Tenebrous Wolf
Chapter 91: Deadly Technique

Chapter 91: Deadly Technique

The explosion’s force sent shockwaves rippling through the battlefield, hurling debris in every direction. Klaus instinctively shielded his face with his forearms, bracing himself against the powerful gust of air that followed the blast. The air carried the scent of charred flesh and decayed matter, a sickening mixture that made his stomach churn. When the dust finally settled, he lowered his arms and surveyed the aftermath.

Where the Nightmare Carapace once stood, there was now nothing but scattered remains of fresh and fragments of its chitinous shell embedded in the dark stone, pools of inky ichor slowly seeping into the ground. The sheer force of the detonation had completely obliterated its monstrous form.

And at the center of it all, Adrian stood motionlessly.

His spear was still held firmly in his grasp, its tip dripping with the dark essence of the slain creature. His silhouette was framed by the remnants of the explosion, the Weaver’s Shroud billowing slightly in the residual wind. His chest rose and fell with deep breaths, but his expression was eerily calm, as if the destruction he had just wrought was a mere afterthought.

Klaus blinked.

What in the Chaos was that? Was that some kind of secret technique of the sorts?

No. That’s it.

Inadvertently, he recalled that the blonde Strider could manipulate wind. More specifically, according to Adrian himself, his Echo granted him control over wind vectors, a power that resulted in the phenomenon known as "wind manipulation." The way one directed the wind determined the type of effect produced. For instance, channeling the wind in a straight line created a "wind blast," while swirling it around a fixed point formed a "wind tornado." Some Striders used this ability to enhance their speed or agility, and those with precise control could even achieve flight.

However, what Adrian had done was a different kind of wind manipulation. Instead of simply using the wind to attack or push his enemy away, he had compressed, condensed and forced it inward, building up pressure until it reached an unstable threshold. Then, in a single instant, he had let it rupture.

A controlled implosion.

That was why the explosion had been so absolute. The force had not merely struck outward, it had crushed inward first, collapsing the Nightmare Carapace before tearing it apart from within. There was no defense against that kind of attack, and no armor was thick enough to withstand an assault that worked its way from the inside out.

Simply put, that attack was nothing but a demonic strike!

Amidst his reverie, Adrian finally moved. He exhaled slowly and rolled his shoulders, shaking off the last remnants of tension. Then, as if only just now acknowledging Klaus’s presence, he turned his gaze toward him. His bright eyes, sharp as a blade’s edge, studied him for a moment before he spoke.

"That should do it," Adrian murmured, more to himself than anyone else.

Klaus hesitated before stepping forward.

"You..." He faltered, glancing at the wreckage. "What even was that?"

Adrian twirled his spear once before resting it against his shoulder. Then, he answered simply:

"Wind compression. It’s a technique I picked up sometime ago or rather, I created it while I was searching for ways to make up for my lack of attack power. It’s a bit risky, but really effective."

A bit risky was an understatement. The sheer level of precision required to pull off such a technique was beyond comprehension. If Adrian had lost control for even a fraction of a second, the explosion could have torn apart everything, himself included. What kind of level had he reached to pull off that move so casually, without even a hint of fear?

Klaus let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. In that moment, the weight of his own insignificance hit him like a crushing wave.

He used to wonder who would win if they ever fought. But now, the answer was painfully clear.

As this realization settled in, he let out a dry, hollow laugh.

’Monster. He’s a damn monster. Who else could make an awakened ghoul explode from the inside out?’

Shaking his head to dispel the creeping gloom, Klaus finally spoke.

"Let’s search their bodies for anything useful and move on before more of their friends show up."

Adrian murmured absentmindedly,

"Ah... yeah..."

Following that brief exchange, they immediately got to work.Well, since one of the two Nightmare Carapaces had exploded, there wasn’t much left to deal with. Fortunately, the spirit shards inside the destroyed Carapace remained intact. Wasting no time, the duo collected the spoils of their hard work, Adrian gathering his from the floor.

The blonde Strider clicked his tongue, realising he had acted without much thinking.

On the other hand, Klaus summoned the chaos runes with a satisfied smile.

[Aether Fragments: 214 / 1000]

’Yes, yes! Just a few more fragments to go!’

More specifically, he needed 786 spirit shards to complete his Baptismous Slate. If he focused on hunting awakened ghouls, which yielded 20 spirit fragments per core, that meant he would need to kill around 40 more.

It wasn’t an impossible number, but it would take time which they might not have. In the end, he had to push aside his impatience.

Thinking that, Klaus shook off the dark ichor from his hands and turned to Adrian, who had finally finished gathering his spirit shards from the floor. Most had scattered in different directions, making the task far more tedious for him.

With a cough, he addressed the blonde Strider.

"Hey, I’m done on my end. What about you?"

Adrian glanced up while picking up the last spirit shard.

"Yeah, I think I got all of them. Also... can we eat these Nightmare Carapaces?"

Klaus hesitated.

"Hmm. I guess so? They’re kinda like Scavengers, right? So... maybe they taste like crab?"

Adrian scratched the back of his head. For a brief moment, a contemplative look crossed his face.

In a Shadow World where normal food was nonexistent, survival depended on consuming monster meat. However, the creatures of the Shadow Realm were fundamentally different from those of the Living World. Simply put, a Shadow World was a place consumed and twisted by Chaos.

This meant that it was a realm of corruption and decay. From that corruption, Shadow Creatures were born.

Needless to say, most Shadow Creatures were poisonous, venomous, or outright toxic. In such a harsh environment, survival depended on instinct and knowledge. That was knowing which ones were safe to eat and which could spell disaster. At the very least, they had to avoid anything that would outright destroy their insides.

But that raised a question; what exactly was the difference between Armored Scavengers and Nightmare Carapaces?

One was a Shrouded Fiend, while the other was an Awakened Ghoul. Logically, if all Shadow Creatures possessed the characteristic of being poisonous or toxic, it made perfect sense that the Awakened Ghoul would be more toxic than a monster with a Shrouded core.

Perhaps Adrian also shared his same thoughts as well. The blonde Strider glanced between the remains of the Nightmare Carapace and the fragments of ichor still glistening on his spear.

Hesitantly, he muttered under his breath:

"So, eating the Carapaces might be more of a gamble than eating Scavengers. If that is the case, I don’t think I want to risk a slow and painful death just to satisfy my curiosity."

Klaus chuckled dryly.

"Yeah, I don’t find that particularly appealing. But what choice do we have? The entire place is practically being overrun by this Carapaces. If we run out of ratios, we’d have to eat them eventually. Who knows? It might even taste good."

Adrian gave him a skeptical look.

"You’d really eat that?"

Klaus answered while still maintaining his smile, though there was a faint hesitation in his eyes.

"If it comes down to it, I don’t think we’ll have a choice. But I’d rather hold out as long as we can."

Adrian nodded thoughtfully, flicking the last bit of ichor from his spear before securing it against his back.

"Agreed. Let’s hope we don’t reach that point."

With their spoils secured and the battlefield growing eerily quiet, the two Striders turned their attention to their surroundings. The ruins they had been fighting in were barely holding together, massive cracks running along the dark stone walls while debris littered the ground. The scent of blood and charred flesh still lingered, making the air thick and heavy. Thinking back, their battles also ended like this, with them being the victorious. But really, how long would that last?

Thinking that, Klaus rolled his stiff shoulders. He then glanced at Adrian, who still seemed unnervingly composed despite the sheer destruction he had unleashed moments ago.

How could one possess such level of calmness?

He let out a low sigh.

"We should move before anything else shows up."

Adrian nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. We’ve drawn too much attention already. We’ll take the southern passage. If we’re lucky, we should be able to find the next safepoint before nightfall."

Klaus shot him a wary look.

"And if we’re not lucky?"

Adrian smiled faintly.

"Then we improvise."

’I wish I can be that optimistic but reality works differently.’

He sighed.

Following that, the two set off, deeper into the labyrinthine terrain. The distant wails of unseen horrors reminded them that danger was always close at hand. They moved swiftly, staying low and keeping to the darker corners of the twisted ruins. Every step forward was one step closer to their supposed goal, but also one step deeper into the unknown.

A few moments later, the duo made steady progress. At times, luck was on their side, allowing them to slip past large groups of monsters unnoticed. Other times, fortune abandoned them, forcing them into deadly battles.

They emerged victorious, of course. While they couldn’t take on massive hordes, they handled smaller skirmishes — two to four monsters at a time — skillfully and precisely. Even in the face of relentless, chaotic beasts, the cunning, strength, and intellect of humanity remained unmatched.

In such a situation, no creature would be able to get the jump on them unless they were careless.

Adrian led the way, with his senses attuned to every shift in the wind. He could feel the currents brushing against the broken walls, slipping through the cracks and openings in unseen patterns of the labyrinthine terrain. It was an advantage, however slight, that allowed him to anticipate movement before it happened.

This was the marvels and wonders of "Wind Manipulation."

Theoretically, one could predict the movements of anything that disturbed the air, provided they had a keen enough sense to perceive the shifts. Wind Manipulation at Adrian’s level functioned similarly to echolocation, except instead of sound waves, it relied on the subtlest changes in air pressure, temperature, and flow. If a creature so much as twitched in the distance, its presence would alter the surrounding currents, sending microscopic tremors through the wind that Adrian could pick up on.

This meant he wasn’t just reacting to movement; he was anticipating it. The moment a presence disturbed the air in an unnatural way — be it a lurking predator in the ruins or an enemy preparing an ambush — Adrian would be able to sense it. He could gauge the direction, speed, and even the mass of the entity before his eyes ever landed on it.

And that was just the passive application.

With active control, he could take this concept further. By deliberately sending controlled gusts into narrow spaces using the Nightmare-type spear named ’Windbreaker’, he could "feel" how the wind rebounded, allowing him to map out structures ahead of time, detect hidden pathways, or even identify hollow areas in the walls that might be concealing enemies. He could make the wind slip through cracks and crevices, amplifying distant whispers or muffled growls, essentially extending his range of awareness beyond normal human limits.

Of course, such precision required immense concentration. The more chaotic the battlefield, the harder it became to process all the information at once. A single mistake such as an overestimation or an incorrect interpretation of wind shifts could mean the difference between sensing an enemy in time or walking straight into a death trap.

This was why Adrian always remained composed. Calmness was the foundation of his power. If his mind wavered, if his emotions clouded his perception, the wind would become nothing more than a chaotic storm of noise, impossible to read.

... Well, this was all according to Adrian’s explanation as they navigated the labyrinth.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Klaus listened to his explanation while preparing himself for combat. It seemed that Adrian’s mysticism ability, Sky Vector, had more applications than he initially imagined. However, there had to be some noticeable setback or so-called ’defect.’ No ability was truly omnipotent, and even something like wind manipulation would naturally have its limits. Considering Adrian was only a Strider with a Shrouded core, the number of wind vectors he could manipulate must be restricted. This was why the blonde Strider couldn’t simply create a wind vacuum or tornado whenever he wished, or else he would be too overpowered. Even the light and darkness attributes had their limits, and the wind attribute felt more impressive due to the simple truth that wind was omnipresent all over the world.

He sighed.

Wouldn’t it be great if his Divine Echo had a bit more offensive power? It wasn’t that he was asking for too much or being overly greedy, but could he really survive with Adaptation alone? What good would it do if he was killed instantly?

With that thought, he sighed again.

Maybe this was just some form of misfortune. Yes, yes, he was going to blame this on the goddess of misfortune for this. This wasn’t his fault at all! That’s right, this was beyond his control!!

While Klaus’s accumulating resentment over his predicament was increasing by the moment due to jealously and envy, they eventually reached their destination.