Hunt Race

Kael charged at the same moment the creature lunged.

The distance between them disappeared almost instantly.

The creature swung first, its claw carrying a layer of dark-red mana that distorted the air around it. Kael lowered his body and slipped beneath the attack, his sword already moving toward the creature's ribs.

SHING!

The blade cut across its side.

Blood splashed onto the stone.

But before Kael could follow through, the creature twisted violently and swung its second claw toward his face.

Kael raised his sword.

CLANG!

The claws collided with his blade, and Kael redirected the attack before stepping away.

The creature didn't give him time to breathe.

It rushed forward again, both claws moving in opposite directions.

Kael blocked the first, redirected the second, then turned with the motion and slashed toward its chest.

The creature twisted away.

Kael's blade cut across its shoulder instead.

More blood spilled.

The Mark pulsed.

Kael felt the connection again.

Stronger this time.

He could feel something flowing between them.

Not mana.

Something deeper.

The creature suddenly screamed.

The blood scattered across the floor began moving toward it.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

The creature was pulling its own blood back.

The wounds along its side slowly began closing.

"So that's how you heal."

The creature's eyes burned with rage.

It slammed both claws into the ground.

"Blood Fang!"

The dark-red mana surrounding its claws compressed before forming several sharp projections that extended from its fingers like blades.

The creature ripped its claws upward.

The blood blades tore through the ground toward Kael.

Kael jumped.

The first attack passed beneath him.

The creature immediately swung its arm.

The second came from the side.

Kael twisted in midair.

The blood blade passed within inches of his body.

He landed and rolled before coming back to his feet.

The creature was already there.

Kael raised his sword.

CLANG!

The blood-coated claw crashed against his blade.

The creature pushed forward.

Kael's boots slid across the stone.

Its strength was far greater than that of an ordinary Bronze beast.

Kael twisted his wrist and redirected the claw before stepping away.

The creature followed.

Kael used Mirage Step.

His body blurred.

He appeared behind the creature.

Kael swung.

The beast sensed him.

It spun.

Their weapons collided.

CLANG!

The creature's claw caught Kael's sword.

For a moment, the two locked weapons.

Then the blood around its other arm began gathering.

Kael immediately pulled away.

A blood blade shot past his chest.

Kael moved backward.

Another followed.

Then another.

The creature wasn't simply attacking anymore.

It was using the blood on its body to extend the reach of its attacks.

Kael's eyes moved across the chamber.

Blood covered almost every surface.

The creature suddenly swept its arm.

A wave of blood blades rushed toward him.

Kael stepped forward instead of retreating.

Mirage Step.

He slipped through the narrow gap between the attacks.

The creature's eyes widened.

Kael appeared directly in front of it.

Their faces were only inches apart.

Kael smiled.

"Found you."

His sword flashed upward.

SHING!

The creature jerked backward, but the blade still opened another wound across its chest.

Blood sprayed.

The Mark pulsed violently.

The connection became clearer.

Kael could feel the creature's body struggling.

Its movements.

Its strength.

Even the strange flow of blood moving through its body.

For the first time, Kael understood what Darius had meant.

He wasn't simply feeling the creature.

He was beginning to feel what was happening inside it.

But something was wrong.

The Mark wasn't taking anything.

Despite drawing the creature's blood several times, First Blood hadn't activated.

Kael frowned.

Why?

The creature suddenly roared and pulled every drop of blood in the chamber toward itself.

The three injured Hunters hanging above suddenly began trembling.

Kael looked up.

The blood beneath them was disappearing.

The creature was preparing something bigger.

Kael's expression hardened.

He could feel the creature's mana clearly now.

It was far denser than anything he had encountered from a Bronze opponent.

Too dense.

Kael's eyes narrowed.

"You're not Bronze..."

The creature's aura surged.

The chamber trembled.

Kael finally understood.

Elite Silver.

The gap was too great.

The Mark could establish a connection, but it couldn't interfere with an opponent this powerful.

Kael tightened his grip around his sword.

The creature roared and launched itself forward.

Kael met it head-on.

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