They had finally arrived within the realm of the Shadahi and the lack of life was disturbing. There were trees with no leaves growing out of them, only rotten branches that looked as though they were ready to fall off at any moment now. In the distance, a river was flowing throughout what seemed to be the entirety of the realm, however, there was no clear water inside the river but rather a thick red liquid that resembled blood.

The sight before them made the group feel uneasy. Izroth, on the other hand, had seen many worlds within the seven realms that made this place look like a utopia and so he was not bothered by it as the others were. ​​

"How can anything survive in a world like this?" Halls was curious because there did not seem to be any kind of vegetation or even normal beast running around, it looked completely deserted.

Luna furrowed her brows, "The Shadahi are demons according to Tererestiaa, therefore they may not necessarily need the same things we do to survive. After all, some creatures evolve over time to adapt to their surroundings. I do not understand the full backstory of these creatures, but we can at the very least expect them to be strong having to live in this hell".

Izroth was scanning the environment and far off in the distance, he noticed a large palace. Others may not be able to see it from their current position, but thanks to having reached the second stage of the 'Heavenly Golden Body' Izroth had no troubles doing so.

"There's a tremendously powerful aura of oppression coming from that palace..." Izroth thought to himself. While everyone was busy taking in their new surroundings Izroth finally spoke, "We're on a time limit and have to move out. There's a palace located not too far from here in that direction" Izroth pointed over to the west of their current position. "There's a high chance we may find some answers there".

Everyone looked over in the distance where Izroth pointed to but they did not see any palace at all.

Scarlet frowned and had her doubts because she could not see anything at all where he was pointing at.

Halls began to walk the way that Izroth pointed, even though he could not see what Izroth saw he would trust Izroth's words. It wasn't that Halls blindly followed his commands, but he knew during the period of time they've spent together that Izroth had yet to be wrong in guiding them.

Halls led the way through the wasteland with Izroth following next to him and Luna in the rear along with Scarlet.

After traveling for 5 minutes, they heard a low growling sound from up ahead.

Halls immediately went on full guard as he began to step forward little by little until the creature growling finally came into sight. "What is that thing...?"

The creature had dark red skin with piercing crimson eyes. Sharp teeth filled their mouth with row upon row, their claws looked as deadly as a blade, and it was over two meters tall!

Rooooooooooooooragh!

The monster before them released an ear-piercing battle roar as they charged forward at full speed wanting to run straight through Halls.

Name: Lesser Shadahi Patroller(Elite)

Level: 16

HP: 5,000/5,000

ATK: 400

DEF: 75

AGI: 100

MAG: 200

Skills:

Demonic Flames(Active): Fires off a deadly demonic flame dealing 200% of its magic as damage. Has a chance to inflict a 'Burning' effect on the struck target.

Demonic Charge(Active): Rushes in a straight line while increasing their agility by 100% during their charge and deals 150% of their attack as damage to the struck target. If the target is hit from behind they will be stunned for 2 seconds.

Grasp of the Nether(Active): Locks onto and pulls any single enemy within 15 meters directly in front of them.

Shadahi World Blessing(Passive): If a Shadahi is within their own realm they cannot die. Instead, they will enter a state of deep soul slumber and eventually regenerate within 1 day.

Physical Resistance(Passive): Reduces all physical damage it takes by 10%. This counts as physical defense.

Magic Resistance(Passive): Reduces all magic damage it takes by 10%. This counts as magical defense.

It couldn't die while inside this realm? Then would they even receive any rewards from it? That was the thought on the minds of the party when they saw its skill 'Shadahi World Blessing'.

Halls reacted swiftly, holding his shield up in front of him and activating the skill 'Taunting Aura' so that the 'Lesser Shadahi Patroller' would focus on him. It was moving so fast that Halls was relying mostly on pure instinct to respond. He swung his 'Shadow Fang Sword' out to retaliate against the creature.

BLOCKED!

-250 HP!

1,250/1,500 HP Remaining! (Halls)

-59 HP!

4,941/5,000 HP Remaining! (Lesser Shadahi Patroller)

The Shadahi did not stop there though, as pitch black flames formed in the palm of its hand and it punched right at Halls causing him to slide back and take a large amount of damage! Halls could not help but feel extremely frustrated by his lack of damage. However, he understood that when he reached level 20 that would be when his class started to truly shine. Although he had a few damage skills, most of them required specific circumstances to do any real damage.

-400 HP!

850/1,500 HP Remaining! (Halls)

What a deadly assault! In just a few moments Halls lost almost half of his HP from two attacks alone.

Luna cast a new skill she picked up when visiting the cleric class teacher in Amaharpe. 'Healing Essence' and instantly after that, she cast the 'Cure' skill on Halls as well.

Skill Name: Healing Essence

Skill Level: 1/4

Skill Rank: C

Requirements: Level 12 Cleric

Mana Cost: 70

Cast Time: Instant

Active: Heals an allied target for 10% of the user's 'Healing Factor' +2% of the allied target's max HP every 3 seconds for 15 seconds.

Cooldown: 25 seconds

+75 HP!

+225 HP!

1,150/1,500 HP Remaining! (Halls)

At the exact same time that the Shadahi struck Halls with its 'Demonic Flames', Izroth had already unsheathed his 'Nameless Blade' and around it was a light milky blue aura accompanied by an oppressive force. He was using 'First Baneful Sword: Destruction' along with 'Sword Aura' and aimed at the small opening on the neck of the Shadahi.

However, the Shadahi did not try to dodge and instead took the attack head-on. In doing so it managed to prevent its neck from being hit... Or so it thought.

Izroth adjusted his swing mid-air changing its trajectory. It was as though his sword could bend and twist to find its way through the enemy defenses. Having encountered so many battles thus far, Izroth was finally getting used to his new body and was able to move much more freely within it. He thought to himself, "I feel as though I'm not far from completely adjusting to this new body... The 'Heavenly Golden Body' sped up the process much faster than I believed it originally would..." The tip of Izroth's 'Nameless Blade' slid across the neck of the 'Lesser Shadahi Patroller' and forced it to jump back and distance itself.

Critical Hit!

-2,201 HP!

2,740/5,000 HP Remaining! (Lesser Shadahi Patroller)

Everyone's jaws nearly dropped to the floor when they saw the damage number... That was over 2,000 damage! Izroth was only level 12 and already dealt much more damage than a level 15 mage like Scarlet. Maybe even players at level 20 would not be able to compete with that amount of damage!

Scarlet eyes widened when she saw that number and her face turned extremely gloomy. She could no longer keep trying to make excuses and convince herself that he was just lucky or a little skilled. With that one strike, it was probably enough to kill any player on the server in one hit at the moment!

Scarlet knew that if she fought against Izroth even with the help of the other 3 members, even though they were an overall higher level it would be a complete massacre. She was grinding her teeth out of frustration. "That guy better be thankful for this... I swear he'll owe me next time!" Scarlet thought to herself as a spear engulfed in flames appeared in front of her. "Flaming Spear!" the spear flew out towards the 'Lesser Shadahi Patroller' piercing it through and causing it to roar out in more pain. At the same time, Scarlet tapped her staff against the ground lightly using the skill 'Ignite' to light the body of the Shadahi on fire.

Rooooooooooargh!

-483 HP!

-70 HP!

2,187/5,000 HP Remaining! (Lesser Shadahi Patroller)

The 'Lesser Shadahi Patroller' was enraged by how much damage it had taken in such a brief period of time. It raised its right hand forward and dark purple aura appeared around it forming into a demonic purple claw of pure energy. This claw shot out towards Izroth and pulled him directly in front of the Shadahi.

Even though Izroth saw the skill coming, for some reason it was as though he could not avoid it. There was some kind of force of suppression that locked him into place as the claw grabbed him. Soon as Izroth appeared in front of the creature it lashed out aiming to tear Izroth into little pieces. Halls may have used 'Taunting Aura' to pull the aggro onto him earlier, but 2,000 damage was just too much and made Izroth the main focus of the Shadahi now.

Halls was feeling gloomy at the moment. The worse thing a tank could do is not maintain aggro after they had it. But how could anyone think of blaming Halls for losing aggro? Izroth's damage was simply too high for him to do anything about this early into the game. After all, the skills he currently possessed to draw in aggro were limited.

Izroth did not panic when the Shadahi pulled him in using it's 'Grasp of the Nether' skill. Just as its claw was about to tear into Izroth's body he vanished into thin air.

Everyone was surprised when they saw Izroth disappear. Were Combat Masters also capable of learning stealth skills like rogues?

The skill Izroth used was 'Shadow Movement'. It wasn't that he vanished, but rather he turned into a shadow and successfully evaded the incoming attack.

The 'Lesser Shadahi Patroller' seemed to be confused as to where its target went. But since it currently had no target, it turned its attention back to Halls who was the second highest on its threat list and rushed straight towards him using its 'Demonic Charge' skill.

However, midway during its rush, a shadow appeared at its back forming into a person. A blurry streak flashed across the back of the creature resembling a snake quickly biting into its prey.

Izroth exited from his shadow form early and used the skill 'Serpent's Bite'. With his agility increased from using 'Shadow Movement', he was able to easily catch up to the 'Lesser Shadahi Patroller' in the middle of its charge and stop it dead in its tracks.

-54 HP!

-70 HP! (Scarlet's Ignite)

2,063/5,000 HP Remaining! (Lesser Shadahi Patroller)

Battle Alert: Player Izroth has 'Paralyzed' Lesser Shadahi Patroller for 1.5 seconds!

As Izroth 'Paralyzed the Shadahi, Scarlet 'Fireball' spell had finally finished charging up as it soon after shot out and smashed into the body of the creature. Izroth did not halt his assault as he slashed towards the head of the Shadahi with his 'Nameless Blade' as it was being followed by a phantom. 'Phantom Strike'.

-263 HP! (Scarlet's Fireball)

-70 HP! (Scarlet's Ignite)

Critical Hit!

-257 HP!

Critical Hit!

-419 HP!

1,124/5,000 HP Remaining! (Lesser Shadahi Patroller)

The 'Paralyzed' effect on the Shadahi faded away as its hand was covered in a demonic flame while turning around and punching behind its back. However, it hit nothing but air as Izroth had already retreated to a safe distance.

Halls waved his 'Shadow Fang Sword' out in front of him unleashing the built-in skill, 'Shadow Pressure'! Since it ignored all physical defenses, it would deal a total of 210 damage over 3 seconds and 'Fear' the Shadahi during that time frame.

The 'Lesser Shadahi Patroller' could not survive that onslaught during the time it was 'Feared'. The damage of Scarlet's 'Ignite' skill was still ticking away at its HP as she cast another 'Fireball'. Izroth also pushed forward and struck out at the Shadahi's vital point with his 'Fissuring Point' skill followed by a slash from his 'Nameless Blade'.

The 'Lesser Shadahi Patroller' roared out in pain as its body turned into a sphere of red energy and floated high into the sky before vanishing. The creature's skill 'Shadahi World Blessing' took effect and it could not die. However, not long after that, a system alert went off for the party.

Ding! You have defeated 'Lesser Shadahi Patroller'!