Born in Blood



Ruth's reckless attack had made the dungeon's structure even more unstable than it already was. The ground was a chaotic mess of jutting rock, and the ceiling was starting to chip and shatter.

Just before Ruth's body smashed against the dungeon wall, Liam's chains shot from his wrist and wrapped tightly around her waist.

Liam felt himself getting pulled – and the chain nearly snapped – but Krel's firm hand on his shoulder gave him the strength to yank Ruth back.

The red-haired woman had a broken right arm and a pained grimace on her face, partly due to Liam's corrosive chains tightly wrapped around her body.

After she was safely pulled to him and Krel, Liam released the chains and shifted his attention forward.

The Shifter had now become a towering wolf with lush white fur, but its body had been marred with countless cuts and bruises. The accumulated damage from it's lizard form had carried on over.

In fact, parts of the Shifter's aura dulled ever so slightly in Liam's eyes. Not to mention, there were no longer any powerful scales armoring the wolf's body.

"It has a limited number of times it can switch!" Liam shouted that bit of information to the group. "It doesn't have its scales anymore, target its weak spots!"

The other Shadows took wide strides backwards as they heard Liam's words, hurling every inscribed item they can at the beast while casting minor spells in between.

ROAR!

With the Shifter's thunderous roar, liquid rapidly gathered around its throat and condensed, creating a loud whirring noise.

Fifteen needles formed in between Liam's hands, which he instantly shot at the beast's mouth. Iris did the same with her arrows, with Maeve and Oro helping with their own.

Liam cursed. Although the best course of action would be to dodge and avoid the sphere altogether, but Ruth was injured, pinning them in one spot.

The attacks on the Shifter's mouth helped reduce the effect and take away its … but not enough to stop the attack from taking place.

Pointing its maw towards the group, the basketball-sized sphere of liquid shot at them at the speed of a bullet.

In a desperate attempt, Adrian and Krel activated a defensive spell. A layered dome of solid rock formed around the group just in time to collide with the liquid.

BOOOOOM!

As soon as the two forces met, the wall was blown apart like a wooden door, sending rock-made shrapnel flying in every direction.

Pieces of it ripped into Liam's pale and bruised flesh, piercing through the Obsidian Skin and Cartilage Brace defenses. 

The Dark Wraith body helped avoid most of the bigger rocks, but Liam still couldn't turn his entire figure into mist.

Thankfully, the others were doing much better than he was. Ruth's condition was getting better, but she still lacked the strength to carry her hammer with the usual amount of strength.

"Dodge!" Krel shouted as the wolf roared again, running at the group with murder in its blood-red eyes.

Curses flew through the air.

Liam activated Vanishing Steps and flung himself away from the wolf's trajectory.

It was absolute chaos, and they had to face it head on.

With one of them injured, their chances of winning the clash against the Shifter lessened significantly.

Large pieces of rubble fell down from the roof as the Shadows were constantly dodging the wolf's pounces and swipes, sneaking in a heavy attack now and again.

It was a battle of attrition.

The Shifter was losing its strength as it used more of its water beams, but the Shadows were starting to feel their mental energies lessen.

RUMBLE. CRKH. BOOM.

Liam grimaced.

'Enough of this!'

"Oi! I have a plan!" Liam shouted with a deeper voice that didn't match his quiet personality. That attracted the wolf's attention, making him the Shifter's target. 

"You two oafs take care of the rubble plugging the entrance!" he ordered Adrian and Ruth.

Despite Liam's inferior Rank, age and status within the Temple, the two didn't feel any disrespect from his words.

In fact, they felt absolutely compelled to comply with his orders, not knowing why.

"Make sure to use every remaining spell you have on its underside!" he ordered the rest with a domineering tone.

As Ruth and Adrian rushed towards the slope, Liam's body multiplied.

He used the King's Eye and quickly made the Shadow Clone look as similar as possible to himself, before running like the wind, spamming Vanishing Steps and his Dark Wraith abilities.

Krel and the rest watching were shocked at that sight, but it wasn't the time to stare blankly. 

They began to charge and use every single spell in their disposal, while Ruth and Adrian began to smash away a clearing to the surface.

Liam was leading the beast towards the furthest wall of the dungeon, into the makeshift 'Ora' Mine.

Obviously, his speed compared to a Rank 4 wolf-type beast was like a toddler running away from an adult, but that wasn't his plan.

The Shadow Clone was obviously slower than him, and the wolf didn't know the difference between the two figures it ran after.

Eventually, the Shifter had enough and pounced on the closer version of the two.

It clamped its giant mouth over the Shadow Clone and bit into it with one large bite.

Instantly, the Shifter looked like it regretted that decision.

It whimpered in pain and tried to spit away the darkness-made human, but the mangled clone had clung to the wolf's corroded tongue with all its strength.

At the same time, the Shifter was too distraught to realize a short figure had slid under its body.

Liam felt like time slowed down.

His back slid across the jagged floor and his vision was filled with the wolf's exposed, weakened underside. It was still thrashing around, oblivious of Liam's presence.

Liam pushed himself off the ground in one swift motion, launching himself at the wolf's underside as he pulled back his fists and swung.

Liam's chest began to heat up as chaos churned from his pearl, spreading evenly across his now hardened body.

Liam's hair lengthened and turned white, another two pairs of muscular arms forming on his hip and waist, his teeth sharpening. 

Chaos gathered on his fists, and all six of them formed when he struck dead center at the wolf's chest.

A bang louder than any of the crashing rubble sounded through the dungeon, and the Shifter's giant body collided with the ceiling.