CHAPTER 313: EXCELLENT

Darian leapt off the city walls and landed outside, moving as quietly as he could toward the battlefield.

When he got close enough, he stopped and carefully observed the demonic shadows. As expected, almost all of them were Aberrants or Fiendgods. The Chromaraics had used the transformed bodies from that last battle to build this army.

His first move would be to use his daily Essence Absorption on one of them. Before, he had gotten the Fire Law from a shadow that had that ability when it was alive. Now, he wanted to pick a good target among the enemies.

The technique could fail, and he couldn’t choose exactly what he’d get. Still, there was no reason not to at least aim at something useful when there were so many options around.

Darian spotted a massive shadow spitting fire, and others shooting lightning. Those two elements were his first priority, since his techniques relied on them, along with wind.

’How does this even work on shadows? From what I’ve been told, they don’t have intelligence, and they’re not alive to use the system...’ he wondered, frowning. Then he noticed something.

A Fiendgod defending the city was suddenly wrapped in a cloud of black dust.

That being was massive, clearly one of the strongest on the field. But that thing appeared out of nowhere around him, then sank into his body. His eyes bulged, his body went rigid, completely paralyzed.

The next moment, dozens of shadows swarmed over him and tore him apart viciously. No fight, no reaction... nothing.

Darian scanned the field carefully... until he spotted something moving under the ground. Another shadow, but tiny, radiating an earth-like power mixed with something darker, unknown.

"NO! ANCESTRAL!"

Cries of pain echoed from the city. Suddenly, a storm of spears rained down toward the buried shadow. They pierced the ground over a massive area, leaving no escape.

Soon after, everyone felt the yin of death spread through the battlefield. They had definitely killed it, but the damage was already done. Every minute, more of the strongest defenders of the city were being taken down.

Darian watched from a distance, extremely curious. That shadow had used something dark — close to yin, but not the same.

"Could it be...?"

He muttered, and without hesitating, rushed forward. He had only ten seconds to act.

Seven seconds...

Eight seconds...

He reached the spot and triggered the system.

[Use Essence Absorption?] [Yes / No]

"Yes!"

[Processing...]

[Darkness Law added for use]

[Available daily uses: 02]

[Time until recharge: 23H : 59M]

Darian scanned the messages quickly while retreating far from the city and the fight.

Of the system’s five Law options, Earth, Water, and Wind were simple enough. But Almighty and Darkness... he had no idea what they really were.

Of course, the name Darkness suggested something like yin, but different. After sensing that exact power in the shadow, he had guessed it might be Darkness — and he’d been eager to get his hands on it.

’It didn’t fail... looks like I got lucky a second time...’

Darian reached a safe spot far from the clash and pulled up the system again. Without delay, he activated the Darkness Law.

Before him, flowing out of the void, came a strange, dark energy. It looked like black dust. But in reality, they were tiny runes, smaller than grains of sand.

Darian activated his ring, and instantly, the runes submitted to him — surprising him.

’This... this definitely isn’t yin...’

He could control those runes completely — while with pure yin and yang he could only force them. That meant this was something else. And this Darkness Law obeyed his will perfectly.

It was exactly the same power the shadow had used to kill the Fiendgod. Expanding his senses to the max and studying it carefully, Darian’s eyes lit up.

’It’s like each tiny rune holds the essence of a natural element twisted toward yin. This power is a whole new way to manipulate the elements... just like the three young Heavenly Elemental Spirits do... excellent...’

Since it wasn’t pure Yin, Darian had full control over it, able to use it a thousand times better than anyone else thanks to his ring. He couldn’t create this power on his own, but the system would grant him two portions of it daily.

Without hesitation, he took the second daily portion, sealed it, and stored it in his inventory.

Then he turned his focus back to the bloody battlefield. In an instant, his mind formed the perfect plan.

...

Awel, Tir, and Eleri had already been fighting for more than twenty minutes, and nearly a third of the Fiendgods were dead trying to protect the city.

The three of them were panicked, desperate. They couldn’t find the Chromaraics, and at the same time they couldn’t afford a single mistake, or the city would be overrun.

"The Order Law only works within a one-kilometer area! You need to search inside that radius!" the Golden Monkey roared at them again.

It was already obvious that the Chromaraics were hiding somewhere nearby, close to the city. But... they could be literally anywhere inside that one-kilometer range. And the moment the three left the city... the shadows would definitely storm inside.

Most likely, even if they did find the culprits quickly, the city would still be devastated. The three of them were lost, not knowing what to do. Too inexperienced, they couldn’t accept the idea of leaving thousands of weak people to die because they couldn’t protect them.

The very young who hadn’t yet entered the system, or those who were still only level one, were completely useless in this battle. The single Law they had was painfully weak and irrelevant, and their individual powers were practically nonexistent.

At the first level, after gathering 200 primordial points, a person formed a primordial core, which gave a subtle boost to their physical strength. From there, with each level, individual power multiplied — plus they’d receive extra upgrades to the Laws granted by the system.

Without enough strength to fight, the weak had nowhere to run, so they remained hiding inside the city.

There was no safe place in that desert beyond the walls. With all the movement, the surrounding shadows had surely been drawn closer to the city too. If the people tried to flee, they’d just die anyway. That’s why they chose to stay and trust the defenses.

"Awel, you should go! You can fly and scout! We’ll hold them off here!" Tir shouted firmly.

Awel was a wind elemental, the fastest and most agile of the group, and also the smartest.

She quickly shook her head. If she actually found them, but there were several Chromaraics above level 2... she wouldn’t have the strength to kill them, maybe not even to escape. It would be pointless to go alone — only all three together stood a chance.

"We have to go... otherwise it’ll get much worse," Eleri said bitterly.

The three of them swallowed hard and stopped their attacks. The way things were going, everyone was going to die anyway. So at the very least, they had to take down the ones responsible.

Their expressions twisted. Since birth, they’d lived in an endless hell. The one who had been like a father to them had sacrificed himself so they could survive. And now\... they were about to lose the only home they had left, all because they were weak...

"Big brother..." Awel murmured, clenching her fists.

Suddenly...

A strong gust of wind made all three of them turn in perfect sync toward the same direction.

There, they saw a pair of glowing red eyes approaching.

Darian stopped near them. "Looks like I made it just in time."

"Big brother! Why didn’t you run away!" Eleri cried, her eyes trembling.

"Oh? I said I’d help if I found an opening, didn’t I?" Darian answered with a faint smile.

He met their eyes, radiating a confidence and security the three of them had never felt before.

In that moment, they swallowed hard, feeling something stir inside. If they had true hearts, they’d be beating wildly.

"Well, let’s finish this. I’ll need the help of all three of you. Do you trust me?"