The Dawn of the New World

"Grrr," a heavy-winded guttural rumble escaped Hao Xuan's throat.

His Lycan bloodline which had reached 8.92% blood purity level was activated to the core, making small but noticeable changes to his body.

Firstly his fingers elongated, the nails becoming longer and sharper, curving at the ends in the shape of claws.

The same thing was happening to his feet but due to the shoes the changes could not be observed by the others.

Then came the changes to the back muscles which expanded and widened by almost half a size. His back hunched at first before suddenly straightening, releasing cracking and popping sounds.

When Hao Xuan stood up straight he was a full head taller than before with the top of his head coming up to Burak's chin now, who was the biggest of them all.

He wasn't as muscular as most of the barbarians but every inch of his body was rumbling with explosive power, hiding just beneath his skin.

Hao Xuan closed his eyes once before slowly opening them again. The light in his pupils became brighter for an instant and veins popped around them but it all returned to normal a moment later.

The dark hallway laying ahead suddenly became much brighter in his eyes, giving up every little secret it held. And just then from the corner of his eye Hao Xuan saw a black cloud-like entity retreat back into the darkness away from his prying eyes.

'I knew it, this darkness is not normal at all, is it? It feels like a Law... But as long as I'm in this state I should be fine...' he was under the assumption that the reason he could see that entity was because his vision got better but that was not the case, which he would realize much later.

Hao Xuan turned his head sideways, "I will take care of the front. Stay low and move fast. Don't pick a fight if it can be avoided."

"U-Un," Burak nodded back, at a loss for words. He had never seen Hao Xuan activate his bloodline before so it was expected.

They couldn't even completely see Hao Xuan even though he was standing right in front of them. If they got distracted or looked away for even a second, he would simply disappear from their radar altogether.

Lycan's by nature were stealthy predators so naturally, the one thing they knew above all else was how to hide in plain sight until such a time when it wasn't needed anymore. Hao Xuan did not need to learn this, his blood did all the work for him.

It was almost magical in nature, although no one could really say with certainty that it wasn't.

"Good, let's go then," Hao Xuan whispered.

The barbarians saw his silhouette move just an inch or two and like smoke in a hurricane, he was completely gone.

"F-Follow after him!" Burak ordered before breaking out in a mad sprint after him.

He couldn't really see Hao Xuan either, all he had to go on was the sound of rapid footsteps just ahead of them which Hao Xuan made on purpose.

A brief moment after their departure, a large four-legged silhouette walked out of the room.

Lazarus sniffed left and right, instantly catching the scent of his prey. Its long neck retracted back into the reptilian body for the most part. The long grainy moved by themselves and out came a pack of the same dog-like creatures.

"Go, bring them to me alive," a voice came from inside its mouth that sounded like Niko's, its latest victim, giving the orders.

The surly creatures snarled at each other and ran in the same direction as the barbarians.

**

The pyramid had a total of seven floors but each one was a maze of its own with thousands of pathways either leading to empty dead ends or worse, the ones that still had something moving, dead or alive.

Hao Xuan's speed had long surpassed anything he had achieved before. With the power of his blood, the Chaos Qi, and physical body combined, very few creatures were able to even detect him before he was already on them.

He coldly dispatched and threw them to the side, leaving something akin to a trail of breadcrumbs for the barbarians to follow.

*Whoosh*

*Slash*

*Riiiiip*

Hao Xuan didn't even need to use a weapon, his hands combined with the extreme speed and momentum he was moving at were more than enough to deal with most of them.

Sixth Floor, Fifth Floor, Fourth Floor....they moved quickly and silently until the third floor came into view.

Burak and the rest of them finally caught up with Hao Xuan who was standing by the exit of the 4th floor waiting for them.

"What's wrong?" Burak asked walking up behind him but his jaw dropped when he saw what was waiting for them here.

Unlike all the other levels, there were no hallways connecting one section to the other.. It was a wide-open space, filled to the brim with thousands of different creatures.