Ghost

Boom!

In the deep of night, two ghastly pale corpses fell to the ground at the same time, their bodies torn apart into several pieces.

Without stopping, Arthur glanced at the corpses from the corner of his eye and swung his long sword down with all his might.

Roar!!!

A harsh, low growl rang out. The corpse's ghastly pale face looked horrifying as it charged madly at Arthur.

It was incredibly fast. In an instant, it was right in front of Arthur, reaching out with a pair of pale hands as if trying to grab him.

A tremendous force came at him from ahead. Arthur kicked the corpse in the chest, leaving a huge, terrifying dent.

He pressed down with his foot, pinning the corpse beneath him, and swung the long sword in his right hand, hacking down hard.

Black corpse blood spilled slowly across the ground. Under the stimulation of Life Energy, the humanoid monster beneath his foot was completely killed and could no longer regenerate.

"Only one left."

Arthur turned to look at the last one.

There, the last humanoid monster had had all four limbs severed by him. Only its torso remained, trembling incessantly as tiny strands of flesh continued to grow from it. The sight made his scalp crawl.

"I wonder if you'll still be alive after I cut your head off."

Looking at the corpse beneath his feet, Arthur's expression was cold. His long sword swept down with a whistling gust of wind.

He deliberately did not channel the Life Energy within him into this strike, relying solely on the sword itself.

Clang!

The sharp sword struck the corpse's neck as if it had hit solid metal, producing a crisp impact.

The sword had cut into the flesh, but it was stuck halfway through and had failed to sever the corpse's head.

Arthur expressionlessly pulled out his sword, gripped it tightly with his right hand, and hacked down again.

This time, he held nothing back. He brought the full strength of a peak knight to bear, pouring it all into this single strike.

With a crisp snap, the corpse's ghastly pale head was severed by the long sword. Arthur immediately kicked it aside, giving it no chance to heal.

Only then did he step away and quietly observe the corpse's reaction.

The ghastly pale corpse no longer looked human. Arthur had severed all four limbs and its head, forcibly separating them from the torso.

At the severed wounds, strands of flesh continued to grow and writhe. As they spread, they nearly transformed the entire body into a lump of putty.

Its limbs and head were the same. After being separated from the torso, they had not lost their vitality; instead, they had grown even more active. Wrapped completely in strands of flesh, they writhed incessantly.

"Heh. So it really is a monster!"

Watching this, Arthur's face took on a cold expression. Life Energy glimmered along the black long sword in his right hand. He walked straight over and stabbed each lump of flesh once.

As the Life Energy spread through the lumps, they quickly lost their vitality and gradually softened, becoming like ordinary pieces of meat.

With the death of the corpses, a wondrous scene began to unfold.

A faint light flickered over the corpses, then spread across them until their entire bodies blazed like flames, illuminating the surroundings.

Arthur quietly watched it happen. Only after it was over did he give the Chip an order in his mind: "Chip, replay what just happened!"

In an instant, the scene from moments ago played back before his eyes again and again.

In the footage recorded by the Chip, the corpses seemed to have been affected by some force after they died. Their flesh rapidly broke down and disappeared, but no light appeared.

"An illusion?"

After reviewing several different recordings, Arthur stood where he was and murmured to himself.

A moment later, he shook his head and gave up on pursuing the question.

Since arriving in this bizarre world, Arthur had accumulated more than enough questions in just a few days. He had no hope of finding answers anytime soon.

He walked over and searched among the bones of the corpses, finding four black crystals.

Compared with the Crystal Core he had obtained earlier, these four were much smaller. Each was only half the size of the previous one.

Holding the Crystal Cores, he felt a faint warmth slowly flowing through his body from direct contact.

"Detected unknown force affecting the host. Physical attributes increasing!" The Chip's mechanical voice rang out in his mind at the same time.

Ah!!

A woman's scream suddenly rang out in the distance, drawing Arthur's attention.

He put away the Crystal Cores. A cold look entered his eyes as he raised his sword and slowly walked toward the direction of the sound.

Arthur hadn't deliberately arrived late earlier. Something else had drawn him away.

The previous night, he had vaguely sensed that something unusual had slipped in. It had drawn his attention away and caused him to overlook the several mutated corpses.

He walked slowly forward, looking around.

The buildings around him were completely silent. There wasn't a sound or a glimmer of light; everything seemed utterly lifeless.

This was highly unusual.

The village wasn't very large. The scream Erui had let out earlier aside, the sounds of Arthur fighting the mutated corpses should, in theory, have been heard by some of the villagers.

A faint, intermittent smell of blood drifted through the area, seeming even more terrifying under the cover of night.

Arthur walked cautiously.

Now that he was here, a long-forgotten sense of danger rose within him. An inexplicable feeling of dread assailed his mind, as if warning him of something.

"An unknown force field has been detected ahead! Immediate retreat is recommended!"

The Chip's mechanical voice rang out rapidly in his mind, urging him to leave at once.

Arthur suddenly froze and slowly raised his head.

A woman stood motionless atop a tall building. Her long hair hung down to her ankles, making her look somewhat terrifying.

As if sensing Arthur's gaze, she slowly raised her head, revealing her face.

It was the rotten face of a woman. White maggots writhed across it, an utterly horrifying and disgusting sight.

In that decaying face, a pair of blood-red eyes filled with boundless negative emotions stared at Arthur with hatred and madness.

Ah!!!

She let out a shrill, terrifying scream. The sound reverberated through the surrounding space, carrying such dreadful negative emotions that even Arthur couldn't help but shudder.

"The scream from earlier... Was it her?"

Arthur felt his mind jolt, as if her scream had seized his soul. Only one thought remained in his mind.

A dark shadow shot toward him. A claw larger than an ordinary person's head reached for Arthur, as if trying to crush his skull in one blow.