Blood runes

Only after getting out of the blacksmith cavern did Kay noticed that he wasn't in the first floor anymore.

Where the first floor was made only of chiseled stone, with runes illuminating the place, this one was made of jagged rocks. The runic power have faded long ago, with only a dim light stopping the everlasting shadow to completely engulf the place.

Kay inscribed the runes that he saw back on the first floor and used they're power to navigate on the place, marking where he already went to.

In that trek, he discovered a fountain, with some vegetation, mostly spice, growing alongside.

After walking for a couple of hours, he run into a group of skeletons, that he dispatched with some effort, and felt his stomach groan. Sighting, he noticed that his throat was as dry as sand.

While he knew that he could just go back and drink something, the fact that he found no meat begun to irk him.

'Not only that, but my wounds are also beginning to hurt.' Turning back, he went towards the place where he remembered the river to be, something that was easy, considering he wrote the directions on the floor with his cutlass.

'I hope that blacksmith never finds how I used this weapon.'

After getting back, he took some water in his hands and drank, and only then did the youth actually realized how thirsty he felt. Ignoring everything he learned about manners at the table, he drank from the river like a pig, only stopping to breathe.

"Fuck! I needed that!" He exclaimed, inhaling a generous amount of air. Drinking some more, and almost throwing up in the process, Kay noticed how light he felt.

It was like his injuries were slowly recovering.

"Interesting…" He then noticed how vast was the river, and how shiny was the water, and feeling like he wouldn't get a chance like this on the lower floors, he took two rocks, one from the size of a ball, and the other a bit smaller and begun working on something that could help him.

Since he didn't knew any rune that could help in this, he had to do it the hard way. Caving on the larger rock, it took some painstaking hours and a lot of water from the river, to complete the work.

He now had a stone canteen. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but it would do the job. He then shove the canteen into the river and filled it to the brim. Eyeing the water, Kay felt annoyed at how it became dull.

"Why is that…" His eyes found the spice and he decided to test a theory. Taking some of it and seasoning the water, Kay smiled at the brightness returning to his drink.

After that, he took a small pebble, which he used as a lid, and continued to explore.

He felt refreshed and rested, something that he had to thank the river for. Continuing his trek, the young man kept exploring the floor and training his magic.

After a couple of days, he made incredible progress, and even begun to make a few bases here and there. By finding soil, he placed the spiced and used the moisture to create small fountains.

Overall, he felt stronger, but his job wasn't done yet.

It was after the third week that he finally found the boss room.

Kay felt it even from behind the gargantuan door. The way that his stomach churned, the freezing air in his spine and also the way the world was spinning.

Everything indicated the fact that, whatever was behind that door, it could easily kill him.

However, he was not the same man who entered in that dungeon. Kay was determined to win that fight, to go towards the bottom of that dungeon and to conquer the knowledge that could help him.

He was afraid, but he was determined to face that fear and win. With confident strides, he rose his shaky hand and whispered the same words that opened the other boss room.

The mechanism turned with a slow and agonized sound. The giant slabs of brute stone parted to reveal the darkness inside the room.

Resuming his walk and entering into the pitch-black darkness, Kay eyed his surrounds. Things were quiet… way too quiet.

Rising his hand, he was about to draw the light rune, when a grinding sound caught his attention. Turning back, he quickly drew another one and jumped out of the way. With a cry, the shadows were cut by the flame and revealed the nightmarish creature.

It was a giant centipede, it's eyes were devoid of any life, with only a spectral gleam on them.

Firing more and more fireballs, Kay heard the creature roar in pain and ducked out of it's head way. He managed to see the things members, which were much like those of a skeleton.

Taking the cutlass and igniting it in blueish lightning, he tried to cut the being, but wasn't able to do even a single scratch.

The centipede roared once more, feeling the electricity flowing in it's body. It, however, managed to shook it off and resumed it's assault against the boy.

Drawing more and more fire runes, Kay kept running and firing bolts of fire. The centipede was dancing across the arena, it's bone like legs made various cuts in his flesh.

Some were light, while others were deep, but the youth was still able to move. Breathing was becoming more of a hassle, with less and less windows to rest.

Plus, he could feel his body getting more and more hot, a sign of his depleting Mana. Firing more and more flames, he jumped out of the way of the creature's maw.

The maneuver costed him deeply, since he was almost cut in half by the monstrosity legs. His body fell limp and with almost no strength. He tried to stop the bleeding, but, by the way it looked, the wound was just too deep.

'Damn… I… I don't want to die yet…' Looking towards the demon, who was getting ready to pounce and devour his weak body, Kay lifted his bloodied hand. He remembered this feeling that begun to envelop him.

It was like the first time he ever fought with a boss… the difference being the fact that, back then, it was anger… and now, it was a fear so primal that, for a second time, he was overwhelmed by the surge of Mana.

"Stay away!" He cried, forming multiple runes with his bloodied hand. More and more fireballs hit the being, who screamed as his entire body was cooked. However, it was a losing battle.

Even thought he felt stronger, he still knew that the being would be able to brush it off… he wouldn't survive it!

Focusing his entire being in a way of getting out of there, the young man turned is attention to the blood-soaked floor. 'Wait… what was that again… Liria said that our Jing was on our fat and muscle…"

He then had an epiphany.

What he has been using until then was Jing and Qi, mostly Jing. That was likely weakening his spells, but his control was still bad to access Qi and Shen magic sources… 'What if… I use Shen directly…'

Tracing his finger on the blood, he then used same blood to draw a rune and channeled his Mana through it.

The results were… way more incredible than he was expected.

A roaring inferno erupted in the room, completely eliminating any shred of darkness. The skeleton centipede cried, it's insides boiled and, soon enough, the gargantuan body exploded in a mix of vapor blood and charred bones.

"Huh." Was all he could say at the sight. Taking some large gulps from his canteen, Kay got up with a groan and went back to the entrance, while the absurd flames burned themselves to death.