Chapter 332: Dance Of Shadows And Death
The portal chamber roared with power.
The glow from the four massive teleportation circles pulsed faintly beneath the stone floor, casting flickering shadows across the vast hall.
Knight stood tall in the center, his obsidian fur rippling with dark Essence, horn gleaming faintly with a deep crimson hue. The air around him writhed, thick with shadows and streaked with the faint scent of blood.
Three old Masters circled him like vultures, their battle-worn robes tattered and stained. Lines of exhaustion cut across their faces, mingling with confusion and unease. Each had summoned their weapons, and all bore varying degrees of injuries from the relentless assault.
The oldest among them narrowed his eyes and muttered, "What kind of creature is this? I can’t even see his level."
One of the others replied cautiously, "I’m not sure. He’s a panther—clearly—but with space affinity. I remember overhearing something about an Abomination like this... but this one does not look like an Abomination."
Knight stood motionless before them, shrouded in swirling shadow and faint crimson mist. He made no move to respond, either because he didn’t understand them, or more likely, because he simply didn’t care.
He remained crouched, a low growl rumbling from his chest, claws tapping rhythmically against the floor. The shadows at his feet pulsed, alive, waiting.
One of the Masters moved first, vanishing in a blink and reappearing behind Knight, blade already swinging down toward his back. But the attack sliced only air. Knight had already vanished into the shadows.
The second Master turned instinctively.
Knight reappeared behind him, horn glowing with compressed energy. A black beam of concentrated force and shadows fired straight and, in the blink of an eye, vanished—teleported mid-flight.
The beam reappeared inches away from the third Master’s chest.
BOOM!!!
The old man barely managed to raise a barrier but it cracked the moment Knight’s attack struck, shattering with a sharp crack. The force hurled him across the room, slamming him into a stone pillar.
The other two Masters roared in anger.
"Stay together!" the oldest barked. "Watch each other’s backs!"
Knight landed gracefully, then launched forward, his huge form blurring with speed. His claws tore into the air, sending a slashing arc of spatial distortion flying toward one of them.
The man dodged, only to find Knight already behind him, stepping through a shadow vertex in space.
Blood spurted as Knight’s shadow tendrils shot up from the ground and wrapped around the man’s arms and legs, pulling him down like a predator anchoring its prey.
Knight’s claws came down next, tearing through the man’s chest in a single, fluid strike.
Blood gurgled from the Master’s mouth as his eyes went wide with shock and pain.
Knight didn’t pause. His claws dug deeper, slicing through flesh and bone until they reached the man’s heart, then shredded it without hesitation.
The man’s body jerked once, then went limp in Knight’s grip, lifeless and broken.
The second Master roared and raised his hand, conjuring a barrage of golden spears made of condensed Essence. Over fifty of them formed instantly, glowing with divine heat, and then surged toward Knight like a miniature sun bursting forward.
But Knight didn’t flinch.
The shadows swirling around his body surged upward with a hiss, forming into sleek, black spears that launched from every direction, fifty in total, meeting the golden barrage midair.
The two storms of spears clashed with violent precision, flashes of light and darkness exploding in the air, shaking the very walls of the chamber.
And in the chaos, Knight vanished, swallowed by the shadows.
The Master’s eyes widened.
Knight reappeared behind him like a reaper cloaked in smoke. His massive tail lashed out in a blur, slicing through the man’s right arm cleanly from the shoulder. Flesh and bone parted in a blink, blood spraying as the severed limb fell to the floor.
The Master howled in pain, but Knight gave him no chance to recover.
He lunged forward, claws extended, and grabbed the man’s head in one hand.
With brutal force, Knight charged, dragging the struggling body with him and then slammed the Master’s skull straight into a nearby pillar.
The marble beneath them cracked, then shattered with a deep boom as the man crumpled lifeless in Knight’s grip, blood spilling freely down the broken stone.
Suddenly, shouts echoed from the hall’s entrance.
Knight turned his head, still holding the corpse, and watched as four more figures stepped into the chamber. New enemies, each radiating the strength of a seasoned Master.
The last remaining old guard barked a threat.
"Release him now, or you won’t be leaving this place alive!"
Knight’s glowing eyes shifted to the newcomers, inspecting each of them one by one. Then, without a word, he dipped his head low, opened his jaws wide, and in one brutal motion tore the head of the old man in his grip, clean from his shoulders.
He spat it out like trash.
The severed head hit the ground with a wet thud, rolled once, and came to a stop—its wide, lifeless eyes still staring in frozen shock.
The four new arrivals stood frozen in the doorway, their weapons drawn but their eyes wide with disbelief. Blood soaked the marble floor, and the massive black panther that towered in the center of the hall was still holding a lifeless corpse in one clawed paw.
The last remaining old Master shouted, trying to rally them.
"Form up! He’s alone!"
The newcomers, two men and two women all moved, at once.
The first woman, dual-blade user, dashed left, blades glowing with wind. One of the men conjured a barrage of ice spikes and launched them at Knight, aiming to pin him in place.
Another hurled a chain of lightning, while the last one enhanced herself with Essence and sprinted toward the wall, aiming to flank him.
But Knight didn’t need to dodge.
Instead, he lowered his body, shadows swirling tighter around him, and then—
He vanished.
The ice spikes hit nothing but air. The chain of lightning scorched a column.
Then, space twisted open directly behind the ice spike-user, and Knight emerged in complete silence.
His tail lashed once, cleanly severing the man’s right leg from the knee down. Before the man could scream, a shadow tendril whipped around his throat and flung him headfirst into the ground with a wet crunch.
The twin-blade woman lunged to help but was intercepted mid-dash. A cleaved space slash from Knight’s claws raced toward her. She blocked with crossed blades, but the wave cracked her guard and sent her flying into the wall, coughing blood.
The remaining two attempted to regroup with the last old Master.
Knight stalked forward slowly.
The old Master clenched his teeth and raised both hands. A dome of golden light spread outward, pulsing with reinforced barriers.
Knight’s horn shimmered. A black beam pulsed out, vanished mid-air, and reappeared—inside the dome.
It blasted through the inner space of the shield, hitting the reinforced walls from within.
BOOM!
The shield exploded outward. The shockwave flung all three of them back, two slammed into pillars, the last skidded across the marble floor.
Before they could rise, Knight’s shadows surged forth, like a sea crashing down.
Dozens of tendrils burst from the ground and walls, stabbing and whipping with terrifying precision. One by one, the intruders were overwhelmed.
Blood splattered the walls again.
Knight stood in the center, mist and shadow swirling violently around him, his breathing calm.
The portal room was finally conquered.