Chapter 31: Shadow Creatures Are Not Supposed To Have Souls Right?
Soul Manifestation?
I had studied it when I was just a frail little boy with nothing to do than read. Heard the old theories and half whispered legends, yet I had never once seen it with my own eyes. And now, a Shadow creature? This was supposed to be impossible, never in my extensive study had I ever seen that a Shadow creature was capable of Soul Manifestation.
The ground beneath my feet didn’t warp or twist, but I could see a radiant purple light stretch from within the creature, radiating outward into a shape of what I understood was triangle. It stretched ten meters in every direction as that was the fixed distance that was absolute for Soul Manifestation, and the triangle was the indication for the boundaries.
I clenched my jaw. "So, its really true..." I muttered under my breath.
Soul Manifestation wasn’t just about attacking. No, it was also a good technique for defense and that made it far more terrifying— you can’t beat something that you can’t hit. Within this fixed space, the very soul of the user bleeds into reality, reinforcing their existence.
It is collectively known as the ultimate peak of magical mastery where the user externalizes their soul into the physical world. When triggered, a fixed 10 meter radius becomes their ’Souls domain’ or ’Soul Territory’. Inside, their existence is magnified to the max as attacks and defenses gain a reality bending weight.
Retreating outside of this radius is possible, but the user would loose the advantages that come with manifesting this technique. The target however can retreat outside of the radius but risk being not able to attack the user due to the distance, however this technique is much more defensive than it is for attacking.
Only a few awakened have achieved this feat, making them nearly untouchable, because it anchors the user’s soul to a fixed zone, amplifying their abilities to its absolute limit.
Something only the strongest awakened are capable of doing, a Shadow creature is able to pull of, it made it absolutely shocking because they’re not supposed to have souls... right?
The pressure on me was overwhelming, the timer was just under three minutes and the creature had activated the strongest technique in its arsenal.
"...so annoying" I muttered as I spread my feet across the ground, falling into an efficient combat pose.
To make matter even worse, the Divine Thread didn’t even relay any feedback to me concerning its weakness, I guess the skill doesn’t work when my target activates Soul Manifestation.
To be able to defeat this creature in the amount of time that was available, I have to reconsider everything I know into a pulp and use that information to source and output that would best suit me.
From my extensive research back in my weaklings days, I read that the most efficient way to stand ones ground against a Soul Manifestation is to lay out your our Soul Territory by activating your own Soul Manifestation, and whoever has the most refined Soul would eventually consume the other.
I obviously wasn’t capable of activating Soul Manifestation and even if I did, would it be able to overwhelm this creatures own soul? Even so, I would take that chance if I had the ability.
Soul Manifestation is regarded as the absolute peak of magic mastery in this world and it helps the user unleash all their powers at once, pinpointing it to one specific effective location— The Soul Territory.
That being said, any attack this boss monster is about to hit me with can only be guaranteed max lethality if I remain within its Soul Territory or domain— which is marked by the purple, shinning lines drawn on the ground that spread 10 meters in all directions.
So to prevent that, I would have to leave the territory... but if I do that I loose the close range advantage I have to kill the creature, not to mention I don’t have all the time in the world.
So...
"...I’ll have to remain in the domain"
I gripped both bone-white daggers tighter in my hands as I readied myself for sudden impact, any blow this creature throws at me will be at its absolute peak, so long I remain in the territorry.
The creature opened its large maw, exposing massive fangs. Then, a little flicker of red light dashed from its fangs and danced at the center of its tongue, the flicker grew bigger and bigger as it turned it head fair to face me.
"Shit! It wants to hit me with blast of Anti-arcane energy" I said as I gritted my teeth.
A straight head blast of Anti-arcane energy would be sure to eradicate anything and everything that pulses with Arcane energy. That is just in its normal form, now coming from a creature using Soul Manifestation would be sure to obliterate even normal objects.
"Tch!" I hissed loudly, knowing fully well that I had to reinforce myself to survive the blast.
I turned to glance at Cryo where it stood with its counterpart, and the dog immediately understood my communication and howled into the air with a loud frequency.
Ding!
~Your Pet >Elemental Dogs: Cryo< has granted you its skills~
~Elemental Ice Technique~
~900/2000~
In the next second, a surge of chill went through my body and my skin from the forearm down to my knuckles were instantly covered in a glove of ice, even prickling at the bone white daggers.
I had to create a barrier between me and that blast that was so thick it would be weakened before it reached me. This was my plan and it had to work, unless I would seize to exists.
"Skill..."
"Elemental Ice Technique..."
"Exploding Ice".
With a sudden movement, I slammed my blades to the ground in front of me and the ice converted to the surface, dug deep into the soil and erupted a massive thick barrier of a wall between me and the Shadow creature boss monster.
Moments later, the boss monster released the blast and it traveled the short distance in less than the blink of an eye and went straight into the thick ice wall, exploding on impact and shattering the ice into a cloud of mist and ice shards all over the air and floor.
What power of a low level boss that manifested its soul, in whatever means. Thankfully the blast eroded before it reached me, the ice wall had held up to my protection all I had to do now was defeat this thing.
The area quaked as the boss monster slithered into view, with its scales glistening like slick amour under the dim light from the Soul Territory. I noticed it fangs started dripping venom that hissed as it hit the now snow covered floor, eating down and into the ground too.
I tightened my grip on my daggers as I bent my knees and my muscles taunted, ready to strike. However, the beast lunged first with a blur of scaled muscle, with its maw unhinging wider than humanly possible.
Venom sprayed in an arc, sizzling in mid air but I pivoted hard to the left, my boots sliding across the frost covered floor. In one seamless motion, I hurled a shard of ice like a spear againt the monster head with a dull thud. It reeled but didn’t even falter as its tail whipped around like a spiked mace.
The tail slammed where I had stood a few seconds ago with a loud bang, spraying stone and snow every where. I dashed forward through the debris with my daggers glowing faintly with Arcane energy, every step I took leaving ice prints on the ground. I ducked beneath a second tail strike, sliding low and slashing across the beast’s underbelly with frost spreading along the wound.
The monster didn’t react well, it shrieked with an ear splitting sound. Its scales shivered violently and venom bubbled from its fangs as it reared back. Then its body convulsed, venom hardening into jagged crystalline spikes that burst outward.
I cursed under my breath, crossing my daggers just in time to avoid the counter. Ice surged, forming a barrier that caught the first volley, but shards tore across my arm and shoulder and warm blood trickled down, staing the frost coverd floor.
The beast lunged again, faster this time, forcing me back. We exchanged several hundreds of blows in the split of seconds and each clash was a dance with death: the hiss of fangs inches from my throat, the crunch of dagger against tight scale, the explosive crack of ice erupting from my counterattcks. I needed to end this encounter as quickly as possible if I wanted that Class Awakening.
I summoned every ounce of strength I had left, activating my Space Manipulation skill to create a barrier between myself and the beast. The bossess claws raked against the barrier, cracks forming with each strike.
Realizing my defenses wouldn’t hold, I switched tactics. Using my agility to dart around the effective range of the manifestation and landing precise strikes with my blade reinforced with Arcane energy and sharp ice.
The beast retaliated with another blast of Anti-arcane energy, that I managed to evade but lost my balance and sent me sprawling
The beast thought I was wounded because it charged recklessly this time, and I saw my opening. The serpent hissed and struck low, but I was ready. I leaped onto its head, driving one dagger deep between its eyes. The beast convulsed violently, thrashing against the ground, but I clung tightly, summoning a surge of ice energy. I used my free hand to press against the wound, channeling raw frost into its skull.
Cracks spread across the monster’s head like spiderwebs. Ice crawled over it body, locking its movements as its shierks turned into muffled roars. With a final heave, I wrenched my dagger free and drove both blades down. The Soul Territory shook as the beast crashed to the floor with ice encasing half its body, and its eyes went dull.
I fell to my knees, gasping for air. My body was battered and my Arcane reserves was completely drained, causing my vision to fade.
Ding!
~Congratulations, you have defeated the boss monster~
~You have completed the task required for your rewards~
As the gate began to collapse around me, I used last of my strength to crawl out the portal with the Anti-arcane stone in my hand.
After I came out of the dungeon gate, I immediately lost consciousness and woke up for what it felt like a few minutes later. There was no one to help me out, but in the time I was unconscious I had regained most of my strength back.
In front of my eyes were multiple system screens dacing in my view, waiting for me to attend to it,
~System notification~
~Mission Complete: Class Awakening Quest~
~Reward: 5 levels gained~
~You have levelled up!~
~You have levelled up!~
~You have levelled up!~
~You have levelled up!~
~You have levelled up!~
~Level: 35~
~Your Arcane Reserve has been increased~
~3500/3500~
I immedidately felt a surge of power course through my body as I jumped levels. My Arcane level increased, strength grew and my agility enhanced.
~Congratulations~
~You have unlocked your class~
~Class: Mythical~
~Grade: SSS-Rank~
~Class Description: As a Mythical class, you possess unparalleled abilities that hasn’t been known to the general magic society. Your abilities compromises of other known classes~
~You can bend space to your will, create alternate dimensions and command elements like ice and fire, this class also allows you to evolve infinitely to adapt to any given situation that comes your way. It is the embodiment of mastery over all that nature has to offer~
~You are the only one that is capable of weilding this power~
~For the sake of the future~