Paul flicked his wrist and cleaved his axe down at the incoming spear. He simultaneously tilted his body to the side while the bullet grazed his waist. The bullet traveled a short distance before shattering against the wall. He barely managed to dodge the bullet!
"Humans, you are nothing but food to us ghouls. It's the same as when you hunt animals for food." The fake Paul gave up on acting and spoke with a voice so cold that it could freeze the souls of anyone who listened.
Perseus felt anger rising from the depths of his being. He was the leader of this raid and was the one who recruited everyone. It was always the leader who had to take responsibility for their deaths. In this case, Perseus blamed himself.
'I am indeed not my brother...' Perseus thought with sadness.
"Perseus, snap out of it!" Jason grabbed Perseus by his collar and yanked him back. The fake Paul had also swung his axe upward, which only cut the empty air before him.
Perseus woke up from his dreamy state and glanced at Jason briefly before turning to look at his silvery spear. It was a special weapon that could kill ghosts, zombies, and wraiths. Even the ghoul's impressive regenerative ability couldn't withstand more than three slashes.
His hand pressed on the spear's shaft. Then, he inhaled and exhaled before turning to the fake Paul. He pushed all the negative thoughts out of his mind. Even though so many of his companions suffered horrifying deaths, there was still Jason, who was alive, and so was he.
As long as they survived and the ghoul was eliminated, the mission was successful, and they would have avenged their deaths.
"I will attack him head-on. Provide me some support!" Perseus shouted and ran forward. The metallic spear edge tore through the air and closed the distance between him and the fake Paul. The axe-wielding man's muscles bulged as he cleaved the weapon down.
The spear and axe clashed. The golden sparks flickered once the two weapons clashed. When the weapons separated, the sparks landed on the ground and seeped into the floor as if they vaporized into thin air.
Jason raised his iron-black revolver and waited for the opportunity to pull the trigger. However, Perseus and Paul moved erratically while swinging their weapons. Also, the fake Paul was wary of the power of his revolver. Therefore, he made sure that Perseus was in the way so that he didn't have any chance to fire.
Perseus clicked his tongue, took two steps back, and put the spear into a thrusting stance. Then, the muscles in his spear-wielding arm bulged and the veins protruded. He then commenced his attack. The spear moved with blinding speed and crossed the distance to the fake Paul in an instant. No one even had time to blink!
Even the fake Paul was stunned. The spear's edge was nearing his face, and there was nothing he could do to stop that. At that moment, Paul shrank in an instant. From a 1.9 meter man, he became a 1.6 meter adorable girl. He had turned into Tina!
The spear missed as a result. It barely went over the fake Tina's head.
The fake Tina smirked with an arrogant expression. She was still holding the heavy two-handed axe. However, when she tried to slash at Perseus, she noticed that it wasn't as easy when she was transformed into Paul. Her physical strength was vastly inferior to his. After all, Paul was part of the Strength Pathway while Tina was part of the Intelligence Pathway!
'It can transform into others?' Jason was flabbergasted. 'Did it also eat part of Tina's flesh or blood? Or can the faceless creatures also use their connection to use the transformations that the other faceless ones acquired?
'No, that's unlikely. The ones who attacked me would have definitely transformed into Paul and overpowered me with strength. However, could this one really have killed both Paul and Tina? Also, why did only two of the faceless creatures have appearances?
'Couldn't it have other faceless creatures also eat their flesh so they can transform into them?'
Jason felt suspicious and had a feeling that the answer was quite simple, but he lacked clues to create the required puzzle. He felt his brain hurt as if he were trying to fill the jigsaw puzzle.
The battle between Perseus and the fake Tina resumed.
The fake Tina was more agile but lacked the necessary strength to challenge Perseus. The spear-wielding man effortlessly blocked the weak axe strikes and continued to pursue the fake Tina with fast and strong strikes. It only took a moment for the fake Tina to realize that it was impossible to fight using this transformation and the axe.
The fake Tina's physical strength wasn't enough to wield the two-handed axe. Her hands were starting to get sore, and her muscles hurt as she tried to swing it. Therefore, she quickly transformed back into the fake Paul and immediately had an easier time.
Perseus slipped past a swift axe slash. The fake Paul's muscles grew larger, and his slashes became stronger and faster. Before he was able to attack, Perseus leaped off the floor and landed on the nearby wall, his foot barely keeping contact with the wall. He used the wall to pounce toward the fake Paul, the spear already pushing forward.
The fake Paul whirled the axe around and placed the large blade in front of him. The spear contacted the axe's blade, and Perseus' momentum stopped as he was frozen mid-air. He lacked the necessary physical strength to break the fake Paul's defense.
Bang!
A eerie sound reverberated across the hallways, bouncing off the walls as if the sound were echoing.
The fake Paul flinched and glanced in the direction of Jason. The long barrel of the iron-black revolver was letting out smoke as if it had just been fired. Then he felt a sharp projectile pierce through his leg. He lost his posture, and his knees sank toward the floor as if he suddenly carried a boulder on his back.
Whoosh!
A spear appeared out of nowhere. The fake Paul saw it approaching with his peripheral vision, but he knew that there was nothing he could do. With a last desperate attempt, he tried to switch to Tina's appearance. Soon, his bulky body turned petite, with cute chestnut hair. However, the spear still pierced through the side of the face, going through the skull before exiting from the other side.
The spear didn't stop there. Perseus pushed the spear forward with rage and hatred behind the strike. The fake Tina's head detached from her petite body and was impaled on a nearby wall. The features of her face melted away as if it were made of wax. She became featureless with a hollow expression.
"Haah... haahh..." Perseus gasped for breath as cold sweat drenched his forehead.
Jason lowered the revolver and let out a sigh. They had won the fight, and it was a strange feeling to him, but he felt happy nonetheless. The faceless creatures, whom he defeated an hour ago, weren't that strong. He had gotten used to fighting against people vastly stronger than him. Therefore, fighting against the weak wasn't enjoyable.
However, the fake Paul/Tina combo was strong. He knew that, alone, perhaps he would be able to win, but not without injuries. Nonetheless, it was a victory they could be proud of.
Without any notice, the brownish paint peeled off from the walls, revealing a rocky and rough interior behind the walls. The paintings cracked in half before fading out of existence. The brownish floors with green blood sprayed across the tiles vanished as well. A rocky ground appeared beneath their feet.
The fake Tina's corpse also started to transform. The corpse had already turned faceless. However, it started to transform into a green-skinned creature. The head that was stuck in Perseus' spear turned into a hollow-looking face with sharp teeth. The creature they had just killed was actually the ghoul, the creator of that illusionary world!
Both Perseus and Jason felt surprised, but after thinking for a moment, it made sense. The ghoul was a vastly stronger fighter than the other faceless creatures. However, Jason wondered why it didn't transform into the System Veterans? They should be stronger than Paul.
But then, Jason was sure that they must have tried. However, E-ranked ghouls were only limited to System Apprentice appearances. Meaning that the ghoul hadn't reached D-rank just yet! That was good news for them since they wouldn't have won against System Veterans. Especially if the ghoul could use all three of their appearances!
Tina and Paul were also the strongest pair in the System Apprentice rank if Perseus wasn't counted. Therefore, it didn't bother using other transformations.
Perseus looked at the decapitated head on his spear, then threw it at the rocky ground. The face splashed across the ground as if it were an exploded watermelon.
"The ghoul's head has only one important ingredient. Its fangs." Perseus mentioned. The ghouls have a total of four fangs; they were valuable ingredients.
"How do you want to share the ingredients?" Jason asked with narrowed eyes. If Perseus wanted to fight for the ingredients so he could keep them all to himself, there was not much he could do. Of course, he could try to fight but risk death.
"Let's split the fangs first." Perseus' words surprised Jason. But then he continued and gave his reasoning. "You helped tremendously in the fight against the ghoul. You deserve half."
Jason's eyebrows rose in surprise. Perseus was correct. The ghoul had to stay on its toes for the entire duration of the fight because it knew that Jason was waiting for an opportunity to strike. It couldn't focus entirely on Perseus. Therefore, easing the pressure that the Golden Lion member had.
Also, at the moment when the ghoul had to focus entirely on blocking Perseus' attack, Jason attacked, giving Perseus the opportunity to finish off the enemy. Their teamwork was flawless, as if they had fought together for years.
Therefore, Perseus wasn't stingy when giving his praise.
Perseus removed the fangs from the ghouls' mangled faces. He separated them into two palm-sized boxes. Then he gave one to Jason and stuffed the other one into his bag. There were also ghouls green blood, which they were able to take since the ghoul was real, unlike the faceless creatures.
After separating the blood into four one-liter bottles, they also split those. Thus, Jason received two liters of valuable ghoul blood. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough bottles to take more with them. They even pondered whether they should empty their water bottles, but they scratched that thought. They didn't want to walk with parched throats to the contact point.
Lastly, there were the ghoul's heart and lung. Jason received the lung, while Perseus took the heart and took a picture of the dead ghoul with his phone to show proof that they had succeeded with the mission. After storing them in the boxes before stuffing them into the bag, they left the deformed corpse of the ghoul behind and left the dungeon.
When they arrived at the dungeon entrance, they saw nine lifeless bodies. Their eyes were blank as if they were blind, and their skin had turned snow-white. They resembled mindless mannequins, as if they were once humans but then their bodies were stuffed with cotton to be put on display in some museum.
Jason sighed and drew an invisible mountain on his chest with his finger. He basically tapped his chest till it somewhat resembled an image of a mountain. It didn't have to be perfect as long as the meaning was there.
Perseus looked at the mind-broken men and women with a deep expression before sighing.
"They are dead, but I don't want to leave them here. This place should be desolate enough. We can leave them here for now and then inform the Realm Association's Dead Carriers. They will come to pick them up and deliver their corpses to their families."
Jason nodded with a sigh. They placed them leaning against the mountain wall, so they would enter their rest earlier. There was a myth that humans couldn't enter the afterlife if they were standing, since in a standing position, they wouldn't be able to rest in peace. After doing that, they left the dungeon behind and entered the gloomy forest, with a bright crimson moon hovering in the sky.
The crimson moon's light fell on the nine corpses. The surrounding forest didn't feel as dark anymore as the crimson light slightly brightened the setting. The shadows of countless horrendous creatures departed from the surrounding region as if they were afraid of the crimson glow.
The thick branches of the trees swayed back and forth, opening more and more gaps for the crimson light. The light was now allowed to slip past the thick branches and brighten the surrounding forest even more. The whole Horror Realm felt like one big living creature.