Chapter 9

The vital point of a ghoul is its head. If it is not destroyed in one blow, even if its limbs are severed or its chest is ripped open with a massive wound, it will not die.

The terror of these monsters lies in the fact that they have almost no pain receptors, and their sense of fear is completely gone.

They do not know what death is. Even when facing a dragon that can burn them to ashes with a single breath, they will charge forward fearlessly. As long as they do not die, no matter how severe their injuries, they will continue to attack their enemies relentlessly until one side falls.

Due to this racial characteristic, ghouls have become the most cost-effective cannon fodder. The ghoul army always holds the position of the first attack sequence in the undead army.

The ghoul sea tactic once made many countries in the Western Continent tremble. This cheap cannon fodder is an excellent troop type that every commander desires.

Dunton pushed away the corpse, pulled out his dagger, turned around, and with a powerful kick, dashed out. At full speed, he covered a distance of over ten meters in a single breath.

The ghouls were only concerned with fighting over and tearing apart the corpse of Will in front of them and did not pursue Dunton, giving him enough time to reach a safe distance.

Pierre gave Dunton a thumbs up. If he had missed his strike just now, he would have become the ghouls' meal.

Tony was jealous to the point of madness. Dunton was so calm, and his ability to adapt to the situation was terrifying. He admitted that if he faced such a ferocious and much stronger ghoul, he would run away immediately.

The small team of five fled into the town.

A few ghouls wandered the dilapidated streets. Hearing the commotion, they immediately rushed over.

"What do we do?" Tony held a long-bladed dagger, ready to fight.

"Don't force it, let's find a place to hide first." Robinson quickly surveyed the surroundings. Everyone had run for so long and was exhausted. Even if they wanted to fight their way out, they needed to recover their strength first.

"Let's go to the inn. There are many rooms, so we have more choices!" Dunton pointed to a large six-story inn about thirty meters away.

"Go, Pierre, you lead the way!" Robinson drew a dagger studded with mana gems from his waist. If it weren't for the urgency, he wouldn't have been willing to waste the spells stored inside.

To enter the inn, they had to kill two ghouls blocking the way.

On the long street, there was no place to hide.

"Fireball!" With a wave of Robinson's hand, a coconut-sized fireball shot from his fingertips, trailing a hot tail of flame, and struck the ghoul.

Boom! The ghoul was blown to pieces, and burning flesh flew everywhere.

Pierre and Tony worked together to kill the other ghoul, and the five of them rushed into the inn, heading straight for the second floor without stopping.

"Damn, they're still chasing us!" Robinson was furious. He didn't expect that even with the use of a magic dagger to instantly kill a ghoul, they still didn't gain any time.

These tireless undead creatures pursued them relentlessly. Even without seeing their figures, they could follow the dense footsteps.

"Split up and run. Whoever escapes, escapes. Dunton, Duran, you two go to the second floor!" Pierre rushed to the third floor, his tone straightforward.

"Old Pierre is lying again!" Tony couldn't help but laugh slyly, imagining the scene of those two unlucky ones being torn apart.

Robinson, who was in third place, didn't even look at the second floor. He turned the corner of the stairs and continued climbing.

These three were old friends who had cooperated for many years. They had used this tactic three times to escape from death, tricking over a dozen adventurers.

"Alright!" Duran agreed and was about to rush into the second-floor corridor to find a room to hide in.

Dunton, quick on the draw, grabbed his friend's clothes and pulled him up to the third floor.

"What are you doing? Let them lead the ghouls away, and we can survive!" Duran was in a panic, whispering a reminder. In a life-or-death situation, one naturally doesn't care about others.

"Impossible!" Dunton had no time to explain. As he rushed to the third floor, he felt a cold laugh in his heart. He hadn't expected the seemingly kind Pierre to be so cunning.

The second-floor corridor was a straight line with a wide field of view. With the ghouls pursuing so closely, they would see the unlucky ones running this way first. The stairs leading to the upper floors had a corner, effectively hiding Robinson and the others, greatly reducing the chance of being discovered.

Dunton wasn't without the thought of hiding in the nearest room, but what about the distance? What if he couldn't hide in time before the ghouls caught up? And the door might be locked.

Pierre was taking advantage of Duran's desire to use them as bait, but the conditions were vastly different.

During the four minutes of escape, Dunton wasn't just running. When he heard Robinson mention a town, he started thinking about how to use the town's terrain to escape. That's why he suggested hiding in the inn and even speculated about the inn's layout.

"Indeed, the more honest a person is, the more deceptive their lies. I hope the ghouls like their meat!" Tony rushed into the third-floor corridor, instinctively looking back. His triumphant expression froze, and he blurted out, "Why are you up here?"

"Not good!" Robinson turned and saw Dunton and Duran panting as they ran up. His lips twitched. "Damn, I should have guessed. I can't fool this kid. What do we do now?"

"Trouble!" Pierre, who was leading the charge, turned around, intending to drive them away, but his entire body suddenly disappeared in the corridor.

Tony and Robinson were so shocked that their jaws almost hit the floor. Then everything went dark, but it seemed to last only a moment before light returned.

"What happened?" Duran, seeing the three disappear, instinctively stopped.

The urgent footsteps of the ghouls echoed in his ears. Dunton knew they had caught up. One side meant certain death, the other a glimmer of hope. He had to fight.

"Don't stop!" Dunton pulled Duran, exerted his legs, and accelerated again. His vision plunged into endless darkness, and it felt like he had fallen into a lake, with a sticky sensation around him, but it quickly disappeared.

Dunton lost his balance, immediately clasped his head to protect it, and then fell heavily to the floor, rolling out.

"Where are we?" Tony got up, looking at the dusty room, confused.

"Stay alert, fight!" Dunton growled. If all five were here, the ghouls had no reason not to catch up.

Sure enough, as soon as Dunton finished speaking, the ghouls appeared with a strong stench. However, they also lost their balance from the sudden teleportation and fell.

"Thunder Strike!" Pierre roared, rushing to the ghoul's side. His left foot stomped the ground, activating a combat skill, and blue arcs of electricity spread out.

The ghoul was momentarily stunned by the electricity.

Whoosh! The Viking greatsword, with a heavy whistling sound, struck the ghoul's head, splitting it in two.

Robinson swung his dagger, casting a Fireball, which exploded and destroyed the second ghoul rushing in.

Burning flesh pieces fell and splattered on the ground, raising choking dust.

The upper body of the third ghoul appeared but was suddenly shredded before it could enter.

Tony, holding his dagger in reverse, tightly watched the place where the ghouls appeared. Fortunately, the fourth one didn't come.

The ghouls, having caught up to the third floor, were momentarily stunned when they lost sight of their prey. These monsters couldn't think, so they didn't search the corridor. They just wandered around by instinct.

The five, armed with sharp weapons, remained on guard for a few minutes but saw no more ghouls. They relaxed and sat down.

"Was that a teleportation?" Tony, after catching his breath, looked at Robinson uncertainly.

"Yes!" Robinson nodded, looking around.

This was a spacious master bedroom, covered in dust, at least an inch thick, as if submerged in the river of time.

Robinson, who had traveled to seven countries, was well-versed in many things, but he couldn't recognize this decorative style.

"Didn't we see a teleportation portal?" Duran was puzzled.

"The mana to maintain the portal has been exhausted, so it has no form. We were very lucky. You saw, the last ghoul was torn apart by spatial energy because the portal's mana was insufficient to bring it through."

Robinson pointed to the walls, which were carved with intricate and mysterious magic arrays, with mana stones embedded at each node. However, the mana stones were now cracked, a sign that the mana had been depleted.

Mana stones are a type of natural mineral that takes at least a hundred million years to form. They contain rich magical energy and are the purest form of mana. Any mana user of different professions can directly draw and absorb them. They are also essential fuel in the magical world, used in magic potions, forging, alchemy, and many other magical industries.

"Who built the teleportation portal here?" Duran was very curious. "It's said that this is a very advanced field of magic, even a Dragon Slayer-class mage doesn't understand it!"

"Hey, why care about that? The portal is gone. How do we get back?" Tony's words plunged everyone into silence, their faces filled with worry.

"Find enough mana stones to replace them, and the portal should be able to open again."

Pierre hadn't finished speaking when Tony interrupted him.

"Bro, are you kidding? Count the nodes on the magic array. It takes over a hundred stones to fill them. Where do we find them?" Tony looked dejected.

"Let's figure out where we are first!" Pierre sighed and walked to the Venetian blind. The bedroom was dim, and the slightest movement stirred up dust, making it feel oppressive to stay for long.

"Did you notice? The ambient magical energy is very abundant, at least three times, no, five times that of Drenkford!" Robinson sensed the mana concentration with his soul power, his face filled with joy. "If I train here, I can quickly reach the Sixth Soul Rank, and even advance to the War Rank without any problem!"

Before the others could digest this happy news, Pierre, standing by the Venetian blind, screamed in horror.

"Come and look quickly!"

......

PS: Just one more vote to hit the front page. Please give me recommendations and collections. Thank you!