Chapter 113: Flaws Of Blood Magic

While everyone was still trying to repeat his words, Ka’z quietly stood up and walked toward the small stash where they had piled their belongings.

The others were too busy arguing over the correct pronunciation of "Ignis" to pay much attention to him at first. Thrak was insisting that his version had been almost perfect while Mi’ya openly laughed at him, and Gruk was attempting the word repeatedly with a serious expression despite getting a slightly different result every single time.

Ka’z crouched beside the stash and pulled out something carefully wrapped in cloth. For a moment, nobody noticed what he was holding until he turned around and walked toward Thrak. Since Thrak was clearly the most curious person among them, Ka’z decided there was no better person to hand it to.

"What is this?" Thrak asked, but he was already tearing the cloth apart before Ka’z had the chance to answer.

The others immediately stopped talking when the weapon inside was revealed. Shiki caught the light of the campfire as Thrak slowly pulled it free from the cloth, and several members of the group leaned closer with surprised expressions.

They remembered Ka’z holding onto the strange weapon after the night raid. At the time, he had barely allowed anyone near it. For a while, Ka’z and the weapon had seemed almost inseparable.

"This is..." Thrak muttered as he carefully turned it over in his hands.

Ka’z calmly nodded with a straight face. "Weapons like this already have runes carved into them. All you need to do is pour your mana into it, decide which rune to activate, and the spell is unleashed on its own."

Everyone turned toward him with shocked expressions. They had watched Ka’z use Shiki before, but most of them had simply assumed the weapon was special because Ka’z was the one holding it. The idea that someone without the ability to cast a proper spell could still activate magic through a rune weapon immediately changed the way they looked at it.

Thrak slowly raised his gaze from the weapon. "I can have this?"

Ka’z nodded without hesitation before returning to his previous spot beside the fire. He picked up his meat again and casually held it over the flames as though he had not just handed over one of the most interesting magical items any of them had ever seen.

The moment Thrak realized Ka’z was serious, everyone else swarmed him. Gruk grabbed one end of the weapon while Luk leaned over his shoulder to inspect the runes. Mi’ya pushed between them to get a better look, and before long they were practically dragging Shiki around with Thrak still desperately clinging to it.

"Hey, he gave it to me!" Thrak protested as he tightened his grip.

"Hands off, I just want to get a look!" Luk shouted back while trying to pull the weapon closer.

"You are going to scratch it!" Thrak snapped.

"How am I supposed to scratch a weapon made for fighting?" Luk argued.

Ka’z watched the chaos unfold with a faint smile. It was almost amusing how quickly the mood had changed. Only a short while ago, everyone had been sitting around the fire nervously, constantly looking into the darkness and imagining goblins crawling through the shadows. Now they were arguing over a weapon like a group of children fighting over a new toy. If nothing else, the conversation had successfully removed the anxiety hanging over the camp.

With the team distracted, Ka’z slowly raised his gaze toward the crescent moon hanging above the eastern forest. The resources he had learned about earlier continued to occupy his thoughts. The more he thought about it, the more his perspective on the Evergreen Forest changed.

If they could build a kingdom here and secure those resources before anyone else, Vaal’kor could eventually become unimaginably wealthy.

But that thought immediately made Ka’z frown.

It was easy to imagine a kingdom when he was sitting beside a fire looking at the moon. Actually creating one was a completely different matter. They did not even have the population required for a proper village yet, much less a kingdom capable of controlling an entire forest. They lacked craftsmen, soldiers, builders, scholars, and almost everything else a large settlement would need.

"What if I make a kingdom for all beasts?" Ka’z quietly muttered, his voice filled with genuine curiosity.

He drew this inspiration from his America on earth.

The thought refused to disappear. Creating a multicultural kingdom where different beast races could live together would be one of the fastest ways to increase their population. They would gain access to the talents of different races, different magical affinities, different skills, and potentially thousands of people who had nowhere else to call home.

However, the problems appeared just as quickly as the benefits.

How could he manage several different beast races at once? Kobolds already had their own traditions. Adding goblins, gnolls, and every other race in the forest would create problems he could barely predict. Then there was the question of trust. Many of these races had spent generations fighting one another. Convincing them to suddenly live together would not be as simple as opening the gates and telling everyone they were now friends.

The second problem was even more personal.

Such a change would be drastic compared to what the kobolds were used to. Ka’z was not sure whether his people could adapt to it, and more importantly, he was not willing to force them into a future they did not want. No matter how ambitious his dreams became, the comfort and safety of the Vaal’kor colony would always remain his priority.

"Maybe I’m overthinking this," Ka’z muttered before shaking his head. "I’m yet to create a village, so why should I bother myself with the problems of running a kingdom? I’ll take it one step after the other."

He allowed the thought to leave his mind and returned his attention toward the camp.

Then his eyes suddenly narrowed.

A crimson gleam flashed through Ka’z’s pupils as his gaze shifted toward the distant darkness northwest of their location. The change in his expression was so subtle that nobody noticed at first. His eyes remained fixed on one section of the night where the trees and rocks created an almost perfect wall of darkness.

Then something moved.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

Before anyone could properly understand what was happening, several arrows shot out of the darkness.

Ka’z’s body reacted before his mind even needed to give the command. The earth between the camp and the incoming arrows suddenly rose, forming a thick wall just as the projectiles struck it. The arrows embedded themselves into the hardened soil with several sharp impacts, and the entire camp froze.

Instinctively, everyone’s gaze shifted toward Ka’z.

He was already standing.

His eyes burned crimson as he stared into the darkness, his expression completely different from the relaxed young kobold who had been thinking about kingdoms only moments earlier.

"Defense formation!" Drak reacted first.

The others immediately moved. Shields were grabbed from the ground while spears were pulled closer. Even Thrak dropped Shiki, which he had been greedily clinging to only moments ago. The entire team quickly formed a circle around the campfire with their shields raised outward.

Ka’z glanced at them once to make sure everyone was moving before returning his attention toward the darkness where the attackers were hiding. If it weren’t for his divine perception he would never have found them.

There were approximately five goblins.

From their movements and positioning, they appeared to be a patrol team. That immediately raised another question in Ka’z’s mind. Had survivors from the previous battle truly escaped and warned the Ashmork clan about their inevitable arrival?

Or was this simply a coincidence?

Were these goblins ordinary scouts who had stumbled across their camp without realizing who they had found?

Ka’z did not have enough information to answer. But he did know one thing. He was not going to let them leave.

"Blood Empowerment!"

Ka’z felt his blood rush violently through his body. His heartbeat deepened as his muscles expanded beneath his scales, and crimson coloration spread across his body. Unlike before, there was no large supply of enemy blood around him to fuel the spell. This time, the magic was feeding directly from his own body.

The power surged through his limbs, but Ka’z could immediately feel the difference. Without an external blood source, there was a limit to how much he could empower himself before the technique began taking too much from him.

"This should be enough," he muttered.

Swoosh!

Ka’z shot forward like an arrow, crossing the distance between the camp and the darkness in a blur. The goblins immediately realized he was coming for them and abandoned their original targets.

"Magic... Magic beast! Shoot him down!" the lead goblin screamed.

All four archers turned toward Ka’z and released their arrows.

"Trash!" Ka’z growled.

Compared to Lucy, their attacks were painfully slow and inaccurate.

His footwork changed as his Combat Aid predicted the trajectories of the arrows. Ka’z twisted around one projectile, stepped beneath another, and shifted his body just enough to allow the remaining arrows to pass harmlessly beside him. To the goblins, it looked as though he was casually weaving through the attack without any effort.

The moment they realized their arrows were not going to stop him, their courage disappeared. So they turned and ran.

"Bastards... I don’t remember saying any of you can leave!" Ka’z hissed.

Blood suddenly erupted from around his claws.

"Blood Magic: Blood Claw!"

Ka’z swung his arm.

The claw shaped mass of blood shot forward into the darkness, following the fleeing goblins. Their terrified screams echoed across the empty terrain, followed by the wet sounds of bodies collapsing onto the ground. The entire attack ended so quickly that the team behind Ka’z could only stare toward the darkness in silence.

Ka’z eventually stopped.

Crimson steam escaped from his body as his bulging muscles slowly relaxed. The deep red color of his scales gradually faded, returning to their usual golden appearance. However, a faint crimson shade remained beneath the surface, subtle enough that it could easily go unnoticed unless someone was looking closely.

Ka’z attempted to take another step, but his vision blurred.

He paused immediately and planted his feet firmly on the ground. A wave of lightheadedness passed through his head, forcing him to brace himself before he lost his balance.

"I see..." he muttered with a deep frown. "Without a blood source, I’m using my own blood to do all of this... and from the looks of it, each technique demands quite a quantity."

The realization was unpleasant, but it was also useful. Blood magic was far more dangerous to use without preparation than he had previously considered. In a battle surrounded by enemies, the technique was terrifying because every defeated opponent could potentially become more fuel. In a situation where there was no external blood available, however, Ka’z would slowly consume himself.

He slowly stretched out his hand and inhaled deeply.

"Blood Magic: Blood Drain!"

The blood spilled across the ground began moving.

Thin streams emerged from the darkness and crawled across the uneven terrain toward him. They gathered together as they approached, forming thicker currents that flowed into Ka’z’s body through every available opening. The drained blood quickly replaced some of what he had spent, easing the weakness in his limbs.

Ka’z slowly approached the darkness.

As he drew closer, the bodies of the goblins became visible beneath the faint light coming from the campfire. Most of them had been violently torn apart by Blood Claw, their mangled remains scattered across the ground and slowly disappearing beneath a growing pool of blood.

Only the lead goblin remained relatively intact.

His legs had been severed beneath him, leaving him collapsed on the ground. Blood poured from the wounds as his body twitched uncontrollably. His eyes widened the moment Ka’z approached, and the expression on his face slowly shifted between unbearable pain and absolute horror.