Chapter 24: 24 Blood-Eating Ghoul

A full 90 gold coins.

This was the income Dylan got after selling all the Parasitic Tree seeds he brought out, and this was still the result of a low-price package deal due to urgent need for money.

He still remembered the flickering eyes of the goat-bearded merchant when he deliberately lowered the price.

If he could spend more time, it wouldn't be strange to double it.

But what he lacked now was time.

This was the largest sum of money he had ever held in his life, and he didn't hesitate at all when spending it.

After buying the Rebirth Potion at a premium of 55 gold coins, Dylan rushed to Finlad without stopping—a border village where all residents had been relocated and transformed into a place for treating the wounded.

After Bella was poisoned by blood poison, she was sent to the church in Finlad, along with other victims, and was suppressed by priests using holy light every day to suppress the transformation progress.

But even so, it could only last for 3 months at most, and Dylan received the news a month later.

Now the deadline was approaching, and Dylan didn't dare to delay for a moment.

Don't know if it was because of being parasitized, Dylan's required sleep time had become less and less recently.

It should be considered a good thing; this way he had more time to hurry on the road.

At the same time, thanks to the extra gold coins, he could keep changing horses along the way and travel day and night.

Although he also encountered some dangers, he arrived at the border earlier than expected after all.

Dylan got off the horse in advance on the path; it was still a distance from the village, and he didn't intend to ride into it openly.

That half-face covered in mycelia couldn't withstand inspection no matter how you looked at it; only by sneaking in quietly could he see his daughter.

Untying the reins and slapping the horse's butt, looking at the horse gradually moving away, Dylan hadn't thought that he would have such a luxurious day.

The sun had already set, and he could sneak in under the cover of night.

Protecting the package containing the potion tightly, the closer he got to the village, the more nervous Dylan felt.

It had been almost three months; had Bella really persisted until now?

Would the Rebirth Potion in his hand not work?

Or was there something...

"Bella, you must be okay..."

Suddenly, Dylan frowned and sniffed hard.

Don't know when, a burnt smell mixed with blood drifted into the air.

He froze for a moment, then rushed to the top of the hillside—the entire village of Finlad was burning in a sea of fire.

Figures swayed in the jumping firelight, and cries and fighting sounds wrapped in the sound of metal collision faintly came.

What happened? Did vampires attack?

No, it was a sneak attack; a small stronghold like this couldn't stop a large army.

What about Bella?

Dylan saw the direction of the church at a glance; it wasn't on fire, but it was also in danger at any time.

Must hurry to Bella's side!

The moment he stepped into the village, Dylan felt as if he had come to hell.

Thick smoke wrapped in sparks rolled in the night sky, the soles of his boots were stained with sticky blood, and the thatched roofs on both sides were burning and collapsing.

Three retreating soldiers suddenly rushed out of a house; their faces blackened by smoke were full of fear, and after brushing past Dylan, they fled out of the village.

It was just that after a while, terrified wails came from behind.

Looking back, one of them fell to the ground with his chest ripped open, twitching, and it looked like he wouldn't survive; the other two soldiers were nowhere to be seen.

Beside him, a figure that was neither human nor ghost was devouring fresh flesh and blood like a beast.

"Blood-eating ghoul..."

This blood-eating ghoul seemed to be temporarily immersed in the food in front of it and didn't pay attention to Dylan.

Dylan didn't want to get entangled here and turned to leave, but found that there was one standing in front too.

The blood-eating ghoul in the shape of a young girl stared straight at Dylan with scarlet eyes, full of hungry desire.

Looking closely, many protruding keratin grew on her skin, making her look less human than Dylan.

It seemed that this blood-eating ghoul wouldn't let him pass easily, and Dylan could only draw the long sword from his waist.

This was a weapon made of refined steel, of much better quality than the one he lost in the dungeon, but he had no bottom line on whether he could deal with the blood-eating ghoul in front of him.

The blood-eating ghoul bent her knees and suddenly rushed toward Dylan.

So fast!

[Parry LV4]

Dylan barely managed to hold his sword across his chest before the attack arrived; the moment the sharp claws collided with the blade, the huge force blasted him and his weapon out several meters.

Dylan smashed heavily against the wall, and as his internal organs churned, he spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with mycelia.

Strong; with just this one blow, he clearly realized that the opponent's attributes far exceeded his peak period.

The strength of a blood-eating ghoul had a direct relationship with the strength of the transformed person.

Dylan was already cursing in his heart; what was wrong with these people at the border, letting so many powerhouses get poisoned by blood poison?

The blood-eating ghoul didn't intend to give Dylan a chance to catch his breath and stabbed at his neck for the second time.

In the crisis, Dylan took out a scroll from his body and used it on the blood-eating ghoul.

[Blindness Technique]

"Ga-ah-ah-ah!"

Knowing that he was going to the dangerous border, how could Dylan not be prepared?

The scroll worth 5 gold coins temporarily sealed her vision.

It was just that Dylan didn't expect that the blood-eating ghoul not only didn't stop the attack but stabbed at him even more violently based on feeling.

"Ah!"

The sharp claws originally aimed at Dylan's neck pierced his left arm, and the huge force nailed Dylan to the wall behind him.

At this moment, the blood-eating ghoul showed a bloodthirsty smile.

The other claw grabbed blindly toward the position of Dylan's body.

The sharp claws left a claw mark on the wall, but didn't touch the prey's body!?

"Go to hell!"

Dylan's roar came from behind, and he used his full strength as soon as he made a move.

[Fury LV3]

[Spinning Slash LV5]

The refined steel long sword slashed on the keratinized neck of the blood-eating ghoul, cutting all the way to two-thirds of the position before being barely blocked by the blood-eating ghoul with her claws.

The blood-eating ghoul couldn't understand how this person appeared behind her; she had clearly nailed him to the wall just now.

She wanted to push the long sword away, but after her neck was cut open by more than half, blood couldn't stop spraying out, and the strength in her body became less and less...

"Die for me!"

After a short stalemate, in Dylan's roar, the blood-eating ghoul's head and palms were cut off.

"Ha... ha..."

Covered in blood and panting, Dylan kicked the headless corpse on the ground as if venting his anger.

He stepped forward and picked up his own arm that had been torn off.

Simply bandaging the severed arm, he felt the squirming sensation of the mycelia slowly repairing the severed end.

Dylan felt that he was becoming more and more adapted to this mutated body.

It was just that he didn't know how much flesh and blood would fuse with mycelia this time; there wasn't much of his body that was completely human anymore.

The other blood-eating ghoul behind him was indifferent to her companion's death, just continuing to feast on the soldier who only had half left.

Dylan sincerely thanked this soldier for his sacrifice; he couldn't handle facing another blood-eating ghoul at this time.

Gulping down a whole bottle of magic potion, this helped the mycelia in his body help him repair internal injuries.

Dylan dragged his heavy body and rushed to the church.

Don't know if it was an illusion, but the noise around him gradually quieted down.

Was the battle coming to an end?

Hope it wasn't the blood-eating ghouls who won, and hope he wouldn't see his daughter who had turned into a blood-eating ghoul.

If Bella had really transformed.

Dylan gripped the long sword in his hand tightly.

Let him personally help his daughter find relief...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 25 =====