[Time: Equivalent to 5 PM] [Location: Underground High-tier Cavern.] The fight between the Blood Bishop and Enderwyrm arrived at its climax with Ace unleashing a powerful spinning spike of blood that was pushing against the beast’s powerful energy breath attack. Both entities exhibited powerful displays of energy but at the moment, one would have to give way to the other, whether they desired it or not. Both opponents wanted the kill for themselves, and neither was willing to back down. While Ace still had energy to spare, the Emberwyrm stood on its last legs, its body being pushed to continue to fight by a rush of adrenaline. This rush acted like a defensive measure most beasts had whenever they felt threatened or were pushed to the corner and at the moment, the Emberwyrm was going through that rush. Unfortunately, the adrenaline in its body began to wear out and Ace noticed this. Gathering all of his strength, he forcefully pushed his blood attack faster at the beast, beating all the odds that were against him. All the other Hunters couldn’t help themselves but watch the powerful Human use his strength and strange power to defeat the beast that nearly killed them all. At that moment, the true realization of their strength difference and that of the Blood Bishop struck heavily, humbling those who knew what Ace was in an instant. The majority of those who didn’t know about the type of being Ace consisted of non-Granians who were in no way affiliated or familiar with the war against the Ethisians. However, they were able to catch on quickly from the others who couldn’t stop marveling and talking about his attack. "IT’S TIME TO DIE!!" Ace gave one final push, his attack being too strong for the weakened beast to deflect. Inevitably, the Emberwyrm’s breath attack gave way to the Blood Bishop’s spinning attack. In an instant, the beast’s body, starting from its mouth, was torn into two large chunks as the spinning spike of blood ripped its body apart. Large volumes of molten beast blood spilled everywhere and burned through anything and anything, some of it landing on Ace who wasn’t bothered by it as much. His main focus was on finishing the Emberwyrm and finally, he had accomplished it at the cost of his energy points. [Congratulations. You have killed a High-tiered beast singlehandedly.] [Your body and symbiote have adapted to the Cavern’s heat environment, therefore granting you Heat resistance to a certain extent.] [Your strength, stamina, endurance, and blood strength played a major role in your conquest and have been directly affected positively. All stats have been increased.] [Strength: 144>>>198] [Endurance: 118>>>160] [Blood Strength:112>>>>349] [You have received 2000 EXP for killing the beast.] [Total EXP: 3000] Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝕟𝕖𝕥 [Level 92: 317/660>>> Level 96: 617/690] [All Stat points have been increased by six points.] [Quest Complete: You have killed 37 beasts. Seven of those beasts were powerful. Of those seven, one surpassed the others in Strength and Intelligence.] Victorious bust exhausted and wounded, Ace dragged his weary body to the Emberwyrm’s shattered body and began by gathering all of its blood, storing it in his Blood Bank. Given how useful it was before, he decided to hold onto as much as he could for he knew that one of these days it would be of great use to him. After collecting the blood, he began doing the first logical thing someone of his caliber would do once they killed a beast that large. [Blood Essence: Extracted] [Total Blood Mana earned from beasts killed: 6,984] [Blood Mana Lv3: 8,432/16,000>>> 15,416/16,000] "Blood Ess...Blo..." Breathing heavily, Ace stretched his hands at the beast’s body and mouthed the words he was waiting to say ever since he laid eyes on it. He wasn’t about to let his weak body stop him from getting what he came for. "Blood Essence, manifest." Immediately, the boy’s body and the beast’s started to shine violently, partially blinding everyone in the room. Red light touched every surface, every hole, and every crevice of the Cavern as the two beings, one dead and the other alive, bonded and split their essence before the latter consumed all the essence into itself. Still weak, Ace struggled to stand still on his legs even though he so desperately wanted to stay awake to view his latest addition to his Blood Beast army. Unfortunately, his body eventually gave way to weakness, followed by his falling to the ground. [Congratulations.....] were the last words he saw from his system before passing out. Even though he hadn’t seen it, he was glad that he captured it. The strongest and most powerful beast in that Cavern was now his to own and control to perform whatever he made it do. ------------------------------ "Is it...is it over?" once the bright light faded, the Hunters slowly peered from their hiding places in search of the Human that was fighting the beast. As they got their footing out of the holes, most began to cheer in relief once they saw the beast’s guts scattered all over. Next to the scattered pile of flesh was the Human responsible for saving all of them. However, something rather odd occurred between the Granians and non-Granians. Instead of showing gratitude to the Blood Bishop, they showed great fear and distaste at him for he did not kill the creature earlier. Some complained that he just wanted to see his fellow Hunters die while others argued that the Human was too dangerous and was going to kill them next. "He’s down. Quickly, kill it before it kills us!!" one Granian, the one that was amongst those who cried the most, grabbed its weapon and ran for Ace with the sole purpose of killing him. Despite him being unconscious and unarmed, it still opted to take him out due to an irrational fear that blinded its judgment. "Get away from him!!" Cherry angrily muttered, her hand stretched at the Granian with its body held in place. The creature cried some more, but these were pain-induced tears. "Touch him and your body parts will be scattered everywhere like that damned beast." "L-let me...g-go...please!!" the Granian turned its head with ugly tears dripping on the ground. "You’re l-like him...too...let m-me go!!" The other Hunters drew their weapons, most ready to defend themselves from Cherry who had stopped a Granian just with her hand. in actuality, the Blood Knight used her Blood Control ability to hold the Granian in place. Stiffening and holding the beast’s blood in place, she kept the Granian in one place so that it wouldn’t get any closer to her brother. "You there..." the leading Hunter called out to Lily who was cowering behind Cherry. Looking at Ace brought a great fear to her senses, making her feel unsafe even though Cherry was capable of doing what Ace just did...just on a partially lower scale. "...you knew that he could do that? Did he tell you he was going to do that?" "N-no I didn’t," she lied, knowing that the Granians were going to try something they’d regret. Even if she told them the truth, she wasn’t sure that the Hunters would use rational thinking to handle the situation. "don’t touch him and all of you’ll be safe.." "NONSENSE!!" Another Hunter shouted, causing turmoil among themselves. "THAT THING CAN KILL US JUST LIKE HE DID TO THE BEAST!!" "But he hasn’t done it, right?" Cherry asked. The constant screaming and ungrateful nature of the Hunters got to her, pushing her to thoughts of doing things she wouldn’t regret. After all, no one would suspect that she killed the Hunters. Hunts like these were always expected to end with casualties so no one would bat an eye at her for ’killing’ them. "Want me to try it on all of you instead?" Transforming into her Blood Mutant form, the Blood Knight roared loudly and fiercely, forcing all the Hunters to step away from her and Ace. She wrapped them around Lily and Ace using tendrils while clearing the boulders and rocks blocking their path, thanks to the beast. "If any of you dare , I’ll kill you just for the fun of it," she declared, her eyes mostly set on the crying Granian that tried killing Ace with its weapon. "You should be grateful he was here. None of you had the strength to go after the beast singlehandedly, let alone as a team." The Blood Knight came out of the tunnels, reverted to her human form, and casually walked away like it was nothing. In all honesty, Cherry was also scared when she was in the presence of the beast. usually, she was the most violent and daring of the Blood Mutants, the type that would always attack first without giving it a second thought. However, something changed in that Cavern. A feeling of fear and terror overshadowed her character and turned her into a coward, reminding her of the way her brother used to act. ’Normally Ace’s the one that tries talking me out of doing reckless things. Even when we were still on Earth.’ The Blood Knight monologued, assessing the situation again in her mind. She looked at Ace who she was carrying in her arms and admired the sudden burst in strength and bravery he had gotten. However, as much as she was pleased with Ace’s strength, she was disappointed in her own. When the two Blood Mutant siblings got their abilities, she had shown more strength and potential than her brother and at one point, she was considered the strongest of the Blood Mutants by the Granians. Now, she was on a lower scale than her brother in terms of strength and bravery. "Even when I try to get training from you, you still prove to have more tricks up your sleeve than I do." She spoke, completely forgetting about the Granian behind her. "I’ll find a way of catching up to you...and then surpass you!!" "I’ll have to return you to the Castle," Lily mumbled. "I’m sure the others will be waiting for you. I can show you where we can place Ace so he can recover from...." "Don’t worry, he’ll be fine." Cherry answered. "We’ll take ourselves back. Thanks for the Hunting trip. We’ll be sure to do it again sometime."