They started to enter. As they stepped inside, they saw a path leading downward. Not hidden at all. Very easy to find, as if it was made that way on purpose.
"Be careful!" said Serya.
Alvaric nodded. "You all stay behind me!" he asked before starting to walk down.
They descended the narrow and spiraling stairs. The deeper they went, the dimmer the light from the outside became, until it disappeared completely. Only the dim light from the crystal held by Velka remained. But that was enough to illuminate the path.
The four of them continued walking deeper. As time passed, they began to see a—
On the first floor, the corridor split into several directions. The air here was thicker and more stifling, and in the distance, there was the sound of scraping... like something dragging a body or weapon on wet ground.
"I’ll go first," said Alvaric quietly, almost like a whisper. He didn’t wait for a reply and immediately stepped forward, leaving Serya and Velka behind.
"He’s so reckless," muttered Velka.
"Just let him. This is actually better because if there’s a trap, no one will get hurt but him," replied Serya while crossing her arms, but her eyes stayed on Alvaric’s back from afar. "Not because I want him to suffer, but this is for the best. He won’t die anyway."
Velka nodded in understanding. Alvaric, who couldn’t die, walking ahead wasn’t a bad thing. It was actually very advantageous for them.
Inside the dark corridor, Alvaric walked alone at the front. As he stepped, suddenly the stairs sloped downward. At the same time, dozens of arrows shot rapidly toward Alvaric. Quickly, he drew Vapper’s Dagger and slashed upward with it.
Ten of the arrows bounced away and finally fell to the ground. Alvaric continued walking. Nothing else happened. Serya and the others started moving. They followed Alvaric’s footsteps since the path he had walked was now the safest.
"Is this really okay, ma’am?" asked one of Alvaric’s guards at the very back.
He was a random soldier chosen by Serya. He felt anxious seeing what happened to Alvaric who kept triggering traps. One even stabbed through his stomach. As someone who had never seen Alvaric’s abilities directly, of course, he was worried.
Especially since Alvaric was someone important.
The soldier glanced at her. "Really?" He was not convinced.
Not die? That was a word that should be impossible. No matter how powerful a being was, they would eventually die—he knew that very well, especially since he had heard rumors that one of the royal generals had been killed, and the one who killed him was the man walking in front of them now.
Even demi-humans as strong as generals could die. Let alone others. Though the man in front of him was the one who killed the royal general, the soldier doubted it was done by Alvaric alone. He was sure that Serya had played a part.
"He’s just lucky," he muttered quietly so that no one could hear his words.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the end of a corridor. They entered. Of course, Alvaric went in first. The others entered after Alvaric stood still inside the room. Alvaric raised his hand, signaling. A code for Serya and the others not to step too close.
"What is it?" asked Serya. Thıs text ıs hosted at 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽
They kept moving, but stopped the moment they saw the monster inside that room. A creature resembling a large lizard the size of a human, with hard bronze-colored skin and a long tongue sticking out, looking at them. Only one, maybe.
Serya, Velka, and the others stepped two steps back. Meanwhile, Alvaric stepped forward without hesitation. Alvaric leapt high. His body spun in the air and struck the ground with his heel. The giant lizard dodged quickly.
It even launched a quick attack with its tail. The attack slashed Alvaric’s stomach. Blood dripped from Alvaric’s belly. Instead of panicking, he smiled.
[Blood Domain activated]
This was a golden opportunity for Alvaric to test out his new skill. One second later, the room transformed into a completely different place. The ground beneath them turned into a pool of blood, ankle-deep.
The room’s walls disappeared, replaced by a boundless space with no barriers. Above them, there was a red moon, dripping blood. It resembled the Bloodmoon Eclipse skill from the Crimson Sword Demon, but this version was even more terrifying.
[Room pressure increased by 70%]
[All attributes reduced by 75%]
[Vision reduced by 65%]
[Skill restriction active]
Alvaric, seeing the effects of the moon in the Blood Domain, was stunned. He thought the effect would also apply to him, but that wasn’t the case.
He didn’t feel any pressure, his stats were still the same, and his vision remained clear. No changes at all. But when he looked at the giant lizard in front of him, he realized all those effects were affecting his opponent.
Alvaric nodded in understanding. Now he understood. He smiled widely, realizing that his new skill was incredibly terrifying. This would be a huge advantage for him. Though, there might be a side effect that could be frightening. Alvaric wanted to see what that was.
This was just a trial run.
[Eye’s of Monarch activated]
"Why is there no change?" Alvaric rubbed his eyes.
He didn’t see any movement from the giant lizard in front of him. He should be able to see five seconds into the future, but he saw nothing. Alvaric paused for a few seconds, continuously activating Eye’s of Monarch. The result remained the same—the lizard showed no signs of any change.
Eventually, Alvaric stepped forward and began to prepare an attack. He tried to form a sword using his blood, but as he did so, the blood sword became much larger than he intended.
Alvaric stopped. Cancelled it. He raised his hand. "Did it work?"
He focused his mind and sure enough—the pool of blood beneath him could be controlled at will. He had an unlimited supply of blood. No need to injure himself anymore. He had plenty of blood and could shape it into anything.
As Alvaric raised his hand higher, the blood rose upward. Once it was very high, all the blood suddenly transformed into swords aimed at a single target. Not one, two, or a hundred swords.
Alvaric created nearly 400 swords from the blood he controlled. Each sword was the size of an adult’s thigh and razor sharp.
"Die!" shouted Alvaric.
Hundreds of blood swords rained down upon the giant lizard’s body. In just a few seconds, the monster was instantly killed. It gave no resistance at all. Even after it died, the blood swords continued to rain down on its body.
Its body was utterly destroyed.
"This is insane," said Alvaric, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Blood?" Alvaric’s eyes widened.