These creatures might not feel pain or exhaustion, but they still had living biological bodies.
That was Tristan's only hope. The Marked had chased him for kilometers like tireless beasts. But unlike him, their bodies weren't bathed in the essence of Light. As resilient as they were, he believed their muscles were already reaching their limits.
The ravine around him was narrow. Its walls, made of jagged, steep rocks, looked melted—like the terrain had been sliced by a blade.
Tristan looked ahead and, upon seeing the beasts approaching, scoffed.
Their number had now grown to twenty.
His grip on the sword's hilt tightened. He had only one plan: conserve as much Darkness essence as possible before the larger monsters arrived.
But, facing such a ridiculous number of opponents, the plan felt like a joke.
'Hmm… maybe I can kill the ram and the snow-cat if I save energy now,' he thought, gritting his teeth. 'But to do that, I need to take down all these monkeys without spending any essence.'
He knew it was impossible. But he couldn't afford to give up.
The first Marked leapt toward him—a monkey with lifeless eyes, gray skin, and disproportionate arms. Its gaping mouth revealed cracked, filthy fangs. To Tristan's sharp eyes, the creature's movements were far too slow.
He twisted his body, dodged the monkey's blow, and with a precise thrust, pierced its throat. Purple blood splattered as the corpse dropped heavily to the ground. Tristan shoved it aside.
The monsters were far stronger than him physically—he could only rely on his swordsmanship to survive.
Three others were already closing in. They hesitated for a moment, staring at Tristan's blade stained with blood, perhaps a flicker of their true will. But the glimmer faded quickly. They advanced again, like puppets obeying a silent command.
Tristan ran across the rocks, using the ravine's terrain to hide. He slipped through narrow gaps, circled around a larger stone, and emerged behind one of the Marked. With a leap, he used his legs to propel himself and slash the creature's hamstring. The cut was deep.
The beast turned, silent and expressionless. It tried to stay upright but toppled over. Tristan pounced and, with a clean stroke, ripped open its belly. The foul stench of its guts spread through the air.
The other two came running. One tried to crush him with its arm, the other with a kick. Tristan danced between the blows, dodging with the precision of a seasoned swordsman, though he was only an amateur. None of it would have been possible without the changes Darkness cultivation had made to his senses.
When he saw an opening, he sliced one's knee and then drove his blade between its ribs. Twisting his body, he avoided the other's charge, severed its arm, and leapt into its chest, driving his sword into its heart.
The calm lasted only two seconds.
Clang!
A metallic sound echoed. Tristan jumped to the side by instinct. A thick chain sliced through the air where he had just been.
Looking up, he saw five monkeys coming toward him—all armed with chains and ropes. More were approaching in the distance.
Tristan growled softly.
'They want to capture me…'
During the fight, he had noticed it: the attacks were aimed at his limbs—not to kill, but to disable.
'Just like they did to the snow-cat…'
The mere thought of being chained and delivered to that sorcerer made his stomach churn.
Never! He would never allow that.
The monkeys swung their chains fiercely, trying to ensnare his legs and arms. He backed away, dodged, spun—but the movements were starting to slow. His breathing turned ragged, and the edges of his vision blurred.
He was getting slow.
That was his limit. He was about to circulate the Darkness essence through his body, the one he had been trying so hard to preserve.
He hadn't even faced ten of them yet, and things weren't going as planned.
One of the apes lunged from behind a rock, and Tristan slashed its thigh, but at that moment, he was hit.
One of the apes he had thought dead—the one whose throat he had slashed at the start—rose like a stubborn corpse, its eyes empty. In its hands, a large stone.
Before Tristan could react, the stone flew and struck his head with a crack.
His jaw dislocated with a horrible sound. Tristan was flung backward like a rag doll and smashed against a rock. The impact made his entire body scream in pain. Blood dripped from his mouth, and his vision flickered.
'How...?'
He thought he was done for.
But then—
Something heavy fell from the sky like a lightning bolt.
An old acquaintance: the rune dog.
The colossal creature landed between him and the enemies. Tristan's eyes widened.
Him again.
Had he known they'd meet like this again, Tristan would've done everything he could to kill him in their previous encounters. Unfortunately, he couldn't turn back time.
'Is he… here to finish the job?'
But no. Surprisingly. The dog dashed past him and, with its massive paws, crushed three apes at once. A fourth was bitten and tossed away like a broken toy.
'He's helping me?'
The doubt flashed by, but the answer was right there, before his eyes. The rune dog didn't hesitate. He moved with both grace and savagery, fighting the Marked with brutal fury. In no time, most of them were down, broken, or dead.
A Marked killing other Marked—Tristan couldn't make any sense of it.
But the danger wasn't over yet.
The two largest beasts were there now: the giant ram and the snow-cat. Tristan swallowed hard. Neither he nor the dog could take them both on at once.
Tristan popped his jaw back into place.
The dog growled and turned to Tristan, who stayed alert.
But the Marked grabbed him gently with its fangs—surprisingly careful for something so large. Then it began to run.
Tristan looked back and saw it—the snow-cat was nearly upon them, leaping over obstacles with ease. The ram followed just behind, smashing through everything in its path without the slightest concern for the damage its body took.
The dog ran through the ravine for a while when Tristan saw something ahead.
A giant centipede!
The monster moved in to attack—and somehow, it was even faster than the snow-cat.
The path was blocked.
'Shit!'
He no longer knew what to do.
Tristan looked around. Then he saw it, behind the centipede:
The mist.
But it wasn't like before. Now, the white mist was surrounded by a ring of golden flames.
The golden glow was unlike anything he had ever seen. It wasn't just light. It was a hungry fire. When he focused his gaze on the flame, a chill ran up his spine. It was as if it wanted to devour him.
Tristan looked at the centipede ahead, at the two giant beasts coming from behind along with the remaining apes, and then at the mist surrounded by threatening flames.
Which was more dangerous?
He didn't even trust his own choice, but hesitantly, Tristan pointed toward the mist.
"There!"
The dog hesitated and shook its head.
Tristan was surprised the creature had understood his gesture.
"We have no other choice!"
The dog growled, unsure. But when it saw the snow-cat just an arm's length away, it obeyed.
With a powerful push, the Marked dodged the centipede's attack and ran to the side.
"Avoid the flames!" Tristan shouted.
The dog, carrying Tristan, leapt into the mist.
And the world turned white.