Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 170 The Deadly Sprint

Chapter 170 The Deadly Sprint
The moment Giza raised his arms, Thales felt a jolt in the ground.

"Boom!"

The next second, the Blood Mage was lifted off the ground!

No, it should be said that a huge blood-red tentacle, as tall as two people, tore through the ground, lifted off the ground, and forcefully lifted Giza up!

They lifted her up to the height of a seven or eight-story building.

"Pfft!"

Immediately, with the sound of flesh and blood bursting, countless smaller tentacles suddenly exploded from the giant tentacle.

They stretched out over a terrifying area, reaching out in all directions!

Each tentacle seemed to have its own life, slithering forward. A few seconds later, the crimson tentacles trembled in unison, spreading out like a tidal wave and rapidly winding their way toward Thales.

There are over a hundred of them!

The tentacles covered almost all of his vision, even obscuring the moon.

Thales stared at the scene before him, his face pale, while the little rascal clung to him, completely terrified.

Aishida suddenly opened her mouth and roared:

"run!"

Thales snapped to attention, grabbed the little rascal, and turned to run!

He gritted his teeth and, just as Ashida had said, ignored everything, didn't look back or lean to one side, and just kept running forward!

Behind him came Giza's wild and gleeful laughter.

Thales had only taken two steps when he heard a loud bang behind him!
A gust of air rushed in uncontrollably.

Then there was another loud bang!
"boom!"

In another direction, the airflow swept up countless soil, rocks, and snow, carrying them away.

Thales' heart skipped a beat.

Oops.

This is……

What happens when an invisible wall is forcibly broken!
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

Loud explosions came one after another from behind, and the airflow became increasingly rapid and turbulent.

Clearly, Ashida's invisible wall is being breached time and time again!
Just then, Thales felt a heavy weight on his hand—and the little rascal fell to the ground.

Thales felt a chill run down his spine. Before he could react, the two of them, a beat too slow, felt a wave of darkness descend upon them.

Countless tentacles attacked from behind and above, like a giant bowl, covering their heads.

Then block their way forward.

In the darkness, Thales gasped. He had just pulled up the little rascal when he felt a series of sounds of flesh and blood rubbing together from all directions.

In his field of vision, the red-glowing tentacles attacked without leaving any blind spots!

The little rascal hugged him tightly and exclaimed in surprise.

No.

Is there no chance left?

Thales desperately reached for his waist, for JC's dagger.

At that moment, the tentacles around Thales trembled all at once!
My field of vision was filled with the surrounding red light, from which suddenly specks of blue light diffused.

The tentacles' approach was abruptly halted.

"Bang! Crack! Snap!"

Strange popping sounds came one after another.

The next second, a beam of moonlight appeared in the darkness, growing larger and brighter until it dispelled the tentacles' cover!

"Bang! Pop! Thud! Crack! Snap!"

Thales stared in shock as hundreds of crimson tentacles around him burst open one after another, spewing out countless blood mists and fragments.

A moment later, hundreds of tiny tentacles burst open from the base!
The giant tentacle beneath the Blood Mage was also undulating internally, with a large hole bursting open on its surface, from which countless drops of blood spilled out.

"Quickly reacted, mage apprentice!" Giza laughed heartily, gently stroking the tentacles beneath him.

Immediately, the tentacle fragments scattered from the explosion began to struggle and deform!
Some large limb fragments sprout countless segmented legs, like spiders or scorpions, while smaller limb fragments extend in length, resembling tadpoles or snakes. Even more remarkably, some limb fragments shrink into round, rolling clumps, like tires from a past life.

What they have in common is that, the instant they transform, they run, crawl, or roll in various ways, all of them "rushing" towards Thales and Little Sly!
Seeing hundreds of strangely shaped "little animals" twisting and chasing after him, Thales felt a chill run down his spine. He simply turned his head and ran away, tears streaming down his face!

I really have trypophobia!

The little rascal seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation, and she gritted her teeth, desperately trying to keep up with Thales' pace.

But they simply couldn't outrun those "small animals".

Soon, a six-legged monster with a single eye and two raised claws leaped to their side!
When he caught a glimpse of this thing out of the corner of his eye, he immediately got goosebumps all over his body.

However, the next second, the monster suddenly trembled and then, like the tentacles before, exploded!
Not only it, but countless others like it behind it also exploded, scattering drops of blood everywhere.

Blood was splattered all over Thales and the little rascal's heads and faces!
But before Thales could even begin to feel relieved, he suddenly felt the blood that had been poured on his head and face begin to pulsate as if it were alive.

Like countless tiny tadpoles, they simultaneously became active and trembled on the surface of his skin!

What the hell!

A wave of nausea and fear washed over Thales at the same time.

Fortunately, the next moment, an unprecedented gale swept in, lifting Thales and Little Sly into the air!

"Hoohoo!"

This wind seemed to have its own consciousness, penetrating everywhere and forcefully scraping the drops of blood belonging to Giza off their bodies!

Thales and the little rascal fell to the ground again, looking utterly disheveled.

The gale grew stronger and stronger, and with a loud bang, it blew away countless houses, then swept towards Giza, severing and scattering her newly grown tentacles, which then exploded in mid-air from the inside out!

Without pausing, Thales immediately pulled the little rascal to his feet and, taking advantage of the wind, ran forward as fast as he could.

run.

He was panting heavily, the energy within him had been surging for some time, and that's why Thales would occasionally hold the little rascal's hand and run a short distance to prevent her from running out of energy.

run.

He gritted his teeth, knowing that everything behind him—anything related to blood or living things—could become the weapon that killed him.

The only option is to run.

This is a desperate, frantic sprint for survival!
Finally, Thales and his companion ran out of the street, and living people reappeared before them.

The residents of the North on another street seemed to have heard a huge tremor and noise. Many ran out to see what was going on, and some saw Thales running wildly and started talking about it.

Thales wanted to yell at them to run away.

But having run breathlessly alongside the little rascal, he was too exhausted to speak.

I could only keep running instinctively.

Back in the neighborhood Thales had just fled, after the storm had passed, a figure hovered in mid-air.

A blue-eyed mage, his face cracked and radiating blue light, appeared in the air, silently confronting the blood mage on his tentacles.

But at this moment, the density, brightness, and frequency of the blue light on Ashida's face were even greater than when she faced the Black Sword!
"Hahahaha," the Blood Mage seemed very happy. She laughed and said to Aishida, "See, ascending to the threshold isn't that difficult, is it?"

“You’re right, the Ascension has increased my control precision,” the Air Mage said emotionlessly, his tone flat, yet he made no attempt to respond to Giza: “And air is indeed omnipresent.”

"For example, within all living things?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the giant tentacles beneath Giza burst open again from the inside out, creating countless small holes, and shriveled up in defeat!
“You have no more blood to use,” the Qi Mage said coldly. “Give up, how about it?”

The Blood Mage landed with a smile.

“No blood,” Giza said, her words growing increasingly casual, her laughter becoming more and more peculiar. “No blood?”

After she finished speaking, her eyes lit up, and the lines on her face became even more flushed than before. They began to tremble more rapidly, extending into countless smaller branches!
“Continue to raise the threshold,” Ashida said, her eyes flashing with even brighter blue light, but her tone was surprisingly calm and even: “You’re really crazy.”

The next moment, Giza laughed wildly, and the ground beneath her feet cracked open, sending endless tremors through the earth.

"Rumble..."

The fissure in the ground extended for nearly a hundred meters, and the terrain gradually rose.

"Wow!"

With a deafening roar, a gigantic monster, tens of meters tall, burst forth from the ground, centered on Giza!

Earth, rocks, and snow all rolled off its body.

The enormous monster completely covered an area of about 100 meters around it.

With a soft laugh from Giza, the monster split off dozens of limbs, each as long as the previous tentacle, and plunged them into the ground!

Just like an old tree taking root.

It also resembles an enormous, blood-red octopus.

If Thales turned around, he would recognize it as the terrifying "multi-headed snake" from the birch forest!
It's just that it's more than ten times bigger than before.

The hydra's tentacles continued to penetrate deeper into the ground, its limbs twitching violently. Immediately, a rolling tremor came from underground, the amplitude of which continued to extend outwards.

"boom!"

Soon, several terrifying giant tentacles burst forth from the ground in the streets and urban areas hundreds of meters away!

One of them appeared on the street that Thales had just run to.

Thales stared blankly at the enormous tentacle, which trembled as if it were sprouting from the ground.

The surrounding residents gasped in surprise and scattered in all directions.

But their luck was clearly terrible.

The next second, the large tentacle split into countless smaller tentacles!
Like a ferocious beast hunting, it ruthlessly and swiftly reaches out to all living things around it.

All life.

With a chill running down his spine, Thales didn't look back and continued running for his life, dragging the little rascal along with him.

In his heart, he was desperately crying out:
What is this?!

The Blood Mage from before wasn't like this.

Amidst the deafening roar, countless screams, cries for help, and desperate shouts of civilians echoed like a demonic din!
"No! Ahhh!"

"What's this!"

"Help!"

"Cut it off! Cut it... um..."

"mom!"

"Run! Hurry!"

"Damn it, you bastard... Ahh! Let me go!"

Over several city blocks, countless people were swept up by these small tentacles and pulled toward the large tentacles that served as the roots, where they were absorbed into the horrific flesh.

They didn't even spare livestock like cats and dogs.

Even birds, insects, trees, and flowers.

Whatever it was, their voices, like their very life force, abruptly ceased upon entering the flesh and blood of the tentacles.

No.

Thales gritted his teeth, tears streaming down his face. The horrific scenes unfolding before his eyes were pushing him to the limit of his endurance.

The little rascal just kept his head down, refusing to look at anything around him, behind him, or in his surroundings, running while crying.

She ran and cried.

Several tentacles reached out towards them, but Thales was already on the verge of collapse and didn't even have the thought of dodging.

Only a few ever-present air currents and air walls firmly blocked these terrifying predators.

Ashida floated silently in the air, and everything in the air told him what was happening in this huge city.

"No blood?"

On this side, the Blood Mage smiled radiantly at the expressionless Air Mage: "I am..."

"It contains the flesh and blood of an entire city!"

"How can there be no blood?"

With the infusion of fresh life, the multi-headed serpent's body grew stronger and larger!
The tentacle closest to Thales suddenly trembled, bursting forth with even more branching tentacles that attacked him.

The Qi Mage turned his eyes, which were shining brightly, and glanced at Thales, who was running wildly in the far distance and almost invisible.

He then turned around, and the blue light around him slowly changed from lines to starlight, like a dazzling star.

And Ashida's words became increasingly calm and indifferent:
"Life depends on qi (vital energy)."

The air mage slowly raised a hand: "If there is no air..."

How does life survive?

Giza's smile slowly faded.

Aishida suddenly clenched her fist!
In that instant, Thales, who was in the distance, felt as if a circle had appeared around him.

In his vision, it was as if he and the little rascal had suddenly been trapped inside a transparent sphere made of blue light.

The next second, Thales was horrified to see that everything around him was different!

First, all sounds around disappeared.

Then, the snow on the ground began to boil at a rate visible to the naked eye?
No, it's not just snow.

Everything in front of me is slowly emitting steam... is it boiling?

A man beside them suddenly clutched his neck, as if struggling to breathe, and desperately opened his mouth, trying to inhale air.

Steam rose from his eyes and mouth, rapidly dissipating in all directions!
A dozen seconds later, the man collapsed, powerless.

His body began to swell.

Thales and the little rascal stared blankly at everything in front of them, only to find that the snow and objects around them were still normal.

"What's going on?" the little rascal asked fearfully.

Thales shook his head in disbelief—he simply couldn't comprehend such a situation with his limited knowledge.

He looked up and saw countless residents around him collapsing to the ground at the same time, red steam rising from their bodies, their entire bodies beginning to swell.

Even those terrifying tentacles emitted steam as they struggled, before collapsing to the ground, exhausted.

Thales felt a chill run down his spine. He instinctively grabbed the little rascal and kept running forward!
In his eyes, the blue sphere of light surrounding them was like a protective film, shielding him and Little Sly from the terrifying unknown situation outside.

In the silent and eerie world, Thales ran past countless fallen people. Some of them had swollen bodies like the man from before, but most of them were clearly dead. When they died, their bodies had returned to normal size, but their skin was tightly attached to their bones, making them look like mummies who had been dead for a long time.

At that moment, Thales felt an overwhelming chill in his heart, and his intuition told him that there was no one left alive in this city.

With his trembling hands, he tightly gripped the little rascal's hand.

The latter, also in a daze, subconsciously followed Thales.

They ran past countless corpses of various shapes and postures, all of which died in agony.

Thales gritted his teeth, wiped away the tears on his face, and desperately suppressed the second wave of tears in his eyes.

Thales knew that the deaths of these people, these men and women, were all because of him.

He brought death and disaster.

Thales shook his head violently, trying to banish everything from his mind.

Try not to think about anything.

Completely bewildered, his heart pounding with fear, and filled with immeasurable dread, he left behind only one goal:
run.

run.

The farther the better.

In the silent world, the Qi Mage floated quietly in mid-air.

He watched indifferently as the Blood Mage and her pet collapsed to the ground, trembling and boiling.

The blood in Giza's body was constantly evaporating.

But the Blood Mage still managed a forced smile at him.

The next second, the blood lines on Giza's body began to "grow" vigorously again!
It was as if his whole body was surrounded by blood.

The giant tentacles beneath her suddenly moved, and countless pieces of flesh abruptly retracted, rapidly shrinking from a giant multi-headed snake hundreds of meters long into a small, eerie, dark black creature.

It extended out even smaller, yet incredibly hard tentacles—which now look more like black bone spurs.

The Qi Mage remained expressionless, but a slight twitch appeared between his brows.

He still gripped his right hand tightly, and the blue light on his face flickered more and more rapidly.

Suddenly, the creature shot out three thin bone spikes that pierced through Ashida's figure.

A flash of blue light appeared on Aishida's body, and she swayed slightly.

The Qi Mage loosened his right hand.

In that instant, it was as if an immense force had suddenly descended, and the entire shield area exploded with a deafening roar!

"boom!"

All the houses and ground around Thales, everything, exploded as if it had been suddenly slapped!

Earth and rocks flew everywhere, and debris scattered in all directions!
Many of them were aimed at Thales and Little Sly, but were blocked by the blue light sphere!

At that moment, Thales felt as if the entire Dragon City had been shaken back and forth by a giant and then suddenly exploded!

He and the little rascal were both knocked to the ground by the shock.

But then Thales discovered that everything had returned to normal.

First, at the moment of the explosion, the sound seemed to suddenly return.

The snowmelt stopped evaporating, and the shriveled, mummified corpses began to return to normal.

Thales was still panting, barely recovered from his shock.

He turned his head and looked in the direction where Ashida and Giza were.

But I couldn't see anything.

The little rascal tugged at his sleeve, trembling.

Thales turned his head and saw the little rascal staring blankly at what was in front of them.

The street, stretching for dozens of meters, was littered with corpses lying haphazardly.

There were at least a hundred.

Thales knew in his heart that many more bodies were probably lying quietly in other neighborhoods.

He desperately tried to control his trembling chest and swallowed hard.

The little rascal sobbed softly.

"Why..." The little rascal trembled, shaking his head in grievance, tears slowly dripping down his face: "What exactly is this...?"

“Don’t look,” Thales took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and suppressed his urge to cry. He tightly covered the little rascal’s eyes and continued walking forward with his arm around her. “You’re not allowed to look.”

At that moment, a great sorrow welled up in Thales' heart, and he gritted his teeth and said, "It's okay."

"It's fine."

"It will pass very quickly...it will be over soon..."

"it will be pass away."

In the distance, the Qi Mage was slowly recovering under the restoration of blue light.

He looked at Giza, expressionless.

“Surprised?” Giza looked at him with a smile. “But that’s life, isn’t it?”

"Did you know that even in a vacuum where there is no air, there are incredibly amazing life forms that can survive tenaciously?"

Ashida looked at her, a flash of blue light appearing on her face.

“That boy, he’s got a really good life—ready for the second round?” The Blood Mage shook her head seductively, the blood lines on her face turning an even more terrifying deep purple: “Here it comes.”

“If you raise the threshold again, you’ll have to ‘knock on the door’,” the Air Mage said calmly, devoid of any emotion, as if he were at the height of rationality, staring at Giza as if the other wasn’t hunting down the Mage candidate he was supposed to protect: “Are you sure?”

“Ah, little puppy Aishida,” the Blood Mage licked her lips, her expression both alluring and playful.
"I'm sure."

You'd better keep a close eye on him.

----

In the distance, on a small rooftop in the Armored Zone, a young man in white stood with a somber expression, gazing at the terrifying scene in the Shield Zone and staring at the horrifying monster that stood tens of meters tall.

He wasn't the only one who came out to watch the spectacle.

Residents emerged from houses of all sizes along the streets of the Armor District, pointing and whispering in terror at the monster.

But this young man seemed rather unusual; he was talking to himself in a strange way, staring into thin air.

“Yes, that’s right,” the young man in white said with some concern, “it has already begun.”

"However, there were some small—no, big surprises."

The young man took a deep breath, raised his right hand, and said to the air:
"That serial killer seems even more ferocious than expected—does Black Sword really have that much power to drive that monster to this state?"

The young man paused for a moment, then nodded:
"Yes, at this rate, I suspect it could demolish the entire Dragon Sky City."

In the distance, the monster suddenly shrank back.

“Okay, I’ll keep an eye on it… Oh, it seems the commotion has subsided,” the young man said with a sigh of relief. “But I suggest we be cautious and consider a few possibilities—maybe there’s something we can’t anticipate tonight.”

A few minutes later.

"boom!"

A violent explosion suddenly erupted from the shield zone!

The young man's eyes widened as he stared intently at the shield zone in the distance—the shield zone, filled with bungalows of all sizes, looked as if a layer had been shaved off!
"Good heavens, you can't believe this!" the young man exclaimed hastily. "It's too exaggerated—that monster looks like it's going to destroy the world!"

“Something definitely happened—neither Ramon nor Black Sword believe they could have gotten that monster to do this!”

Are you sure this is okay?

The young man paused slightly, his face turning grim.

“Yes,” the young man sighed, “that’s settled then.”

The young man lowered his right hand and said nothing more.

Only his expression was even more solemn than before.

----

"Your Majesty, did you see that?"

Nikolai rushed up the high platform and reported to King Nuen.

The old king stared intently at Dragon Sky City below the high platform, focusing on the farthest, lowest, largest, and most populous district.

“Ah,” King Nuen gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot, “I saw it.”

Just now, a giant, blood-red monster suddenly appeared there, followed by countless loud bangs and screams that could be clearly heard even in Valhalla.

Then, the monster fell silent again.

However, just a few minutes later, another loud bang was heard, and the entire shield area visibly shrank by one level!
"That's really unexpected."

“I am probably the first northern king, besides Nekaru,” King Nuen said, his words laced with deep resentment, “to have the ‘honor’ to witness it in over six hundred years.”

King Nuen clenched his fists, his eyes blazing with anger and hatred.

"A monster I've only ever seen in pictures since I was a child..."

"Hydra, Kirika."

"Nicaru's mortal enemy."

King Nuen slammed his palm on the stage, veins bulging on his hand.

Nikolai gritted his teeth, glanced at his blade, and slowly tightened his grip on the hilt.

"What's the situation in the Shield Zone?"

King Nuen controlled his tone and asked with all his might, "How many residents have been evacuated? What are the reports from the patrols?"

Behind him, Scarlet Witch Cassandra stepped forward with a serious expression.

She looked at the dust-filled city in the distance and sighed softly.

When she looked up again, the Scarlet Witch's eyes regained their clarity and tranquility.

“Your Majesty,” the Scarlet Witch said calmly, “forgive my bluntness.”