Escape (3)

Adelaide ran out of her hiding spot. She somehow had the feeling the same thing was happening all over again.

She could hear Hazel's loud screams as the ghouls tortured their prey. She wasn't going to cover her ears this time and avert her eyes from the scene in front of her.

Adelaide started to pick up some pebbles off the stone passageway, She mustered a smile when a decent pile of rocks reached her knee. She picked up enough stones to fill her hand as she flung them over to the ghouls.

The ghouls turned their heads to look at a vulnerable, weak girl who threw a tiny annoyance of a toy that pricked their bodies. The stones had almost no impact on the ghouls as it just bounced off their bodies like their bodies were each like trampolines. However, it did grab some of the ghoul's attention as some of them stopped trying to kill Hazel and crazily ran towards her like a new fresh target was found.

Tearing apart and feasting on living flesh was better than killing another dead creature like themselves. They licked their lips with anticipation from thinking of feasting off of such a lively, young energy source.

Adelaide kept on throwing the pebbles as she thought her plan was working. She was going to fight this time too. She hoped that her stones would cause the ghouls some damage even though it didn't appear to be effective.

But one ghoul ran faster than the others as it reached out its long arm to strangle her neck. Adelaide coughed as the ghoul slowly squeezed her neck as its grip on her got tighter and tighter. She winced as she struggled to remove the bony hands from her slim neck while her feet swung in the air.

The ghoul smiled with raw pleasure as it sucked flesh living energy to get stronger. It was like a predator playing with their prey before killing them for fun. The other ghouls who watched the scene waited with excitement to toy with Adelaide once the current ghoul was finished with her.

'No," Hazel watched Adelaide paling from the lack of air.

'At this rate, I'm going to fail my mission.'

A rush of adrenaline filled Hazel as it allowed him to muster up some of his underlying strength in his vampire form.

[Final Persistence Mode Activated]

Hazel's eyes started to glow as he punched the ghoul's face that laid in front of him. He kicked the rest of the ghouls who eagerly swarmed to beat him up with his two feet as he got up to stand with his two feet.

'Adelaide!' Hazel dashed to save the young girl who desperately tried to wiggle her way out.

Hazel swung his holy dagger to get rid of the ghouls in his way like he was a trained swordsman. He danced his way through the hungry crowd with his clean cut moves. His dagger was thrown in the air when he chose to use his bare hands that were now strengthened with the new mode activated.

He efficiently killed each ghoul with one effective move until he was right in front of Adelaide. When the last ghoul vanished into dark ashes from stabbing its heart, Adelaide fell down to the ground as she panted for more air. Her face instantly started to have more colour after a few seconds while the holy dagger disappeared into the thin air.

[Use of Holy Dagger is now Maximized.]

[Please complete another mission for repeated use.]

Hazel looked at his bare hands, which felt empty with the absence of a weapon. However, he needed to get out of this place as fast as possible instead of being dejected over his lost weapon. Who knew when the swarm of ghouls would recover or come back again?

He offered his hand to the young girl who gazed up to him as they continued their path to escape from the ghastly sewers.

Adeliade didn't hesitate to take his hand as she pulled herself up while relying on the strong person who managed to survive the fight which her father had disappeared from.

[Final Persistence Mode Deactivated]

Hazel's body was covered with sweat as a rock dropped down from the ceiling.

It had to be the worst coincidence in the world. He tried to grab the rock from hitting the metal beam floating in the sewage water as he reached out his hand. But he grabbed at the air as the rock fell to ring out a large din that echoed throughout the silent abandoned space.

The rock served as an alarm to the sleeping ghoul-like creature they had encountered in front of them that blocked the part of the passageway that was flooded with bad sewer water.

The rock-like skin that resembled scales and its massive size made the creature appear more formidable than the ordinary ghoul.

The large ghoul opened its eyes as the golden tint from his irises painted the water a gilded tone from his gaze. There was a slight incandescence to his stare, however, what really surprised Hazel was the blue box that popped up over his head.

[Mutated Ghoul]

[Daily Mission Updated: Tasks to help save the world]

[Survive against the Mutated Ghoul - Estimated Mutation Level 2]

Hazel felt his body start to panic as the large ghoul picked up a large branch from the sewage water. His movements were incredibly fast for something so large. He had to be at least two times Hazel's size with his body nearly touching the ceiling of the 9 foot sewer canopy.

He had black skin with small red boils and black behind the gold of his eyes rather than the normal human white. He was full of resentment and contempt for Hazel with his every motion intended to scare the young vampire.

He sighed and trudged through the water towards Hazel as the latter seemed to be unable to move. Hazel was stuck in the water as if some spell had been cast on him.

[Stunned by Ghoul]

[You will gain movement in 3 seconds]

'I can be stunned?' Hazel felt terrified, but his fear started to rapidly change to rage. He felt angry that he couldn't move, finding it consuming him as his muscles tensed.

The large ghoul was approaching him while mocking him as he covered the small gap between them in the sewer. He stopped in front of Hazel and spun the branch, preparing to swing it as Hazel finally felt his arm move.

"You aren't allowed here. If you want to pass, you'll do it over my dead body." The ghoul seemed enraged and swung the branch forward at Hazel. He felt his knees trembling but still wasn't able to move his legs.

He could only defend with his arms as he crossed them in front of his face. The branch slammed into his body and caught him off guard.

The next thing he saw was the gold of the ghoul's eyes as his body was sent bursting towards the water. He nearly crashed against the cold metal frame as he got up and looked down at his hands.

'Blood? Is that blood?" Hazel felt his heart palpitate faster.

'Am I going to die again here? Is this large ghoul going to kill me?' He found himself entering a calming state.

"You're pretty tough," The ghoul said and tossed down the branch.

"This isn't a place for vampires to enter. I don't know how you got here, but until you can beat me don't come back."

Even Hazel didn't want to come here. If Adelaide didn't stumble into a trap that pulled her up into a strange box, he wouldn't have come to this part of the sewers which deviated from their original escape path. He didn't blame her for not looking where she stepped in her tired and exhausted state from the previous incident.

The ghoul walked over to the large metal tunnel and closed his eyes, feeling the excitement and anger he felt in the battle quickly fading. There was no point in fighting a vampire that he couldn't kill. Vampire's were notorious for being immortal. It was better to sleep.

Hazel was so caught off guard that he just back peddled to the wall and took a deep breath. That monster was so strong and not the least bit human. He turned around as his mind returned to a focused state and rushed back towards the body of the ghouls.

His breath was bated, but at the same time strong. His new heart made even the most terrifying situations seem manageable. If he was his former self, he probably would've instantly been killed against that gigantic ghoul.

The usual fear and terror had been replaced with a benign calm.

He ran past the bodies of the ghouls and found the small girl dangling from the strange box installed on top of the sewers - the box where his captors put all their prey. He jumped up almost ten feet into the air and grabbed her while somewhat feeling excitement as he landed with her on the floor.