I hated to admit it, but the ghoul was right. I was afraid of the undead, just looking at them made me want to vomit, and being eaten alive was a trauma I had yet to experience, so I had every right to be afraid of it.

I had been fighting with my own style since I entered the dungeon, but without the dagger, all I had left was Mara’s long sword. My second hand fit snugly under my first as I began to remember all of the time I had spent training with her.

‘Hold the sword tight, but not too tight. Keep your arms and legs loose. You should move with the flow, seamlessly connecting one movement to the next.’

Having her lessons brought a strange sense of comfort. They may have been hard, but because of that the movements were so drilled into my very being that I could do them flawlessly, even with shaky hands.

My black sword sliced through the monsters like a laser through jelly. Each motion connected to the next as I covered myself in blood and gore. I made it to 5 down and then felt a chain grab my ankle, pulling so hard and fast that it temporarily yanked my hip out its sock before my face slammed into the ground.

The same chains then wrapped around my arm, pulling on my shoulder until I lost all feeling in my fingers.

A black mist enveloped us entirely transporting us through space into the abyss.

“My, you grow fast. You’re not afraid of them either anymore. How am I supposed to eat like this?”

With one leg and one arm tied down, I couldn’t get up. My voice was tired, and my mouth was dry. It was hard to breathe, so when I spoke, it almost started to sound like I was the demon. With the arm that I could move, I raised up my hand, just like I did with Bhaltiar, My pinky, and my index finger pointed straight up. “You will starve…” I wheezed out with a cough.

It screeched, showing its true colors as if its anger was making it devolve into a wild beast. Its words came out as a growl, like a wolf eating its prey.

"Taste the fear, remember it, feel it crawl. I hunger for your terror, relish your screams.” It words slowly became less awkward and disjointed as it’s voice became calmer, and all the more terrifying as it began to sound fully human. “I am terror… I am Ghoule.”

It stepped on my back grabbing my head in between its massive fingers and lifting it up, forcing images through my mind.

“Starvation? No. Swallow your own dread, as I reveal the primal symphony of your fear."

Everything went black as I became trapped in what I could only assume was my own mind. I watched scenes pass by me, but I knew none of them were real, so I felt nothing. I had broken the ghoul's illusions before, they had no hold on me any longer.

It let go, stepping off of me, and returning me to the present. “If you no longer fear the past, then I will give you something new to be afraid of.”

I felt weak. Tired from the sleepless night, worn down both mentally and physically from constantly fighting. But I was still alive. I could feel the foul air entering my lungs as I breathed. The scent of death burning my nose.

‘It’s so much stronger now… But… No… It’s more like it’s magic is stronger… Hold on…’ Channeling my dark magic through my whole body the black marks began to appear all across my skin as I forced myself to my feet, breaking free from the chains. ‘Its new strength is just another form of illusion, one that's even closer to reality, but one I can still break…’

The black mist vanished around me, and as it slowly faded the chains around my arm and leg faded with it, dragging across the ground as they retracted into the abyss.

‘Ok… I guess if it’s falling back, then I need to go back to plan A.’

I looked around for my sword, but as my senses cleared and I returned to the earthly plane the only thing I could see was a multitude of rotting corpses staring back at me on every side.

Instinctively I froze time. My heart was racing, but the moment time froze it wasn’t beating at all. Everything stopped, and it gave me time to calm down. ‘So this is what he meant by giving me something to be afraid of…’

My body was still cold, and I wasn’t sure how much more it could take, but the optimal solution seemed to be to disperse manna all around me, just like I had done twice so far.

I didn’t know how effective it would be the third time in a row, but it would at least give me enough time to grab my sword. Even if it would nearly drain me completely.

I took as much time as I needed, meticulously planning every move, counting and calculating every variable… In the end though, I was just stalling. I didn’t want to face reality, to have to fight so many undead all at once. What was worse, I could still feel the demon's presence.

Still, time was stopped, no one was coming to save me, so all I could do was press forward. The moment I finally got together the will to push play, I expelled ice all around me, but not before getting bit in the shoulder.

I froze time again. My plan hadn’t changed, it was more like I was starting to panic. I kept asking myself what I was supposed to do, even if I made it out of there I didn’t know how I was supposed to fight the ghoul. I didn’t have an answer. There wasn’t a plan, I just didn’t know.

After every move I made I froze time, finally reaching for my sword, but just before I grabbed it, it shot away like a bullet, being pulled by a long barbed chain. Again I froze time, hoping I could think of some way to get out of there, but I couldn’t come up with anything. ‘There's no way out…’