Chapter 69: Want to learn? I’ll teach you!

The voice in the blood mist was hoarse and warped, nothing like a human sound.

“Roar…”

Cynthia sensed a gaze fixed on her from within the fog, but she couldn’t pinpoint its source.

It had been a long time since she’d faced a situation like this.

“Yulandel!”

Cynthia growled, a flash of blood glinting at her fingertips.
The massive form of Yulandel, her magic sickle, materialized in her hands.

With Yulandel’s blessing, her senses sharpened further.
In this state, her perception was far keener than before.

“Is it there?”

Her enhanced senses locked onto a direction in the blood mist.
With a light tap of her toes, she swung Yulandel, slicing a rift through the fog and charging fiercely toward the target.

Cynthia aimed to strike first, but to her surprise, the enemy seemed to sense the threat and dodged before her attack landed.
As it evaded, several blood-red spikes shot from the mist, aimed at her face.

The speed of the spikes startled even Cynthia.
She hadn’t expected an opponent who could conceal themselves so well to counterattack so effectively.
Judging by the aura in those spikes, if they hit, her body—no matter how resilient—would be pierced through.

Forced to abandon her pursuit, Cynthia swung Yulandel to parry, shattering the incoming spikes.

Crack…

Just as she deflected the spikes, a faint sound reached her ears, her pointed ears twitching slightly.
The enemy had slipped behind her, waiting for the moment she was distracted by her defense.

“Roar—!!”

A crimson figure burst from the fog like lightning, arcing through the air and lunging at Cynthia with razor-sharp claws.

“Naive!”

But it underestimated her ability to sense danger.
Mid-lunge, Cynthia swung her left hand back.
Blood-red chains with spiked tips erupted from the ground, piercing the figure’s body and binding it tightly in midair.

Cynthia turned, finally getting a clear look at her foe.

Its body was entirely crimson, its face warped beyond recognition.
Fangs curled outward from its mouth, emitting constant roars.
No features were discernible on its face save for the mouth.
Cynthia wondered how it even navigated.

Its limbs were grotesquely deformed—arms and claws bristling with spikes, thighs sprouting curved white blades.

Looking at the monster, Cynthia couldn’t help but recall Balofer from the Bazerol sewers.
Balofer had undergone a similar transformation, his body grotesquely enlarged.
Though not as strong, Balofer’s change seemed almost normal compared to this creature.

The key difference? The ornament on its head.
A strange bulge, fused with its skull, unmistakably resembled a crown.

[Tch, tch, tch… What are humans thinking, shoving just anything onto their heads?]

Through Cynthia’s eyes, the Blood Demon noticed the bulge and clicked its tongue.

Cynthia didn’t respond, but the Blood Demon’s words confirmed one thing: the Blood Crown was on this monster’s head.
‘In that case… let’s end this quickly.’

As she manipulated the blood chains with her left hand, preparing a fatal strike to the monster’s head, it let out an ear-piercing screech.

“ROAR—!”

The sound stabbed at her eardrums, making Cynthia wince and pause her movements.

To her shock, the monster seized the brief moment—mere seconds—and broke free from her chains with a surge of strength, vanishing back into the blood mist.

Though Cynthia reacted quickly, her chains lashed out too late.
The monster’s agile body dodged her pursuit, concealing itself once more.

“Tch… It got away?!”

Feeling its presence fade, Cynthia’s anger flared.
With a push of her toes, she chased after it without hesitation.
‘Hmph, you think you can escape?!’
‘No chance!’

A red glint flashed in her eyes as she pursued the monster into a corridor.

Along the way, she tried multiple long-range attacks, but the monster seemed to have eyes in the back of its head, dodging nimbly every time.

The situation shifted abruptly when they entered the corridor.
The monster’s presence vanished suddenly, so swiftly Cynthia questioned if she’d imagined it.

Faced with this uncertainty, she didn’t charge forward recklessly.
She slowed to a stop, scanning her surroundings warily.

Was it her imagination, or was the blood mist thicker here than outside?
Could it not only conceal forms but also mask auras?

Cynthia glanced at Yulandel.
The magic sickle showed no reaction to the floating mist.
‘These so-called [blood mists] aren’t entirely blood elements.’
Otherwise, Yulandel would’ve responded.

She stood still, confirming no movement around her, then cautiously stepped forward, eyes alert.

Tap… tap… tap…

The corridor was silent save for her footsteps and the sound of her own breathing.
‘What’s with this corridor?’

After walking for a while, Cynthia sensed something was off.
She’d been moving for what felt like ages, yet the corridor stretched on endlessly.
‘Is it really this long?’

She stopped again, gripping Yulandel tightly.
Suspecting an illusion, she decided to try breaking through another way.
Sometimes, the simplest methods were the most effective.

Cynthia eyed the wall beside her, raising Yulandel to strike.

But just as she prepared to swing, the Blood Demon’s voice rang urgently in her mind.
[Careful! Something’s coming!]

Before she could react, her body froze.
A sharp pain shot through her arms, forcing a groan.
“Huh?! What—?”

She looked down, her pupils dilating.
Two blood-red chains, identical to her own, had silently pierced her arms.
Like cold pythons, they bound her in place, rendering her immobile.