After his harrowing battle with only a single ghast, Alexander could not envision himself coming out victorious against six of them. All he could foresee was being torn apart in a most horrific manner if he stayed.
His instincts screamed at him to run, and he did just that.
Of course, the moment that their prey began to flee, the undead that had been carefully creeping up on Alexander suddenly burst into a frenzied sprint.
Their gaunt frames belied the immense power and speed that their bodies possessed. Within just a few seconds, they began to gain on the rare morsal that had unwittingly wandered into their lair.
Alexander felt the pressure mounting, and the careful control he had been exerting over his magical energy began to wane.
Greater strength flooded into his body, but not without putting a dangerous amount of strain on the magic tool dangling from his neck.
His pendant started to shake violently from receiving more power than it could handle. If Alexander did not get his output back under control soon, it would not be long until the enchanted item ceased to function.
Yet, try as he might, in his current emotional state, it was impossible for him to restrain himself. While logically he knew that continuing as he was would ultimately lead to his downfall, the fear swelling within him compelled him to continue. Only by overloading the pendant and further increasing his physical capabilities could he stay ahead of the monsters chasing after him.
'I've got to fine somewhere I can hide!'
Realizing his time was limited, Alexander searched furiously for a place to escape to.
He looked for any sturdy doors or a cellar that would not be easily broken into, but did not find anything suitable.
There were a few doorways that clearly once housed sturdy metal doors, but all of them had been torn apart. Anything that looked like it once offered a decent defensible position had been sundered long ago.
Soon Alexander heard a sharp sound and looked down to see another crack had formed in his pendant. It was currently still functioning, but soon it would reach its limit and break for good.
"Whoa!"
Just a moment after he reflexively looked down to assess the state of his magic tool, Alexander's left foot caught on some rubble littering the hall he was running down.
Losing his balance, he slammed into a nearby wall and felt the wind get knocked out of him.
By the time he recovered, the six ghasts had already caught up to and surrounded him.
Despite their cold dead eyes, Alexander could tell that they were looking at him ecstatically.
Some of them even licked their shrunken lips with decayed tongues.
There was a terrible cruelty in their expressions, and Alexander knew that his death at their hands was going to be neither quick nor painless. These were not the types of monsters that would be satisfied with just killing him. No, they were going to revel in his suffering before finally ending him.
Frantically, he searched for a way out.
On his left he found what looked to have been a servants' corridor. It was not too far, but from how quickly he had seen the ghasts move, he knew that the one on the edge of their formation would reach him before he could slip into the passage.
Unfortunately, no other route was even remotely possible. He would be caught before getting anywhere.
'I'll only get one shot at this.'
Alexander had figured out the only gamble that seemed feasible to give him any chance of escape.
Naturally, he would be back to running for his life even if it did work, but it beat rolling over and accepting a gruesome fate.
In a showy motion, he unsheathed his sword and widely swung it around.
Far from being intimidated by this action, the six ghasts seemed rather amused. They were enjoying his desperation.
'That's right, keep your eyes on the sword.'
Even if they were not feeling especially threatened by him, the vestiges of human instincts that the ghats possessed drove them to focus on what they knew to be a deadly weapon.
While they were distracted and enjoying Alexander's fear, he yanked the sheath off of his belt and threw it at the monster nearest the servants' corridor.
The sudden object hitting it in the face was just enough for Alexander to rush by and escape down the passage while it was momentarily stunned.
He heard several sharp objects cleaving through the air behind him, but with only a few centimeters to spare did the claws of the undead creatures wanting to rend him apart miss.
Again, he broke out into a sprint with six very angry ghasts on his tail. They had thought that the chase was over, but it had begun anew.
In what seemed like hours despite it having been less than a minute, the corridor turned into a set of stairs.
This was far from great for Alexander, as the multitude of steps would slow him down. While there was a very real possibility that the ghasts would simply jump on him and ignore whatever damage they might incur in the fall.
Still, he had no other choice but to continue on, and hope that he might finally lose his pursuers or find some sort of safe haven.
However, in a stroke of bad luck, the fourth stair crumbled under his foot.
Alexander's vision blurred and he felt an impact against his right shoulder. Then he began tumbling down the stairwell.
Pain assailed his entire body, and it was not until nearly fifteen seconds after he had come to a stop that he was able to think with any amount of lucidity.
Immediately, panic set in, and he snapped his neck towards the stairs.
He had expected to see the ravenous undead ready to pounce on him, but not a single one was in sight.
It was not until he stood back up and looked towards the top of the stairs that he saw them.
All six of them were crowded around in the small space and snarling at him. None of them attempted to descend, though. It was as if some sort of force was preventing them from going any farther.
'Could this area be sanctified somehow?'
Plenty of large settlements used a special type of magical barrier to dissuade undead from approaching. He did not know much about these types of magical devices, but it was about the only thing he could think of that would be preventing the ghasts from charging down and killing him.
'Unless there is something even worse down here that they are afraid of.' Alexander thought, his mind wandering towards the worst-case scenario.
Nevertheless, he quickly pushed this notion out of his head. He needed to stay positive if he wanted to escape from this ruined castle alive.