Tristan was briefly in shock as he saw Yue falling through the vortex of monsters. He ran as fast as he could, but it didn't seem to be enough—even though he had started first, Jaeng, with his orange core, had already surpassed him.
Would he make it in time? Tristan doubted it.
He gritted his teeth tightly. He was already circulating his vital energy throughout his body, but there was no way he could run faster.
He forced his brain to think of a solution for the situation.
'Damn, what can I do? How can I go faster… Think! Think! Think!'
Suddenly, he felt something—something in his mind reacting to his desperation. It felt like a nail embedded in his brain, slowly wavering at first but picking up speed over time. He was certain it was something that had now become part of his very being, though it still felt foreign, like an unfamiliar presence.
'What is this? What could it be?'
Then something snapped in his mind, as if a dam had broken.
It was a horrible sensation for him, like his mind was being controlled and forced to think about something. He had no doubt his free will had been affected. However, in that moment of desperation, he didn't resist it. Even though it was probably pointless, he ignored his own instincts for freedom and let that foreign presence shape his thoughts.
He heard his own voice in his mind repeating something very familiar to him:
'Light, Light represents order and change; Light is the element of life, nourishment, and fertility. Light is the structure that supports the universe. Light is the beginning. Light reveals what is hidden and dark. Those who do not find the Light within themselves will never be able to master it.'
Tristan shook his head as the uncomfortable sensation passed, and his mind returned to normal.
'Light? Is that it? How can Light help me in this situation?'
He muttered something. "Order and change."
'Light is the element of order and change. Control was the pillar I chose to learn this element's principles.'
His instincts told him he could use this for something.
'If I can't make my body run faster, maybe… maybe I can change something in the world?'
An idea formed in his mind: 'Change something around me that allows me to be faster!'
Roughness, friction, he remembered what he had learned in the college about these concepts.
With sheer willpower, he gathered the essence of Light in his core and tried to spread it through his body. Almost immediately, he noticed the difficulty of this task—the more he spread the Light, the less control he had over the element.
His face contorted with the effort; he gave up on that attempt and focused only on his feet. A white flame emerged from his feet and enveloped them. He imagined Light filling the imperfections in the ground where he stepped, making the surface as smooth as possible.
When his right leg touched the ground, he nearly slipped. His upper body lurched forward as he struggled not to fall face-first. He tried to use his left leg to support himself, but instead, his left foot slid forward.
He gritted his teeth as he nearly did a split right there.
'I should have tried this on one foot first.' But now, he had no time to waste—he needed to get used to it in the next few seconds.
With his enhanced senses as a martial cultivator, he regained stability after a few attempts.
'I just need to imagine I'm using skates. I've seen that on TV; it shouldn't be too hard, right?' His positive thinking didn't help much; it was still tough, and if he weren't a martial artist with superhuman senses, he would likely have failed already.
Clumsily, Tristan skated across the ground.
Incredibly, he managed to overtake Jaeng, who had been far ahead just a moment ago. His muscles were filled with essence provided by his orange core. He was closing the distance between himself and Yue twice as fast, and his speed only continued to increase.
As he got closer, he could see those creatures more clearly. Illuminated by the dim light of the oil lamp Yue had dropped on the ground, which was about to go out, he saw the color of the monsters.
Red—their bodies seemed to be made of a dark red fluid.
'Blood! Blood Bats!' He thought.
"DAMN."
The memories of terrifying blood magic in his mind made his skin crawl. He knew that if those monsters had the same abilities as Li Cheng, Yue's life might already be lost. He swallowed hard.
Soon, Tristan saw Yue's body lying on the ground—or he should have seen it. All he could make out were dozens of bats sinking their teeth into her small frame. Although they weren't huge, she was just a child, and a single bite could be fatal.
"Oh no."
Seeing him approach, the Blood Bats around her flew in his direction.
Tristan's face twisted in anger as he saw the lifeless eyes of the beasts staring at him.
He grabbed his sword. Dark Blade would be much better, but he didn't know if he could use that skill while maintaining an improvised technique.
Gripping his sword firmly with both hands, he slashed at the nearest bat, splitting its body in two.
His eyes widened in surprise. Those creatures weren't very resilient; their "flesh" felt like jelly, and their bones were cut through with ease.
But he wasn't too encouraged—there were more than ten of them around him. Tristan swung his sword in all directions as he continued sliding, struggling not to fall.
Slashing and piercing, he carved his way toward Yue.
When he finally got close to her, he deactivated his new ability and planted his sword into the ground.
[Dark Blade]
A black blade appeared on his right arm, while the beasts around him flew at him with insane fury. The bats feeding on Yue's body seemed to have barely noticed his presence.
Tristan's normally expressionless black eyes were now filled with fury. He mercilessly slashed all the monsters in front of him—his attacks were not precise; he made many unnecessary strikes, desperately trying to turn those bats into pieces.
A few seconds later, all the bats on Yue were reduced to pulp. But Tristan wasn't pleased; his brow furrowed as he saw Yue's blood seeping from multiple wounds and floating towards the bats still flying in the sky.
He looked up, seeing this, and thought, 'Bastards!'
Thinking of a solution, he deactivated Dark Blade and knelt down, placing his hand on Yue's body. A white flame emerged from his hand and spread over her body.
[Fallen Grace]
His second Light ability—something he had developed while still trapped in the dungeon. He created it to keep the threads blocking his cultivation intact while he severed them safely. It was a weak ability that couldn't be considered true healing magic, but it could still work as a bandage at least.
'Come on, work, please.'
When his Light essence reached Yue's wounds, he managed to close them, preventing further blood loss.
The bats flying in the sky screeched in rage.
Tristan looked at Yue's body. He had never seen her so pale and thin as she was now; her body was covered in countless bite marks from head to toe.
Her breathing was weak.
The sound of Blood Bats was drawing closer quickly. He couldn't let go of her, or her wounds would reopen—he needed direct contact to use this ability.
He clicked his tongue and pulled his sword from the ground.
Looking up, Tristan saw more than thirty bats circling again. They were preparing another Blood Whirlwind.