Chương 695: A Thousand Years of Shadow

Luke ran through a forest of giant trees. Branches crossed overhead like colossal spiderwebs, blotting out patches of sky and drowning everything in twisted shadow. As he moved, he hurled knives at the vampires stationed as sentries throughout the area. One dropped before he even knew he'd been spotted. Another took a blade to the neck and fell from the branch where he had been hiding.

Activating [Witch's Thread], Luke launched himself between the trees, pulling his own body through the air with precise bursts of force. He dropped between two vampires before either of them could react. [You have slain a Vampire...] 254, 325, 017 EP earned [You have slain a Vampire...] 315, 874, 913 EP earned His kukris took both their heads with one crossing slash. Without wasting a second, Luke jumped, dug his hands into the bark with [Demonic Predator Hands], and started climbing.

A vampire stood on the branch above, watching the forest. Not the predator climbing up behind him. Luke appeared silently and killed him before he could turn. [You have slain a Vampire...] 112, 789, 654 EP earned That acid coating on the kukris is pretty damn effective. He descended toward a cluster of ruined houses hidden among the trees. The place looked like it had been abandoned ages ago, but the smell of old blood still hung in the air. Near a broken wall, Luke found a corpse tied in place.

The vampires had strapped him there and fed until there was nothing left. Luke stepped closer and activated the Rank Skill his [Eye of Sariel] had stolen back in Vaelor's temple dimension. [Echoes of Death (Rank F)]: A power forged from regret, bitterness, hatred, and ambition. While near a corpse, you may activate this skill to create an illusion showing the victim's final moments. Useful for extracting information or uncovering truths only the dead can reveal.

Illusions began to rise around him, warped like memories trapped in smoke. Luke saw a camp full of vampires. They were gathered around a large bonfire while one of them spoke to the rest. Beside the speaker stood a vampire wielding a pair of scimitars. Found a Count. The vision lingered for a few more seconds. The Count walked away, and the victim was killed by one of the vampires who remained behind. Luke kept hunting, but he didn't stray from the route Cadmus had drawn for him.

The forest stretched on, dark and silent, until he found a vampire base: something like an isolated street carved through the trees, surrounded by old, half-destroyed buildings. At first, he killed them quietly. One at a window. Two behind a wall. Another beside a dry well. But after a while, the disappearances became too obvious. That was when the baron appeared. He was tall, carried two scimitars. Luke charged him, and the two traded rapid blows, blade against blade, both fighting with dual-weapon styles.

Reinforcements are getting organized. Luke had expected that. He'd done it on purpose, drawing attention in different spots and using [Teleportation Pentagram] to move through the base, dragging the baron into a more and more isolated position.

"I know this dance," the vampire said, smiling. The scimitars left trails of blood in the air, each strike carrying a cutting skill. Luke dodged, parried, and answered with his kukris, staying close enough to pressure him, but not so close that he got caught by the strange reach of those blades. Vampires spread through the nearby buildings and started firing arrows at him.

"Looks like we've got an audience," Luke said, without taking his eyes off the baron.

"I do love a good audience!" The baron drove both scimitars into the ground near Luke. Luke jumped back at the same instant, his [Feline Agility] saving him from being impaled by green spikes that burst from the earth. The crystals shattered like ice and exploded into a cloud of dust. The baron emerged from inside it, scimitars already raised. [Teleportation Circle 3 activated] Luke smiled. [Teleportation Pentagram activated] He vanished and reappeared in another circle.

"Where?!" Too late. Luke came out through the circle he had placed on the ground when he dodged the scimitars and struck the baron from behind. The vampire's head came off in one clean cut. Arrows shot toward him at high speed. Luke dodged the first few and stepped onto the teleportation circle. [Teleportation Pentagram activated] He reappeared on top of a building.

"I can play this game too." Conjuring a knife, Luke poured mana into it and threw it at the building where the archers were positioned. [Shadow Mana Explosion activated] The building blew apart. Some vampires died instantly. Others came flying out, injured and stunned. Luke fell among them like a specter, a black blur dancing through burned bodies and screams. [You have slain a Vampire...] 70, 147, 025 EP earned [You have slain a Vampire...] 98, 858, 101 EP earned [You have slain a Vampire...] 178, 585, 445 EP earned [You have slain a Vampire...] 45, 252, 783 EP earned When he finished, he walked over to the baron's head as it tried to crawl back to its body with [Vampiric Regeneration].

"Fire really screws with your healing," Luke said, conjuring a shadow ball as he stepped on the vampire's head.

"Then again, I guess it screws with anyone's healing. Especially corrosive fire." The vampire bared his teeth.

"Time to negotiate, vampire. Tell me where your Count is, or you die." Once Luke had what he needed, he moved on. It took him two days of crossing the islands to reach a region where the snow never stopped falling. The island lay silent beneath a white blanket that swallowed sound and made the world feel dead.

"The halo is nearby," Cadmus said. Luke crouched, touched the snow, and focused on [Assassin's Tracking].

"No one's been here recently." Two towers rose at the top of a snowy hill. That was where he had fought the Rhiannons.

"They're gone." Luke climbed up to it. Between the towers stood what looked like a small castle. This was where the Rhiannons had once made their home. He entered and walked through the narrow corridors. Holes in the structure let the freezing wind pass through the interior, whistling between cracked stones and rotted carpets. Near the castle entrance stood a broken statue of a trident. Something had been carved into its base. The language was strange, but the system translated it.

"Lord of the island." Luke continued down the corridor.

"I think the guy who lived here was the big boss of the whole archipelago." Cadmus floated around him, observing everything in silence. After exploring for a while, Luke found a chamber. The place was full of stone sculptures, almost all of them destroyed. The largest one was so damaged there was no way to tell what it had originally represented. All that remained looked like a foot. Or maybe a paw. Very Greek statue vibes, except with monsters. There was an inscription on the base.

"Eternal glory to the greatest Sunken King who ever lived, the first destined to rule the Light in the Sky. May his reign be eternal." It was an altar. A place of worship built by the castle's former owner for his king.

"Light in the Sky?" Luke murmured.

"The sun?" He began walking through the chamber, reading the information on each destroyed statue.

"I believe it is time we left, Luke Moon," Cadmus said.

"The path to your Beacon will not be easy."

"Now that things are getting interesting?" The robot sighed.

"You need to cross the entire crater of this enormous volcanic region on foot, in a short amount of time, and still return to meet your group before the next Stage."

"Five more minutes here won't change anything."

"But we have already been here for more than an hour..." Luke crouched in front of another base. The letters were partially destroyed, and the system couldn't translate all of it.

"I believed in you." He moved to another fallen statue.

"Fool." Another.

"False promises." And another.

"You condemned us." Luke stayed silent for a moment. The destroyed statues formed a circle around the tribute to the king. On the last still-readable inscription, the system translated:"The Light in the Sky is ruin." The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Luke stood.

"Finished?" Cadmus asked.

"I think so." The robot floated out toward the corridor.

"I am curious about something, Luke Moon." Luke followed him.

"What?"

"Why did you not kill the vampire?" The baron with the scimitars had been spared.

"Because I gave my word that I wouldn't kill him if he gave me the information I wanted."

"And why did you not kill him afterward?"

"I'm pretty sure I already answered that."

"I do not understand, Luke Moon. You are strange. You defeated the enemy. You had the right to take his life. And yet you negotiated."

"If I give my word, I keep it. In the end, I came out ahead, and so did the vampire." The little floating robot stopped and turned to him.

"And now the vampire will tell his superior everything about you. You gave information to the enemy."

"For someone who's supposed to be assisting me, you care way too much about other things."

"I know a few things about tactics and war," Cadmus said, turning again and floating deeper through the castle.

"Oh, do you?"

"Even so, keeping your word is an honorable act, Luke Moon." Cadmus fell silent for a few seconds before continuing.

"If I asked you for a favor, would you honor it?"

"What got into you all of a sudden?"

"Would you honor it?"

"Sure. Depending on what it was and what I got out of it."

"When the time comes, I will ask you to do something. And do not worry. I will reward you well for it." When Luke stepped out of the castle, he started sliding down the hill toward the frozen river. Snow lashed his face, carried by the high wind. Then an arrow cut through the white and struck near his foot. Then another. And another. Soon, arrows were sinking into the snow all around him. Luke lifted his gaze. At the bottom of the hill, a large group waited for him. Vampires. There were too many of them.

Beside the one who seemed to be their leader stood the baron with the scimitars.

"Looks like I've got company."

"I told you, Luke Moon," Cadmus said, turning invisible. The vampires stared up at him from below. The first volley hadn't been meant to kill. It had been a warning.

"For every soldier you killed," the leader said, "I'll make sure you feel it in your flesh before you're devoured alive." A vampire Count? The baron raised one of his scimitars high, then pointed it at Luke and shouted. The vampires answered in a chorus.

"Kill him!" the leader finished. This time, the arrows were meant to kill. Fast, precise, mixed with throwing knives. Luke dodged everything as the vampire army climbed the hill toward him. He turned and ran down the other side, sliding over the snow. Spells began tearing through the air behind him. The vampires raised their weapons and advanced like a dark tide. Some closed the distance too quickly, using dash skills and teleportation. Luke dodged an attack from an invisible vampire. Then another.

Five of them surrounded him, all hidden. His [Demonic Perception] screamed warnings inside his head.

"Can he see us?" one of them whispered. Luke answered by dodging and knocking aside their strikes. One vampire came out of invisibility, opened his mouth, and spat fire. Luke wounded another invisible one, jumped back, and slid farther down the hill. An explosion went off when an arrow landed too close. He ran along the base of the hill, and the vampire army followed.

"Get back here!"

"Didn't you say you were going to kill us?"

"Where are you going?"

"Come on!" Luke kept running until the ground began to crack. Fractures spread beneath his feet. The area was a huge frozen lake. Or it looked like one. In reality, it was only a false sheet of ice over the sea, shaped by the island's strange geography. The crack split open, and Luke ended up standing on a floating piece of ice while the vampire army surrounded him. With only his kukris in hand, he turned in every direction on that small block of ice, enemies all around him.

Then the sound of a horse came through the snow. Luke saw the vampire leader mounted on a red horse. A Blood Familiar?

"You should not have let my baron report to me, human," the leader said. The baron with the scimitars stepped out of the crowd.

"I will be the last thing you ever see." Luke smiled.

"I'm not the one who walked into your trap. You walked into mine."

"What?" A black thread slid out of Luke's stomach and plunged into the water. Seconds later, the frozen lake trembled. A massive black shape burst through the ice with a monstrous roar, sending water, snow, and broken chunks of ice flying into the air. Luke stood atop the kraken, rising above the battlefield.

"I'm my own army." The kraken roared. Some vampires dropped their weapons.

"Run!" one of them shouted, stumbling back. But the leader held his ground with some of his soldiers. Arrows began striking the kraken, useless against the creature's massive body. Luke pointed his hand down, and the kraken activated [Maelstrom Dominion]. A whirlpool formed in the sea, dragging water, ice, and vampires toward its center. The frozen layers shattered into enormous slabs, hauled along by the force of the vortex. The vampire leader tried to flee, riding across the ice, but it was no use.

The surface beneath the horse's hooves began to be pulled backward. The kraken attacked with its tentacles, striking vampires and dragging them into the whirlpool. The leader was seized by a tentacle. So was the baron. Luke saw the baron being lifted and leaped toward him. In midair, he took the vampire's head before the kraken could finish crushing him. [You have slain a Vampire...] 2, 013, 887, 025 EP earned"That death was mine," Luke told the kraken. Then he hunted down the remaining vampires.

The kraken crushed the leader and hurled him into an ice slab. While the creature continued attacking the fleeing vampires, Luke approached the vampire leader. His body was broken, but he was still alive.

"I'm not the Count!" the vampire shouted. Luke stepped closer, raising his kukri.

"I swear! I'm only the Viscount!"

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to send a message to your boss." Luke drove the kukri into the vampire's head. [You have reached Level 100! Half-Demon (Rank E)] (+2 bonus points to all attributes, +5 free points) Your class [Shadow Phantom Reaper] has reached Level 101! (+30 Lethality, +24 Agility, +23 Perception, +22 Intelligence, +18 Wisdom, +13 Willpower, +10 Dexterity, +20 Free Points) [ALERT: Rank Evolution is available!] When only one vampire remained, the lowest-ranked one, Luke walked over to him holding the Viscount's head.

"Tell Vampire Lord Damian he shouldn't have told the heroes my wife was a vampire. Also tell him I'm killing a few of his Counts in retaliation. Don't worry. He'll know who I am." The vampire took the head and ran into the forest. Cadmus reappeared beside him.

"You expected the baron to set a trap for you... yes?"

"Something like that. And these guys followed me through the forest all the way to the castle. Me, of all people. They're terrible at this."

"The next halo you must enter is directly beneath this layer of ice. Or do you plan to keep hunting more vampires?"

"I'm sick of them. I'll keep going after I finish my Beacon." Luke threw himself into the water, sinking between the shattered pieces of ice, and entered one of the five halos waiting there.

At the top of a tower, Luke watched the gigantic tsunami approaching in the distance. He had spent two days traveling until he reached the large landmass known as the Main Island. His goal was to reach the citadel, but first he needed a safe place. Ever since leaving the archipelago, he had been searching for a spot where he could finally evolve his Rank without being interrupted.

"I think this place is safe enough. And no one's following me." [Do you wish to accept Rank Evolution?] Nothing mentioned the Rank Skill. It was just a direct choice: evolve or don't. Just like Stephen told me. Jack's father had advised Luke to only accept a Rank Evolution in a completely safe place. During the process, anyone became vulnerable. Killing someone in that state would be far too easy. [Do you wish to accept Rank Evolution?] The message remained in front of him, with the options "Yes" and "No."

"Last time I evolved my Rank, it hurt like hell."

"Of course," Artemis said.

"Your entire body gets destroyed, roasted by a massive surge of mana, while your soul expands. Like a Pokémon evolving. It feels like swimming through lava. But hey, it's worth it. An important step toward immortality, my boy."

"You think it'll hurt worse because I basically shoved a beast core into my soul?"

"Absolutely."

"Fuck it. I'm accepting this thing." Luke clicked "Yes." For one second, nothing happened. Then the pain came. It was brutal, like his body had been fed into a grinder. Luke clenched his teeth. The pain intensified. His eyes burned. His skull cracked. Everything went white. Then everything went dark. It was as if the entire world had been erased. Luke felt time pass, but not in minutes or hours. It felt like decades.

He and the universe became one thing, trapped between dream and waking, sinking in and out of consciousness in a sea of darkness and stars. He felt his bones forming again, fusing with that endless field of stars. He saw his own body being rebuilt, first as a white silhouette of energy, then as something that began to burn. Flesh grew. Blood flowed warm again. Skin formed. His eyes burned like embers. At last, that entire universe became a blinding white light. Luke shot upright, gasping.

His eyes struggled to readjust to reality. His ears picked up everything at once, his mind too overwhelmed to separate the sounds.

"So," Artemis asked, "how was your trip through the Matrix?" Luke was drenched in sweat.

"H-how long was I out?"

"A day, I think."

"A day?"

"You thought reforging a Rank D body would be easy? Also, you'll need to cut your hair, trim your nails, get some sun, and bite rocks until those sharp teeth fix themselves." Luke looked down at his hands. His skin was a little paler than normal. His hair had grown absurdly long.

"It got long." It reached past his waist. His nails were sharp and black, almost like claws. Luke touched his teeth. They were sharp too.

"I look like an animal." When he tried to stand, he moved too fast and nearly fell off the top of the tower.

"I'm stronger and faster." Even moving felt strange.

"Meow."

"Meow." Luke looked to the side. Two black cats stared at him. A screen opened. [You have evolved from Rank E (Half-Demon) to Rank D (Half-Demon)!] Congratulations, Assassin and Witch. You have crossed another threshold on the Path to Divinity. Few from your planet have come this far, considering how many received the System. Feel privileged, Luke Moon, for taking this great step. Your body has been reforged into a true Rank D vessel. The limitations of your former shell have been reduced even further.

Your new body has successfully absorbed all of your attribute points and refined them to their fullest potential. Your strength has increased drastically. Your speed, reflexes, endurance, and bodily control have advanced beyond what you once understood to be your limits. You are no longer merely a superhuman. You are a superhuman among superhumans. Even so, this power will require care. Simple movements may feel strange.

Standing, walking, holding an object, or moving too quickly may produce far more force than you intended. Take care when touching fragile objects. Your natural healing factor has also improved. Your body can now restore injuries with far greater efficiency. Broken bones will mend far more easily than before, and even severe wounds no longer mean what they once did. As long as you survive, your new body will continue working to rebuild itself. Your life expectancy has also expanded enormously.

From level 50 to 100, your life was extended by 500 years. However, upon reaching Rank D, your improved body doubled that base. You will now live for more than a thousand years. In addition, each race level gained within Rank D will increase your life expectancy by another 50 years. At the limit of Rank D, it is possible to extend your life by up to 5, 000 years. You have reached this Rank, but this is not the end of the road. It is only another beginning. Many perish before reaching this stage.

Many stop here, satisfied with power, longevity, and survival. Others continue walking and are destroyed by what awaits them ahead. Only you can decide what kind of existence Luke Moon will lead. The Path to Divinity remains open. Walk carefully.

"I evolved," he said.

"I really evolved." Maybe it was stupid to say it out loud, but that was exactly how he felt. There was a sense of freedom he couldn't quite explain. As if time and death had stopped being walls and become nothing more than steps.

"A thousand years..." Before, it had been a possibility. Now it was real. But it still wasn't over. [You have awakened a new Rank Skill:...]"For a second there, I forgot about that." There was his new Rank Skill, of course. But before he could open the notification, another message appeared. [A new Servant Slot has been unlocked.] [Good luck finding a worthy servant, oh mighty Dark Lord!]