Damiond's eyes narrowed as he realized what he had just done.He had once again lost control of himself—but this time, the effect was much stronger.Worst of all, the feeling wasn't like some outer force possessing his body. He knew that feeling already, thanks to a certain blonde mage.This felt more like… instinct.
He once had to survive in the wilderness for a whole month, and by the end of it, he had developed an instinct for even the smallest movements around him.This sensation of losing control felt similar—like he had done something for thousands of years and suddenly forgotten how to stop it.
Sweat poured down his face. He regained his composure, fixed his posture, and focused on the thing in front of him. He knew that right now, he couldn't do anything about it—and it was his only way of escaping this damn cave.
But before planning anything, he had to know what his monster was capable of.
The ant was kneeling in front of him.
After observing it for a while, he was certain of one thing—the monster was completely obedient to him. In fact, it even felt like it was afraid of him.
He began giving the ant monster some commands."Move backward... turn right... climb the wall."
The monster obeyed all of them.
He continued giving random commands to test its intelligence level. Eventually, he concluded that it had very basic intelligence. It could only follow simple, single commands. If you gave it anything complex or multiple instructions, it would either do them wrong or start acting randomly.
Considering his newfound powers, he started crafting a plan to escape the cave.
First, he ordered the ant to gather all the dead bodies.There were a little over 50 bodies. Not all of them had flesh, but he couldn't do anything about that. After piling them in one place, he began pouring his aura into them. Just like last time, the flesh gathered in one spot and formed a womb.
He had expected that using so much power on so many bodies would leave him exhausted—or even unable to move—but for some reason, he felt nothing.He was starting to fear his own power at this point.
Next, he started looking around for specific insects. But after a couple of hours of searching, he found nothing and started to get disappointed.That's when he remembered—
"Come to think of it…"
He remembered that when the ant monster crawled out of the womb, he could slightly see the area around it—but not through his own eyes.
Taking a chance, he began experimenting with his aura.He exerted it outward, and after a while, his suspicions were confirmed. He could feel the area around him without looking. Then, focusing harder, a smile crept across Damiond's face—he could also sense the area around the ant monster.
He began flooding the entire cave with his aura, feeling through every corner.
"There…"
He walked to one side of the cave, lifted a few small rocks, and found a couple of bugs—earthworms. On another side, he found some beetle larvae.
He didn't know if using multiple bugs would speed up the monster creation process or make the creature stronger. He also wanted to test whether combining two species would produce a hybrid.
He placed all the worms in front of him, gathered his aura, and poured it into the bugs. They squashed into a ball of blood, just like before. Then, he dropped the blood into the womb.
He sat down beside the womb, leaned against the cold cave wall, and started pouring his aura into it. He could feel the process begin.
After what felt like an eternity, the womb started reacting. It was time for his next monster.
A creature that looked like a mixture of beetle larvae and earthworm crawled out of the womb moments later. It was a long, blind, segmented worm-like monster with thick armored skin and mandibles that could grind through mud and soft stone. Fungal tendrils grew from its back. Its height was about half of Damiond's, but its body stretched nearly three times his length.
After observing it, a few things became clear:
Using multiple bugs to speed up the process had failed.
Combining different bugs to create a hybrid had succeeded.
The reason he chose these worms was because of their natural ability to dig. Sure, small bugs can't dig through hard stone—but after observing his ant monster for almost a day and a half, he was sure that monsters created by his magic were much stronger than their normal-sized counterparts.
Damiond ordered it to start digging the cave wall. He didn't have much time. He could manage his hunger for a few more days, but thirst was already becoming a problem.
At first, he ordered the worm to dig in random directions. The speed was surprisingly fast.
But Damiond knew that if he just dug randomly, he might never escape—and even if he did, he would still be within his family's territory.
Luckily, he had a plan.
As a descendant of {Family Name}, he knew secrets even many in his family did not. One of them was a hidden tunnel stretching from the family manor to a mountain range several kilometers west. It was built long ago as a last-resort escape route for the family's descendants.
It was constructed in a way that its gate—enchanted by special magic—could only be opened from inside the family manor or from inside the mountain cave.
He had only a rough idea of where that cave entrance might be, based on the faint light entering the cave. But it was worth a shot.
"How long has it been?"
As Damiond finally exited the cave—after what was probably around two days—he felt something strange in the air.He couldn't see anything. It wasn't a smell.But he could sense it.
It wasn't exactly like his aura…But there was definitely something in this cave that felt very similar to it.