CHAPTER 162: CHAPTER 162: BLOOD, DEATH, SHADOW

Chapter 162 – Blood, Death, Shadow.

Asael said with a wide smile.

Kaden looked at him with blank eyes, but inwardly, he wasn’t all that surprised. He probably would’ve done the same if he were in Asael’s place.

After all, you need to know who you are up against to better plan what to do.

All those thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, before he slowly opened his mouth to respond, lips curling into a small, almost mocking smile.

"Tell me, how close to death were you at that time?" he asked, smirking.

Asael’s lips twitched, and he slowly turned his head to the side, refusing to glance at Kaden’s punchable face for even a second longer.

But he still answered.

"How close, huh? I think... a little more, and I would have met Death in person. And when I say a little more..."

He slowly turned his head back toward him, his smile crooked...

"...I mean a simple slap from a mundane person would have been enough to send me straight to the afterlife," he said.

...silence.

There was a moment of silence, then Kaden shrugged indifferently.

"You could have just done it, you know. Death isn’t that scary, it can be a good friend." he said.

"Again with your suicidal tendencies? I thought you were over that, my friend."

"What? I was just telling you not to be afraid of death. Why are you calling me suicidal now?" Kaden interjected, voice feigning hurt at the false accusation.

But Asael only gave him a long, suspicious look before finally sighing and laying flat on the white floor.

"Tell me... now what?" he asked.

"We hunt the corrupted and kill them. I need Master cores to saturate my Origin faster," Kaden responded.

"And maybe by fusing more corrupted bodies with mine, my intent will improve," he added, hopeful.

But Asael shook his head.

"It doesn’t work like that. You need to elevate your understanding of death to improve your intent. It’s not just about acquiring more bodies or becoming attuned to death."

"But yes... being more attuned might help. Understanding could come easier," Asael added, finding the possibility reasonable.

But Kaden wasn’t worried. He was confident in his Intelligence stat. He knew he’d pull this off.

The two of them began discussing their plan to get out of the dungeon.

The first task was to saturate Kaden’s core as Asael’s core had already been saturated long ago.

Then, improve Kaden’s attunement with death so his intent could evolve.

At that point, Kaden suggested Asael to try and deepen his attunement too, but the man answered... strangely.

"Shadow will kill me if I do that. He is not very fond of death, you see," he said.

Kaden frowned at his words, he demanded an explanation but Asael just smiled, telling him not to take it seriously.

Instead, he told him that he would gladly accept if it was shadow beast.

Kaden remained naturally suspicious, but he didn’t say anything. Asael had the right to keep his secrets, as long as they didn’t cost him by getting corrupted.

So, after all this, the two of them considered a final possibility.

What if... after all the bodies, all the effort, Kaden still didn’t manage to improve his intent?

In that case, they made their choice.

They’d find a way to kill the Grandmaster themselves and be done with it.

It was dangerous as hell, but they had no other option.

And by the time their little talk ended, it was already night inside the dungeon.

And when night arrived here...

"The corrupted are ready for bloodshed and destruction," Asael said as he stood in front of the cave entrance, just behind the waterfall of black blood.

"Kaden, my friend, this is the perfect moment to get your cores and bodies. And also to learn how to kill them efficiently," he said without turning back.

Kaden smiled as he slowly stood up, walking toward him. Reditha flashed into his hand, her blade glowing with an intense red hue.

"Yes. It’s indeed time," he said, voice thick with hidden resentment toward these corrupted.

Ever since entering the forest, meeting the spider, and ending up in this dungeon... Kaden had only run.

And it was starting to grate on his nerves.

He was Kaden Warborn — the Child of Blood and the Death Envoy.

Wherever blood flowed, he was there... embraced as its child.

Wherever death was dealt, he was there... wearing the mantle of its executioner.

He was not a nobody.

Muttering those lines inside his head, Kaden unconsciously began to release an aura drenched in so much blood and death that Asael instinctively snapped his head toward him, stunned by the chill crawling up his spine.

An incredible scene unfolded before him.

Kaden — dressed in black, katana glowing a bloody red, eyes matching the hue like oceans of blood ready to erupt — stood enveloped in a soft aura of black and red.

Kaden smiled.

A smile that was absolutely lethal, one that promised only death and carnage.

"Let’s go," he said simply, and in the next instant, his body blurred as he bolted toward the corrupted outside, his sudden burst of speed causing the air behind him to explode like a detonated bomb.

Asael stood there, frozen for a beat, then slowly, a wide smile spread across his face.

The shadows in the dungeon twisted and surged toward him, clinging to his form like loyal beasts. They embraced him in a loving, devoted and submissive manner.

He didn’t just look like the child of shadow.

He looked like... the Prince of Shadows.

"Ah... I’m going to love this! I’m going to love this!!"

"Kaden, my friend! Let’s kill them all tonight!"

"Hahahah!!"

He shouted with a voice filled with uncontainable excitement as the shadows swallowed him whole.

...

Both Kaden and Asael now stood outside facing hundreds, maybe thousands, of corrupted beings.

They’d gone berserk, rampaging and destroying everything in sight. From afar, they looked like a swarm of writhing worms packed into human shapes.

It was eerie.

The sky above the dungeon was pitch-black, but in the middle of it hung a small red orb, casting an ominous, vile light down onto the battlefield.

The two of them stood side by side with their weapons ready.

Asael with his twin shadow swords and Kaden with his cute Reditha.

Neither wore armor.

But soon the shadows began gathering around Asael, forming a simple but durable sleek black armor over his body. Then he turned to Kaden and grinned.

"Who is going to kill more?" he asked, taunting.

Kaden mirrored his smile. His Flame of Blood erupted, enveloping both his body and Reditha in flickering red and soft blue.

"Pretty shameless to say that, considering your years of experience," he said with a smirk. "But guess what..."

"I will win."

The moment his words echoed into the air, Kaden raised Reditha and slashed downward.

"Bloodflame Descent."

A pillar of blood flame laced with blue stars erupted from the blade and struck the approaching hordes of corrupted like a gaping beast’s maw.

Asael wouldn’t be left behind, so instantly after...

"Shadow of the Corrupted."

And suddenly... the entire battlefield was swallowed in deep, terrifying shadow.

—End of Chapter 162—