Chapter 38: Evolution to ghoul lord 1
Yen crouched low as she watched the lone man heading home.
Transcendent Realm, Seven-Star.
That was his realm.
After nearly twenty minutes of searching, he was the first suitable target she had found.
But he was four realms above her.
Yen couldn’t afford to play it safe, however. She only had two hours, and every moment counted.
For an assassin, the difference of one or even two realms didn’t necessarily matter. As long as she caught her opponent off guard, she could still kill them.
But someone three or four realms above her?
That was an entirely different matter.
Phantom Feet.
A purple hue enveloped Yen’s body.
In the next instant, she disappeared.
She reappeared directly behind the man, a dagger materializing in her palm as she thrust it toward his throat in one swift motion.
It looked as though she would succeed.
But alas...
The gap of four realms wasn’t so easily overcome.
The man reacted at the last possible moment and hurriedly dodged.
Although he was incredibly fast, Phantom Feet had pushed Yen’s speed to its absolute limit. Her attack was essentially equivalent to a Six-Star Transcendent Realm expert attacking him.
And to make matters worse...
It was a sneak attack.
Rip!
The dagger tore through his flesh.
Yet the man didn’t fall.
Instead, he immediately turned toward Yen.
A sense of dread washed over her.
Yen instinctively backed away, but she wasn’t fast enough.
The man grabbed her head.
Yen gritted her teeth.
Regret filled her heart.
She couldn’t believe she had lost her composure and attacked someone so much stronger than herself simply because she was pressed for time.
Now, she would pay for it with her life.
But just as the man’s fingers were about to crush her skull—
Splurt!
The man suddenly coughed out blood.
A fountain of blood erupted from his neck as his eyes nearly rolled backward.
The force that had been about to crush Yen’s head immediately disappeared.
Having regained her freedom, Yen immediately sidestepped and lunged toward his spine, aiming to disable him.
But he was, after all, a Seven-Star Transcendent Realm expert.
His body was far stronger than that of an ordinary human.
Even with his throat severely wounded, he could still react.
The man swung his leg toward Yen’s ribs.
Seeing the incoming kick, Yen hesitated.
That attack was dangerous.
Although the man’s injury had weakened him considerably, the kick could still easily break her ribs.
But if she dodged, they would create distance between them.
The man might activate some method to alert his family.
Or worse...
He might escape.
Either possibility would be disastrous.
If an alarm were raised, completing her mission would become far more difficult.
So Yen gritted her teeth and pushed forward.
Stab!
Crack!
The two froze.
The man stared at Yen in shock.
She was wearing a smiling mask.
He hadn’t expected this killer to actually withstand his kick just to kill him.
Wouldn’t she be injured as well?
Or at the very least, severely wounded?
Blood flowed beneath Yen’s smiling mask.
Her ribs were cracked, and the impact had aggravated her already healing wounds.
Her condition had quickly become dire.
Meanwhile, the man collapsed forward.
Thud!
His body hit the ground, and blood quickly spread beneath him, forming a pool.
Splurt!
Yen suddenly vomited blood.
She staggered toward a nearby alley, dragging herself forward with her arms.
Eventually, she collapsed against a wall and sat there, breathing heavily.
Sharp, intense pain coursed through her body.
"Sister..."
The thought of her elder sister suddenly flashed through Yen’s mind.
Her eyes widened.
Then she forced herself to stand.
She picked up a giant sack and returned to the man’s body, placing it inside before dragging the sack away.
---
After her first hunt, everything seemed to fall into place.
Yen managed to find four more suitable targets.
Three women and one man.
They were all One-Star Transcendent Realm experts traveling together.
****
Meanwhile...
Duke’s Mansion, Ronan’s Room.
Ronan stared anxiously toward the window.
It was already midnight.
The guards had returned to their usual positions.
Yet Yen still hadn’t come back.
Ronan’s thoughts raced.
Was she caught?
Or...
Was she dead?
No.
If she were dead, he would have sensed it through the slave collar.
So had she been captured?
If that was the case, should he kill her before she had a chance to expose him?
Just as Ronan was beginning to panic, a large sack suddenly flew through the window.
Ronan instinctively caught it.
It was heavy.
He gently placed it on the ground.
Even with the smell masked, his senses as a ghoul immediately detected the intoxicating scent of flesh.
His hybrid vampire body also reacted strongly to the smell of blood.
Then Yen entered.
She was barely recognizable.
Her clothes were covered in blood, and deep wounds covered her body.
Some of her earlier injuries had reopened.
She staggered forward.
"All... five..."
"Caught..."
Her voice was barely audible.
Then she collapsed forward.
Ronan hurriedly caught her before she hit the ground and carried her to the bed.
Looking at her injured body, Ronan felt conflicted.
She was barely breathing.
She had already lost consciousness.
In fact, she shouldn’t even have been able to move anymore.
Yet she had endured everything just to bring those five bodies back to him.
Ronan felt a strange sense of gratitude.
But he quickly closed the window.
His gaze returned to the sack.
Five dead humans were inside.
The sack was more than a meter tall and over three meters wide.
The people inside could have been criminals.
They could have been ordinary civilians.
They could have even been genuinely good people.
Ronan didn’t know.
And, frankly...
He didn’t have the luxury of caring.
"Heh... what the hell?"
Ronan sighed.
"Let’s just get this over with."
He tore open the sack.
The moment he did, his reasoning nearly disappeared.
The scent of blood and flesh assaulted his senses.
Five dead human bodies lay before him.
This was what Yen had risked her life to obtain.
And this was what he would use to complete his ritual.
But first...
Ronan had to eat.
He crouched down.
His trembling hand reached toward one of the corpses.
He picked up a human arm.
Then he slowly opened his mouth.
Soon, the sound of chewing filled the room as Ronan drank some of the blood like wine. After all, he still needed to preserve most of it for the ritual, so he only consumed some of it.
"Argh..."
Yen groaned softly as she slowly opened her eyes.
Her blurry vision settled on Ronan or rather, the crimson-eyed Maiden...crouching beside the sack.
Then she heard the sound of chewing.
Is she...
Eating them?
The thought briefly crossed Yen’s mind.
Then her eyes closed again, and she blacked out.
---
[To evolve into a Ghoul Lord, the host must prepare a ritual using a fresh human heart and draw a ritual rune with the blood of five humans. The host must then survive being baptized by the souls of the dead.]
Quest: Evolution to Ghoul Lord
Requirements:
A fresh human heart.
The blood of five humans, used to draw the ritual rune.
Reward:
The host advances to the Ghoul Lord Realm.
The host’s Locked Transcendent Realm star rating increases from Five-Star to Nine-Star.
Punishment:
Failure will cause the host to become an abomination devoid of reason, consumed by the hatred of the dead humans.