[Warning! Slightly Gore content.]
A horrible stench assaulted Mikael's nose as soon as he descended to the 2nd floor.
'Yuck! What the hell?' he scrunched his eyebrows and pinched his nose.
Mikael thought having his senses as a spirit was another plot to torment him as it only served to strengthen his longing for life and now this belief was proven true, albeit for the opposite reason.
'it's at times like these that I don't want my sense of smell. Ugh.. so disgusting!'
The second floor was littered with decomposing slabs of meat which were feasted upon by numerous flies and a murder of crows.
Caw!! Caw Caw!
As if sensing his presence, the crows flew out of the shattered windows, leaving black feathers swaying down and revealing the true form of the meat slab.
GASP!
Mikael reflexively covered his mouth at the horrifying view.
A girl with a mangled body laid on a pool of her own blood. Her arms and legs were torn apart and her eyes were plucked out, leaving two voids that cried tears of blood.
The girl's expression was one of suffering, indication of the terrible pain she felt as she died.
All around the floor were the remains of several other people who undoubtedly shared the same fate as the girl. Mangled. Torn. Pecked – until only bones were left.
Shhksshkk…
Mikael peeled his gaze off the pitiful corpse and saw a goblin enter the room.
It went straight to the corpse and picked up its arm.
Sniff.. sniff…
As if concluding that the meat was still edible, the goblin grinned and bit off a chunk of flesh.
Mikael shook in anger as he watched the goblin eat, 'YOU! HOW DARE YOU!!!'
He activated his psychokinesis and controlled the sharpest shattered glass from the window.
Woosh!
The glass sliced off the Goblin's hand that held the meat.
"KAAAAAAHHH!!!" the goblin held its arm and ran toward the exit.
'Don't think that I will let you get away, you bastard!'
Mikael teleported and blocked the exit.
He looked at the corpses and made a vow 'I will avenge all of you… so, please rest comfortably in Elysium.'
"An eye for an eye.** An arm for an arm!" His murderous gaze focused on the dirty curtains and wrapped them tightly on the goblin's arm.
Squeeze…
Mikael powerfully tugged the cloth outward until the creature's shoulder joints popped.
"KIIIIIIII!!!—MMPH! "
He shoved the curtain's tail in the monster's mouth as he continued to grip its arm.
Riiip…
The sound of ripping flesh echoed, and the goblin writhed in pain.
Mikael swooped beside the monster and softly whispered in its ear, "So? How does it feel? it hurts, right?"
He watched the goblin nod in desperation and he growled, " That's also how they felt, you scum!"
He moved away and stretched his arms.
Like a conductor, he orchestrated the movements of the cloth which wound itself into the monster's neck.
His two hands came together in a twisting motion. In turn, the cloth strangled the goblin who died soundlessly.
Mikael breathed heavily and his hands trembled at the sensation of killing. Unlike his first kill which was done in hesitation and panic, this one felt satisfying – As if his anger would only subside after he tormented the monster.
Mikael suddenly grew scared of himself.
"No… this – this is not me!"
He wondered if this was a side effect of his class and if this was how poltergeists evolved to become something more evil... If he continued killing, will he lose himself in madness and end up as a monster worse than goblins?
"Right… I did it for the kids. I had to kill to get them out of here safely. It was a monster. I had no choice." He assured himself as he calmed his phantom heart.
But the little voice in his head whispered, 'you could've killed it swiftly… why did you prolong its agony by switching from a glass shard to a curtain? Why?...'
Mikael chose to ignore his conscience for the time being. He was not in a position to be battling with himself – Not with the children still in danger.
"I wonder how many monsters are here… I shouldn't have wasted too much MP on that bastard." He drifted out of the room, his back hunched in self-reproach.
Both the second and first floors were filled with goblins of different tones of green and varying degrees of baldness. Some, evidently women, had sagging breasts and longer hair but were equally hideous as the men.
'No way… this… is a full-blown Goblin settlement! How long will it take me to defeat all of these monsters?' he thought exasperatedly as he counted the goblins.
About a hundred goblins lounged on the first floor, unaware that Mikael was already plotting their demise.
'I don't have enough MP to deal with all of them. Plus, it takes 5 hours to fill up a drained MP gauge so the kids won't be safe for that duration…'
Mikael feared that he would be helpless even as the kids trapped in the cage were slaughtered.
'What do I do?' he floated in circles as he racked his brain for a solution.
Finally, Mikael stopped in his tracks and sped upwards, passing through floors to make his way back to the cage.
He approached the oldest and said "Hey kid, there are too many enemies down there so I can't get you out today. I'm sorry."
The kid was visibly dejected at the news, "Then, what will you do? Will you leave us here?" he whispered back, his pleading eyes searching for Mikael in the air.
"No. but you have to hide."
"Hide? How?"
"I'll tell you later but first, can you promise me that you have control over the other kids? You need cooperation for this to work… and you'll have to convince them to trust me. Can you do that?"
The boy looked at his peers with grim determination and confidently said, "I can. Leave it to me!"
---Chapter end---
** for those who are unfamiliar with this, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" is a famous precept from the law of retribution, also known as Hammurabi's code. This means that whoever commits an injury must be punished in the same manner as that injury.