold of a rope being lowered for him. Being a break ahead of them and carrying a poison resistance skill doesn’t mean much when they’re sending an entire wave of ghouls at you. It seems that whatever is sending the undead aren’t too happy about Jason’s antics.
