Assuming that it followed the same pattern as the skeletons, I was wondering if the ghouls would be wielding weapons and wearing armor from now on, as I explored the narrow path of sixteenth floor. But things were not as I expected.

Suddenly something attacked me. It was a little dark but I managed to evade the strike. However, the impact created a small crater in the ground.

“Wh-what was that?”

“Arf!”

The attacker wasn’t close to us but a few meters away. For obvious reasons, it was a ghoul. “How the hell did he attack us from that far away? Isn’t that way too fast?”  While I stood there and pondered that, the ghoul striked a second time. But this time, I was able to see though it. Though I didn’t understand, but it seemed like something manifested and flew out of its body like an extra limb and attacked me.

“Damn, this one is trickier.” I jumped and ran around it while the ghoul just stood at one position and constantly striked me, tracking my path.

At the same time, the fenrir flew to the other direction, cornering it from that side. We surrounded it and simultaneously attacked it trying to capture and kill, but it instantly sensed that and jumped from his position.

Damn, Smart! For a mindless monster, it was pretty brainy, I thought that.

But the moment it jumped in the air, the fenrir pat him from behind and flung him to the ground. While it was recovering from the sudden attack, I rushed and sliced his neck with my sword.

But to my surprise, it did little damage. The ghoul stood back up and his regenerative abilities healed the wound.

“What the… I didn’t hear about any of this?”

We repeated the sequence once again. While I cloaked myself in lightning to better react to its attacks, the fenrir striked it from above. He was using his tail to redirect any hit that was aimed at him. The ghoul was jumping and running around, not staying at one place, making it harder to attack him.

I was annoyed. I used lightning spear, a new spell, and threw it at him. Though, it was weak, since I was moving around too much, but it was just enough to paralyze it. But the ghoul leapt and my magic missed it.

It was getting more and more annoying, but while the ghoul was rejoicing this feat, the fenrir caught him from behind and bit off its necked.

The fenrir’s teeth were strong and he instantly killed it, saving me from attacking with another spell.

“Haaaa!” I sighed, “I can’t believe it took us this long to take care of just one of these. How are we gonna handle their pairs, trios or hordes.” I was in distraught, but not for long. I sighed again.

There were no more ghouls in this floor. So, before moving to the next floor, I deliberately prepared myself. I tried to recalling anything I might’ve read about them, their abilities, their weaknesses or strategies used against them. And formulated a plan to efficiently counter the groups of these ghouls.

.

.

.

“You clear about this?”

“Arf!”

With all set we were ready to thwart the mutated ghouls and show them the place they belong.