Everyone was now fully awake when Lloyd and Klaudia alarmingly tried to wake them up in a very soft voice and shaking their bodies. The drowsiness in Ray's and Stanley's eyes soon disappeared upon knowing that their lives were in dire strait again. Shane and Luna were already on alert ever since the noisy movements of the grotesque humanoid hellspawn was heard and disrupted their shallow sleep.
"What's going on?" Stanley whispered.
Klaudia was shaking a little bit from fear, but calmed down after being held in the hand by Luna. Then she explained:
"It's back. The Gravebound Ghoul is out there."
"Gravebound Ghoul?"
"It is the name of the Elite hellspawn we encountered. It has a human sentience and thinks the same way as humans do."
Stanley gulped and couldn't take out the words he wanted say from his mouth. Just hearing the vile hellspawn, which came back, being called by its name brought terrors to his already palpitating heart.
"Wh-what do we do now?"
"We have no choice but to fight."
Luna simply replied, still lacking emotions in her soft, whispering voice.
"Fight it? But how? Can we even penetrate its skin?"
Lloyd doubtfully questioned her. Although Zeke was able to sever a tentacle before he was killed by the gravebound tormentor, it was only one tentacle which looked softer compared to its grotesque body made of human faces that were stitched together. It would be a no-brainer that its body would definitely be harder than its other parts.
However, Luna just shrugged and took out her weapon. She was very determined to kill it. He heard her say:
"It's just a hellspawn."
"Are you crazy?"
"No, I am not. We will kill it and I don't plan on dying here." She stubbornly argued.
Lloyd had no other choice but to agree. What could they possibly do anyway but to fight back? Shane sighed and also agreed to the ridiculous plan as they resigned their fate to the slightest chance of killing it, providing that were was even a chance at all.
"Fine! We're already in hell anyway so might as well go all out."
He also took out the dagger Shane had given. They stood still without making a noise and waited for the gravebound to approach the entrance of the cave and go inside. Seconds and seconds passed by but that thing was slow as hell since it didn't see any targets yet. Time felt so slow and not even a minute had passed and yet, it felt like they were being tormented by the pressure for a lifetime.
Droplets of sweat fell down from Lloyd's forehead as he saw the tentacles finally slithering on the ground slowly. It passed through the space between him and the other guys just barely a few inches away from their feet.
They could now see the different horrified expressions of the several human faces attached to the body of the hellspawn. Their heartbeats seemed to have stopped out of fear. However, he noticed something strange. The gravebound tormentor didn't seem to discover them as it continued to crawl towards the farthest corners of the cave without bothering to look at them or start attacking at all.
'So that's it! It can't see in the dark just like us.'
That big revelation was like the biggest miracle they have received ever since arriving in this place. Now, they could take the monster by surprise and possibly kill it, hoping that there would be no casualties. Despite the fact that it couldn't see in the dark, they won't be able to go outside without making the slightest noise anyway. And that would even put them into a more perilous situation, so the only choice for them to take is to kill the elite hellspawn quickly.
As it was nearing the farthest corners, Luna signaled Klaudia to slowly but silently move towards the entrance near Lloyd and the others while she gripped hard in her sword. She seemed to have activated her innate ability, judging from the way her face distorted from the pain and her eyes and nose started to bleed. She jumped and held her sword tightly with both of her hands, delivering a powerful downward slash in the middle of the gravebound tormentor's head.
The slash wounded it up to the very center of its body but didn't die. A horrible shrieking voice screamed throughout the whole cave, which sounded like an evil spirit being exorcised. They covered their ears to reduce the painfully ear-splitting noise the ghoul was making while Luna tried to deliver another diagonal slash to sever its head, but the gravebound ghoul retaliated using its tentacles and aimed to slice Luna's body in half.
"No, you don't!"
Shane screamed as he brandished his sword towards the tentacle and split it in half. Its miserable cries were even becoming louder but they didn't care. Stanley assisted them and filled its body with bullet holes from his gun while Ray helped Stanley the attacks as it continued to deliver heavy blows by using its tentacles and tried all possible ways to kill them.
Lloyd was left standing behind, protecting Klaudia as she tried to use her abilities to look for any weakness the gravebound ghoul had or else their whole group wouldn't last long and losing one comrade would spell doom for the whole group.
"Aren't you done yet?"
"Hold on a little longer."
Klaudia already lost her sight as she had activated Divine Eye and all she could see in the dark was the silhouette of the ghoul's figure. Her face lit up as she saw the red spots on its body where the human faces were located.
"I can see it now. Destroy all the faces! It would die as long as they are all destroyed."
They all nodded and rushed forward. They slashed and run bullets through the faces and the creature was slowly weakening out. They thought it would already be dead soon. However, a fatal mistake was unseen by them all as used a skill where one of the few remaining tentacles had become as sharp as a blade and shot out towards the one who revealed its secret.
Luna had reacted a second too late while the tentacle bypassed Shane's and Ray's defenses and finally reached the place where Klaudia and Lloyd stood. Klaudia's blinded eyes widened and thought she was the one who got hit and probably killed as blood splattered on her face. But then, she found out that she was alright and in front of her was Lloyd whose arm was almost severed as he tried to deviate the tentacle miraculously just by a hair's breadth. It even bit a small chunk off his lower torso.
"Kill it now!" Lloyd shouted desperately.
Luna didn't allow this chance to slip by and delivered more quick slashes that finally destroyed all the faces. The gravebound ghoul screamed a dying howl and finally went limp as it dropped off to the ground, unmoving. The ghoul was dead. They have killed an elite hellspawn without fully awakening.
It was supposed to be a battle to celebrate. However, their faces were filled with grief and worry as they ran towards Lloyd.
"His injuries are quite severe. We have to seal the wounds fast!" Shane said.
"I have a recovery potion here, but it won't fix a wound as large as that."
"Give me that. It's better than nothing."
Stanley said and took out a green-colored potion from his spatial ring and gave it to Shane. He immediately opened it and poured it to Lloyd's wounds.
Although this was a recovery potion made from soul orbs and with the help of an innate ability which was quite uncommon, it didn't work the same way as magically restoring a large chunk of flesh in an instant.
Instead, it worked the same way medicines are being applied and they were utterly painful, which was the reason most of the people don't want to use them as much as possible and preferred to find an aspirant with an instant healing ability instead.
Lloyd screamed and fainted from the horrible pain thereafter. The others were also wounded and exhausted but they could still manage with a few straps of cloth wrapped in their wounds. Lloyd's wounds were just too deep as he lost a big chunk of flesh from his lower torso and a half side of his arm.
Thanks to the medicine, the wounds have closed but that also meant that Lloyd would have a hard time using his right arm for a while after this incident.
After some time, they all slumped down. A heartful laugh could be heard from Shane and the others while Lloyd stayed asleep. Klaudia was full of tears but was also smiling prettily. They got beaten mercilessly but none of them died during the hellish night. They had to be thankful. No one dreamed of dying in an unknown land and be forgotten by the whole world as time passes by, after all.
What worse could even surpass their experience right now? Confidence had finally been embedded in their bones as they were the very first in humanity to have killed an elite hellspawn as normal humans.
Luna walked towards the corpse of the ghoul and used her sword to split its abdomen open. Three soul orbs that were glowing brighter compared to the common ones they were familiar with was retrieved by her.
It was a shame that the body of the monster couldn't be used as materials whether it was for making weapons or something else as it looked so horrible and slimy. It couldn't be eaten either. Who knows what kind of disease they might acquire if they tried eating it. Or they might as well succumb into corruption from consuming its flesh, therefore, turning them into dreadful abominations.
As they have waited for Lloyd to wake up from his long slumber, they had heard the same monotonous voice which spoke inside their heads, once again. But this time, it was much clearer and they could understand it completely.
'Normal humans have slain the corrupted guardian, Gravebound Ghoul.'
'You have not awakened yet.'
'Proceeding to awakening the soul tree system'
'You have been bestowed a title.'
Surprised looks could be seen on their faces upon hearing the couple of sentences the voice had said. And coupled with their expressions, a change in their environment happened as the rocks and plants started glowing red once again. The night was over and another day had begun, with them still being stuck in this crimson wasteland.