Chapter 34 - Claw-type Ghoul

"Scan."

As soon as Rynold was in the range of activating this skill, he used it right away. It was important to check what he was up against otherwise he'd get screwed over for underestimating an enemy of an unknown caliber.

[Claw-type Ghoul Lvl 10]

With its claw-like hands, the Claw-type Ghoul can deal damage by piercing its opponents with its attacks and speed. To do this, this ghoul sacrificed its natural defense to do so.

As Rynold read the information while running towards the enemy, he knew that he was no match for something like this even though it was the same level as the Stretch-type Ghoul. The explanation for this is rather simple.

He wasn't fast enough.

Although he could deal blows that would not only damage the enemy severely, it could also deal enough damage to knock the creature completely. But, this was only possible if he could manage to actually hit the thing.

Despite his senses telling him not to approach the creature, Rynold carried on. He had to.

Now that he had a better look at the ghoul, he noticed that the claws that it had were rather red. It was as if the energy of the mutation were focused on the ghoul's claws.

As Rynold swiftly made its way to have both the ghoul and his uncle more into view, he realized how apparent it was that Shyft was losing. In fact, his uncle seems to have misplaced his spear somewhere as Rynold didn't see any sort of weapon that the captain was holding.

Shyft meanwhile was continuously dodging attacks, stalling for his nephew to come up and support him. He was confident that they would win when they teamed up but it would be a close one.

"Hah!"

Rynold came up from the Claw-type Ghoul's behind and lashed out with his Mana Gauntlets in Speed-form, knowing full well how his Strength-form would only drag him down.

The hit managed to connect on the ghoul's back but it wasn't strong enough to knock it down. The damage that is dealt on the ghoul was rather weak, but Rynold took whatever he could to tip the scales in their favor.

The Claw-type Ghoul quickly reacted to the punch that it received and swiftly swiped its claws at Rynold who didn't have time to step back. The contact came in close if it weren't for him raising his gauntlets to guard. It was noticeable that, even though Rynold's body movements were fast enough to use his hands and guard, his body wasn't fast enough to recover once he hit the ghoul.

In Shyft's experience, this just shows how the boy was used to attacking with overwhelming force rather than technique. This was the way Rynold has fought over the past few days and never had the chance to learn how to hit using his speed rather than strength.

The claws managed to scratch the Mana Gauntlets, leaving gashes on the weapons. Since its form was made of mana, however, it quickly recovered back to its original shape.

"Now's not the time to be stupid, kid!" Shyft shouted to his nephew.

The creature before them shifted its aggro to Rynold since it was him who managed to deal damage to it.

"Then do something about it!" Rynold shouted back while dodging a claw swipe from the ghoul.

Shyft knew that he had to do something but what? He had no weapon to quickly deal damage to the unsuspecting ghoul since his spear broke after a lot of uses on ghouls that he fought along the way.

He continued to look around for some sort of opportunity and only came up with one solution for the time being.

They had to stall.

Shyft ran into the forest that surrounded the road while Rynold was continuously dodging attacks from the ghoul's claws. Rynold thought that the way the ghoul attack was weird. Well, weirder than any other ghoul that he's come across.

The Claw-type Ghoul didn't seem to fully commit itself to a single attack. It was as if the claw swipes that it's been doing so far were made to just attack the enemy while not leaving an opening for them to hit back.

This ghoul was smarter than Rynold would like it to be.

Rynold slowly inched his way back into the forest that his uncle went into, dodging the ghoul's attacks along the way. He had no choice but to act as bait for the time being as Shyft was great at making strategies work.

Shyft, on the other hand, was working hard to look for any opportunities to strike.

He recalled what the ghoul's strengths were and the weakness that came along with it.

It was obvious that the ghoul had astonishing speed but it didn't seem to make any commitments to making full use of it. As for how to beat such a thing, it was much easier to deal a strong blow but there weren't any openings for it.

A troublesome opponent to say the least. But what could they do about it?

Shyft pulled up his inventory and checked if he had something that would actually help them.

Apart from a bunch of random items such as the Dull Shortsword and random miscellaneous spell books, he didn't think of anything useful for this situation. Even if he learned the spells that he gathered, he didn't have enough Mana to use them.

Having no other choice, he pulled the Dull Shortsword from his inventory and decided to use it in a surprise attack.

Rynold, meanwhile, was slowly getting pushed back deeper into the forest. His Mana Gauntlets took continuous hits from the claws but they reformed fast enough so that he could block the attacks from the Claw-type Ghoul.

'Why won't this guy charge in?' Rynold thought as he blocked another attack. Pushed back, the only solution that came into mind was to pull up his window and use the points that he hasn't used so far. To do that, though, he had to have some time that the ghoul wasn't giving.

On the bright side, he was slowly getting used to the ghoul's way of attacking and learning new movements along the way.

Instead of blocking, he slowly learned how to dodge and keep his feet light. He was slowly getting the hang of making use of his speed rather than strength. Even more so, he was learning from the ghoul too, slowly copying and learning its movements of using its speed to attack.

Inch by inch, Rynold, and the ghoul made their way to where his uncle was hiding. It was then where Shyft finally decided to strike.

Rynold noticed that his uncle was giving him a signal for them to fight back. Up until now, Rynold was forced to be passive and endured the attacks that the ghoul dealt. That all changed when he forced an opening.

The ghoul slashed its claws at Rynold but this time Rynold reacted differently. He dodged the claw from hitting him and, instead of waiting for the ghoul to recover and strike once more, he kicked the claw into the ground. It was simple but required precision and the perfect timing to execute.

The kick, combined with the swipe's initial momentum, managed to push the claw into the ground. Shyft, noticing the opportunity, ran up and slashed the Dull Shortsword. It wasn't strong enough to kill the ghoul but it had enough force to push it into the ground.

Rynold, meanwhile, wasn't just standing idly by and put in twenty points to his Intelligence, boosting his max Mana and the Mana Gauntlet's attack power once more.

Even though the Speed-form has its merits, the attack power it had wasn't comparable to Strength-form. This time, however, Rynold finally knew how to use the gauntlets' Speed-form.

Shyft's attack only lasted for a short moment but it was all Rynold needed to attack even better than before.

Rynold readied his gauntlets and his determination.

With a quick swing of his fists, he hit the Claw-type Ghoul with an uppercut followed by a continuous flurry of attacks that took full advantage of the newly learned fighting style and the Attack Speed boost provided by the gauntlets' Speed-form.

Hit after hit, the ghoul didn't have time to react since Rynold knew how to time his attacks well so that the ghoul couldn't move.

Head, torso, torso. Uppercut, kick, backhand. The combo of attacks was a stellar sight to Shyft as Rynold moved with swift but accurate movements that continuously staggered the opponent. Suddenly, Shyft sensed a surge of Mana that surrounded the ghoul.

Rynold realized this when he kicked the knee of the ghoul that forced it to collapse. He felt this feeling before and realized that he had to finish it quickly. It wouldn't be good if they continued to prolong this.

"I won't give you a chance!" Rynold shouted as Mana whirled into his gauntlets. Rynold's right gauntlet changed into Strength-form in the blink of an eye.

Strength-form Charging Fist!