Blood Assimilation

He then looked into the void in a certain direction far away and muttered under his breath with clear displeasure: “An uninvited guest? How bold! What rat dared to sneak in without my permission?”

The middle-aged man’s aura exploded and billowed with undisguised fury, scaring the Crown Princess beside him. She looked at him in apprehensive horror, unable to breathe properly. She could only beat her chest in desperation.

“G-Great… Lord… Yon… der… I… can’t… breathe…”

As she couldn’t bear it anymore, she opened her mouth, choking on her words, struggling to speak with all her might. However, before she could plead with the middle-aged man, he instantly vanished from his seat.

Only then was she able to gasp for breath.

“Haa… Haa… Haah…”

The Crown Princess’s expression was terrifyingly pale with fright as she breathed heavily after the middle-aged man left the scene.

“W-What happened…? Such a terrifying killing intent… I felt like I was drowning in an endless abyss… Did something happen?”

.....

She struggled to speak as she pondered what could arouse the attention of the middle-aged man enough for him to be so furious and release such a murderous aura.

Aside from her, the servants that were close by all froze on the spot with ripples of fear plastered on their serious faces. They did everything they could to hold back their fear, but they still failed to suppress it from showing on their faces.

‘What a horrifying murderous aura! It felt like my whole body was submerged and suppressed in a bottomless ocean with no means to swim! I’m afraid someone poked the hornet’s nest without knowing! I hope we don’t get implicated!’

They all thought at the same time.

As servants of the Royal Family, they were not weak at all. In fact, they were one of the strongest combatants of the kingdom hailed for their stern demeanor from having fought many battles. They had experienced a lot of things in their lives to finally be selected as guards of the Royal Family.

Each Royal Guard had killed numerous enemies on the front lines of many battles. Therefore, they weren’t fazed by mere murderous auras, as they had experienced such auras countless times during their many battles. They could even say they were used to the feeling of treading on the brink of life and death. In other words, they were fearless in battle.

However, even with their enormous experience, they still couldn’t resist the overwhelming and terrifying murderous aura released briefly by the middle-aged man. That just showed how frighteningly powerful the other party was compared to them.

It was a total and overwhelming suppression of power!

…

A few hours ago.

In front of the Imperial City’s main gate.

A hooded and cloaked figure silently appeared there. Their entire appearance was shrouded in a dense fog of darkness, obstructing any form of perception through clairvoyant spells or skills.

With that being the case, they walked forward brazenly, casually strode past the two guards, and then entered the main gate. The two vigilant guards didn’t notice anything unusual at all.

This hooded figure continued to walk through the Imperial City’s streets for a while. However, no one saw them, just as the two guards at the main gate had failed to spot them. However, the hooded figure did not dawdle around admiring the bustling city.

Instead, they moved swiftly while avoiding contact with the people on the street, as if they were in a hurry. They didn’t stop moving until they reached the gate that led to the Royal Capital, where the Royal Family resided.

Then, they proceeded to walk through the gate with no eyes observing them, nor was there any detection from the complex mechanisms set up to catch intruders that attempted to pass through the gate to the Royal Capital.

This unknown person seemed to have found a way to bypass all the magical formations set up around the kingdom. After all, they made it through the gate that led to the Royal Capital without triggering any reaction.

After entering the Royal Capital, they stopped momentarily and sensed the surroundings briefly before picking a direction and rushing toward it at an astonishing speed. They were several times faster than the speed of sound, but they didn’t make any noise as they moved, which was very surprising, considering their alarming speed.

Very soon, they stood in front of a grand mansion that was secluded and away from the Royal Castle building. This grand mansion looked extremely majestic, and it could be inferred that whoever lived in this grand mansion was one with high status or prestige that could even rival that of the Royal Family, if not higher.

Which begs the question, what was the identity of the one who lived in such a grand mansion, and what was their relationship with the Royal Family?

At this moment, a glint of light flashed through the hooded figure’s eyes as they stood in front of this grand mansion.

Sensing around for a bit, they muttered in confirmation: “As I thought, there was indeed a terrifying monster in this place. This aura.... I wonder what wickedness they’re committing inside that mansion for it to emit such a miasmic force residue. Are humans attempting to research some sort of negative energy?”

“Should I take a look inside and see for myself?”

The hooded figure pondered for a moment before shaking their head: “No. Being able to come here has already exhausted most of the stored powers in this body. Anything beyond this might deplete all my powers, and I might trigger some hidden trap or mechanism as a result.”

She had already confirmed her main suspicion on this journey, so she could now move on to the next matter.

“I should leave this place, confirm the next problem, and then leave silently without alerting anyone. With the gathered information, I could make the appropriate preparations to deal with them when the time comes, no matter who they are.”

“To deal with whom?”

A cold and indifferent voice suddenly resounded behind the hooded figure at this time.

However, the hooded figure wasn’t startled despite hearing the voice of this new arrival, and instead said calmly: “To deal with you, of course! I take it that you’re the owner of this mansion? If so, then that’d make things much easier. I will take this chance to clean you up before leaving!”

“Hahaha!”

A burst of cold laughter reverberated throughout the vicinity, causing the surrounding wind to pick up, as though a mini tornado had arrived at their location. Afterward, a figure slowly walked out of the void as they hovered in the sky, staring at the hooded figure below with an incomprehensible smile and a chilly gaze.

It was the middle-aged man, otherwise known as Great Lord Yonder.

“Amusing… Truly amusing words. I haven’t met a brazen creature like you in a long time, so I forgot the feeling of being looked down on. I suppose there are bound to be changes occurring throughout the course of life, so I shouldn’t be too conservative.”

Great Lord Yonder said with a strange expression as his chilly gaze seemed to have pierced through the masked hooded figure below him.

This caused the hooded figure to shudder slightly from an eerie discomfort in her body.

‘Have I been seen through? Normally, I would say that is impossible, but considering the power fluctuations of this human, I would say that it’s not completely impossible.’

With that in mind, the hooded figure decided to unabashedly take off the cloak that concealed their presence, as it was pointless to continue hiding their identity. Furthermore, this was not their true form, so it didn’t really matter.

The next moment, their appearance was revealed.

It was an ordinary and innocent-looking young woman with short brown hair, who seemed to be in her twenties.

Contrary to her age and ordinary appearance, the power fluctuation from her body suggested that she was no ordinary person, as she carried a natural aura of regal dignity around their delicate body, just from her posture alone. Furthermore, her sharp eyes were filled with endless darkness, as though they harbored the abyss itself.

Great Lord Yonder watched this scene with a cold expression, and then indifferently said with clear discontentment: “Putting aside how you knew to come here aside, you dared to impersonate a human to break into my territory without my permission?”

He then snorted and coldly declared: “For being the first entity to achieve this feat, I will grant you a painless death by ripping your body to shreds as your reward! Your soul, on the other hand, would suffer endless torture under my command for your audacious transgressions!”

The innocent-looking young woman heard this declaration, frowned with a disgusted expression, and disdainfully said: “You’re too arrogant for a mere human! Don’t overestimate yourself! Did you think I’d be afraid of you just because your power fluctuation had almost reached the boundary of this world’s limit? You haven’t witnessed the immensity of absolute power, yet you dare bark in front of me? I wouldn’t even take apostles seriously, much less an exalted one like you.”

She then scoffed and arrogantly declared: “Today, I came here purposely to find out the identity of that mysterious human and also the mastermind behind the reason why the humans haven’t lost the war yet. Now that I have met one of the people in question, I only have one decision to make right here, and that is to crush them with everything I’ve got before they become a threat!”

Boom!

After her confident declaration, a sudden explosion occurred, shaking the earth underneath her feet. She was then shrouded in an unfathomably dense fog of darkness that surged continuously and condensed behind her.

The dense fog of darkness gradually transformed into a hazy, giant maw, which looked like a voracious monster with jagged teeth. A mighty suction force exuded from this giant maw as if it would swallow everything in the world.