Chapter 121 Worries
After a whole week, Jack called everyone up from the cabin.
Liam opened his eye after cultivating his usual amount at midnight. His core contents were full, but his ‘Ora’ reserves grew by a lot since his breakthrough to the liquid-stage.
He made his way to the main deck, and the others were already there, gathered at the hull and overseeing the distance.
Liam traced their shocked gaze as he neared, and a slight smile appeared on his face. He zoomed his eye in to get a better look.
The Korsan lands came into view. Dark cumulous clouds canopied the unguarded black stony landscape that crimson waves washed upon.
At one point during the journey, the ocean waters transitioned to a blood-red color. Liam wasn’t too surprised by that – it was a known phenomenon that had something to do with the soil in Korsa.
…However, that didn’t explain the thick stench of blood that perforated through the air.
Besides that, the lands were hidden behind the thick mist. Unnerving, almost, if not for the crackling red lightning flashes that struck the surface of the grounds.
Even with the King’s Eye, Liam couldn’t see past a thick curtain of mist that oozed freely around the surface of those grounds. They weren’t normal by any means either.
“God, am I glad I’m not accompanying you guys,” Jack heaved a shocked sigh with his eyes stuck to the slowly nearing lands.
“Why is the lightning red too? Did I miss something in class again?” Nord looked to his companions and asked, but they were too fixated on the sight.
“I heard rumors that it rains blood in this place…” Gerald muttered under his breath, his eyes trembling slightly.
Nessa looked much calmer compared to before, a slight frown on her little face. After the shark attack, she had spent more time and effort into training with her staff.
On the other hand, Rin made a small smile.
“We’ll be reaching in two hours,” Jack stated. “Please make any final preparations you might need until then.”
Liam stayed at the main deck and watched as they approached. He felt like a Viking exploring new lands… which was exactly what he was doing.
‘The only thing missing are the trumpets that mark my landing,’ Liam thought with a growing smile.
It wouldn’t be truthful to say he wasn’t excited about the trip. If he could somehow find, study or kill a vampire – not in that particular order – it would do wonders for his Blood Weaving.
“If you somehow do find sentient races, you’re not advised to kill them,” Jack said, noticing the dark glimmer in Liam’s eye. “Only if they attack you first.”
Liam shrugged. They wouldn’t know the difference.
Soon enough, the ship neared the vast island. The booming thunder grew louder, and flashes of red light flickered behind the white mist.
Liam half-expected something huge to burst through the fog and assault them… but nothing of the sort happened.
Jack cautiously docked the ship, fitting it between an arched cavity inside the dark base of the island. It was almost too perfect of a place to hide in, since the arch provided a roof and a clean hiding place for the ship.
“Alright, this is where we part ways. I’ll stay here and fix up a base for you all to return to. You’ve all been given special artifacts, Jade’s and storage devices for your journey, so don’t hesitate to use them if your life is in danger. Your mission shouldn’t take more than six to seven months,” Jack addressed the crew with a slight smile. “Until then, good luck.”
Liam and the rest nodded. They all had their items readily stored in their ring.
“Let’s go.”
With that, the gangplank descended on the black and dark red soil. They jumped off and climbed to the foggy surface from a cliff.
On the surface, the mist was so thick, Liam couldn’t even see past five steps despite zooming in and out with his eye – it was even worse for the others. At the same time, an unnatural coldness caused everyone’s skin to stiffen.
Gerald and Nessa, who still had Rank 2 bodies, held their arms to still his shivering.
“Everyone bunch up and link to one another. Don’t let go no matter what. We don’t know if this fog belongs to a magical beast or some other creature, so stay alert.”
On Liam’s orders, everyone locked arms, weapons wielded as they marched forth. Liam was at the lead, with Gerald at the flank. Rin and Nord covered the sides, and Nessa was in the middle.
Not even mental energy could assess the silver fog, which made Liam frown in concern.
They didn’t get twenty steps in, before Gerald began uttering something inaudible. Due to the fog, he couldn’t see his figure clearly,
“Oi, what’s with him?” Nord questioned, but Liam frowned.
“I-I don’t know… wait, he’s not holding on to us anymore!” Nessa’s words caused everyone’s chest to sink.
“Gerald!” she shouted with panic, taking a step away before being yanked back by Liam.
“Don’t move,” Liam whispered, but Nessa didn’t look back at him. “We’ll look for him as a group. Don’t let emotions get in the way of your common sense.”
Nessa didn’t respond. Her attention was stuck to the distance… but she still couldn’t see through the fog. At least, Liam couldn’t, so how could she?
“What’s wrong with you?” Liam asked in a low voice, a bad feeling rising in his chest.
Nessa didn’t respond. Cryptically, she began mumbling, as though entranced by something she was seeing. Despite Liam’s grip on her robe, she broke free and walked forward, consumed by the fog.
“Oi! Where the fu…” Liam’s voice trailed off. His breathing grew heavy, with a grave frown scrunching his face.
Nord and Rin were gone too.
Gulping, Liam tightened the grip on his blades.
He noticed how the first to go was Gerald, the one with the weakest consciousness, followed by Nessa and the others.
Right as Liam was deducing what it was behind it all, a serene feeling made him feel like all his worries were melted away.
Chapter 122 Danger
Liam felt like he was going to drift to sleep. He was so… peaceful.
He’d never been that way since… well, forever.
His paranoia and desire was always at the forefront of his emotions, never letting him any reprieve.
He immediately realized how dumb that truly was.
People needed rest!
They needed to relax after some time.
All this talk about power and ambition and this and that… who cared about any of that?
Killing so many people because of a stupid dream… even his own mother died because of it.
He was still weak.
Even now, he couldn’t protect her even if she was alive.
Did Liam not have anything else to do? …Of course he did!
Sleep.
Liam wanted to desperately sleep.
His eye drooped drowsily again and again, but it would weakly flicker open once more.
The grip on his blade’s hilt grew loose, but something made him re-adjust and tighten it again.
Why?
Didn’t he want to relieve himself of the suffering? Of the pain? Of the paranoia and difficulty?
Liam wanted to sleep!
He wanted to sleep!
SLEEP!
SLEEEP!
“NO!”
Liam’s grip tightened on his short-sword, his eye bursting open.
SPURT!
Instantly, he stabbed his left thigh with it and used Thicken to get rid of the fatigue dulling down his senses.
Thick, warm blood poured down his leg, but that helped balance his cold skin.
Just like he thought, the pain paired with his increased mental strength blew away the silent assault on his consciousness. The thing that attempted to override his bodily controls recoiled.
Liam felt anger churning in the depths of his soul.
An icy pressure overpowered the cold air surrounding him.
Guilt, weakness, worthless ambition and stupid dreams?
“If you think my dream is as weak as your worthless tricks, think again!” Liam thundered.
Liam pointed his index forward.
A volatile, crimson ball shot through the air and lingered unstably for a split second, before—
Boom!
Instantly, all of the fog was blown away, revealing Liam’s crew huddled around a skinny, fog-made wraith, oozing thick mist from its figure.
It had an ethereal, semi-humanoid form, floating freely with the wind around it. Faint, ghostly lights were on its blank, featureless face. Eyes.
Rin, Nord, Nessa and Gerald looked entranced, their irises rolled back in their heads as they stumbled with their heads hanging loose.
The wraith let out a disturbing screech, pointing its thin ethereal ‘hand’ at Liam.
At once, everyone from his crew started to rush at him like zombies, their movements awkward, as though controlled by an untrained puppet-master.
Liam’s cold expression didn’t change.
Running forward, he passed Nessa first, chopping her once at the back of her neck after dodging a wide swing and knocking her out cold.
Gerald followed closely behind, and a similar attack sufficed for him.
Rin was next. She flew in the air to land a flaming punch, but Liam’s katana hilt landed on her abdomen, making her hurl and fall on the floor.
Nord attempted to land a flurry of speedy leg kicks, but Liam grabbed him by the ankle and pulled the boy’s face to his knee.
He made sure not to use excessive force. After all, he didn’t want to risk killing them and attempting to complete the rest of the mission alone.
Then, it was the wraith’s turn. It turned around and desperately tried to speed away, but Liam didn’t dare let it.
He activated Fleeting Foot and rushed to its side, his blades flaring with dark flames.
At once, his katana and wakizashi blurred, corroding parts of the wraith until it turned into a shrieking wisp of air – eventually puffing out of existence with one last hiss.
That felt satisfying.
Liam hated being controlled.
He already was, but not at least not literally. Having his dream demeaned was not something he took lightly, either.
“I’m not one to be deluded by the illusion of peace.”
With a scoff, Liam turned around and tended to his subordinates.
He carried each one of them on his back and shoulders, making his way to a secluded cave he spotted not too far away.
Now that Liam’s vision wasn’t obstructed, he took a good look at the landscape.
There were small hills made from obsidian rock and soil ahead, covered by bony trees with blood-red leaves on them, which made way to larger mountains further up in the distance.
Lightning hadn’t stopped striking those peaks for even a moment, the bright flashes of red tearing through the darkness provided by the clouds.
Liam barely caught sight of hidden shadows creeping through those areas, but their silhouettes were too shrouded to figure out what they were.
Shifting his attention to the borders where they climbed atop of, there were more wraiths, wandering around aimlessly and oozing thick fog. Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m nov𝒆lb(i)n.c(o)m
Even the spot where he’d blown away the fog using his chaos, another wraith quickly formed and covered it just as fast.
‘How do they form like that? This place lurks with danger at every corner,’ Liam thought with a frown, entering the cave.
He made sure there wasn’t anything living in that spot, before dropping his human luggage on the ground.
They couldn’t erect a base as of now. Gerald was given the artifact for that, but he was still out cold. He took a moment to take out his provisions and fill his stomach.
The first to wake up was Rin, her eyes weakly flickering open before she flinched aware and hectically scanned her surroundings.
An aching pain assaulted her abdomen, making her let out a soft grunt, but when her eyes fell on Liam, she gave him a ‘what happened?’ look.
Liam gestured towards the ghostly creatures in the distance. By then, Nord followed by the rest slowly awoke.
“You can begin documenting whatever that is. They have some sort of mental ability that forces one to fall asleep, giving them control over the subject if their consciousness isn’t strong. Darkness and presumably fire could vanquish them easily. That aside, we’ll work on finding a suitable place for a base next.”
Chapter 123 Corrupted
Rin frowned at the wraiths’ sight, but took out her inscribed notebook and started jotting away.
“How long was I out?” Nord asked, his nose cracked for some strange reason.
Nessa rubbed the back of her neck with a pained expression. “Where are we? What happened?”
Gerald grumbled in pain, muttering quiet curses as he cranked his neck.
Seeing those ghosts outside, their eyes trembled, with Nord cursing loudly.
“W-What is that?” Nessa asked with a narrowed gaze.
“I don’t know. Consider it a new species we’ve just discovered,” Liam mentioned casually, before shifting his gaze to Gerald. “You still have that item, right?”
Gerald nodded once, before taking out what looked like a square box from his ring, covered with inscriptions and runes on each side.
“We’ll look for a suitable place to use it. Having it this close to the border isn’t ideal – since we’ll have to explore further ahead anyways. We’ll rest here for one week and find out more about the surroundings, before setting out.”
With that, the group started to cultivate and bring their bodies to peak condition.
Nessa began to collect samples of the black and red soil, putting them in preserving vials to study and bring back.
Gerald began covering their temporary base with minor enhancing formations.
Formations were much easier to learn compared to inscriptions, but didn’t have the freedom of creating spells and any other magical construct.
One week quickly passed, and the group was to leave and explore the ‘Blood Forest’, as they dubbed it.
“We’ll start heading towards the hillside first. If it’s safe, we’ll find someplace there to camp in.”
With that, they left the cavity.
As they moved forward, Liam made sure to keep a keen eye out for anything that moved within the shadows, relying on his senses for any danger.
For some reason, mental waves couldn’t be spread too far apart. Something would interfere with it and pull it back, but Liam didn’t feel that to be from any living creature.
‘This place is much more complicated than I thought.’
They spent the next hour making their way up the hill, entering the forest and thoroughly examining the bony-white trees with the leaves that dripped with blood.
Cherry-like fruits hung from their branches, which Liam instinctively knew wasn’t safe to eat.
Even the trees themselves had this bloody aura, and ‘veins’ transporting that red liquid were throughout the trunk. nove(l)bi(n.)com
‘The ‘Ora’ around these lands are all stained by blood… why?’ Liam wondered with a pensive frown. ‘These lands are owned by the vampires, I’m sure. It definitely can’t be the same all throughout the continent’
He felt threatened being so near to the trees, but it didn’t attack, even after getting closer to them.
‘Maybe it only attacks if it’s provoked. We best avoid this for now.’
“I’ll grab a pair of these fruits to study and bring back, if that’s alright?” Nessa asked Liam with a respectful tone. “I’m sure this could be a precious material to create countless useful pills and elixirs.”
Liam nodded firmly.
“Just be careful when you’re handling it. There’s a reason this tree has survived this long.”
Nessa responded with a nod, putting on a pair of gloves before carefully extracting the berry from the stem.
Another hour passed.
Nothing out of the ordinary occurred.
Nessa hadn’t stopped writing in her inscribed notebook all throughout the journey, the landscapes, minute details and more.
Other than the sheer amount of trees and berries there, Liam didn’t sense anything unusual, except a river of blood-red water that led upwards and curved around a hill.
“This place is so unsettling… I should have never come!” Gerald cursed under his breath, pulling his black coat over his shoulder.
“Stop crying. You chose to come anyway, so shut your mouth and focus,” Nord harshly reprimanded. It was clear the boy was annoyed by Gerald’s cowardly antics.
“You don’t have to say it so rudely… he’s just a little bit scared. We all are,” Nessa added, patting Gerald on the back and giving him a smile. “Just hang in there, okay?”
“Not him,” Nord scoffed and pointed at Liam, then himself and Rin. “Not me, and not her. I thought only spoiled nobles were pussies, but he is too, apparently.”
Nessa frowned, the iron staff in her hands tightening.
“Shut up, all of you.”
Liam chose that moment to interfere as a low growling grew louder a short distance away.
Abruptly, a pack of blood-frenzied hounds shot through the woods, rushing straight to where Liam stood.
The hounds had dark crimson fur, unkempt and bloody. Four meters in length, their deep barks and howls shook through the air. It came as no surprise that their eyes were blood-red as well.
The most prominent and disturbing feature though, was the fact that each beast had two separate heads.
Liam let out an annoyed grunt. He just couldn’t catch a break.
Nord and Rin followed behind as he shot forth at the closest hound.
It attempted to pounce and devour Liam’s arm and leg simultaneously, but only found a katana and wakizashi piercing its jaws and dark smoke consuming its insides.
Although fierce and vicious looking, the pack of beasts were dealt with relatively easily.
Fire and darkness seemed to be their weakness. Rin had plenty of spells in her arsenal, and Nord helped bolster their effectiveness with his wind.
After killing the last bloodhound, Liam sliced apart its body and began to thoroughly examine its insides.
‘As I thought, their blood is corrupted,’ Liam assessed, extracting the blood-red core and examining it.
They were magical beasts.
Only, during the fight, the bloodhounds didn’t use their innate abilities. They grew razor-sharp claws made from blood that chipped away part of Liam’s blades as they fought.
However, Liam noticed how it actually damaged their bodies and worsened their conditions.
Liam moved to ask Rin about it, but the deaf girl was as lost as he was.
///
Meanwhile, a red flash of lightning briefly illuminated two silhouettes standing atop the peak of an obsidian mountain, their gazes fixed on five humans treading through the forest.
Chapter 124 Village
“Should we call for help?” a raspy voice suggested. The language spoken was foreign. “That short one seems like trouble.”
“No,” another declined. Feminine, this one was. “We’ll take care of them ourselves. We’ll get rewarded if we bring them in alive.”
“Y-You sure? I don’t want Vxich to get angry again. He always takes it out on me, you know?”
Silence.
“…Just shut up and let me do the planning.”
///
Liam stored the bloodhounds in his ring, with Rin grabbing one herself to study, document and presumably forge with.
They continued for a good hour of marching. Nessa picked up a bloody flower or herb from the sides, storing them in vials to study and bring back.
When they climbed over the mountain peak, grave frowns gripped their faces.
…At the foot of the mountain, there was a large human village.
Thick borders were erected around it, but humans freely walked around its streets.
There were even women and children among them.
“W-What… is this?” Nessa stammered, her eyes trembling at the sight. This chapter is updat𝓮d by nov(e)(l)biin.com
They walked like they were used to their surroundings and looked… normal? Happy, even.
There were cultivated fields for farms and regular homes for them to live in.
“They don’t look Echorian to me. Maybe they’re from a different country? Why are they here, though?” Nord added. Disturbed, but focused.
Past that, more mountains and hills covered the view ahead. Rivers of blood led further towards those landscapes, but the source wasn’t viewable.
Rin remained silent but shifted uncomfortably.
“I don’t want to be here anymore!” Gerald shouted with fear in his voice. “I’m leaving back to the ship, rewards be damned!”
“Oi, come back retard! You’re gonna get lost and die!” Nord shouted with a frown.
Liam shot Gerald a cold look.
“You already agreed to come,” he remarked with a glare. “But if you want to go back, that’s fine. Give me your ring.”
Liam stretched his hand, but Gerald paused. He went silent after that, but grumbled and swallowed his fear.
‘I wouldn’t have brought this guy if he was this cowardly,’ Liam clicked an inward tongue.
Shifting his attention to the human village, he would definitely explore it, maybe question its inhabitants.
“We’ll make our way in later. But first, the base.”
///
Liam spotted a decent place to camp in after two hours. It was a patch of empty land, right underneath a mountain formation that provided a dome-like roof.
They were attacked by another pack of bloodhounds, but they were swiftly dealt with and stored for later use.
“This should be a good place. Although we’re not too deep in, the mountain provides good cover. We’ll set it up here.”
Gerald walked forward and took out the inscribed box. Casually, he imbued it with ‘Ora’ and threw it a short distance away.
Anticlimactically, the box tumbled on the grass in silence and did nothing.
Just then, the box started to glow and hum. From barely the size of a fist, it spread out in a controlled fashion and rapidly grew, like a fastforwarding construction.
By the end of it, the tiny box had stemmed into a large square base the size of a large home.
It was only one story tall, but the material it was made from was sturdy and durable, even from a glance. In front, a circular door made from solid steel allowed for entry.
Liam promptly entered followed by the others.
The inside provided five different rooms, along with a forging station, alchemy lab, formation test-room and training space.
Looking around, Liam couldn’t help but think how the Royals thought of every little detail. Everything was tailored perfectly to suit everyone’s needs.
“I’ll start studying what we’ve gathered,” Nessa exclaimed with a smile, entering the alchemic labs and starting with the blood cherries. “My skills aren’t the best, but maybe I can find out what causes their mutations.”
“We’ll leave after a few hours and enter the village then.”
Liam nodded and made his way into one of the rooms, unloading all his miscellaneous items and fixing himself a spot to practice inscriptions and forging.
He took out a corrupted bloodhound and started to examine it, skinning its parts one by one and organizing them.
He didn’t dare attempt to use the Primordial Forging technique on it. Having his sea of consciousness corrupted was the last thing he wanted.
That said, it didn’t mean he couldn’t make something out of its parts and inscribe on its surface.
For the next three to two hours, that’s what he focused on doing.
The bones of the corrupted bloodhound were dark crimson, and much more difficult to manipulate and shape compared to normal beasts.
By the end of it, he managed to shape the bones to a six inch dagger, jagged but sharp, and the durability was quite good too.
The reason Liam was so fixated on working on daggers, was because from that form, he’d transition to working with wakizashis and katanas.
Forging weapons took time, effort and experience, but easing into his preferred weapon choice would be much better than starting with it straight away.
Liam swung against the bloodhound hide he had skinned earlier, and the jagged dagger sheared through it.
‘It’s better at inflicting grievous wounds, but not good at severing things.’
Then, Liam moved to refining his blood to inscribe the surface of the blade with.
An hour passed.
When his eye grew bloodshot and his head felt like it would explode, he decided to start inscribing.
Liam did the same sharpness enhancement, having re-adjusted the meanings and writings on its surface, it took another hour to finish inscribing everything.
At that point, he’d gotten good enough to make the inscription absorb his mental energy, and the inscriptions worked just fine.
Liam swung at the hide again, and it tore through it like butter… but cracks riddled its surface.
Liam widened his eyes in shock.
Although it wasn’t a complete success, it was still vastly better than his previous attempts.
‘Is it because of the blood?’
Chapter 125 Outsiders
Liam inspected the dagger from different angles.
‘That’s definitely why it worked. I barely adjusted the meanings and writings…’
‘There’s no other difference between this and normal magical beast parts except that. Besides, my entire inscription method is focused on blood, it’s no wonder it had such an amazing effect.’
Liam grew pensive.
Doesn’t that mean his inscriptions could be realms above others as long as he used corrupted beast parts?
Though, he would have to hold back his Primordial Forging technique in order not to suffer the corruption effects of the blood.
‘A perfect forged item would be one with both Primordial Forging and Blood Weaving working together… but I guess that’s not possible.’
But Liam thought about the availability of mutated and corrupted magical beasts.
‘I shouldn’t depend too heavily on it. I’ll continue normal studies on the side, until I figure out how to weave the two together.’
Finally, after another two hours of cultivating and expanding his mental sphere, it was time to leave.
“Me and Nord will go explore the village. You three stay behind and focus on… whatever it is you’re doing,” Liam said to Rin, Gerald and Nessa.
Rin quickly gestured to Nessa: ‘Tell him I want to come too.’
“No.”
Liam’s answer was immediate, causing the purple-haired girl to raise her brows.
He had already figured out the sign language Rin and Nessa used between themselves.
He didn’t want any plans made behind his back, and knowing it could help speed up their communications by plenty.
Mental transmission didn’t work well with her for some reason. Although she could receive them, she couldn’t relay them back.
The sea of consciousness expanded and developed from the brain, and by extension, the senses had to be functional before it awakened.
“You stay back with them in case there’s an attack. They’re weaker compared to you.”
Nessa and Gerald looked offended for a split second, but didn’t say anything.
Rin remained silent, before gesturing with a slight smile. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you understood me? I would’ve asked about your forging technique even more.’
Liam shook his head with a sigh, before leaving through the front door.
Nord lingered for a bit and gave the remaining three a proud smirk.
“Hear that, losers? I’m the one he took with him.”
Rin’s eyes turned cold as she slapped her left hand over her right elbow – her right fist clenched – a universal sign that needed no explanation.
///
Liam and Nord climbed up the mountain again, looking over the village again.
Perhaps because of their time to sleep, there weren’t too many people traversing its dark streets.
[Only use mental transmission,] Liam relayed with a focused face, his blades stored in his ring. [And don’t wield your glaive. If they’re normal humans, we could ask them questions.]
Nord gave him a firm nod from the side, before the two began treading down the slope.
As they got closer to the thick walls surrounding the space, Liam remarked the stains of dried blood all around it.
They belonged to corrupted beasts, he realized.
‘Someone killed them,’ Liam’s focus grew sharper. Suddenly, he felt like he was being watched. [Be careful. There’s someone around we need to be worried about.]
[Who?] Nord relayed.
[I don’t know. Chances are, they’re watching right now. Just act normal until they make a move, and don’t make it look like we’re communicating.]
Nord was smart enough not to nod in response.
Still, the thick black border walls were made from normal obsidian stone, the same material as the mountains.
The pair climbed over with a strong leap, then dropped down with a light step on wet, cultivated fields – atop which lay strange fruit that Liam didn’t recognize at all.
They were white and droplet shaped, but had a strange energy around them.
At the same time, Liam noticed how the sounds of thunder and lightning had been muted, replaced by a quiet stillness. This chapter is updat𝓮d by nov(e)(l)biin.com
[Someone’s coming,] Nord warned with a slight frown.
[It’s a normal farmer. Put on a smile,] Liam replied.
Opposite to them, an old man wearing a non-la cap and loose farming clothes came to the fields, when his squinted eyes spotted Liam and Nord, he flinched backwards, fear growing on his face.
“Greetings, senior!” Liam smiled warmly and made a friendly wave. “Can you help us out? We’ve lost our way.”
A chill ran down Nord’s spine at Liam’s sudden personality change. If he didn’t know any better he would’ve imagined it to be genuine.
The farmer looked like he didn’t understand, shooting Liam and Nord a skeptical gaze.
Seeing that their words received no response, Liam tried the vampiric language. “Do you understand me now?”
A look of surprise fell on the man’s face. He smiled, displaying his toothless mouth.
“…I do”. he responded in the same tongue, suspicion lessening. “Sorry I got scared, it’s just I haven’t seen you two before. Are you with the Outsiders?”
Liam waved a dismissive hand. “No, it’s my fault for showing abruptly and unannounced… but yes, I am.”
The old farmer beamed.
“Wonderful! It’s a bit early this year, but who will you bring out this time? Also, where’s Niveh and Shirzx?”
Liam pursed his lips.
Nord looked confused. Unlike Liam, he hadn’t spent a day in language class, and thus didn’t understand a single word. He simply played along and put on a forced smile.
“Why don’t you show me around and I can pick from there? I’m filling in for them at the moment, but don’t worry, they’ll return.”
Liam’s gentle smile seemed to melt away the man’s skepticism and worry. Although the boy’s accent was a bit off, he pronounced the words perfectly.
“Alright,” the old man nodded excitedly. “I’ll gather all the children around and bring them to you.”
Liam suppressed a deep frown from appearing on his face.
‘Children? Outsiders? Has this person never gone outside?’
The man turned around and used his hands to amplify his voice.
“Wake up, everyone! The Outsiders ha—”
Abruptly, the man froze, his movements tensing.
A bad feeling churned in Liam and Nord’s chest, the hair on their skin rising.
The man’s neck slowly creaked a whole 180 with a deathly look on his face.
Both of them contemplated unsheathing their weapons that instant, but a moment later, the man’s head rolled off his neck with a burst of blood.
Chapter 126 Heartless
Liam cursed and instantly took out his strongest blades, Nord doing the same with his lengthy glaive.
Both jumped back and created as much space as they could.
As the pair assessed where the invisible attacks came from, a red line formed on Nord’s shoulder.
SPURT!
A chunk of flesh tore off Nord’s body and flew through the air, even though the boy sidestepped to evade.
Nord growled in suppressed pain, but sharp wind swirled around his figure and coated his body to form air-made armor.
Liam’s blades blurred as he felt something lethal aiming for his flank.
He turned around just to see a nigh-invisible crimson thread attempting to cleave him in half, but a dual-swing of his blazing blades sharpened with Lethality Mantle severed the line.
“Show yourself, coward!” Nord shouted with scorn in his voice, blood pouring from his shoulder. Surprisingly, the boy had a good tolerance for pain.
Silence ensued.
With each passing second, the two grew more tense, their eyes narrowed to slits.
“You know, I’m surprised by how well you know how to speak our language,” an amused, feminine voice rang out from around them. It came from no specific direction, yet was heard loud and clear. “You’ve been taught well.”
Liam heaved a small sigh to keep his instincts in check.
Conversing to buy time wouldn’t hurt. At least, until he found out where she was hiding. Slow and silent, his mental energy started to spread.
“I take it you’re either Niveh or Shirzx? Why did you kill the old man first? I was under the impression he was with you.”
Silence.
“Your questions caused his death. A pity. He was the head farmer too. It’ll take us years before we grow another one.”
Grow another one?
Liam frowned, but didn’t stop. Nord’s condition was getting better by the second, bits of his shoulder were weaving together.
“I take it these people haven’t left this place for as long as they’ve lived. Why? Are all vampires as hostile and heartless as they say they are?”
Silence.
The voice let out an entertained chuckle. Liam didn’t know if she caught up to his ploy or was genuinely intrigued by his words.
“It’s ironic I hear a human say that. Do you shed tears for the cattle you farm?”
Liam scowled, glancing at Nord from the side.
The vermillion-eyed boy looked battle-ready. His shoulder was no longer a mangled mess of torn flesh, but plastered with reformed muscle tissue and pale skin.
“By the way, stalling for time isn’t the smartest move.”
That’s when it hit him.
All around their surroundings, imperceivable lines of crimson strung around the air, ground and sky. They were multiplying like bacteria, at a point that even Nord realized them.
Liam let out a grumble of irritation, clenching the blades in his hands tighter.
Then, he noticed a detail that instantly soothed his anger. The newer crimson threads that formed were significantly weaker looking compared to the old ones.
Whatever the vampire was doing, it was sacrificing strength for numbers, thinking the two humans wouldn’t notice.
Liam stilled a smile from showing on his face, then relayed to the fearful Nord. At the same time, he positioned himself so their backs were to each other.
[Follow my lead.]
///
Back at the base, Rin and the others continued their studies.
Gerald, although cowardly in confrontational aspects, was quite passionate in the art of formations.
“Formations are like art,” he mentioned to Nessa.
She and Gerald had actually gotten along quite well, and she quickly realized they had a lot in common.
“It just requires you to shape ‘Ora’ into specific ways using the earth as the canvas.”
“That’s the same thing with alchemy!” she beamed. Her warm smile made Gerald turn away to hide his blush. “Everyone underestimates it, but they all reap its benefits by using nourishing elixirs and pills!”
Rin, who was opposite them while examining the corrupted magical beast, currently wished her senses didn’t allow her to pick up on lip movements.
Originally, she had wanted to ask Nessa for her advice, but found her to be completely absorbed in meaningless chatter with the peasant boy.
Her disability often isolated her from others. Unless they knew how to gesture back, she was stuck with her own silent thoughts.
Shaking her head, she was just beginning to cultivate, when a blood-red pole – the tip of which was razor sharp – pierced through the front door and aimed right between her eyes. This chapter is updat𝓮d by nov(e)(l)biin.com
Rin cursed inwardly as she arched her back towards the ceiling, watching the pole whiz by where she was a second ago.
Nessa and Gerald instantly flinched at the sudden attack. The former stumbled to take out her staff, while the latter cursed loudly and took out his longsword.
Before the spear could continue on its trajectory and smash against the base wall… it redirected itself mid air, making a sharp turn towards Gerald’s direction!
The peasant wasn’t fast enough to block. He barely managed to sidestep the spear-like pole as it tore through his shoulder, falling back with a loud scream of pain.
Rin unsheathed her fang-like daggers just then to sever the red line with burning blades, succeeding in doing so, but her brows furrowed as she saw the pole melt and boil like blood.
“The backdoor!”
Nessa shouted hectically as she picked up the wounded Gerald and ran out the back, followed by Rin.
However, past the back door was a dead end. Blocked by the mountain. They couldn’t climb above it either, since the rocky dome covered the top.
“Lawrence and Nord!” Nessa screamed panickily, and Gerald’s shouts of pain had not stopped all throughout. “We need to regroup!”
Rin shot the pair a hard glare.
Nord was right. These two were beyond cowardly and weak.
She gestured dismissively: ‘Run. I’m staying behind.’
In Rin’s way of thinking, she didn’t want their base to be trashed as they sought help.
…And also, how long were they going to depend on Lawrence for?
The boy was two years younger than Rin yet the group would’ve fallen apart if he wasn’t there.
Rin clenched her daggers, sparks blazing in her eyes as she ran towards the front of the base to confront the attacker, ignoring Nessa’s pleading screams.
Chapter 127 Sun Bather
Rin’s eyes fell on the attacker opposite her. It didn’t take long for her to find him, but they weren’t particularly hiding their presence either.
Instinctively, she knew he wasn’t a human.
‘He’ was a slender looking youth, yet the cold look in his condescending crimson eyes made him look older.
His skin was ghostly white, and a smirk covered on his dim-red lips.
His jet-black hair was spiked upward, paired with his loose, sleeveless black garment that covered him from shoulder to shin, revealing a muscly body.
A particular feature Rin noticed was his nails. They were pure black and razor-edged.
“You’re fast, y’know? You have my compliments,” he praised, but the condescending look didn’t leave his face. “My name’s Shirzx. You are?”
Rin remained silent, but understood him.
Nessa and Gerald were hiding behind the base, with the former tending to the latter’s wounds.
With her daggers still in hand, she was polite enough to flip him the middle finger, a smirk on her face.
Although it didn’t look like he understood it, Shirzx instinctively knew that was not a friendly gesture.
A scowl made its way onto his pale face.
“Filthy sun-bather. Your blood will taste well on my claws.”
Shirzx smashed his palms together.
A jet-like stream of hardened blood burst from his hands and blurred at Rin.
Daggers blazing, she barely managed to deflect the piercing attack, responding with arcs of burning flames while closing the distance.
The vampire grimaced at the fire’s sight.
With a powerful stomp, he jumped back, but a blazing ball of fire met his trajectory.
Shirzx cursed loudly in the vampiric tongue. He evaded, but as the fireball passed by, his skin sizzled with its ambers.
Angrily, he slapped his hands again. This time, the hardened jetstream of blood was even faster.
Right as Rin attempted to cut it apart, it changed trajectory, turning into an unpredictable beeline.
Rin’s unblinking eyes tracked them all throughout. Just then, it made a direct line to shoot at her abdomen.
She deflected it with ease, severing its sharp tip and turning the rest to a boiling liquid with her flames.
…Yet failed to realize that Shirzx had left his spot and reappeared behind her back.
A gnarly clawmark tore away Rin’s back flesh as she dodged with a low yelp and shot another flurry of flaming arcs at the vampire’s figure – he dodged with ease and re-adjusted his footing at a safe distance.
“Tasty… so tasty! I’ve never had such delicious blood before,” Shirzx exclaimed, licking away the chunks of flesh and blood from his claws. He wheezed euphorically with his tongue out.
Rin looked grave. Pissed, more like. Silent as ever, she took out a magical beast core from her ring… then crushed it between her molars!
Rin let out a long grunt of anguish that made her throat coarse, under the confused vampire’s eyes. By the end of it, she opened her cold violet eyes with contrasting flames in them.
Nessa and Gerald had been watching from behind the base. Having tended to the boy’s wounds, she instantly wanted to go and support Rin… but her limbs were trembling in fright.
‘Damn this weakness!’ New n𝙤vel chapters are published on
…Suddenly, Rin dropped her blades to her sides. Her face dark and indiscernible.
“What is she doing?” Gerald whisperingly shouted.
Rin’s form blurred.
The vampire looked confused for a split second, but fear gripped his Nexus like a snake constricting around prey.
Shirzx barely felt a soft gust of wind on his pale skin, then yanked his neck to look at the side where Rin slid past him.
Her cheeks were puffed with air, and her neck bulging with thick veins. As she opened her mouth, a lance of flames burst forth, like a dragon’s breath.
///
Liam felt a lot more confident now that he had a grip on the situation.
At one point, the wafer-thin threads even stopped multiplying. An incomplete blood-cocoon of sorts encased the two.
[I hope you have a plan for this,] Nord relayed with a scowl.
[When I say switch, change places with me,] Liam responded, wrapping his blades with Dark Chains.
Seeing that the cocoon didn’t make the first move, four needles formed in Liam’s right hand.
He threw them at the areas where the strings were the strongest, watching as the smoke corroded their tensile strength.
That seemed to stir up a reaction. Instantly, the cocoon started to shoot strings at them from random directions, which Liam’s darkness and Nord’s wind started to split with relative ease.
[Switch!]
Liam shouted mentally as he spotted a particular crimson line that looked vastly stronger than the others.
Nord instantly sidestepped as Liam took his place, activating Cartilage Brace and splitting the horizontal line down the middle with his first and second form.
The string stubbornly held on, but eventually snapped.
A dance of death followed. Strings relentlessly bombarded the two from every direction, but the strongest attacks were cleverly blended in between weaker ones.
“How! How do you know where they come from?!” the feminine voice shrieked, but sounded like it regretted it right after.
A crooked smile appeared on Liam’s face. He knew where she was.
[Switch!]
[Switch!]
[Switch!]
Blood drenched their figures completely. Their defense wasn’t impregnable, and the pair had to sacrifice more than a few chunks of flesh to survive.
After the fifth and final switch, the cocoon was left with nothing but frail strings.
With the last thread cut, Liam instantly ran to one of the village homes, bursting through the front door with a kick and hurling his swords at a pale-skinned girl hiding there.
She let out a long screech – the two swords pinning her bloodied arms to the wall – that Liam silenced with a powerful shin kick, shattering more than a few of her teeth.
The girl had silver hair and blood-red eyes. She was short, wearing a white garment that hid her figure.
Despite the pain washing over his senses, Liam managed a crooked smile.
Chapter 128 Citadel
“Sun-bathers! I swear, I’ll tear out your organs and eat you alive once I get fre—”
Another kick shattered the remaining fangs in the vampire’s mouth.
“I’d watch my mouth closely if I were you. I’ll gouge out your eyes next. We’ll see if you can regrow a limb or organ.”
Niveh flinched. The cold glimmer in Liam’s eye didn’t match any human she’d seen in the past. It made her wonder if the boy in front of her was truly human, or a demon pretending to be one.
Her mangled arms were already starting to squirm together and reform. Her regeneration was much, much faster compared to Liam and Nord’s.
‘Can they really regrow limbs?’ Liam wondered, before taking a moment to assess her aura.
Converging on her left breast, Liam could see an influx of blood-red energies rapidly swirling. That was the Nexus, he was sure. As the wound on her arms healed, Liam spotted the energies slightly dimming to reform the flesh.
The blood of the vampire wasn’t like humans’ either, it was much more bright. Zooming in his retina, it even had different shades of red that signified its purity and impurity.
Nord caught up a moment later.
As his eyes fell on the vampire, his glaive flashed and nearly severed her neck clean off. Liam stopped it in the nick of time.
The boy glared, but Liam reassured with a calm smile. Updated from nov𝒆lbIn.(c)om
“She’ll be our guide.”
Liam clarified with a knowing smile, before shifting her attention to the maimed Niveh pinned to the wall.
“You’ll comply, right? You don’t have much of a choice, though.”
They were yet to explore and understand the layout and politics of the Korsan continent. Nor did they understand why the vampires were ‘growing’ humans in farms, or who supplied them those humans in the first place.
Well, Liam had a few theories, but still. Subduing an actual vampire would do wonders for their progress.
Absorbed in his musings, Liam suddenly realized there was a second party missing.
‘Shirzx,’ he thought, taking out his Jade and calling Nessa and the others. It flickered to life, and Nessa’s voice rang out.
“We’re okay. We were attacked by a vampire, but Rin took care of it. What about you two?”
Liam heaved a relieved sigh.
“We’re fine. We’ll bring back a guest shortly.”
Thankfully, none of the villagers had woken up, as the cultivated fields were still a good distance away from the main village housings.
///
To Liam’s dismay, Rin had swiftly taken care of the other vampire, who now resembled an insignificant burn mark on the ground, ashes swept away by the wind.
It was a pity, Liam realized. He would have liked to study the Nexus and blood… but no fret.
Niveh was still well and alive, although distraught and sorrowful at the other vampire’s sight.
That said, Rin looked incredibly worn out and tired – her lips were pale and… burnt? Nessa had given her multiple pills that brought back her complexion, but she still looked exhausted.
“You’ve done well,” Liam complimented and exchanged an understanding nod with her.
Meanwhile, Niveh had a stubborn look on her face as Nord held her at glaive. They brought her inside the base and examined her for any devices, but she had nothing.
Liam dismissed Nessa and Gerald despite their protests. They were promptly tasked with fixing the base.
“Unless you two can stomach torture, there’s no reason for you to stay around.”
With a pout and a grumble, they stood outside the door.
With that, Liam, Nord and Rin stood opposite to the tied up Niveh seated on a chair.
“First question. Who do you work under? This isn’t an operation between just two vampires,” Liam asked with an inquisitive gaze.
Too much pressure wasn’t good when interrogating someone heartbroken. He’d hold off the threats for the time being.
Niveh had her head lowered, her solemn gaze to the ground. Slowly, she raised it, then spat on the floor with a toothless mouth.
“Kill yourself.”
Liam sighed and shook his head.
He gently took Niveh’s hand in his own, delicately wrapping her fingers around hers like a loving spouse. She looked confused, her brows furrowed in misunderstanding.
“Wrong answer.”
CRACK!
Liam clenched and bent Niveh’s hand forward, breaking her wrist.
Her high-pitched screams echoed throughout the base. Gerald and Nessa shivered as they heard it, glad they chose to leave.
“Try again?” Liam offered, wrapping his fingers around her left this time.
Rin and Nord’s expressions didn’t change, but they made a strict mental note not to make an enemy of Lawrence.
Waiting for her breathing to steady, Liam calmly waited for an answer.
“We all work for those in the Citadel,” she said, breathing erratically between words. She honestly felt like weeping. “We farm the humans and… throw them to the Feeding Grounds.”
Liam remained silent. Niveh continued, shifting uncomfortably. With a reluctant tone, she continued:
“Not all of us are sentient. The Feeding Grounds are places where lesser vampires grow their Nexus and purify their blood. They kill and feed off each other until one eventually evolves. Ours is right past that mountain.”
The three absorbed the info silently.
A brutal way of advancing, that was for sure, but damn if it wasn’t efficient.
“I assume that’s what you and the other one did?”
Niveh nodded.
“How many Feeding Grounds are there, and were you the only two operating it?” Liam asked. “How did you use your strings? You didn’t explain what the Citadel is, either.”
Niveh clicked her tongue in frustration. Bits of her hand started to reform again, and her fangs were starting to regrow.
“I don’t know the exact number, but there are eight different Feeding Grounds on this side of the mountain chain. And no, that’s reserved for someone higher Ranked. I myself am Rank 2, and Shirzx was a little weaker than me.”
“Above us is someone named Vxich, the Blooder, a complete Rank 3. You cannot defeat him, not even three of you together.”
Niveh paused, furrowing her brows.
“And they’re called Blood Arts! Not… ‘strings’. The Citadel is where the upper echelon of vampires live. The strongest and most influential of them… and also where our beloved Pashah lives. What are you people doing here anyway?”
Liam didn’t respond.
‘I underestimated how advanced they could be. Clearly they’re not mindless monsters… to think they had their own society.’
After a short pause, Liam couldn’t help but ask.
“How do your Blood Arts work?”
Chapter 129 Conditions
Niveh scoffed proudly with disdain in her tone.
“It’s not something you can just learn in one day. Every one of our Arts takes a lifetime to learn and adapt to. It’s a fighting style we choose and remain with for the rest of our lives. Unless you have a Rank 3 Nexus, you can’t choose another.”
Liam hummed thoughtfully. He took another look at Niveh’s palms.
A thin red line began from the tip of her fingers, then ran up to the top of her hand and down her arm. Those were where the strings exited from.
They were also made from their blood, and their hardness, strength and usage would depend on what Rank it was.
Interesting. He had actually thought of recreating that art into a spell or technique to use. It sounded incredibly useful and powerful, but no doubt difficult and hard to make. He wouldn’t give up on that train of thought just yet, though.
“This Vxich person. Where is he?”
Nineveh looked like she didn’t want to answer… but Liam’s gentle hand hadn’t left hers.
“…North of the Feeding Grounds. There’s a station there.” New n𝙤vel chapters are published on
Liam nodded, then proceeded to ask a few more questions.
In short, there were roughly 10 ‘upper vampires’ – vampires with sentience and a Rank 2 Nexus – and one Rank 3 ‘higher vampire’ – Vxich, within each station.
Moreover, the Citadel was roughly a month or two away from where they were, towards the north. But there were multiple villages, Feeding Grounds and borders that needed passing before they got there.
Not to mention, they’d have to pass by Vxich’s territory too.
It was risky. Kalia’s words rang in Liam’s mind, not to go to dangerous and mainstream locations if it risked their lives.
But gaining information about how the vampires functioned and advanced would be extremely rewarding, both for himself, and the prizes he was to receive.
Liam didn’t forget to ask where they received the humans from, but Niveh honestly didn’t know.
It could have been any country surrounding the Korsan continent, perhaps even Echoria had a dark hand to play in it.
Though, Liam wouldn’t trust every word the vampire told them.
Unsurprisingly, vampires had a glaring weakness – sunlight. They couldn’t kidnap the humans even if they wanted to, which meant someone had supplied them with it.
[I say we go towards the Citadel,] Liam transmitted to Nord and Rin. [If at any point it gets dangerous, we can leave… but we’ve hit the motherload.]
In all honesty, he would’ve liked to make the sole decision himself and go there without conferring with his crew… but Nord and Rin had earned some respect from him.
Not to mention, it was practically impossible for him to do it alone. Nessa and Gerald… well, they had no say in the matter.
[I’ll go,] Nord relayed after a short pause. [It’s not like I have anything better to do.]
Rin looked pensive, but gestured with a nod.
‘I’ll go too.’
“It’s decided then. We’ll be heading to the Citadel.”
Niveh scowled with shocked eyes.
“Did you not hear a word I just said?! Your little squad can’t do anything against them! The Blooder can kill ten of you if he wants!”
Liam hummed noncommittally. There was fear in the vampire’s tone, but not at him, at her superior.
“Well, with how much you’ve told us, you would get butchered with us if he found out, wouldn’t you?”
Niveh flinched, then lowered her head with a frustrated and defeated look.
Liam smiled, then let go of her hand.
“It doesn’t have to be that way… I have a proposition.”
///
Liam’s ‘proposition’ was something that benefited both sides. Niveh would be a guide of her own freewill, and Liam’s crew wouldn’t kill her, nor tell the Blooder of her betrayal.
…Also, if things went well, he could quietly bring back the vampire to Echoria.
The more Niveh spoke, the more Liam realized that she really didn’t like her circumstances.
Vampiric society was apparently much more ruthless than he imagined.
By their standards, Niveh was still young, only 46 years old. Her age was a shock to Liam and the others, but he supposed that was in line with their cultivation journey. Just two centers of power yet it took a very long time to purify and evolve them to a higher Rank.
That said, Niveh wasn’t overjoyed with her life here in the Korsan continent. Most of all, she hated her superior with a flaming passion for all the torture she’d gone through by his hand.
It took a little bit of convincing, but she eventually agreed on certain conditions.
“I don’t want to get tortured and dissected for your kind to see my insides. And I… I want a house of my own, and my own supply of food and other… things.”
Liam gave her a strange look.
“Is that all?”
Niveh nodded after some thought.
Liam left the room and gave Jack a call, explaining what they’ve been doing over the course of two weeks.
“What?! You want to bring a vampire back to Echoria? And she agreed to this demand?” Jack said incredulously.
“She has,” Liam responded casually. “Can you get permission from the Royals?”
Silence.
“I’ll try and get back to you.”
Jack explained what he’d been doing in the meantime before hanging up. He’d been creating formations around the ship to establish a proper safezone. Blood piranhas attacked the ship more than once, apparently.
An hour later, Jack gave them the OK.
“We have a deal,” Liam gave Niveh a firm handshake, though she thought he would break her hand again. “Oh, and there’s one more condition.”
Niveh gave him a confused look.
“You’ll have to let me cut you apart now and again for some light experimentation. At least, until I find someone else to experiment on. Oh, and you’ll have to teach me your Blood Arts.”
“That’s two conditions!” Niveh protested angrily. “And are you sick in the head?”
Liam shrugged, then put on a thinking face.
“Or maybe I should cut you apart anyway and find someone else to replace you with…”
Chapter 130 Shock
“Ugh, fine!”
Niveh grumbled with a frown, then impatiently gestured to the tight rope binding her.
Liam pursed his lips. Nord and Rin gave him a knowing side glance, but he decided to cut it open anyways.
“You’re smart enough not to try anything ambitious.”
Niveh gripped her right wrist and let out another scoff of disdain.
“To think someone like you called me heartless.”
Nord and Rin let out a brief chuckle at her words. Liam shrugged it off.
“Stay in my room for the time being. Rin, you can begin taking notes now. Make sure not to leave any details out, not even the size of their organs or how they reproduce. We’ll head out to the Feeding Grounds soon.”
Concern grew on Niveh’s face. Just how cruel was this filthy sun-bather?!
Liam entered the forgery as Nord entered the practice room.
Nessa stood there with an inquisitive look, and Liam filled her in on what they wanted to do. Instantly, she entered the room with Rin and began enthusiastically asking questions.
Apparently, Niveh had become a ‘friend’ to the group.
Liam hadn’t completed his daily cultivation and training with the Psionic Rune, and he started with that.
Three hours passed, and Liam concluded with his quiet cultivation. He finally decided to make use of his beast-will plan, using it to speed up his sea of consciousness expansion.
‘I’m very close… It’s time I start with a Rank 3 beast.’
Liam took out a Rank 3 Shadow Hog – a large hedgehog-looking magical beast with dark spines on its back – from his ring and placed it atop the forging table. Dissecting it piece by piece, he began shaping the black spikes into a sharp blade.
Although he wasn’t intent on using the beast-will straight away, he would eventually try and turn it into a proper weapon he could use. After an hour, the spikes turned into a shortsword of his liking.
Once he finished with that, he popped a translucent ‘coating’ pill that helped strengthen his mind walls with temporary protection. Taking the core in hand, he crushed it and absorbed the essence.
Within his mental sphere, large blobs of mental energy started to converge in the center. A mountainous pressure made the transparent barrier tremble, but the coating held on.
Slowly, the hedgehog – which now looked three times its original size – formed fully and let out a deafening screech.
Liam winced, but didn’t wait for its next move. He flashed mid air and began forming countless cuts on its ethereal body, starting with the spikes that looked like they were ready to shoot out at any second.
Now that his consciousness had improved to an amazing level, his ability to weaponize mental energy had naturally gotten better.
He successfully cut off the spikes one by one using his swords, causing the hedgehog to shriek again and ram the walls with all his might.
With each collision, Liam felt like the inside of his head was being hammered with a nail.
It made him flinch each time, but his blades hadn’t stopped moving.
Eventually, the hedgehog’s presence started to regress. Unfortunately, it still had a raging anger that made it uncaring of its body, relentlessly thrashing Liam’s mind.
Finally, it was over. Liam had marred the entire hedgehog’s body enough that it stopped moving, then added on multiple layering of energy. New n𝙤vel chapters are published on
A Rank 3 beast-will was vastly, vastly different from its predecessor. Liam could see that its raging remnants were much more potent and so was everything else about it. It was larger too, vibrating with a jarring hymn.
Liam opened his bloodshot eye to reality, only to see Rin opposite him, inspecting his forged item with a child-like curiosity.
“What?” Liam couldn’t really be bothered with pleasantries. Speaking made his headache worse.
Rin realized that Liam had opened his eye and quickly put the blade back down. ‘I’m done with the questioning.’
Rin’s pensive gaze lingered on the forged item for a split second before she left.
Liam carefully entered back into his room, vigilant for any crimson threads. There weren’t any.
Niveh casually browsed through his things like they were her own. He slapped away her pale hands, receiving a sharp glare.
“Stop acting like a child. You’re 33 years older than me.”
That seemed to offend the vampire even more, but she was more than shocked to learn how young Liam was.
“You’re healed up now, so I’ll take a bit of your blood.”
Liam took out his shortsword, making the girl sigh. Although she’d gotten away from one torture, she’d jumped headfirst into another.
Uncaringly, Liam made a long vertical cut across Niveh’s arm, collecting every drop of her blood in a large glass potion. It looked much purer compared to before, as the girl had time to rest and let her Nexus do the work.
“What are you going to do with it, weirdo?” Niveh insulted in child-like fashion. She was surprisingly an idiot.
Liam ignored her and inspected the glistening blood with the King’s Eye.
He’d have to study it keenly if he wanted to improve his Blood Weaving – even learning how to enhance the ink would allow for better links and meanings.
Absorbing it into his bloodstream was also on the table, but he would have to make sure it wouldn’t do any harm.
“Once we relocate the base, start showing me how your Blood Art works.”
He stored the potion in his ring before shifting his gaze to Niveh.
“Bring us to the Feeding Grounds. We’ll start heading towards the Citadel now.”
Niveh grew stern, but agreed nonetheless.
Gerald and Nessa were just about done with fixing up the remaining wreckage of the base. Thankfully, its inscriptions weren’t damaged.
Liam gathered everyone outside, and Gerald placed his hand on a certain part of the base wall, imbuing it with ‘Ora’.
The base started to shrink just as fast as it was built.
From there, a week passed as the group arduously traveled across the mountain chain and took short breaks for cultivation and food in between.
Liam couldn’t help but raise his brows in shock as he and the rest finally made it over the mountain.
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