Blood Assimilation

Chapter 353: Ruthless Reprisal, Blood Ray

Upon his return and seeing Liena defending him, he immediately equipped the Shadow Beast Leather Armor and used one of its unique properties, [Shadow Swap], to escape the battlefield while leaving behind a shadow clone to replace him. The swap happened instantaneously, eluding the gaze of those who were watching him.

[Shadow Swap: This property allows the user to instantly create a clone made of shadow energy that can replace the user's body to evade deadly attacks. In the process, the user's form is hidden temporarily in the void and then swiftly teleported to a safe distance away from the battlefield. The interval of teleportation is dependent on the amount of mana used.]

As he utilized little energy to employ the ability, he didn't depart the battlefield. He was fortunate enough to reappear behind Flame Claws and launched a claw attack, aiming for the left side of his back. If not for Flame Claws' quick reflexes, jumping out of the way just in time, he would have impaled and ripped out his heart with the decisive attack.

Despite missing the chance to deal a fatal blow to his opponent, he did not feel disheartened. Instead, he decided to confirm the time elapsed since he had fallen unconscious. After checking with the system, he learned that only a few seconds had passed.

The realization that not much time had elapsed made him feel relieved, but the sight of Liena's battered state in front of him made him scowl. A look of concern replaced his initial mischievous smile, and he instantly became furious, feeling guilty that he had caused the enemy to harm Liena in his absence.

"Liena, what happened? Why are you bleeding all over? Are you okay? Did they do that to you?" He asked, restraining his anger and expressing his concern, snapping Liena out of her reverie to focus on him.

She gazed at him for a moment, uncertainty clouding her thoughts on how to respond. She had been poised to lash out at him should he have awakened amidst the battle, but his display of concern for her well-being disarmed her anger, rendering her unable to act upon her initial impulses. Besides, given their present circumstances, it was hardly the time for petty squabbles.

"What happened to you just now? Why did you suddenly lose consciousness in the heat of the battle? And when did you find the opportunity to change into such an outfit?" She inquired, disregarding Brawler Randy's question, scrutinizing him from head to toe with a narrowed gaze.

Throughout the course of their mission, Brawler Randy had been clad in simple attire, but now he donned a black coat that, while unassuming in appearance, exuded an aura of power that belied its simplicity. She could sense a dramatic shift in the energy emanating from Brawler Randy with the new outfit on.

As an individual with an affinity for darkness, specifically the shadow attribute, she was highly attuned to the presence of others who possessed the same attribute. At present, she could sense an immense shadow energy radiating from Brawler Randy.

Feeling the weight of her scrutinizing gaze, Brawler Randy felt compelled to provide her with an explanation before she had the opportunity to voice her suspicions. He would give her a fabricated explanation. Then, he would listen to her side of the story, regarding what happened to her after he fell unconscious.

"I'm not entirely sure. I felt a wave of dizziness and blacked out in the middle of my attack a few moments ago. Perhaps it's a result of pushing my current state beyond its limits without adequate rest, causing my body to shut down and relieve my mental fatigue?"

Brawler Randy's explanation was not entirely false, as assuming the form of the Werewolf King of Wind multiple times a day did have its consequences. However, he had yet to reach his limits, which was why he was still able to maintain the state.

Liena nodded outwardly in response to his explanation, but inwardly, she harbored suspicions about the vagueness of his account that sounded like he was only guessing what had transpired. However, she had no intention of confronting him about it, as she believed that there must be a valid reason for his unusual behavior. Besides, she hardly knew him well enough to pry into his personal affairs.

Despite having engaged in several conversations during their time together, neither of them had divulged any significant information about themselves. As she pondered his words, Brawler Randy, who had not forgotten his earlier concerns, voiced them once again.

"What transpired to cause you such grievous injuries? I was only unconscious for about 30 seconds, wasn't I? They couldn't possibly have inflicted such damage on you in that short time, unless..."

He left the statement unfinished and turned his head to glare fiercely at the pack of flame werewolves. His eyes flashed with a purple glint that betrayed a terrifying murderous intent.

Sensing the depth of his murderous intent, Flaw Claws and Flame Legs scowled deeply. Suddenly, the head of one of the flame werewolves exploded, pierced by a destructive, blood-red heat ray of light. With half of their head, including an eye, obliterated, the werewolf's body collapsed to the ground, devoid of any signs of life.

This unforeseen turn of events startled everyone present. The belligerent Flame Claws' eyes were marred with ruptured blood vessels, as he felt a sense of responsibility for the sudden demise of one of his pack members. Filled with rage and grief, Flame Claws was poised to abandon all rationality and attack Brawler Randy, the root cause of the sudden tragedy.

Flame Legs had to restrain him from making any impulsive moves until they could ascertain the situation properly.

Despite maintaining a facade of calmness, Flame Legs could not conceal the dread in his eyes as he gazed upon the partially headless corpse of one of his pack members, their only remaining eyeball bulging with shock and fear, seemingly perplexed by the nature of the attack that had befallen them before their inevitable death.

Before the death of one of their pack members, Flame Legs, whose visual acuity was superior to that of the others, was the only one who had witnessed the dreadful ray of light, tinged with a red hue, hurtling towards them at an alarming speed, targeting one of them. Before he could fully comprehend the nature of the ray of light, one of them had already succumbed to its destructive properties.

[Blood Ray]

This was one of the recently acquired skills that Randy had learned from the Crystallized Ability Stones. Due to the connection that all the incarnations shared with Randy, Brawler Randy was able to effortlessly employ this skill to swiftly eliminate one of the unsuspecting flame werewolves.

Brawler Randy had initially intended to rely primarily on his martial arts skills to combat his opponents, as that was what his nature yearned for following his inception as an incarnation. However, the current situation had made him realize that relying solely on his martial arts, when he had access to Randy's set of skills, was not a wise decision, as it would limit his versatility in combat.

Despite this realization, Brawler Randy had planned to utilize Randy's skill sets only as a last resort to deal with his opponents. However, this time, he decided to employ the [Blood Ray] skill for two reasons.

Firstly, it was due to the skill's fast activation speed and the swiftness with which the attack could travel within a short duration. Additionally, when aimed at an unsuspecting opponent, the skill's destructive nature would result in irreversible damage.

Secondly, Brawler Randy realized that Flame Claws' body was more durable than that of the werewolves he had previously eliminated, making it difficult to penetrate their flesh with his attacks. In his Werewolf King of Wind form, Brawler Randy was much faster and stronger, and his deadly, sharp claws were no less formidable than the genuine claws of a werewolf.

However, his attempt to launch a surprise attack on Flame Claws had proven to be futile, as the latter had merely clenched their flesh to resist the claw attack he launched. His initial goal was to aim at their heart from behind, but he failed in his attempt.

With his understanding of his opponents, Brawler Randy had decided to set aside his pride and utilize the set of skills that Randy possessed, hence his decision to employ the [Blood Ray] skill.

As much as he would have liked to employ the other skills in Randy's collection, he could only utilize [Blood Ray] as it required less energy to activate while possessing a destructive property.

Unlike the other incarnations, he lacked an energy vessel and could only rely on Divine Points to activate his skills. Therefore, he was reluctant to squander his accumulated divine points.

His decision to dispatch the weaker pack members of the flame werewolves first was a strategic move to gather divine points to utilize his skills. He had depleted his reserves and was compelled to resort to borrowing from the accumulated pool of divine points shared with Randy and the other incarnations.

In his quest for independence from Randy, he engaged in a discussion with the system and ultimately severed his connection to the others, allowing him to possess his own accumulation of divine points without feeling as though he was dependent on the other incarnations or his original self, Randy, for survival.