Chapter 18: Shadow Tendrils

Cassian tightened his grip around the Refined ★★★ Bone Blade.

​With a thought, mana surged from his body as a pale layer of energy wrapped itself tightly around the sword’s edge.

​Aura Blade.

​As a Lord, he possessed a unique advantage: through the soul link connecting him to his summons, he could utilize their Skills and Authorities. However, having access to them and mastering them were two entirely different things.

​Skills required muscle memory and practice. Authorities required deep comprehension. Simply possessing access didn’t mean he inherently understood their nuances.

​For now, Aura Blade was more than enough. It was straightforward, since all he had to do was pour mana into a weapon to amplify its cutting power. With his Infinite Mana, maintaining the skill indefinitely required zero effort.

The Shadowfang Wolves sensed the sudden threat, and their lingering hesitation vanished. In the next instant, the entire pack lunged simultaneously

​Nyxara moved first.

​She stepped directly in front of Cassian, her violet eyes glowing with a cold, spectral light.

Living Darkness.

​Instantly, the shadows behind the charging beasts twisted unnaturally, rising from the earth like living creatures. Six tendrils of solid darkness shot forward.

​Thump! Thump! Thump!

​The hind legs of six wolves were seized mid-air, their forward momentum instantly betraying them.

​Before they could recover, Nyxara vanished.

​Her figure blurred forward, the crescent blade of her scythe sweeping through the darkness in a gleaming arc.

​SHHK!

​A head soared into the air as black, corrosive blood sprayed across the dead grass.

​[+14 Experience]

[+30 Lord Coins]

​The remaining five beasts caught in the shadows were violently hurled backward, their heavy bodies crashing into the ground and rolling across the dirt. Nyxara pursued them instantly, the darkness beneath her feet exploding outward.

​Meanwhile, four wolves had successfully bypassed her, charging straight toward Cassian.

​The Lord smiled.

​The lead hound lunged at his throat. Instead of retreating, Cassian stepped into the attack, years of ingrained combat experience taking over. His foot slid diagonally as his body rotated, letting the beast sail harmlessly past his shoulder.

​Aura Blade flashed.

​SHHK!

​The hound split cleanly in half, the glowing aura slicing through flesh and bone with zero resistance.

​[+14 Experience]

[+30 Lord Coins]

​The second beast immediately followed, its jaws snapping toward his arm. Cassian pivoted smoothly around the strike, bringing his blade up from below.

​SHHK!

​The lower jaw separated from the skull. Before the creature could recover, Cassian reversed his grip and drove the bone sword straight through its eye socket.

​[+14 Experience]

[+30 Lord Coins]

​Two remained. This time, they coordinated their strike, one lunging from the front and the other from his left.

​Cassian’s movements became even smoother. Rather than meeting force with force, he repositioned with a quick sidestep and a sharp half-turn. The first hound’s body collided with the second’s path, shattering their coordination.

​Cassian capitalized instantly. Aura surged through his sword until the blade hummed with power.

​SHRAAAK!

​The nearest hound lost its head before it hit the ground.

​[+14 Experience]

[+30 Lord Coins]

​The final creature hesitated, fear flickering in its green soul fire. For the first time, it realized the prey before it wasn’t weak.

​Unfortunately, realization came too late.

​Cassian lunged, his sword thrusting forward as Aura Blade pierced straight through the beast’s skull. The creature collapsed instantly.

​[+14 Experience]

[+30 Lord Coins]

​Across the battlefield, Nyxara’s fight was already over.

​The five hounds she had flung away had attempted to regroup, but they never got the chance. Shadow tendrils erupted beneath them, one beast was dragged into the dark earth and crushed, another found its legs bound before Nyxara’s scythe removed its head, and a third attempted to flee, only for its own shadow to rise and wrap around its neck.

​Crack.

​Its spine snapped instantly.

​The remaining two charged desperately, but Nyxara met them head-on. Her scythe danced through the night with elegant, terrifying precision. One sweeping arc, two severed heads, two corpses.

​[+70 Experience]

[+150 Lord Coins]

​The shadows slowly settled back into the ground. Nyxara twirled her scythe once before resting it against her shoulder.

​Around them lay ten corpses. Not a single wound marked either Lord or Champion.

​Cassian glanced across the quiet battlefield, then at the floating notification logs. Finally, a satisfied smile touched his lips.

​"A good start."

​And judging by the sheer density of beasts inhabiting the Umbralwood... they were only getting started.

....

Several minutes later, Cassian found himself questioning whether the Graveshade Expanse was truly a Death Zone.

​After all the stories he had heard over the years, the reality before him felt... underwhelming.

Death Zones were supposed to be nightmares, places where even seasoned Lords proceeded with utmost caution, regions where countless terrifying creatures lurked in the darkness, capable of reducing entire armies to corpses.

They were lands so horrific that countless Lords developed lifelong trauma after barely escaping with their lives.

​Yet since leaving the protection barrier, neither he nor Nyxara had encountered anything remotely threatening, most especially him.

​In his previous life, he had spent considerable time in Safe Zones. Even those hadn’t felt this easy.

​Of course, Cassian didn’t allow himself to become complacent. Easy battles often bred overconfidence, and overconfidence got people killed. Just because the situation appeared favorable now didn’t mean it would remain so. Anything could happen at a moment’s notice.

​Thus, he maintained his vigilance as he and Nyxara ventured deeper into the Umbralwood.

​Along the way, they encountered far more than Shadowfang Wolves. Duskmantle Panthers emerged from the darkness, Nightshade Serpents slithered through the undergrowth, and flocks of Umbral Bats occasionally descended from the black canopy overhead.

​The panthers proved little different from the wolves: fast, dangerous, but ultimately irrelevant. Most were dispatched before they could even mount a proper attack.

​The serpents and bats, however, were significantly more troublesome.

​Or rather... annoying.

​The Nightshade Serpents possessed natural camouflage, their scales blending perfectly with the dark environment of the Umbralwood. Meanwhile, the Umbral Bats refused to fight fairly, constantly remaining airborne while harassing them from above.

​Fortunately, Nyxara was by his side.

​The undead elf’s senses were extraordinary. Hidden serpents were quickly detected before they could launch ambushes, and as for the bats... shadow tendrils would erupt from nearby darkness, dragging them screaming from the sky before Nyxara’s scythe ended their lives.

​In truth, the creatures weren’t dangerous, only irritating.

​Watching another bat get violently pulled from the air, Cassian couldn’t help but think:

​’When I have time, I’ll ask her to teach me how to properly utilize her Authority.’

​The more he observed Nyxara, the more impressed he became. Her Authority wasn’t merely powerful; it was absurdly versatile. She could sense shadows, manipulate them, extend them, shape them, and use them offensively, defensively, or for scouting. The potential applications seemed endless.

​Yet one thing puzzled him.

​Throughout their journey, Nyxara consistently utilized the exact same construct: shadow tendrils. Always tendrils, never weapons, beasts, or barriers.

​Eventually, curiosity won out.

​"Nyxara."

​The undead elf immediately turned toward him. "Yes, my Lord?"

​"Why do you only use tendril constructs?" Cassian asked, pacing alongside her. "Wouldn’t it be better to create other forms as well?"

​The moment the question left his mouth, Nyxara’s expression shifted, and she immediately lowered her head.

​"My Lord, I apologize for my inadequacy."

​Cassian blinked. Before she could spiral further into self-deprecation, he raised a hand.

​"Hold on. I’m asking for an explanation, not complaining. I assume there’s a practical reason for it."

​Nyxara paused, then slowly nodded. "Yes, my Lord."

​Cassian studied her expression. Despite maintaining her usual stoic demeanor, a trace of regret flickered in her violet eyes. It was the look of someone who genuinely believed they had failed to meet expectations.

​Combined with her lowered pointed ears and slightly averted gaze, the normally composed Champion appeared surprisingly endearing, especially because she seemed completely unaware of it.

​"My Lord..." she began, "the reason is my limited mana supply."

​Cassian’s eyebrows rose slightly. Mana? That wasn’t the answer he had expected.

​Nyxara continued. "Shadow tendrils consume the least amount of mana while providing the greatest level of control. More complex constructs require exponentially greater amounts of energy. For example, creating a shadow spear consumes approximately five times more mana than a tendril of equal size, and a shadow beast would consume even more."

​She looked down at her palm, dark mist gathering briefly around her pale fingers before dispersing.

​"At my current level, conserving mana is necessary. If I exhaust my reserves recklessly, my Authority will become unusable."

​Understanding instantly dawned on Cassian.