Chapter 110: A new discovery

As the last guard slumped down on the dungeon floor, Aiden turned his head towards the direction they all came from.

He could only map out the dungeon system until this point, his senses were blocked beyond this doorway that was not littered with mutilated human corpses. Relying on his smell wasn't an option either, as it was distracted by the foul stench of piss and the blood of the battle. Even if he could ignore these, it would still not give any fruitful rewards as with all the dirty slaves layin and weeping in their own muck and who knows what…

Sighing defeatedly, he stepped away from the dead body and started walking towards the unknown. He only knew that somewhere inside he could still feel Lily's presence. He can follow this feeling and let it guide him at least. 

His thoughts were interrupted when he was about to step over the mutilated body of the captain of these guards. As his foot lingered above the carcass, he thought about trying something he never had a chance to so far.

"Hmm…" He took back his leg and crouched. "It would be good to have Enya's opinion right now, but oh well… It can't hurt to try…" 

As he took the mask off, it visibly altered its stretched shape back to its original round form. Looking at it, Aiden was once again stunned by the number of resources his strange master has.

"I still don't know if we can fully trust him… But after all these years, she has been nothing but helpful. I can also feel she genuinely cares for Lily and me…" 

Aiden looked at the guard's frozen expression. The fear, the regret, and unwillingness contorted his features, which amused him for some reason. Still, his thoughts were not on the man, as he muttered to himself while he raised his right hand into the air.

"...Well, I just hope everything will be fine. I owe her so much already…" As his thoughts kept lingering about Number 3, he struck down and dug into the dead body of the guard captain. His hand reached towards the man's silent but intact heart, and with one decisive notion he ripped it out.

Holding it in front of him, Aiden's thoughts came back to reality. 

"...Let's see if this is enough or if I need more… Luckily, I have many more test subjects…"

Taking the organ into his mouth, he started chewing on it. He was never really bothered by taste, the only thing that mattered to him and to his body was the amount of energy he could gain, and in the case of an organism with unique life essences, if it would be enough for him to acquire the new strain to form.

Chewing on it just a few times, he then eagerly swallowed and immediately closed his eyes and focused on the potential changes.

As the food slid down, it was soon completely turned into tiny particles as his body and the system processed it. Shortly later he felt the satisfying warmth spread out from his stomach area all the way to the end of his limbs. 

A massive amount of energy was released into his body, refreshing him and filling his only slightly drained reserves. In fact, the amount was so much that he had trouble containing it. The power bubbling inside him raged, it wanted to be set free.

Abiding by this feeling, he stretched his arms to the sides and raised his head towards the dark ceiling. As he howled with all his breath, the air around him formed into a transparent ring and with a loud explosive sound, it was released.

The erupting force was so powerful that the resulting waves that were released to all directions in the air destroyed the nearby sections of the wall and also shattered some of the steel doors in Aiden's vicinity. A few of the slaves that were closest to Aiden also got hit by the powerful shockwave even after it was being significantly weakened going through the walls and the door, throwing their weak and battered bodies back onto the walls. 

The cracking sound of a neck snapping of one poor unlucky man went unnoticed. He silently fell to the ground, relieved that his misery has finally come to an end…

The explosion made the whole underground structure slightly shake for a few brief moments. While it was not felt by the guests who were eager to see the start of tonight's show, it was indeed noticed by a few…

Granny and Number 3 looked at the ground, towards the source. Sighing, Number 3 grabbed her forehead under her mask, and audibly sighed.

"I had a feeling he will not be able to stay calm... Well, it shouldn't be that much longer now..."

The ever-gentle smile did not leave Granny's face as she kept looking towards Aiden's direction.

"It is fine. We shouldn't need to keep this up for much longer. As soon as they are ready, we can all leave."

---

At another, closed-off area in a dark room, a figure raised his head as he felt the slight vibrations. Looking towards the direction of the sound, his lips morphed into a conniving grin. Although the developments were not in line with his original plan, even this turn of events could prove beneficial to his ultimate goal.

Shifting back, he looked at the dark door frame as if thinking about his next steps. Shortly after, there was a knock coming from the other side of the door. Although there was no response, the door was pushed open, and a large humanoid creature stepped in.

The creature had dark brown skin with a tinge of dark green mixed. His face resembled a human although both of his canines were mutated into large fangs, it reached out of his mouth all the way to his wide nose. His head completely bald, there was no hair on his face, not even eyebrows. His forehead bulged out slightly, providing some extra cover to his small dark brown eyes hiding behind the shadow it created.

He wore the same black decorated leather chest plate that all the guards were, although his chest was barren beneath it. His bulging muscles could be barely contained by the reinforced padded armor piece. 

The creature stopped a few steps away from the desk, looking at the figure unnaturally shrouded in the shadows, even as the light from the hallway cast a stark trapezoid onto the floor of the dimly lit room.

"Master." The creature bowed in respect, as the word left his mouth. His voice was deep and hoarse. 

"Relax. Let him take her. It is okay. While I didn't know he is this powerful, it is actually a good thing. This can very well work in our favor… Don't even tell the warden, let him die with his toy soldiers and pets. With him in the picture, we can now start focusing on the next phase of our plan…" The shadowy silhouette spoke, then as it silenced, the air behind him vibrated and a black gate, similar to the one Number 3 used for the pocket world opened.

"Come, we should go now." As soon as he finished, his figure vanished in the swirling energy mass in the portal's surface.

Obeying his master's words, the creature simply grunted, and walked into the portal. As his bulky figure vanished, the portal also closed, leaving only the empty dark room behind.

---

After some time, Aiden finally calmed down. He felt his body was refreshed and was full of power as if he just woke up and hadn't just been through a brutal massacre.

Opening his eyes, he was shocked by the carnage and destruction that was all around him. Rubbles, remains of the previously standing wall and steel splinters and pieces of the destroyed cell doors lie in the dirt. The dead bodies that surrounded him were no longer there, there were no traces of them left. 

He also saw a message blinking at the corner of his eyes. As he opened it, he was shocked by its contents.

[New Life Essence found! New Form - Human created!

Assimilation available for currently active default state… Beginning process… 

Estimated time before completion: 00 hours : 01 minutes : 00 seconds]

'Huh? What the...?' Aiden was flabbergasted at this new discovery. He received a new form, but as he already had a similar feature with his default draconic state, the system automatically merged the two together. What did that mean? 

'Will my appearance change?' He frowned at the idea, and then with a sigh, he pulled out the white mask that he placed into his inventory previously. As he placed the mask on his face, it automatically changed, to cover all of its features once again.

Deciding that it's best to wait for the system to finish up, he sat down cross-legged, and closed his eyes, trying to feel out his body, while also monitoring the countdown.

As the countdown reached zero, a new message appeared in front of Aiden, which he couldn't read as just as the timer completed, a searing pain entered his mind, causing him to clench his head with both of his hands, and focus all of his willpower not to scream out loud.

A few moments later the pain was replaced by a sudden surge of pictures, images, moments of another life… 

As he focused on these images, he soon realized, he was watching the memories of the guard captain!