Ch.247247. Dongrae (4)

I momentarily wondered why these creatures, who hadn’t even reached intermediate level, were targeting and charging at me, but after a brief consideration, the reason became immediately clear.

First, we were currently wearing concealment staves, which reduced our presence to the extreme.

In truth, once someone reaches advanced level, the magical energy that naturally escapes their body is enough to create a sense of pressure on surrounding humans. Without being mindful of this during normal times, it could cause incidents like mass fainting.

But as luck would have it, we were carrying concealment staves to avoid attention, and the unintended consequence of this was those riffraff picking a fight with us.

The second reason was that they weren’t intermediate level.

Those who reach the intermediate realm gain the ability to read the presence or aura emanating from others, allowing them to roughly estimate their opponent’s level based on this perception.

Because of this, intermediate practitioners and above can typically gauge someone’s level at a glance, unless the target is deliberately hiding it. These creatures, however, were nothing more than low-level rabble.

And the final, most significant reason… they were simply fools incapable of proper judgment.

Logically speaking, to openly pick a fight and draw weapons in the middle of the road in this situation—it wouldn’t be strange if guards came running from all directions to beat them with clubs… would it?

‘…Wait, what?’

At this point, as my thoughts accelerated, I suddenly felt something off.

The strange thing was that the people around us weren’t paying the slightest attention to this rabble.

While those outside the teahouse might be one thing, even the Arab teahouse owner and Cheong-i were just sitting there, staring blankly at me.

Noticing that some mystical phenomenon was clearly at work in this abnormal situation, it didn’t take me long to figure out what it was.

‘…Presence concealment?’

Footsteps, breathing sounds, heartbeats, appearances, air flow, ground vibrations, even scent and touch.

The name of this power that hides everything commonly referred to as “presence” was presence concealment.

Of course, the cloaks they were wearing—presumably the source of the presence concealment effect—didn’t appear to be of particularly good quality.

They merely interfered with perception slightly, rather than completely hiding one’s existence… compared to high-level presence concealment, which was more deceptive than even invisibility, these were mere child’s play, nothing more than simple optical illusions.

Anyway, now that I’d figured out their method, things would move quickly.

[Wisdom of the heavens!]

Sophia cast a perception enhancement spell with a short incantation that circled around both our heads, and only then could I notice their forms hidden beneath hooded cloaks.

Some were armed with work hatchets, others with work knives resembling axes or kukris, and the rest carried easily obtainable weapons like clubs or short knives, more akin to tools.

They weren’t even wearing tough leather clothing, just quilted armor made of cloth or rags.

However, all of these details paled in comparison to their physical appearance.

Hairless, smooth heads, abnormally protruding pointed teeth. Unusually long arms and bloodless skin, along with blade-like sharp fingernails… and their characteristic hunched posture.

At this point, their identity was all but confirmed.

‘…Ghouls?’

The life force I sensed from them was undoubtedly that of living beings, yet their appearance was strikingly similar to ghouls—those undead known as members of the “Hunger Cult.”

※ ※ ※

Ghouls, considered a superior type of zombie, possess several unique characteristics that distinguish them from other undead.

First, what drives them isn’t hatred toward the living or a longing for life like other undead.

They are undead sustained by their desire for the flesh of living beings.

One might wonder how a dead corpse could possibly move based on hunger, but this becomes clear when examining the origins of these ghouls.

…Yes, ghouls are actually undead born from those who have committed certain taboos and subsequently transformed.

The standards for these “taboos” vary among different races, but there is one taboo shared by almost all races:

Cannibalism—consuming the flesh and body of one’s own kind for sustenance.

When one violates this spiritual and mystical taboo, their soul begins to fracture. Normally, such fractures might heal over time, but… repeated acts of cannibalism change everything.

The balance between body and fractured soul collapses; the physical body gradually dies while the mind remains bound to it, slowly transforming under the influence of the broken soul.

Internal organs gradually cease functioning, and necromantic energy flowing from the soul spreads throughout the body, transforming the being.

Thus, a “crypt ghoul” is born.

Ghouls as undead are broadly categorized into two types: “feral ghouls” and “crypt ghouls.”

As mentioned earlier, crypt ghouls are born from the transformed bodies of those who violated taboos, whereas feral ghouls follow the same creation structure as other undead.

They might be corpses that died in places with high necromantic energy density, or they might simply pop into existence out of nowhere, or be created or summoned by necromancers through magic.

Anyway, these feral ghouls possess intelligence and instincts similar to wild animals, but crypt ghouls—whose souls have shattered and bodies have transformed into undead—still retain memories and experiences from their living days.

However, because their souls were broken and then pieced back together, becoming severely damaged in the process, they become entirely different beings from their original selves, and their memories are not intact.

Most are filled with self-justification and selective hearing-based delusions, and significant portions of their memories are often forgotten or distorted.

Despite this, these ghouls glorify their past and come to hate those who oppress them as undead, meaning that regardless of who they were in life, once they become ghouls, they are already corrupted.

And these crypt ghouls, who retain their former glory (or lack thereof) and memories (usually distorted), form secret organizations among themselves, which is the origin of the “Hunger Cult” that can be found anywhere.

Throughout history and across the world, famines occur due to food shortages, and in these situations, humans turn to the corpses of their fallen comrades to survive.

Of course, moderate consumption alone wouldn’t turn someone into a ghoul—they might just get a bit sick—but what happens to someone who eats not-so-fresh meat during a famine?

Driven mad by hunger, they consume flesh repeatedly until their soul shatters into pieces, giving birth to a crypt ghoul. These creatures, along with humans who eat corpses due to superstition or personal beliefs, band together to form the “Hunger Cult.”

Outwardly, they disguise themselves as indigenous religious groups or sects, while in reality, they engage in human sacrifice, claiming to worship the sun god while lost in hallucinations and delusions.

Naturally, this sun god is a product of delusion, not an actual entity. More precisely, they mistake the life force leaking from their shattered souls for the sun god.

Anyway, as this pack, presumably from the “Hunger Cult” and in the process of becoming ghouls, approached me.

‘…Sigh, these fools don’t even know their place.’

As these half-transformed ghouls, nothing more than common thugs, approached me, I sighed deeply and bestowed upon them a slashing spell.

-─Slash!

With a sound like rough cutting through meat or leather, the dismembered bodies of the ghouls scattered across the floor, their purple bodily fluids soaking the teahouse’s wooden floor.

“Graaaaaaah!!!”

However, among them, one ghoul—quite by chance—still had its windpipe attached despite having its neck half-severed by the slashing spell. Seeing it approach, I lightly tapped it with the end of my staff, causing its entire body to burst.

Through precise magical manipulation, I had caused the unbalanced magical energy and necromantic energy within its body to go haywire.

‘….?!!’

Naturally, as ghoul fluids splattered everywhere, the Arab owner showed signs of wanting to protest, but upon seeing me burst the ghoul with a mere tap of my staff, he froze, not knowing what to do.

And then, I approached the Arab man….

“Proprietor, this should cover the repairs. Please take care of the cleanup as well.”

“Yes! Leave it to me!”

Five gold coins—enough money to completely renovate the entire shop with more than half left over—was how I “persuaded” him.

Of course, the Arab teahouse owner’s eyes bulged at the sight of the gold coins.