Chapter 3: The Girl Within
["You"re using that mask?"] (Warren)
"In the meantime, yeah. I want to see how powerful the so called demonic beasts first…They shouldn"t attack a fellow "demonic beast"…right?" (Lucas)
Not like it matters anyway. I just feel like having fun with this form for a while…
Wearing the mask, my body transformed into that of a [Driradeeth], a cheetah with saber tooth and two weirdly shaped horns on my head.
*Vi vii!* "Kitty Master!" (Vil)
*Grrrr…* "Kitty…" (Lucas)
Ignoring Vil who was jumping happily on my head, I began to walk forward the desolated plain.
This [Thousand Grave Plain] stretches for about 6-7 kilometers wide. On the far distance, I can just vaguely see the outline of a city which I suppose is my destination, [Ziyou City].
There should be just a few more kilometers from where Lin dropped me…but still, how come I can"t see any demonic beasts?
Just as I thought of that, the ground rumbled and the area in front of us exploded creating a large hole on the surface!
From the hole, a giant worm with spikes covered its whole body emerged.
NameSpike Armored WormRank3 (middle)GenderMaleRaceDemonic BeastDescriptionA huge worm covered in spikes! Even the inside of its mouth is covered with sharp spike like teeth which are capable of gnawing everything in its path!
Rank 3…
This means that he is comparable to that of a Master Stage Human Realm pract.i.tioner!
And since he is considered middle cla.s.s of the 3rd rank, then logically speaking, he is about the same as a Human Realm 8th level!
Uwaaah, my [Harus] body at the moment is only at the 1st level Human Realm…normally, I guess people at my level would run huh?
Well, let"s see how my skills and magic will fare in this martial world!
Determined, I grabbed the dagger on my right foreleg.
In my free time, I thought of making an equipment for my [Driradeeth] form so I made a sheath and handle specially for this form.
Of course, I made it so that it"s easy to grab the dagger with my teeth. I can"t really use my paw to hold it now can I?
[Fire Enchantment]! [Wind Enchantment]!
With an Intermediate level enchantment, I am able to enchant other beings so I enchanted Vil"s horn with fire and my legs with wind for more speed.
Vil"s horn began to have a red glow while my legs had a light green glow. This is the effect of the enchantment.
For Vil"s horn, anything that touches it would feel heat as if touching fire. For my leg, it would feel as light as the wind thereby increasing my speed!
*Shaaa! Sha sha shaa!?* "You! What kind of beast are you!?" (Spike Armored Worm)
Oh? It can talk? Or well...I guess I can understand since I"m sort of like a demonic beast as well?
Whatever, let"s go along for now.
*Grrrr gr grrr?* "What"s it to you?" (Lucas)
*Vi! Vii vii!?* "Yeah! What"s it what"s it!?" (Vil)
…At least say something intelligent Vil!
*Sha sha. Shaaa sha sha shaaa! Shaaa!* "Rank 1 brat. You can clearly see that you"re no match for me! Answer me or you will die!" (Spike Armored Worm)
*Grrr, grrrrr!* "Who lives and dies, we shall see!" (Lucas)
Looks like talking"s useless anyway. Attack!
Holding the dagger on my mouth, I charged towards the left while Vil went to the right.
*Sh! Sha shaa!* "Hmph! You"re courting death!" (Spike Armored Worm)
*Swoosh* It seems that these spike armor isn"t as hard as it looks seeing as my slash was able to cut through it easily. Vil"s horn pierced through as well which made the Spike Armored Worm wriggle in pain.
*Sha! Sha sha shaaa sha!?* "Brats! How is your attacks so powerful for it to pa.s.s through my spike armor!?" (Spike Armored Worm)
Well, either you"re too weak after all or my stats were just superior. Either way, it doesn"t really matter does it?
Fumu, it seems that with my skills from another world, I can still be considered as strong in this world.
["Shadow Flame Mastiff! Come forth!"] (Warren)
From a shadow nearby, a black figure resembling a [Flame Mastiff] from [Harus] emerged which made the Spike Armored Worm bewildered.
Afterwards, Warren called forth more shadow monsters from [Harus].
Haha, a shadow army! This looks pretty bada.s.s!
*Sh-sha shaa!?* "Wh-what the h.e.l.l is this!?" (Spike Armored Worm)
The shadow monster army clearly frightened the Spike Armored Worm but when they attacked him…they died instantly from the spikes that covered the Spike Armored Worm…
…
…
…
*GRRRRRR!!!!* "DAMMIT WARREN!" (Lucas)
["Hey! This is my first time meeting such a strong opponent! How should I know how strong he is compared to the monsters in [Harus]!?"] (Warren)
*Sha sha sha! Sha shaa shaa!* "Hahahaha! Puny beast, and here I thought it was some sort of mysterious secret technique!" (Spike Armored Worm)
Tch, this worm sure is annoying. Since it can"t see Warren, it thought that it was me who used that attack and now he"s looking down on me?
Heh, fine. I"ll exert a bit more effort but not go all out. After all, I don"t want to turn this plain into a crater…
Regaining its confidence, the Spike Armored Worm shook and shot some spikes from his armor.
The strange thing was, a spike immediately sprouted from where it was removed!
What"s this cheat-like technique!? He basically doesn"t run out of ammo! I call hax!
Vil and I quickly dodged to the side while Warren looks like he"s just relaxing on the side…What a lecher!
Though the speed of the spike projectiles were fast, compared to the h.e.l.lish training of that d.a.m.n clown, his thrown rocks were definitely faster by at least three-folds than this one!
I provided Vil with an air platform above the Spike Armored Worm where she hopped towards to, rebounding, she directed her horn towards the Spike Armored Worm from above while I attack from below.
Faced with both sides of attack, the Spike Armored Worm let out a war cry before burrowing back to the ground.
Hmph, you think just because you"re underground, I don"t have any ways to kill you?
Rather, under the earth is truly the worst place to flee when facing against me…
I felt through the earth with my bare paws to locate the Spike Armored Worm using the tremors. After pinpointing him, I began to control the earth and compress itself around the Spike Armored Worm.
Hmm…looks like his armor is tough after all. Seems like normal earth really won"t do anything.
But that"s just because the surface area is too big. Thinking that, I turned the surrounding earth into spikes itself and stab through the Spike Armored Worm.
Of course, every spike of mine pierced through the gaps in his spike armor. What sane person would attack the spike and not the skin?
*Boom*
Another hole emerged from the side as the Spike Armored Worm retreated back to the surface.
*Sha! Sha shaa!?* "Brat! How did you do that!?" (Spike Armored Worm)
*Grr!* "Magic!" (Lucas)
*Sha sha! Sha sha shaa sha!* "Don"t screw with me! That was definitely a type of [Innate Ability]!" (Spike Armored Worm)
Hm? [Innate Ability]?
It"s the first I"ve heard of it…well, judging by its name, it"s something like an in-born skill right? Well, I guess it is.
*Sh, sha sha sah, shaaa sha!* "Hmph, since you"ve shown yours, don"t blame me for showing mine!" (Spike Armored Worm)
As he said that, his mouth closed as he inhaled. Afterwards, he shot out some sort of pressurized sand dust!
*Sha! Sha sha!* "Hah! Eat my [Sand Air Cannon]!" ( Spike Armored Worm)
Hmm…I don"t really know what"s special about this but…
With half-closed eyes, I willed for the dust to return to him and it did. After all, sand dust is still earth right? So that means I can control it.
Not only that, but since I can control the air itself, then I can naturally compress the sand even more, thereby having more impact.
*Sh-sha!?* "Wh-what!?" (Spike Armored Worm)
Before the Spike Armored Worm can even utter another word, the improved sand air cannon went directly to his mouth which was wide open from his shock.
So stupid, to actually dare to use earth attacks against me?
With the sand in his body now, all I need to do is turn it into a sand blade and cut him into ribbons from the inside.
Instantly, the Spike Armored Worm let out its last breath just like that, where it didn"t even have a chance to know how he died.
["Spike Armored Worm Shadow, get!"] (Warren)
*Grr! Grr gr! Grrrrrr!!!* "Dammit Warren! This isn"t Pokémon! And don"t steal my EXP!!!" (Lucas)
When this guy steals a shadow, the victim must be near death. And because of that, it didn"t actually die which means that I didn"t get any EXP at all!
d.a.m.n Warren, it"s been a while since my last monster kill!
After growling at Warren for about 5 minutes, I sighed and dropped the matter as I can no longer do anything about it.
At least now, he has a relatively strong shadow slave instead of many useless ones…
Well, no use fretting over it now. Let"s just head to [Ziyou City].
Sighing again, the three of us started to walk once more…wait, actually, with Warren riding on my shadow and Vil is sitting on top of me, aren"t I the only one who"s walking!!!???
+ + +
"How long are you going to run Elena Shengxue!? Don"t think that we won"t hurt you now because we reached the [Mortal Continent]!"
Above the [Mortal Continent], near the border of [Weifeng], six figures flew in very high speeds.
Five blood red robed men and one fiery red haired woman.
From a third person"s point of view, it was evident that the five men are chasing the woman which appeared to be heavily injured.
"Hmph, like I thought, continuing to run with those injuries, her speed has slowed down! Brothers, quickly surround her!"
"You can"t escape!"
The five men surrounded the woman which made her stop midair whether she liked it or not.
Seeing the five around her, Elena gritted her teeth and looked at every single one of them with a look of absolute loathing.
"Old dogs! Don"t force me!" (Elena)
"Haha, what can you possibly do in that battered state!?"
"Just stay there and let us kill you now!"
"Fine! Kill me! Let"s see what that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Bester would do if my G.o.dfather sees my life jade slip shatter!" (Elena)
Hearing her, the five men who were originally confident and started approaching came into a screeching halt.
Each of their faces paled as they recalled Elena"s G.o.dfather.
They all knew that this powerful person is currently in seclusion and would most likely not awaken for more than a hundred thousand years but if he sees her life jade slip shattered…then their [Sacred Blood] clan which is still having an internal conflict will surely be destroyed!
A life jade slip can be formed when one extracts their own qi and form it into a slip outside of their body.
Since the qi it was formed was a part of you, naturally, it would be able to sense your wellbeing as well.
Which means that if you die…the jade slip will shatter as the qi it contained is extinguished!
"Hmph, bunch of cowards! Now get out of my way!" (Elena)
Even though Elena felt that her words were a bit contradicting as she herself resorted to use another person"s status to defend herself, her life is in danger at the moment after all so she decided to ignore it.
In her mind, as long as she removed the seal in her regeneration, she will definitely be able to have her revenge.
Live!
Live and kill them in the future!
Right now, this is the only thing that Elena can think of.
However, reality isn"t always as kind.
"Hehe, Master had expected this. So as long as we don"t kill you, then it"s fine!"
"Right, we can just make you disappear!"
"b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Don"t think I won"t stay quiet as long as I live!" (Elena)
"Oh you will. After all, there is nothing you can do to escape this prison! Brothers!"
Immediately, the five men surrounding Elena formed hand seals rapidly while chanting some unrecognizable words.
However, when Elena heard their chants, she paled in fright since she herself is familiar with it!
"Brothers, look, shall we choose that rabbit below?"
"Hm? Oh. That is a good suggestion."
"But how come I don"t recognize this demonic beast?..."
"Doesn"t matter, it"s just a Rank 1 anyway. I doubt it will reach our level!"
"It"s decided, form the [Binding Prison Array]!"
Hearing the name of the array, Elena"s thought was proven!
"Old b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Don"t you dare!!!" (Elena)
"Now! Bind!"
Seeing a gigantic array above her, Elena wasn"t even able to resist at all.
Lighting appeared from the middle of the array and struck her. Instead of stopping there, the lightning continued downwards in high speed towards a…seemingly innocent horned rabbit!
+ + +
*Shiver*
All of a sudden, the hairs on my body all stood which gave me a very bad premonition.
Unconsciously looking up, all I saw was a blinding light and immediately understood that it was directed towards Vil!
Since I was trained in the [Slime Style], I was well tuned in figuring out the path of each strikes and their target.
Not hesitating for even a millisecond, I conjured a gust of wind to blow Vil out of the way. However, there was no time for me to dodge myself.
After all, how fast is a lightning?
Thanks to my quick reaction, pushing Vil out of the way was already a miracle!
*BOOM!!!*
*VII!!!* "MASTER!!!" (Vil)
["Lucas!"] (Warren)
To the side, I hear Vil"s and Warren"s faint voices. However, my mind right now is too hazy and can"t quite process what they said.
I"m surprised that I didn"t die immediately from that lightning, however, my consciousness is already at the limit.
On the verge of my collapse, I heard a few more unfamiliar voices.
"Huh, unexpectedly, the rabbit dodged."
"Who cares, that one still won"t pose a threat."
"What a weird demonic beast…I guess it"s a mix breed huh?"
"Well, the brat is imprisoned anyway. Let"s go back and report to the Patriarch."
"Patriarch…well, he will be in the future…"
And then they were gone…and so is my consciousness…
+ + +
*Whimper*
Still in [Driradeeth] form, I whimpered as I woke up.
Ughh, my head still hurts…
Grimacing as I try to stand up, I looked around and saw that I"m inside some sort of cave.
Ah, that"s right! Vil! Warren!
*Vii!* "Master!" (Vil)
["Lucas! You"re awake!"] (Warren)
Tilting my head, I saw the rabbit form Vil and Warren emerging from the shadow.
Good, it seems they"re safe…
But still, what happened?
Before I can ask them what happened when I lost consciousness, a sweet voice resounded in my head.
"Woah! Did that guy just come out from the shadow!?" (???)
The voice appeared to be that of a female.
Just hearing her voice already made me think that this girl"s looks aren"t that inferior to Eu and the others.
…But how come I can hear her inside my head? And did she just see Warren?
I looked around but didn"t catch any glimpse of another person.
"Umm…who and where are you? Why are you speaking in my head?" (Lucas)
"Huh? Kitty, you can speak English!?" (???)
"Who"re you calling kitty dammit!? The name"s Lucas! And no, I can"t speak English!" (Lucas)
Why is everyone calling me kitty!!??
Where can you find a kitty this big, awesome, handsome, dashing, and powerful like me!? Oh, and let"s not forget the fangs and horns!!!
"Lies! I can understand you so you"re definitely speaking English!" (???)
"I was being sarcastic! Now tell me who you are!" (Lucas)
Jeez, for someone with such a sweet voice to be this annoying…I don"t know whether I should laugh or cry.
"Hmph! Listen here kitty, this one is the great Elena Shen…Elena!" (Elena)
For some reason, even though she"s acting all high and mighty, she quivered slightly the moment she tried to say her surname.
Well, not that I care.
"Elena…Elen…El! Tell me, why are you talking in my head?" (Lucas)
It"s kinda annoying to waste three syllables in p.r.o.nouncing a name so I just cut it short. Hehe, I"m really a genius!
If you think about it, the girls that I"ve met didn"t have such a long winded name…well, Eu was originally Euomun which is really a pain to p.r.o.nounce.
"Don"t just cut my name short! As for why I"m talking in your head, it"s because I"m in your head!"(El)
…Huh?
"Well, to be precise, I"m inside your body." (El)
"Wait wait wait wait! How did that happen!? And isn"t it supposed to be the other way around? Normally, it"s the man who is inside the woman!" (Lucas)
Sorry, can"t help it. I just had to make that joke.
…Hehe?…
"Wha-…I didn"t mean it that way you pervert! Who wants to sleep with a beast like you!?" (El)
"Hey hey, though Eu and the others say I can be a beast in bed, but I"m human!" (Lucas)
"Don"t joke around! You"re clearly a demonic beast! It"s already surprising that you can speak English! And who the h.e.l.l is Eu!? And what do you mean others!!!???" (El)
Facing this full blown retorting war, I sighed and just ignored this girl.
Maybe I"m just hallucinating, right, I"m just going insane.
Later, when I get some rest, she will disappear like a dream.
Thinking that, I unequipped the [Driradeeth] mask and returned to my human form.
"HOW THE h.e.l.l!!!???" (El)
In my mind, I can still hear the noisy woman retorting.
Whatever, I already decided to ignore this girl so I"ll pretend not to hear anything.
"Warren, where is this place?" (Lucas)
["Hm? Ah, I called the Shadow Spike Armored Worm and made him dig underground for shelter. After all, we can"t let you have lying around on the surface like that."] (Warren)
As he said that, he called the Shadow Spike Armored Worm again so as to let me see.
"Spike Armored Worm!? How did it emerge from the shadow!!!???" (El)
The noisy girl retorted again which I ignored yet again.
"I see, how long was I out?" (Lucas)
["Just a day. Rather, I"m surprised you didn"t die from that lightning…then again, you"ve seen worse huh?"] (Warren)
"Haha, yeah. Though, I have a feeling that that lightning wasn"t met to hurt me at all." (Lucas)
After all, my HP didn"t even drop. It just knocked me unconscious.
"What happened after that?" (Lucas)
["There were 5 old men with blood red robe flying above. I suspect they were the cause of that lightning. Still, I don"t understand their objective as they left immediately."] (Warren)
Flying old men? Is it someone of Lin"s level? Or higher?
Haah…nothing I can really do about it.
Sighing, I looked towards Vil who still wore a worried expression.
"You didn"t revert did you?" (Lucas)
*Vi vi*
Vil shook her head sideways repeatedly.
"Haha, that"s a good girl. It seems you didn"t forget your promise. All right, you can turn back now." (Lucas)
"Master!" (Vil)
As soon as I said she can turn back, she immediately turned back and jumped into my embrace.
"SHE CAN TURN INTO HUMAN TOO!!!???" (El)
"Master! Master! Master! Vil was really worried Master!" (Vil)
"Ahh, yes, yes…as you can see, I"m all right, so no need to cry so much." (Lucas)
Seeing Vil cry so much made my heart feel warm.
For someone to care for me this much…feels amazing indeed.
Waiting for Vil to stop crying, I let her cry as much as she wants as I hold her tight. None of us willing to let go.
After a while, Vil had stopped crying but still remained hugging me.
Sigh, no choice then.
I pushed her back slightly, turned her around, then placed her on top of my thigh as I sat down.
We can"t possibly be standing around forever after all so it"s better to sit instead.
While hugging her waist, I moved my arm and looked at my [Status Window] to see any anomalies.
There, I can clearly saw a new entry.
[Bounded Prisoner: Elena Shengxue]
…
…
…
HAH!?
"Hm? What"s this blue window that suddenly popped out?...[Status Window]…heh?" (El)
Hearing the familiar sweet voice again, this time, I can no longer ignore it.
It"s definitely not hallucination!
If it was, then her name wouldn"t appear in my status window!
[Bounded Prisoner]…bounded…inside me…c-could it be?
She really is inside me!?
Thinking that, I tried to meditate and use the [Soul Vacuum] cultivation technique in order to send my consciousness to my soul.
Looking around, there isn"t anyone at all.
Fine, let"s move to other places.
Lower dantian…none.
Middle dantian…none.
Upper dantian…none.
Where is that girl?
"Looking for me? I"ll send you here." (El)
Immediately after, I felt my consciousness being guided to someplace else inside me.
This location…seems to be near my heart.
When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer inside the cave but in some sort of room.
There was a large majestic bed with red curtains surrounding it, an expensive looking mirror, closet, dresser, tables, and chairs.
Huh? Since when was there such a room inside me?
"Over here." (El)
Turning towards the direction of the voice, the curtains hung over the bed opened and revealed a figure sitting on top of the majestic bed.
Looking at the figure, time seemed to have freeze as I meticulously looked at every detail in her body.
The girl looked around 20-25 years old. Fiery red hair that flows down to her waist like an upside-down flame, her eyes were colored green as if they were taken from an emerald itself, her lips were deep red which made a good contrast to her snow white skin.
Voluptuous breast that only seemed a bit bigger than Freya"s, slim waist but well-toned muscles, though she gave a somewhat frail feeling, she still had an air of a Queen…no, it"s more of an Empress!
She wore a Chinese oriented black robe with golden linings which added a mature feeling to her.
All in all, her beauty can definitely bring the fall of one or two countries!
Just who is this girl?
Author"s Note
So...sorry again for the late chapter...really hard when you"re already on your last year in college...orz
So in most wuxia/xianxia story, there"s always that one person who is somehow stuck inside the mc or a weird s.p.a.ce inside the mc"s body. Here, there"s both!
Also, for those who might be confused, lucas has two bodies which means he has two separate cultivations. Here, he only used his harus body since he has more skills in this body than his earth"s.
He also haven"t perfected how to properly use the skills of his other body as last time, he was actually meditating so it"s still not in the practical stage where he can use it in battles.
Anyway, it"s already 12:00 am here so I"ll stop.
Till the next chapter!
P.S.: Next chapter, to some people, you will see a very familiar character. To the others, he"s just a new character in the story. But to everyone...he"s just a very insane character ;)