Chapter 9: Living Blood Puppet?

The totemic seal on Aza'zel's left hand pulsed as Soulguider's sensory abilities merged into his world of echoes.

A distinct world within close proximity of Aza'zel took form in his mind, provided that the roads inside the dungeon were quite narrow.

As he advanced rapidly, he paid particular attention to the surface of the surrounding walls and the pitfalls in the ground for any hidden evil blood pearls with some spiritual fluctuations of soul power.

These evil blood pearls would be the most precious to Aza'zel at this moment in time. Soon, he felt a faint fluctuation of soul power in the depths of a narrow crevice, whereupon he found an evil blood pearl wedged in a blind spot for those advancing inward.

This fist-sized evil blood pearl was warm to the touch in his hand, and a subtle temor not unlike the beating of a heart transmitted through its crimson surface.

Voices in his head bewitched him to open his mouth and sink the protruding fangs into this evil blood pearl; it was a dreadful temptation.

His adam's apple spasmed as his lips parted, but he quickly shut his mouth and smoothly stashed the evil blood pearl into the bag by his waist.

Rushed footfalls resounded from the distance behind, and without much thought, Aza'zel figured out the follower's identity as he asked, "Why are you following me?"

Unmasked displeasure laced his tone.

"I'm not following you!" Mask said, "I'm planning to go down this route, too. That's not following you."

Aza'zel stepped to the side and leaned on the curved walls of the tunnel as he crossed his arms and said, "Alright, go ahead then."

Mask choked, finding a spot to lean on as she proclaimed, "I'm feeling tired, so I decided to rest for a while before proceeding."

Aza'zel didn't think someone of her status could be so shameless. However, the moment she leaned against the wall, it cracked and crumbled like rotten wood.

Shocked, Mask immediately stepped forward, but it was already too late as a pair of deep red arms stretched from the wall with great momentum, as thick as a man's thigh, and wrapped around her middle.

In a moment, she found this irresistible force squeezing down her body; she could even feel her rib cage's bones joining into one another as a massive, one-eyed head looked down on her from above.

Horrified, Mask could only shout hoarsely, "Save me!"

The moment the wall crumbled and the Abomination stepped out, it was already within the scope of Soulguider's radar, but it had acted too quickly. With a crack, Mask gasped in pain before passing out directly.

Aza'zel heard, at the very least, three bones shattering.

Feeling no resistance whatsoever from the individual in its arms, the Abomination relinquished its grasp and allowed the woman to plop on the ground.

Aza'zel furrowed his brows, his senses locking onto a pulsing evil blood pearl at the bottom left of the Abomination's abdomen.

It was completely merged into the body of miasma and evil blood, but it couldn't escape Soulguider's notice due to the fluctuating soul waves.

The Abomination had a hint of intelligence, and so it decided to ambush one first and have a one-on-one with the remaining threat, in this case, Aza'zel.

"Well," Aza'zel turned his body slightly as his Soulguider's totemic seal flashed ominously. "I'll have to thank you in advance."

The Abomination felt like something was wrong when it felt no negative emotions such as anger, fear, despair, malevolence, and the such from the human prey before its eyes. It wanted to act quickly, but a silver light flashed in the young boy's right hand where a slender, long, double-action revolver took form.

With Soulguider in his hand, his perception of soul fluctuations in terms of efficiency and range amplified by at least tenfold, immediately spotting the dormant Abominations that previously lay beyond the range of his perception.

Underneath the hood of his gray trench coat, the piece of cloth on his eyes with its mysterious inscriptions pulsed with a gray flare, as though in sync with Soulguider's abilities, giving him the illusion of having a pair of illusory eyes.

The Abomination's single eye flashed with a hint of clarity induced from panic overwhelming the insanity within, its last bits of intelligence urging it to turn and scamper away before it's too late.

Alas, it was indeed too late already.

Aza'zel's movement of the hand was steady as his soul power flowed into the blank bullet chambers of Soulguider, quickly condensing into a silver bullet with mysterious inscriptions all over its shell.

The hammer reeled back and smashed forward in a gentle sway, yet it seemed to draw the ambient soul power within close proximity as it reeled back, momentarily locking the Abomination in a daze, and as the hammer rushed forward and fired the bullet, that instant of befuddlement was like the thread between life and death.

By the time the Abomination's thought process was functioning once again, it could feel a piercing pain originating from a hollow portion in its spirit.

Then, its spirit slowly crumbled, spiraling down into that hollow space in a twisted malevolence of pain and agony.

In Aza'zel's world of perception, he could see the thin needle-like bullet that left the chamber of Soulguider connected to his totemic seal via a transparent thread of soul energy.

However, he didn't pause there, as his hand moved like a blur, taking aim and firing at the hidden Abominations who didn't dare move, basking in the fake yet fragile peace they'd disillusioned themselves with.

It all happened within mere seconds, but it might as well have felt like a stagnant lifetime for the pitiful remnant souls who had yet to enjoy their limited time in the realm of the living after struggling to escape the realm of the dead.

Soulguider disappeared, but the glaring totemic seal flared with a cold sensation as opposed to the blood-boiling excitement brought about by the utilization of Exsanguinator.

The migraine delivered by the exhaustion of soul power to condense the bullets was quickly receding under the nourishment of this cold sensation, and it might be an illusion, but Aza'zel had this subtle feeling that a portion of the soul power was deviating and rushing into the dormant blood puppet in the ocean of blood.

His brows furrowed slightly, because according to his memories obtained from the inner world, he could summon the blood puppet to the outside world upon achieving the second transformation.

The question was, would it gain intelligence equivalent to that of an ordinary human if he kept nourishing it with soul energy? Could it condense an independent soul of its own? Could it be considered a person or it would remain no more than a tool for practice?

Aza'zel didn't know, but he was sure that with the blood puppet in the real world, his training efficiency together with Tu, Ce, Zof, Hailie, Kirin, Val, and June would increase exponentially.

Especially since inside his inner world, it could be said that his perception was omnipresent, a glaring difference when compared to his perception in reality.

Aza'zel shook his head and approached the tunnel's walls, throwing his hands into the thick rocks to extract the hidden evil blood pearls.

Together with the one from the Abomination and the previously hidden pearl, he now had seven evil blood pearls with dense blood energy to consume and satiate his hunger without drinking blood from the other natives to the lower abyss.