Surrounded?

He walked into the forest. The traces of the massacre were still starkly visible on the ground. Rama saw intestines scattered along with pieces of flesh still covered by shreds of clothing.

He grimaced, but he didn't slow his pace in the slightest. Rama had expected to witness such a sight when entering this territory.

'I'm quite surprised they left these intestines behind.'

Not long after he ventured deeper into the woods, the shadow of the trees enveloped him, reducing sunlight and making the forest considerably colder than the outside area.

Rama drew his dagger from its sheath and prepared himself for any imminent attacks. He spotted two more overturned trucks in the outer part of the forest. He promptly made his way there to inspect them.

Suddenly, the front window of one of the trucks opened, and two Ghouls leaped out. Both of them snarled at Rama while crouching on top of the truck.

"Well, it's about time."

The two Ghouls simultaneously lunged toward Rama, extending their blood-soaked claws. Rama raised his dagger to parry the Ghoul on his right-hand side, then leaped backward. He decided not to use his Soul Fusion power and instead relied on the swordsmanship skills he had recently acquired.

To his surprise, his sword mastery proved quite effective. Rama deflected the Ghoul's claws with ease and managed to jump back without stumbling or losing his balance.

The other Ghoul charged from his left side, along with the Ghoul from before, who streaked in from the front. Rama calmly sidestepped, evading both of them simultaneously. He then thrust his dagger into the Ghoul's back.

*CRAATT!*

Rama heard the Ghoul emit a pained scream, but he paid it no mind. He swiftly pulled out his dagger and dashed toward the other Ghoul. He could now observe the Ghoul's movements clearly, even though it moved quite fast.

His mind was much calmer than before when he had cowered in fear facing them. That was because Rama knew he had sufficient strength to kill these Ghouls.

*CRAATT!*

Rama sliced off the Ghoul's long arm, letting it fall to the ground. He proceeded to stab its weak spots several times, a thing he had learned from the previous battle, and killed it.

Rama realized that the other Ghoul hadn't died yet, as the notification hadn't appeared. He only killed one of them.

He sprinted as fast as he could toward the struggling Ghoul he stabbed before, jumped, and then stabbed down into the Ghoul's head.

*CRAATT!*

Rama withdrew his dagger and stabbed again until the Ghoul died.

Rama wiped blood from his face. 'I still need 180 more XP to level up.'

It didn't take long for Rama to sense the presence of more Ghouls around him. They were more numerous than he had initially thought. About two dozen, perhaps more, Ghouls surrounded him.

'Wait, how do I know that?'

Rama was sure that the entities surrounding him were Ghouls, and he could even estimate their number fairly accurately. He was convinced this had something to do with his new power.

'Whatever, that's not a pressing issue right now.'

Now, a more critical problem awaited his attention. He needed to survive—or rather, he needed to fight and gain more XP to level up.

"KHRRAAAAAKKKHHH!!!"

Ghouls charged at him from all around. From trees and bushes, the Supernaturals approached Rama with exceptional ferocity.

However, Rama grinned as if this was something he had been anticipating. His dagger was tightly gripped, his stance poised, and his Soul Fusion ready for use at any moment.

A few minutes later, Rama stood amidst the scattered corpses of Ghouls, his body battered. His breath came in gasps as he gazed up at the canopy of leaves that blocked the sunlight from reaching him.

There was a smile on his face. Though his body was weary, he also felt something else—satisfaction. He relished the feeling of knowing that he was no longer powerless. He had the power to take down all those Ghouls, single-handedly. Rama almost believed he could tackle missions of B or A Rank on his own.

'Okay, let's not get ahead of yourself.' Rama chuckled and shook his head.

He suddenly felt so potent because he could kill Ghouls—mere E Rank Supernaturals. He reminded himself that the attitude could get him killed at any time.

'It's still a long way until I can take on B or A Rank missions.'

Now, it was time to find those documents.

Rama searched among the scattered bodies in the area until he finally located the white steel suitcase. A hand still clung to it tightly, as if unwilling to let go even in death. However, the rest of the owner's body was nowhere to be seen.

Rama picked up the suitcase. Despite the numerous dents, the documents inside should still be intact as the case was quite sturdy.

After nodding in satisfaction, Rama returned to his bike and rode back to Twilight City.

~~~