Chapter 228 It Stole My Shadow!?



Lyrian was taken aback in absolute awe and shock as he gazed at the fearsome beast in front of him. A foul beast, a vicious creature whose presence exuded a dangerous aura of annihilation.

It had three large heads on its thick neck, each of which was of a powerful dog or wolf that had razor-sharp teeth and drool simply showering out of it.

It possessed an overwhelmingly colossal physique, a terrifying sight to behold. Its body, colossal in stature, dwarfed all of the demons in its vicinity, casting a looming and dread-inducing shadow.

Its vein-filled, monstrous limbs were bulging with muscle, each cord and sinew rippling with raw, malevolent power. The sheer mass and maleficence of its form instilled an icy chill in the hearts of all who dared to gaze upon it, as though it were a nightmarish embodiment of primal terror and ferocity.

Lyrian was in awe of the beast, and couldn't help but think to himself, 'S-Scan...'

[Error! The target's power level is too high to completely Scan]

[Increasing your mastery of the Scan skill will enable you to scan individuals with higher power levels]

'I see... then just show me what you can.'

┏━━━Scan━━━┓

Name: Cerberus

Species: Unidentifiable

Age: Unidentifiable

Overall Power (OP): Unidentifiable

Health: Unidentifiable

Stamina: Unidentifiablenove.lb-1n

Strength: Unidentifiable

Agility: Unidentifiable

Defense: Unidentifiable

Rank: Unidentifiable

Special: Warden Of Purgatory

┗━━━━━━━━━┛

'Cerberus... I've heard of this beast before.' Lyrian thought to himself, still in a daze of astonishment. At that moment, the demons also halted, their grins from before having disappeared in an instant.

Cerberus dashed forward, grabbing the short demon in its mouth as it shook its heads violently. The demon was torn to shreds, as guts, blood, bones, and every other thing you could imagine flew out from the demon. In the end, it was left as a pile of meat and bones.

The other demons tried to flee, but their attempts were of no use. Cerberus quickly lunged towards each of them, tearing them to shreds in mere seconds. As it licked the blood around all three of its mouths with its three teeth, Lyrian noticed that this creature was the one following him all along.

The sound of the movement that made it jump in front of the gate was the exact same as the one Lyrian had been hearing throughout his entire journey. Now, he couldn't help but wonder why in the hell the beast was following him... literally!

He thought he was safe to think for a moment, but the beast turned his head and gazed at him out of nowhere, throwing him off.

'But... it blended in. Surely... it can't see me.' He thought to himself hesitantly, making direct eye contact with the beast.

'If he couldn't see me though... how did he follow me all this way?' As soon as Lyrian thought this, the beast leaped forward. It traveled so quickly that Lyrian didn't have any time to react.

Next thing he knew, Lyrian was back in his own body. He quickly looked around, feeling his heart pumping fast. After noticing that he was back to where he was in the barrier, he breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Just when he thought it was all over, however, Lyrian found himself thinking about what happened to him before he was caught by the Cerberus and suddenly saw vivid flashes of Purgatory in his mind.

He shook his head, clearing his mind of those thoughts. As soon as he did, the flashes stopped appearing. 'What in th--' He paused his thoughts, thinking of his shadow once again.

As soon as he began to think about that, flashes of imagery popped up in his head again, almost as if they were real visions seen by him, except, he wasn't seeing them. Right now, he was still in the barrier.

He closed his eyes, fully focusing on his shadow. At that moment, his vision suddenly transferred back to the vision of his shadow, which seemed to still be out there.

Currently, it was being carried in the mouth of Cerberus.

'What!? How is it still there, even though it's disconnected from my consciousness?' He thought to himself in utter shock. He was also confused about how the beast was carrying his shadow.

'It must be because it has power over souls, and a shadow is quite similar to one... that's the best I can think of. Otherwise, my shadow shouldn't be able to be carried.' Lyrian thought to himself in distress.

He opened his eyes, not thinking about his shadow for a moment as he stood up. He slowly looked down at the ground near his feet, where his shadow was supposed to be.

A painful, shocked, and overall confused expression overcame his face...

"Where the hell is my shadow!?" He exclaimed in bewilderment. "I can't believe this... that damn beast actually stole it! It stole my shadow!"

Closing his eyes, he thought about his shadow again. When he switched to the shadow's vision this time, he wasn't in the mouth of Cerberus anymore but was instead trapped inside of a giant cell, with purple-colored metal bars making it impossible for him to escape.

'I have the vision of my shadow... I should still be able to move.' Lyrian thought to himself, attempting to go forward. However, his shadow figure did not budge an inch.

Instead, his real-life body leaned forward a little. 'Damn it... I still only have control over my real body... what if I try to use the skill again?' He asked before saying, "Shadow."

...

Nothing happened.

[Currently, the Shadow skill is unable to be used due to the absence of your shadow]

"Yeah... that makes sense." He quietly muttered under his breath, slightly annoyed. Just then, his Shadow suddenly began to move in the cell. This was not his doing, so it surprised him when he first saw this.

'What? Is it moving without me? Does it have a conscience of its own?' He asked rhetorically in confusion, not expecting to be answered.

[Correct]