Chapter 312: A Panther, An Owl And A Serpent Walked...
And just like that, the locked space shattered again.
But this time, it didn’t just crack quietly. It boomed . A deep, resonating explosion of Essence erupted outward, sending violet shards scattering across the edges of my domain like broken glass. The force made my chest tighten slightly, like the laws themselves had snapped under pressure.
"Is that all you have?" he asked, his voice calm once more.
But I could feel it. Beneath that calm tone was something else.
Excitement.
He was curious, maybe even impressed but definitely eager to see more.
I let out a long breath and replied, "Nope. That’s all."
’Crazy old man,’ I muttered in my head, barely holding back an eye roll.
"Huh..." He actually sounded surprised by my honest answer.
A few seconds of silence passed between us. Then, I noticed something subtle....a movement. He was walking toward me, or at least, the image of him in my domain was.
"You can actually see me," he said slowly, the surprise in his voice now unmistakable.
I didn’t say anything.
He stopped walking and stood still for a second before speaking again.
"All right... You do seem to have some level of comprehension over space. I’ll take you to an Abomination that uses spatial laws," he said, then added with a smirk in his tone, "But don’t expect me to help you."
I gave a small nod.
"Works for me."
He chuckled.
"Watch how this is done," he said.
I watched closely as he raised his hand. With a smooth, practiced motion, he drew a circle in the air in front of him.
As his fingers moved, space itself seemed to respond ....not just react, but resonate. The surrounding Essence churned in sync, vibrating like it had been waiting for this signal.
And then it happened.
A swirling green-edged portal opened mid-air, humming softly with power. The edges of the portal flickered like they were alive. Spatial ripples spilled from it, eerily similar to the ones I had felt earlier when meditating near the core.
My eyes widened slightly. Even though it looked simple, I could tell....this wasn’t a normal portal.
Then his voice came again, low and thoughtful.
"To truly understand space," he said, "you must first understand yourself , your own position in it. Ask the hard questions: Can you change your location without actually moving? Can you change your direction without any physical shift?"
His tone grew a little sharper.
"Why does space allow you to exist in it at all? What parts of it are you affecting just by standing still? Don’t just use the skills the system gives you, think beyond them. Understand the math. The logic. The reason behind each movement."
I blinked, surprised by the sudden lesson. I hadn’t expected him to start teaching like this.
But I liked it.
More than that, I understood it.
He was right.
I gave a small nod. "I’ll remember that."
"Good," he said. "Now step inside."
Without a moment’s hesitation, I stepped into the swirling green portal.
In an instant, the world shifted.
I found myself high up in the sky, hovering gently with the wind brushing past my face. The air felt heavy here and the smell of blood was lingering around.
Below me, a massive golden barrier shimmered like liquid light, stretching wide to encase a vast military base. It was larger than any base I had seen before.
The barrier flickered every few seconds, like it was straining to stay active.
I floated above it, taking in the scene. Directly outside the base, the ground was a scorched wasteland....cracked earth, blackened soil, and deep craters scattered across the land like scars.
The destruction stretched for nearly five kilometers in every direction, like the aftermath of a never-ending war.
Beyond that broken terrain, nature resumed, but it wasn’t peaceful. Giant crevices tore through the earth like open wounds, some deep enough that I couldn’t see the bottom.
And just beyond them, a dense forest began. The trees were tall, dark, and twisted.
Dante appeared beside me, silent at first. Then he spoke, his voice low and calm.
"We’re on the western continent now. What you’re looking at... is one of our secondary front-line bases."
I nodded slowly. The scale was staggering.
He continued, pointing toward the massive crevices and the dark forest beyond.
"See that? All those splits in the land... they lead into the deeper zones. It’s like standing at the edge of an abyss. And that forest? It’s crawling with Abominations."
His voice grew heavier with the next words.
"Some of them... are Grandmaster-ranked. It’s a stalemate right now. Neither side can push forward without massive losses."
The Essence in the air was restless. It pulsed in chaotic waves, more intense than anything I had felt in the other places.
Dante gestured toward the golden barrier again.
"That shield’s not just there to protect the base. It’s here because some of those Abominations have grasped the Law of Space . Without the barrier, they’d bypass our defenses in seconds. Teleportation, shifting terrain, cutting through locked zones....it’s chaos."
I narrowed my eyes, scanning the distant forest again.
"So," I said, staring down at the ruined land and the abyssal crevices beyond, "somewhere out there... is the one I’m looking for."
Dante, still floating just beside me, nodded slowly.
"Not just one. There are multiple. But I assume you’re only interested in the ones at Master rank?"
I gave a single nod, keeping my eyes fixed on the shifting forest shadows.
"Then there are three. A panther, a serpent, and an owl. All of them have some understanding of space laws. The panther’s the strongest. The owl is the weakest. Each of them will challenge you in a different way."
As soon as I heard the three options I started thinking.
’Which one would be best for a Soul Shackle?’
While I was still deciding, Dante spoke again.
"I just have one question."
My eyes narrowed. The tone of his voice shifted slightly—lighter, amused, like he was setting something up.
"What question?" I asked flatly.
"Why would you want to observe an Abomination," he said slowly, "when you could just ask Arkas to give you the best instructors? Or even call in a Grandmaster who specializes in space laws?"
My expression stayed neutral, but my thoughts sharpened. Of course he’d go there.
"I don’t like owing Arkas," I replied. "And anyway, this path feels more real to me. I need to figure it out through myself , not through someone else’s teaching."
There was a long pause. I couldn’t see Dante’s face, he was still hidden inside my domain, nothing more than a shimmer but I could practically feel the smirk forming on his invisible lips.
He didn’t ask any more questions. Instead, his voice came through again, clear and direct.
"You can’t go find them. I’ll bring one to you. Choose."
That, I liked. I wasn’t in the mood to go hunting blindly through a battlefield teeming with Grandmaster-level monsters.
I gave it a moment’s thought, but honestly, my mind was already made up the moment he said "Panther." The strongest one. I didn’t know what traits it had or how it used space, but that didn’t matter. I’d learn as I fought it.
"The Panther," I said.
No sooner had the words left my mouth than Dante vanished from my perception entirely.
I blinked, then let out a small breath.
"So he uses space laws too," I muttered under my breath, more impressed than annoyed.
That would explain how he slipped through my [Absolute Domain].
I glanced back down toward the cracked terrain.
A Soul Shackle with a space-using panther.....a smile formed on my lips.