Transmigrated as a Ghost

Following the eastern path, Marcus, Blitz, and Inten carefully inspected every alcove and corridor they came across.

With pen in paper in hand, Marcus made a map as they walked. He had gained some experience doing this on Haze Island and gained the cartography skill.

Thankfully, the sewer system was immensely easy to chart in comparison since it was not a completely open space nor was it covered in a fog that prevented perception farther than a certain distance.

"Marcus, I was wondering why you did not bring Roxene with us. I figured that it would make more sense for all of us to go together. It is not like Mrazivý, and that new boy really need her help." Inten said, breaking up the monotonous silence as they searched the sewers.

"I did consider it but decided it would be better for us to be in separate groups. Light magic is especially effective against certain types of undead and having both of us here would be inefficient. Then there is also the direction Mrazivý's group headed in. They took the northern path which leads towards the center of the city.

If something dangerous is lurking down here, its most likely in that direction."

Of course, Marcus was probably just being overly protective. Even without Roxene, Mrazivý, Eirwen, and Miguel probably could handle anything they came across.

Continuing down the sewer, Marcus, Blitz, and Iten continued to converse in hushed tones as they went.

Eventually the conversation moved to a topic that was on all of their minds.

"Milord, are you sure that one of us should not have accompanied Novak and his party? They are strong by most standards, but even all five of them together is still weaker than one of us." Blitz said.

"Yeah, I wanted to, but it would have seemed like an insult to them. Their party already has five members, and technically they have a higher adventurer rank than most of us. If I had sent one of you two, from their perspective it would have seemed idiotic to lower our numbers and give them a gold rank as protection. They're all level fifty or higher, so I'm sure they can take care of themselves.

If something does go wrong, Novak has a sending stone he can use to contact m-

Before Marcus could finish what he was saying, something caught his and his beast companions' attention.

It's small size and impeccable stealth skills had allowed it to get extremely close without any of them noticing, but with it being only around fifteen meters away now, it was unable to continue obscuring its presence.

"That is certainly a disgusting monster. I can't believe that something like that exists." Inten said, a grimace on his face.

Marcus and Blitz were wearing similar expressions as they looked at the first undead creature they had come across.

It was a single severed hand that was grey and rotting.

The monster was clinging to the ceiling a distance away, and a single clouded eyeball on the back of the hand was staring at them.

"It's called a Revenant Skulker and is only level twelve. Still, it has several surveillance and stealth race abilities. I'm guessing that it is a scout for something else since it has an ability named Clairvoyant Bond." Marcus said after appraising the hand that was watching them.

Thankfully, the undead hand was not yet aware that it had been discovered. Marcus, Blitz, and Inten had been careful not to look its way for more than moment. Making it seem that they were just routinely scanning the area.

Waiting for about a minute, Marcus wanted to see what the Revenant Skulker would do, but it simply kept watching them.

"Let's try heading back and see if it follows us." Marcus suggested.

Blitz and Inten nodded in agreement and the three of them turned around and went back the way they came.

For a few moments the hand stayed still, but soon enough it crept across the ceiling and followed them.

"Looks like we've got some other company." Inten said, his ears twitching as the cacophonous sound of several somethings moving.

Less than ten seconds later a horrific creature burst through one of the nearby intersections.

It was an undulating mass of severed arms that barely fit within the sewer's tunnels.

Within the seemingly endless writhing arms was a giant malformed skull made up of hundreds of bones from different creatures.

Among all of the monsters he had ever seen, Marcus ranked this one as one of the most abominable. Perhaps even more than the Wendigo he had encountered on Haze Island.

"HRASHHHH!"

The terrifying amalgamation of several people opened its mouth and released a screech that created a deafening sonic blast and shaved away at the sanity of any who heard it.

Marcus winced as the sound hit him, and when he looked over at Inten and Blitz, he could see that both of them looked pale.

Thankfully, the attack had not been strong enough to do any real damage and had been more a irritating than anything else.

Still, had they been at a lower level and had weaker resistances to mind altering effects, the three of them would have found themselves turned into gibbering vegetables by that screech.

When the ghastly monster saw that its opener had not achieved the usual results, dozens of its arms grabbed onto each other and it flung them towards its prey.

Even detached from the creature, its arms still moved and flew towards Marcus, Blitz, and Inten like heatseeking missiles.

Marcus shook off his astonishment from laying eyes on this nightmarish undead monster and switched into battle mode. He had been caught off guard by its appearance and allowed it to make the first move, but he was not going to just stand around and let it do as it pleased.

"Iron Threads."

Casting a tier two iron magic spell, Marcus created dozens of thin wires that shot out of his fingertips.

With them he wrapped up the flying arms and sliced them into ribbons in one fluid motion.

Except, despite being shredded, the pierces of flesh and bone that composed the arms Marcus had destroyed slowly began moving and crawled their way back towards the undead creature's main body.

At least for a couple of moments that monster did not make another move, and Marcus used this chance to appraisal their current adversary.

"We're dealing with a level forty-seven monster called a Carrion Beast. It can regenerate and has a lot of nasty abilities, but it should not be much of a threat to us. Let's hurry up and destroy it so that we don't have to look at it any longer."

In terms of threatening their lives, this Carrion Beast was not anything to be worried about. Nevertheless, the mere sight of it was causing psychological damage.

Wanting to be rid of it just as much as Marcus, Blitz and Inten nodded their heads and prepared to attack.

The first to act was Blitz, casting the tier three lightning bind spell to restrict the undead horror's movements.

It thrashed around to break free, but the Carrion Beast was more than twenty levels lower than Blitz, it had no chance of escaping from his spell.

Inten was the next to go, and used his powerful race ability to conjure and control diamonds to encapsulate the monster in a sphere that only had a single small opening.

"And this will finish it. Burn to ashes and may the souls of the people used to create you rest peace. Fire Ball."

A small pebble sized bead of fire shot from Marcus' outstretched hand and into the single remaining opening of the diamond sphere Inten had created.

Once it passed through, the Great Diamond Mouse closed the opening.

Marcus' fire ball exploded within it an instant later and the raging magical fires engulfed the Carrion Beast was reduced to cinders.

"Ugh! I hope we never have to deal with something like that again." Inten said, shivering in disgust.

"I wish the same, but I don't think we are going to be so lucky." Marcus said, looking over his shoulder at the Revenant Skulker that was still watching them.

When the undead hand specialized in stealth and surveillance realized it had been noticed, it attempted to turn around and flee, but it was already too late for it.

One of Marcus' iron threads coiled around it and completely immobilized the monster.

He then reeled it in and hung the hand in front of his face so that he could look directly into its single eye.

"I don't know who or what you are, but I'm going to find and destroy you. That you can be certain of."

After making this declaration, Marcus tore apart the Revenant Stalker and incinerated it. He had gotten his message across and no longer needed it around.

"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Blitz asked.

"Probably not, but I'm a bit pissed off."

Marcus knew for a fact that monsters like the Carrion Beast and Revenant Stalker were created through some sort of wretched necromantic experiment. A normal undead like a zombie or skeleton often came to be because of lingering resentment from hundreds that had met violent ends.

But whatever was puppeteering the monsters they met down in these sewers was actively creating undead monstrosities that would not normally come into existence.

"Well, we've got its attention now. I'm betting it will send more undead after us. Let's continue on before were swarmed." Inten said, his tone conveying his resignation. He knew that his wish to never again encounter another monster like the Carrion Beast was going to go unanswered.