24. Darkness Reigns

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Name: None

Age: 0 | Level: 8

Race: Shadow Wolf

Attributes:

Strength: 2 | Endurance: 1.5

Speed: 5 | Dexterity: 5

Intelligence: 2 | Luck: 1

Sub-Attributes:

Stamina: 15/15 | MP: 20/20

Swiftness: 14 | Agility: 15

Senses: 13.5 | Atr Cap: 16.5

Attack: 18.75 | Defense: 6.5

Magic Attack: 6 | MP Regen: 0.02/min

Proficiencies:

- Bite (Lv. Max): +100% Attack when biting.

Magic Skills:

- None

Cognitive Skills (Passive):

- Body of Shadow: The holder’s body is made of shadows. Increased damage from any light element attack, immune to dark element attacks, and highly resistant to physical attacks.

Spontaneous Skills (Active):

- Shadow Meld (Lv.1): The user is able to jump into shadows and emerge from them at will. They cannot attack from shadows but it’s not a problem to spy or fast travel with them.

Cooldown: 2 Min

Max Duration: 5 Min

Unique or Racial Traits:

- Dark Sense: The smell of Shadow Wolves isn’t anything like a normal living being. They perceive the smell of darkness and are able to pinpoint anything releasing negative emotions.

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‘Interesting… I’ll have to look at how their attributes are calculated later,’ he thought then took out the simple knife he bought from the shop. He unsheathed it and gripped it in reverse. As for the wolves behind him, he gave them only one order, “Go wild.”

The four shadow beasts instantly disappeared at his command, draped by a veil of darkness. The Orc blinked and panicked when it couldn’t see them anymore. But before it could do anything about it, Rakna charged at him. No matter what, the Orc was unable to ignore him because of his speed and could only bring up his saber to swat him away.

But mid-swing, the four shadow wolves surfaced from its own shadow and bit its wrist, ankles, and shoulder. The monster roared but still managed to swing its weapon, albeit slower. The shadow wolves had a decent attack but they weren’t strong enough to injure the Orc.

Rakna calmly watched the blade coming at him and used his knife to deflect it. The small weapon immediately cracked and shattered but the saber was successfully veered out of its course.

Then, Rakna grabbed the Orc’s throat in an incredible display of swiftness. Not a word or a look was exchanged before his claws extended and managed to cut the creature’s carotids but not much deeper. When the Orc started gargling with its very own blood, Rakna quickly used his other hand and pointed two fingers at its eyes.

The Orc paled and tried to raise his hand after dropping his weapon but the shadow wolf on his shoulder made him freeze and wince in pain just before he saw two claws extend and pierce his eyes. They reached the brain and finished the chieftain off in a second.

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The skill Claws has increased to level 3.

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Lv.13 Orc killed. You have killed a foe 5 levels above yours!

Requirement for level up updated.

Current progress: 56/80

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Rakna let go of the monster’s throat which was making his hand dreadfully bloodied and jumped back. He watched as his foe collapsed on the ground, lifeless. He flicked his hand to shake off the blood and sighed. “So, defense truly is lower in places like the throat and the eyeballs…”

[Affirmative. The value shown on the status is essentially a generalization,] Alexa confirmed his words and he sat on the floor to rest a little. He took a deep breath and then one of the shadow wolves came to his side and started rubbing against his cheek.

“Hey, hey…” Rakna muttered and started stroking the wolf. He looked at the other three and fell into his thoughts. “You should have at least 3 minutes left… Do you hear the gunshots outside? Go help the people there to reach the large building to the north,” he ordered and the four beasts sank into shadows right away.

Rakna rested for a little more afterward and stood up. He picked his scarf up and wore it before transforming into a wolf. He ran out of the room and went to the bottom floor of the building where Pronos should be fighting the two hobgoblins he had smelled.

When he landed on the tiles of the floor after leaping over the stairs, he was met with one dead hobgoblin in the corridor. It had several distinct bite marks on its body along with the blue veins around them.

Rakna sniffed then jumped over the corpse to head to a certain classroom. When he reached it, the wall had been smashed in and behind it, he saw Pronos strangling the hobgoblin while biting its neck.

The large monster tried to pry him off but after just a few seconds, because of both a lack of air as well as the Eion Poison reaching its brain, it ultimately died. Pronos stopped clinging to its neck and slumped on the splintered floor with his tongue sticking out; completely exhausted.

Rakna praised him internally for having killed them. At least, he was confident that the little snake wouldn’t die considering his very high defense but killing the hobgoblins was, for a fact, hard for Pronos since his means of attack other than his poison were limited.

He walked to the little snake and hovered his head above him. “Feeling tired?” He asked with his warped voice and Pronos almost had a heart attack before calming down at the familiar purple eyes gazing at him.

The little snake hissed and waved his tail dismissively as if saying that it was a piece of cake. His master grunted and lowered his head in his direction. Pronos tilted his head before understanding his human friend’s intention. He slowly but surely slithered on top of his head before snuggling under Sonata and falling asleep.

Immediately after, Rakna rushed out of the building, thinking that it was enough dillydallying.

* * *

Back to the moment where Leis permitted the use of firearms. The eagles began their assault for good and Flavia was put under quite a lot of pressure. Sure, she had a bit of help, but you didn’t need a lot of imagination to know that it was hard to hit a bird flying at full speed with a gun.

So, most of it came down to her and it was very taxing on her mind. Every second or so, her eyes and focus would go back and forth between every single bird in her vision, twisting their neck within the split of a second.

The toll on her mind had already made her Fatigue Resistance level up twice. If it wasn’t for Allan carrying her on his back, she would have probably been unable to even walk.

Meanwhile, at the front of the formation, though still running toward the gym, were trying to find a way to fight the hobgoblin that stood in their way.

“Dan, are you sure this one is stronger than the last we fought?” Leis inquired as he sliced a goblin’s neck that had leaped in his direction.

“Yes, 100%.”

Leis’ expression darkened. Dealing with the hobgoblin in itself wasn’t a problem, but dealing with it while avoiding casualties was another story. They couldn’t just stop to fight it or they would be overwhelmed by the goblins and the eagles. As for the second entrance of the gym, it was on the west side of the building; too risky to get to.

Leis looked over his shoulder to see Flavia still taking out the eagles but you had to be blind to not see that she would soon her limit. As he was thinking, they had already reached the critical range before the hobgoblin started to attack.

He stopped the group around forty meters away from the hobgoblin that was using the broken door of the building to shield himself from the bullets.

“Sorry, Miss Jeina. Please hold out a little longer,” he whispered and raised his hand. “Concentrate fire on the hobgoblin. Temporarily ignore the eagles and throw whatever explosives you have left at this bastard!”

Within a single breath after his command, everyone had already changed their target while some who had still some explosives left had already pulled out their pin.

The hobgoblin exclaimed in shock when it saw the several objects being thrown at it and made an action purely based on its instinct and stepped back a few times before crouching behind the door it was holding.

The grenades exploded and black smoke shrouded the area for a few seconds. When it was dispersed, the green-skinned monster stood up angrily with nothing more than a small piece of metal in its hand; the remains of the door it was holding. A few shrapnel had managed to pierce its skin but other than that, it hadn’t received much damage.

The hobgoblin grabbed its spiked club and charged at the group with bloodshot eyes with a hand covering its eyes from the bullets flying its way. Its skin was incredibly thick and the bullets could only bruise it, sometimes drawing just a bit of blood.

Gantt winced as he watched the scene. He prepared himself to engage the monster when he heard a voice from behind him, “You! Big guy! Shield up!”

He blinked in confusion but he nonetheless crouched while putting his shield over his head. He then felt something land on it.

“Thanks,” Allan said and grinned. He lowered his body to jump and Gantt was smart enough to get the clue and help him gain momentum as he jumped.

The blond teen soared through the air for a moment before falling toward the hobgoblin with a fist reared up. His gloves glowed a little bit and when his fist hit the monster’s head, a shockwave was released and the large monster face-planted on the ground.

Allan himself was hurt by the recoil of his blow and rolled on the ground, gaining a few scratches in the process. He groaned when he finally could control his own body and hissed in pain as he held his arm.

Leis first thought that this was as good as done when he saw the clear path in front of him but that changed very quickly when he spotted three other hobgoblins running toward them from their left and as if things couldn’t get any worse, he also saw from the corner of his eyes Flavia holding her head in pain.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

The eagles promptly swarmed them and a few members of the gang were injured by their claws. They started shooting at them but one after another, the guns stopped firing and instead made a clicking sound, running out of ammunition. Then, because of the threat from above, the goblins also began to make some damage.

“Damn it!” Leis shouted. “Forget about fighting back! Run to the gym!”

Allan heard him and watched as some threw their weapon away and dashed toward the gym at full speed only to be hit in the back. He groaned as he stood, still holding his arm. He looked to the side to see Flavia desperately trying to re-activate. But her mind was so muddled that she couldn’t see an eagle directly aiming for her head.

His eyes widened. “Flavia!”

That’s when it happened.

“[Be Lost in Darkness. Let it grip your heart],” a disembodied voice echoed.

Allan felt a chill go down his spine and the next thing he knew, countless black objects fell from the sky and stabbed every eagle and goblin around. Alan blinked in shock and gaped at the blood raining along with the bodies it originated from.

The Wing Walkers also froze in shock and Leis looked at a certain silhouette that had appeared out of nowhere. Black long hair, crimson eyes, and a lithe figure wrapped in darkness.

“What are you waiting for?!” She hollered with a voice containing both grace and power. “Pick up your fallen comrades and shelter yourselves!” Her hands formed two short lances of darkness and she whirled them, decapitating two eagles in the process. She exhaled and spoke, “Do not let this miserable place be your grave…”