The Massive Blood Nosehound roared in victory, seeing that Lyden launched straight through the ground and could not sense Lyden's temperature anymore. It believed the human had died, and so did the other Blood Nosehounds.

The rest of the Blood Nosehounds roared alongside with it. Then they all lowered their head to it as if they were declaring it the king of the Blood Nosehound.

It stood up on two legs and roared was more with all its might as he accepted his new position as ruler.

What the other did not know about the Blood Nosehound that defeated Lyden was that it was watching and waiting for Lyden to be weak enough before it attacked. Its intelligence was superior to the other Blood Nosehounds and was not foolish to fight Lyden head-on. Instead, it waited and waited until thousands of Blood Nosehounds sacrificed themselves to weaken him enough before it dealt the finishing blow.

Unbeknownst to it, it did not kill Lyden.

Lyden survived its attack, although barely. When he was slammed to the ground, he was hit directly into a weak spot on the floor, thus, creating a small enough hole for a human-size person to fit in.

The Blood Nosehounds could not see it since there were stacks of corpses on top of the hole now.

That hole led him to a small room that could barely fit two people. The temperature was significantly lowered compared to the cavern above.

Lyden could not get up, and many bones were shattered into pieces, and the organs were heavily damaged. If it were not for his cloned body not needing functional organs to keep him alive, then he would have died a long time ago.

"I can't move… It seemed like I'm paralyzed now… That last one was able to hit so hard that he broke my spine..." Lyden felt great regret. When he was fighting for his survival, he let his tired mind slipped and lost concentration. He never noticed something that massive came up close to him before it was too late.

Now he could not even move anything from the neck down. The Random Monster Transmutation aretisite was still squeezing his heart tighter than ever, but the connection between them was weak. This was due to the nerves being cut off, and Lyden could not activate properly. When he tried to activate it, the aretisite did not respond as if Lyden thought cannot reach it. It was the same for his limbs. No matter how hard he tried, he could not move it.

Lyden could not do anything but lay down. He had nothing else can do to get him out of this situation.

"Why did I hesitated… Why did I not use it earlier… Even if I become a monster, I will still have a chance to see them again… Now, all that left is regret in this cold dark place..." Lyden silently cried even though he vowed not too ever since his brother left him. Even with the strength that could rival the top 10 hunters, he failed and was stuck alone. Tears fell over and over again to the cold ground beneath him.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

He tried to be strong…

He tried to careful…

He tried not to feel scared…

But even if he tried, he still failed.

He did his best, and he still failed.

In the end, even though his body was less than human, he was mentally still human.

What hurts him the most was not the pain from the Blood Nosehounds, nor him dying the first time.

It was him failing himself, especially when given a second chance. It was unbelievably unbearable that he wanted to throw his life away then and there.

When he obtained his new power, he felt special.

He thought himself as a hero of a story after meeting that mysterious man.

He thought he was someone who can overcome any obstacle.

He thought he was someone who always makes the right decision when the time comes.

But in the end, he told himself that he was nothing more than an extra in someone else story -- someone whose life was quickly forgotten and died without any importance.

He regretted it so deeply that he hesitated to use the aretisite when he got the chance. Now he knew it was arrogance, and that was what cost him his life. It was a lesson learned too late, he thought.

Days passed, and his cloned body kept him alive even though his organs barely working. He could not even starve to death.

Lyden tried to commit suicide many times by biting his tongue, but he could not. Every time he tried to bite it, a voice in his head tell him to stop. And whenever when he stopped, tears fell out of his eyes and onto his burnt skin.

A coward to live, and a coward to die. He did not know what to do anymore.

He felt so vulnerable that right now.

He felt like he was a boy again where the hungry wolf was watching him die so it could eat him.

He wanted someone to save him from this nightmare, anyone.

But he knew deep down that no one was going to save him this time: not his friends, family, or a stranger. The only thing above him was the Blood Nosehounds waiting to kill him. This place was his hell.

More time had passed that Lyden could not keep track of the time. It was dark with not a single source of light. His body could not heal itself from the significant damage he had taken. To passed the time, Lyden simply slept and slept.

His dreams were the only thing that made him forget where he was currently. If this place was his hell, then his dream was his heaven. He dreamt of many things.

He dreamt of graduating high school along with his brother, Ron, Joey, and Tiff. He dreamt of living a simple life: a life without towers, monsters, hunters. However, always at the end, the dream turned into a nightmare. He lost everything when Ku Sang appeared. He destroyed his peaceful dream and left Lyden wandering in the dark alone.

He woke up soon after with the feelings of sadness and rage.

This dream repeated over and over again until one day, it changed. Ku Sang was teaching him how to refine the aretisites and Lyden followed his direction like before, but this time it was different from what he had experienced. Instead of seeing five threads, Lyden saw hundreds upon hundreds of threads.

It was so intense that Lyden's eyes snapped open only to see the darkness once again.

'Were those threads from aretisite?' Lyden thought that dream look very similar when he tried to assimilate with aretisites. 'Can it be?'