Born In Blood Chapter 131-140

Chapter 131 Mistake

Throughout the past week, the group had passed by several more human ‘farms’, for lack of a better word.

Nessa wanted to save them. Liam denied her train of thought in an instant for obvious reasons.

They were invaders, and needed to keep their presence at a minimum. That caused a slight rift to form between one side of the group, with Gerald shamelessly siding with the petite noble.

Pretty soon, it was apparent their intrusion would be widespread.

One of the vampires overseeing a Feeding Ground had been killed, and the other was currently in their expedition party as a guide.

To lessen the effect, Liam had Niveh clean up the head farmer’s body before anyone noticed it.

The humans weren’t allowed to leave their village, but on rare occasions, some were brave enough to escape, only to find out the truth and have their fates sealed.

Meanwhile, over the foggy mountain cliff, hisses, growls and shrieks mixed with thunder created a cacophony of morbid sounds.

Around a vast square border, vampires – thousands in number – unclothed and violent, fought to the death, killing and dying in a chaotic dance of demise.

Their bulging eyeballs were pure white as they ravaged each other mindlessly in the most brutal of ways. Blood flew across the field like water, overflowing till shin height.

Liam spotted some clawing each other’s necks off, others tearing off limbs and gnawing them, with few piercing another’s Nexus and absorbing their life force. It was relentless, and didn’t stop for a single second.

Liam noticed a couple with intenser auras than the rest, which were probably the closest to evolving.

Gerald’s stomach couldn’t handle the scene. His stomach hurled and emptied its contents.

Nessa went ghastly pale and felt her knees weaken. Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m nov𝒆lb(i)n.c(o)m

Even Nord and Rin looked stunned, but Liam was somehow captivated by the sight.

Thankfully, no one caught that look in his bloodshot eye – muddied red from having the beast will inside his head for a prolonged period of time.

‘So that’s why this entire place is dyed red.’

Liam shifted his attention over to the horizon. Zooming in, he could make out a faint silhouette of a city through the thick silver mist, lit up by flashes of dim crimson lightning.

On the mountain chain opposite to them, was a large border that followed the rocky landscape’s peaks and troughs.

Atop one of the peaks, was an obsidian spire, twisting above the foggy clouds. Lightning struck it more than once, but it remained stubbornly standing.

Below that were eccentrically shaped buildings – arched obsidian stone interwoven with bony-white wood – precisely lining the sides.

“That’s where Vxich is if you want to fulfill your death wish,” Niveh added casually.

Gerald hadn’t stopped vomiting, gaining him a look of pity from the vampire.

“What’s the easiest way to pass through without being noticed?” Liam asked.

“There really isn’t, since each of the Blooder’s goons hold a section of the border. It stretches out and connects to another Feeding Ground anyways, so you can’t go around.”

“I could lead you all in, but even I haven’t explored the base fully,” Niveh said bitterly. “They have much more powerful abilities compared to mine, and I don’t even know the full extent of them.”

…Unfortunate circumstances.

Liam wasn’t discouraged, though. Niveh’s abilities could come in handy, and nothing could go wrong with a bit of pre-prepared planning.

They would execute in two weeks. Nord had surprisingly found a good place to place the base in, and the group went dormant.

///

Liam was just about to complete his daily cultivation for the day when he felt his core slightly tremble.

‘Is it happening?’ he thought with an excited smile.

The liquid in his organ started to swirl and merge with itself. Amazingly, Liam felt pangs of extreme warmth and cold at the same time while the process took root.

Moreover, his core walls, that he’d been expanding throughout the past year or so, began to shrink at a rapid rate.

In reality, the core walls wanted to collapse due to the transition to a different state, but Liam had to strenuously hold back the organ before it could do so.

In the span of a minute, Liam’s liquid ‘Ora’ started to converge into a single shard of dark red world essence.

He had finally entered the solid-stage!

His progress has been significantly bolstered by being near an ‘Ora’ Well, and through the many pills he had consumed.

Liam instantly began absorbing ‘Ora’, smiling as both his natural abilities and prowess increased substantially.

After another hour of cultivating, he didn’t wait to test out its effects.

He opened his palm. Darkness, more saturated in shade and fervid, swerved in between his fingers to form a sleek Umbral Needle.

Liam nodded in approval as he saw how sharper and deadlier the spell looked – the tip was much sharper, and its form wasn’t as ethereal as before.

Before, his usage limit with the needles was roughly 7 or 8 times, but now, he could double that amount with ease, even factoring in other spells.

Liam couldn’t help but smile again, but his gaze turned hard a moment later.

‘What about my chaos?’

Sometimes, Liam would genuinely forget he was a dual-elementalist. Except now and again, his chaos would extend a helping hand during difficult circumstances.

He knew too little about its origins, why he had it, and why it was so damn dangerous… but answers didn’t come on a silver platter.

Seeing that there wasn’t anyone around, Liam silently pulled out a minute strand of chaos from his core. His ability to manipulate the element had become much smoother with his advancement.

Liam used the same amount he’d always done – a finger-nail sized amount.

He watched with keen eyes as the chaos exited his index.

Brightening in shade wasn’t the only thing his chaos underwent – Liam could see that it was practically begging to burst. The dangerous and volatile nature had become… well, more chaotic.

He instantly regretted his decision to use the same amount, since within the next second, it—

BOOM!

The explosion made everyone burst into his room thinking there was another attack, but didn’t find any signs of it.

Liam coughed into his fist and spoke as though nothing happened.

“Forging mistake.”

Chapter 132 Hulking

After concluding his explanation, his crew had left, but not before giving him suspicious looks.

Having made their plan, they would set out in a moment, but not before Liam had concluded a few things.

With a sigh, Liam took out his shortsword made from the Rank 3 hedgehog spikes.

It was streamlined and resembled his own shortsword to a sense, but without the intricate details that Rogan had cared to put.

‘I can make one much better but I’ll have to hold off as of now.’

The beast will hadn’t left his mind for the entirety of the two and a half weeks. New n𝙤vel chapters are published on

Though the pain eventually simmered down to a tolerable amount, he had to hold off any forgings or inscriptions.

Now that they were ready to engage the enemy, Liam decided to use it to be in peak condition.

Entering his sea of consciousness, Liam inspected the beast will.

To his surprise, it was a lot more… tamed.

The enraged remnants of the beast had dimmed subdued, while it didn’t look as volatile and unstable as before.

‘Wait, if I keep it in my mind long enough, it’ll make the wills easier to forge with?’

Liam cursed himself for not realizing that sooner.

Exposing those energies to his mental sphere was bound to have some sort of effect.

Maybe the same could even be true for refined blood…

The only downside was the cruel pain he was to bear with, but then again, he had gotten quite good at that feat.

Done with his musings, Liam gently pulled out the beast will and began to force it through the shortsword.

Like he thought, it was much less difficult to control!

Though, unlike his previous forgings, he was using a Rank 3 beast will.

Naturally, using higher ranked materials was more challenging, but Liam had the basics down enough to dip his toe in a bigger pool.

That, and his advance to the solid-stage helped massively.

The beast will slowly seeped into the blade’s center, then, by Liam’s command, spread like a slow moving liquid to the opposite ends.

Even with Liam’s experience and advancement, the process made sweat dribble down his pale face.

By the end of it, more than one-fifth of the beast will had entered through his blade!

Although that sounded like less, his usual forgings with the Rank 2 beast will worked only with one-eighth, even as a lower form of material.

Even that was extraordinary, as his experience with forging was diminutive compared to others his age.

The King’s Eye was an instrumental help, helping him direct both his inscription writings and forging.

Before he could do more, the rest of the will withered away. Liam smiled nonetheless.

He picked up the shortsword, cutting the air with it.

As he did so with precise moves, Liam imbued it with ‘Ora’.

Jagged spikes of different lengths burst unevenly through the blade’s edge.

Liam nodded in approval. The blade lost a bit of its sharpness, but he didn’t mind.

‘We should leave now.’

Besides his forging, he had experimented a bit with Niveh’s blood and Blood Arts, but his studies hadn’t bore too much fruit.

He wanted to know if there was a way for his own blood to imitate the wondrous effects of a vampire’s, both in capability and regeneration… but anyone would rightly call him a lunatic for it.

There was a reason vampires had an entire center of power for that exact purpose. For humans, there was no such organ.

Liam didn’t go as far to think he could miraculously make another center of power… but he didn’t think it required him to. There had to be a middle ground.

‘Cultivation is endless. It’s possible, I just need to find a way.’

He stored the blade and left the room, where the rest of the group were huddled around the entrance door.

Everyone had bags under their eyes from their respective specializations and training except Niveh.

Liam’s plan to pass through the Blooder’s territory was absolutely reckless and maniacal. Gerald, Nessa and Niveh made sure he knew it too.

From the ten upper vampires that held the border walls, the Red Hammer, Zvehm, was the weakest according to Niveh’s assessment.

The other nine had glamorous nicknames like Death Fang, Blood Claw, Vicious Bite, and so on.

With their numbers and strengths, Niveh mentioned that it was impossible for Liam’s group to kill them all together.

Also, it wasn’t going to be easy to pass by without triggering special traps that the vampires had set all around the base.

Vampires weren’t exactly primitive in terms of magical items or techniques. They had their own ways to create formations and inscriptions, but Niveh didn’t know any methods herself.

All she knew was that if you passed the border without express authority, the Blooder would know of your location instantly.

…Thus, Liam decided to discreetly assassinate every one of the upper vampires one by one, starting with Red Hammer, before singling out the Blooder as the ‘final boss.’

They called him a madman.

“You don’t think he’ll alert his superiors if we pass by without killing him? Then, it won’t be just eleven against six, we’ll get slaughtered by everyone in the city.”

His words were inarguable.

As such, they silently made their way towards the spire with intent to kill.

///

Getting there wasn’t difficult. A few corrupted ‘snakes’ had attacked them in packs, but Niveh managed to kill those out using her Blood Arts.

Four days passed as they followed a narrow route towards the Red Hammers section of the border, attacked by different kinds of corrupted magical beasts.

According to Niveh, the Red Hammer, Zvehm, would regularly hunt wild beasts for amusement and to practice his Blood Arts on.

Thus, the group hid themselves and patiently waited for the man to come out.

After another two days, he finally did. Gerald almost yelped when he saw the Red Hammer’s hulking stature, which resembled a towering bear’s.

Chapter 133 Danger

Zvehm was roughly 2.1 meters in height. He wore a hairy red tunic made from bloodhound will that covered his lower body, while his pale muscular chest and massive arms were left bare.

Like his moniker suggested, a giant hammer made from hardened blood hung on his shoulder, which he haughtily walked around with.

His jaw was square, eyes crimson, while unkempt jet-black hair fell behind his back.

With large steps, he trodded down the mountain slope and headed straight towards the forest.

Silently, the group pursued.

With their presences hidden, it wasn’t possible for Zvehm to know he was being trailed.

Three hours passed.

The Red Hammer found a group of corrupted hyenas, his pale lips cracking to a wicked smile.

One after the other, thunderous bangs and booms resounded through the small forested area.

Zvehm had shattered the hyena’s skulls one after the other, brain matter and viscera splattering across the bloodied trees.

The man’s guttural and thrilled laughter sounded like a murderer reveling in his kills.

Liam’s eye flashed coldly.

Sliding his feet across the wooden branch he perched on, he erupted forward with his blades aiming straight for the Red Hammer’s neck.

Zvehm yanked his neck to where the tree branch fell, only to see the wrong side of a katana and wakizashi.

His neck barely pulled back at the nick of time before getting severed but caustic black flames marred his face, making him grunt in pain and anger.

“Who dares?!”

Lifting his hammer to the sky, he attempted to strike the earth with all his might.

Before he did so, Liam’s blades – activated with its forging ability – and chains blurred, severing off the man’s hands and making him drop the giant hammer.

It didn’t end there.

Everyone began to unleash their strongest spells on the man’s figure.

Fire from Rin, wind by Nord, threads by Niveh, water by Nessa, and earth by Gerald.

Liam made sure to spam his needles as much as he could.

Eventually, Zvehm’s body wasn’t even visible due to the clouds of smoke, earth and other debris from their spells.

“Stop.”

Liam’s low voice sounded, and the spells ceased instantly.

Slowly, the dust cloud settled, revealing Zvehm’s muscular body filled with every grievous wound imaginable.

His charred innards were seeping out from his body. His hands were severed. A chunk of his corroded face was missing.

Still, he was standing valiantly. Thankfully, his main body was intact, slowly healing.

Liam approached cautiously. For safe measure, he cut off the vampire’s muscle tendons, making him trip over with a thump.

‘Easier than I thought,’ Liam realized. He turned to Niveh and asked, “Does he know where the traps are?”

“He might,” she responded with a bit of fear in her voice. “But I doubt he’ll tell you.”

Liam scoffed, binding Red Hammer with a tight rope.

Gripping the man by the hair, he made him sit upright under a blood tree, then crouched beside him as he healed.

Gerald had seen enough bodies and killing to barely stomach the gory sight, with Nessa doing the same.

For Liam, Rin and Nord, it was just another Tuesday.

Eventually, the Red Hammer had regained enough strength to speak.

“Sun-bathers? You fu—”

Liam stomped the giant in the face. Niveh flinched, feeling his pain, but she thrived on the schadenfreude.

That only worked in enraging him further, but another kick struck.

After another four kicks, the giant stopped shouting.

“Tell me where the traps are. You only get one chance to answer right. I have about nine others to get through in the span of a couple of days.”

Usually, Liam would use his mental pressure to frighten his victims, but to vampires, that trick didn’t really work.

They didn’t possess a sea of consciousness, unlike humans.

For this reason, mental attacks didn’t work on them. Only spells.

Zvehm, who’s figure slowly started to heal, gave Liam a smug smile… then spat blood on his face. Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.𝘤𝑜𝓂 for the best novel reading experience

Liam heaved a sigh, fixing his right hand into an eagle’s claw. Without warning, he stabbed into the man’s heart!

The giant vampire looked shocked, then let out a sharp gasp. His crimson eyes lingered on Liam’s cold, uncaring face.

“I told you. One chance, retard,” Liam said, pulling out his hand and taking out the man’s Nexus with it.

Under the incredulous gaze of the others, Liam began inspecting it with the King’s Eye. Slowly, the blood-red energies that surrounded the spherical heart started to dim down and die.

Liam made sure to collect every drop in a glass container, and stored the heart itself for later studying.

By then, the Red Hammer was no more.

“We can’t waste time. We’ll do the others next.”

///

Vxich rested his cheek on his fist as he leaned back in his throne. Peering out through the spire windows, he heaved a satisfied sigh.

This was the life. Comfortably living above everyone else with no worries other than a few to kill here and there, with a group of powerful people under him.

…Though, there was a complication.

Two of his people were missing.

It wasn’t unusual for those two to be gone for long periods of time. They were stationed towards the borders anyway.

Yet nearly a month passed and there wasn’t a peep from them.

“How many times will they make me pluck out their organs?” Vxich sighed.

Things were just looking up as well. He was just about to get a promotion and move to the citadel to work with the higher class where he belonged, not among these low-leveled mongrels.

The lower ranked vampires lived boring lives, simply receiving orders from an endless list of superiors. The Blooder was not to be among them!

Vxich reluctantly left his throne room, fixing his long, blood-red garment as he made his way down the spire stairs.

Now that he thought about it…

Where the heck was everyone?

His heart pumped as he moved to the base of the spire. It only did that when it faced danger.

“Wherever you are, you can come out now.”

Chapter 134 Laughter

Liam grimaced hearing those words.

There had to be some sort of sensing ability that came with a Rank 3 Nexus, or something that had to do with the Blooder’s Blood Arts.

Over the past two days, the group had slowly killed off the vampires one by one, taking them by surprise. It wasn’t easy, but they came prepared. 10 different Nexus’s were stored in Liam’s ring, preserved in special containers for later study.

Some of them had coughed up the base layouts and trap locations, which helped greatly in taking down the following enemies.

After killing the last one, they had finally decided to take the final Rank 3 vampire.

Although Liam would have attacked close-up as soon as he was noticed, he was cautious around a higher ranked species. Rin and Nord almost attempted to burst forward at the vampire, but Liam’s mental relay stopped them.

“Are you waiting for me to force you out?” Vxich’s cold eyes scoured the large spire hall adorned by medieval-like furniture.

Six pillars made from blood-wood held up the ceiling and the spire above it, behind which they hid.

To test the vampire’s strength, Liam shot an Umbral Needle at his flank.

The vampire made a small gesture with his finger. A hardened wall of blood intercepted the spell and its noxious smoke.

[Fire,] Liam’s mental transmission reached Rin, Nord, Gerald and Nessa.

Simultaneously, everyone began shooting their spells from different angles.

Nessa took out a potion containing yellowish gas and threw it forward.

Upon impact, the glass exploded and began to expand, rising in heat before surging into red flames.

Gerald finally finished casting his spell. Tendrils of obsidian earth formed a large boulder that shot towards the vampire. He looked exhausted from doing that,

[Stop.]

Liam didn’t think the same tactic they used would work against a complete Rank 3 vampire, but what they saw made deep scowls form on their faces.

A large sphere of blood encasing the vampire absorbed all the hits and brushed them off like nothing happened. It was both hardened and liquidized at once, the surface of which rippled slightly.

Liam’s eye widened as he saw the sphere gather concentration onto thousands of little spots.

[Take cover!]

The sphere shattered into a flurry of arm-sized spikes before Liam could complete his relay, shooting in random directions with unbelievable speed.

Liam ducked behind the wooden pillar right before spikes poked holes in his body. Even the pillar behind him was getting splintered by the rapid barrage.

On one side of the room, Rin, Niveh and Nord looked fine, but some of the spikes grazed their skin and drew blood.

On the other, Nessa and Gerald were much worse – the former’s hand got impaled before she got to safety, forcing out a yelp from her, and the latter had a spike tear through his wounded shoulder once again, making him growl in anguish.

“Sun-bathers… what are you filthy creatures doing in my domain?” Vxich’s cold and scornful voice rang out once the attack finally subsided.

Liam didn’t respond, his mind rushing for a plan. ‘There’s no way he can do that attack again, can he?’

Liam’s heart told him he can. Niveh was difficult to deal with while it was still a two versus one, those standards couldn’t be applied to a higher vampire.

Even if he decided to bait out his attacks enough to gas him out, Liam didn’t know the limits of a Rank 3 Nexus or Blood.

Even a sub-advancement for a human core allowed it to store twice the amount of ‘Ora’.

Still, they were six now… though in reality, they were four – Liam had factored out Nessa and Gerald’s participation in the inevitable clash.

‘Niveh still had her cocoon ability that she could use. Vampires are susceptible to fire… this is doable.’

Having the earth element on their side would’ve been a lifesaver… but Gerald had used most of his strength on his spell, and he wasn’t in any condition to fight.

“That little girl is also with you, isn’t she?” Vxich spotted the crimson lines below his feet that melted into liquid.

A wicked smile formed on his face.

“After I’m done sucking you humans dry for every drop, I’ll make sure you wish for death, Niveh.”

Fear grew on Niveh’s face… but Nord, despite the seriousness of the situation, couldn’t help but chuckle.

Liam didn’t laugh at the vampire’s poor choice of words, still focused as ever.

Eventually, a simple plan emerged from his mind – inundate the vampire with numbers. Him, Rin and Nord would go physical and up close, while Niveh provided backup.

He relayed the idea instantly to everyone, then gestured to Niveh.

“That doesn’t sound as cool as you think it does. Sucking us dry? C’mon now,” Nord said, but gave Liam a firm nod from the side.

Red veins formed on Vxich’s pale face, his eye twitching.

He stretched out his clenched hand, blood oozing through his pores and gathering around his palms to form sharp javelins.

At the same time, a coating of blood-hardened armor started to form around the vampire’s figure, giving him sleek, knight-like armor that sleeved even his fingers – which had turned into sharp claws.

Only his sharp scarlet eyes were visible through the helmet on his face.

Liam’s face grew dark. ‘That was not supposed to happen.’

Taking a javelin-stance, the vampire’s hand blurred as he shot the javelins at Nord’s location, splintering the pillar and missing Nord by a hair as he ducked. Foll𝑜w current novℯls on nov𝒆lb((in).(com)

Another blood-made javelin formed in the Blooder’s hand.

At that point, Liam realized there was no point in hiding.

He was the first to engage, followed by Rin and Nord that shot out from behind their pillars.

Like a heron circling its prey, Liam hurled several needles as he ran around the vampire’s figure with his blades unsheathed.

He aimed at the joints where the knight-like armor interconnected, knowing he couldn’t land a direct hit.

Rin’s daggers burst in flames and Nord’s glaive began multiplying mid air.

Niveh, on the other hand, began to form her cocoon.

Chapter 135 Smile

Behind the Blooder’s mask, a smile began to form. He smacked away the needles at once. They exploded, corroding his javelins, but that didn’t worry the vampire in the least.

Ahead, was the shortest one wielding two blades of differing heights. To his side, was the wind boy. On his flank, the fire girl. Further ahead were the two others, but Vxich knew they were incapable of fighting.

At once, the three converged on the vampire’s figure and let their blades collide.

CLANG!

A series of loud clangs, booms and shockwaves shook the spire floor.

Amazingly, the vampire’s prowess was not normal.

As they fought, he made sure to get up-close and personal with Nord, since his wind wasn’t exactly useful against his hardened armor.

All the while, he kept his distance against Rin’s fire blades and spells, doing the same with Liam’s darkness.

Niveh wasn’t providing much cover since she worked on finishing her cocoon, but wafer-thin strings would sometimes block the vampire’s most fatal attacks.

Vixch was fighting against three of the strongest students of the Royal academy, including another vampire… and holding his ground!

Liam knew exactly why that was. Vampires aged differently compared to humans.

Vxich must have gained massive amounts of experience during his long life, there was a reason he was in the third Rank, after all.

At first, Liam attempted to chip away at the javelins the vampire wielded, but the Blooder replaced them with the flick of his wrist.

However, Liam quickly noticed that while the armor didn’t receive any heavy damage, it didn’t regrow and mend its dents.

Fire was particularly effective in wearing it down, but Vxich made sure to avoid Rin’s attacks at all cost, even subjecting himself to blatant attacks by the other three.

Liam activated Cartilage Brace and began using all three of his martial art forms in quick succession bolstered by Lethality Mantle.

He snapped forward with Fleeting Foot and focused on chinking the armor on the Blooder’s arms, finding minute opportunities between Rin and Nord’s attacks.

They smoothly communicated through their mental link, with Liam dishing out the orders and points of focus.

Metallic sounds of metal smashing against hardened blood-armor echoed and reverberated the air.

Nessa and Gerald watched in horror from a distance.

“Why do I cultivate?” Gerald said with a somber tone as Nessa hurriedly tended to his shoulder wound, applying a thick blue salve. His face was distant and bitter. “Why do I try so hard?” Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.𝘤𝑜𝓂 for the best novel reading experience

Nessa didn’t have anything comforting to respond with. “You don’t compare a hill to a mountain.”

“Glorious!” Vxich shouted as he shoved away Liam with a dual swing of his javelins, then threw one at Nord and the other at Rin. They deflected the strikes but were skittered away by the impact.

“This is a true battle!”

Although Rin and Nord panted heavily, the corners of their lips curled upwards to form little smiles. They weren’t without their wounds.

Nord’s inscribed clothing had been chipped away, revealing the boy’s defined but wounded body. Rin had the least wounds, but used the most spells among them, giving her a pale complexion.

Meanwhile, the Blooder looked practically woundless, besides a few dents in his armor here and there.

Liam’s cold eye flashed as he looked at the large chink in the vampire’s arm.

The membrane under his skin shot a pang of power through his blood, the speed of his heart quickened, and his form blurred.

Vxich saw that attack coming from a mile away, fixing his javelins to block with ease, only to find that his weapons went straight through Liam’s misty body.

KRRSH!

Liam reappeared behind Vxich.

Shards of armor paired with dazzling blood flew midair as the Blooder’s sleeve shattered, his arm severed clean off with the third form of Liam’s art.

Before the Blooder could react appropriately and defend himself, a wall of fire boosted by wind blocked his escape, and his right foot was bound by a dark chain, holding him still.

From above, the cocoon was finally done.

Niveh smiled crookedly as she let loose her crimson threads.

Finally, a different emotion grew in the Blooder’s eyes.

Fear.

Time appeared to slow down.

Vxich could clearly see each individual threat. There was nothing he could do at that moment to defend any of them.

The short one that severed his arm didn’t relent for even a moment and shot another four needles at his lower body in case he decided to duck.

‘Ah. I’m gonna die,’ the Blooder bitterly realized. ‘Against humans.’

Anger churned within him.

There was no peace before death!

All those aspirations rendered moot!

An entire century down the drain!

Right as he felt the strings, fire and needles inch closer to him, his eyes fell on Gerald and Nessa.

If he was to die, he would take at least one with him!

He put all the remaining blood he held in his body on his final attack, sending it flying at the boy with all the strength in his limbs.

Time resumed.

The flames, needles and cocoon crashed down at the Blooder’s body at once, but not before a javelin escaped the line of attacks and burst through the wave of fire.

Liam could only watch as the javelin shot through Gerald’s right eye, killing him instantly.

Blood washed over Nessa’s incredulous face, her screams of shock filling the spire a moment later.

Exhausted and tired, Nord and Rin could only send pitiful looks towards Gerald’s corpse.

Liam scowled, but his focus was still on Vxich. He wasn’t sure their attack did the job.

As the debris cleared, Liam saw that Vxich was still alive, judging by the blood-red energies still radiating from his heart.

Instantly, he shot towards the Blooder’s corpse and promptly severed his neck. Liam was still afraid the man might grow out another head… but there was no such occurrence.

He put a hand on the vampire’s chest, and to his delight, the Nexus was still in studiable condition.

A slight smile found its way to his face, but he quickly caught it before anyone else noticed.

Chapter 136 Human

Rin did her best to comfort the horrified Nessa, but it was a bit difficult without having a voice.

The result was an awkward pat on the back that didn’t do much to quell the noble’s trembling and erratic breathing. Foll𝑜w current novℯls on nov𝒆lb((in).(com)

Nord didn’t want anything to do with that, but he couldn’t help but feel pity looking at their dead crewmember. He simply shook his head in the end.

Liam, on the other hand, was still fixated on Vxich’s body. He saw what happened to Gerald, then scowled.

…But what’s done is done.

He couldn’t bring back the dead, and he didn’t try.

All he could do was make sure the same didn’t happen to him, like it did to Eve and countless others. He didn’t know how the Royals would react to that, but he knew for a fact it wasn’t his fault he died.

‘This mission got a whole lot more complicated.’

He’d pay his respects in a moment, but first, he had to do something.

Crouching, Liam carefully lined up his shortsword against the Blooder’s left breast and began to cut precise lines to extract his Nexus.

He inspected it briefly.

Unlike a Rank 2 Nexus, it was smaller in size, but much more vibrant in shade. Fleshy, hair-like tendrils connected to it, and it looked way more valuable than its predecessor.

‘Staying here for a few days won’t hurt. I’ll need to start experimenting on these hearts. There isn’t any interaction between domain rulers around these borders, and they’re far away anyway.’

Besides, there was also the ‘treasure room’ Liam needed to thoroughly loot.

Niveh had mentioned that her Blood Arts, and everyone else’s, rested with the Blooder. It was just in case she or anyone else died and needed a replacement.

Blood Arts were similar to techniques in a sense. They weren’t specific to any particular element, but had simple restrictions in order to function. They would grow stronger when the Nexus advances.

“Are you done with his body?” Niveh asked with a weirded out look on her face. Liam responded with the shake of his head. “Can I get a bite of him? His life force is going to be wasted soon.”

“No. I need it.”

Storing the Rank 3 Nexus in his ring along with Vxich’s body, Liam made his way towards Gerald’s body, uncaring of Niveh’s grumbles and curses.

The boy had been impaled through the eye, leaving a see-through hole that displayed jotting shards of skull and brain matter.

There was no emotion in Liam’s eye.

His interactions with the boy had been brief, and Liam had seen enough bodies for a lifetime.

What was one more?

“He deserves a burial. At least he died instantly and didn’t suffer. We’ll spend a few weeks here to lick our wounds and prepare for the Citadel.”

Nessa slowly creaked her neck towards Liam, staring at him with a churning anger in her cloudy blue eyes.

“He just died! One of your own people, and you don’t bat an eyelid? Are… are you even human?”

Liam looked at her coldly, his eye peering into her soul.

“No.”

///

A short moment later, Liam, helped by Rin and Nord, dug out a small hole in the ground to bury Gerald in. It was a waste of time, Liam thought, but he didn’t want to make the rift between their group grow any bigger.

Before lowering him down, Liam made sure to take the space-ring off his person.

At the same time, Liam gave Jack a call and gave him an update on their situation.

The sailor sounded shocked and bitter, but the choice to continue the mission was still on the table. As long as they weren’t found out and taken captive.

“We’ll continue and map out the Citadel. That should mark the end of the mission. Gerald dying cut the approximation short.”

Jack was a bit stunned at Liam’s casual and matter-of-factly tone, but didn’t have anything more to add.

With that done, Niveh led Liam up the spire, while the rest began with their specializations.

Liam and Niveh made sure to move in cautiously so as not to trigger any traps.

Some spaces were dark chambers that didn’t have any purpose (besides maybe torture), and they didn’t find anything remarkable until reaching the ‘Throne Room’.

There, a small chest made from bloodwood sat on the furthest side of the room, and Liam approached it cautiously. It didn’t have any keyhole or normal mechanism to unlock, but a small hollow compartment studded the top.

His eye hadn’t spotted any traps or formations surrounding it, and he made his way safely towards it.

Attempting to open it, Liam found it unbudging.

“How does this thing work?” Liam asked Niveh with furrowed brows.

The vampire girl shrugged, sitting on Vxich’s throne and pretending she was a queen.

Liam tinkered around with the chest for a full minute, his eyes fixed to the hollow compartment.

Eventually, he took out the Blooder’s Nexus and let some of its blood fill the vacancy.

CLICK!

With a slight smile, Liam slowly opened the chest.

Inside, there were black pieces of coarse parchment paper, on its surface laid deep crimson lettering, written in the vampiric language. There were roughly eleven parchments, with one of them looking significantly more complicated compared to the rest.

Liam beamed.

He could vaguely see the meanings!

They were beyond complicated and challenging to understand. Not to mention, Liam didn’t even know how vampires could administer meanings into their Arts – they weren’t similar to a human’s, but more or less had the same effect.

At the very least, the writings were more or less identifiable.

There were letters that didn’t even look like they meant anything, but looked integral to the Art as a whole. That wasn’t a strange occurrence.

Liam’s linguistics teacher often told him the languages that they learned were incomplete and missed various aspects. Most of the foreign races were out of touch with humanity, but the few remnants of their languages remained behind.

All in all, it was still an amazing find. If Liam could understand even a little bit of the meanings and piece together the words he didn’t know, his inscriptions would be infinitely better than before.

Also, although he wasn’t nearly experienced with his Blood Weaving, he could vastly improve his method as a whole if he perfected his understanding of the vampiric language.

Chapter 137 Change

“Are you gonna take all of those?” Niveh asked as Liam rummaged through the chest and started to store them one by one. “You can’t even use any of them…”

Liam didn’t really consider if Rin, Nord or Nessa wanted any of the Arts. Nonetheless, he only needed two of them – Niveh and Vxich’s, while the rest were useful for studying.

The other Arts mostly focused on biting, clawing, shooting blood spikes and strengthening the body, but he didn’t have any interest in those. Those vampires were killed relatively easily, after all.

However, that sleek, knight-like armor looked perfect for Liam’s fighting style. It wouldn’t hold back his speed or movements, and it provided excellent defense, which Liam currently lacked.

There were also those spherical blood spheres that Vxich made with a simple gesture, plus the javelin and claw attacks.

Niveh mentioned that his particular Blood Arts were much more advanced compared to hers, and contained some sort of blood manipulation that came with a Rank 3 Nexus.

Liam pulled himself out of his cocky line of thought as he looked at each parchment greedily.

‘I’m getting ahead of myself. I still need to somehow attune it to my body and find a way to make it work.’

He found an empty but spacious chamber within the tower to use, then got to work.

///

Throughout the next two months, Liam divided his time between forging with magical beasts, corrupted magical beasts, studying Blood Arts, inscribing, and testing out the Nexus’.

A mouthful, and Liam barely had enough time for rest. He ended up stretching out his schedule to its limits, spending time with each specialization in intervals.

Using Primordial Forging with a Rank 3 magical beast was no longer necessary, as the pressure from those specializations was enough to help expand his mental sphere walls.

The pain from the Psionic Rune was slowly diminishing.

The average age for awakening to a Rank 2 sea of consciousness was 18 to 23, depending on how heavily someone trained with it, and a few more external factors like using pills.

Meanwhile, Liam was merely a stone’s throw away from becoming a Rank 2 Magus, a feat nobody at his age could boast or even dream about, which was just a little over thirteen.

On the other hand, Liam’s tests with the Nexus had been moving slowly. He dissected them one by one, starting with the weaker Rank 2’s.

Inside, there were special organic tubes and arteries that interweaved and interconnected, forming a complicated network that transported blood and purified it.

Those tubes connected to the surface of the Nexus and then narrowed down into tendrils that gave the vampire precise manipulation over his blood and healing.

Honestly, Liam had no idea where to begin.

He wasn’t discouraged, but it was just too complicated for his understanding.

It was clear that his goal of mimicking a vampire’s regeneration and blood purity was the most challenging, and he couldn’t accomplish it with his current level of strength and comprehension.

Liam narrowed his goal to working on a purer ink to inscribe with, which was much easier to work toward.

On the other hand, his forgings had been progressing steadily.

Liam had fully transitioned into forging complete shortswords. He had gotten quite good at them too. 5 out of 10 of his inventions functioned properly, thanks to his new method of letting the beast will ‘cook’ in his head.

Inscribed items had their own rankings and tiers in between.

Generally, a Rank 1 Magus with a Rank 1 solid-stage core couldn’t make something better than a Rank 2 Magus with a gaseous-stage core. The disparity was too great between centers of power.

Similarly, the opposite could be true.

Of course, these factors varied depending on how knowledgeable and talented a person was in forging, and the method they used.

Unorthodox methods helped forge items that were beyond the standard capability of a cultivator. Primordial Forging was one of those methods.

‘Most of my items are in the lower tier of Rank 1. The more beast will I add, the better the blade.’

His forgings were a lot sharper and more pleasing to look at due to Liam’s advancement to the solid-stage. He found that purifying and shaping the magical beast parts were significantly easier to do as well.

Out of all his progress, his inscriptions were doing the best. Mainly his linking capabilities.

Learning the tiny intricacies of the vampiric tongue by studying the Blood Arts gave Liam ways to express his meanings much more fluently.

Through that, Liam was able to successfully perform a sharpness inscription on his blade after one and a half weeks.

Had Richard seen him do so, he would have coughed blood.

It wasn’t the best, and he still had a long way to go, but it bolstered his silver blade’s sharpness considerably. Updated from nov𝒆lbIn.(c)om

As time passed, Liam improved in all of his aspects, physical and mental.

As the months came to a close, Rin experienced a breakthrough in her core, giving her the status of a liquid-stage cultivator. She seemed to be in an uplifted mood

Nord was the same, followly just a bit further behind. The boy didn’t look too proud seeing that he was beaten to the punch by Rin, but that only strengthened his drive to cultivate.

Nessa kept to herself throughout the two month period, silently creating potions and other alchemic products. Gerald’s death seemed to make her more mature and less childlike, but took away her enthusiasm and cheerful personality.

///

Liam was sitting cross-legged with the Psionic Rune on his forehead. Cold sweat trickled down his face and drenched his black-clad clothes, but nothing he wasn’t already used to.

His hair grew long enough to reach his knees, but he didn’t bother to take care of his unkempt appearance.

…Suddenly, something started to change!

Slowly, the Psionic Rune lost its ability to harm and pressure Liam’s mental sphere.

Within his sea of consciousness, his golden barrier started to rumble and shake, while the mental energy within started to deepen in shade.

Chapter 138 Meeting

Hundreds of different sensations – painful, flaming, ice-cold – washed over Liam’s brain.

He was simply stilled in place, unable to move a muscle while his brain felt like it was on fire while being restructured and simultaneously enhanced.

At the same time, his eye grew hot like molten steel as its black pupil narrowed to a vertical slit.

Liam didn’t scream, not even a grunt. He could just ignore that pain entirely.

A huge pressure unfolded in the small chamber. Waves of buzzing hums vibrated the air around Liam’s figure. He felt his thoughts racing at incredible speeds, clear and comprehensible, detailed and precise.

After a solid thirty seconds, it was over.

Liam felt serene. Usually, fatigue weighed against his mind due to how heavily he used it, but all of that washed away.

He could pristinely hear and sense exactly what the others were doing throughout the entire spire and surrounding space. Nord was cultivating, Nessa was mixing alchemic ingredients, Niveh was lazily lying around Rin’s room.

Liam heaved a small, exhilarated sigh, then smiled ear-to-ear.

This. This was why he worked so hard to gain power. That thrill, that unexplainable feeling that fills the greedy void in his chest.

Meanwhile, his vision almost seemed to pierce through the walls. Zooming in, his iris could spot little pieces of foreign bacteria living in between the cracked walls.

At the same time, there was a strange feeling connected to the King’s Eye that Liam couldn’t put his finger on.

It was like another limb with a specific function… except connected to his eye.

Liam fiddled around with it for a good minute, before something finally happened.

The mental energy surrounding him suddenly flickered with ethereal forms and iridescent colors. It lasted for a split second while Liam had it activated, before it wafted away like a foggy mirage.

‘Illusions!’

Liam unclothed his abdomen and inspected the Kitsune tattoo. It silently flowed around his skin, but it looked a bit more vibrant and invigorated than before.

The Kitsune had illusionistic abilities.

Although it sounded amazing at first glance… Liam didn’t really think that skill would be too useful beside providing gimmicky tricks.

Against the patriarch of the Royce family, hiding himself with illusions wouldn’t do much, would it?

Unless of course, it had some other functions that Liam was not aware of.

Before Liam could take out his parchments and test out the full capabilities of his eyesight, the hair on his skin rose abruptly.

Thick darkness filled the chamber like smoke, drowning out the sounds of thunder smashing against the spire. Despite his new mental capabilities, he couldn’t move a single muscle.

Liam couldn’t move.

For someone who had faced packs of Rank 4 beasts, regularly handled powerful magical beasts, killed strong cultivators and tore out his own eyeballs… fear was a forgotten emotion.

Yet Liam’s heart started to pump at twice the speed, thundering in his ears.

An ominous aura like nails scraping against a chalkboard spread tainted the air, along with what sounded like the shrieking of a harrowed wraith, though Liam might have imagined that.

FEAR.

Primordial fear.

Fear had a voice, and it spoke.

“A meeting long overdue. I grew tired of watching.”

Liam’s skin crawled.

The voice was beyond guttural, yet held a layer of complexity Liam mortal mind didn’t quite grasp.

“What are you?” Liam asked. To his credit, fear didn’t stain his voice.

Silence.

“A gracious benefactor. You have amused me. Meeting you here was done on a whim, but your reaction is… satisfactory.”

Silence again, but the darkness started to recede and slowly pull away.

“We will learn more about each other. Soon, Determined One.”

Liam narrowed his gaze. His sight and senses couldn’t penetrate the thick veil of umbral shadows at all.

“Who are you?” Liam asked again with furrowed brows.

Just as the last wisp of night receded into the corner of the room, Liam heard a name, breathed like a sigh:

“Raast.”

///

Liam was back in his chambers.

Despite his amazing advancement, he looked aghast, pale and distraught.

Hundreds of instantaneous thoughts shot through his mind at lightning speed, yet despite his newfound intellect, he failed to come to any conclusion as to what just happened.

It took him an hour to fully relax his senses and still any unstable emotion.

Tired of watching? Gracious benefactor? Raast?

Liam cursed loudly.

Just when he thought he was getting a bit stronger, something bites him in the back.

He just knew that the interaction he just had would claw at the recesses of his mind endlessly.

‘Staying here isn’t safe anymore. I need to get back to Echoria and understand what this is. Inscriptions and studies can wait.’

He threw his current priorities at the back of his mind.

Liam looked around at the pile of forged and inscribed items beside him.

There were at least twenty jagged daggers made from corrupted magical beast bones, claws and teeth.

Inscriptions covered their surface, and they were one-time use items that would shatter upon a single, but lethal slash.

Liam guessed that their prowess was in the upper-tier of Rank 1, which was actually well above his level of capability, but Blood Weaving had a good attunement to those materials.

Another pile consisted of shortswords and daggers made from his darkness beasts.

Inscriptions could exponentially increase the prowess and level of a forged item.

Currently, Liam’s blades were lower-tier items, yet the single successful inscription he had written on one blade bolstered its prowess to the middle-tier.

He stored them quickly and steadied his mental sphere before leaving.

His control over his newer, denser mental waves wasn’t the best.

Although he didn’t think his breakthrough would be hidden for long, he would do his absolute best to delay that as much as possible.

There was also his iris, which was now a vertical slit similar to the Kitsune’s.

The King’s Eye as a whole gained another layer of incandescence, glowing faintly like a rare gem.

After testing it for an hour or two, he left his chamber and made his way to the bottom floor where everyone camped.

Chapter 139 Tame

“Pack up. We’re heading to the Citadel.”

Liam’s aloof and cold aura wasn’t possible to hide. It gave off a threatening air, like he might attack at any given time.

Frowns plastered the group’s expressions.

Lawrence becoming a Rank 2 Magus crossed their minds for a brief moment, but they instantly denied that thought. It was shockingly unbelievable to think so. Impossible, even.

After such a long period of seclusion, they just imagined that he focused most of his time with the Psionic Rune. A reasonable conclusion, all things considered.

Nessa looked at Liam with quiet, hidden disdain. She didn’t approve of his cold and indifferent personality, but she respected him enough not to voice it.

Nord, on the other hand, only grew in respect. Just being around Liam helped increase his motivation to grow stronger.

Rin had a much more complicated look in her mauve eyes. It’s like she had some words to say, but couldn’t find or express them.

Meanwhile, Liam realized that he could see mental energy seeping through his group’s minds with unbridled clarity.

He didn’t fail to notice how it contained layers of meanings that held different levels of complexity. Layers Liam obviously didn’t understand.

‘I’ll find out sometime soon.’

Liam noticed how everyone was still staring at him in silence. He scowled.

“Why are you all gawking at me? Get moving.”

///

Liam climbed the top of the spire, just below the sharp tip where powerful lightning smashed against.

His iris constricted, peering over the endless, foggy horizon.

It no longer hindered Liam’s sight. He could see the Citadel in all of its magnificence.

The word ‘Citadel’ did well to represent it, since it looked like a gothic metropolis that almost tore through the clouds with spires and towering structures, built around an obsidian plateau where a special looking castle rested.

Strangely enough, lightning didn’t strike those lands, only those outside its huge borders that stretched across a huge plot of ground.

Around those very borders, Liam spotted giant bats that flew in and over the Citadel.

Upon a closer inspection, there were people perched atop of those bats! Vampires, to be exact.

Niveh had explained what those were – the vampires’ natural method of transportation.

The Blood Bats weren’t Rank 4 beasts.

They were Rank 3, but their strengths lay in their size, flight and physical strength.

They were also tameable, and found within large mountain dungeons… which just happened to be the next goal for the group.

That was the only ‘safe’ method for them to get into the city. The borders were heavily swarming with powerful vampires, and Liam couldn’t think of a way to pass through without violence involved.

However, if you flew in on a bat above ground, you’d be assumed to be a fellow bloodsucker.

“Just so you know, you won’t find those bats easily. They’re extremely rare compared to earthen creatures, and it’s not guaranteed they will let you ride them.”

Niveh’s words contained a mix of fear and excitement.

Liam and the rest swapped out their clothes with the garments of the vampires they killed, at least, those that were still in one piece.

The sizes looked a bit off, but it would take a closer assessment to truly see the difference.

Liam wore black, Nord wore silk red, Rin wore mauve, Nessa wore yellow. Thankfully, the loose garments came with hoods they could throw on their head.

Once everybody was ready, they set out once again.

///

It took a week for the group to find a large dungeon with Blood Bats, taking cultivation and food breaks in between.

Niveh expected at least one month of searching, since bats of that caliber weren’t easy to come by.

Liam’s eyesight and strengthened ‘mental muscle’ was no joke. He could push his senses up to 55 meters in total, giving him a crystal clear view of every nook and cranny nearby.

He made sure to avoid the routes that were infested with corrupted beasts and wandering Rank 1 vampires. In truth, he had already sensed a Blood Bat dungeon, but made several ‘mistakes’ until Rin or Nord eventually found it.

They stood at the entrance of a giant circular cave. Silent screeches rang out from within, along with faint rustling and faint wind flapping noises. From the roof, dozens of huge bats with crimson fur hung with their wings enshrouding their bodies.

Even on the floor, there were bats that laid on top of each other for warmth.

“I… I’m not a hundred percent sure about this, but to tame one, you have to feed it some of your blood. If it likes you, it will let you ride and fly on top of it.”

Seven icy eyes pierced holes through Niveh’s skull.

“You waited that long to tell us you didn’t know?” Liam asked with a scowl. Everyone else was angry for the same reason.

Niveh shifted uncomfortably in place. “It’s not my fault! I thought if I wasn’t useful, you’d kill me off…”

Nessa let out a slight scoff. “Maybe he will,” she shot a look at Liam.

Liam ignored her remark and heaved a sigh.

“We’ll have no choice then. Who wants to go first?”

Silence.

Surprisingly, it was Nord who answered first.

“I’ll do it. It looks fun.”

Nord stepped forward and cautiously stepped into the Blood Bat den. It took him a minute to reach the closest bat on the floor, which looked at him with an unnerved look.

It hissed repeatedly as a warning, but the vermillion-eyed boy wasn’t afraid.

Taking another step forward, Nord bit his finger, collecting the blood in the hollowness of his hand. With slow and careful movements, he stretched out his hand towards the bat.

It took a few minutes for the bat to stop hissing… but slowly, it reached for the blood!

Like a cat dipping its tongue into milk, the bat licked Nord’s blood until it completely finished it.

With another hiss – which sounded way softer compared to the first – it picked Nord up with its giant maw and threw him on his back!

Chapter 140 Flight

An ear-to-ear smile spread across Nord’s lips. He couldn’t help but laugh incredulously.

“I’m doing it! I’m actually doing it!”

Looking at the delinquent so happy, Rin couldn’t help but feel a bit of envy. Even Nessa looked like she wanted to be next.

Niveh raised her hands in triumph, then looked at Liam with a smug smirk that said, ‘I told you so.’

“Who’s next?” Liam questioned, ignoring the vampire’s existence.

Rin was about to raise her hand, but Nessa beat her to the punch.

“I’ll go…”

With a slight awkwardness to her step, Nessa carefully entered the dungeon and made her way to the nearest bat.

Meanwhile, Nord was already ruffling the hair on his Blood Bat’s head, rubbing his face into his fur as he called the beast a ‘good girl’.

‘They’re letting their guard down,’ Liam thought with a tinge of anger. ‘Raast’ came up in his head again, souring his mood.

Then he remembered his dreams of riding dragons, perching atop their heads and soaring through the skies.

Bats’ flight probably resembled the sensation, but most definitely lacked the power and might that a draconic beast had.

A solemn look flashed on Liam’s face for a split second, but he suppressed it and scoffed lightly.

‘I won’t settle for cheap replications.’

Nessa reached deeper into the dungeon, eventually reaching a smaller-sized Blood Bat curled up in the corner.

She looked a bit fearful getting too close to one, but seeing how easily Nord tamed his, she pushed away any second thoughts.

The Blood Bat noticed her and started to hiss, but Nessa held her ground.

With a quick bite of her hand, she drew enough blood to fill the hollowness of her palm.

Stretching it forward, she squinted her eyes with hope and waited for the Blood Bat to accept the offering.

It took a bit more convincing compared to Nord’s, but eventually, the beast came around and started to shloop up the blood from Nessa’s hand, warming up to the human.

‘She is growing,’ Rin gestured to Liam from the side. ‘You helped her in that regard.’

Liam shrugged indifferently. “Your turn now.”

Rin sighed.

Any attempt at making small talk was instantly slapped away by Lawrence, and she couldn’t find any foot in the door to ask about his life or forging method.

Nonetheless, Rin was the third person to enter the dungeon and look for a bat. Hers was unsurprisingly the fastest to finish, too.

Her violet eyes scoured the available beasts and chose the one she assumed would be the best for her.

She formed a quick cut on her palm and let one of the more larger beasts take a good amount of blood from her, successfully forming a bond.

With a lithe jump, Niveh jumped atop Nessa’s bat and settled behind her. Out of the four, she was the one easiest to speak to, and the vampire’s favorite.

Then, it was Liam’s turn.

The others were already halfway attempting to figure out the beast’s controls. This chapter is updat𝓮d by nov(e)(l)biin.com

A tuft of dark crimson fur gave them a seat behind the bat’s giant head, and to move it forward, they simply had to tug the hairs in a specific direction.

Right as Liam took his first step into the cave, a bat from the deepest part of the dungeon let out a low hiss.

At once, every Blood Bat fixed on Liam’s figure with hostile glimmers in their beady, scarlet eyes.

Nord looked confused. Rin furrowed her brows. Niveh grew fearful while Nessa grimaced.

Heaving a sigh, Liam shook his head, prepared to unsheathe his blades.

‘What now?’

Liam already knew what it was.

A peak Rank 3 Blood Bat. The pack leader, to be precise.

From a steep slope on the furthest end of the den, it climbed out and stared at Liam with a violet gaze.

Dragging itself with its spiked wings, it took haughty steps towards Liam, causing bits of the cave to shake due to its sheer size, spanning more than 6 meters tall.

The surrounding bats flew away to make way for their alpha.

Liam didn’t move, even as the beast towered over him.

It let out a guttural growl, its huge, ruby-like eyes staring down at him. It slowly brought its head closer and closer to Liam’s, enough that its drool dripped below his feet and its foul breath entered his nostrils.

Rin, who watched from atop her beast and had the most knowledge about magical beasts, knew exactly why the Blood Bat exited its dwelling. It made her widen her eyes in hidden shock.

…It felt threatened by Liam’s presence. It didn’t attack for the same reason.

Magical beasts were prideful animals.

The only time they grew docile, was when a significantly more powerful beast invaded their domain.

Without so much as a flinch, Liam responded with a penetrating, pressurizing glare of his own, his golden iris constricting vertically and causing the bat to considerably soften its growls.

The silent staring contest lasted for a good minute, but felt like hours to everyone watching.

By the end of it, the Blood Bat lowered its head below Liam’s, its perked up ears drooping down just like its pride.

“You can’t be serious…” Nord voiced with a dumbfounded look. Everyone else mirrored the same expressions.

Liam suppressed a smile. He put his palm on the Blood Bat’s head, then perched on top of it as though it were a horse. Pulling its mane forward, it let out a slight screech and began to flap its skinny wings with growing fervency.

With an awkward hop over to the ledge, the giant bat leaped off the dungeon entrance, plunging towards the foot of the mountain at a terrifying speed.

Liam couldn’t suppress his smile any longer.

He felt alive!

Gales of cold wind dragged his lustrous blonde hair and garment, making it flutter like a flag.

Just as the bat was about to smash face-first against the earth, it unfurled its wings and smoothly rode the gushing waves of air, ascending towards the skies and taking flight.

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