Born in Blood

Liam was rushed from all sides.

The goblins roared from the top of their lungs as they did so. 

For some of the skinnier ones, their screams were nasally and more funny than intimidating.

But the larger variety, the Rank 4 Ogres, shook the air with their guttural shouts.

They were like heavily armored tanks, with their spiky iron armor and massive clubs to smash people to death.

Their battle cries created a ferocious tune as they charged as a single horde, converging on the sole human they could see.

The sound of gushing water audible from outside the fake dimension was somehow still louder.

Till now, Liam had never seen a goblin.

Usually, they lived in rural areas like marshes and swamps. 

Places they could ambush villagers and carriages and whatnot. 

Goblins had one remarkable quality that separated them for the rest.

Their regeneration, raw strength and speed. 

Their regeneration was so powerful, in fact, they could even reform entire limbs after they had been cut off.

Of course, this depended on their Rank.

To Liam's eye, the goblins were moving in slow motion. 

Even though they were enhanced and strengthened somehow.

Months upon months of training turned his mind into a laser that focused on nothing else but on how to deliver the quickest deaths.

Plus, he had twice the amount of mental energy and 'Ora'. 

In short, as of now, he was a monster.

'Is this part of the test?' Liam thought calmly. 'Or did they somehow enter through the fake dimension's fractures?'

'The way Eternal Sword phrased it, this was supposed to be a one-on-one duel.'

'Not a damn frenzy.'

Instantly, Liam's senses spread to their furthest reaches.

Liam had three different sensory types he was capable of using.

Shadow Sense.

Shifter Sense.

And mental energy.

Shadow Sense was currently not at its peak.

Due to the bright illumination, and the hundreds of thousands of goblins stampeding the ground, the Sea of Darkness was a hectic mess.

The Shifter Sense, though, was limited in range, but identified each individual goblin around him.

It was like seeing through a black and white thermal filter at 360 degrees. 

Even their heartbeat was audible to Liam's keen ears.

Slowly, they were closing the distance.

15 meters.

8 meters.

5 meters, then 3.

SHING!

Liam's Black Blade flashed in quick, successive strokes.

All the while, Liam stood still.

With how fast his swings were, Liam's arm and sword was just a blur. 

Clearly, he wasn't using his chaotic sword style. 

Not yet.

All around him, long arcs of black slashes formed, and continued forming. 

They looked stagnant mid-air. 

But if one took a closer look, they were indeed moving forward.

Just not as fast as Liam was making them.

Time resumed.

All the slashes that formed spread out in an instant.

Hundreds of soft squelching noises accompanied by the spurting of blood rang out.

As it continued, the roars slowly snuffed out one by one.

The goblins were shredded cleanly apart. 

Heads flew in the air.

Arms.

Legs.

Entrails and viscera.

Strokes of dark red blood painted the air. 

From a perimeter of 35 meters, it seemed as though the goblins had been shoved through a human-sized fruit slicer!

A disgusting, putrid stench permeated all throughout. 

Rivers of blood, urine and feces formed on the patches of stained grass.

When goblins died, they lost control of their bowels and bodily fluids, similar to humans. 

Liam looked unfazed. 

However, the ogres weren't killed instantly. 

They were way too big to kill from afar, but they were incapacitated due to the darkness burrowing in their insides.

Despite this, the number of goblins hadn't waned at all.

Liam had merely pushed back the tide.

Slowly, the roars were becoming louder.

Still, Liam's focus was elsewhere.

'Where is she?' 

When Liam's mental energy spread as far and wide as they could… he spotted her.

Through the massive hordes of giant goblins and ogres, his golden eye constricted to a sharp line.

His vision found its way through the tiny cracks between the huge hordes of Goblins.

Way out on the opposite side of the World's Cut, roughly 1,000 meters away, was Reyan.

Twilight.

The Sword of Stars.

At that distance, Twilight would seem like a tiny dot to anyone else.

But to Liam, he could see each individual hair strand on her head.

Reyan was wearing the same Moyong family robes. 

Her bone-white hair was much whiter compared to before, shortened to neck length.

She looked basically the same as the time she entered, but much more mature and polished.

Her aura was sharp, too. Colder.

All around her, goblins lay dead, their bodies cleanly severed and disintegrated to ash.

In her hand was a blindingly bright sword.

It wasn't curved at all, and was slightly shorter than Liam's Black Blade. 

It was double-edged, flat, and thinner than a fingernail. 

Her calm, silvery eye was coldly surveying the dead goblins around her.

But when Liam caught sight of her, her face flickered with surprise.

As soon as Liam's predator-like eyes spotted her, her hair rose, and she felt like hundreds of needles pricked her skin. 

Reyan scowled. She knew she was being watched.

But a moment later, Liam's skin felt a few needle pricks.

The Eternal Sword's pills were swallowed by both of them, after all.

Just like Liam was watching Reyan, Reyan was watching Liam!

Of course, Reyan had her own ways of enhancing her vision.

She wasn't using mental energy or had a special eye.

Liam's sea of consciousness was much more powerful than anyone near his age. 

With a quick glance, Liam could tell she extended the range her eye could see by using light as a medium.

Liam's eyes narrowed coldly.

Reyan lightly furrowed her brows.

But the goblins were back, and they were surging in even greater numbers.

Liam heaved a slight sigh as he took light steps forward, the Black Blade lightly gripped to his side.

Then, he started running straight into the hordes ahead!

If there was no path forward to his enemy…

Liam would carve one!