The Blood River

Alice’s POV:

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All of us were ready to fight anytime. These new monsters were at the sixth and seventh stage and there was one at the eighth stage as well. Luckily, we had two moves of Twelve Chains of Bane stacked up. Once we attack a few more times, we will be able to kill most of these monsters. The monster at the eighth stage was a ten meters tall tiger, which had dark brown fur with gray stripes.

It growled in a deep voice and tapped its large paws on the ground. Pillars of stones raised out of the ground, all around us in a circle. [Aye~ Let’s not wait. I’m gonna teach this tiger its place. A dragon, must be feared!] I told Hiro proudly, but he was already in front of a monster, which was made up of vines. Hiro swung his right paw and used Hydra’s Paw. His claws struck the body of the vine monster, which wasn’t quick enough to react. Infinis was wonderful combined with Blank~

The monster’s core was smashed out of its body. If not for killing it, then it could slowly regenerate and then put back its core into its body. But who would wait for so long? Hiro used one of his minds to attack its soul, while his other heads snapped on the bodies of the surprised monsters. They didn’t think that Hiro would be the one attacking. He wanted to show off in front of me. How cute~ I’ll reward him plenty later. The monsters finally reacted and charged towards us.

It took but a moment for them to reach us. I spun in a circle, using my tail and wings to stop the charging monsters. With my powerful smashing and cutting Dragon Qi on my tail and wings, the monsters were crushed and cut. With the first circle, deep and large gashes appeared on the monsters’ bodies, but the other monsters behind them pushed them straight into my tail and wings.

The monsters screamed out in pain as they felt their bones being crushed and their bodies being split in half. Hiro turned around and jumped towards the back of these monsters. While still in the air, he raised his front legs and swiped with his paws. The second line of monsters was pushed into my spinning move. Their blood and body parts flew through the air, covering our bodies in the blood. A lion at the seventh stage suddenly jumped over the line of monsters, straight towards me.

It wanted to jump on my back, which would be very bad for me. But before it could do so, I stopped spinning and jumped straight towards the lion. It opened its eyes widely upon looking deeply into my throat. It swiped with its paws, trying to slap my head away, but its puny strength wasn’t enough. I happily snapped my jaws on its body and ‘stored’ its head in my Dragon’s Storage. Its headless body fell to the ground and before it could start regenerating I attacked its soul, killing it in the process.

Necros was continuously filling up our bodies with fresh energy, which had a positive effect on our Energy Veins. Under the pressure of our continuous energy consumption, our auras started rising. We were getting closer to breaking through! The difference in strength was barely more than ten Crypt, even while looking at a monster at the ninth stage. But the strongest monster here was only at the eighth stage!

The other monster jumped towards me at that time, but Hiro bit into their backs, stopping them from arriving on time. His poison was spreading around in the bodies of every monster he bit, making piles of paralyzed bodies all around us. Feeling that space was crowded, I used Dragon’s Wings. After separating and storing the heads, I enlarged my body for a moment and ate up everything around me.

Naturally, Hiro didn’t miss out on the feast either. Since our bodies combined with our energy armors and Blank were powerful enough to bear their attacks, using a bigger body was more practical. Seeing our large bodies, a few of them wanted to run away, but our huge paws and heads aided us in killing anything that was still alive. Rin was continuously attacking these monsters. She turned into a dark cloud from time to time and after disappearing for a moment, she appeared behind another monster.

Naturally, there were heads rolling everywhere and the missing limbs were a norm. The brown tiger, knowing that it would lose its life if it were to stay, quickly turned around, trying to flee. Before it could leave step even once more, Hiro swung his tail downward. The back of the tiger was struck. Its body was crushed under the force of Hiro’s tail. Its four legs immediately gave out and it was cut into two halves.

Hiro’s tail continued moving downward and struck the ground as well, creating a mini valley in it. It was similar to a large riverbed. These huge monsters had many liters of blood. After so many of them being beheaded, the ground was filled with it. This forest turned into a marsh. A marsh of blood. But after the large and long hollow in the ground, it slowly started flowing into the deep ditch, creating a small river of blood.

Another monster was about to escape, but suddenly Rin appeared in front of that Ape, stopping its movement. It looked around itself, only to realize that we exactly finished the last monster. Only that Ape was left. It looked back at us and saw that we were slowly and unhurriedly walking closer to it. It had no way out. Rin was in front of it. Hiro could catch him from the back and from its left, thanks to his numerous heads. I also closed off its path to the right. Its face turned into a despaired one. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor Ape.

But if it was stupid enough to come and attack us, then it can blame only itself. With my quick perception, I saw everything in slow motion. Rin jumped towards its chest, while we came from the other ways. All of us at the same time. The Ape slumped its shoulders and its whole body eased. It knew that it was about to die.

“STOP!” I shouted in my mind and our jaws snapped right in front of the body of the ape. Its eyes were closed and its body stiffened up, waiting for its impending doom, which never came. Feeling that it was still alive, the Ape opened its right eye. Its eye was met with teeth since the Ape turned its body slightly towards me. Well, however, I look at it, my mouth would cause the less pain. Rin’s mouth was too small to eat the Ape in one go, so it would be a long and painful process, while Hiro would tear it into pieces. I, on the other hand, would eat it in one go. My three heads were really large. Especially now that our bodies were enlarged.

“Taming it? Well, we can try,” Hiro thought as an answer, knowing what I wanted. The Ape jumped back in its fear but its body touched Hiro’s jaws, which only scared it even more. It spun on its heels, looking for a way to escape. This Ape was quite… full of reactions. It was at the seventh stage, so it wasn’t dangerous to us. We pulled back our heads. Seeing that we were only looking at it, it visibly felt distressed.

I transformed into my human form. Its eyes opened widely upon seeing such a thing. “Can you understand me?” I questioned it, but it made a stupid face, not knowing what was I saying. It would be useless like that. We still had one soul left from Angelwood Academy. We wouldn’t use the new ones since it probably wouldn’t change anything on this Ape. The monsters we killed were similarly stupid. I took out the right soul from my soul ring and after ‘rolling’ it into a ball, I ‘threw‘ it towards the chest of the Ape.

It crossed its arms in front of its chest and used some kind of Soul Barrier, but it was crushed by Hiro. That soul entered its body. The Ape fell to its knees and grabbed its chest. It was visibly in pain. The Ape started sweating heavily, drenching even the ground under its body. Its fur was completely black, while its skin was black. But after the soul entered its body, even its face turned pale…

After a few seconds, the color started returning to its face. “And now?” I questioned it again, but this time, after furrowing its brows, it nodded. Interesting. It seems like if we drag the soul of an intelligent being into the body of a monster and combine it with their soul, they might turn more intelligent. I thought happily with a smile on my face. With this, we might be able to make hordes of monsters serve us.

[Shall we turn into the evil rulers and monster tamers? Hehe~ I wonder how…] I started thinking happily, but suddenly both of us realized something.

[Fuck…] Was all Hiro thought. We put the souls of intelligent people into the animals in our own world. What have we done? Monsters are always stronger than humans. Humans can still kill them only because of their skills, martial arts, intelligence, and experience. Humans could easily beat hordes of monsters at the same level once they have all of these. We were intelligent monsters and of the highest class at that, so no human had a chance against us. But if the animals were to gain consciousness and….

Wait… Could it be that this is a way to create beastmen? I thought as my mind started working. I sat on Rin’s back, which was already clean and we started walking slowly. Hiro was following us in his True form. Rin was actually walking between Hiro’s legs since he was so much bigger. After focusing on our own world, I sensed every living being in it. Most of the mortals entered the Foundation Realm. Shi Fu was already at the middle first stage. Thanks to our pills, he was advancing much quicker than he was supposed to.

His body was also more prepared for cultivation since he was a Shaolin. He probably meditated every day before. He just didn’t know that what he was cultivating was almost nothing… It’s respectful that those people were even able to sense anything. After focusing on the animals, I felt that they too had entered the first stages of the Foundation Realm, but none of them reached the middle of the first stage yet. In that case, Shi Fu should be able to take care the most powerful monsters.

But we will have to look out for them. We don’t want to kill our future subjects! We need a great force! I’ll provide my little dragon hatchling with everything that’s necessary! And since that’s within my abilities, no one can stop me! I shall build a fucking kingdom if necessary! [But it’s not going to be a dragon hatchling. We have no idea what he or she might become…] Hiro remarked with a small chuckle. We were quite sure that our child would turn out to be quite amazing, but even if he or she were to be the most average cultivator, we would love our child dearly.

Honestly though, if I give birth to a child with a weak talent, even with OUR bloodlines, then I’ll eat soap… After our latest slaughter, we had two hundred and ten heads in our possession. Such being the case, we were going back to the camp already, but at that time, something unexpected happened. A group of cultivators at the ninth stage ran past us with terrified faces. Upon noticing us, they made happy faces as they left.

We weren’t idiots. We understood what happened. Rin turned into smoke, while I turned into my true form with a backflip. Not wasting any time, we merged our bodies, activating our Chimera form. Since we were very close to breaking through we devoured a few souls, which made us step into the early fifth stage. At the same time, a huge dinosaur-like monster appeared through the thick of the jungle.

It was naturally at the first stage of the sixth level… how good for us. Such a monster had two hundred and forty Crypt… while we had only a hundred and fifty-five. With our powerful skills, we might be able to win, but this is going to be a hard one. I expect to lose a few of my heads. Well, let’s see! We took up a defensive position, waiting for the T-Rex to attack. We showed our side for it slightly, making it possible for us to swing our tail anytime if necessary, but we could also turn towards it and attack it frontally.

The T-Rex leaned forward and roared loudly. Its spit was flying all over the place. Luckily for us, the monsters couldn’t teleport or fly here. Now that I think about it… was this a prison? The cultivators can’t fly, can’t teleport and even their mind powers are useless. If the Star Formation were to get broken, then people would be stuck here until reaching the eighth level! Not us, though… we had wings.

Well, Hiro’s company would be enough for me, but still… [Don’t worry, my love. Once we finish this monster, we will go and kill those bastards. No one can play such a game with us!] Hiro exclaimed righteously, while his bloodlust was filling up our surroundings. The T-Rex made a surprised face upon feeling it, but after another roar, it charged towards us. We swung our tail towards the side of its body, but this thing was unexpectedly mobile. It jumped over our tail and with its jaws opened, flew towards our necks.

We wouldn’t risk taking a hit even with our three-layered defense. Thanks to Infinis’ ability, we were still much quicker than it. The fifty meters tall dinosaur arrived only to see that we opened our jaws and used Space Breath. It went through its body and left a crack behind. Knowing what was to come, it dodged to the side. But at that time, not only Rin appeared and bit into its side, but even the unmoving Ape suddenly swung its fist towards it.

The thick scale-like skin took the brunt of the damage and only a fist-sized purple patch appeared. It was just a bruise. Rin, on the other hand, used her teeth and paws, which easily penetrated the side of this monster. Rin was a quality beast! The T-Rex flew over the opening hole, which caught its leg, but it still got out alive. With its right foot missing, this would turn much easier. It landed on the ground, but we were sad to see that it was already back… Reptilians, huh.

Not waiting for it, we used the fourth move of our martial art. Before releasing a ‘final move’, which could be any of the twelve, it would stay in stacks. It would pressure our bodies continuously, so it would be also good for us. [It’s decided! From now on we will hold our martial arts on at least three stacks continuously. It’s too stupid to start from zero every time. Once we get more and more used to it, we might be able to start every battle on full throttle!] Hiro said happily, already imagining our future. But my ideas were different…

[Are you stupid? We can’t use it with twelve stacks every time! Do you want to destroy planets and solar systems all the time? With our quickly growing strength, it might turn into cosmic catastrophes…] I quickly denied his thoughts of holding our stacks on eleven. Although our battle would surely end in one move, but we would also cause mass destruction and genocide… every time! Three or four should be enough.

[Fufu, It’s true. Now let’s use these heads of ours as well… we have twelve anyway!] Hiro said in a good mood, with a happy tone. While this happened in our head, we were using our other minds continuously. I was using Soul Eater on the soul of the T-Rex. It had a thick barrier protecting its soul, so it was quite hard to get through it. But after bombarding it continuously, I was able to. Its soul had the same shape as its body. Just like ours. Hiro used our hooded dragon heads and bit into the surprised T-Rex.

Only its shoulder was grazed before it jumped towards our chest. At least Hiro’s poison entered its body. We were pushed to the ground after its sudden charge. Not so surprisingly, it bit a large chunk out of our chest, with a lightning-quick movement. Heh… stupid mongrel. Its teeth had problems in getting through our extreme defense, but we didn’t have such a problem. Hiro bit into the T-Rex’s neck from two sides. Realizing its mistake, it quickly jumped backward, but we were holding onto its neck!

It tried biting us, but in such a position, it was impossible. Our necks were longer. It was roaring in pain continuously, while our poison was filling up its body. The T-Rex noticed that it was getting weaker and weaker, so it quickly sacrificed its neck and jumped back. After shaking its head, it wanted to prepare for our charge, but we were already on it. Thanks to Infinis, there was barely a difference in speed. We never lacked in attack power either. I’m sure that we could bite even someone at the eighth level to the death. What I trusted the most were our teeth!

Its blood spilled to the ground, dyeing it red. [Another river? Your order is taken!] Hiro joked uncaringly. We were ridiculous… The hole on our chest was long gone. Although it tore out one of our hearts. But we had eleven more… Being unfair is the best~

We didn’t even slow down upon reaching the T-Rex. Its eyes turned into big circles, but it was too late. We jumped towards its body and pushed it onto the ground. It was even slower than before. Probably it had problems moving. We rolled on the ground after we pushed it to the ground. We came out on top. The T-Rex wasn’t exactly in the best position. It didn’t have arms or anything which would help it in standing up. This was the end.

Or so we thought…

Using our paws, we crushed its body. Using our mouths, we tore its neck into pieces and after storing its head, we started eating its other body parts. But the problem came at that time. Are you being serious? I couldn’t help but think grumpily in my mind. Just as we killed the body of this T-Rex, another one appeared. What’s with this place?! No. What the hell did those people do to call the wrath of two such monsters!? There are barely five at most on this whole planet!

Its sudden charge pushed us onto the ground, but before it could bite us, we used our breath attack as the fourth move with one head. Its front was damaged quite a lot after our attack, but it was alright. We used the same attack once again with another head. It was already the fifth, which had no small force behind it. It was probably somewhere around two hundred and twenty Crypt! The T-Rex was flung into the air after our attack and the landed on its side. It sprung up from the ground and slowly started walking around us. This time it was more careful. It realized that it underestimated us.

The gaping wound on its chest was a testament of that. We growled with all of our heads, while our scales started shaking slightly, like the tail of a rattlesnake. We were doing it on purpose, hoping that it would come and attack us. We sneakily made a huge hole right in front of us and only a thin layer of ground was above it. We were holding the ground up with our World Energy. After a few seconds, it couldn’t hold it any longer and ran towards us.

Just as its right foot touched the top of our trap, we made it fall. Its foot sunk into the ground and then it was followed by its whole body. Before it could fall, we used out twelve heads to bite into its body, along its spine. It was left hanging in the air and it wasn’t able to move. Its legs weren't touching the ground either. This place was the best for us! If it could have teleported, then we would have been in big shit!

[No, that’s not true. In that case, we might have never seen these bastards…] Hiro added angrily while gritting his teeth, causing a lot of pain for this monster. The monster was roaring continuously, but it was for naught. Our poison started affecting its body slowly. Suddenly, the muscles on its back snapped. It cut itself off by using its own energy. It was pointless. With so much poison in its body. It would take at most two minutes. And we can surely hold out for that long. Our bite was dangerous and deadly~

After rolling once on the ground, which looked VERY much weird, it stood up on its two legs. I saw fear in its eyes. “What’s up, you loser dinosaur? You shouldn’t have attacked us!” I sent such thoughts to a monster. We have never tried it before, so I have no idea what happened. Of course, it didn’t answer… Just as the dinosaur was about to charge, Rin suddenly appeared right under it. She bore her teeth into its chest and crushed its heart on the spot. She literally ate herself into the T-Rex. Not exactly how cats were supposed to kill, but… whatever.

The monster fell to the ground lifelessly. Since Rin took care of it with such a sneak attack, we used our souls to kill it. She was an Abyss Panther. She was walking in the shadows. Like an assassin. A hunter. She wasn’t a frontal fighter. Which was perfect for us! After storing their souls and heads, we transformed into our human forms and cleaned up ourselves.

We mounted Rin and then took our way towards the camp. Rin charged through the forest like a bolt of lightning and everything turned blurred for a moment. In the next moment, we were at our destined places. What I’m sure of is that… no one can kill Rin unless they know where she goes and they can teleport after her. But I find that unlikely. She is hiding her presence way too well!

Elder Genotan and many other elders were sitting there meditating, or chatting. Genotan opened his eyes upon noticing us and then stood up while shouting. “What are you doing here? Did you come here to rest or what!? Go back now!”

The other elders were looking at us with frowning eyes as well. I felt great! Honestly. Not fearing conflicts, I said - “Why would we? We have so much time left!”

“BULLSHIT! GO BACK-” He started shouting with his spit flying all over the place, which annoyed me a lot. Such being the case, I threw out the heads from our own world. Before coming here, we put them into our own world. His mouth opened widely, along with the other elders. Genotan gulped loudly, as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. We had four days to finish this, yet we have done so in just one and half an hour… And we had, even more, heads than we were supposed to have.

Not to mention that all of them were way above us in strength, especially two… “T- That’s the… the Troodon! It was one of the monsters at the sixth level. And you killed two of them!?” A random elder exclaimed with an excited face, while the others also made one surprised face after the other. What was the most surprising came next!

“I apologize for my mistake!” Genotan exclaimed with a small bow. What about the ogres? Untrustable earthlings! Who the hell was the one finding out those things about ogres? We left to our own world and spent the rest of the four days there. I had wonderful ‘journeys’ with Hiro~ My body feels hot when I’m just thinking of it.

At the last day, those bastards also returned. With Rin beside us, we cracked our fingers, with cold smiles on our faces. Anyone doing such a thing is going to pay. There is no going back. They made the wrong dragon into their enemy. No, the wrong ‘idiot couple’!

Let’s have some fun, shall we?

(AN: When I meant hooded dragon, I meant this. Just the spiky head. Nothing more. Also, you can imagine that as their merged forms, but with twelve such heads. Except for their scales, which are the same as when they are separated.)

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