Born in Blood

Liam muttered every curse word he knew. Under his breath of course, lest the countless blood-hungry animals find him.

The beasts flew in packs and were all nearly in the third Rank, with one – the leader – being in the peak.

There seemed to be an entire ecosystem living under the canyon gorge, in which different magical beasts had their own territory within the enclosed space, in similar caves like his own.

Shrill noises and roars, both distant and near constantly entered his ears, and it seemed like the magical beasts were in a constant state of battle.

He entered back into the cave – plugging the entrance with a thin wall of mud – and took out his blades from his ring.

His quick thinking allowed him to store his weapons before the explosion.

The katana and wakizashi were still in good shape, which gave Liam a bit of hope of survival.

'The beasts here are way stronger, and all of them have the darkness element...'

It wasn't difficult for him to know why.

Magical beasts lived and evolved in areas that corresponded to their element.

For example, water elementals would live in places near rivers or ocean beds, fire type beasts near places with a higher heat intensity, etc.

A dark environment naturally invited darkness elementals to live in.

Liam sat cross-legged and examined his new organ thoroughly.

With the dense world essence surrounding him, his core rapidly absorbed gaseous 'Ora'. The core was unique in the sense that, in each stage, the state of 'Ora' inside changed. The first stage was gaseous, the second, liquid, and the final stage, solid.

With the issue of low 'Ora' reserves was automatically solved – since he could use his martial art forms excessively without the fear of running out – he smiled.

Not to mention, he could naturally strengthen his body, too.

'There's also my element I need to find out about. I can't afford to die here.'

Heaving a calm breath, he took out his Jade and attempted to call Lloyd.

Despite him pouring 'Ora' into the device, nothing happened. He attempted the same thing with Revel's Jade, but got the same result.

'It could be since I'm so far and underground.'

Shrugging, he threw the Jade's back inside the ring.

Peeking outside his small cave, Liam decided to survey his surroundings before trying anything brash.

Moreover, the gorge was incredibly deep, and his senses screamed danger from the abyss.

Whatever it was, Liam's picture of what could be under that layer of shadows grew more ominous the more he thought about it.

That aside, there were caves like his further down, and even horizontally, giving him a method to traverse the canyon.

Downward caves were wider, but from what Liam saw, housed even stronger magical beasts.

'The 'Ora' density is definitely thicker further down.' He realized, judging by the strength and numbers of the beasts below him.

'I'll have to be careful if I move between caves, those bats and owls can hurt me mid air.'

Liam's only option to traverse between the caves was to jump towards them, since there weren't any footholds.

'I can't fall behind on my training either. I might as well use the time I have here to grow stronger.'

He took out the Psionic Rune and began using it.

Strangely, the pressure was even less than before. Not enough to avoid getting a migraine, just a less severe one.

'Is it because of the Rank 4 Lava Lion's roar? I guess there's a silver lining in everything.'

Because of his mental sphere's ability to withstand more pressure, he was able to increase his time with the Psionic Rune by half an hour, totaling out to two & a half.

He didn't use it for that long, though, limiting himself to just one hour. He needed to be in perfect condition to fight against the beasts underground.

With that, Liam decided it was time for rest.

A few hours later, his cave wall burst open, and a dozen, 3-meter long Rank 3 bats screeched as they laid their blood red eyes on him.

Liam cursed as he jolted awake and instantly took out his blades, assuming a passive stance and waiting for the bats to engage him first.

One after the other, the bats screeched and dense, corrosive smoke spewed out from their mouths and shot at him.

Liam had limited space to evade within that small cave, and parts of his flesh had been swallowed by the black smoke, while he used his blades to cover the rest of the attacks.

At the same time, some of the bats decided to fly into his cave for a closer attack, but that was exactly the moment Liam was looking for.

The membrane under his muscles had stored those feelings of pain, glowing fervently the more his body was damaged, and with a thought, Liam activated its special ability.

The glowing membrane vibrated for a moment and lost its glow, but an addicting feeling of strength came over Liam.

His blade flashed, and streaks of dark blood flew in the air – bat corpses thudded on the ground beneath him. Among those dead bats were even middle and upper tier Rank 3's.

Liam's arms didn't have much difficulty with running his blade through a Rank 3 magical beast anymore. As he fought, his lips curved to form a grin.

Knowing they couldn't beat him in close range, the Night Bats cleverly kept their distance, continuously shooting ethereal balls of smoke.

Liam frowned, but he still had a way of reaching the bats.

'Third form. Equinox.'

His blades glowed with an iridescent light, and two bright arcs shot out and cut the bats' wings, briefly illuminating the pitch-black surroundings.

Although the 'Ora' he infused with his attacks were much purer and dense, his martial art was still Rank 2, and he couldn't express his core's true potential.

More and more arcs followed, and the bats had no way of keeping themselves afloat, falling into the endless abyss.

Liam heaved a slight breath, before his gaze fell on the bat corpses around him.

Rank 3 bodies came with more digestive capabilities.

'My provisions will end soon. I'll have to get... creative.'

Liam skinned the bats and removed their cores, leaving only the black flesh.

Gulping, he chomped down on the raw meat – his stomach hurled at the disgusting taste, but he forced down the nauseous feeling and continued chewing.

If it came to survival, there was nothing Liam wouldn't do.