Chapter 143: The Reaper’s Domain
The battle that had started between two relatively contained groups quickly spiraled into a full-blown war, hundreds of creatures from both sides now locked in combat.
Shadow initially held the numerical advantage, but that quickly began to disappear as the number of newly arriving Forsaken exceeded the number being killed.
Most of them were around D-Rank, with a few C-Ranks mixed in.
It was obvious that not only were they beginning to outnumber Shadow’s army, but they were also slowly forcing it back.
Just as everything seemed to be turning against him, Shadow, who had remained high above the battlefield, calmly observing everything like a commander waiting for the perfect opportunity to act, finally made his move.
He slowly raised the hand holding his scythe...
Then brought it down.
The base of the shaft struck the thick branch beneath his feet, producing a thin, piercing sound that spread out in every direction.
At first...
Nothing seemed to happen.
But a moment later, the shadows of everything in the surrounding area began writhing more and more violently.
Only then did a drastic change occur.
[Death’s Grasp]
[All enemies within a 50-meter radius are subject to a 10% debuff]
The instant he activated his new ability, a strange manifestation appeared behind him, a massive, withered tree, black, as if made entirely of shadow. Its branches were thick and jagged, looking brittle and lifeless, ready to snap at any moment, yet their real strength was anything but weak.
Skulls of every shape and size hung from its many branches, some cracked, others intact, all dangling like trophies of long-forgotten enemies.
The moment the tree’s apparition appeared, the skulls, which had seemed utterly devoid of any trace of life, began to stir. Their empty eye sockets lit up with a dark violet glow, and their jaws began opening and closing, teeth clacking together again and again, producing an unsettling atmosphere.
As this happened, countless chains shot out from the nearby shadows, each one skewering an enemy, weak or strong, all now caught under the ability’s effect. Every shadow’s chain converged from all directions toward the point where the withered tree’s projection had appeared.
The moment the Forsaken were struck, many began to shriek, thrashing in a futile attempt to break free of the chains. Others didn’t move at all, not because they didn’t want to, but because they no longer could.
The weaker ones died the instant they were struck by the ability, and sure enough, dozens upon dozens of these creatures began collapsing, their bodies glowing faintly for one last second before that light gathered around the chains, which then retracted.
[Ding! Shadow has collected 0.01% Soul Points]
[Ding! Shadow has collected 0.01% Soul Points]
[Ding! Shadow has collected 0.01% Soul Points]
...
[Ding! Shadow has collected 0.1% Soul Points]
Lirien, who had been standing on the brink of death only moments ago, watched everything unfold with wide eyes.
She was terrified by what was happening.
Yet at the same time...
She couldn’t help being astonished by the bizarre spectacle before her.
Only now, with her mind no longer consumed by the struggle to survive or dodge those creatures, did she notice something.
The new arrivals had never once looked her way. If anything, they were steadily wiping out the creatures near her, and even this strange phenomenon happening right now didn’t seem to be targeting her at all, only those creatures.
Was it possible these strange beings were here to save her?
As bizarre as that theory was, Lirien’s mind was ready to accept just about anything at this point, if only to convince herself that maybe, just maybe, her time hadn’t come yet after all.
While Lirien’s thoughts drifted toward that fragile hope, Shadow showed no intention of stopping after activating his new skill.
Instead...
He made another move.
He raised his free right hand, and within moments, ten small, dark violet lights began to form, quickly growing to about the size of an eyeball.
They orbited in place, forming a ring suspended above Shadow’s skeletal palm. With his usual indifferent gaze, he moved his hand toward the tree’s apparition behind him, and the orbs immediately shot toward it.
At the center of the withered trunk, an unsettling mouth appeared, jagged and uneven teeth lining it. It opened wide and swallowed all ten orbs in a single motion.
The moment the mouth closed again...
The eyes of every skull hanging from the branches flared with an even brighter violet glow.
At the same time...
The clattering of their jaws became far louder than before.
[Ding! 10 Soul Points have been sacrificed]
[Ding! Death’s Grasp has reacted.]
---
[Death’s Grasp]:
> E-Rank: -2000%
> D-Rank: -200%
> C-Rank: -20%
---
Immediately afterward, even the few remaining D-Rank creatures that had managed to survive until then began collapsing one after another, never understanding what had just happened to them.
The sight once again filled the poor girl with terror as she watched what had once seemed like terrifying, overwhelmingly powerful creatures die within seconds for reasons completely beyond her understanding.
’This... am I dreaming? This has to be a dream, right? How is any of this even possible?’
Lirien’s mind was on the verge of breaking as the bizarre scene unfolding before her grew even more unbelievable.
She started to think this place had finally decided to claim what little was left of her sanity, because no matter what she’d read in the Academy’s books, this was the first time she’d ever witnessed an ability so absurd, one that seemed to claim the lives of hundreds of creatures, some as strong as E or D-rank, as if it were nothing at all.
And so, with the enemy ranks heavily thinned and burdened by overwhelming debuffs, while Shadow’s own army continued fighting under powerful buffs, the fierce battle from only moments ago quickly turned into a one-sided massacre.
Within just a few minutes, it was over.
The remaining C-Rank Forsaken, along with the handful of B-Ranks that had appeared, were mercilessly hunted down and slaughtered by the Creatures of Death.
