Born in Blood

Nonetheless, Liam shifted his focus to his mental sphere. There was still pain, but it was bearable.

Liam was afraid that his sea of consciousness could be riddled with cracks or soft spots.

To his relief, there wasn't any.

However, there was a golden shimmer that his translucent walls gained, along with similarly golden lines inscribed all throughout the barrier – it was assimilated into Liam's mental sphere.

Liam thought back to the Kitsune's words. The eye would improve each time his mental sphere advanced, and he couldn't help but want to test out its capabilities.

'I'll have to be careful from now on, though. I can't show this power to anyone else.'

Liam came back to reality, heaving a deep sigh. He instantly took out all the food he had and started wolfing it down.

Calling him exhausted was an understatement, and Liam felt like his body was covered with mud.

Once his body stopped trembling from hunger, he took a peek into Kirk's ring. Liam felt no pity as he killed him, since the former was intent on doing the same.

Shaking his head, Liam chose not to dwell on those feelings. In the first place, it was his emotional detachment that allowed him to survive for so long, ignoring the pleas of his many victims.

He wiped away Kirk's remaining 'Ora' imprint on the ring using his mental energy, then inspected it.

The space was roughly 35 square meters, much larger than all his other rings.

Inside, Liam counted roughly 450 'Ora' Stones, in addition to a bunch of pills he didn't know the use for – five Rank 2 and one Rank 3 spell of the earth Element.

There were Rank 1 and Rank 0 spells as well, but none could work without having the earth element.

Despite his findings, the spells weren't useful to him, and they were blatant indicators of Kirk's murder. The ring was too, but Liam had no plans on throwing the contents out.

'I'll keep the ring hidden for now. I can sell its contents if or when I leave Ucladd.'

In addition to that, he found a few Jade's, but since they were underground, their usage was useless.

He didn't fail to notice the Binding Oath around his core was no longer there.

Before he could organize his items, the sound of thudding, scratching, and screeching entered his ears.

Looking over his shoulder, a deep frown scrunched his face – he instantly started to run for the walls while activating Fleeting Foot.

A distance away, the Rank 4 darkness beasts continued to throw themselves down the pit.

Crocodiles, Panthers and Elephants dragged themselves on the walls with no regard to their bodies – their attention stuck to a small figure a distance away.

With the presence of the Kitsune gone, the beasts decided to finally enter the 'Ora' Mine and revel in its thick world essence – only to find it empty.

Moreover, the Kitsune was turned into a mummified corpse, devoid of any nutrients.

Anger churned within them… which they decided to take out on that running human who was there before them.

A chase ensued.

Liam was a huge distance away from them, and the Elephants and Crocodiles weren't fast enough to chase him.

The Panthers were.

More than half a dozen sprinted to his figure at full speed, their limbs blurring and turning into shadows.

They were incredibly fast.

Thankfully, Liam had a good head start.

'Why are you chasing me?! Fight each other, you dogs!'

As if answering his plea, shockwaves and booms bellowed out from a distance – a clash had broken between the beasts.

Liam cursed, but the giant cave wall was soon to be in reach.

Blasts, growls, and screeches reached Liam's ears, but due to the distance and him using Thicken, there was no damage on his mental sphere except a bearable pressure.

Devourer Moles entered the clash, bursting through the ground and ceiling – their giant maws swallowing entire chunks of the mine.

Rubble started to fall violently, boulders smashing against those below.

The entire mine was going to collapse!

Before the rapidly approaching panthers caught him, Liam gripped the jotting 'Ora' Stones in the wall, pushing himself upwards with all the strength he could muster.

Beneath his skin, the membrane shook, injecting him with a jolt of strength.

Like a mammal sprinting on land, Liam propelled himself up with wide strides.

Just then, the Panthers reached where he was a moment ago – growling in anger at the meal they missed.

Shortly after, they entered the fray with the other beasts.

Liam spent the next few hours carefully climbing towards the roof of the 'Ora' Mine, where countless holes led upwards to the surface.

Before entering one of the holes and heading upwards, Liam took one last look towards the bottom to witness the battle between Rank 4 existences.

From above, he felt superior, watching Zeniths get crushed by giant boulders, struggling to move.

Gushing waves of darkness covered the underground cave like a rising canopy.

Liam watched for a few minutes before the entire structure threatened to collapse.

It was unlike him. His ego had never gotten in the way of his survival, but being the cause of death to so many Zeniths gave him a look of supremacy.

"Out of all you superior beings, I came out on top!" He shouted with a magical beast's pride.

With a glare of condescension, he started climbing upwards.