Born in Blood-Chapter 574: Mistake

It spoke.

What looked like a mindless, unintelligent creature gave Liam a chilling response to his comment.

...

It spoke.

Seemingly mindless creatures speaking to him were not foreign. Liam had encountered the Kitsune very early in his childhood, in fact.

Yet, the monster standing in front of him spoke with a strange eloquence that made his hairs stand on end.

"You can speak?" Liam said, and only when it came out of his mouth, did he realize how stupid he sounded.

The monster made a wide smile, and its body shivered in what seemed like a laugh.

"No," it responded.

Then, its left arm — the arm resembling an assassin’s blade — swung at where Liam was.

SHING!

Liam barely evaded the slash aimed for his head, feeling a whip of wind graze past his ears.

Where he had stood just a moment ago, a massive laceration had been etched into the wall.

’It’s fast,’ Liam thought.

Even though its feet and lower body were utterly destroyed, the monster was smart enough to use other tactics to make up for it.

In this case, the creature used two.

One, it was using his 13 meters of size to his full advantage, outstretching his body with the swing.

Secondly, it was using its tiny bat wings to balance itself and prevent itself from tipping over or falling. How those little things managed to defy physics was nothing short of magical, of course.

Other than that, the beast was unnaturally fast... but it could have just been Liam’s reduced mental and physical capabilities that made it seem so.

The attack was not yet over.

Just as the monster was done with its swing, it smoothly transitioned into a straight jab with its right arm this time.

A massive, muscular piece of flesh designed to produce extreme amounts of force and power.

Contrary to what Liam expected, it was not slower than the sword-shaped arm.

It was faster.

BOOM!

It struck Liam as his Breaker Blade was used as a shield to defend. The breath was sucked out of him instantly as he hit the wall full force, feeling his entire consciousness waver slightly.

He expected another attack in quick succession... but to his surprise, the monster had fallen over due to how much force he’d put on his punch.

’It’s not used to having no feet,’ Liam thought.

Liam used the brief moment of rest to unstuck himself from the wall.

And the moment was over.

It only took a second for the beast to use its wings to flap upright.

It was smiling again, its eyes locked on Liam’s body.

"You know this isn’t a fair fight, right? I would slaughter you if I was at full strength." Liam attempted small talk.

"Do you think I’m at my strongest?" the creature asked, and Liam felt its tone dripping with playful sarcasm.

’It’s not?’ Liam thought.

"While I have you in a good mood, tell me a bit about this place," Liam said. "Are you a friend of Naxathra’s?"

The monster’s smile died, its dozens of eyes glaring at Liam’s two. "Stop talking."

Sensing the change in atmosphere, Liam matched the beast’s energy, his eyes turning steely.

He was serious now.

***

For one, Liam wasn’t planning on using any of his one-time boons that Bill had given him. A talking monster statue was definitely not the hardest challenge he was going to face.

There was still the Thing to worry about, which, presumably, was the strongest element of the Tomb.

BOOOM!

Liam countered a slash of the talking creature’s arm with the Breaker, countering with a swing of his own Black Blade immediately after.

The umbral odachi shot out an arc of corrosive darkness aimed straight at three of the monster’s eyes.

Undisturbed, the beast simply raised his muscular arm to block them. His dozens of eyes were not just for show. They enhanced his vision and reflexes to an amazing level.

An abrasion on the monster’s arm appeared. Liam’s darkness paired with the amplifying effects of the Black Blade had been strong enough to create a mark, faint as it was.

However, that had been Liam’s objective all along.

With the monster’s arm raised, Liam took advantage of the blind spot he had created, appearing from under the titan and immediately closing the distance.

By the time the creature realized, Liam’s Chaos had already made contact with the monster’s lower body, exploding with enough force to shake the chamber walls for a brief moment.

BOOOOM!

At this point, Liam used as many darkness spells as he could conjure. Needles, smoke bombs and more.

The entire space had been engulfed.

The last thing Liam saw before the last pocket of air had been filled, was the monster taking in a deep, deep breath.

Then, the beast screamed.

Very, very loudly.

At him.

The smoke had immediately dispersed, leaving marks barely visible on the monster’s skin.

At the same time, the shockwaves from the scream caused Liam’s mind walls to tremble.

Only reason his ears didn’t pop and his condition wasn’t worse off, was because he had reinforced his brain, skull and skeleton with Transfiguration.

Would the monster stay still while Liam felt discombobulated?

Of course not!

First, its eyes took on a ghostly hollow hue.

A naked eye could not tell what was happening.

But with the King’s Eye, one could.

And Liam saw what the eyes were producing.

Mental waves!

Dozens of streams had been created, all potent with mental energy, shooting straight at Liam’s mind.

Liam used Thicken and all the defensive mental spells he had under his arsenal.

The streams made contact with his mind.

WHOOOM! freёnovelkiss.com

It felt like dozens of worms were attempting to burrow into his brain.

All the while, the monster continued his deafening screams.

Liam grit his teeth, attempting to push away the waves with his own, but his resistance was not going to last long.

Of course, Liam’s mental waves were stronger than the monster’s.

Liam was a Rank 4 Magus!

But he was weakened significantly from the screams and Naxathra’s mechanisms.

The monster floated closer and closer with his bat wings, causing the effect to deepen and grow.

An icy aura grew in Liam’s eyes while blood started seeping from his pores, nose and eyelids.

Just as the monster was close enough, it instantly loaded its muscular arm, intending to crush Liam in one strike.

It was then that a slightly shook look appeared in the monster’s eyes.