The ghouls reacted differently.
Those at the center of the thick mist were the first to be hit.
The moment the pink mist touched their skin, they let out shrieks so sharp they could pierce eardrums.
Their mouths, split from the lower jaw to the chest, gaped to their limit, exposing all three layers of teeth as if they were trying to expel every bit of air from their lungs.
Large black scorch marks appeared on their grey-red flesh membranes, tendons beneath the skin snapped, and dark fluids seeped from the ruptures.
One ghoul stumbled a few steps, its forelimbs unable to support it, and it collapsed to its knees.
A second ghoul swayed, dragging its rotting body as it stumbled back toward the hole, eventually rolling over the edge and vanishing into the darkness.
Most of the ghouls directly in front of the hole were cleared within ten seconds.
But the situation on the periphery was different.
By the time the pink mist reached the edges, its concentration was already very low, and although those on the outer ring were shrieking and showing scorch marks on their skin, they did not fall.
They simply retreated a few steps, huddling in corners where the pink mist could not reach, screeching in anger.
The pink mist was still slowly dispersing.
But it was enough.
An open space about ten meters around the hole had been cleared, the fungus layer was dead, the scavenger ghouls had melted, and the ghouls had retreated temporarily.
A path leading to the hole was briefly opened.
"Follow me!"
Lu Yuan stepped forward.
Bo Er followed closely, his silver-plated short-shotgun raised to protect the flanks.
The other Nightwatchers quickly moved in.
They needed to see the situation in the hole clearly to judge what to do next.
Blocking the gap and preventing the eerie presence from spreading was the order from Kraus.
But whether it could be blocked required seeing what that hole actually was.
Twenty paces.
Ten paces.
The ground beneath their feet began to tilt.
The floor at the edge of the hole was broken and sunken, with rubble and soil mixing to form a slope.
There was still residue of the pink mist in the air, its pungent scent mixing with the acidic rot.
Five paces.
Lu Yuan stood at the edge of the hole and looked down.
The faint light of the pink mist could not reach the bottom.
He could see nothing.
Only darkness.
A pure, thick darkness, like a bottomless well.
No.
It wasn't that he couldn't see anything.
After Lu Yuan's eyes adjusted for a few seconds, he saw it in the depths of the darkness.
The walls were moving.
It wasn't the walls themselves that were moving.
It was the things clinging to the walls.
Dense clusters of grey-red meat were clinging to the walls of the hole in layers, extending from the opening downward, and even at the limit of his vision, there was still no bottom.
They were climbing up.
It wasn't just a few.
It wasn't dozens.
It was countless ghouls and scavenger ghouls covering the entire wall of the hole, crawling like ants on the vertical rock face, slowly writhing toward the opening.
The ones cleared by the Eerie-Bane Potion were only the first batch to reach the top.
There were more below.
Far too many more.
Lu Yuan's gaze continued downward, and what came from the depths was no longer the sound of crawling.
It was the sound of water.
It sounded like an underground river, or like a surging undercurrent in the distance.
And beneath that sound of water was a lower, deeper vibration that was almost impossible for the human ear to capture.
It wasn't made by the ghouls.
It was something much larger.
At the edge of his vision, greyish-white text flickered:
【Environmental Perception: High-risk pollution source detected... please leave immediately...】
【Environmental Perception: Massive eerie presence detected...】
Standing at the edge of the hole, the moment Lu Yuan confirmed the situation, he took a step back.
"We can't block it, retreat!! Fast!"
Seeing this, Lu Yuan turned and ran without hesitation.
Bo Er stood behind him, glanced down following his gaze, and then quickly withdrew his eyes.
His Adam's apple bobbed.
"Move out!?"
Bo Er didn't ask further.
Because Lu Yuan's expression already said everything.
Bo Er did not hesitate.
"Hear my command! The whole team is retreating! Return the way we came!"
The nine of them turned and ran back in the direction they had come from.
The residual effect of the Eerie-Bane Potion was still suppressing the ghouls around the hole, but this thin barrier wouldn't hold for long.
A few had already circled around from the sides, following the team at a distance of dozens of meters.
They didn't catch up immediately.
It was as if they were waiting for something.
As the team ran through the area covered by the fungus layer, the wall of fire from the sandworm oil was already dying out.
The last flickers of moon-white flames struggled on the walls, and the range of light had shrunk by more than half.
After passing through the remaining area of the fire wall, the sensation beneath their feet changed from rot back to dry ground.
The fungus layer was very thin here.
But the smell of blood in the air grew even stronger.
Lu Yuan was the first to notice it.
It wasn't coming from behind them.
It was from ahead.
He slowed his pace.
Then he stopped.
At the edge of the streetlights' glow, something was moving.
It wasn't coming from the direction of the hole.
It was coming from deep within the city.
From the path they had taken to get here, from the alleys they had cleared along the way, and from every side road in the North Ward leading to the heart of the outer city.
Ghouls.
In packs.
They appeared in the shadows of the streetlights from multiple directions simultaneously, moving on all fours, their speed not fast, even appearing somewhat leisurely.
Because they were carrying things in their mouths.
The first ghoul was biting a human leg.
The severed end was jagged, bone fragments were exposed, and the muscle had been gnawed down to half its size.
Blood dripped from between its teeth, dragging a long, dark red trail on the ground.
The second one was dragging a complete corpse.
It was wearing the coarse cloth clothes of a textile worker, the same style as the woman they had seen earlier on the road.
The abdominal cavity had been emptied, the hollow torso facing upward, looking like a gutted fish under the light.
The ghoul dragged the corpse by the neck, the head bumping against the ground, splashing dark liquid with every impact.
The third one.
The fourth one.
More.
Every single one had prey in its mouth or claws. Some were complete corpses, some were only halves, and some had been gnawed down to just skeletons and organs.
Blood converged on the ground, forming crisscrossing dark red drag marks.
They were hauling food.
Returning to the nest.
The hole was their nest.
And Lu Yuan's team was blocking their way home.
The ghouls stopped.
Those with prey in their mouths placed the corpses on the ground, their mouths slowly closing as three layers of teeth ground against the remaining flesh, making a crunching sound.
Those with empty mouths lowered their bodies, their backs arching and their hind legs tensing.
A posture ready to pounce.
Behind them, the ghouls following from the direction of the hole were also getting closer.
The pink mist had vanished.
They no longer hesitated.
With a returning hunting pack in front and the garrison emerging from the hole behind, the nine of them were caught in the middle.
Bo Er turned around, taking in the entire situation clearly.
He didn't speak.
Because there was nothing to say.
Lu Yuan's right hand already gripped his revolver.
His thumb pressed against the hammer.
Timekeeper.
There was no need to hesitate.
There was no room for hesitation in this situation.
Click.
A faint mechanical sound echoed.
The world slowed down.
All sounds were stretched out, shrieks turned into low-frequency hums, and the sound of the wind became a long, drawn-out howl.
Rate on N.U.
