Chapter 529 Conundrum!

529 Conundrum!

If the cuttlefish were able to turn their entire bodies invisible, including their elements and individual attacks, they had to sacrifice something in exchange.

In his superior mind-flowing state, Liam used Shadow Blink to momentarily bring himself to a safe corner of the crevice, then conjured three Shadow Clones in one second, splitting away and camouflaging two of them with his King's Eye and blending their forms with the water.

The third clone, Liam didn't bother hiding, instead opting to make it seem like it was regenerating its grisly wounds. He even coated it with a layer of hot ichor, adding a touch of realism. Following this, Liam yanked himself into the Sea of Darkness, then stood still, not moving a finger and closing his eyes. He didn't even think.

He'd entered a cold, comatose state.

However, he could sense and control what his Shadow Clones did. The visible clone put up a fight against the constant barrage of invisible attacks. But as the fight continued, more and more parts of it were being melted, cut and severed off. Yet the remaining two clones were perfectly safe and undamaged! Granted, they were out of the line of fire... but what stopped the cuttlefish from attacking them?

Liam understood what.

Just as Liam couldn't see the cuttlefish, they couldn't see him or his clones!

In fact, their vision was reliant on temperature and color!

And cuttlefish, even on Earth, were utterly colorblind!

Thanks to Liam coating the visible clone with his ichor, and hiding himself with a layer of shadows before pulling himself into the Sea of Darkness, the cuttlefish were unaware of his real presence.

***

Black blood spurted in countless thin streaks as the ichorous threads slashed into the cuttlefish's bodies, directly severing off their maw tentacles and blinding them. The fins on their mantle were also sliced off, and the threads wrapped around their gruesome forms like a tightrope. Just a few inches of flesh were spared on purpose, just in case Liam overdid it and accidentally ended their lives.

Liam didn't intend to kill them.

Yet.

Slowly, he emerged from the Sea of Darkness, still wounded and battered. He had purposely stopped his regeneration to hide his presence as effectively as possible.

What remained of the cuttlefish were just two lumpy, bloody, mangled pieces of flesh, drifting in and out of consciousness. Perhaps they weren't even aware of what happened. Liam spared a glance at his core, using Spirit Sight to further scan the empty Path within. For a second, he had felt it. A subtle change that brushed past his core. Yet it disappeared just as fast, not a trace of it remaining.

As of now, his Path was still as empty as ever, manifesting no Qualities whatsoever. 'I was close... but I missed the mark.'

'But I'm skipping quite a few steps.' 'I still haven't studied 'Ora'.' Right now, Liam was just testing the waters... no pun intended. If it was as Eyes of Knowledge told him, studying 'Ora' was a hidden cheat-code to understanding the Qualities.

'If I had to guess, I was about to grasp something related to Chaos... or maybe Pain. Or maybe Blood.' Liam quickly realized a major issue.

What was he supposed to start with?!

There were so many Aspects that Liam would find a connection with... but truthfully, they were quite contradictory. He was insane...but patient. He was destructive...but he was also a forger.

He was chaotic...but not disorderly. What a conundrum! Nevertheless, it was an issue to worry about at a later date, and after he'd gained a bit of insight on the issue. Liam brought back his attention to the two cuttlefish. It was time to deal with these two frauds.