Blood Assimilation

Chapter 342: Ambush

After assisting Brawler Randy in the registration process and securing his membership with her recommendation, Liena felt as though she had rid herself of an irritating pest, leaving her feeling free and liberated. As she relished her sense of freedom and triumph, a victorious smile graced her lips as she left Brawler Randy behind at the entrance of the Bounty Hunter Guild.

However, after walking for about an hour and exiting Mercenary Street, Liena abruptly halted in her tracks and turned to confront Brawler Randy, who had trailed her to her destination.

"Why did you follow me here?" Liena inquired, her previous cheerful expression replaced by a deep frown.

"What do you mean? I didn't follow you. I just came to the inn I rented. The other one I had expired. Someone had booked my room ahead of time, making it so I couldn't renew it. Although this inn was expensive, nearly taking all the money I had to book it for a week, I had no choice but to pay for it if I wanted to avoid becoming homeless.

Anyway, why did you come here? Do you happen to live here too?" Brawler Randy explained and inquired, standing beside Liena as they both faced an expensive-looking five-story building.

"You creep!" Liena exclaimed, her exasperation boiling over. She couldn't contain her pent-up emotions any longer as she exploded with fury, brandishing her dagger and ruthlessly assaulting Brawler Randy, who deftly sidestepped at the last moment to dodge her attack.

Brawler Randy was perplexed by her sudden outburst, but he remained cautious, not letting her attacks reach him, knowing she wasn't holding back. Any lapse in his vigilance could result in a serious injury, which could endanger his life.

He had observed Liena fighting the Zandi, the Demon Seed Bearer, and knew firsthand how dangerous Liena's combat skills were when she was serious. Every move she made was precise and deadly, her attacks aimed at exploiting the weaknesses of the human body, dealing a devastated blow with each strike.

Thus, the two engaged in a sophisticated and deadly dance of entanglement in front of the inn where they would be residing together for the foreseeable future.

Unbeknownst to them, the following day, they would be assigned a rare joint mission from the Bounty Hunter Guild and the Assassin Guild to hunt down a group of demons sighted at the border between the Western and Central Region of the Human Territory, encountering a deadly obstacle that would test their abilities to the limit, forcing them to make it or break it.

…

Shifting the focus to the adventure of the new incarnation...

After narrowly escaping the wrath of the enraged mother Dragon and finding itself stranded in an undetermined location, the incarnation pressed onward, attempting to follow the map in its mind, but to no avail. Despite lacking precise coordinates to determine its location, at some point, it sensed a sudden shift in the atmosphere around it.

Surrounded by plains as far as the eye could see, the incarnation found itself in a vulnerable state as it became an easier target for any hidden enemy.

Not far from its location, the incarnation noticed a massive tree nearby whose large branches obscured its view of what lay beyond. Additionally, the branches of the large tree were filled with broad leaves, extending in different directions, which further made it harder to perceive what was behind the massive tree.

Upon reaching this location, an immediate sense of danger gripped the incarnation, prompting it to instinctively move from its position, narrowly avoiding a projectile infused with destructive energy that struck where it had stood moments before. Sharpening its focus, the incarnation fixed its gaze on the estimated origin of the projectile.

Without hesitation, the incarnation activated its Dimensional Sense skill, extending its perception to encompass tens of meters around it. Almost instantly, another projectile hurtled toward it, but this time, the incarnation could perceive it clearly, thanks to its heightened perception skill.

To deny the perpetrator an advantage by remaining stationary, becoming an easy target, the incarnation fearlessly sprinted forward, zigzagging to disrupt their accuracy and alter the trajectory of the projectiles shot in his direction, causing them to miss their mark.

As it weaved through the onslaught of projectiles, deftly maneuvering around the successive attacks aimed at it, the incarnation swiftly closed in on the source of the arrows. This bold maneuvering only served to agitate the assailant, who intensified their barrage attacks in response.

Despite narrowly avoiding most of the rapid arrows shot by the agitated assailant, an arrow hidden behind another arrow they shot out struck the incarnation's left shoulder. Blood poured out of the inflicted wound caused by the arrow, making the incarnation's gaze more focused as he pulled the arrow out of his body without hesitation, assuming it was poisoned.

Despite the inflicted wound bleeding profusely, soaking its garments, the incarnation, seemingly unfazed by pain like an emotionless undead, chose to ignore the pain assaulting its body and pressed on toward its assailant with unyielding determination.

Closing the distance to within about five meters of the towering tree, the presumed source of the attacks, the incarnation spotted a figure crouching on top of a tree branch, who appeared to be the perpetrator behind the assaults. Observing closely at the crouching figure, the incarnation's eyes widened in recognition, pleasantly surprised by the perpetrator's identity.

The assailant was a member of the long-eared human race, a young man wielding a black bow with green strings. Despite the incarnation approaching his direction, he continued the onslaught of magical arrows without losing momentum. Simultaneously, the long-eared young man attempted to retreat and summon reinforcements.

The long-eared young man realized he had underestimated his target. From their exchange, he discovered the intruder he was facing was a tricky one, cunningly moving unpredictably and making most of his deadly shots miss their mark.

Under normal circumstances, as a sentry, he would call upon his tribe's protectors when intruders were spotted. However, he refrained from summoning reinforcements upon encountering the incarnation, believing he could handle a single human intruder alone.

However, he now regretted his decision upon witnessing the incarnation's seemingly unflinching resolve, even after being struck in the shoulder with a mana-infused arrow. If not because of the persistent pursuit of his target, he would have employed a communication magical tool to inform the protectors of his clan.

With the current development, the only recourse left was to stall his opponent with rapid arrows while he retreated to fulfill his initial duties as a sentry, which was directly alerting the protectors to deal with the persistent and cunning intruder.

However, not giving him a chance, the incarnation swiftly transformed into its Werewolf King of Wind form and activated the Gale Riding skill, along with the Wind Sailing skill, a derivative movement skill of Gale Riding skill obtained from the awakening sequence, closing the distance rapidly overtaking the long-eared young man with remarkable speed.

"Shit!"

Taken aback by the incarnation's sudden burst of speed, the long-eared young man exclaimed as he stumbled backward, falling unceremoniously on the ground. Despite his undignified fall, the courageous, long-eared young man managed to ready a mana-infused arrow, aiming it at the head of the incarnation before him.

In a blur of movement, the incarnation vanished and reappeared behind the young man, rendering him unconscious with precise blows to the head. The Body Strengthen Skill was concentrated in the incarnation's arm and fist to summon great physical force, ensuring the young man remained incapacitated.

Before the long-eared young man slipped into unconsciousness, the incarnation decided to deliver a few additional blows to ensure he succumbed to the concussion and lost consciousness. However, the incarnation quickly discovered that the long-eared human wasn't particularly resilient, as he passed out after just the second blow.

The incarnation observed that despite his lack of physical strength, the long-eared young man seemed to possess immense mana, as evidenced by his rapid onslaught of successive magical arrows.

A few moments later, the incarnation impassively examined the unconscious body of the long-eared young man, confirming that he was unequivocally a member of the long-eared human tribe. Additionally, the incarnation realized that, after wandering aimlessly in a desperate attempt to flee for its life, it had coincidentally stumbled upon its intended destination.

The incarnation couldn't determine whether encountering the reptilian cub and being chased by its parent was a stroke of luck or a calamity. Regardless, the incarnation was relieved to have reached its intended destination.

Now, the only task remaining was to locate the city, which should be concealed somewhere nearby. As the incarnation gazed in the direction the long-eared young man had been attempting to flee, it found only an empty field.

However, drawing from its knowledge of the habits of the long-eared humans, it deduced that its current view might be a faux representation of the real world. Essentially, it was an illusion, a deceptive construct employed by the long-eared human race to mislead intruders.

With this realization, the incarnation had solved one problem. The next problem was its appearance. If it wished to infiltrate the long-eared human tribe's city without arousing suspicion and risking its life, it would need to disguise itself. After careful consideration, the incarnation identified multiple potential methods to achieve its goal.

The first method was to utilize the Blood Assimilation ability.

By employing the Blood Authority skill to extract the blood of the unconscious long-eared young man and consuming it to gain his assimilated state, the incarnation would then activate the Ancestral Regression skill, which would treat the assimilated blood of the long-eared young man as his Ancestral Bloodline, allowing him to assume the long-eared young man's form.

The second method was to employ a newly awakened skill that even Randy had yet to test— the Myriad Species Transformation.

According to the description of the Myriad Species Transformation skill, similar to the Blood Assimilation ability, the incarnation could consume the blood of a target and analyze its effects. However, the skill description also mentioned touching the blood to analyze it, though the incarnation deemed this approach too time-consuming for the task at hand.