[You sure, you are just feeling a little dizzy?]
Rose asked because Rex was continuously rubbing his forehead even when flying with a pained expression.
Rex didn't reply but his speed of flying became unstable, the strange pain in head was annoying but now he also felt his throat getting dry. He landed near a tree to take some rest then took out a jug half-filled with sweet mellow wine, he normally used to drink this wine in the castle, Rex gulped down all the wine in the jug.
He finally felt that his throat was not that dry anymore but the feeling of relief only lasted for a few seconds before his throat got dry again.
'Just what is happening?' Rex was getting slightly anxious.
"You finally came out of seclusion, so are you ready for the duel or want to make another excuse?" Zakiya appeared from the shadow of a tree behind him.
Rex was already used to it so he wasn't much surprised, he turned around to look at her.
Zakiya was in her humanoid form right now with the same appearance she had shown Rex before.
"You have to wait a little more before the duel… Huh?" Rex just turned around and was saying but out of nowhere his words halted then his eyes subconsciously trailed her body from head to toe.
If it was someone else trailing her body like that in front of her then even Zakiya herself would admire their guts, after all, she had yet to meet someone who would be so willing to ask for death in her hands. Actually, even if it is Rex, he would also make it out alive with at least a few broken bones but at this time Zakiya chose to focus on something else.
She saw the visible changes in Rex's appearance but this was not what surprised her.
'His smell…. changed?' Zakiya raised her eyebrow.
Because of one of her parent's race, she was very keen to smell, it was not like Aiden's inborn ability but Rex's DNA signature extraction, once she meets someone their smell will be recorded in her memory then she will recognize the person by that smell, not their appearance.
When she thought that Rex's smell changed, it didn't mean that his whole smell changed but a part of it... his smell had gone through a transformation, if it was not the case then she had already subdued him thinking that he was an imposter.
A person's smell does not easily change, it only goes through changes when their body experiences some serious changes like when they awaken their bloodline, have absorbed the medicinal effects of a very old and precious herb, or successfully manages to absorb the blood essence of a strong creature… but in Rex's case, it was a little more exaggerated.
Rex kept staring at her body, not minding her gaze towards him then his eyes stopped at her slender snow-white neck.
Zakiya slightly frowned because although Rex couldn't see it but his eyes had turned red just like his bloodline form.
All of a sudden, his body started to grow, his hair turned white and before Rex knew it he was already in his bloodline form.
[Rex?]
Rose noticed that Rex was switching to bloodline form was based on instincts, it was something he had yet to achieve so Rose asked to confirm it but Rex didn't respond.
His bloodline form was not too different from before in fact it was mostly the same except the fact that he grew a little taller and muscular, there was one more difference that was his skin color that grew a little darker but it was not the same dark as a normal human, his skin color looked somewhere between the skin color of the woman from Cold Heaven Sect and Dark Elves.
The skin of Dark Elves is darker like light chocolate color and not the same as humans, moreover, their skin is smooth and it always remains moist and shiny like they had used a lotion or baby oil to make their skin shine in the sunshine, their attractive skin adding to their equistic features increases their charm to another level.
Rex's skin in his bloodline form was similar to Dark Elves' skin, it shined like it had received oil massage when the sunlight fell on it.
As for the reason why his bloodline form didn't look much older, the carbonite family race and his bloodline were fully devoted to battle even if the person of this was very young or very old they would both have a body that will be like they are in their prime to give them a high advantage in battle.
Unexpectedly, even when Rex's body fully switched to his bloodline form his transformation didn't stop.
His red pupils enlarged, they were around 40% bigger than before and a snake-eye-like dark-red slit appeared horizontally in them, its the red color was so dark that it would look black if the observer didn't focus on them.
The veins on Rex's hand became visible, then his fingernails grew until they were at least thrice as long a before, they didn't only grow they also transformed into beast-like nails… they were sharp and strong like a weapon forged with the only purpose to rip apart their target.
[Required condition met]
[Bloodthirsty state activated]
Rex bent his body like a bow and put all his strength in his legs while still staring at Zakiya, in the next second his body shot towards her just like an arrow.
He didn't use any moment technique but his body still activated a certain skill just by the instincts deeply hidden in the blood, the skill was… Accel.
Just when leaping at her Rex's body disappeared and appeared just before Zakiya, he wasn't even looking at her but her neck, his sharp nailed hands were just a few centimeters away from her neck. This time when Rex's opened his mouth he also revealed his two sharp fangs that grew out of his canines.
Rex didn't look at her face and only at her neck but if he had looked at her face he would have realized, her eyes weren't of prey but a… predator.
Her eyes were emitting a red glow and her face was expressionless.
'Dark Pulse'
In the next instance, an unknown black energy shot out from all over her body like a sound wave, Rex felt like he was a mortal that got hit by a truck as his body flew back.
..Dhhaaam…
[- 66 HP]
But just when he flew back a little he realized that two more similar waves accompanied the first wave from behind.
..Dhhaamm… x 2
[- 120 HP]
The speed at which Rex was thrown back got multiplied again and he crashed into a huge rock after breaking down several trees in his path, he felt that he had broken a few of his bones at the time of impact but there was no visible pain on his expression, in fact, he looked a little more… annoyed.
[If you keep destroying trees like that then you might become the reason for mass deforestation in Misty Maze Forest,]
Rex didn't respond and looked at Zakiya with vigilance, he seemed to have no intention to give up on his prey, 'fear' seemed like a distant word from his dictionary at the moment.
The red glow in Zakiya's eyes disappeared.
'I almost acted on instinct,' Zakiya sighed, it was good that she held back at the last moment or Rex would not end up with just a few broken bones, her strength at the moment was far above him.
Zakiya carefully observed the current state of Rex, it looked very familiar to her but she wasn't sure if it was really that or she was just overthinking it, she wanted to confirm it so she decided to finish it quickly.
Zakiya moved her fingers then threw the black metallic fan in her hand towards Rex.
The fan started to spin on its way but just when it was around 20 meters away from Rex, it turned into a black light then transformed into a long reptile-like creature covered in the faint black fog.
The illusory creature was pitch black, it's appearance was similar to that of a long black Eel, the two round eyes of that Eel were blood-red just like Zakiya, the fin on its tale was somewhat like a flood dragon, it also had sharp curvy teeth that were visible when the creature opened its big mouth that looked like it was connected to a black hole.
When the black Eel-like creature approached Rex, its length suddenly increased as it wrapped its body around Rex.
Rex quickly reacted and slashed at its body with his sharp nails but his sharp iron like nails didn't leave a single scar on it, the creature didn't even try to resist the attack.
His thoughts weren't rational enough for him to even try to use Instant Transmission, the abilities he used were the ones that were deeply related to his body, Accel was something he used on instincts but not on purpose.
It only took around a second for the creature to completely immobilize his body, after completely binding Rex, it flew into a sky and turned its body in a way that Rex is directly facing the sun.
Rex felt very uncomfortable when the rays of the sun fell into his eyes, his eyes started to itch, he tried to turn his head away but the creature was tightly holding his body and even him turning his face was extremely hard so in the end, he reluctantly closed his eyes.
'There is no mistake… he gained the characteristics of Blood Clan but how? it's not the time to think about it,' Zakiya snapped her fingers, the strange creature perceived her thoughts and took action.
It turned Rex away from the sun to face him, then looked him in the eyes with its own blood-red eyes.
Rex looked at him with anger-filled eyes but then he felt slightly dizzy.
[You have received a mental attack]
Rex completely ignored the notifications and didn't even bother reading or hearing the content delivered to him.
[Due to you possessing strong mental strength and Calm Mind, the attack has been nullified]
Zakiya looked at Rex in surprise.
'This womanizer brat actually possesses such good mental control… was he acting to be a womanizer to lower his enemies' guard or something?' Zakiya thought.
If Rose would know what she was thinking Rose would probably say… Big Sister, don't think too much you were absolutely correct.
'Now that this won't work, I have to do it the old way,' Zakiya thought.
The creature raised its big head backward, Rex was confused as to what it was doing but then the creature suddenly slammed its big jaw on his head.
…Thud….
[-58 HP]
Rex saw that few stars were twinkling in the daytime.
'Still awake? let's do it once again,' Zakiya thought.
..Thud….
[- 70 HP]
The number of stars in the sky increased… Rex wondered.
..Thudd….
[- 98 HP]
'Again..' (Zakiya)
..Thuud….
[- 117 HP]
'This should be the last..' (Zakiya)
..Thudd.....
Whether it was Rex's mental strength, his body structure, or the 10% crystalline brain they were all far away what a normal human usually has, Zakiya controlled the creature's strength concerning a strong human to just knock him out and not dead a serious injury.
But because of wrong calculations, Rex had to get hit on his head again and again until after seven consecutive tries he finally fainted, Rose thought about help the pitiful Rex lose consciousness but then it occurred to Rose that Rex always says - everything is an experience… so in the end, Rose decided not to interrupt his precious experience.
After making sure that he fainted, Zakiya carried him to her luxurious cave and thre- placed him on the bed. She then sat on the big black-red chair near the big black-sliver table and waved her hand towards the table.
Several bundles of the book appeared out of thin air and fell on the table, the number of books were some much that some of them were about to fall off the table but under Zakiya's control, the shadow of the table took lotus petal-like shape and supported all the books on the table.
All those books looked very old, some even had dust on their cover, it felt like they hadn't been taken out for a long period. After sorting through all the books for about an hour she took out three books wrapped in a white silk cloth.