Chapter 472: Shadow (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 472: Shadow (2)
This was his domain.
A domain crafted to his exact liking, using an Divine Authority granted to him directly by a god.
A cruel land that offered him every advantage while giving his opponent nothing.
Every target he had ever lured here had met their end, without exception.
He never considered whether his target was weak or strong.
Isn't there a saying that a lion uses its full strength even when hunting a single rabbit?
He was quite fond of that saying.
After all, if he underestimated his opponent and failed the assassination, he would have to hunt the same target twice.
‘And there’s nothing more tedious than that.’
He hated tedious things.
Doing the same job two or three times was even worse.
This domain was his best and most perfect move.
This job was no different.
-“Go and kill Kim Do-jin.”
He had stepped onto Korean soil, saddled with this annoying mission.
In the process, he researched his opponent's strengths and the best places to set his traps. He had studied him endlessly, and today, he finally put his plan into action.
His target had thrashed about more violently than expected, but the outcome remained unchanged.
“Ah, you fight like a real son of a bitch…”
The highest of praise, coming from his opponent.
Every person he had targeted spat out those same words before they died.
For him, it was practically a sign of victory.
He gave the command to his shadows with an emotionless expression.
‘Kill him.’
The shadows began to move.
All 999 of them, having finally broken their opponent's will, advanced to kill a single human.
Swish!
The first shadow to reach him raised a dagger and plunged it toward the crown of his head.
But then, something strange happened.
Schlurp!
With that bizarre sound, the shadow vanished.
Was it taken out by a counterattack?
‘No.’
When a shadow is destroyed by an enemy's attack, it returns to my side. To be precise, the power of the Divine Authority I used to project its form returns to me.
But the number of shadows had clearly decreased, yet no power had returned.
What in the world was going on?
‘Stop.’
Feeling an unexplainable sense of dread, he halted the shadows' advance.
Then, he gave a separate command to the single shadow closest to Kim Do-jin.
‘Attack.’
The moment the order was given, the shadow shot through the darkness.
Just as it raised the large axe in its hand high into the air, preparing to strike—
The man, the Shadow Walker, saw it.
Schlurp!
He saw his shadow being absorbed into his opponent's body.
“……!”
The man's eyes widened in disbelief.
How could this be?
As his mind reeled in confusion at the sight—something he had never seen before—
“Hehehe… Why didn't I think of this sooner?”
A strange laugh escaped from the lips of Kim Do-jin, the man whose will he thought he had broken.
He realized it too late.
He had been too hasty.
‘It’s not over.’
His opponent's will wasn't broken.
No, to be precise, the will that had been half-broken was now reforged and aimed squarely at him.
And he now possessed a completely unknown means of eliminating his shadows.
‘Fall back!’
Just as he hastily tried to pull the shadows back.
Shwaaa!
A black haze shimmered up from Kim Do-jin's body.
An aura blacker, darker, rougher, and fiercer than his own domain.
An energy that could only be described as utterly ferocious.
Schlurp!
It seized a portion of the retreating shadows and violently dragged them in.
Chomp! Chomp!
Every shadow that was pulled in vanished without a trace.
To be precise.
‘It ate… my energy…?’
They were devoured.
The number of shadows, which had dropped from 999 to 998, fell once more.
The remaining number was 888.
Having devoured a staggering 111 of his shadows by some unknown method, Kim Do-jin opened his mouth wide.
“Buuurp.”
A foul belch.
Catching an unknown scent from it, the man shuddered, a faint terror gripping him.
* * *
I had forgotten.
Sword and magic.
That besides those, I possessed another powerful ability.
No, I could never forget its existence.
How could I not be aware of its heavy presence, one that made itself known in any and every situation?
I had merely been ignoring it for a while.
Ever since I joined the organization called the Guardians.
And ever since I learned that Seo-yeon had become the Apostle of Temperance in my place.
I had spent more time worrying about how to hide this power than how to use it.
It was only natural.
The risk of being discovered was far too great.
Normally, hiding it would be the right thing to do. Especially now, not long after joining the Guardians and still unable to grasp the Saintess's true intentions.
But this place was different.
Sound, sight, and smell.
I finally realized that in this place, where all senses were consumed by the opponent's Divine Authority, I could use this power as much as I wanted.
“Gluttony.”
I awakened the monster that slumbered within.
A vicious, savage energy spread like wildfire, its tongue lashing out toward the surrounding shadows.
Schlurp!
The opponent's power was devoured as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
I couldn't steal the source that generated the energy.
But I could devour as much of the energy that stemmed from that source as I wanted.
Just like now.
Slurp-!
Perhaps it was pleased with its first meal in a long time.
The moment I gave it permission, Gluttony swung its massive tongue, dragging all the nearby shadows into its maw.
Rip!
Chomp! Chomp!
The energies were crushed and mangled by sharp teeth, then absorbed.
Having consumed a considerable amount, I quickly felt full.
[You are in a Predation State.]
This was both a sign that my power had reached its peak and a warning.
A warning that if I coveted any more food, it would backfire on me.
“Hoo…”
My wounds were healing.
My lost stamina was rapidly replenishing.
But it wasn't enough.
If I went back to fighting in this state, the result would just be the same endless loop.
I would cut down the shadows mercilessly, only to watch them regenerate and fall into despair.
I couldn't let that happen.
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
When you're fighting a son of a bitch, you have to become a son of a bitch yourself.
As I roused Gluttony once more, it stirred again as if in delight.
My body was the only thing feeling full.
The beast, concerned only with eating and tasting, simply welcomed the opportunity.
Slurp.
Its tongue flicked out again, tasting the air in anticipation.
Of course, this was just the form I perceived.
In reality, it would look like a black haze was abducting the shadows.
Snatch!
Grab!
Seeing their comrades being devoured before them, the other shadows began to back away quickly.
From their chaotic movements, I realized something.
My opponent was utterly bewildered.
[You are in a Predation State!]
[You are in a Predation State!]
[Predation…!]
Ignoring the red warning flashing before my eyes, I let a smile grace my lips.
The energy of the beast, now filling my body to the brim, was beginning to harm me.
I was starting to get a little scared.
I'd gone into this with a ‘you die, I die’ mentality, but at this rate, I might actually die…
But a bluff, once started, must be seen through to the end.
Instead, I slowed Gluttony's pace slightly and thought.
A way to break through this situation.
Then, looking at the clearly visible shadows, an idea came to me.
“…How is he giving them orders?”
After swallowing their energy, one thing became certain.
The main body commanding all these shadows wasn't actually here.
That meant he was giving orders from somewhere far away.
But by what means were those orders being delivered?
“Hmm.”
There's a saying: you see as much as you know.
Now that my body was filled with that indigo mana, the outlines of things that had been blurry just moments ago began to sharpen.
The viscosity of the energy, almost like a sticky liquid.
Through this, the domain and the shadows moving within it were all connected.
That connection must surely extend to the main body as well.
In other words, if I could find that channel of connection, I could trace it back to my opponent's location.
The problem was how to do it.
The answer was simpler than I thought.
“…I just have to connect to it, too?”
All I had to do was include myself in that chain of connection.
The energy they shared was now abundant within me.
If I could coat my body with it, make them mistake me for a shadow, and establish a link…
Wouldn't the main body's commands be delivered directly to me as well?
And as a bonus, I'd find out where those commands were coming from.
“Alright, good.”
I didn't know the answer for sure.
I had only glimpsed a possibility.
So now, it was time to find out.
[Deactivating the Domain of the Ruler.]
I let down my guard.
I manipulated the energy that was crashing around inside my circuits.
I coated myself with it, making myself appear not as an outsider to this domain, but as a part of it.
My hands and feet began to darken.
Soon, my entire body was covered in the indigo mana, transforming me into a shadow-like figure.
I could feel my body slowly breaking down.
Of course. I was wrapping myself in another's energy, not my own, and without even activating my Domain of the Ruler. It was only natural that my body would be attacked.
But apart from that, the energy faithfully opened a path.
I could hear it.
-“Fall back.”
The opponent's panicked voice.
-“What… are you doing right now?”
A question directed at my blackened form.
I traced the transmitted thought back to its source, gauging his position relative to mine.
Through this, I learned something I hadn't known.
“…This wasn't just a simple domain.”
The shadows hadn't risen up from the ground.
I had been dragged into a world where shadows exist.
Likewise, he hadn't covered the world with indigo mana.
“You projected it.”
He projected it onto the existing world.
He had forcibly dragged out the shadows that should have only existed beneath our feet, under the ground, and overlaid them onto the world.
That was why hundreds of shadows could run rampant.
Once I understood the concept, his location became perfectly clear.
Outside the overlaid world.
He was inside a long limousine parked there.
Lying down in a very comfortable position, no less.
His panicked voice reached me.
-“You, how did you…?”
He had realized it, too.
The fact that I had reverse-engineered the connection he used to command his shadows to pinpoint his location.
It couldn't be helped.
This wasn't something I could do while hiding it from the master of the connection.
So I had to move fast.
The world before my eyes.
I roughly tore at the shadow that was draped over the original world and warned him.
“You'd better run hard enough to get a heat rash.”
The world began to crumble rapidly from just a single sliver of light seeping in.
As I stepped out of that place, I continued.
“Don't get caught so easily and regret it later.”