My Cell Prison - Chapter 39
Chapter 39: Chapter 39 – Crusader
Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
Fortunately, they had taken precautions against the potential danger, and Han Dong had stopped halfway while Kaz went ahead further along the tunnel to investigate by himself. Otherwise, if Han Dong had only wished to run after reaching the end of the tunnel, there was no way that he could have been able to escape unscathed considering his present physical constitution.
Even though he could determine from the sound of Kaz’s voice that the man was still around 100 meters away from him, the situation was no less dire.
Chenli had immediately appeared and helped support Han Dong as they swiftly ran back down the secret tunnel…
“From the overlapping sound of the claws, there should at least be 3 Ghouls chasing after us… As long as we can make it back to the basement from before, we can still resolve this.”
With Chenli’s help, Han Dong managed to first make it back to the basement at an ordinary human’s running pace.
“Miss Chenli, please hurry up and hide… I’ll let you come out and help when the time comes.”
“Understood.”
Han Dong stood guard by the entrance of the secret tunnel as he waited for Kaz to return.
Soon, Kaz appeared in his line of sight, still holding onto his lantern.
He could clearly see that the protective goggles wearing Kaz had a few dark lines marked around his eyes… Which was precisely the appearance of ‘visual corruption’.
Meanwhile, more than five ghouls were right behind Kaz, all in different forms and sizes.
Ghouls were a sort of humanoid lifeform that had rubber-like and elastic, green skin. Their bones were protruding and they were capable of chewing through bones and sinew easily with their exposed fangs. With a curved spine that partially protruded from their backs, their bodies were lined with dense muscle tissues that gave them plenty of strength.
Be it their skin, teeth, or their terribly sharp claws, a thick layer of black fungi grew over them. The moment they tore through human skin, they would instantly cause infectious damage.
If the resultant wounds were not treated in a timely fashion, pus would soon form and fester… The wound could even turn gangrenous in a short time, with amputation becoming the only option to ensure survival.
In fact, someone could even spot a dangerous but hard to spot detail upon closer inspection.
There were several obvious lacerations on the bodies of these Ghouls which would have little tentacles appearing on the surface of these injuries, creating an extremely strange sight.
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The Ghouls’ movement speed was about the same as what Kaz possessed, someone who had devoted 3 Fate points toward the Crusader specialization class.
In particular, one of the ghouls was a matured ghoul that was half a size bigger than the others, whose spine was completely protruded out of its back. Its speed seemed to be just slightly faster than Kaz’s, and its sharp claws were even able to easily leave deep scratch marks upon the rock wall. The increased speed that it possessed was even enough for it to gradually leave the other Ghouls chasing behind… It looked like it was just about to catch up to young Kaz.
Just as it was about to lash out at the back of Kaz’s armor, the Knight managed to dash out from the tunnel.
At that moment, Kaz displaced his center of gravity as he stumbled to the ground once he cleared the doorway. Han Dong had timed it perfectly, reaching out to trigger the mechanism to shut the secret entrance.
The ghoul that was ahead of the rest managed to slip through the shutting door in time, while the ghouls behind had all been sealed inside that secret tunnel.
The door of this secret entrance was made of rock that was almost 2 meters thick, impossible for the normal ghouls to break through…
However, the extra large ghoul that still had linen hanging off its body was still almost 2 meters tall despite its hunched back, and it looked like it was the main cause of this incident that they were in.
This was the prime culprit that had slain the woman.
It did not care if its companions had managed to keep up with it as its black eyes locked onto the young Sir Kaz… It needed to kill him in order to keep the nest hidden.
Its sharp claws and teeth were directed straight for Kaz’s head.
The sound of impacted metal rang throughout the basement.
Even though Kaz was down on the ground, he was battle ready, raising his shield in response.
It was a well timed block that allowed him to perfectly block that incoming strike.
The same time he stopped the attack, he was able to force the ghoul to spring back a certain distance, giving time for Sir Kaz to adjust himself.
“YAARGH!” The ghoul let out a strange snarl as it prepared itself for its next attack.
That was when a dangerously green mass of energy shot right at the back of the Ghoul’s head.
A very corrosive plague immediately began spreading at the back of its head.
*SSSSS* A sound akin to corrosive acid could be heard, and it appeared as if the plague had actually eaten away a small hole in the ghoul’s skull in a short period of time as it continued to burn into the brain inside… The effect of this attack was far stronger than what anyone would have expected.
Needless to say, it was Han Dong who had released this shot of plague.
Upon activating his Plague Doctor’s Shortsword, Han Dong could evidently feel a bit of the energy in his mind get extracted… He estimated the amount of energy he felt was left and reckoned he should be able to use it around five more times.
If this had been a newly formed ghoul, it would have most likely collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.
But the situation that he was in now was not that simple.
The moment it looked like the plague was about to affect its brain, a strange scene occurred. Many thin shadowy tentacles appeared from the hole in the ghoul’s broken skull. These tentacles crept and interweaved with each other, removing the plague as it continued to repair this hole in its skull.
“Tentacles?! It’s mending its own wounds!”
The Ghoul had changed its target in response to the attack too.
Turning its ugly face around and spotting the frail Han Dong… Its bacteria-filled viscous saliva kept dripping from its fanged teeth.
*Zzzzzzzzzt*
When those black eyes of the Ghoul met Han Dong’s own, he could hear a sound similar to the noise of electromagnetic interference echo in his mind… He could vaguely make out something flash in the eyes of the Ghoul.
However, Han Dong was absolutely fine staring at the monster from this distance, unlike Kaz, who had one more Fate point than he did.
Han Dong was not suffering from the so-called ‘visual corruption’, and neither did he feel that his senses were off, nor did he experience any headache and hallucinations, or even the dark lines that appear around people’s eyes when they get near to such monsters.
This was not due to the protective goggles he was wearing, and Han Dong had a sneaking suspicion that he would still not be in any danger even if he did not wear those goggles.
Of course, being visually corrupted was secondary… What truly mattered was finding a way to slay the ghoul.
That was when a Holy Water Grenade exploded over the ghoul’s body (Author’s note: A round-bottomed flask that was filled with Holy Water)
*Tsssssssss*
A large amount of white steam began rising upon contact.
The ghoul was in such pain that it was frantically rolling on the ground, but it was difficult for either Trainee Knight to get close and stab the monster because it was thrashing about wildly with the claws it had.
“Alan, stand behind me… We should still be able to take on a fully matured Ghoul together.”
Using the time they had earned from the Holy Grenade, Han Dong immediately stood behind Kaz so as to not be alone.
“Find an opportunity to do the ranged attack like you did before and it should do it! Ghouls are very low-leveled monsters, and in terms of their physical form, they are still incapable of breaking away from the human condition. You’re a Mystic, so you should be clearer on this than me… Aim for their heads or heart would do.”
“Yes.”
Kaz got into his combat stance, left hand holding his shield in front of him as his right hand held his saber behind his shield.
There seemed to be a special purpose for pulling out a stance like this…
Crusader’s Might.
All of a sudden, the blonde haired Kaz wearing his silver armor was giving off a faint silvery glow that surrounded his entire body.
There was even a faint imprint of a cross that appeared on his forehead like it was a technique that temporarily augmented him.
The Ghoul very quickly recovered after being burned by the Holy Water Grenade. It was in a completely agitated state, with a little black smoke that was released from its black eyes.
It lunged.
This was an attack that would most definitely have torn him into pieces.
“Hoooo….”
He took a deep breath, and his heart sank.
In the instant where the Ghoul pounced out at Kaz, the veins in his forehead bulged from the strain as he dug his back foot firmly into the floor under him, pouring all his strength into the shield that he was holding up with his left arm.
The shield bore the brunt of the ferocious attack, as a dull clank of metal rang.
The more than 2 meter tall Ghoul had actually been sent flying away after it collided into Kaz’s shield bash.
“That was heavy… Quite the strain.”
Kaz did his best to forcefully control his shivering arm.
He pulled his shield back and dashed forward, brandishing his silver saber in the same instant that the Ghoul had landed on the ground.
‘Crosscut’
In the silvery wake of his saber slash, the Ghoul’s flesh was completely sliced apart, revealing its black heart that was hidden beneath its rib cage!