The Greater Ghoul

Lu Yuan scanned the streets on both sides as he ran.

He was looking for something.

The buildings in the North Ward were all low wooden houses and stone workshops, most of which had their doors and windows tightly shut, while some had already been torn open by ghouls.

No.

Wooden houses wouldn't hold.

He ran forward for about another thirty meters.

A two-story stone building appeared on the left side of the street.

Stone walls, an iron door, and very small windows.

It looked like a management office for some kind of warehouse or workshop.

The door was closed.

However, the iron lock was mostly rusted through.

"There!"

Lu Yuan changed direction and charged toward the stone building.

Bo Er understood his intention in an instant.

"Whole team, turn left! Into the building!"

All nine of them changed direction at once.

Lu Yuan rushed to the iron door and kicked it hard.

The rusted iron lock snapped under the impact, and the door swung inward, slamming against the wall with a loud metallic crash.

"In! Quick!"

They scrambled inside one after another.

Bo Er was the last one through the door, firing another shot back toward the ghouls as he entered.

Bang!

The nearest ghoul was hit in the shoulder by the silver bullet, causing it to stagger.

Lu Yuan and Bo Er pressed against the iron door together.

The moment the door closed, a barrage of impacts came from the outside.

Bang bang bang bang...

The entire iron door vibrated.

"Hold it!"

Two melee fighters rushed up, slamming their shoulders against the door.

The iron door let out a piercing metallic groan under the onslaught of the ghouls, and dust shook loose from the hinges.

But the door did not break.

The combination of stone walls and an iron door was far sturdier than a wooden house.

Furthermore, the ground here was still made of bronze alloy.

The fungus layer had not spread to this spot.

The suppression from the bronze was still in effect.

The impacts outside the door continued for a dozen seconds before gradually weakening.

They hadn't given up.

They were looking for another way in.

Lu Yuan looked around.

The first floor of the stone building was a hollow hall with four walls and no back door.

There were two small windows with very narrow openings, just barely large enough for a ghoul's body to squeeze through.

A wooden staircase led to the second floor, but now was not the time to head up.

Outside the windows, grey-red figures could be seen moving rapidly.

They were surrounding the building.

"The potion."

Lu Yuan pulled the small, unlabeled bottle from his waist.

It was the second bottle Laurina had given him.

The one without a name.

【Target detected: Unnamed (Created by Laurina)】

【An improved 'stealth' potion, seems capable of shielding perception?】

Lu Yuan held the bottle up; whether his team could survive or not depended entirely on whether this potion was effective!

"Everyone, get close."

Lu Yuan's voice was very low.

"Huddle together, as tight as possible."

Bo Er didn't ask why.

He only glanced at the bottle in Lu Yuan's hand before turning to relay the command with hand signals.

The nine of them quickly gathered in a corner of the hall, backs against the wall and shoulders touching.

The melee fighters were on the outer ring, while the gunners were on the inner ring.

Everyone suppressed their breathing.

Lu Yuan unscrewed the stopper.

A faint scent, almost undetectable, drifted from the mouth of the bottle.

It wasn't a medicinal smell, but rather a strange scent like some kind of mineral mixed with peculiar flowers and herbs, ground to an extremely fine powder.

Lu Yuan evenly sprinkled the potion over the heads and shoulders of the nine people.

The moment the liquid touched skin and fabric, it quickly seeped in and vanished.

At the same time, grey-white text jumped at the edge of his vision.

【Status: Perception Shielding (Temporary)... Duration unknown】

Lu Yuan made a gesture for silence.

Then, everyone went still.

Outside the iron door, the sound of claws scraping against the stone walls grew closer.

Scritch...

Outside the window, a ghoul's head poked inside.

Beneath that smooth membrane of flesh, the skull turned slowly, as if scanning the room with some sense beyond sight.

Its mouth opened a crack.

Moist air was sucked in through three layers of teeth and then slowly exhaled.

It was sniffing.

Lu Yuan was less than three meters away from it.

He could clearly see the bulging temporal bone beneath its flesh membrane and the bits of shredded meat stuck between its teeth.

All nine people were desperately suppressing their breathing.

Their heartbeats couldn't be silenced, but fortunately, these ghouls seemed to lack ears, or perhaps the potion's stealth effect was simply too powerful.

The ghoul's head stayed at the window for five seconds.

Then, it pulled back.

It hadn't found anything.

But that was only the first one.

The iron door was pushed from the outside.

The door panel shook, and the hinges creaked.

A grey-red claw squeezed through the gap, five deformed fingers grasping blindly at the air for a few moments.

Then it withdrew.

Another one poked its head through the window.

This one was bigger than the last.

Much bigger.

Its head almost filled the entire window, and its shoulder width even caused the stone bricks of the window frame to crack as it squeezed in.

The grey-red flesh membrane was no longer a thin layer.

Instead, it was a thick, almost chitinous covering, its surface covered in dark, knob-like protrusions.

The gape of its mouth was wider than that of a normal ghoul.

Furthermore, it had a fourth layer of teeth, with the innermost layer curving inward like some kind of meat-grinding device.

At the edge of his vision, the grey-white text flickered violently.

【Target detected: Greater Ghoul (Mutated Sub-species)】

【Classification: A mutated individual among ghouls. A special variant resulting from consuming large numbers of its own kind over a long period. Size, strength, and perception far exceed ordinary ghouls. Possesses a degree of group command ability.】

【Weakness: Holy-attribute items (resistance is stronger than ordinary ghouls)】

【Forbidden Lore: Knowledge Seeker: +0.2...】

Consuming its own kind.

Lu Yuan stared at those words.

'A mutation resulting from consuming large numbers of its own kind?!'

'Just how many ghouls are there underground?!'

Lu Yuan's gaze moved from the grey-white text to the massive head at the window.

This massive ghoul was still stubbornly sniffing.

It was much more thorough than the previous one.

Its head turned slowly from side to side, and a low growl issued from its mouth, sounding like a pair of bellows.

Lu Yuan's right hand quietly gripped the handle of his revolver.

If it discovered them, he would aim the first shot at its mouth and then try to break out.

However, Bo Er and the others would most likely not survive.

The greater ghoul's head suddenly stopped.

It "looked" toward the corner for a moment.

Just like that.

Lu Yuan could almost feel an invisible sense sweeping over his body.

Then, it withdrew its head.

The window returned to being empty.

Heavy footsteps echoed from outside, gradually fading into the distance.

The rest of the ghouls followed suit and left.

The sound of claws being corroded by bronze rose once more.

The rustling from outside retracted from all directions into a single path, retreating toward the hole.

They probably couldn't withstand the corrosion of the bronze any longer and chose to return to the nest.

Once the greater ghoul left, the others followed.

Group command.

Indeed.

Lu Yuan didn't let go of the revolver's grip.

Not until the last trace of claw-sounds vanished into the night wind did he slowly relax his fingers.

His palm was drenched in sweat.

Bo Er let out a long, silent breath beside him.

His hands were also shaking.

Silence filled the hall for a long time.

No one spoke.

Because everyone had seen that massive head just now.

Lu Yuan leaned against the wall in the darkness, with only one thought in his mind.

Living by eating their own kind.

How many ordinary ghouls would a single greater ghoul need to eat?

How many years had the Bronze City stood?

How many generations had bred in that world beneath the bronze floor?

The ones packed tightly against the walls of the hole were just the tip of the iceberg.

The true numbers might be more than this city could even hold.

If there wasn't some effective solution, the Bronze City was likely finished.