Red, The Dreading Dungeon

Chapter 3: A Ghoulish encounter

Red took a deep breath, more than aware that he had no lungs in the mana projection he was using to understand three-dimensional space. That did not stop him as he raised up a faceted finger and pressed the 'purchase all' button on the storage request. He felt a strange feeling in his gut, as if he had eaten the metal hinges on the door when they disappeared from reality. That would have to be explored later, as it was time for an army of bugs to go to war against undeath itself.

New Intruder detected! Swamp Ghoul - Crazed!

The door fell forward as the beast bashed its body against it, the sentinel of wood having stood still when the hinges had disappeared. The creature fell forward and Red felt like he was going to be sick at the sight of it. A gaunt pale figure, skin almost papery white was laying on his door. Blood stained in a sloppy mess around its mouth and hands from where it had greedily enjoyed previous meals. What little clothes the creature had barely hid the emaciated form as it struggled to get onto all fours. Though he snapped himself out of his stupor as it screamed, that horrible high pitched noise dropped the temperature of the room well below the comfy level the core had created. It had seen Addison.

"Charge!" Red roared at the crawdads that all swarmed the edges of the door before beginning to pinch at the ghoul's hands and legs. The creature let out a growling his as its papery flesh was torn open by the sharp pinchers of the crawdads, the little mudbugs fighting against this immense enemy. "Aerial support!" Red ordered before Lotus came in with a shock of electricity against the Ghoul's back, the magic making it convulse and shake as dead muscles were forced to react. Though that didn't seem to stop it, a clawed hand pushed forward onto the ground as it began to crawl towards Addison. It didn't even seem to be registering the attacks when its goal was in sight.

Addison was a pleading mess, praying for whatever god that would listen to protect her from this horrible fate. The second fairy swooped down between the limbs of the ghoul, waving its hands at the door that was below it. Green magic flowed from the fairy's outstretched palms, the wood of the tree suddenly springing to life as it began to grow and root the ghoul in place. The beast's knees, feet, and one of its hands were firmly locked onto the wood. That seemed to be enough to register the defending army. It swatted a fist down, smashing one of the crawdads in a single blow. The remains of the creature pressed into the mud as its brethren continued to fight in its honor.

Red was watching this unfold, trying to think of what to do as he realized that they weren't doing enough damage to the creature. It would destroy all of his forces before he would be able to actually end its life. He racked his brain, trying to think of what to do from countless zombie movies that he had watched during his human life. That was when his eyes went wide, realizing just what he was doing wrong. He turned towards Lotus, the fairy having just released another gout of electricity, making the ghoul convulse harder as it began to swat at the flying pests around it.

"Lotus! Grab a crawdad! Put it on this thing's neck!" He commanded firmly, the fairy floating up out of the ghoul's reach before giving a firm nod. The blue fairy dive bombed towards a crawdad and wrapped her arms around it. She seemed to struggle for a moment to lift the crustacean that was almost as big as herself. Though with effort, she managed to bring it up and drop it onto the twitching back of the ghoul.

"You! Your name is Snips!" Red shouted firmly at the crawdad that was on the ghoul's back, watching it raise its claws before the golden dust enveloped it. The change was different between creatures it seemed, as the crawdad now named Snips did not grow in size, but rather gained metallic claws in place of chitin. "Glad that worked. Alright! Snips! Attack the base of the skull! Burrow into the fucking thing if you have to!" Red roared before the pointed legs of snips danced across the ghoul's back. The bladed claws sunk into the top of the ghoul's neck, right where the spine would meet the skull. It began to claw and snip violently at the parchment-like flesh of the undead, congealed blood gushing down the back and shoulders of the creature. It let out a ghostly howl at the damage, ice beginning to form around the stagnant pools of water in the hut.