352 Bloody Devour!
It surprised Arthur. He did not believe the Lycans would notice him, especially after using his invisibility spell. But the Lycan leader did, and he looked directly toward Arthur.
In the general language of the demon continent, the leader said, “who are you? Aren’t you afraid of invading my domain?”
Arthur did not know what to say. He changed his form back to that of a human and canceled his invisibility spell too. By the time he did that, all the other Lycans, sleeping on the ground, had wakened up. So they stared at the floating human with rage.
“I heard you were planning on attacking the lizardmen, and I cannot let you do that,” Arthur said.
“Why is human meddling with the businesses of the lizardmen? Humans and lizards have an alliance now?”
Arthur did have an alliance with the lizardmen after all the kindness they showed him, but the human race? Arthur had no idea how they felt about the lizards, so there was no way he would speak on their behalf.
“No, not at all, I am the only human helping the lizards.”
The Lycan leader laughed and asked, “Why are you doing that? Do you owe them something from the past?”
“I want to repay their kindness. Tell me, will you leave this area never to return, or will you die here?” Arthur said in an arrogant tone.
He had the power to act like that, and after his inspection, he saw that the Lycan leader was at the peak of rank 1. It was not someone who could go against him, and even if all the Lycans there worked together, it would not be enough.
Arthur could quickly kill them with a strong AOE attack, especially if he destroyed the roof above their heads, collapsing the cave.
The leader of the Lycans looked at Arthur and tried to sense his power, yet was unable to. He noticed Arthur’s presence only because of his keen senses and nothing more!
“We cannot leave this area. You and I will have to fight! Lycans, kill him!”
With a howl, all the Lycans around the area gathered there, howling too! It was their way of boosting everyone’s strength by a little, turning their eyes red, and entering a frenzied state. All of them pounced toward Arthur, aiming their claws at his neck!
A single man was fighting against hundreds of Lycans. No one would believe Arthur would win such a fight. The leader of the Lycans decided to attack Arthur because he did not think Arthur would have that great of strength. A rank 2 mage at most would not win against that many Lycans, which is why he was confident about taking Arthur down.
Rank three mages were rare, and even though the demon continent had many of them, they often never left their domains, and Arthur was in a remote area, and there were not even rank 3 mages around!
But the Lycan leader would soon regret his decision. Even with that many Lycans pouncing toward Arthur, he dodged all of their attacks with ease, and every time he did that, a few Lycans would fall by his counter-attack.
Arthur had a dagger in his hands, which shone with a bright silver light. It was his Moonlight Essence, and after that many month’s training, he had a higher mastery of it, allowing him to control the amount he used in each strike. That way, he could conserve his essence — although he had plenty of it, as he kept meditating every night to increase it.
Still, a tiny portion of his Moonlight Essence was all Arthur needed to cut the Lycans like tofu. He flew from side to side, avoiding the attacks, and sending his own. The speed at which his arm moved was extraordinary, and not a single Lycan could see his attacks!
After the first minute of exchange, the number of Lycans diminished by 80%, causing great shock to their leader, who had yet to make his move.
He regretted it, as it was clear it would be impossible for him to win that fight! But what could he do now? There was no way Arthur would accept his apologies, and even if yes, his tribe suffered a tremendous blow. It was too late to regret it, and as time passed, the corpses inside that cave grew larger and larger.
For a moment, a hint of darkness appeared on Arthur’s left eye, which was his Emperor’s Eye. It turned crimson, like the blood of his foes, and his mind was not sane.
“Kill, kill, kill!”
He kept slashing the Lycans with his dagger, and the moonlight, which was silver, started to change its color to red! Arthur did not know, but he was unconsciously using some of the inheritance from the Blood Monarch, which came with his Emperor Eye!
There was a reason not only that eye but all the others were labeled as forbidden. It granted the user great power, but it also had its drawbacks, and it was known throughout history that the users of those eyes had quite a temper.
“Blood, blood! I need more blood!” Arthur yelled, laughing like a madman, scaring even the leader of the Lycans.
The blood from the corpses around him moved, flying in the air, going directly toward his body! Arthur was absorbing the Blood Essence, which fused with the Moonlight Essence from his dagger, creating a powerful weapon out of a simple dagger!
“What the fuck is this thing? Is he even a human?”
The leader of the Lycans had never seen something like it, and when he saw all the blood fusing with Arthur’s body, he only thought of vampires!
Vampires were a sub-race of humans, and the vampires had their territory inside the demon continent, one of the strongest races, having a vampire with the power of a rank 4 mage!
They were the only ones who could use the blood to their advantage, so when the Lycan saw Arthur doing the same thing, he thought he was a vampire! But that should not be possible. A Lycan like him would be able to tell from the scent if it was a vampire, yet Arthur’s smell was that of a human.
He wished he had listened to what Arthur proposed, but it was too late. Arthur flew toward him like a bullet, using the dagger to cut the Lycan in half, making blood fly everywhere. Just like what happened to all the others, the blood of that Lycan flew toward Arthur’s body as he absorbed it.
[Ding]
[Devour Skill evolving]
[…]
[New Skill Unlocked!]
[Bloody Devour]
[+10 to all stats]
[Bloody Devour: The legendary skill from Placidusax, the lord of dragons, found its soulmate, the Blood Essence. You can devour spells like before, and the skill enters in cooldown after consuming strong spells. The skill also has a second effect, draining the blood of the victims you kill, increasing your attributes, and having the chance to unlock the secrets of their blood, granting you new special abilities.]
That was unexpected! The devour part remained the same, allowing Arthur to devour a strong spell, surviving the attack while also putting the skill on cooldown for a couple days. But now, there was a second effect, and it worked even if the skill was in cooldown!
It allowed Arthur to drain the blood of his victims, increasing his own attributes while also having the chance to unlock more blood-related skills! That was the base for his new Blood Essence to grow stronger.
Arthur did not know that, as he was still in a frenzied state after killing all the Lycans and leaving the cave afterward. He was almost salivating, dashing through the forest like a starved beast, looking for more things to kill.
His speed was even greater than before, and after one hour of running, Arthur found a small settlement of humans! Just like any other race, they were scattered around the continent, so it was not impossible to find small villages or towns of any particular race anywhere on the continent.
Arthur was out of his usual self, and when the farmers saw him in the distance, running toward their tiny wooden houses and farms, they were scared, and some were shaking so much they couldn’t move.
“A-A monster! A vampire!” the villagers yelled, trying to run away from Arthur, yet it was impossible.
He was not using his dagger anymore, but his claws! Arthur’s nails turned into long sharp black claws, tearing the flesh of his victims! The villagers stood no chance, having their heads decapitated, limbs cut away from their bodies, and organs crushed by Arthur’s feet.
The village had a few guards, but they shared the same fate as all the others, dying horribly at Arthur’s hands. All the blood from their corpses went toward Arthur, making him stronger.
After the massacre, Arthur laughed like a maniac and passed out in the middle of the now-desert village, but he did not know everything he did and the reason behind it.
He lay there on the ground, covered in blood and body parts.
~~~~
“You said there is a tiny human village in this direction?”
“Yeah, it should have. We can rest there and continue our mission later. What was the enemy we had to kill, Lycans?”
“That is right. Their lair is far from the human village we are heading to.”
A group of three humans walked toward the same village Arthur had recently destroyed. They were adventurers from the adventurer’s guild and were doing missions, as that was their way of making a living.
“What is this smell? Blood?” one of them said.
The trio looked at each other and then rushed toward the small human settlement.