NOVEL WEB Chapter 67: The Castle Burns!
The heavy thuds from the armoured footsteps of soldiers move about, and the wails of anger and despair echo through the intensely hot streets. The houses were brightly lit by a tornado of fire and smoke that billows through the dark and cold night. With the stench of death and burning corpses that wanders through the atmosphere seeking victims to suffocate, shadows dance about in every corner of darkness.
The ghouls, after massacring the line of defense that was hastily formed, started rushing off into the castle walls with renewed vigor after hastily feeding off the corpses of the dead civilians and soldiers that were part of the defense. With blood-tainted hands, they crawled the castle ramparts with crazed bloodlust, to the ultimate horror of the defenders at the top.
Upon realizing that the bridge was pointless and would ultimately lead to the castle being turned into a death trap by the raised bridge, the defenders took action. Unfortunately, no matter how much they tried to lower the bridge this time so that they would attempt to escape, they were not able to do so, as the front of the ramparts and therefore the area where the lever to lower the bridge is already being overwhelmed by the ghouls with a significant advantage.
Fortunately, near the far front, near where the lever is, a soldier of the myriad races has not given up yet. With battle-hardened skills since the assault on the forest against the ghoulish army, he moved hastily forward, slashing and stabbing against any ghoul he encountered. His blade glowed with a bluish tint as he sliced his enemy. Covered with chain mail and fortified leather, he moved forward.
The other defenders, seeing the rapidly moving soldier to reopen the gates, had their hearts set ablaze. With a renewed vigor, they roared a war cry to the surprise of the ghoulish army, to which they were even forced to take a step back. The defenders, with renewed vigor and morale, fought fiercely to the point that they were soon able to even retake the castle ramparts. With a fanatic spirit, they slashed and stabbed their way through, and soon, with time, they were indeed able to take the castle ramparts again, and finally push the ghoulish army off of it.
Unfortunately, before they could even take a rest, a thunderous explosion reverberated throughout the surroundings. Suddenly, an ominous feeling was present around them, and when they looked behind them, they were utterly shocked. The castle was set aflame, from inside out it was burning a fiery red, and with it the lord of the castle was also killed or burnt alive.
With the defenders not knowing what was happening or if the castle lord was even alive, panic started to develop within the ranks, and so the organization of the soldiers started to crumble, leaving cracks and openings within the formation.
The ghoulish army, realizing and seeing the cracks in the formation, did not waste any time and started penetrating through the cracks in the formation, and were able to score a few enemies. The defenders, seeing themselves decreasing and the bridge still being closed, started to panic more, and so the organization dropped to nearly zero; now it was every man for themselves.
The lone soldier, meanwhile, who was attempting to open the bridge, was bogged down by multiple ghouls; in fact, there were five ghouls against him right now. A ghoul jumped on him, to which he stepped to the side, and brought down his blade into a stabbing position. The ghoul missed and was stabbed and then sliced and killed again. It was now experiencing death for the second time.
He brought his blade upwards and rushed forward to the nearest ghoul, the ghoul knowing that it was being attacked, moved backwards just in time when the blade was brought down. Unfortunately, the ghoul did not move enough and was slammed with the shield of the soldier. The ghoul staggered, which the soldier took advantage of by slicing it to its death, by decapitation of the head.
The battle was fierce, now there were only three ghouls left.
Upon decapitation, the soldier glanced from left to right, and pushed himself backward with his foot, just in time when two ghouls came rushing in from both of his cardinal directions. The two ghouls missed their advances and fell off by a few meters.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the situation, the other ghoul who were left standing maneuvered discreetly and ambushed the soldier into the back. The ghoul with blood-tainted hands scratched deeply at the soldier's back, penetrating both hardened leather and his chain mail that he wore underneath it. The soldier gasped and wailed in pain, and he turned his back as hastily as possible to the enemy.
The soldier with labored breathing glanced at the ghoul with anger so intense present in his expression, whilst the ghoul just smirked at him as it licked the blood present in its hands. However, the soldier did not let it go any further and attacked immediately as the two ghouls that attacked earlier were still on the ground and were just about to stand.
The ghoul in front of him smirked and quickly and dodged the incoming slashes and stabs, a futile attempt by the soldier. Fortunately, it seemed that it was not yet lost, as due to a stone, a part of the wall that just crumbled a while ago, that the ghoul did not take into consideration blocked its way.
The ghoul tripped and stumbled. It hastily moved and stood up, but was only met with an incoming blade, and so was decapitated with ease by the soldier. Now the soldier turned once again, to the two ghouls in front of him, and started to breathe heavily, trying to regain more energy for the incoming battle.
Unfortunately, for every living myriads, there would be no escape, as the world's virus starts to activate around the corpse. Soon they would rise, as another ghoul, albeit with a lower intelligence.