72 The Plan

A low roar rumbled inside Darkscale's throat. Having his energy probe destroyed forcefully made him feel a stabbing pain in his head. It was like if some invisible hammer suddenly hit him.

Thankfully, the problem wasn't that serious as it took him only a couple of seconds to recuperate.

Darkscale could still feel Carelia's anger and killing intent even kilometers away from her. It was like a large torch lit right in the middle of a dark night.

The snake's eyes moved in that direction. His normally calm countenance was nowhere to be seen: now he had a very grim look, with violet light flashing inside his narrowed eyes.

A mantle of bloodline energy was also wildly flowing all around his figure, spreading his violet hue to the environment around him.

"I will repay you ten thousand over" murmured the serpent with venom.

Without even considering a retreat for a single second, the snake darted from his position towards the direction where he had found the second portal.

He wasn't going to attack Carelia directly. No, not because he was afraid. He wasn't afraid. However, he wasn't stupid either.

Even if he could tell that she was very enfeebled by the corrupted Bloodline Energy, he still didn't believe that she could be easily slain by someone of his capacities.

Not even after the boost of power he received with the Bloodline Energy.

Carelia's strength was really something else. Plus, she was also incredibly skilled with runes and able to absorb Bloodline Power.

If she could absorb the bloodline power inside those red screens without much trouble, how hard would it be for her to completely drain him from his strength if he went to close to her?

'And what would happen to me if I lose this Bloodline Power?'

The moment he thought of the question, his blood seethed and a wave of bloodline power touched his brain. Countless images of creatures that were drained of their bloodline energy started to emerge in his mind: they all screamed while violet streams of energy left their bodies. When the draining was over, their bodies stood still, lifeless.

"These memories seem to come directly from the Bloodline Energy... weird"

They weren't vivid as the Dreams, but they didn't show up until he requested them like the names of all the fauna and some of the dead species he encountered in the cave.

This was the third type of external memory that happened to be a direct effect of a bloodline. Yes, the Dreams could be considered a type of memory derived from a bloodline too!

'These... Ancestral Memories are quite useful'

Darkscale tried to randomly think of plenty of other question, but none seemed to activate the bloodline energy again.

'There must be some logic in them... everything has a logic behind it'

The snake really believed that. It was something he learned reading the books on ores that he found in the Blue Cave. Even the most strange effect of a metal could be explained, with patience and research.

He already applied the same principle on his research on Rune Manipulation, now he had another field to study.

'Not now. First, revenge.'

Darkscale knew that Carelia was way out of his league. He knew it.

She did something that he didn't even consider possible with a single movement of her hand, breaking a rune that he couldn't even visualize entirely on his own after trying multiple times. This, together with the terrifying killing intent aura that she emanated and the immense quantity of Ghost Energy that she seemed to have at her disposal, made her a very dangerous foe.

It was impossible to just go there and hope that a direct confrontation wouldn't end with his entire body smashed to the ground in pieces. That wasn't realistic at all. Between revenge and living he would always chose living.

However, he also didn't think that the situation was already completely lost. Not after what he saw thanks to that energy probe. He could still see it as if it was happening before him: the pain, the shivers, the effort that took her to use that wave of energy that destroyed his energy probe.

She was suffering and he knew exactly how to make the situation even worst for her. Thousand of times worst.

"Mph!"

Who cares if she was a phoenix or a dragon.

She dared to show him her biggest weakness! She was like one of those majestic Emerald Deers that nobody normally dared to challenge in the forest, that suddenly showed weakness in front of a single red wolf.

That single animal would immediately call his pack and try its best to end the life of the majestic creature before it could recover. The same thing was happening with Darkscale: he wanted to end Carelia's life before she could recover from the damage that he inadvertently did to her.

The wolf used the pack as a way to subdue the strength of the mighty deer, Darkscale instead pointed on the power of his intellect to do the same with Carelia.

'We're close!'

Darkscale was starting to feel the presence of another of those ghosts. The fast-moving snake almost wanted to throw his head back toward the ceiling and laugh loudly, but he contained himself and kept going in the same direction as before.

Soon, this sensation became stronger and stronger until it pointed to somewhere front of him.

There were only ruins of statues, large shining mushrooms and a giant shining body of a grey that seemed made of steel. There was a large hole inside its skull, where the energy trace for that horse-ghost ended.

'He's inside...'

The horse seemed to be hidden somewhere inside the towering carcass of a rat. Maybe he was trying to ambush him, or maybe he just was randomly roaming inside that strange dead creature.

The idea of the big ghost hiding there trying to bait him inside the remains of another beast didn't scare the serpent at all: this time he wasn't using an energy probe. This was his real body, he could protect himself.

If his Will Manipulation had become ten times better since he could feel so much bloodline energy inside his body, his flesh body was ten thousand better. In the end, it was where the majority of that power went. Bloodline seemed to be a power based on that had a major relationship with flesh, bones, and blood.

He was confident in the strength of his body. He just needed to be ready to use his Heavenly Battleground Technique at the right time.

"Where are you Kjruka?"

Suddenly said the snake, calling the winged horse by the name of his race. Name that he never learned anywhere but it was there in his mind somehow.

Immediately, the surroundings were disturbed by a hellish cry and a giant figure flew out from the cavity. It was the winged horse from before! Darkscale was elated: it didn't take long to find it and thankfully it wasn't there trying to trick him in some way to go inside a giant dead rat.

The Kjurka looked even better than before, its figure was more sharp, less blurry. However, the maddened eyes were the same as always. The long neck of the creature twisted toward the snake on the ground. His completely black eyes looked at him for a single second and immediately after the creature seemed to have lost its mind.

Why he went out of control? It was the bloodline! The moment the horse felt the bloodline power inside Darkscale, it started to scream and darted towards the snake with a maddened look.

However, the latter was already ready. Something like that didn't even make him blink, let alone scare him. He activated the silver array that he rapidly drawn on the ground under his body and started operating the Heavenly Battleground Technique.

"Yes, come here!"

A loud voice echoed in the air again, while sparks of silver energy exploded near the opening and closing mouth of the black serpent.

The young snake even released in the air some of that scent from the bloodline energy inside him. It was overkill! The flying horse almost dispersed on the spot for the rage and furor he was feeling.

'The first!'