Mystical Journey

Hochman stopped playing with the ringing steel balls in his hand and lightly tossed them to the subordinates behind him. What was strange was that his palms had the same brilliance as the steel balls, and making them look rather inhuman.

“We have been waiting for you for a long time,” Weidi stomped on the corpse in front of him, “This guy is the so-called elite from the Lightless Alliance and I can’t believe he stealthily came here to gain some advantages. What a stupid man.”

Before he could finish his sentence, Hochman slammed hard with his hand.

Bam!!

The black shadows surrounding him were abruptly shoved away from him. He then grabbed one with his hand and smashed it into the ground.

Boom!!

Fresh blood erupted everywhere.

The black shadows stopped moving and started to turn into black dust.

Hochman stood up casually as if he did something meaningless.

“Invisibility? Interesting.”

His action in that instant made Weidi so stunned that his pupils had contracted. The black mist around him had stopped spreading and was only covering half of the area. Furthermore, it was the smaller half too as the area had been occupied by an invisible force field.

His pupils started turning green.

“Who exactly are you? Why do you have such power!”

Hochman’s expression didn’t change as he slowly walked towards Weidi. As he moved forward, with each step he took, two green lights would flash mid-air near where he walked. What would then appeared were black-shirted human figures that were originally invisible. These human figures were frozen stiff as they floated in the middle of the air and each of them was maintaining a strange pose as if they were unable to move out of it.

Boom.

In an instant, the first black-shirted human figure exploded and turned into black ash that drifted to the ground. Then the next boom could be heard; it was the second body. Then the third, the fourth…

Wherever Hochman had been, the hidden invisible Blood Breeds near him were revealed and frozen mid-air, unable to move. They then exploded into ashes one after another.

An inexplicable and vicious shadow slowly changed its shape behind Hochman. The shadow behind him was no longer in human shape and what replaced it was a horrifying giant beast with sharp horns. The shape closely resembled the dragons from the folklores of the west.

A calm yet powerful oppression spread from his body. With his every step, the shadow’s occupied space cast by Weidi and his members was further reduced.

Perhaps even Garen couldn’t foresee that Hochman would be able to break through the middle-tier upper level and get close to the peak of the upper level when Garen had increased his strength. Even his soul was faintly similar to that of Garen’s, which meant that his soul possessed the overwhelming aura of the incomparably powerful Nine-Headed Dragon.

Ahh!!!

Weidi shouted with all his might and two white sharp fangs suddenly appeared in his mouth. His body bent and he instantly teleported behind Hochman as he attempted to tear into his neck.

Hochman reacted by giving off a green light from his body as if he was covered with a layer of greenish, glowing fluid.

Suddenly two white scimitars stealthily ambushed Hochman from both sides, as if there were two other Blood Breeds as strong as Weidi attacking him at once.

One had to realize that Hochman wouldn’t even allow an ambush to come this close from a typical Blood Breed of Lower-Level and Middle-Level.

However, these two scimitars made it. They came out of nowhere and seemed to draw very close to Hochman’s skin.

“Waterbird’s Profound!” Hochman’s eyes instantly lit up and a shapeless whirlwind appeared around him.

“Dual Blade!!”

In that instant, the area was filled with white sparks that could blind someone temporarily.

Blood was trickling down his arms and dripping down onto the black dirt in a green field. The blood was immediately absorbed into the dirt, leaving nothing behind but soil that was slightly red.

Dahm opened his mouth wide as he panted while staring at Arudo.

His situation was dire; his right arm had been destroyed and a big chunk of his left arm had been torn so badly that blood was flowing out profusely.

On the other hand, Arudo who was before him had half of his brain blown out. However, defying logic, it was recovering at a normal pace. What was inside his skull wasn’t something that resembled a brain but similar to his other parts of the body. It was filled with red thick matter which moved around.

The newly recovered Arudo looked equally battered. His shirt was covered in holes from when he was hit by Dahm’s Waterbird Fist and had exploded innumerable times.

The metal ball on his body had broken into multiple pieces nearby onto the ground, while both of his swords had also broken into multiple pieces as it stuck onto the dirt. So many cracks scarred the blades’ surfaces that they could no longer be used or they would immediately shatter.

His body was equally bad. The vertical eye in the middle of his forehead was an indication of his strength. It would reflect his current strength like a thermometer. When he was at his peak, his vertical eye would be red in color. However currently, it could hardly open it and it looked very sick and pale.

“My Blood Breed talent is unlimited regeneration. Dahm right? Let’s see how much longer you can last!” Arudo managed to laugh as he mocked his enemy. Although he had obtained the information of his enemy beforehand and knew that the opponent was no normal human, he only realized how truly powerful this human Dahm was! Unexpectedly, he was able to fight on equal ground with an Upper-Level Blood Breed who had lived for thousands of years. He was simply incredible!

Eventually, a strange anxiousness started to dwell within him.

The Blood Breeds who were busy with their civil wars weren’t that interested in the Holy Fist Palace that was gaining momentum in strength in the human world. They thought that no matter how strong humans could be, they would always be weaker and could pose no threat to a Lower-Level Blood Breed. Now that he had witnessed their strength…

“How long I will last?” Dahm laughed loudly as he heard what he said, “Look around you.”

Arudo was slightly surprised as the Four Hunting Generals had started to spread out and weren’t even worried about their battle. There were only a few subordinates left who stood far away as they set up an instrument with unknown purposes.

Suddenly, he could hear the churning of a helicopter’s propellers approaching from afar.

“Could it be…!!??” His pupil instantly contracted as he thought of a possibility.

Underneath the manor in a certain dark room.

Three black figures were gathered together at the center where a pillar resembling a trophy was placed. The pillar was only half a person tall and had a basin filled with blood on top.

The blood was slowly rotating and the reflection on the surface was as good as a mirror as it displayed the situation outside.

“The other two households’ people have all arrived. I didn’t expect the Lightless Alliance to be so powerful. Luckily we left a few men in case of any unexpected event,” a neutral tone sounded.

The other two was staring at the situation flashing within the bloody basin and didn’t utter a single word. The atmosphere was rather intense.

“It’s that old man AG… I knew it was him!” a hoarse voice came from a black figure.

What flashed across the basin was AG’s pale and wrinkly face. Two of his golden lions had transformed into lion head humanoids and were fighting against some Middle-Level Blood Breeds. Meanwhile, he was strolling towards the manor with his cane in hand, under the cover of numerous greenish-black bats. No Blood Breed could halt his advance.

However, what was strange was that once he had reached a certain area, green smoke started to appear underneath his feet. It seemed like there was something blocking his path and he couldn’t proceed further.

“He’s here for revenge,” the last black figure said lazily, “I’ve told you guys not to participate in this earlier on and you guys ignored me. Now we have to face this troublesome man.”

The other two didn’t respond at all. Although they sound very confident, each Blood Breed’s sacrifice, be it a Lower-Level Blood Breed or Middle-Level Blood Breed, greatly pained them. It hurt them so much so that the pain could be described as stabbing their heart again and again with a knife.

“What’s the current loss?” one of them asked lazily.

“Thirteen Lower-Level teams and we have five remaining…” the hoarse voice responded softly, “We sent out ten Middle-Level Blood Breeds and only one has returned. However, we do not have to worry about this and the issue isn’t our household’s alone but the collective decision of the entire Secret Party. The leader has promised us to compensate for our losses. As long as we have enough Blood Essence, we can produce more Middle-Levels and Lower-Levels and recover our losses. As of now, the leader is very interested in the humans named Dahm and Hochman. He has requested us to capture them at all cost. The leader is very interested in the root of their strength. This root, this so-called Secret Technique has piqued the leader’s interest.”

“Indeed. This Secret Technique has enabled Hochman and Dahm to achieve the strength of an Upper-Level within just a few years. If we were to spread this to the mass…” the neutral voice said softly. Suddenly, the lazy black figure jolted and couldn’t hide his shock.

“A few years? Are you sure they only spend a few years of their time? Instead of a certain Witch’s branched cult?!!” the lazy tone had started to wake up.

Then, the blood in the basin started to boil as if there was a fire underneath it. The Blood started to boil rapidly to the point white vapor started to form. Even the situation inside the blood was no longer visible.

“It’s time,” the hoarse voice sounded rather excited. Although Blood Breeds’ emotions were neutral most of the time, it didn’t feel good watching their Household’s strength decreasing over time.

“Let’s begin.”

The three black figures each reached out one of their hands and pressed down on the protruded corners of the bloody basin.

A strange mosquito-like buzzing started to sound. It wasn’t coming from the three of them but from within the bloody basin.

The boiling in the basin stopped and the blood started rotating once more just like before. However, the vortex was slightly different as the eye of the vortex was deepening and its speed had increased. It kept going down to the point where even a black light could be seen glowing slightly.

At the same time, from the bird’s eye view at the top of the manor.

With Wellington’s manor at the epicenter, the surrounding area of hundreds of meters started to tremble as layers of invisible walls started to emerge from the ground. These walls created by the members instantly separated the attackers, forming a huge invisible labyrinth.

As the horse neighed, while the Mystical Mist Knight was battling against the powerful Blood Breeds who had blue battleaxes in their hands, they were separated by the invisible wall. Immediately, the Blood Breeds took the opportunity to knock at least ten knights off their horses.

AG, who was standing on the field, slowly looked up at the moon in the sky. It was strange as the moon was as red as blood through the invisible wall.

“So this is… the Holy Labyrinth?”