Obviously, to clear that damn cave I didn't need to do anything besides just entering and using one skill to disintegrate anything on my way until I reached the boss. But what fun that would be? Not to mention the fact that Tihana needed a finger flick in the nose for what she said.
So yeah, I called upon my powers, allowing the void essence to enter my veins. As they slowly turned black, making my skin grey, I fused with my shadow transforming the body completely.
My eyes went black and the smoke came out not only from my whole being but also, even for the most part, from my mouth.
People watched in shock as the metamorphosis happened, but that was only a prelude to the main show. And the main show started when the void essence began slipping into the world around us. It started slowly, with only a little bit of the dark smoke-like substance appearing in the air, but its presence was growing with every second.
Then everything explodes, starting from the place I was standing in, and the whole forest around us got consumed by the evershifting darkness pouring down straight from The Void itself. The horizon, mostly obscured by now dark trees, was completely blocked by raking walls of void essence that moved like a tornado in which center we happened to find ourselves.
? Everything I did made the light in the forest go dimmer, but even with such limitations, everybody was able to clearly understand what was going on.
I watched calmly as fear took over everybody but Tihana. They watched in shock as a substantial chunk of what I could do got revealed. I still had plenty of cards to show, the only question was if I wanted to show them, and if the answer was yes, then which ones should I pick?
The void-related powers seemed to be the safest pick, as I already was displaying some of them, so I just went for a little bit more by summoning an army of shadows, which began crawling from the ground.
I started slowly, by summoning the small ones, but then I sprinkled the bigger ones in form of fiends here and there, which immediately growled at everything living in the vicinity. They clearly were bloodthirsty, but my will was superior to theirs, so they had to obey and stay put.
As the jaws dropped, when an army of darkness surrounded our little group, I got encouraged to show them more of what I could do. The choice was obvious.
The ground shook slightly, signaling that something was coming, then suddenly it exploded away from us, further into the forest. I picked the direction where they would have a clear view of what was going on.
The soil got sprayed everywhere as from the underground a massive black hand emerged, throwing away the trees like they were sticks. The clawed hand of moloch reached for the sky, blocking even more light, and throwing a dark shadow over us, and then it dived down making people scream, rushing to find cover. It found a hold in the ground, digging deep, leaving marks, and crushing trees, which snapped like twigs under monstrous strength.
Then a second one emerged, causing even more fear, as it dived again, making the ground shake, as a low growl reached everybody's ears, making the air vibrate so much, you could feel it on your skin.
- Peteeeer! - Celestine screamed, pale as snow.
I ignored her, smirking with confidence, as I looked at Tihana. She definitely was impressed by the show but did a good job of hiding it. She reminded in her spot, with hands crossed on her chest, but was unable to say a thing.
I wouldn't even spot anything, but thanks to the 'Eyes of the Void' I was able to feel her heart racing like a muscle car.
- Daddy is going to hunt - I just threw at her, then turned towards the cave, where the army of goblins just rushed out from, looking for victims to tear apart.
This caused even more panic amount humans, but my shadows responded without hesitation, by charging at enemies.
The numbers were on my side, overwhelmingly, so my troop overpowered the green ones in a matter of seconds, pouring inside the cave like a whole ocean.
They charged from every direction, passing by me, and everybody else like a river around rocks. In this whole chaos, I slowly made my way inside, still remaining untouched by my troops, despite their rush to chase after the goblins.
It was filled with deep growls and screams of the monsters, especially the big ones. In contrast, I reminded clam, with my hands in my pockets, surrounded by the clouds of smoke, slowly stepping forward like nothing going on around me was a big deal.
Eventually, I vanished from the sight of the humans outside, and that was the time to stop the performance in favor of actually doing something, so I quickly cleared the whole thing utilizing my speed, and shadow walking.
Maybe two minutes later, enveloped in the void essence, with clouds of darkness pouring from my slightly open mouth, I emerged from the cave, making everybody hold their breaths again. After a few steps, I canceled the abilities, making the dark smoke disappear very fast.
Then I threw out the pail of crystals I collected and stored in my vault.
- Here. Split it evenly among yourselves - I said.
At first, there was no reaction. They needed a few seconds to process what just happened. Tihana was the first to react. She punched John in the shoulder, making him move toon, and they began slowly splitting the score into forty even little piles.
The rest reminded frozen, watching my every move. I ignored them, creating a throne of void essence for myself to sit on, as I watched my daughter work.
Quick glance at the faces of Leonel, Carmelita, and Celestine made me retreat the whole thing a little bit because they too were clearly scared of me thanks to the show I just made.