Another chain lunged at him from the side.
Riley’s eyes flickered, his smirk widening.
He twisted his wrist and slashed again, the dagger’s edge coated with swirling shadow aura.
CLANG!
WHOOSH!
The chain shattered into nothingness, the smoke dispersing into the air.
He pressed onward, his movents sharp and effortless, his figure weaving through the onslaught of writhing shadows.
His body seed to cut the darkness itself apart, leaving trails of dissolving smoke in his wake.
’That might have been true in my past life... but no more.’ he thought, clenching his teeth as mories raced through his mind.
In his past life, the power of darkness wielded by the demons gave them hell.
It was the bane of everything they had. Every attack they launched, it swallowed whole. Every defense they tried, it crushed apart like paper.
Blocking was nearly impossible, and trying to deflect it was even worse, as darkness consud everything in its path.
The only way to overwhelm the annoying elent was by using an attack far stronger than it, which was very stressful.
He had seen it firsthand, over and over again. How the demon armies tore through players using their dark abilities.
It was similar to how the darkness was reacting to his shadow aura, like it was being repelled by it.
But there had always been one elent that could truly cut through darkness like a blade through flesh.
Light.
Riley’s expression darkened, his jaw tightening.
That had been one of Terry’s talent effects; Light Manipulation.
It was what they mostly depended on when going up against the demons. Light had been their one saving grace against the abyss that swallowed all else.
But Riley... Riley had learned sothing new.
Sothing that shattered the old understanding of power.
After fighting his shadow clone, after facing his own abilities turned against him, he had realized the truth.
Shadow wasn’t weaker than darkness. Shadow was stronger.
His chest swelled with sothing sharp, sothing electric.
The realization hamred into his bones, into his veins, into the very aura that danced around him.
The strongest elental power wasn’t darkness or light, it was shadow!
The hierarchy had shifted. Shadow reigned first. Darkness second. Light third.
[Lunge Level up!]
[Skill "Lunge" now level 4!]
[Shadow Shroud level up!]
[Skill "Shadow Shroud" now level 2!]
[Your connection with the shadow has grown stronger!]
Notifications suddenly flashed before his eyes, causing Riley to chuckle smugly.
The sound carried through the air, a sharp, cocky laugh that made the demon’s crimson eyes twitch with irritation.
But what thrilled Riley wasn’t the growth of [Lunge]. No, that was useful, but not what made his blood boil with excitent.
It was [Shadow Shroud].
And the ssage that followed it.
[Your connection with the shadow has grown stronger!]
He could feel it. The power surged through his veins like molten fire, except colder—colder than ice, darker than night.
His muscles thrumd with vitality. His senses sharpened even more. His entire body scread with strength.
The boost from [Shadow Shroud] had increased, and the difference was like night and day.
His attributes were sharper. His aura was heavier. Even his daggers humd with an eager, bloodthirsty resonance, like predators begging to be unleashed.
He exhaled once, letting the surge of shadow sink deeper into his core.
Then, slowly, deliberately, he stretched both daggers outward, pointing them directly at the demon.
The aura around him reacted instantly, flaring violently.
The shadows clung to him as if alive, before tearing free in a rush.
They surged down his arms, through his wrists, and poured from his hands like liquid black fire.
The darkness didn’t disperse wildly—it bent. It sharpened.
It ford shape.
One spear. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Five long, sharp spears of condensed shadow spun into existence, their tips gleaming with deadly sharpness, their bodies writhing with cold, living aura.
Each spear hovered beside him, the air vibrating under their presence, as if reality itself rejected the sheer density of power he had summoned.
The demon’s eyes widened, a flicker of sothing unfamiliar flashing across his face.
Disbelief.
The demon’s instincts scread. His crimson eyes flared with malice as he thrust both arms forward, summoning his darkness with reckless urgency.
VOOOMMM!!
A thick wall of swirling darkness erupted before him, like a massive shield conjured from the abyss itself.
The wall stretched wide and tall, its surface shifting like a living tide, ready to devour whatever ca its way.
His jaw clenched, his sharp teeth gnashing together in fury.
’This... fucking human!’ he snarled inwardly, his thoughts dripping with venom.
He braced himself for impact, expecting the volley of shadow spears to hamr into the wall at any mont.
His darkness shuddered, reinforced and strengthened under his will.
But the attack never ca.
Seconds stretched like hours. The battlefield was silent, save for the faint hum of shadows dancing in the air.
The demon’s eyes narrowed, a flicker of confusion flashing in their crimson depths. His brow furrowed.
’Where—?’
The answer ca instantly.
From behind.
Four shadow spears suddenly erupted from the ground behind him, tearing upward from strange purplish black pools on the ground.
"—!!"
His eyes widened, shock flashing across his face as his instincts roared with alarm. He spun around, darkness coiling at his command, his body moving to evade.
However, it was already too late.
Three of the spears slamd into him with brutal force, piercing through his body with sickening precision.
One drove straight into his chest, just below his heart. The other two ramd into his abdon, tearing flesh and muscle as if they were nothing.
—3349! [Critical Hit!]
—4120! [Critical Hit!]
The system notifications rang out coldly as blood spurted from his wounds in violent bursts.
His breath caught in his throat, and a guttural grunt of pain ripped past his lips, the sound harsh and animalistic.
His knees bent under the impact, his form staggering.
His wall of darkness collapsed, dispersing into nothing as his focus shattered.
But the assault wasn’t done.
The fourth spear shot forward with lethal precision, hissing through the air as it aid straight for his throat.
The demon’s instincts flared once again, and he jerked sideways desperately.
"SSHHHK!"
The spear missed his centerline by a hair, but not entirely.
Instead of tearing through the front of his neck, it plunged into the side, ripping through flesh and bursting out the other end with a spray of hot blood.
—2100!
His crimson eyes bulged. The pain wracked his body like fire, his hands clawing at his side as more blood stread down his torso.
And then... realization.
His eyes widened even further, horror flashing in them as a cold truth slamd into him.
’There were five...’ he mumbled inwardly.
There had been five spears. He had only accounted for four.
The last one had been silent. Waiting.
And now it moved.
FWOOOM!!
The fifth spear erupted from the ground behind him like a predator pouncing on prey, streaking through the air toward his head with terrifying speed.
The demon tried to twist, his muscles screaming, his aura flaring, his body jerking wildly.
But it was already too late.
Spurt!
The spear pierced through the back of his skull, the sharp tip bursting out from the center of his forehead with a wet, horrific crunch.
Blood and fragnts sprayed outward as his body jerked violently.
—5120! [Critical Hit!]
The system notification rang like a death knell.
The demon’s mouth opened, but no sound ca.
His crimson eyes flickered, their glow dimming rapidly as his body trembled, spears of shadow jutting from his chest, abdon, neck, and now his skull.
His body sagged forward, impaled and broken, the aura of darkness that once surrounded him unraveling like smoke in the wind.
Blood poured freely from his chest, his abdon, his neck, even from the gaping wound in his forehead where the last spear jutted out grotesquely.
His breathing was ragged, every inhale scraping against his by throat like broken glass.
And yet, amidst that haze of pain, realization dawned.
His eyes twitched open wider as the truth hit him like a hamr.
’This... this was his plan from the start...’ he thought. ’That fucking... disgusting human...’
He gnashed his teeth, a growl vibrating deep in his throat despite the blood clogging it.
Riley had never once shown his true hand in the beginning.
The human had attacked relentlessly, yes, but with only one thod—those damn shadow slashes.
Again and again, Riley had hurled them, filling the demon’s mind with the assumption that this was all he could do.
That shadow slashes were his main and only trick.
It had been deliberate. Calculated.
The demon had fallen for it.
Because of that false impression, he had decided to keep himself distanced from Riley, thinking that staying away from the boy’s daggers and reacting quickly to those slashes would guarantee his survival.
But Riley... Riley had lured him into that false sense of security like a beast waiting in the dark.
The demon’s lips curled in fury even as blood poured down his chin. He never expected this... not from a human... not from him.
And yet, that was precisely why he had fallen into the trap.
His hands trembled at his sides, his claws twitching weakly.
Blood cascaded down his body in streams, pooling beneath his feet. He was barely standing, only the stubborn weight of his fury keeping his legs from collapsing beneath him.
His vision dimd further. His breaths ca shallow. His body felt heavier than stone.
And then—
The air split behind him with a silent gust, causing the demon’s instincts to scream in wary.
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