Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!

On the battlefield, the fallen were consumed in their entirety by the Blood Clan. Every drop of blood taken in made their twisted bodies swell, their power spiking to new, grotesque heights. Within minutes, the defenders of the Forgotten City found themselves faltering, struggling to hold the line against the onslaught.

At first, the defenders had the advantage. Their ranks boasted several Saint-level warriors, while the Blood Clan seemed to field only War God-rank fighters. But just as they prepared to push forward into the heart of the battle, a thunderous roar erupted from the blood-red array that clawed into the heavens.

From within it, more than a dozen Saint-rank Blood Clan surged out, their feral eyes locking onto the city's elite defenders.

Ethan froze for an instant, his stomach dropping. What was this? The readings Shatterstar had just relayed back had reported only three Saint-rank powerhouses inside the array. How in the hell had their numbers multiplied like this?

The air shuddered with another roar. A Blood Clan warrior, its skin stretched taut with pulsing veins, bellowed and hurled itself at a squad of Central Dominion Guards. Its claws, wreathed in bloody light, swept down with such force the air shrieked around them.

The clash detonated in a deafening boom. The Blood Clan brute was sent reeling, its arms driven backward, the blow sending several of its kin bursting apart into sprays of gore. Ethan narrowed his gaze and caught it—ten Central Dominion Guards had struck in unison. Their squad leader had led a fusion strike, blending the strength of all ten into a single overwhelming counter.

"Damn it, these things have mutated!" the squad leader barked.

As Ethan looked closer, he saw it too: jagged bone spurs erupting from the Blood Clan warrior's skin. Earlier it had looked like the rest of them, hidden among the throng. But now, more figures like it were clawing forward out of the horde, each carrying strange, warped mutations.

"Julian, tighten the formation!" Ethan shouted from above, his eyes scanning further back. The Blood Clan's army was teeming with more of these aberrations, and behind them loomed yet stranger and more dangerous variants.

The repelled warrior let out another guttural roar and lunged again, aiming straight for the Dominion squad leader.

"Wheel formation!" Julian snapped, instantly shifting their array's stance, but he was half a beat too late. More mutated Blood Clan surged at once, crashing into over a dozen squads at once. Even the fusion techniques that let ten Guards fight as one could barely hold them back. Retreating to rejoin the main force was no longer possible—they were trapped.

A sharp cry cut through the din. "Serpent's Coil Strike!"

The Twilight War Spear flashed into Ethan's hand, spinning in a blur of steel and sparks before lancing out like a lightning bolt. In the blink of an eye, the spear drove clean through the skull of the mutated Blood Clan warrior. At that moment, the Dominion squad leader unleashed another fusion strike, cleaving what remained into dust.

But Ethan didn't pause. Again and again, he hurled the spear, each strike finding its mark. The mutated Blood Clan fell in rapid succession, unable to withstand his relentless assault.

From a distance, the Clearspring City contingent watched in disbelief.

"That thing was nearly as strong as a Saint-rank, and he took it down with one hit?" someone breathed.

They could all tell the truth: the squad leader's follow-up hadn't even been necessary. Ethan, the young lord of Beastfall City, had felled it on his own.

"It's said Beastfall City fights pure-blood beast clans constantly," one of the observers muttered, his voice thick with awe and shame. "They've stared down life-and-death battles again and again. Compared to them, we're just pampered children… useless."

"Actually, once upon a time, we were driven by the same desire to grow stronger. Maybe we could—" another began, his voice rising with emotion.

"How about we, my ass!" someone else snapped before he could finish. "You got a death wish? Go alone if you're that stupid. Don't drag us down with you."

The outburst was met with curses and jeers. No one dared entertain the thought of charging forward. Not with the two Beast Spirits looming overhead. Any attempt to retreat would almost certainly mean instant death under their gaze. As long as Dragon Child and Bongo didn't force them into the fight, survival meant staying put until the grand array was complete. Escape? Perhaps a flicker of hope existed there. But charging into that meat grinder was suicide.

The one who had just voiced defiance shrank under a storm of rebukes, his fleeting courage trampled into dust.

"Hmph…" A cold snort cut through the noise. Everyone fell silent as Bongo's gaze swept their way.

"They've switched to a defensive formation!" someone with sharp eyes cried, panic bleeding into his voice. "The Central Dominion Guards can't hold much longer!"

The crowd wavered, fear breaking their fragile composure. If the Guards collapsed, the Blood Clan would turn on them next.

"Lord Beast Spirits, please, save us!" one of the more desperate men cried out.

Bongo's eyes narrowed, her expression chilling. "So we intervene, and you all run while we take the heat?"

The man's knees buckled under her glare. He stumbled back and crashed to the ground, scrambling until he soiled himself in sheer terror.

"Useless." With a turn of Bongo's wrist, flame swept over him. In an instant he and the filth beneath him were reduced to ash. The others recoiled in horror, terrified of being next.

"It's not that we won't act," Dragon Child said, her eyes fixed on the towering pillar of blood in the distance. "It's that the moment we do, their strongest will reveal themselves. And when that happens, you won't last a second in the chaos."

Bongo joined her in silence, both of them staring at the pillar. Neither spoke further, but the tension in their shared glance was enough.

On the battlefield, the situation spiraled further out of control. More and more mutated Blood Clan pressed into the fray. The Dominion Guards, while still unbroken, were straining under the Wheel Formation's limitations. And among the Forgotten City's forces, more than ten thousand had already fallen.

But even in death, they fought. Each one detonated their own bodies upon falling, sacrificing themselves to take more Blood Clan with them.

Shaw Zilo, rallying the defenders, took a long gash along his ribs as he pulled another comrade to safety. Blood poured down his side, but still he bellowed, "Brothers, if we fall, we take them with us! Get ready to self-destruct! We cannot be their feed!"

His robe flared around him, as if he were ready to explode at any moment. Ethan, catching sight of him, was stunned. When had Shaw Zilo changed so much? He didn't realize that, for Shaw, the fall of the Forgotten City had stripped away all ambition. What remained was only a grim freedom, and the will to fight to the last.

Then the ground shook.

Boom.

The earth itself trembled, and the space around them quaked with it.

From the far north came a cry, long and ragged with pain.

"Aooo…"

The sound rolled across the battlefield, sending a shiver through every heart still standing.