The room was filled with those monsters, too many to count. The room itself was very spacious. I couldn't find anything in the room except two main things. One was the monsters who were walking aimlessly within the room. And the other, was easily the worst thing I ever saw. It was a big one... And I mean a really big monster who was at the far end of the room.

  It was at least 9-10 ft tall, having a greenish body, just like the small ones... Small compared to him, had two sharp looking cutters for arms and had two legs, which looked like they had just enough strength in them to take the pressure of the body exerting on it. After observing his legs I got the idea that the monster had very low agility. Any attack mixed with high agility should work against it. I noticed another thing after carefully observing the monster. Its arms were different from the rest of its lackeys. Its arms or rather its cutters were covered or could be entirely made up of a strange solid looking material of ash color. It looked sturdy and I deduced that, it would not be easy to cut off its arms. It had no distinct head just like the others. Though it did not have a head, it didn't stop him getting one eye each on its side... That means it had four eyes on all four sides. They were of medium size with green pupil. So it didn't have a blind spot too... Well, that was a tough one. And to add to my woe, it had yet another surprise for me. Its mouth were not of the normal size... Normal in comparison with others of its kind. It was placed vertically in the place where its chest should be. The large hole which was supposed to be its mouth also had large sharp teeth on them. I suppose, it also spat poison from its mouth.

  After analyzing everything in the room, I began to experience different kinds of emotions one after another. It started with anger, surprise, scared (a little) and sadness. I had to face all of them... All at once and I hope the big one doesn't poke its ugly neck in the middle of my fight with the little ones. I understood that sudden dash and strike strategy would not work here. I really need a good plan. I need to come up with something that would give me enough time to dodge their poison spit at all times.

  I searched for the sparsely populated part of the room to start my attack. But their numbers were so high that no part looked like it had less numbers in them. Now, all of these observations only took a few minutes because after my opening of the door one of the monsters saw me and screamed which in return turned every one of its gaze upon me... Which was not good for me yet it had to happen. I cannot fight every one of them all at once in that room, my best bet would be to draw them in the tunnel and killing them there until I reach the big one or it decided to kill me and comes to me...

  When they all saw me, they prepared themselves to attack... to them it was first come first serve... I shouted.

  Me: "COME ON...I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY, YOU KNOW!!"

  Numerous monsters dashed towards me, wanting to rip me apart. Where as for me, I ran backwards to find a suitable place where I could start my attack. I didn't have to search for long, I found a place and got ready... my senses peaked at a high point, swords unsheathed. I watched them come towards me and I waited... They were now just a few meters away and I choose that moment to release my blood lust upon them. I wanted to test my blood lust against theirs. The result was pretty satisfactory. Upon releasing my blood lust upon them, the front line of there's froze on its track. The space in the tunnel had already forced them to come at me in a group of two. Well... It was time some blood spilling...

  I dashed forward towards the frozen monsters and even before they had time to release themselves from the effect, I cut off both of their heads... Yes... I will now call them as heads. They fell, revealing another line, I stabbed my swords into their heads and pulled it back while I again cut off the next line heads off with two slices. They gathered their senses and was now attacking me. I let them use their cutters against me while watching out for their poison. I slashed a horizontal slash to block their arms, severing them in the process and I stabbed them in their chest while they were screaming in pain. I started to slash left and right without any care in their world while only watching out for their spits. It wasn't very long before one of them spat at me. As I was already standing close to them, so I ducked easily. That was one of my tactics. I would force them to fight in a close quarter combat. I cut their legs, which made them fall, after that I smashed their heads with my foot. I kicked one in its chest, that monster flew back, taking many monsters that were behind them. That one blocked a portion of the tunnel, which forced them to fight me in one on one situation. I cut their arms, legs, heads and stabbed whatever part I felt like stabbing.

  I didn't like the idea about their blood spraying upon me... but in this fight I need it. So I tried to get as much as I could for me. They screamed at me while I cut them with an upward slash or sometimes downward slash. Sometimes I sliced at them horizontally too, producing the same effect. I killed, however I wanted, but I took small injuries here and as well. But I used my regeneration skills to cure myself.

  I have lost track as to how many I have had killed so far or how much time I had spent down here, fighting them. As I look around me, I see endless dead bodies of the monsters, but when I gaze forward I see that I haven’t made any difference as their number was still greater than I have liked. It was impossible for me to fight them on and on. Though I had my reservations about getting their blood on me, but then it was required in the current situation. I needed it to keep me going. I went on killing them, and got myself drenched with their disgusting blood in no time. While being in this position, I also new a fact. It was that I could not forever fight them in the tunnels. I was killing them at ease here, but the impact which I’m having upon them is less so I need to push them back and fight in the room.

  I pushed forward with that fact in my mind. They tried to use their poison, but I managed to duck them properly. I have grown accustomed to their shooting motion. So it has become easier for me to spot when they are going to spit their poison on me. I pushed them back until I reentered the room. As I entered the room again... I saw the big one still standing in its position. He hasn’t moved an inch since the fight had started. I closed the door behind me to trap them inside the room. They were still many, but here now, I could have a much bigger effect.

  I continued on and on, sometimes jumping on their heads and severing them or sometimes I used my elongation skill to act like a whip. I killed many still many were left. How did the ancients managed to freeze them here?? So many of them... how?? What were thinking? All these questions kept coming to my mind. I had no answer to it also I didn’t get to see if any survivors are left or not. I thought of something at that moment. It was now time to engage the big one.

  I dashed towards him, cutting any monster that blocked my path, I formulated that if I use agility based attacks, I could easily take it down. I followed the plan and as I moved closer to the big one. Its big mouth opened and large, very large amount of poison came towards me. I dodged to my left and the poison bust barely missed my arms. When I got up and looked at the place where the poison had landed, I was shocked. Behind me, there were a lot of live monsters who were chasing me... now all that remained were a massive amount of melted bodies. Its one shot had melted everything within a 10 ft radius. Oh boy...

  I still continued my attack and it spat again. This time I dodged to my right and without looking back I continued on. When I was close to him, I jumped towards him and with both of my swords I used a downward vertical slash on it. The monster blocked my attack in time with its arms. Its arms were much stronger and harder than the other ones. But while in the motion, I continued with my attack. But every time, it blocked me. It opened its mouth and I knew its intention. I dodged and a large amount of poison flew out from its mouth. It melted many of its brethren to mush. It was really a disgusting sight but I had to find its weak point, which I think would be its legs. After landing on the floor, I immediately charged towards its leg, but was met with a blow on my back. It was really powerful... I was planted on the ground, producing a small crack on the ground. My armour took the sting out of its arms but the force it generated was more than enough to make me immobile for a few minutes...

  My spine was shattered, along with my one of my lungs, which had popped, but thanks to the regeneration skill, my injuries started healing quickly. But it was not quick enough. It kicked me with its right foot, hurtling me towards some monsters which were standing a few meters away. While in the motion, I saw it opening its mouth. I knew what it wanted. The way I was now, there was no chance for me to dodge it... save for one way.

  While I was about to fall upon some monsters, I threw one of my sword in my left towards the big one. The moment I threw it, I fell upon some of them, pushing them backwards, while killing one just with the force. I was dazed for a few moments, though I received no extra injuries from the last attack, but I had to come to my senses because I didn’t know, if my plan was successful or not. After a few moments, my senses returned while I stood up to see what was my current situation. I saw a big spurt of poison in front of me. Even before I could react, the spit flew past to my left side. The moment it flew past, I...I...I...I felt agonizing pain.... So much pain... I looked towards the place from where my pain was originating. I found some of my left arm missing, no...It melted right off... some portion just touched my arm and it produced this kind of destruction.

  I started my regeneration skill to rebuild my arm, the pain was unbearable, producing some tears from my eyes when I heard a loud scream.

  *WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHRGGGGGGGG*

  I looked forward to find that my plan did succeed. My sword had struck its eye, which made its attack to miss me by just inches. It was screaming in pain, while its eye leaked blood out of it. I looked around to see that the most of its attack had melted the rest of the monsters behind me. I got an idea... I could use the big one to finish the small ones. I waited patiently while my arm formed. It had melted down from the elbow.

  My hand regenerated back, it was as good as new, after moving it to check if everything was working fine, I charged forward towards the big one while it was still distracted. The road in between had a few monsters on it... those that were there met a swift end. When the big one was in my sight I jumped on its body and pulled out my sword which was impaled in its eyes. When I pulled it back completely, large amount of jelly like blood poured out from the wound while the big one screamed even louder. It jerked its body in an attempt to get me off him but I took the chance and started my barrage of stabs at the same place. Within minutes, I had dug a hole in them while the big one continued to sway its body violently.

  When enough space was made, I cut it’s nerves inside its head, whatever looked like important, I went on cutting it. After a while I got off him until I was satisfied. When I got off him, I noticed its rest of its eye either had fallen off or rolled upwards. It was now blind, but still spitting poison. It was now easy to dodge its poison attacks. The big one spat poison haphazardly melting most of its brethren. The rest, which survived, I cut them down... Finally, there numbers now fell to a mere ten, who were dealt swiftly. The small ones were now either melted to a goo or was dead while missing multiple body parts. It was time to end the big one’s life. I jumped on its head and again started to cut out some portions of it. When I cut some semi jelly like piece of meat inside its head, most probably its brain, it fell down on the floor with a large *THUD* sound. It was finally dead.

  I fell flat on the floor... tired... very tired... every part of my body aching. If I didn’t have the regeneration skills, I would have died a long time ago. While lying down, I looked at the battlefield... only dead monsters, but no sign of any survivors... yet. Was Hui’Mi’s information wrong? Or Who made this place? And why put them here? All these questions hounding me. I let go of my swords and just lay there staring at the ceiling. I didn’t even know when my eyes closed and I fell asleep.

  I slowly opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was the ceiling, little by little, I remembered the situation I was in before. Now, that the monsters were dead, I have to start searching for any survivors. But, I’m sure that all the monsters have been dealt with so I have to be on the guard too. I got up on my feet and surveyed my surroundings. I decided to walk to the far end of the room where the big one originally first stood. I kept an eye on everything else, if something new decides to show itself. It took me about 5 mins to reach the opposite side of the room. As I though... it was a large room. Upon reaching the site, I started checking the wall to find something or anything that would help me. After the checking nearly half of its length, I found an inscription written on it.

  “???? ????? ????, ????? ???? ??? ???.”

  It said: “To open the door, place your hand under the inscription.”

  I did what it said.

  When I touched the place under the inscription, I felt something like a switch. I pressed it and it worked, a door opened to my right, releasing a cloud of dust in its wake. After the dust cleared, I entered the room. It was a well lit room with a crystal, situated in the middle of a pedestal. I moved towards the crystal, it was red in colour with black streaks running over its body… much like our body markings. I came close to the pedestal. A line was written on it which was also in our ancient tongue. It said.

  “???’??? ???? ????? ??? ?? ??? ??? ????.”

  Which meant “To know about Hui’Mi’s Will, place your hand on this.”

  I touched the crystal with great excitement...

  As I touched it, something stung both the palms of my hands. Then it started to glow...at first with a bright red colour, then with black colour after that it gave a bright light from it. It stopped and showed me something.

  Me: “Show Will of Hui’Mi.”

  After that, something flashed in front of my eyes...

  After the letter ended, the crystal under my palm, broke into pieces, but a small portion embedded itself onto my hand. It caused some pain to me for a moment than it subsided. When it was over, I examined my right hand and found a small red piece of crystal had protruded itself from my wrist. I tried to take it out of there, but when my hand touched the crystal, something was shown to me.

  What??...

  Me: “Show Crystal of Kings.”

  Me: “ Initiate King’s Crystal.”

  I felt a searing pain in my eyes... I dropped down on my knees, closing my eyes and screaming. It felt like melting... but after a few minutes it stopped. My head was throbbing in pain, but still I opened my eyes. I didn’t feel nothing out of the ordinary other than the headache. But what was that?? Oh well, I would find it out later, but first where are the survivors??

  As soon as I saw it, the wall in front of me started to lift to show me a big room with bars. The door of the barred room opened. I quickly unsheathe my swords and took a stance.

  Little by little I saw a hand emerge from the darkness and then an arm after that a beast like form emerged. It was like Zanesur so I thought that it was one of the survivors.

  The beast looked towards me with eyes filled with disbelief and fear... observing it, I realized it was a male. I spoke.

  Me: “Do not fear me...I have come as an emissary of Zanesur, your prince. I am here to free you and take you to him.”

  Hearing me, he fell on the ground, clutching his face and I could hear a faint noise of crying. He was sobbing, when another figure emerged from the shadows, this time a smaller figure emerges from the darkness. It kneeled down and put its arm around the crying one. Then spoke.

  ???: “Are you really going to free and take us to Price Zanesur?”

  It was a feminine voice, I nodded and said.

  Me: “Yes, that is true... please get all of those who are alive quickly. I will guide you towards your Price Zanesur.”

  She nodded and waved towards someone in the room, still hidden in the dark. She helped the one crying on the floor to his feet and said.

  ???: “Thank You... We were caught and was about to be eaten when something happened and we lost consciousness. When we regained our senses, we were still in the dark, but could hear the sound of fighting coming from outside.”

  Me: “Yes... that would be me... killing those monsters. You see, my ancestors killed some of them, but the numbers of these monsters were more than they could cope so they paralyzed and froze everything down in this tunnel... unfortunately you were also caught on that method. But our King at that time made a pact with Zanesur and here I am.

  The rest would be informed to you by your Price, I’m sure... for now, please hurry.”

  ???: “Fro... frozen!! For how long??”

  Me: “Too many years to count...”

  I saw her tearing up, but she strengthen herself and she waved again towards something in the dark room. Soon many bodies start to emerge from the darkness... they ranged from male, female and even some children... all in their transformed state. I counted and they were in total, of 15 members.

  Without any delay or any kind of communication, I lead them out of the tunnel. I was the first one to come out of the cave. As I came out, I saw darkness outside. The moon star shining brightly along with many stars. One by one each of them came out of the cave, holding each others hands... some were crying.

  I had noticed earlier that when I led them out through the big room where I had to fight the last battle, they were looking at the sight with disbelief... as if it was impossible; then their behavior changed and they started to emit fear towards me. I kind of felt little irritated. they may have been locked for years but come on... why fear me??

  The female nor any one of them did not talk with me the entire time I was leading them towards Zanesur.

  After leading them for about 30 mins we reached our destination. When we reached there I called out for Zanesur.

  When he came... it was a wonderful moment. He quickly transformed into his beast form and rushed towards the group. They surrounded him and hugged each other and started to cry... It was awful... I mean the noise that was created was unbearable. I turned around and proceeded to walk back towards Zuma.

  Zanesur: “My Lord!! Please wait!! I...”

  I looked back at him, smiled and said to him.

  Me: “ I’ll would come back at a later date... for now... enjoy your present company... bye.”

  He bowed and went back towards the group while I was returning back to Zuma... who knows how many days I was in there and what had happened in the mean time...

  After walking back for another 20 mins I saw the city’s outline. It seemed to me that Zuma was safe. I went towards the city gates.

  When I reached the gates, the guards who were guarding the entrance bowed and kneeled down in front of me. I was happy that they were wearing proper Blood armour and had Blood weapons hanging on their waist. I guess the production of weapons was moving smoothly. I walked forward after nodding towards the guards and as I put my foot in the city, I was shown a notification...

  Me: “Le’On.”

  Me: “Yes... change it to... The Blood Cave.”

  Me: “Close.”

  At my command the King’s Crystal closed. I was too tired to think or do anything. Tomorrow, I would do all the job that still had to be done. But now, the only person I want to see is my wife and I want to sleep on her lap... I suppose, I missed Naj’Rak too, and before going I didn’t meet with Marion, Aby or neither one of them. I think they are now far away from here. Who knows when I’ll meet them.

  I reached my house, too tired to notice anything except the light was on in my house. I quickly knocked at the door and waited. The door opened. Though I am a King, but some things shouldn’t be missed in one’s lifetime; such as the sight of your wife’s warm smile after seeing you and a warm and tight hug to come after that, such in this case. I stood there in front of the door while she had buried her face in my chest while hugging me tightly... I could feel her tears.

  I smiled and lightly patted her head and said...

  Me: “My Queen... I am home.”