The assembly of monsters vanished altogether as I blinked, the scene switching from the chaotic chasm to the silent dark void in an instant.

With a crackle of lightning, I found myself falling through the ceiling of a room filled with grey stone, the severed limbs and heads of my Abyssal opponents raining down after me like ghastly confetti.

There, my body trembled on the cold ground as I glanced around at the scattered remains.

I wasn't surprised to find myself in the shadow creature's lair, its series of dungeons were all too familiar to me. However, I was surprised I was able to get there on a [Blink] without much calculation.

I exploded with mirthless laughter as I dragged myself off the ground. Was it a stroke of luck, or a cruel form of divine intervention?

I arrived at the severed head of the Abyssal drake, watching the creature stare back at me, its body twitching in terror.

Yet, I didn't do anything, I simply waited for it to revert to its original form – this had to be some sort of shapeshifter.

It was all an elaborate plan of the shadow creature to ensnare me, using the appearance of Sylrin as bait, right?

But, as the seconds passed by, it did not change.

And my panic only grew more, the longer I waited.

«It's not him.» Sensei affirmed. «Do you think Sylrin would forget you so quickly, and even try to kill you?»

I wanted to believe him, I really did.

But at the back of my mind I kept wondering if he was only saying that to get me to move again.

Sensei sighed as he realized I didn't believe him. «Look closely, it really isn't him.»

I did not. I shut my eyes and turned away, choosing to believe him instead.

The number in my stats had not reduced, rather it had increased.

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Pit Members: [5298]

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There was no way to tell from it, and I could only hope he was right.

Sensei had never lied to me before, he wouldn't do so now, right?

I suppressed my panic and steeled my thoughts.

I really was in trouble this time.

I acted carelessly by letting the shadow creature see me blink. In addition, I was sure it could track me somehow. Although I was far away, it would soon know I was here.

If it really was as intelligent as I thought, it might've already figured out I recreated its skills, and I regretted revealing one of my cards so early on in battle.

Because of this, it would become that much harder to defeat it now.

«Get out of here quickly.» Sensei said. «They are coming.»

Somehow, I calmed down, because my life depended on it. Activating [Mind's Eye], I stared past the dungeon's walls to see numerous Abyssal monsters pouring towards the shadow's lair.

Damn. They knew I was here already!

Their swarms filled the ground like a plague and the air was so littered with them, I could barely see through the dark mass of creatures.

Since everything else was moving I was able to spot the lone figure of the shadow creature standing in their midst, and it was staring straight at its lair.

I had to leave, now.

However, before I could use blink, the shadow shot forward and disappeared, and I turned around, ducking just in time to see a scythe cleave through the air above my head.

It was here, and it moved much faster than when I faced it before.

As the scythe missed, I channelled my [Poison Magic], applying the same principles as I did with my dark blades, before combining the two together.

The result was a misty poison orb, bright green in colour, with a potent base brimming with dark magic, which the shadow creature moved to slice without hesitation – not knowing it packed a terrible secret.

The orb exploded on contact, drenching the entirety of the shadow's body and blade in a wash of poison that corroded everything it touched.

Once hit, the shadow creature immediately leapt away from me, disappearing through the ground in an instant as its body began to sizzle.

I watched it reappear on the floor below me with [Mind's Eye], it's dark bandages fizzling away and as the poison melted through its body.

Soon, half of it was worn down to the muscle, and the scythe it held was eaten down to the bone. Throughout this process, I could feel the energy seeping away from it to enrich my own body.

But this was not a typical monster.

The single dousing that was supposed to drain a creature of their mana until they fell, had already lost its effect as the shadow creature started to repair itself. As I watched, its wounds knitted together, its scythe soon covered with darkness once more, and the mana I was siphoning abruptly stopped.

I had to admit it was good, but something else demanded my interest - the lair I occupied was quickly filling with monsters.

Chaotic noises accompanied by deep roars echoed out from every exit. The floor above in particular, was dealing with the rampage of several winged beasts, while the dungeon below was packed with larger Abyssal monsters alongside the shadow.

I considered destroying everything with [Dark Wave] to finish them all at once.

However, although the others would surely die, the shadow was still strong right now. If it got away in time, it would return in the aftermath, and by then my MP would be drained.

And then, I would die for sure.

Looking at my choices, I blinked to the floor above, just as the monsters clamoured into the dungeon I was just in.

But on reappearing, the shadow was gone.

It was no longer in the dungeon and I scanned through the floors to find it, only for it to suddenly appear right beside me.

I activated [Shadow Shroud] to deflect the scythe, and numerous blades of solid darkness slammed into it with force. Once pushed back, the shadow vanished again, its presence now on the floor below, standing in the midst of the Abyssal monsters.

I blinked, and my shroud whipped out around me, in a web, spreading far and wide in a bid to trap the shadow. The surrounding walls were damaged, and multiple blades pierced through the shadow, holding it in place as my poison orbs spread across the room.

I wasn't letting it get away.

Soon, several shrieks and howls resounded throughout the dungeon, as my poison melted through every Abyssal monster present.

I was filled with copious amounts of mana as the monsters collapsed all around. Yet, my poison attack seemed to have missed the shadow entirely.

It broke free from my blades, but didn't run away. Its mana presence was still in the room, and I spread my shroud even wider to seep through every crevice to force it out.

Meanwhile, the system went absolutely insane with kill alerts as several of the Abyssal monsters died.

〚You have earned 1580XP!〛

〚You have gained a level!〛

I was focused on finding the shadow and didn't bother paying any attention, but as soon as the kill alerts stopped, the system dinged with a new message.

〚Conditions for evolution satisfied.『Small Cerastes』can evolve into『Lesser Cerastes』or 『Etheno Cerastes』(Accept | Reject)〛

No.

Absolutely not right now!

I decided to ignore it for now, but a vicious blade soon appeared inches away from me, followed by a sharp pain and the feeling of exhaustion.

I wasn't fast enough to evade and although I managed to blink away, the scythe left a jagged wound across my body.

I soon emerged on a higher floor with an outpouring of blood and red system alerts.

〚HP Status: Critical!〛|Bleeding|

〚HP Status: Critical!〛|Bleeding|

The system dinged with a flurry of alerts as my HP plummeted.

The wound was so deep, my body felt like it could tear apart at the slightest movement.

Yet, the stinging pain did nothing to dull my senses. No sooner did I emerge, did the shadows behind me start to flicker. I immediately shot at them with condensed poison but instead of the shadow creature, it was a bunch of dark rods that shot past without colliding with any of my poison spheres.

I swiftly defended myself with a crisscross of blades from [Shadow Shroud].

However, the shadow creature kept attacking me from random directions, focusing its attacks on my shroud in a continuous exchange of blows that wreaked havoc on the surroundings.

It was like it was trying to destroy my shroud.

Soon, it's attacks became much harder to predict as my frequent blinks to avoid its attacks, continuously changed my surroundings.

However, my efforts were to no avail, as it became apparent the shadow was trying to wear me down.

Although I practiced continuously in the shadow realm, I needed to calculate distances before blinking, in order to avoid obstacles. But in the chaos of our battle and my injury, my MP was running out fast and things were no longer as clear.

My head was hazy and my breathing was hoarse. As a result, my use of [Blink] was no longer perfect. But, I persisted because I was so close.

I had to continue.

It made me its worst enemy by pushing me so far - there was no way I would let it go, not until it was dead.

I spotted the shadow creature as it appeared on a floor below, and I readied my poison orbs before blinking to the shadow realm.

However, when I emerged, the shadow creature had vanished again, and I scanned the floors with [Mind's Eye], only to see its figure emerge on the floor above me.

I hissed in rage, preparing to blink again, only for the fanged maw of an Abyssal monster lunge at me, the moment I turned away.