Tenebrous Wolf
Chapter 87: Journey Through the Dark Lands

Chapter 87: Journey Through the Dark Lands

Throughout the journey, the group encountered and eliminated several more Nightmare Carapaces. The terrain seemed to be crawling with them, perhaps drawn by something or driven by a singular purpose. Regardless, it was only a minor setback at best.

The process remained more or less the same: upon spotting a group of monsters, the others would take cover in the shadows while Adrian served as bait and lured away one or two monsters. Meanwhile, Klaus and Seraphim would engage the remaining enemies. When the situation grew difficult, Briar would send in the tamed Stalker as reinforcement.

Fortunately, having an Awakened Hollow on their side proved to be an invaluable advantage.

Considering that both the Blackmane Stalker and Nightmare Carapaces were of the same Awakened rank, one would expect them to be equal. However, this was completely wrong. The fights were so one-sided that he began to question the Blackmane was actually an Awakened Hollow. Of course, he would question this especially when the tamed creature would beat monsters of the same rank as it was to their deaths with nothing but its fists and body alone.

Thinking about it, that was definitely insane! How had the succubus even managed to tame that creature?!

The more he witnessed the Stalker’s prowess, the more he doubted Briar’s story. There was definitely something she wasn’t telling him. The part about her taming the creature with her blood was true. He knew that much due to the nature of the Master and Servant Contract binding their souls together. One of its benefits was that his status as her "Master" allowed him to discern whether she was lying. However, that ability was completely useless if she simply omitted crucial details unless he forced her to speak using his Command Seal.

Certainly, having a demoness under his command was useful. However, he disliked the notion of owning a "slave," so he was making an effort to build a genuine relationship with her. This meant minimizing the use of the Command Seal, if not avoiding it at all.

With a tired sigh, Klaus summoned the chaos runes.

[Aether Fragments: 194 / 1000]

’Hmm. My fragments increased from 114 to 194. At this rate, it won’t be long before I can form my Baptismous Slate.’

A satisfied smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

On this day, he had slain three Nightmarish Carapaces on his own. Adding the one he had killed earlier, that made four Awakened Hollows defeated, earning him four Awakened Spirit Cores.

Obviously, with Awakened Hollows yielding 20 spirit fragments each, his collection naturally grew.

As for the others, Adrian managed to take down the ones he had lured away, totaling four Awakened Hollows, not counting the earlier Carapaces. Seraphim had defeated three, while the Blackmane Stalker alone felled six. Unsurprisingly, the spirit cores it acquired were given to Briar. However, recognizing the need for the Blackmane to grow stronger and become more useful to her, she reluctantly parted with half of her cores, allowing her tamed creature to claim them.

It was funny really, almost as if an Awakened Ghoul had become a house pet.

Moving on, out of all of them, Seraphim had the lowest kill count. For some reason, she refused to use her Mysticism Abilities and relied solely on her swordsmanship. Not that it was insignificant, but it did hinder her progress unnecessarily.

Regardless, he was still impressed by her swordsmanship.

If he were to describe it in words, he would say it was swift, calm, and precise. In comparison to Teacher Kai’s sword style, which focused on quick strikes, her swordsmanship adapted to the situation. It was a flexible style, capable of shifting instantly without disrupting movement. More than that, based on his observations, she seemed to possess an innate understanding of the flow and logic of combat, allowing her to roughly predict the actions of the mindless beasts within mere seconds. With those abilities combined, you would have a dangerous opponent that could adapt she was placed in and counter efficiently.

This was more impressive than Adrian who could manipulate the wind.

Obviously, he wasn’t saying wind manipulation was meaningless. In fact, it was quite the opposite. If the ’butterfly effect’ within the Chaos Theory was taken into consideration, then its possibilities were limitless. Even though wind follows the laws of physics, due to its unpredictable nature, it could be molded into a weapon of boundless versatility. A sudden shift in air pressure could alter the trajectory of an enemy’s strike, while a well-timed gust could unbalance an opponent at a crucial moment. Even at a low level where the user could barely manipulate the wind vectors, the ability to control the wind was still incredibly dangerous. If mastered properly, Adrian’s wind manipulation had the potential to control the battlefield and make him a fierce fighter.

However, raw talent alone wasn’t enough. Unlike Seraphim, who instinctively understood the logic of combat, Adrian often relied too much on his abilities instead of refining his fundamentals. That was the key difference between them. Seraphim had honed her swordsmanship to near perfection, while Adrian had yet to fully integrate his wind abilities into a true combat style. If he could bridge that gap, then perhaps his potential would surpass even hers.

With a sigh, Klaus rubbed his throbbing temple. The more he analyzed their strengths and weaknesses, the more he realized just how far he lagged behind in terms of abilites.

Sure, his Divine Echo granted him more strength, agility, and recovery speed compared to the other two due to his Adaptation. But what could he possibly do against two Striders with superior offensive power and skill?

In a serious fight, he wouldn’t even stand a chance.

For crying out loud, one could manipulate the wind, while the other wielded a Mysticism Ability granting her affinity with both light and darkness. Additionally, he had no knowledge of Seraphim’s Echo or its rank, but he was certain it held great significance. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have kept it a secret. Perhaps that Echo was her trump card.

Of course, he also possessed remarkable attributes. His role as a fighter was far from trivial, and not just anyone could slay four Awakened Hollows alone without sustaining some form of injury. Even though Klaus hadn’t been taught any great techniques, he was still a fairly experienced fighter. He had strong physical abilities, coordination, combat instincts, keen senses, sharp intuition, and most importantly, a cool-headed mentality.

Furthermore, he had the ability to learn simply by watching and observing others. He had always been a quick learner, and his tremendous talent for memorizing anything he saw greatly enhanced his survivability. Though his execution was somewhat rough, he had managed to learn the Quicksilver Sword Style just by observing Teacher Kai. And if he fully focused on studying Seraphim’s sword style, he would undoubtedly master it as well. In the end, it was truly that simple.

It didn’t need to be perfect, just refined enough to enhance his survivability.

Even with that in mind, watching the two Striders in action was nothing short of sobering.

Shaking off his thoughts, Klaus turned his gaze toward the horizon. They were currently waiting at the edge of the labyrinth path leading directly to a black mass. More precisely, a tall hill where he had previously stayed with Briar. Between them and the great hill, Nightmare Carapaces, a great number at that, moved past them, failing to sense their presence due to the lingering scent of blood everywhere.

But something was off.

Rather than consuming the corpses of dead Scavengers, the creatures were carrying them and there was a distinct urgency in their movements.

That was certainly uncharacteristic behavior for Shadow Creatures. The only time something like this could happen would be...

’It couldn’t be that, right?’

A deep frown settled on Klaus’s face as a growing sense of premonition crept into his chest.

Minutes passed. Swallowing his anxiety, Klaus followed Adrian’s signal and moved with the rest of the group.

They swiftly traversed the open space between the labyrinth and the hill. Before long, they reached their destination and now, the only thing left was to climb to the top.

Just like during their escape from the crimson flood, the Blackmane carried Briar on its back and began climbing the hill with one hand. With the immense strength in its heavily muscled arms, the ghoul dug its claws into the uneven surface of the rocky incline as it scaled upwards. Klaus watched as the beast moved effortlessly, unfazed by the additional weight on its back. Briar, for the most part, remained silent as she clung to the creature’s fur.

The rest of them had to climb the hard way.

Clicked his tongue, Klaus reached for a protruding rock and pulled himself upward. His muscles ached from the repeated battles, but he pushed through, forcing his body to keep moving. Adrian followed beside him while Seraphim climbed a few feet ahead.

The ascent was steep, but they were making steady progress.

’It would have been so much faster if Briar could fly.’

That would have certainly made their climb much faster. But, of course, that wasn’t possible at the moment. If Briar used her wings to fly, it would expose her demon characteristics, and demons and humans had a somewhat hostile relationship.

Perhaps it would be beneficial if the succubus could tame some bird-like creatures. Thinking about it, that was actually a good idea. In such a situation, they would be able to travel through the dark lands much faster than their current pace, unless they had to stop occasionally to let the creature rest and eat. Aside from that, they would make far more progress than traveling on foot.

But where were they supposed to find such creatures? Even if they stumbled upon one by chance, it probably wouldn’t be alone.

With a sigh, he continued to climb up the steep hill. A few minutes later, all of them reached the top of the two-hundred-meter tall hill.

They had managed to reach a secure location before nightfall.

As the sky darkened, signaling the approach of night in a world without a sun, moon, or stars, the four gathered at the center and rested. With no materials to start a fire and the hour already late, cooking was out of the question. Instead, they chewed on strips of dried meat, passing around the bottle of limitless water to quench their thirst.

At some point, they decided to call it a day and retreated into the small cave to rest, with Briar instructing the Blackmane to wake them if anything happened.

As exhaustion settled over them, the cave provided a welcome respite from the chilling air outside. Klaus leaned against the rough stone wall, staring into the empty space. Adrian adjusted his body weight as he entered a comfortable position on the stony ground while Seraphim did the same. On the other hand, Briar laid somewhat close to him and dozed off.

One by one, they drifted into a restless sleep, Klaus included.

However, this was only a temporary rest.

... In the midnight, he was awakened by a stranger noise.