Chapter 24 - Ghostbuster (8)

Acting on information that the Special Response Section was coming to investigate, the farm employees grumbled as they prepared to pack up the basement equipment and relocate the workshop.

"They said to leave the operating room alone and pack up the other rooms first, since we haven't dismantled the people we kidnapped today yet."

"How long is it going to take to move all this?"

"It's not like you're moving it all yourself."

The job required plenty of manpower, but that wasn't a problem with the monsters Miryeo controlled—creatures subjugated through her copy of the grimoire Cultes des Goules.

"Grrrrrr..."

The monsters, called ghouls, had doglike faces and humanoid bodies. They carried the loads at the employees' command.

"These bastards are slow as shit. Get moving!"

One employee kicked a ghoul to vent his frustration.

"Grrrr..."

Controlled by the grimoire, the ghoul simply took the blow and kept carrying its load.

Then, at one particular moment, Kim Miryeo—the owner of the copy of Cultes des Goules that controlled the ghouls—was killed by Grizzly, who had awakened from its sleep.

"—!"

Every ghoul's eyes flew wide, and their bodies trembled.

"Grrrr—ah!"

The control over the ghouls, who had been worked like slaves, broke.

They lunged straight at the farm employees, tearing into whoever was closest.

"Wh-what the hell! Aaaaagh!?"

"Fuck, what is this! G-get the guns!"

The employees who quickly grasped the situation fled while the ghouls swarmed their coworkers. Like wild dogs instinctively gathering around a carcass to feed, the ghouls killed those who failed to escape and filled their bellies by tearing off their flesh.

CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Once they had eaten their fill, the largest ghoul—their leader—stood and cried out.

"Aaaaaah!"

Roughly translated, it meant: We will not be slaves! We will be masters of the world!

"Waaaaah!"

The ghouls echoed their leader's cry and emerged into the basement corridor.

"Grrr...!?"

They immediately faltered and backed away in instinctive terror. Their canine noses twitched at the strong scent of blood from the magician who had enslaved them.

The corridor was empty. Yet something was there.

Something terrifying stood before them.

"Grrrr...!"

Deciding they couldn't stop here, the leader ignored the warnings of its instincts, stepped forward, and let out a mighty howl.

"Graaaal!"

And the Invisible Vampire...

"Gyaa?"

Grizzly swung its arm at the prey that had suddenly blocked its path.

BANG! SPLAT!

The ghoul leader's head was torn clean off and smashed against the corridor wall.

"..."

The ghouls watched for the briefest instant, then turned around.

"Grrrr!"

They charged ferociously after the humans who had fled earlier.

The employees brought out their illegally smuggled guns to fight back.

"Are we allowed to use these?"

"This isn't the time to worry about that! Someone go get the young lady!"

BANG! BANG!

A battle between the farm employees and the ghouls began, with the fate of the underground workshop at stake.

Meanwhile, Grizzly looked around at a fork in the corridor to get its bearings.

"Gyaa!"

It moved on with a happy cry as it sensed Yohan drawing closer.

* * *

In the unusual surroundings of a magician's underground workshop, Yohan and Sion proceeded cautiously down the corridor as gunfire and cries resembling an animal's barking grew louder.

Walking a step behind her, I glanced at Sion's profile, where composure mingled with tension, and spoke quietly. It wasn't something I needed to ask right now, but I might not get another chance.

"... What you did to break that barred door earlier—was that something like the martial arts in wuxia novels?"

Yohan's comparison brought an involuntary, wry smile to Sion's face.

"Martial arts... There are similarities. Though I can't use flashy sword energy or palm blasts like they do in those novels."

"It's a special breathing technique. It temporarily enhances your physical abilities."

My eyes lowered at her answer.

'Damn it. Of course...'

Magic without Fireball, martial arts without sword energy. Nothing worked the way it was supposed to.

Still, I remained interested. I looked down at my empty hands.

Ritual magic took time and preparation, and if I couldn't summon Grizzly through the grimoire <Mysteries of the Worm>, as was the case right now, I was effectively an ordinary person.

I had no fighting ability. Forget supernatural incidents—if two or three people ganged up on me and beat me up, that would be the end of it.

That made learning martial arts seem worthwhile, even if all they did was temporarily improve my physical abilities. Even if I didn't fight, wouldn't they let me run away faster?

As these thoughts ran through my head:

BANG! ROAAR!

The gunfire and sounds of fighting grew louder with every step. Sion pressed herself against the wall at a corner where the corridor branched, peered around it, and spoke with startled eyes.

"... Yohan, step back."

But we were already close enough that I saw what she had seen too.

Ghouls.

In fantasy, they were commonly known as sturdy undead, a higher form of zombie. But the word originally referred to a man-eating monster from the Middle East—an intelligent, versatile creature with superhuman strength that could use magic or disguise itself by transforming into a human.

Besides those undead and Middle Eastern monsters, there was one other species that went by the name ghoul.

The ghouls of the Cthulhu setting.

According to the lore, they worshipped the merciful Mordiggian, one of the Great Old Ones, known as the god of charnel houses and the Great Ghoul. With doglike heads and humanoid bodies, they usually lived underground, out of human sight, and fed on human corpses.

Of course, corpses weren't all they ate. When hungry, they ate anything from living humans to their own kind.

Just like now.

Despite a bullet punching through its shoulder, one ghoul charged through the gunfire, bit an employee's neck, and twisted, bringing him down.

"Gra-graaal!"

"Aaaaagh!"

Other ghouls immediately joined it and tore into the employee, eating him alive.

The guns seemed fairly effective, judging by the many ghoul corpses, but the ghouls still outnumbered the humans.

As Sion and I tensed at the grotesque sight of them burying their faces in a human abdomen and devouring the entrails, someone playfully poked my shoulder from behind.

'...!'

My eyes flew wide. A chill crawled up my spine.

Sion was in front of me. There had been no one behind me.

I slowly turned my head...

There was no one there. Only an empty corridor.

'Whew...'

My tension eased, and I inwardly sighed in relief. A sticky tongue licked my face in greeting.

Of course it was Grizzly.

Keeping an eye on Sion, I discreetly stroked Grizzly's head. My first objective, reuniting with Grizzly, was accomplished.

That solved my lack of fighting ability.

I wished I had my grimoire here too...

And as I looked down at my palm and thought of the grimoire:

"...?"

The space above my palm rippled.

It would come. I knew it instinctively. If I called for it strongly enough, it would come.

The grimoire had a teleportation function. It came when its master called.

"... Yohan?"

When I didn't answer, Sion turned to look at me. I quickly shook my hand, canceling the summoning.

"Sorry. ... I was just so startled."

Yes, I really was startled.

'Wait... Fuck. It comes when I call it!?'

It was safer to keep it in my bag and carry it myself anyway, but I couldn't understand why it hadn't told me about this feature and had instead made me go to all the trouble of lugging it around.

... Meanwhile, in the room where Kim Miryeo had died, beside the headless, armless corpse, <Mysteries of the Worm> had been happily about to answer the summons when it was abruptly cut off.

HUMMM! HUMMM!

It vibrated in displeasure.