The Fallen System: Gaining Bloodlines of the Fallen-Chapter 41: Entering the Mist

The mist grew denser with each step, as if it had a will of its own.

The cold air clung to the skin, heavy, damp, carrying with it different scents, iron, blood, wet earth, and even the rot of ancient carcasses already hidden beneath the green of the forest.

Cairen moved a few meters behind Ling. His senses were on high alert, but ever since they had crossed the boundary of the fog, everything seemed more muffled.

His new spiritual sense, which before had spread freely like a net, had contracted by half for some reason, his perceptions slightly cut and his range shortened.

He narrowed his eyes, trying to push his consciousness further, but it was like forcing a blade against raw stone.

"Irritating," he murmured softly.

"Complaining? You were the one who came up with the idea of hunting beasts. For a place called Misty Mountain Range, what exactly did you expect?" Ling replied without turning, her firm voice cutting through the silence around them.

Cairen did not retort. He merely adjusted his breathing, accepting the limitation. After all, he could still sense everything several meters away regardless. Even if he kept his eyes closed.

The mist seemed alive, coiling around their ankles, crawling up their legs, smothering sounds and scents, and distorting silhouettes. It was like fighting within an endless veil.

’... I somewhat understand now the feeling of those struck by the Veil of Blindness.’ Cairen thought briefly.

The forest around them didn’t help either. Tall trees rose like thick trunks, twisted branches covered with moss and dark fungi.

From time to time, the sound of wings flapping cut through the fog nearby. At other times, distant noises echoed, blending together until it was impossible to tell where they came from.

Ling stopped abruptly.

She raised a hand. Her silver gaze narrowed, fixed on a point within the fog ahead.

Cairen closed his eyes and let his spiritual sense spread out like a shorter net.

Between the layers of mist, something was breathing heavily. Four presences. They moved slowly, trying to surround the two of them.

He didn’t need to warn her. Ling’s posture had already changed, like a beast ready for battle.

"They’re small," Princess Ling remarked, her hand tightening into a fist.

"They must be at the 1° or 2° stage of the Qi Accumulation Realm. Suitable prey to start with."

From the depths of the fog, yellow eyes lit up suddenly like embers.

A low growl vibrated in the air, then another, and another. Feline silhouettes began to emerge, agile, with tense muscles under mottled gray pelts.

Cairen observed them calmly.

They were mist felines. Creatures adapted to hunt in pairs or small packs. Alone they weren’t strong, but within the fog, this was their territory.

The first leap came quickly. A gray shadow cut through the air, jaws open toward Princess Ling’s neck.

She didn’t even take a step. Her fist rose in a clean arc. Then, with a dry crack, it crushed the creature’s skull.

The beast’s body hit the ground dead before it could even touch the soil, its yellow eyes extinguished like torches in the rain.

"One," she said, her lips curling into a faint smile.

Two more attacked at the same time. One from Cairen’s left, another from behind him. He instinctively raised his hand.

’Shackles of the False Genocider.’

Chains emerged with a low snap, springing from the center of his palms, taking shape in a dark metallic gray.

The chains extended through the air like serpents of iron. One looped around the throat of the beast on the left, crushing the bones with a crisp snap.

The second spun in the air, binding the legs of the beast leaping from behind.

The impact against the ground made the creature writhe, growling in desperation, while the chain pulled it down against the earth. Cairen clenched his fists, and the bones broke under the pressure of the chains with ease.

Both prey lay still, collapsed on the ground. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

He didn’t immediately dissipate the chains, wanting to test something. From the two chains, the ends split into two, coiling around the beasts’ necks.

Cairen tried to judge them, but the result was as expected. The dead could not be judged as false fallen, he needed them alive to absorb their energies.

He then dissipated the chains, the air reverberating with a soft, low hum. The sensation of the chains in his hands was solid, far denser than before. Not only that, but the distance they could reach had doubled.

Each chain carried a heavier weight, which made Cairen feel satisfied.

The last feline hesitated. Its eyes darted between Ling and Cairen, as if it understood its fate. But hesitation was costly.

Ling advanced in a single step, faster than the beast’s eyes could follow. Her hand seized its jaw, and, with a dry crack, she split it in two directions. The limp body collapsed onto the tall grass, trembling in spasms before dying completely.

Silence then returned. Only Ling’s faint breathing and the cold air of the mist remained.

She ran her fingers through her silver hair, indifferent to the blood dripping down her hand.

"These were far too weak... not even a good warm-up."

Cairen looked at the corpses, thinking the same.

But at least it served for him to practice with the chains and fighting, using his spiritual sense as his eyes.

Ling kicked one of the beasts’ bodies aside and wiped the blood off her hands onto her own tunic.

"Let’s keep going. The deeper we go, the more interesting it becomes."

They resumed their march. The ground was uneven, roots twisted like bones, passing by holes in the rocks filled with dark, dirty water that reflected the fog.

Cairen kept his spiritual sense in constant sweep, even if more limited. His vision missed nothing of the surroundings.

Like groping in the dark, but the habit was already forming. Each step and each shadow was recorded.

After a while, Ling stopped again. Sensing something heavier.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

Cairen, who had his eyes closed, didn’t answer. But he had already sensed it. At first, it was just a distant sound in the mist, filled with breath invisible to the eyes.

Then came the dragging of heavy paws. Something is moving among the trees.

A shadow larger than the previous beasts approached. The pressure it gave off was around at least the 4° stage of the Qi Accumulation Realm.

Ling smiled faintly.

"This one is a little better."

The creature stepped out of the mist as if molded from it. A large boar, its body covered in dark fur, long sharp tusks reflecting the scarce light filtering through.

Its eyes gleamed with natural hostility.

It snorted, kicking up dust, preparing to charge.

Cairen raised his hands. Two chains appeared in the air, ready to be launched.

But Ling stepped forward.

"This one’s mine."

She crouched, the muscles of her body trembling with raw physical energy. Her breathing changed, growing deeper.

The boar, feeling challenged, then charged in an outburst of hostility and fury.

Ling met it head-on with equal brutality, her feet sinking into the earth. The impact echoed like stone against stone, sending a resounding thud into Cairen’s ears.

Cairen only watched in silence. There was no refined technique in Ling at that moment, only pure, overwhelming, primal strength. Her lineage pulsed in her bones, skin, and eyes, making her seem more bestial than the beasts themselves.

The boar squealed in pain as Ling seized its tusks and forced it to the ground. The creature’s body, twice her size, shuddered, the ground cracking beneath the impact.

A second later, the beast was dead, its neck broken under the weight of Princess Ling’s hands.

She rose, stretched slightly, her eyes a little brighter.

"Better. Still not enough, but definitely better."

Cairen said nothing. He only noticed that Ling behaved completely differently when she was outside the capital.

No longer the cold-faced princess with her usual strange smile. Here, she was like a beast hidden under human skin.

As if truly unleashing her real personality. Cairen just didn’t know whether this was her true self or if she was under the influence of her bestial lineage.

Perhaps a combination of both. But Cairen didn’t like either personality. Especially realizing she was acting again as she had during the inheritance.

The one who hunted everyone, slaughtering participants as if they were nothing, setting traps so that her brothers would attack him.

He realized that despite her direct personality now, she was far from foolish. She understood absolutely everything she did and would do, having a clear reason in her mind long before acting.

Cairen truly didn’t like this princess. But for now, all he could do was accept her presence until somehow he managed to leave her behind.

"Come on! Since you can see better than me thanks to your spiritual sense, find a place for us to spend the night. It won’t be good if it gets dark and we have nowhere to stay in this forest," Ling said shortly after moving away from the dead boar’s body.