Chapter 55: Between Hunger and Choice VIII
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"Sekhmet," she whispered. "Your mouth... there was blood... and the sounds... what happened to my guards."
Sekhmet’s jaw clenched. He kept his eyes forward. His voice came out low, controlled, but not cold.
"They are alive," he said.
Lily swallowed hard.
"They sounded... not human," she whispered.
Sekhmet’s chest tightened. "I will tell you everything later," he said.
"Not now. Not in purgatory. Not while kobols still hunted." But he did not say those words out loud.
He only added, quieter, almost like a promise to himself.
"When we reach the city."
Lily stared at him, searching his face. Fear and trust wrestled inside her eyes.
Then she nodded once, because she had no choice but to believe him.
Sekhmet ran until his lungs burned again.
He ran until the terrain shifted into thicker dead woods, where twisted trees formed a maze and moonlight broke into fragments.
Tap Tap Tap...
Behind them, the kobols’ howls grew distant.
Not gone.
But distant.
Sekhmet finally slowed, breath ragged, legs shaking.
He found a hollow between roots and broken stone, a place where they could hide for a few minutes.
He set Lily down gently this time.
Lily remained awake, staring at him with a face full of questions she did not yet ask.
Sekhmet looked away, because if he met her gaze too long, he might see fear. And fear would crack him.
The system spoke softly inside his mind, as if trying to sound helpful.
[Ding! Blood Proficiency milestone achieved.
Host stability improved.
Blood Awakening: 2%. The hosts overall battle power increased. For the suppression training tool the correct number can’t be measured.
Note: passive conversion tier remains Ghoul-class until Blood Awakening increases.]
Sekhmet swallowed, throat tight. He stared at the darkness beyond the trees.
"I just turned two men into monsters. I will go and find them later. If they are still alive."
The thought settled heavy in his chest. Then another thought followed, colder.
"And I did it to keep her alive."
He did not know which thought made him feel worse. The night continued. The wind sighed through dead branches.
Woooo...
And Sekhmet sat beside Lily in the darkness, feeling stronger from blood and weaker from guilt, knowing that the hardest enemy was not the kobols behind them.
It was the hunger inside him.
Meanwhile the two guards... (the moment when sekhmet left them)
Behind Sekhmet, the world did not go quiet.
The wind carried it first, thin and sharp, like a knife pulled across stone.
A kobol screamed, the sound cutting off too suddenly, like someone had snapped a rope in the dark.
Another howl rose, then several, multiplying as the pack regrouped.
Sekhmet’s jaw tightened. Hold... just a little longer. He ran harder.
And behind him, at the cave mouth, the two guards he left behind stopped being men and started being the reason the kobols chose the wrong trail.
Clang!
The first ghoul slammed his spear into the stone and caught a kobol mid-lunge. The point punched through scaled ribs and pinned it against the narrow passage.
Shhk!
The kobol shrieked, kicking, spitting curses in chaos language. The ghoul did not answer with words. He answered with his teeth.
CRUNCH —Shhk!
He tore into the kobol’s throat like a starving animal and drank in two savage pulls. The blood ran down his chin in hot ropes.
Drip... Drip...
The second ghoul laughed, a rough sound that did not belong to the man he used to be. He used to fight with clean forms and measured breath. Now his shoulders rolled like a predator preparing to pounce.
"More," he rasped, voice thick.
Outside, the kobols howled at the sight.
KRAAAH!
They rushed the entrance together, trying to overwhelm the choke point with bodies.
TapTapTapTap!
The second ghoul stepped forward and let them come. A kobol stabbed him in the stomach.
Shhk!
The blade bit, but the ghoul barely flinched. He grabbed the kobol’s wrist, twisted until bone popped, and yanked it close.
CRACK!
The kobol screamed.
"Aaa—!"
The ghoul’s nails —blackened and sharp— raked down the kobol’s face. Skin peeled. One eye burst.
Scrrrk!
Then the ghoul bit into the kobol’s cheek and tore sideways, ripping flesh off like meat from a bone.
Shhk!
The kobol collapsed, choking.
Thud.
The first ghoul used his spear like a gate bar, shoving bodies back, stabbing fast, short, brutal.
Shhk! Shhk!
Each thrust punched a hole and created a new scream. Each scream fed the fear outside. But fear did not stop hunger.
The kobols kept coming.
The ghouls kept feeding.
Their eyes glowed dull red, brighter with every swallow. Their wounds closed faster than they should have. Their breathing steadied as blood filled them with strength that was not theirs.
The second ghoul leaned close to the cave mouth and inhaled, tasting the air like a wolf.
"Follow," he growled, then bared his teeth at the pack.
He did something intentional now. Something that was not just hunger.
He scooped a palmful of spilled blood from the ground, smeared it across his chest and neck, and then slapped his own arm hard enough to reopen the claw wounds.
Smack!
Blood welled and ran.
Drip... Drip...
The scent exploded into the night like a thrown torch.
The kobols answered instantly.
KRAAAH!
The first ghoul understood. He grabbed a dead kobol by the ankle and dragged it outward, scraping it across stone to leave a thick trail.
Scrrrr —Drag...
"Deeper," the first ghoul rasped, voice low.
They stepped out of the cave together, not retreating in panic, but moving like bait with fangs. The second ghoul turned and snapped at the nearest kobol, biting its ear off just to keep the pack furious.
CRUNCH!
The kobol screamed and charged.
The ghouls ran.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Not toward the open field.
Toward the deeper purgatory—toward the darker ravines where the air smelled older and the shadows felt like mouths.
Behind them, the kobols surged after the fresh blood trail, forgetting the human girl, forgetting the fleeing pair, chasing the closest meal with blind certainty.
KRAAAH! KRAAAH!
The two ghouls vanished into the wilderness, leading the swarm away on purpose, leaving Sekhmet and Lily’s path behind them like a secret the night refused to repeat.