Everyone raised a brow.
“Sacrifice to what?” Nord questioned. Eventually, he picked up on the sign language shtick.
‘Dragon,’ Rin gestured back. ‘A Rank 5.’
Liam widened his eye in slight shock, turning his attention to the girl.
Everyone else looked just as stunned, except Niveh, who had no idea what they were saying.
Seeing Liam sit up from his sleeping place, Rin let out an amused chuckle.
“Rank 5?!” Nessa exclaimed, like she didn’t believe her words. “Impossible… how? Beasts like that are too dangerous to live around normal civilizations. Their presence alone creates a Rank 5 Death Zone.”
‘Death Zones’ were areas that high ranking beasts inhabited within the wilderness.
Such areas were classified by their danger levels, ranging from Rank 4 to Rank 6. They didn’t always specify a beast living there. Sometimes, the climate and conditions of a location was simply too dangerous to venture into.
As far as Liam knew, Death Zones were desolate and abandoned areas that no human, Zenith or not, dared to venture through without reason. Unless of course, they came heavily armed and prepared.
‘It lived under the earth. I remember it clearly. It was nearly the size of a mountain, and was covered in giant white scales.’
Rin paused for a bit. There was a solemn and deep emotion in her violet eyes, but she continued.
‘My people wanted to sacrifice me to it in exchange for attaining its ‘sacred power’, whatever that meant. They entered its lair all at once, with me tied up as a meal.’
Rin’s lips curled upwards to form a disturbing smile.
‘Instead, the dragon slaughtered them all with the flick of his claw… and spared me. I still don’t know why… but one day, I will find out.’
After that, Rin went silent.
Liam lowered his head in thought.
‘Magical beasts get more complicated as the ranks progress…It’s clear she’s hiding most of the story, though.’
He raised his head, only to see everyone staring at him in silence.
“There’s nothing interesting about my past.”
That was all Liam said, before turning his head and laying down to sleep. Obviously, he wasn’t sleeping.
His mental waves were always on guard in case there could be an attack of any sort.
“C’mon…” Nord said, disappointed. “Give us something more than that…”
A long silence followed, making the group think Liam wouldn’t respond. They were about to move on, but Liam spoke.
“Stars. I want to touch the stars.”
He owed them that much at least.
Nord nodded in silent approval. Rin raised her brows, and Nessa was taken aback.
///
The next three days passed swiftly.
The group discreetly investigated different parts of the Citadel with seemingly no difficulty.
Liam resumed his schedule of absorbing blood, eating a Nexus, and resting.
Something he added to that was killing hostile vampires that lived in sketchy back alleys.
They were basically criminals, and no one would even care that they went missing.
Meanwhile, Liam’s connection with his refined blood grew to a decent amount.
More than 1/15th of his body was now attuned with that liquid.
Eventually, Liam decided to test it out.
Forming a tiny vertical cut on his palm, he tried to manipulate the blood without the usage of ‘Ora’.
Nothing happened.
Blood simply gathered into Liam’s palms and continued to flow, making him disappointed.
He increased his consumption of Nexus’, even eating two per day.
Liam was intent on eating even more, but held himself back in case it had a dire effect on his body.
After the eighth heart was consumed, Liam focused on the newfound connection he had with his blood.
Slowly, the liquid changed shape!
It twisted and turned as Liam arduously shaped it to.
It was a bizarre feeling, manipulating his own bodily fluids – like moving a limb without any bones.
Unfortunately, Liam lacked the ability to harden his blood like a regular Blood Arts user.
In time, that would change. 𝒷𝒹𝓸𝓿𝓁.𝒸ℴ𝓶
Soon enough, the three days were over.
Liam left his ‘workshop’ – which was really just an abandoned chamber in the outskirts – and headed shot straight towards the inn.
As he made his way, a cawing noise entered his ears. He shifted his gaze above.
A raven had its beady eyes fixed right on Liam’s, circling above his figure.
Liam grimaced.
‘Have we been found?’
Slowly, he lowered his head. A second later, his hand blurred, and three needles shot at the raven’s body, piercing through it and exploding into dense gas.
It let out a screeching caw, then desperately flapped its pierced and corroding wings to escape.
Instead, it plunged to the ground, where Liam promptly severed it in half with his shortsword.
Blood splattered on the obsidian floor.
A long distance away, a ruby-haired woman surrounded by armored Bloodguards opened her crimson eyes with a churning anger.
“Eastern Gate, near the Outskirts. Go!”
///
Liam cursed loudly at his complacency.
He instantly changed direction and started to run towards the north.
Meanwhile, his legs started to transform into dark mist, making him look like a blurry wraith.
At the same time, he spread his senses fully.
From the north and west, he could feel distant groups of Bloodguards converging on his location.
In the distance, even armored Blood Bats were rapidly flying to his location.
‘Damn it! We can’t even head back to our rides!’
Taking out his Jade, he instantly connected it to Nord’s. A second passed, and it flickered to life.
“Yeah—”
“We’ve been found. Quietly leave the inn through the window and avoid the Bloodguards. Meet me on the north side where the bats pass through the runway.”
Liam’s undisturbed voice gave the others a levelhead to think calmly. Even Nessa didn’t panic.
Without pause, the group put on their hoods and left through the back window one by one.
Despite being focused, their hearts were uneasy. They were still young, after all. Dying in a foreign land wasn’t part of their plans.
Meanwhile, Liam rounded up a large obsidian tower and climbed it with wide strides. Ten handspans above, a swarm of Blood Bats flew past.
The runway was, as he thought, swarming with vampires. From the high vantage point, he could see twenty soldiers waiting for anyone suspicious.
Running away on foot was definitely impossible, thus, Liam had a different plan in mind.
‘How do I hijack a bat midair?’