Grand Ancestral Bloodlines

Ryu's eyes lit up with his realization, but he also understood that the longer he spent embroiled in this battle, the more trouble he would bring to himself.

The trouble was that with all the suppression, he really didn't have an easy way of ending this battle quickly.

He slid through the waters, sending out a pulse of Bloodline Resonance that acted like a benign force field, sensing things in a large region.

It swept over the beasts and into the distance. Once it was dozens of kilometers away, Ryu got the feedback he was looking for, realizing that there were indeed Demons headed this way.

'Oh?'

Ryu's gaze flickered as he realized something else. When he sent out that pulse just now, the beasts reacted as though they had lost track of him. In fact, the ones without the blood crystal looked lost, and even the beast that did hold the blood crystal took a while to orient himself back toward Ryu and Selheira's direction.

'That confirms that just one of the original six has a blood crystal. It also seems that I can use Bloodline Resonance to hide my presence, but I already knew that. I just didn't expect that it could be used even when they were right before me.'

The only reason Ryu had acted like this in the first place was because he realized an oddity, that oddity being that no beasts had attacked him.

But it seemed he could use this ability far more actively than he assumed.

'Good.'

Ryu sent out another gentle pulse. It didn't take up much of his stamina at all, and the blood crystal beast was confused once more.

By then, Ryu's Embryonic Qi had already circulated as he sent out a series of punches.

The beasts exploded one after another. Each drain on Ryu's Vital Qi pulled him down toward an abyss, but his strong Dao Heart kept him upright.

Not many would withstand the feeling of their body inflating and deflating so frequently, but Ryu had no other choice. This world could even limit his Embryonic Qi. If he didn't take drastic measures, he would die here.

The blood crystal beast finally caught wind of Ryu again, only for the latter to send out yet another pulse that sent it into a reeling confusion.

Ryu's figure flickered, and he appeared beneath the beast. He pulled his fist back and his gaze sharpened. Standing just a meter away from the beast's head, he roared and punched out.

Bloodline Resonance activated once more, but this time he was far too close for the beast to shrug it off.

Ryu had realized during their earlier exchanges that the beast's ability to weaken his Bloodline Resonance wasn't a passive ability, it was active. That was why he sent out a gentle pulse. The beast couldn't immediately deal with it because it wasn't targeted toward it, but rather the surroundings. This was also why, before he called these beasts over, even blood crystal beasts hadn't been able to find his location.

If the beast lost his position, and he suddenly erupted with all his strength from point-blank range, it didn't stand a chance.

BANG!

The body of the tentacle beast reacted as though a bomb had just erupted within its body. It was shredded to pieces, its form becoming an unrecognizable mass of blood, gore, and rotten flesh in a single blink.

At that moment, a radiant light thrummed out from within it.

Ryu didn't have the luxury of attacking with the intention of protecting the blood crystal within, knowing that danger was coming. But to his surprise, his strongest attack, at least while stuck in this Realm, was actually withstood so easily by the gem.

'Just what is this thing?'

Ryu wondered in silence, and he reached out, grabbing it.

A shudder in the waters caught Ryu's attention. With the appearance of the gem, the entire surroundings were illuminated, making Ryu the center of attention in this region.

'Annoying.'

Ryu made a move to leave when he suddenly paused. In the fourth layer, there was actually a surprising character, and she was actually being followed around by an entourage.

It was Wunikai, the Dream Devil. To think he would run into the Blacksteel Giant who protected her not long ago and then meet her so soon afterward.

The real reason Ryu was surprised wasn't because of who she was, but rather by the fact that she was still here at all.

The true geniuses should be in the fifth layer at worst by now. Although he wasn't a fan of the woman, he knew that she was among the strong. She wasn't at the same level as the Demon King disciples or the Thunder Wraith young man, but she was firmly atop the second tier of geniuses that had appeared here. That, Ryu could tell with a glance.

What was just as interesting was the fact she had such a large horde of sycophants following after her. They were all men, and each one, though not absolutely strong, was at least decent if they could make it this far.

If it had just been a loose collection of people, Ryu wouldn't have thought much about it. But these people were clearly together, and clearly more than willing to target him.

That wasn't to say that they had come here with the intention of looking for Ryu in specific, but rather that they were attracted by what was happening here. And now that they had arrived, they wouldn't mind acting together to do just that.

Ryu's gaze narrowed, and Wunikai showed a hint of surprise when she saw him.

"... So you aren't entirely human, after all. You have Demon blood."

Ryu couldn't be bothered to explain himself to most people. He didn't have a mind to care what this woman was talking about or the will to correct her.

"I must say that I'm surprised, I didn't expect for-"

"Just attack. I don't have the patience for this."