Richard could feel the Light Tree Leaves of his Throne of the Sun trembling.
He took three full Breathing cycles to steady the Light Tree Leaves again.
On the other side of the rock, Edmund stood with a pale face, his right hand clutching the Silver Cross at his chest.
To the north, Theodore crouched on the ground and threw up.
He was curled into a ball, one hand braced against the muddy ground, the other clutching his stomach.
To the west, Maggie was muttering something in Gaelic, what sounded like a folk song for the dead.
"Stop staring, get to work!"
Sarah’s voice came from the perimeter.
Richard snapped back to his senses, unholstering the Webley at his side.
According to the rules, they only had to deal with the few remaining Swamp Corpses.
The Swamp Corpses looked completely different from the Enchanting Lamps at the Highland Summer House.
An Enchanting Lamp was a floating, umbrella-shaped mass of mist that moved slowly across the ground.
The Swamp Corpses, however, had a physical form.
Richard saw the first Swamp Corpse crawl out of a puddle about ten paces to his south.
It was on all fours, but its limbs were facing the wrong way.
Its knees pointed out, its elbows pointed in, and its spine arched up. It looked like a giant, waterlogged frog.
But its face was more nauseating than any horror movie makeup he could remember.
The constant pickling in peat had compressed and warped its face, curing it into a dark brown slab of meat.
The positions of the eyes, nose, and mouth were still there, but each feature was stretched, twisted, and swollen.
It crawled out of the puddle and moved along the edge of the meadow towards Richard.
It moved faster than an Enchanting Lamp, and with far more purpose.
Richard’s left hand found his Silver Needle Box, and he drew out a needle.
As he exhaled on the third cycle of his Quadruple Breathing, the Silver Needle solidified into a Nail.
The moment the Nail shot out, Richard knew this would be much easier than fighting the Enchanting Lamps yesterday.
Enchanting Lamps had no skin, so the Piercing power of the Moon Nail was largely useless against them.
Swamp Corpses, however, had skin—thick, tough hide cured in peat.
The Nail pierced the Swamp Corpse’s chest. The Silver Needle, carrying the Ether Nail, tore straight through the outer layer of Mud Armor, skin, flesh, and spine.
The Swamp Corpse froze, its massive mouth gaping open as if it were about to retch.
Richard’s inspiration sent up another alarm.
Without a second thought, he activated [Stone Armor] to block.
SIZZLE! The corrosive liquid only ate through the outermost layer.
He drew out a second Silver Needle and shot it.
This Nail struck the Swamp Corpse right in its gaping, foul-smelling maw.
The Nail tore through the slab of meat that was its face and exited the back of its skull.
The Swamp Corpse’s entire upper body snapped back, and it toppled into the puddle behind it.
Maggie’s shout came from the other side of the rock.
To the north, Theodore was standing by the edge of a puddle.
A Swamp Corpse was in front of him, but the flintlock gun in his hands was trembling.
He’d already fired his first shot and missed.
A second shot... Theodore’s finger was on the trigger, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull it.
Richard saw that the stable boy’s face was deathly pale.
The Swamp Corpse had already crawled to within three paces of Theodore.
Maggie was the closest.
As she ran, she held her Oak Short Staff horizontally in front of her, her hand completely enclosing the carved ram’s horn at its tip.
When she reached Theodore, Maggie planted the tip of the staff on the ground.
Richard saw a burst of dark green Ether erupt from the staff’s tip, spreading out in a ring.
The ring enveloped both Maggie and Theodore.
It stopped, mid-lunge.
Its "face" looked at Maggie and Theodore for a few seconds, then it turned and crawled towards a nearby clump of reeds.
The freckled girl took a few things out of a leather pouch at her waist.
They were several small metal plates, like Darts, engraved with Inscriptions.
"Family heirlooms," Maggie said to Theodore. "Stay put. I’ll take the shot."
"...I’ll help you." Theodore gritted his teeth and raised his flintlock gun again.
"Your hands are shaking. You’ll miss," Maggie said bluntly. "You can count for me."
"Count what?"
"Count its steps. When I get to three, I need you to shout."
"...Why shout?"
"To make it turn its head."
Theodore didn’t ask any more questions.
He raised his flintlock gun, his eyes fixed on the Swamp Corpse crawling towards the reeds.
"One."
"Two."
"Three!"
Theodore yelled.
The yell carried far across the swamp, and the Swamp Corpse’s head snapped around toward him.
With a flick of her wrist, Maggie sent the three metal plates flying.
They struck its right shoulder, left shoulder, and neck.
The Inscriptions on the metal plates were clearly no match for a proper Demon-Exorcising Bullet, and they were a far cry from Richard’s Moon Nails.
The Swamp Corpse only paused for a moment, then continued crawling toward Maggie and Theodore.
This time, the Cyan Green Ring had no effect.
Maggie narrowed her eyes. "So much for family heirlooms."
"What do we do?" Theodore asked.
"You shoot its legs," Maggie said. "I’ll go for its neck."
"...Shoot its legs?"
"We need to slow it down first."
Theodore gritted his teeth.
He raised the flintlock gun. A Silver-Lead Bullet struck the Swamp Corpse’s right forelimb.
Unlike Sarah’s, his Silver-Lead Bullets weren’t enhanced with Ether.
It only chipped a small piece from the thick Mud Armor before the bullet ricocheted away.
The Swamp Corpse’s right forelimb gave way, and its entire body listed to the right.
This time, Maggie took out her Hunting Knife.
She seized the opportunity, leaping onto the Swamp Corpse’s back. She pinned its slab-of-meat face down with her left hand and swung the knife with her right.
The knife bit into the back of the Swamp Corpse’s neck.
One slash, two, three.
With the fourth slash, the Swamp Corpse’s head came off, spilling corrosive fluid as it fell from its body.
The corpse toppled into the puddle. Luckily, the girl was quick to jump clear, or she would have been drenched.
Maggie landed beside the puddle, her boots coated in mud.
"This is why I didn’t want to be a Hunter."
she said, wiping her Hunting Knife on the grass. "One slash and you’re covered in gunk."
Theodore stared at her. "...And you call this not being a Hunter?"
"It’s a family Hunting Knife technique," Maggie said, wiping the blade clean. "Even Scholars need to know how to use a knife."
"..."
"Don’t just stand there," she said, sheathing her Hunting Knife. "Two more coming from the east."
Theodore looked back.
East of the rock, Edmund was locked in combat with two Swamp Corpses.
He’d hit one with a Cross Nail, but the Swamp Corpse only staggered, refusing to go down.
"Cross Nails don’t work well on thick-skinned targets," Edmund said, sounding frazzled as he backed away.
Richard circled around from the south side to the east.
As he circled around, he fired his third Silver Needle.
The Silver Needle struck the first Swamp Corpse in the face, and it collapsed onto the meadow.
The second Swamp Corpse had already crawled up to Edmund. The young man drew a Silver Dagger that had been dipped in Holy Water.
But the Silver Dagger was an ordinary weapon, ill-suited for a head-on clash with a thick-hided creature like the Swamp Corpse.
Edmund backed away.
As he fell back, he made the sign of the cross over his chest with his left hand and recited a line of Latin.
The Silver Dagger suddenly flashed.
He spun and swung the dagger. It sliced into the Swamp Corpse’s right forelimb, leaving a clean, smooth cut.
"What’s that?" Richard asked.
"Sanctification," the young man explained, dodging a spray of corrosive liquid. "It’s a temporary Enchantment for the Silver Dagger. Lasts ten seconds."
"It’s gone after ten seconds?"
"Then I have to say it again."
Taking advantage of the moment the Swamp Corpse’s forelimb was severed, Edmund swung twice more.
The first slash cut open its neck; the second severed its other forelimb.
"Nice," Richard said, landing the finishing blow. A Moon Nail plunged into the back of the Swamp Corpse’s head, ending its final spasms.
"Thanks," Edmund said, catching his breath. "This one was harder to deal with than all six of yesterday’s Enchanting Lamps combined."
"The difficult part about Swamp Corpses is their Mud Armor."
Captain Field’s voice carried from the perimeter. "Once you get through it, they’re soft on the inside."
"Good use of Sanctification."
"But Sanctification consumes a lot of Ether. As a Newcomer, you can use it twice at most before you’re running on empty."
"Understood," Edmund said, sheathing his Silver Dagger. "I’ll try to use it sparingly."
"Richard, your Moon Nails." Captain Field turned to him. "How many did you use today?"
"Four."
"Four nails for two and a half kills," Captain Field nodded. "Not bad."
"Thank you."

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