Ethereal soul gorgers

In the moonsless night, two grey pellucid creatures were chasing a person with a dark suit. With speed untraceable to the average eyes, the dark clothed person left only dust on his wake while jumping onto the wooden roofs of the short buildings and tall buildings surrendering him. The grey creature's relentlessly pursued him like dogs that were sent off to hunt a prey for their master.

'Around here is good,' thought Coy with a wide grin plastered across his face. With the help of his vampiric senses, he ventured deep into the slums to search for an area void of people. To his far left was the raging sea.

When was the last time he had fought someone? 5 decades ago? Or more? He couldn't care for such things now, since one was presented to him on a platter. He used to be a bona fide warrior back on earth. Regularly skirmishing with the Lycans, government officials that knew of their existence, and his own brethren who were foolish enough to challenge him.

Coy peered to his back to confirm how many were on his tail. 'Two, huh, this might be an easy one.'

{Are you going to clash with them?} asked Chóros unbothered.

{Indeed.} he turned from the straight path he was on and rushed at the grey creatures with voracious eyes thirsty for a battle.

The creatures were stunned by the course of action their target took. But with timely manner they flashed their long trenchant arms and mimickly darted at him.

He was taken aback by their grotesque appearance now that he could see them with clarity. Different parts of their skin looked rotten brown in contrast to their pale skin they mostly had. The brown parts had pus like fluid oozing from them. Their heads were split into two with each one having two pairs of eyes aligned vertically with slit irises; and their mouth was like a hollowed eye lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth going farther back down their throat like marching soldiers. Instead of legs, they were floating while dragging numerous tentacles like fibers attached to their bony abdomen.

The only difference between the two was about their lower part of the body. One of them had its tentacles grouped together into two separate thick parts, while the other's freely swayed in all directions like a jelly fish.

What the… Although he was flabbergasted by their appearance and a bit disgusted, he didn't slow down one bit. Instead, his nails grew into durable yet sharp rapier-like structures.

One of the creatures with the two sturdy tentacles got ahead of the other as it slashed at Coy with his heavy saber arm. With impressive flexibility, Coy dodged to the side and returned the favour as he held the arm which attempted to dismember him that lodged itself into the building's wooden roof with his right leg, before piercing at the creature's right side with his left hand. But his nails caved empty air as it passed through the creature's translucent body.

Coy didn't let that discourage him. He retracted his hand quickly and jumped from the shattered roof to another building, narrowly avoiding his legs being cut off by the other creature who seeped out of the position he stood a second ago.

He had noticed its movements because its saber-like arms were gliding along the roof while its body was hiding below it.

{These creatures look like they can phase through material objects, though their arms don't seem to have that ability. Perhaps magic would work on inflicting damage on them,} expressed Chóros. He had been analysing the creatures since Coy clashed against them. They reminded him about the ethereal soul gorgers from the gaps of the eerie sky, commonly known as the home of the demons. But the ones he knew of had legs, and they could transition between making their whole body tangible and intangible at will, while these ones didn't appear to have that versatility.

{Do you think I have the leisure to learn about magic now?} complained Coy as he was already back in arms against the enemy, trying to find a solution to cave a hole in their non-physical body as he couldn't chip even an inch of their arms. They had unimaginable tough saber-like arms.

What was even vexing was that they would come at him with a coordinated attack. The guy with the thick tentacles would try to assault him from above, while the other hid beneath the floor, trying to sever his legs.

"Haap!" With heavy strength, he kicked the blunt side of the saber of the one with the swaying tentacles while it was above the ground: that was when he noticed something odd about the point of connection between its shoulder and arm. The flesh on that area comparably looked different from the flesh on the other parts of its body... It enticingly appeared severable.

Before the other one could get to him, he retreated his steps to confirm his suspicions.

{Do you think anything would happen if I try to cut where its shoulder and arm are connected?} asked Coy with a frown on his face. These creatures were more annoying than he imagined. They were pitifully weak, and their attack patterns were predictable. But one thing they excelled at was abusing fact that they were untouchable.

{The possibility is high.}

With newfound understanding, he launched at the most troublesome one of them, the one with the numerous tentacles.

The other tried to intercept his advances by becoming a shield for his brother in arms, but Coy parried its attack and directly phased through its ethereal body. 'Heh, didn't expect that, did you?'

With a maniac smile on his face, he added speed to his advance and deflected the barrage of slashes which the one with the many tentacles prepared for him. Those slashes were abnormally fast, but it took two seconds for Coy to overcome the pressure of attacks raining down on him as he found the opportunity he was aiming for.

With ferocious precision, he cut off the area of where the shoulder and arm were connected as he felt flesh being torn, before retreating away from the guy with the thick tentacles he passed through as it tried to make quick work out of his back.

Retracting even further back to another building's rooftop, what greeted his eyes made him joyful. An arm was laying down beside the guy he attacked. The creature was looking at where its weapon was in confusion.

{Alright, I had my fun. Have you figured out what kind of magic is suitable to kill these guys?} He had wasted enough time. 16 minutes had passed since he sneaked out. He was planning on using the silver ring that could let him cast a tier 1 spell of his choice once a day to eliminate them. Although he still didn't have enough knowledge about magic, he was going to have Chóros assist him.

The creatures resumed their onslaught as they followed Coy, while he engaged in a game of tag with them, going from roof to roof as he simultaneously conversed with Chóros.

{Ah, yes! I figured it out. These guys are the young version of those soul gorgers, otherwise they would have feasted on your soul long ago if you haven't escaped and instead headbutted with them. Anyway, the only spells that could kill them are tier 2 spells, especially those of the light and fire element, with the light being more potent than the other. But since you can only use tier 1 spells now, use this one called Radiant to weaken them before heading back to the inn. To cast it, just inject your mana into the ring and chant Radiant.}

{You got it.}

Coy faced them for the last time as he feigned to rush at the guy with the thick tentacles, giving the appearance that he wanted to cut one of its arms too, just like his ally. The creature caught up to what Coy was trying to achieve and hesitantly backed off, which was a grave mistake.

Letting not the opportunity he created go to waste, he quickly controlled his mana and guided it into his left hand and injected it into the ring that could cast spells.

He tried to chant the incantation before a shiver ran through his spine in alarm. Out of instinct, he leaped forward as he felt a searing pain on his calf.

"Ugh."

Since the mana needed was already injected to the ring, Coy wasted no further movement as he didn't focus on the unknown third assailant, but instead spoke in the miranian language with a vehement voice, "Radiant!"

There was light.

…

In a second story building located near the sea that was a moderate distance from where Coy was having a heated fight.

Two men with brown, uniformed robes were inside a plain room with two chairs, a desk, a cabinet file, a beige carpet and a small stone on the wall which released light. One of them was sitting on a chair as he cleaned an axe, while the other was smoking a cigarette near the open window with his back facing the outside.

The man with the cigarette said to his companion, bored, "When will our shift end? It should be around midnight already, right? I have a wife waiting for me at home, you know."

The one cleaning the axe with a piece of cloth replied in a tight voice, "What midnight, it's barely 8 and a half. And since when did you have a wife? You are just talking about going to whore house. I'm going to report you one day if you don't stop asking me…" The man trailed in his sentence as he looked at his colleague, specifically at the window, with a serious look.

He quickly strapped his weapon to a belt on his side and informed his colleague, "A fight is going at that building over there. Gear up," before rushing out the door.

The man with the cigarette turned his head towards the outside and saw a radiant light that was slowly dying out. He threw the unfinished cigarette to the ground and snuffed it out as he trod on the heels of his colleague, "Wait for me!"

…

Below the building where Coy was clashing with the ethereal soul gorgers.

A man swung from side to side along the dirty alley walls with a broken bottle in his hands. His clothes soaked red.

He mumbled in an anxious tone with hiccups mixed in his words, "That bitch… How dare she… Hiek… I have to run away… Otherwise, those law enforcers... those bastards stationed at the port will kill me."

He attempted to move a bit faster before he saw a dim light on the dirty pond at the ground. He stepped on it, thinking it originated from the pond itself when he came to the realisation that it didn't. With shaky motions, he slowly creeped his head up and saw a receding radiant light.

"They are here, they are here!" yelled the man as he staggered with haste through the dark night before he tripped on a rock and hit his head, fainting on the spot.