Born in Blood

Chapter 447 Too Slow

Liam used his Shadow Clone.

A copy was formed instantly.

There was a moment of silence as Liam gave it a firm, dark stare that bore into the iteration's soul.

The clone looked back with a wry smile.

The last time Liam had let the clone do its own thing… it had mingled amongst the acolytes and romanced a young zenith!

But not just one...

Several!

Liam's face fell when he realized that.

And people were congratulating him on making a harem!

A note was left in Liam's office that day, placed on his desk.

'Just a prank bro.'

Followed by an awfully realistic depiction of the clone laughing his heart out, pointing at Liam.

It took some time, and a few sticky situations involving the woman in question, for the problem to be resolved.

From that day on, Liam made a silent vow never to use the Shadow Clone ability.

He allowed the damn thing to split off and didn't monitor his movements, but that idiot ended up stabbing him in the back.

But now…

Well, he needed to avoid everyone's gaze at the moment.

They would never allow him to fight a Rank 5 creature entirely on his own.

Of course, he could just command them to stay behind, and they would most likely listen.

But they'd still linger closeby and watch him from a distance, annoying him.

No.

He needed to risk his life doing this!

It had to be authentic!

"You understand why I'm pissed, right?" Liam asked the clone darkly.

The clone nodded, unfazed.

He was not scared of Liam.

He was Liam.

What man feared himself?

They only hated themselves.

But they never feared themselves.

Liam controlled the clone and forced him to sit in his seat. Despite being made out of darkness, Liam's chair wasn't corroded, scratched or broken.

It was made with sturdiness in mind.

"Just sit quietly," Liam said seriously, not an inch of amusement in his tone, "and don't move a single limb… retard."

Liam just couldn't suppress it.

He had to curse at himself.

The clone creased his brows, flipping both fingers at Liam and keeping them up.

Night fell.

Quietly, Liam slipped through his office from the Sea of Darkness and used Shadow Blink to teleport himself as far from his temple as he could.

WHOOM!

His shadows and blood wrapped around him, giving him a brand new view of the world each time he teleported.

With his new blood, Liam could blink far vaster distances.

Before, it was roughly 450 meters.

Now, it was 1,250 meters!

Obviously, the blood usage was also lesser. But since the distance was greater, Liam used roughly 25% of his ichor to travel 750 meters.

At first glance it may not have seemed like much, but it couldn't be underestimated.

The cruel Law of Balance had obviously kicked in.

After all, this ability basically allowed Liam to abort a fight whenever he felt like it!

Though, if his opponent was ever fast enough to disrupt the process, Liam wouldn't be able to teleport successfully.

In fact, when he teleported long distances, it took a little longer than blinking a short distance.

Roughly 1.5 seconds.

This seemed like a very small amount of time.

But to Zeniths, it was a massive window of opportunity that was impossible for them not to exploit.

That meant that even if Liam initially teleported out of fighting range, there was a high chance for him just to be chained with back-to-back attacks, denying him his teleportation.

That is… if the fight ever lasted that long.

Liam used Shadow Blink two more times, passing a total distance of 1,800 meters, before stopping.

50% of his blood was lost.

But his complexion wasn't ghastly and his figure was still normal. Mostly. He was just a tiny bit skinner.

Liam appeared on top of a black mountain.

All around him were massive dark mountains, creating a chain that ringed across a thousand meters.

In the center was the largest mountain, with a massive gorge that was layered with an intricate layer of shimmering silk webs, glowing under the moonlight.

In fact, within all these mountains were thousands of little caverns and holes, clogged with cobwebs.

A noxious black mist naturally wafted in the air, slightly stinging Liam's nose.

Skittering noises entered his ears.

As soon as he appeared, dozens of red eyes appeared within the holes of the thousands of caves.

This was a Rank 5 danger zone.

Liam's Shifter Sense, Shadow Sense and mental energy picked up on thousands of little creatures, differing in size.

Spiders.

Slowly, spiders crawled out of their holes, revealing their gruesome forms.

Red Fangs.

The name came from the distinct two fangs on the spiders' front jaw, designed to grab, rip and scythe through flesh, before sucking it down like a mosquito.

Also, they had wide, freakishly long limbs that could cause one to shudder uncontrollably.

For the Rank 3's, their limbs reached a total of 12 meters when outstretched!

And for their Rank 4 counterpart, it was twice that length.

But their bodies were only 7 meters in length, the size of a massive bear.

Their cephalothorax and abdomen — covered with a dark crimson chitin — were flat and parallel to the ground.

There were distinct patterns on their backs, as though ancient drawings depicting death.

Before long, Liam was swarmed from all directions.

…Liam made a wide grin, spreading his arms.

His eyes fell on the towering mountain in the center, where his King's Eye pierced through the veils of cobwebs and darkness.

He could see it.

He was being watched.

By the disgusting, huge, fearsome Rank 5 creature.

Liam laughed loudly.

"SCARED?!"

And that's what Liam shouted at it.

As Liam unsheathed all four of his swords, the nearby spiders lurched at him from all four directions.

Poison shot at him from a distance, while the Red Fangs swung their claws with all their might at him. Above him. Below him.

Too slow.

SHIIING!

Spider corpses fell and curled up. Black blood colored the air. A foul stench accompanied it.

Followed by a thrilling smile.