Swish—
Blood sprayed from one of the creature's four limbs as Kastis's scythe carved through flesh and bone.
"Sh*t… I regret making a scythe," he thought bitterly, narrowly dodging a retaliatory strike as the beast's massive arm smashed into the earth beside him. Dust exploded into the air. "It looked cool as hell, and I figured it would be useful. But in an actual fight? It's a nightmare."
The moment his foot touched the ground, Kastis kicked back to create space. Without pause, his body folded into shadow—melting into the forest floor like a smear of ink under the scorching sun.
The monster stopped, momentarily confused by the sudden disappearance.
That hesitation was enough.
Kastis emerged from the creature's own shadow, his tooth dagger already in hand. He buried it deep into the monster's back and used the hilt as a foothold, vaulting himself into the air.
The beast's topmost eyes—two of the six—locked onto him just in time to see the glint of his second weapon. Antler-daggers descended like fangs from the sky. The monster flinched and lurched downward, but Kastis had already anticipated the move. He'd balanced his dagger on the beast's shoulder ridge and now used it to leap again.
A savage rip tore through the creature's lower torso as he unmerged from its shadow, and blood gushed from the gaping wound. The beast howled, the sound raw and guttural.
Before it could recover, Kastis hurled two throwing knives.
Thunk.
The knives buried themselves into its remaining eyes. With no hesitation, Kastis gripped the hilts, used them as anchors, and spun forward in a half-flip, aiming a kick at the creature's gut.
But the monster, blinded and enraged, lashed out with both arms in a desperate bid to crush him.
Instinct screamed. Kastis activated his charm—his crescent moon earring flashing faintly.
Phantom Echo.
The creature's claws passed through his body like smoke.
In the next breath, Kastis deactivated the charm and slammed his boot into the beast's torso. It stumbled backward, limbs flailing—
—and then froze.
A pair of antler-daggers speared through its legs from below.
The monster collapsed face-first, its head landing with a sickening crunch onto the bony corpse of a dead monster it killed previously. The impact drove a shattered rib clean through its skull. A final pulse of blood sprayed across the ground before the beast went still.
Dead.
Kastis staggered, then dropped onto his back with a grunt, the breath knocked out of him. The shadows around his body writhed and slowly receded as his transformation ended.
[You have slain a Lustre-ranked monster: Klauthid (1st Order).]
[You have received: 1 Shard.]
[You have received: Soul Essence. Your soul grows stronger.]
"Ugh… damn. I'm wiped," Kastis groaned, pushing himself up. His muscles ached. "I've been at this since morning… Is it already night?"
With effort, he climbed into the trees, branches creaking beneath him as he ascended. The treetops welcomed him like old friends. He moved slowly, each step heavier than the last.
Half an hour later, he finally reached his little camp.
The second he touched the stone slab he used as a bed, his body collapsed onto it.
Unmoving.
"Wow," a voice murmured from the shadows nearby. "He's really knocked out cold."
Valerian stepped forward, his expression curious. His eyes glowed faintly as he reached out with a smoky, ever changing hand.
"I wonder what he did in that forest… and how many monsters he killed."
He touched Kastis's forehead lightly, and the surface of his mind began to ripple. Valerian's ability allowed him to peer into recent memories—but only the last few hours.
It was enough.
A few hours earlier…
Kastis crouched in the treetops, eyes scanning a thirty-meter area he had scouted earlier. His pulse quickened—not from fear, but excitement. A new weapon. A new hunt. A real hunt
He activated his partial transformation and moved through the branches like a phantom. Everything around him shimmered faintly, as if the island was only half-real. Translucent. Dreamlike.
That illusion proved costly.
A shadow pounced—silent, perfect.
Kastis didn't hear it coming. The moment he sensed the danger, it was already too late. A massive jaguar of living shadow collided with him, and both tumbled downward.
Branches snapped around them. One scraped across his cheek. Blood trickled down.
The pain snapped Kastis back into focus.
Without hesitation, he summoned his tooth dagger and drove it straight into the beast's eye.
The jaguar released a shriek—but the pitch was too high for him to fully register. The creature twisted midair and pinned him, jaws clamping down around his throat.
Only meters from the ground.
He would have died.
In a last, desperate act, Kastis vanished—melting into the shadows of the falling trees.
A heartbeat later, the jaguar did the same.
They reappeared almost simultaneously—five meters apart, stepping out from different shadows.
Kastis cursed under his breath.
"Sh*t… This one's stronger than the last one, smarter even."
He slid beneath a pounce, activating his full Shadow Jaguar form mid-movement, and melted into the jaguar's shadow.
The jaguar looked around, confused.
From beneath its own feet, another jaguar emerged.
But it wasn't a real one.
It was him.
They collided in a violent flurry of fangs and claws, shadows twisting and trees snapping. Kastis's fang buried itself in the beast's remaining eye, and then both of them melted back into the dark.
He reappeared again, this time behind a tree not as a full jaguar but in his partial-transformation, gasping for air. The transformation had drained him—too fast, too deep.
The jaguar emerged next, disoriented and staggering. It slammed into a tree. Then another.
Its nose sniffed the air, but its movements were clumsy. Sluggish.
It didn't realize it was already dying, too much blood was lost.
Kastis sprinted forward, shadows curling behind his heels like restless smoke. His daggers gleamed in his hands, the twin blades now part of him—extensions of instinct and survival.
With a grunt, he ducked under the swipe of the creature's elongated claw and drove both daggers into the thick, carapaced flesh just above its hind legs. The Shadow Jaguar let out a distorted snarl, stumbling forward as its muscles gave out beneath it.
Kastis didn't waste time.
He twisted his hips, took a few sharp steps back—just enough to position himself—then pulled out the scythe.
The obsidian crescent whispered through the air.
In a single, clean arc, the blade severed the creature's head. It hit the forest floor with a muffled thud, steam rising from the stump as black blood soaked into the moss.
Kastis collapsed onto the ground, landing hard on his backside. He didn't move. Just breathed.
The forest was still.
A thin mist drifted between the trees, turning the gold sunlight into long streaks of fading color. A chorus of distant chirps and rustling leaves hummed in the background, softening the tension that still knotted in his shoulders.
For a brief moment, it was peaceful.
Then, a quiet chime rang in his mind.
[You have slain a Glow-ranked monster: Shadow Jaguar (1st Order).]
[You have received: 1 Shard.]
[You have received: Soul Essence. Your soul grows stronger.
Kastis exhaled slowly, his breath catching in the cold night air. He pushed himself up and opened his status, his eyes narrowing as they landed on the new entry.
Shard Acquired: Phantom Echo
Description: This charm allows the wielder to enter a Phantom Lake state for several seconds. While in this form, you cannot be struck or harmed by physical means.
A small grin tugged at his lips.
He focused on the shard, and as if pulled by thought, a wisp of swirling mist curled into existence beside his head. It solidified, slowly becoming a crescent-shaped shimmer that latched onto his ear like an ethereal earring.
It sparkled faintly—moonlight and shadow intertwining—trapped in a endless motion.
"Oh—yeah, that looks cool as hell," Kastis muttered, catching the glint from the corner of his eye.
He opened his palm, casting a small shadow in his hand. A moment later, a water bottle emerged from the depths of his own darkness, cold to the touch.
He drank it in one long pull. His throat ached, dry and raw from the fight.
With the bottle empty, he turned back toward the clearing—his temporary home.
Dragging the Shadow Jaguar behind him with tendrils of black, he returned to the familiar rock and the flickering campfire. The flames welcomed him like old friends.
He carved meat from the monster's flank, careful to avoid the toxic glands along the spine. Soon, the scent of cooked flesh filled the air. It wasn't delicious, but it was warm and heavy in his stomach. It would do.
He ate in silence. Then, without pause, he stood again.
The hunt wasn't over.
Not yet.
This time, he'll moved smarter. Cleaner. The earlier battle had taught him plenty—timing, spacing, and how these beasts moved and reacted. The jaguar's raw power wasn't the threat—it was its speed, its angles.
Now, he knew.
He darted back into the woods. Scythe on his back. Daggers at his sides. Shadows licking at his heels. Mist swirling around him as if he was one with them.
A new shard. A stronger soul. A growing hunger.
He was just getting started.