Blood Assimilation

283 Suspicion, Threatened

‘Bloody Light of Destruction?’

Randy didn’t answer her question, because he had no idea what she was talking about, nor did he really have time to ponder her question. At this point, he was breathing heavily with blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.

There was a tingling sensation of pulsating pain in his chest.

He also didn’t even feel the need to collect the blood spilled this time. Instead, he chose to maintain his vigilance. He couldn’t afford to take his eyes off that woman, just in case she somehow managed to escape his awareness and abruptly attack him while he was distracted.

Actually, their entire battle only lasted for about 30 to 40 seconds at most despite how long it may have seemed. This was a battle between elites and not one between regular warriors or experts. Therefore, the outcome was usually decided in mere seconds.

This also proved how much stronger Randy had become compared to before he came to the planet Acruxia. Despite the changes he underwent, his full power exerted by both his physical and energy prowess, still couldn’t manage to leave a scratch on that mysterious young woman who came out of nowhere.

In the first place, he was the initiator of the fight for reasons even he found ridiculous, but he believed that it was the right decision at the time. Regardless of his preemptive strike or his decisive and well-executed evasive maneuver, he still lost miserably.

Not to mention that he nearly got himself killed in this confrontation. During his quick and short exchange with the mysterious young woman, had he not been wearing legendary-rank armor, or had its properties been a bit lacking, he would have suffered life-threatening injuries or even died.

Randy’s gaze was filled with dread as he recalled the sequence of their exchange just moments ago. Even if he had used his assimilated state, he still felt he would have suffered severe injuries. Throughout the confrontation, he had been deliberating on using them but didn’t get the chance since it normally took a while for them to activate.

.....

As a result, he had to rely on his newly learned and quick yet destructive ability— [Blood Ray] to launch his surprise attack, and the [Palm of Double Return] ability to defend when his preemptive surprise attack was reflected at him, though he was unable to cause the opponent any damage despite reflecting it back at them.

In contrast, he suffered a crushing defeat with the subsequent move from his opponent.

Furthermore, if he ignored the close call with the horned demon’s corrosive ability, the present event was the second time he had truly felt cornered and so close to death since he awakened. After all, he was able to quickly find a solution to the horned demon problem before suffering any substantial damage.

However, the first time he came close to death was when fighting the Chimera Monster. That incident caused him to feel his shortcomings and other weaknesses for the first time, and it was that incident alongside his parents’ wish for him to become stronger that drove him to make a firm decision to come to his present world through the dimensional rift.

On the contrary, this encounter with the mysterious young woman was even more horrifying and frightening compared to the chimera incident. After all, he had gotten much stronger compared to then, and his combat skills and environmental awareness had increased tremendously. It was to the point where not many could escape his sense of perception.

Despite the obvious increase in power and strength, his senses were easily eluded during combat. Even his seemingly flawless and well-coordinated moves had been seen through by the mysterious young woman. He only met her not long ago, yet she seemed familiar with his every move. That was the scary part. In a random alley that he took, he just happened to run into her by chance. Furthermore, because of his exceptionally high perception, he managed to see through her seemingly flawless disguise as well as her ability to conceal her presence.

Who was she, and why was she masking her presence in the middle of the Imperial City as she walked through the alley? Was she an enemy of the humans of this world, or was she part of some secret organization undertaking some mission for the Royal Family?

All these questions were pointless.

Regardless of the identity of the mysterious woman, all he knew was that he immediately felt threatened the moment he saw her. She gave him a terrifyingly foreboding feeling of dread, uncannily similar to the one he felt from that middle-aged man, who was observing him alongside that beautifully well-dressed young woman in the booth inside the Coliseum.

The events that transpired and led to the present outcome were very complicated to explain. Even he found it strange that he attacked a stranger on their first encounter as though they were a lifelong nemesis. Despite the fact that they were complete strangers, the deadly foreboding feeling of terror he felt from her overtook him, and he immediately acted on his instinct to prevent the unknown deadly threat without hesitation.

After all, with such an uncanny threat to his life, there was no way he wouldn’t attack first before questioning the reason for it later. Perhaps, if he had hesitated when he met her, he would have long since lost his life instead due to carelessness.

His carelessness would have stemmed from the fact that there was no possible way for him to run into an enemy in the middle of the bustling Imperial City. After all, he had only just arrived in the city not long ago, so how could he have enemies?

His decision to attack was even more rational when he noticed that the other party was suspiciously shrouded in an eerie misty dark aura. It was as though they were hiding their presence from someone’s perception.

If that was indeed the case, then he would have been silenced to avoid their location being tracked. Since he had obviously spoken and even shown that he could see them right after he bumped into her.

At some point, when the mysterious young woman waited and heard no response from Randy, her somewhat indifferent yet impatient voice was heard by him.

“So you’re not willing to respond to my question?”

The mysterious young woman stared at him with a suspicious gaze and spoke: “Are you perhaps a traitorous demon in disguise who works for humans? No, your smell is very strange, completely different from that of a demon. You smell neither human nor demon. Moreover, there are no traitors among us demons. Even so, for such a being like you to exist must only mean one thing, but that’s impossible…”

Her tone sounded as though she was neither demanding an answer nor was she demanding confirmation. Instead, her tone was full of doubt as she spoke, seemingly uncertain about it herself.

After a few moments of contemplation, she didn’t find any logical answers to her doubts.

The mysterious young woman then walked toward Randy calmly yet menacingly as she asked: “You… Who are you exactly? No, what kind of creature are you? How could you use an innate skill of the demon race? Answer me this instant, and I’ll give you a quick and painless death but leave you without your corpse! If I don’t receive a pleasing response, I will slowly torture the answers out of your mouth. You won’t like the outcome of your body when I’m done with you! I will give you three seconds to make your choice!”