The Deceitful One

The entire ground around the cave mine, in a radius of seventy feet, was covered by the runic inscriptions. The runes were written in Ancient Hymmnos and had traces of Blood Path runes in them as well.

Surprisingly, all the corpses that were within this runic formation, slowly had the blood drained out of them.

The five red-hooded figures acutely noticed this and utilized their spiritual force to repel the effect of the runic formation. Since they were Rank 2 Transcendents and also of the Blood Path, it was easier for them.

Ron and Bryan on the other hand found it extremely tough. The former grunted in pain as he began to feel weak all over. The latter, however, didn't show much of a reaction.

Bryan lay listlessly on the ground as the blood flowing from all his wounds was slowly being absorbed by the runic formation.

Alfredo immediately grabbed both of them and jumped out of the formation. He landed a few feet away from the border of the runic formation and released Bryan and Ron from his grasp.

Ron fell to his knees as he took large mouthfuls of air. He had turned completely pale! He looked at the runic formation that was still glowing with an eerie blood color, in lingering fear.

Cold beads of sweat began to form on his forehead as he muttered, "What sort of formation is this?"

Alfredo smirked looking at Ron's expression. Hands behind his back, he walked to the edge of the formation and marveled at its splendor, "This is a runic formation that Master has developed over the last decade.

"Its function is to absorb the blood of everyone standing atop the formation and guide it to the person who is actually in control of it—in this case, that would be Master."

Ron looked at Alfredo incredulously, "Master created this formation!? Is this related to his advancement?"

"That's right," Alfredo nodded, "Master will absorb the blood essence of the thirty-plus corpses in this formation and use it as a catalyst to boost his spiritual force all the way until it has broken the threshold for Rank 4!"

Ron was enlightened, "I see…"

Meanwhile, the duo had completely forgotten about Bryan. They were under the impression that after such severe torture, he was now completely unable to make any move.

However, they were wrong! Bryan was simply biding his time and waiting for the right opportunity to strike. He still hadn't given up yet!

How could he? The person who had tortured him and killed his friends, along with the person who had betrayed him were right in front of him.

How could he let them go?

He had to at least take one of them down and drag them to hell with him!

Therefore, he covertly raised his right hand and slowly removed the runic paper stuck to the back of his neck! After removing the paper, he felt as if he was a fish that had stayed on land for an outstanding period of time and had finally returned to the pond!

After being able to feel the energy particles around him as well as the spiritual force from his mind runes, Bryan was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

He began to think of different ways he could attack either of the duo standing in front of him. By now, because of the curse mark on his left eye that had already spread to his right eye, Bryan had become completely blind.

However, he didn't care! With the help of his spiritual sense, he was able to perceive the things around him even more clearly than his vision would have allowed him.

But he made sure that his spiritual sense perception did not touch Alfredo or Ron, lest they find out that he had already gotten rid of the runic paper.

All of a sudden, Bryan felt both Alfredo and Ron turn around and walk toward him. He took back his spiritual sense and couldn't help but curse inwardly.

The curse mark on his eyes was even affecting his thought process. And hence he wasn't even able to think of ways to get out of this situation.

With no other options left that he could currently think of, Bryan once again pretended to be listless and allowed Alfredo to begin torturing him once again.

All the while, he kept repeating in his mind,

'Persevere! Persevere! Persevere!'

…

Meanwhile, inside the small room within the ancient ruin, Sean was sitting crossed-legged right in front of the cylindrical pedestal upon which hovered the gauntlet artifact.

However, right now, Sean's attention wasn't on the artifact, but on absorbing the blood essence that was being accumulated by the runic formation outside!

A few minutes later, when all the corpses outside the cave had shriveled up and had been completely drained of every drop of blood, Sean opened his eyes, his pupils shining like the brightest of rubies!

He muttered something in Ancient Hymmnos and immediately after that slammed his right palm on the ground in front of him.

Following that, a runic formation began to form, with him at the center. Soon the formation covered the entirety of the room—the floor along with the walls and the ceiling!

Small streams of blood began to seep out from the runes. This was the blood that had just been drained out of all the corpses outside!

With the clever usage of runes and the mystic arts, Sean was able to create a runic formation that not only absorbed the blood of the victims but also transported the blood through space to a different location!

This spoke volumes about Sean's intelligence and his expertise in the mystic arts!

When Sean saw the steams of blood protruding from the ground, the walls, and the ceilings, his lips curled up into a smirk as he mumbled, "Success!"

He then brought both his palms together, causing a loud clap to resound in the room. Following that, he mumbled a few words in Ancient Hymmnos.

This chant caused the streams of blood that were earlier moving without direction, to finally flow toward Sean! Hundreds of thin blood streams flowed towards him and entered his body.

Although the blood from humans contained a large amount of toxicity, with the help of the runic formation, Sean was able to filter them out flawlessly! Now all that remained in the blood was high spirituality!

Another few minutes later, Sean had absorbed all the blood streams from the runes. His complexion had now turned ruddy! There was a victorious smile on his face as he now knew he would be able to smoothly advance to the next rank.

He began to meditate and began carving the mind runes required for his advancement. The energy particles around him swirled violently but also in perfect harmony. They formed a sort of tornado above Sean's head and slowly merged with him.

In about another five minutes, the energy particles in the air had completely calmed down. Sean slowly opened his eyes, his red pupils brighter than ever! He examined his body and mind runes for a minute and then clenched his fists!

He had advanced to Rank 4!

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!" He burst out into triumphant laughter.

Sean got up to his feet and walked towards the cylindrical pedestal, "Now, no one can stop me!"

He took out Bryan's severed left hand from his coat's pocket and pressed it against the spiritual force barrier.

The barrier surrounding the gauntlet began to vibrate incessantly as it began to verify the authenticity of the blood from Bryan's hand.

Sean was acutely able to notice that a thin blood string had formed at one end of Bryan's hand and was speeding towards the outside.

"Hmm?" Sean raised his eyebrow, "How fascinating! It's checking whether the holder of the blood is alive and in the near vicinity!"

He couldn't help but marvel at the intricacies of the runic formation that was laid down by Transcendents from a long-forgotten era. The fact that it still worked so well and efficiently to this date, filled Sean with nothing but admiration.

Outside the cave mine, the runic formation had already dimmed. And all the corpses that were on it had already shriveled up. They looked no different than mummies.

The five figures guarding the cave entrance simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. They had to guard the entrance and at the same time repel the absorption of the runic formation. This had taken a large toll on them.

Luckily, it didn't last for long and everything was over within a few minutes. Unbeknownst to them, a blood string shot out from the depths of the ruins and flew towards Bryan.

The blood string was invisible even to the spiritual sense and only someone at the Mid-String ranks and above could observe it. The blood string embedded itself into Bryan's left shoulder at lightning speed.

Feeling this sudden prick in the wound on his left shoulder, Bryan's eyebrows couldn't help but twitch. Alfredo noticed Bryan's reaction and his lips couldn't help but curl up into a vicious grin, "Oh? I thought you had died."

Inside the small room within the ruin, the barrier surrounding the gauntlet glowed with a resplendent light, causing Sean to narrow his eyes.

"Looks like it has confirmed the authentication process!" He mumbled.

After the blood-red string had made sure that Bryan was in the vicinity and that he was also alive, the energy barrier finally dissipated, and the gauntlet hovering within was all for Sean's taking!

Sean stepped forward with excitement shining in his eyes! Without any further hindrances, he was finally able to grab the black gauntlet!

He wore the artifact in his right hand and grinned from ear to ear,

"You're finally mine!"