"A Ghoul? Not a summoned one? What's the difference?" asked Oranje curiously while keeping an eye on the creature that was slowly crossing to their side. Her lizard familiar was ready to attack at her signal.

"The ones we've been fighting before were summoned creatures, so their strength was limited by the summoner's own strength, whereas this one is something coming directly from that side. Its strength won't be limited by anyone!" explained Groen.

The Ghoul was slowly climbing over the tiny hole in the space by stretching it apart with its two bloody hands with sharp and long claws. The pus on the wounds all over its hands dripped down to the ground and emanated a putrid smell, enough to shake the stomachs of the weaker ones.

The barrage of bullets shot at it had had no visible effect but to enrage the creature, making it try to cross over even faster. There was visible frustration on the faces of some of the officers, mixed with fatigue from having to guard the area for a long time.

"Is it still weak against blood attacks?!" asked Roze.

"It should be. But our attacks need to be stronger as the thing is stronger as well!" replied Groen loudly because she was standing far from him.

"That's all I need to know!" she shouted back and then turned to the real Rood who was standing near Oranje, "Rood, your weapons!"

The tall officer with a scar on his face nodded solemnly. He had taken several blood pouches from his coat and poured the content on the ground. The red liquid formed a small puddle that got bigger and bigger as he poured in more blood on it. After using a total of five 500ml pouches, he began chanting.

The blood on the ground began boiling and squirming as if it was alive. It gathered in one spot where slowly, something solid rose. Little by little, the blood solidified around the thing, forming the parts of the weapon. The process took a long time and during the formation, Rood had to stay focused.

While waiting for Rood's blood weapons to finish, the others kept a watch on the Ghoul whose upper body had completely crossed over to their side. More pus caused even more putrid smell and the grotesque gaping wounds on its chest could make someone shudder.

Swoosh!!

Roze had been firing blood arrows at the creature but they only managed to scratch the creatures without actually injuring it. It also couldn't slow down the creature's crossing at all although her blood arrows were hitting all of the Ghoul's vital spots.

Valentine, who was still hidden behind a wall, was watching the whole situation carefully. The wall of the building provided cover for him to avoid the sharp gazes of the Police Contractbounds while at the same time, it could also protect him from stray attacks.

"G, did you hear that? So the creature is different from what we have fought before. We need to watch this fight and learn from them," he muttered. The yellowish mist covering his mouth preventing his voice from coming out, making it only audible to himself.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The barrage of bullets was still being fired at a regular interval with the command of Roze. Despite not being effective, at least it could divert the creature's attention to them instead of Rood who was still making his blood weapons.

"Growl!!!"

Finally, the Ghoul managed to completely cross to that side and its whole body was revealed. It was bigger than the ones they had been fighting so far and the aura it emanated felt much more dangerous. The thing was probably at least two meters tall, standing on two hooves instead of feet and its whole boney body was covered in wounds and blood. The sharp claws on its hands looked like it could shred metal into pieces with ease while the fangs on its elongated jaw could crush bones like they were candy.

"Look out!" shouted Groen.

The creature had dashed at a frightening speed towards the line of Police officers with guns. With one motion of its right hand, a couple of men were instantly killed while several others were injured. There were deep wounds on the chests of the people attacked by the creature and blood came gushing out of them. Their expressions were full of horror and puzzlement from the sudden attack. One moment they were the hunter, suddenly they had become the hunted.

"Arrghh!! Help!!"

Cries of distress came out of the mouths of those injured but alive. Their companions had terror on their faces but they didn't run away. Roze had quickly shot the Ghoul with numerous blood arrows to attract its attention so they could get the injured to safety.

"Growl!!"

The Ghoul was angered by her attack and lunged at her. Roze, who was fast enough to react, managed to avoid the initial attack and aimed another blood arrow at the creature's right eye.

Stab!

The arrow hit its bloodshot eye, pushing it back with the impact and hurting it. The Ghoul fell on its back and quickly tried to pull the blood arrow out of its eye socket.

"Tomio!"

Whoosh!

Oranje, who saw the opportunity, had ordered her lizard familiar to breathe fire at the injured Ghoul. The hot flame engulfed the creature's whole body and burned its wound, making the blood on its body boil. There was smoke rising and the smell of charred skin filled the air.

"Growl!!"

It was furious!

Meanwhile, Rood blood weapons had almost been completed. With the last drop of blood on the ground rising to the air and sticking to the floating red object, the greatsword and a blood drum and stick were completed. The sword was bigger than Rood himself and looked very heavy. With a slash of it, it could probably cut even a metal motor carriage in half. With a motion of his right hand, Rood easily controlled the massive sword like it was paper while his left hand moved the drum closer to himself.

Badum! Badum!

The blood drum was beating, sending an invigorating rhythm to the ears of all his allies. The beats of the drum sent an energizing wave upon everyone who heard it while making the enemies of the caster irritated.

Valentine, who was standing far away, was also strangely strengthened by Rood's War Drum.

"G, this is weird. We shouldn't count as his ally. Or is it because we're using his appearance so, in a sense, we're that guy himself so his ability affects us as well?" muttered Valentine with a puzzled look.

Because of Roze's distraction, Groen and the others had successfully brought the injured away from the center of the fight. He had also made them inhale the blue powders that he had created and in an instant, their wounds began healing. However, since they were normal humans, the rate at which the wounds healed was slower than when a Contractbound inhaled the powder.

The Ghoul had gotten back up on its two hooves and was looking at Rood with its bloodshot eyes. The sound of his drum provoked it and now it had made him its target.

Dash!

The Ghoul lunged at Rood, who was standing several meters away from it, and in less than a second it had made it all the way to his location.

Clank!

Rood used his blood greatsword to parry the Ghoul's attack, but he was still pushed back by the impact.

"Look over here you bastard!!" shouted Roze as she drew her bowstring and the creature looked back at her.

Swoosh!!

Three blood arrows pierced through the air and hit the Ghoul's both eyes and forehead. Its regenerating right eye was once again destroyed, along with its left one. The arrow hitting its forehead, however, failed to make any substantial injury and only slightly wounded it; a tiny splotch of blood came out of its light wound.

Bash!!

Using the opportunity, Rood slashed the creature with his giant sword and managed to sever its right arm with one swing. The creature let out a loud groan of pain while thick red blood came gushing out of its right shoulder where the arm had been.

"Everyone, keep on attacking! Don't give it any time to recover!!" commanded Lieutenant Roze.

Valentine was watching the fight intently while learning what he could about both the creature and the Police.

"Growl!!"

Suddenly, the Ghoul growled louder than usual and its whole body emanated a thick disgusting miasma that quickly spread to the surrounding area. The small particle filled the air and painted the atmosphere green, making it look like an area of sickness and decay.

"That's a disease aura! Everyone hold your breath!" shouted Groen from the backline. he swiftly reached out to his waist bag and took out some more paper pouches full of blue powders. After inhaling one himself, he proceeded to hand it over to the Police officers closest to him.

The green miasma only covered the center area of the street where the fight was happening but didn't reach all the way to Valentine's location, so he was safe.

Suddenly, he felt a sudden sense of danger that was coming from behind him. Valentine quickly turned around but there was no one there. However, he remembered that one of the Police Sergeants had gone invisible and was patrolling the area. He quickly retreated from his hiding place and someone suddenly appeared on the exact same spot that he had been before. If he hadn't moved away in time, he would have been caught by the man.

"Who are you and how were you able to sense me?" asked the Police Sergeant who was completely naked but didn't seem to be bothered by the fact. A moment later, he had turned invisible again.

"Shit!" muttered Valentine, "We need to retreat before he calls for reinforcement!"

The two invisible men couldn't hear each other's voice because of their own concealment, but Valentine was at a disadvantage because the man had found him. As long as he could focus, he would be able to pinpoint Valentine's location with ease whereas Valentine couldn't even see him.

"At least he shouldn't be able to interact with physical objects as long as he is invisible," added Valentine.

Suddenly, someone was holding the back of his coat and threw him violently at a wall.

Thud!

Valentine's back hit the wall hard, but it only hurt him slightly. He was still under the effect of the real Rood's War Drum so his physical abilities had also been enhanced, also it was the same for Paars, the invisible man.

"Wait, how could he throw us like that? Is it because of the War Drum or he has something that allows him to interact with physical objects? This is trickier than I thought," he complained as he got back up.

Valentine took out his commando knife and sneakily slit his wrist to allow blood to come out. He then waited until the man came closer to him again and once he felt the hand grabbing his clothes, he quickly sprayed his blood all over the spot. The blood stuck on the man's body, revealing his location to Valentine while he was being thrown again.

Crash!

This time, he hit a metal trash can and dented it in the process. However, he still wasn't injured badly. He only felt a slight pain on his back that had hit the trash can and also the wall before.

"He definitely has something, G. If he were just a normal Unseen, the blood should have made him turn visible again because he couldn't turn invisible while interacting with it. But why does he have to be naked? Is there a limitation on how much interaction he can have with physical objects?" muttered Valentine.

Paars had noticed the bloodstain on his body and quickly tried to wipe it away. Valentine, seizing his chance, quickly used his dagger to slit his wrist and began chanting while focusing on the spot where the man was standing.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Deception and Hidden Thoughts, call forth an illusion that covers that area!"

The blood that was flowing to the ground quickly evaporated and dispersed in the air. From above, an illusory orange curtain gracefully descended upon the area where the man was standing and before he could get away, the curtain had been set and he had fallen under Valentine's illusion.

Valentine couldn't hear the man's voice nor see what he was doing because the bloodstain had almost been erased completely. He could only see that the man remained there, so he seized the chance.

"G, now let's get away!" Valentine muttered as he started getting away, "And please remind me next time to always have my Illusion Substitute activated,"

He kept supplying blood so that his illusion could be maintained while quickly getting away from the area. The farther he went, the thinner the orange curtain became until it completely vanished. Valentine didn't even look back and only focused on escaping.