Born in Blood



Liam watched with grave eyes, his senses screaming danger.

Everyone shared his expression and panic as the entity stuck to the wall slowly separated itself.

In reality, it was always there… but it intelligently bided its time and watched keenly. 

Liam couldn't even sense it for some reason, neither with his consciousness nor the King's Eye. 

Its Rank 4 aura had been static throughout the entire raid on the dungeon, like it was one with the shadows.

A look of realization and shock fell on Liam's face.

'Was its presence the reason why the lizard couldn't do anything?' 

Liam's mind raced as he quietly cursed under his breath.

Obviously, the first thought of action in everyone's minds was to run towards the exit and never look back.

…But the slope was plugged with a series of giant boulders that fell from the ceiling during the barrage of spells. 

They were stuck!

Slowly, the mass of blackish substances surged forward and took a form.

Loud cracking of bones, sloshing of liquid and wet squirming noises rang through the cave.

A large central piece of it was parallel to the ground, growing in size and lengthening horizontally.

From the main body, four limbs were starting to grow from its sides.

The ends of the muscular limbs became vicious claws.

A moment later, a long, spikey tail sprouted from its back end. Adorned with colorful scales from rear to end.

It took the same form as the lizard the group had just killed!

Darkness.

It was of the darkness element, Liam realized.

It remained unnervingly still, just like the lizard before it.

However, this time, a growling noise echoed from its vibrating throat, and its vertical eyes swept over the group with a hostile gaze. 

Liam looked to Krel from the side. 

The man's expression was of hardened calm, but still severe.

The other Shadows mirrored his look. 

However, it wasn't like they intended to hunt a Zenith without getting into a fight.

Still, they remained where they were. 

Any attempt at regrouping from that distance would cause the beast to attack, but they weren't too worried.

"Shifter," Krel muttered with a frown and a soft voice, his gaze still at the 'lizard' in front. "It's a bloody Shifter."

Liam narrowed his gaze. "A what?"

"A shifter," Krel repeated. "can change its form freely into whatever it consumes. It can even take over their special abilities… probably."

"It's so damn rare that it's been reduced to a myth. It must have consumed the lizard's partner and commanded the pack behind the scenes."

Liam's eyes visibly widened with amazement and shock, his incredulous gaze shifting back to the lizard in front.

He didn't believe Krel's words.

For something like that to exist, several laws of cultivation were broken. The Opposition clearly wasn't doing its job as the balancing force.

'No. There has to be a drawback with each of its transformations. It can't be so blatantly overpowered.'

Liam had a relatively decent understanding of the Opposition ever since his transformation into an Ashura.

Having another center of power slowed down his progress rate. 

If a magical/spirit beast had an amazing defensive ability, it would usually lack speed or vitality. 

Incredible vision would often lead to weakness in another sense, and so on.

Still, the King's Eye didn't lie to him.

At first, the Shifter's aura was pure black, which slowly changed into a dark shade of green. 

'It really did take over the Poison Lizard's powers.'

However, it wasn't nearly as potent and powerful as the regular Poison Lizard. 

It was more of an imitation of its strength.

Strangely, smiles appeared on the groups' faces. 

They had heard stories of the great Shifter that consumed children at night and walked among the humans during the day. 

Something like that had to sell for a high price! 

Only Liam remained stern.

"I'm buying myself a better hammer if we live through this," Ruth said with a maniacal smile. 

"If," Maeve reiterated with a soft chuckle. "Just try not to die."

"All you care about is that damn hammer," Oro laughed, uncaring of the Shifter's severe gaze.

Meanwhile, Liam had a different train of thought, a dark glimmer in his multi-colored eyes.

'I need to study it.'

Suddenly, the long silence was broken by a piercing shriek and hiss. 

BLERGH!

Abruptly, the lizard lurched forward at Oro, the closest person to it, and spewed wild vomit from its mouth.

Grimacing, Oro's body flickered with his shadow tattoos and churned with wind, giving him just enough time to dodge the pounce and poisonous vomit.

The dark-green liquid melted through the solid rock Oro was just standing on, making the man laugh. 

'They're all crazy.'

Krel suddenly leapt forward and Liam had to match his movements, blades tightening in his grip.

The other Shadows didn't sit still either. 

It wasn't their first time hunting, and they'd been through life and death situations before.

Iris began shooting wind-powered arrows that tore through the air with a whistle. 

Maeve enhanced those attacks by giving them a flare of fire, exploding upon contact with the beast.

Oro himself threw orbs of condensed wind that sent little shockwaves rippling across the Shifter's scaled body.

SKREEE!

Ruth, Adrian, Liam, Krel – the physical side of the group – had to get close to tear apart the Shifter's defenses. 

Four were up close, three provided support from behind.

BONK!

Adrian's mace brutally smashed against the Shifter's scaled head. 

The lizard recoiled in pain but trashed its body and tail in response. 

WHOOSH!

Liam felt a powerful gust of wind as the scaled tail whizzed by an inch away from his body, causing his hair and clothing to flutter violently. 

Krel managed to slash away at the reptile's tail with his sickles, but it barely left a mark on the hardened scales.

Momentarily, the group fell back to avoid being smashed away by the thrashing beast, Krel shouted orders nonstop and the group abided.

Pieces of rubble fell down from the dungeon ceiling, the structure threatening to collapse.

As the thrashing came to a stop, Ruth made a wide leap into the air and raised her hammer above her head. 

Earth gathered around the hammer's face to form a sharp spike, which she attempted to bring down on the Shifter's head.

BOOOM!

...However, her devastating attack struck the ground instead as the Shifter's form morphed into a giant white wolf that swiped its paw against her body.