[Total damage dealt: 121]
[Camouflaged Ghoul HP: 179/300]
"How about you come down and let me send you back to heaven?" Zaen yelled at the ghoul throwing yet another knife at it.
However, just like numerous times before, the ghoul managed to dodge it. At this point, Zaen was starting to get pissed at Nishimiya. The ghoul wasn't ready to come down and Zaen's throws were missing the mark most of the times as the ghoul was faster than the knives.
But that wasn't the only reason why Zaen had been missing his throws. The alleyway was dark. There wasn't a single source of light around him to help him. Zaen was having a hard time finding the accurate position of the ghoul, who was clinging onto the walls like a lizard. The noise that the ghoul made while throwing bricks and other broken things at him, was the only time for Zaen to act. But even then he was missing most of the time.
In military school, just like the other cadets, Zaen was also trained for perceptive combat but a mere month of training wouldn't make him a professional. Just like the others in his batch, he too barely passed through the actual combat test. However, now he had to put his all in to kill Nishimiya as soon as he could. After all, he had to hunt other ghouls after slaying the one in front of him. He couldn't waste the entire night fighting with a single ghoul.
But Nishimiya or the ghoul, whoever it was, wasn't ready to come down and was using the narrow alleyway to its advantage. It had the higher ground, making it easier for it to attack Zaen while Zaen had to struggle to deal a single blow to the ghoul.
The ghoul snarled once again before throwing another brick towards him. However, this turned out to be a fatal mistake for the ghoul.
It's said when your eyes became useless, your other senses became sharper. The same thing happened with Zaen. The moment he knew he couldn't depend on his eyes, his ears perked up.
So far the ghoul had been attacking him silently, but this time, by snarling, it had unintentionally given its location away sooner than it wanted. Thanks to that, Zaen's knife hit the ghoul in its shoulder. The ghoul lost his grip on the wall and tumbled down.
[Total damage dealt: 88]
[Camouflaged Ghoul HP: 91/300]
"Tsk, if only I had managed to hit the head instead, it all would've been over." Zaen shook his head before jumping as high as he could.
The enemies met in midair, it was then Zaen finally got the first look at Mr Nishimiya as a ghoul. He looked weirdly... human. Not like the ghouls he had seen before. There were some similar characteristics between the two but Zaen now knew why no one wouldn't have noticed a camouflaged ghoul if they hadn't met the person before they turned into a ghoul. There simply wasn't much of a difference in how Nishimiya looked.
The ghoul's face was a splitting image of Mr Nishimiya's. The only difference being the weird marks he had on his face. Even Zaen, who knew the thing in front of him was no longer human, got muddled for a second. He was supposed to attack and kill it but upon seeing the familiar face, Zaen hesitated for a moment.
That moment of hesitation was all the ghoul needed to reveal its claws. Thankfully, Zaen snapped back into reality at the last moment, kicking the ghoul down to the ground. The kick was so strong, Zaen felt the ghoul's skull crack in half. Even Zaen was thrown off balance and landed on his shoulder with a loud thud. He was hurt but, thanks to the armour, nothing was broken inside his body.
[Total damage dealt: 80]
[Camouflaged Ghoul HP: 11/300]
Zaen got up, caressing his shoulder. The ghoul wasn't moving but Zaen knew it was alive. He slowly approached the seemingly dead ghoul. His dagger ready to put its soul to rest.
"I take no pleasure in taking you down. None. But it's necessary." He mumbled, ready to end it all with a final blow, "This isn't cruelty, this is mercy and justice combined. Mercy for you and justice for the others. You cannot control yourself. You don't belong to this world anymore. So let me put you to rest for the last time."
But before he could stab the ghoul's chest, Zaen noticed someone charging at him from the corner of his eye. It was too late to block the punch, so he begrudgingly left the almost dead ghoul and jumped back to evade the attack.
"This creature is a property of the Special Force. This is your first and last warning, stand back."
The man who just attacked Zaen warned him. before Zaen could even respond, three more people arrived at the location. All four of them were dressed in a weird white gown-like attire that Zaen had never seen before. But the special force's symbol they had on their chest made it clear who they were.
A few months ago, there had been rumours that a special group of mercenaries from other nations had been hired by the special force to keep the citizens 'safe'. However, back then he brushed it off like a rumour, thinking, what would the civilians even need to be saved from? After all, the mist was the only danger they were facing and no man could stop it.
But now everything made sense to Zaen. These soldiers were the reason why nobody knew about the existence of ghouls. Just like he had guessed, the special force was secretly involved with the ghouls. There was no need to debate on it anymore. It was clear that the special force was hiding something.
Zaen was outnumbered. He didn't know whether he could take all of them down without killing them. So, he complied with the man's request, raised his hands over his head and backed off.
The 6'4", orange-skinned man stared a hole in him as the rest of the team went into action and restraining the ghoul. While the soldiers were doing that, Zaen saw Miranda and Marcus standing behind them.
'I don't want to kill them as it would make me a criminal... something I don't want to add in my resume.' Zaen thought as he quietly took a throwing knife out of his pocket, 'But I'm not letting them have their way with me either.'
While the officers were busy, Zaen flung the knife at the ghoul, hitting it in the head. The bulky, orange-skinned man saw the knife flying in his direction. He tried to deflect it before it hit the ghoul but it was too last. He wasn't fast enough.
[Camouflaged Ghoul killed! Exp +50]
[Total Exp: 60/1200]
"You bastard!" The man growled in rage before charging at Zaen, but Zaen just stood there smiling.