Rein noticed she had stopped stuttering. the way her words came out steady now instead of breaking apart. He chose not to point it out. If she had fixed it herself unconsciously, dragging attention to it would only make it worse again.
'Hm… was the area always like this?'
The forest had changed without either of them saying it had. After a noticeable stretch of ground, a thin fog had begun to settle between the trees. It was not dense enough to block everything, but it sat low and wide, swallowing depth and distance.
The trees were spaced far apart. Normally he would have been able to see well ahead, maybe fifty meters or more, but the mist cut that down to less than thirty. Shapes blurred too quickly. Movement would be hard to track.
Rein drew his sword in one smooth motion and held it steady, right hand above the left.
The weight settled into his palms like something familiar he had not earned yet.
"..."
He looked at the silver blade. Black symbols ran along its length, thin and uneven, as if carved instead of forged. The metal caught what little light slipped through the fog and gave off a faint glint. As he watched, he felt a small pulse move through his body. Not strength he could flex or measure. Just a thin current that made his grip firmer.
He had felt it before, but wasn't able to comprehend it fully. Now he knew what it was, the sword was a boon not only because it was the only weapon he has but also because it enhanced him. A slight increase in physical strength, his vision was almost unnoticeably sharper and the sword itself felt more natural in his hands.
'Yeah… this sword…
This is my ticket.'
To surviving here, of course.
Nothing too grandiose, just not dying, and getting back home.
Then,
A deep rattling sound cut through the quiet. Rein lifted his head and looked ahead.
"!"
Shapes moved inside the fog. At first only vague silhouettes, low and uneven, but they grew clearer with every second.
They looked like the one they had killed earlier. The same twisted frame, the same wrong posture. These, however, carried more muscle along their shoulders and arms.
These ones actually had legs, but it didn't feel like they needed it. Their legs were short and uneven, too small compared to their upper bodies. Four long arms dragged close to the ground, ending in hooked claws. Dark veins spread across skin that was completely pale. Their mouths hung open just enough to show rows of thin, needle like teeth that pushed against their own cheeks. Two round eyes stared forward, blank and glassy.
There were five of them.
"Deski…"
"Don't falter. We will definitely win. I just need you to hold one or two off for a while."
He did not even get the chance to answer.
The ghouls were already sprinting, tearing through the mist with sudden, violent speed that did not match their crooked frames.
There were two that were going towards deski, and three that were going towards him.
One of the three had already almost reached him.
In the corner of his vision he saw Deski break away, creating distance between them. Her flail spun once before she hurled it toward one of the others moving in his direction.
Rein forced his breathing to stay steady even as his heart slammed against his ribs.
Deski had not only disoriented one of the three that were going his way but also had moved it closer to herself.
He swung his sword in a wide sideways arc.
The blade did not cut deep, but it forced the front two ghouls to slam their hands into the ground to stop themselves. They froze for a brief moment, bodies folding forward to keep balance.
That moment was enough.
Rein stepped sideways, shifting his position so one of them was partially blocked by the other. Now only a single ghoul had a clear line toward him while the second had to move around its own kind, costing it a few seconds.
'So I was right.' rein thought
The creatures lunged in a straight line. It did not adjust mid attack. Its body committed fully, like it could only choose one direction at a time.
Rein lifted his sword overhead and brought it down. The strike landed across the left ghoul's shoulder, leaving only a shallow cut.
He swung his blade another time, his crude stance did not allow another swing to connect despite the length of the blade.
The ghoul behind the one he was fighting had somehow managed to jump over it.
He tightened his grip, then pushed off his back foot and jumped away while swiping sideways. The blade hacked into the hand of the ghoul he had distanced earlier, severing it in a rough, uneven cut.
The limb dropped.
The ghoul did not scream.
Instead, it surged forward with even more force, its remaining arms clawing toward him without hesitation.
'I'll… I'll die in a minute like this'
This was not something he could handle. Not like this. He wasn't even sure he could handle one.
Rein shifted his stance and swung again, trying to push it back, but the angle was wrong. The sword lodged into the side of the charging ghoul and stuck there, biting only shallow into its flesh.
"Ahk!"
The mistake hit him a second before the pain did.
A clawed hand drove into his left shoulder. The impact forced the air from his lungs and sent a sharp heat tearing down his arm.
He yanked the blade free, planted his foot against the creature's chest, and kicked himself backward to break contact in one fluid motion.
For a brief instant, everything slowed.
The mist hung still. The ghoul's movement stretched out in front of him.
Instead of freezing, Rein forced his body forward. He twisted his torso and drove the sword in a full arc across the creature's neck.
The blade cut through, slitting the neck of the ghoul.
The ghoul's head snapped sideways as dark fluid sprayed into the fog.
That opening cost him.
The second one was already on him.
In the edge of his vision, something flickered.
[You have achieved.....]
He could not focus on the floating words.
A claw tore across his chest and sent him flying back several meters. His back hit the ground hard enough to rattle his teeth.
' No no no no no no—!'
The calm he had forced earlier shattered. A raw, foreign panic flooded his body. It was not thought. It was something deeper, screaming at him to move, to breathe, to survive.
The ghoul closed in, it's maw opening wide, perhaps to devour him, or maybe to tear him apart.
But Before it could reach him, a flail dropped from above and smashed into its skull. The impact crushed its head inward in a single heavy strike.
Even then, Rein could not relax.
Deski might have been safe for the moment. He saw that she had already defeated the other three, With only one of them still alive.
He was not.
Warmth spread under his back. Too much of it. His shoulder burned, his chest throbbed with each weak breath, blood had already soaked his shirt.
He was going to bleed out.
Rein forced his eyes open.
Through the mist, beyond the fallen bodies, he saw more shapes moving. Not one or two.
Dozens.
They shifted behind the fog like a slow tide pushing forward.
His vision blurred.
He shut his eyes as hurried footsteps approached.
"Hey! Do you hear me? Hey!"
Deski's voice. Closer now. Sharp with panic she was trying to hide.
A second later, something warm poured over his chest.
Pain exploded across his body, sharp enough to drag a broken sound from his throat. Every nerve lit up at once as if the liquid burned its way into the wounds.
His fingers twitched but would not close.
The forest noise faded.
The last thing he registered was her voice calling his name again as the mist swallowed the edges of his sight.
Rein lost consciousness less than a minute later.