CHAPTER 83: GHOULS AND GHOSTS.

"Lawson has become a ghoul. The only way to kill him, is to expel the spirit that has taken root in his body."

Nero grimaced,

"This..."

’Oracle, how the hell do I do that?!’

{Ghouls, or possessed humans are special organisms. The link between the body and the controlling spirit is no different from the strings that connect a puppeteer and its doll. As such, ghouls do not feel fear, joy, pain, or any other emotion. The only way to kill a ghoul, is through severing the strings that bind them together}.

Nero’s eyes widened,

’And how do I do that?’

{The connection between the two is a spiritual bond, forged into the roots of the spirit of the possessed by corruption. The only way to sever it, is to attack the root of the corruption. This is usually done through rituals, mantras, or with very specific spells}.

Nero grimaced,

’So what you are trying to say, is I can’t do anything about it?!’

{For the time being, the Heretic lacks the tools needed to drive an exorcism}.

Suddenly, he heard Garrick call out from behind him,

"We only need you to hold him down for a minute or two. Aisha will begin the exorcism."

"Well, that makes things much easier." Nero muttered to himself.

He stared into the inky black eyes of the possessed.

He trembled slightly.

He could see it— the boundless pain, rage, fear, loneliness, madness and hate in his soul.

It was jarring, to say the least.

Despite having a ward that protected against possessions, the overwhelming negative emotions in him had given the evil an anchor to latch onto.

The Ghoul let out a soul-splitting shriek as it charged at him.

It leapt through the air, cutting a clean arc as it slashed its elongated claws at his throat. Nero tilted back, using the strange balance of Gungnir.

His body twisted abnormally. With his waist as the point of rotation, he stabbed into the chest of the airborne Ghoul.

His muscles buldged as with a groan, he reversed his grip and stabbed into the ground with all his might.

With a loud bang, the body of the Ghoul was smashed into the ground.

Exerting more force, he stabbed the spear into the ground even harder.

’Well, that was easier than I expect—’

The Ghoul, despite being completely skewered through, shrieked, its jaws snapping at his fingers.

He recoiled, nearly letting go of the spear shaft,

"What the hell?!"

The Ghoul wriggled and spasmed, unwilling to stay down.

Nero grit his teeth and turned around.

The others behihin were completely engrossed in battles of their own.

Garrick’s large blade swung with a rustic aggression he knew was reminiscent of the battle techniques of the Crimson Crucible.

Every swing of his blade took off the head of at least one Brandor. His eyes gleamed with a ferocious light as he relished in the slaughter.

Obed, the slender, smaller framed man was even more lethal, his blades cutting through the throats of the Abominations.

Together, they were like a force of nature, crushing and cutting through the blood crazed Abominations.

A river of blood and a mound of corpses was quickly gathering at their feet.

The largest of them all, wielding a shield, was behind them, focused on guarding a girl that had fallen to the ground.

It was the girl he had protected earlier from the Brandor attack.

It didn’t take him long for him to figure out that this was the girl meant to perform the exorcism.

Nero’s expression was ugly.

If she was knocked out cold, then what was he supposed to do now.

Seeing the Ghoul crawling up the shaft of his spear, he was left with no other choice but to let it go, but not before bashing its skull in with a swing of the spear.

The head of the Ghoul caved in, spewing blood violently.

However, the Ghoul did not die.

Nero watched in horror, as the damage skull produced crunching sounds, the damage vanishing in a few seconds.

But that was not all.

A moment later, the head of the Ghoul swelled, almost to the point of bursting.

Then it did burst, producing a fountain of foul smelling mucus. The mucus streame down the disfigured face of the Ghoul, scorching what was left of the human features away, turning it completely into a monster.

Its back crunched and stretched, elongating in the process.

Its muscles were stretched as well, making it look more gaunt and wretched-looking.

Its eyes sank deeper into its skull and its skull jutted out, rotting teeth turning into a protruding maw.

The Ghoul let out a shriek again, this time far more abrasive than any other.

Nero sucked in a deep breath.

Although it looked absolutely terrible. Although its form was vile and twisted...

He could sense that it was no stronger than a grade E Abomination. And while it was truly on the higher end of the scale, it still wasn’t undefeatable.

Nero let his fear fade into the background.

The Ghoul launched itself at him again.

He twirled Gungnir, slapping its arm away and stabbing into its skull, drawing its blackened blood.

Without a wasted movement, he stabbed in again.

And then again.

In the blink of an eye, his arms turned into a blur— a combination of deft parries and calculated stabs, turning the Abomination into a bleeding mess.

His eyes were cold like steel as he cut, stabbed and parried.

The Abomination was like a persistent stream, roaring and slashing at him, even through the his rain of endless attacks.

Dodging a slash, Nero rushed forward.

He slammed his shoulder into the jaw of the Abomination. The sound produced was sickening and would have made a person wince in pain.

Nero’s eyes gleamed cold as he swiftly drew the Silver Blade.

And then, with a furious slash...

He lopped its head clean off.

The Ghoul fell to the ground, its body thrashing all around and spasming, desperately looking for its head as a fountain of dark ichor spewed from its severed neck.

Nero desperately turned back, just to see as burst of blinding light headed in his direction.

He promptly ducked.

The beam of light struck the body of the thrashing Ghoul.

Instantly, it ignited in a burst of radiance, tongues of white, pristine flames licking at its flesh.

Th Abomination continued to thrash, its severed head screaming through the flames.

Nero watched on, his eyes widened in horror.

The sight was terrible and gruesome.

But for some reason, he couldn’t look away.

Finally, the Ghoul stopped thrashing.

It was dead.