**Warning. There's going to be some blood and guts in this chapter**

Damien took half an hour to wash off the blood in the showers.

In the meantime, I watched the cleaning robots wipe off the unholy amount of blood splattered on the floor of the sparring court.

Felix had something else to do but told me he'll return soon. I took that time to rest and take in the recovery potion he gave me.

As I sipped the azure recovery potion, my stamina returned and my mind cleared with each sip, the fatigue disappeared, and my wounds healed faster.

I glanced at the blood being washed off by the robots.

Damn. Looks like a human just exploded on the sparring court.

That much blood in the weakest Blood Grenade.

There will probably be a flood if I use the strongest variant of Blood Grenade.

I let out a sigh. It has been some time since I felt the thrill of battle. It felt good.

Of course, Felix and Damien were quite surprised. I may have even spooked the latter. I guess they never expected a kid like me to have such a crazy side.

Well, kids can be quite deceptive.

The cleaning bots finished their job and rolled away. I was told that my blood would be immediately destroyed inside the metallic guts of the bots so I don't have to worry about my genetic information leaking out and falling into the wrong hands.

I sat there alone for a few minutes, thinking about all that had happened.

This second chance is not that bad. As long as I am strong enough in this world, I do not have to worry about the threat of death.

It will take time for my original strength to return to this body but I think I will manage.

"Enjoying some peace by yourself?", a familiar voice asked and I heard the sounds of boots behind me.

I glanced back, "You done with your other job?"

Felix chuckled, "Of course."

"What other job do you have other than ganking daemons?"

He sat down beside me, "Killing daemons is not the only thing we Deathwalkers do. Of course, it is a top priority but there are other dangers as well."

"Les Anciennes is an immense location with a whole variety of organisms, especially ardimals that can be quite wild and problematic."

"So Deathwalkers go hunting in the mountains, especially with their units. Minerva gives us a time slot and we can go hunting or exploration."

I raised my eyebrows when I heard that, "Exploration?"

Felix nodded, "Yep! These old immense pieces of rocks are a treasure trove of mysteries. Just last week Unit 93 discovered the ruins of an ancient city two mountains away from the Tomb."

I stared at him in amazement, "Whoa."

He grinned, "Also, we can use the materials obtained from hunts for almost anything."

"Of course, we are still monitored by Minerva, so don't think of even trying to escape."

I scoffed, "Obviously."

I leaned against the wall, "I want to go hunting and exploring."

Felix ruffled my hair. It has become a regular thing over the past three weeks but I don't mind it.

I liked it. It reminded me of the times Gawain would do the same for me.

"Three more battles to go and after that, you'll be able to do just that."

I smiled and the two of us talked about different things, from battlefield survival tips to weapon arts to random rumors about Deathwalkers.

Eventually, Damien joined us, squeaky clean from his shower and just as the three of us were about to leave the sparring court, the daemon alarm blared all around us.

"That's the second alarm today.", Felix muttered and his eyes went to me.

My bracelet was blinking rapidly.

"By the Incarni! It had been only a day since you were discharged from Althea.", he breathed and narrowed his eyes, "Did you somehow offend Minerva in some way?"

I shook my head, "Honestly? I don't want to know."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"Well. You are not the only one.", Damien grumbled and I glanced at his bracelet. It too was blinking rapidly.

He grinned at me, "Looks like we'll be in this together, Mordred. We'll be in different places but be sure to find me. We'll kick some daemon ass together."

I grinned back, "Right on."

We bumped fists and were instantly teleported to the battlefield.

Another day of pain it is.

*******

"AHHH! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

The newbie screamed just before the daemon drove a huge needle through her neck and dragged it vertically, slicing her head into two halves.

"Sorry!", I winced as her blood and brain matter sprayed all over me and jumped back.

She jumped in front of me just as I was running around to find Damien, begging me in her shrill voice to help her.

That was when the nine-foot daemon appeared behind her.

It was just too fast.

But hey, at least she gave me some time. If she hadn't been there, I would've suffered a nasty splitting headache.

Of course, her brutal death and screams will haunt me in my sleep but that is a price I am willing to pay.

Anything is better than dying.

I willed ardor into my legs and made some more distance between me and the faceless humanoid of swirling darkness.

"Minerva! What is the rank?!", I yelled at my bracelet.

Another useful feature I found out about the bracelet is that it can immediately scan enemies and roughly determine how strong the daemon is.

"Master D rank.", Minerva's cold emotionless voice was barely audible above the noises of battle around me.

I gritted my teeth. This will be tough.

I am only a master E rank and on the brink of entering D rank but the enemy is still strong.

I better not make any mistakes because, unlike Damien who is stronger, this thing is very keen on skewering my handsome face.

The needle daemon turned its head at me and the next second, it was right in front of me.

"Shit!", I immediately activated transcendence and I saw the tip of the black needle coming at my face.

I activated Haema and accelerated my blood. I shifted my foot and twisted my body to the right. The needle grazed my shoulder but I was able to avoid a fatal hit.

My shoulder burned but I endured it. With some expert footwork, I spun around and came up behind the daemon.

Before it could react, I slashed my daggers at the spot I believe to be behind the knees of the daemon.

The white blades sparked at first contact but they sliced into the swirling darkness.

Black ooze flowed out of the cuts and the daemon buckled a bit. I took that chance and threw one dagger at the back of its head by channeling ardor into my right arm.

The daemon's head exploded with black ooze but it was unfazed. It twisted around with inhuman speed and thrust the needle right at my heart.

I quickly blocked the attack with my dagger, grunting in pain as the bones of my wrist cracked under the huge force.

Using the blood flowing from my shoulder, I formed a blood tentacle and shot it at the daemon's head.

The son of a bitch tilted his head and my tentacle missed. But I smiled.

There was a flash of white and the daemon's black needle dissipated into darkness as the dagger I previously threw, now gripped by my blood tentacle severed its wrist in a single slice.

I smirked and opened my clenched fist right on its faceless visage.

"Eat this!"

{Haema: Blood Grenade}

The powerful explosion of ardor-enhanced blood blew me away. I quickly rolled to the ground and got to my feet.

I shook my right hand, injured from the blast, and looked at the now needleless daemon.

The blood grenade had blown a significant portion of its face and black ooze flowed like a waterfall from its now smoking crater for a face.

Or no face.

Whatever!

There was also significant damage to its chest and neck regions but despite this, it began to straighten up.

I channeled ardor into my legs and shot toward it. I used blood acceleration to boost my physical abilities and aimed my dagger at its exposed black abomination of a heart.

A small shockwave was produced as the white dagger pierced the heart. The daemon froze and shuddered.

I quickly used my blood tentacle to retrieve the dagger and booked it as the daemon exploded into a ball of darkness.

A haunting wail pierced my ears as the crimson smoke of the wraith erupted out of the ball of darkness.

But instead of dissipating it went behind the explosion and to my horror, entered a Deathwalker who was busy fighting another daemon.

His back was to my battle and he was so focused on his battle that he didn't realize the crimson smoke until it was too late.

He screamed as the crimson smoke entered his body and immediately became silent. But only for a second.

He unleashed an unholy scream as his body underwent a fearsome transformation. His nails turned into massive black claws, black veins bulged under his death white skin and his eyes turned crimson and feral.

With an animalistic howl, the wraith jumped on the daemon it faced and in a swift motion, ripped out its... ugh... ugly excuse for a heart. The daemon shuddered and exploded into darkness.

Huh. Wraiths are effective against daemons. That's good.

The wraith's crimson eyes fell on me.

Or not.

With an inhuman screech, it pounced on me, fangs and claws out for blood.

I yelped and jumped to the side, exposing the unsuspecting Deathwalker behind me to the creature.

She screamed as the wraith crashed into her and began tearing at her with inhuman strength.

Judging from her fading aura, I guess she was a C ranker, perfectly capable of dealing with this but caught by surprise, she couldn't help but scream as the wraith ripped off her arms and crushed her chest, killing her.

But the unholy creature who used to be human a moment ago was not done.

As I watched in horror, the wraith ripped open her throat with utter savagery, grabbed her esophagus, and yanked out a major portion of her digestive system through her throat.

Bile along with my recent meal rose up my own throat and I tried hard not to puke on the bloody snow.

What the hell did I just witness?