Shade watched what had emerged from the ground. It was something incredibly ugly and lacking in style.
From what he could compare it to, it was a kind of insect, perhaps a locust? A sickly green, with six sharp legs, it had two red eyes staring fixedly at him. Its insect wings moved rapidly, generating a shrill noise. From its mouth emerged a stinger, as did from the rear of its body.
Shade watched for a few moments before clenching his teeth. It was a Corrupted Tyrant.
"Damn it... screw you, fate," he thought as he changed form, ceasing to be the Stone Saint to return to his dragon form. Although it was a Corrupted Tyrant, it wasn't as powerful as the Corrupted Terror he had just killed.
And the few seconds of rest he had allowed him to recover an intimate part of his essence.
Rising into the sky in his dragon-shaped shell made of darkness, he lunged at the Tyrant, beginning a new clash between the two.
Shade launched a claw strike at the Tyrant, which backed away. A moment later, it impacted the body of the darkness dragon, throwing it backward.
Stopping, Shade began to ascend into the sky, pursued by the Tyrant. Shade positioned himself next to Gunlaug.
Instead of fighting each other as Shade wanted, the two creatures reached a kind of silent truce not to get in each other's way, which was too strange but not impossible.
Shade and Gunlaug looked at their adversaries: a Fallen Titan and a Corrupted Tyrant—two creatures that would undoubtedly kill any Ascended, even a Saint, if they weren't careful enough in battle.
Shade said nothing and simply lunged at the Corrupted Tyrant, while Gunlaug spewed a sea of golden flames at the butterfly, which beat its wings, dissipating the flames enough to avoid them.
Gunlaug pursued the butterfly, which fought against the dragon, using its legs to wound the body of the black and gold dragon.
Using his claws, Gunlaug grabbed it and, with monstrous strength, tore off the butterfly's leg, eliciting a screech that resonated in the sky.
Without letting it recover, he unleashed a sea of flames that completely enveloped the titan.
The titan escaped the sea of flames with its wings half-charred and torn. The butterfly flew toward Gunlaug, using its enormous body to push the dragon against the ground.
The ground trembled at the impact of both beasts.
Elsewhere, Shade faced the gigantic grasshopper. Their clash generated huge shock waves of impact.
Shade tried to use Gale, but the Tyrant possessed abilities more versed in wind, turning it into its defense and attack.
Tearing winds began to shred the dark shell, forcing Shade to separate it and spend more essence. Consuming his fifth essence core, Shade pierced through the wind wall, sacrificing most of his darkness body.
Forming the Stone Saint's body, he created a spear that impacted the Tyrant's head, sending it to the ground.
The gigantic insect beat its wings, recomposing itself and taking flight once more.
Not letting it do anything or call the wind, Shade transformed into a huge wasp, using a sharp stinger against the Tyrant, which used its own stinger to block the attack.
Both stingers collided; the darkness stinger was the first to break.
The nightmare creature, seeing this, struck the wasp's body with its legs, sending it flying several dozen meters. Then, using the wind, it released strong, tearing gusts that shattered the dark body.
Shade cursed, feeling his body being whipped and thrown from side to side.
"There must be something I can use," thought Shade, feeling how in a short time his dark shell would be completely destroyed, leaving him exposed to an attack during the moments it would take to form another shell.
Shade cursed silently; he had no idea how to get out of the current situation.
His dark shell was finally shattered, leaving him exposed.
The Tyrant, wasting no time, pounced on Shade with its maw ready to devour him.
Shade, unable to move due to the powerful wind, watched as the Tyrant approached every second.
Before it got close enough, an enormous dying, charred butterfly impacted the body of the Corrupted grasshopper.
Feeling the wind pressure decrease, he transformed into a large black raven that escaped the intense wind.
Looking down, he saw that Gunlaug was quite injured, but even so, his eyes were full of murderous intent against the butterfly titan.
Rising into the sky, Shade had an idea.
Shifting to his Stone Saint form, he created two raven wings and then looked at Gunlaug.
"I need you to unleash your strongest breath of fire," said Shade, looking at his dragon, which growled with controlled anger.
Both creatures returned; the butterfly titan was incredibly damaged and badly wounded. It was surprising the amount of punishment it received and kept fighting.
Shade even felt a hint of respect for that creature, but only a little.
Using the Gale enchantment, strong winds swirled around him, spending his Monster core and leaving only his Beast core. If he couldn't at least kill the Tyrant, he would dismiss Gunlaug and escape to the waking world until he recovered.
He didn't plan to die in a stupid act of bravery to prove himself by wanting to kill both creatures.
The two creatures lunged at them.
Gunlaug prepared his dark flames, unleashing a sea of golden fire that was amplified by a furious gale, creating an infernal sky of flames that impacted both, completely burning their wings—these being the most fragile parts of their bodies, although it would normally require at least an Ascended weapon to damage them.
Shade watched as from the sea of flames descended two figures enveloped in fire that crashed to the ground with excessive violence.
The first figure to recompose itself was the grasshopper, whose wings were burned and several of its legs were nonexistent.
Then there was the butterfly, which barely managed to stand upright.
Shade lunged to the ground, landing on it and leaving several cracks dozens of meters long from his fall.
His Stone Saint body faded, opting for the form of an enormous 70-meter serpent made of pure darkness, with red eyes and obsidian-black fangs.
Letting out a furious, loud hiss, Shade slithered, beginning a final exchange against the Corrupted Tyrant on land.
As he suspected, the grasshopper Tyrant was only good at fighting in the sky; once on land, it was vulnerable but still dangerous.
Wrapping around the Tyrant like a constrictor boa, he began to exert pressure on the insect's body, slowly crushing it.
The Tyrant used its stinger to pierce the shadow body.
Shade was spending the last of his essence. Now it all came down to a battle of wills: which of the two would kill the other before dying. Exerting more and more pressure, Shade opened his mouth wide, closing it around the Tyrant. His obsidian fangs pierced the resistant chitin.
Shaking his head, Shade used his strength as an Ascended Titan in an adrenaline-fueled push and finally succeeded.
The grasshopper Tyrant's head separated from its body, being thrown far away.
A few hundred meters away, Gunlaug raised his claws, crushing the butterfly titan's chest at the same time.
The Spell's voice whispered in Shade's head.
[You have killed a Corrupted Tyrant, Ruler of the Deep Caverns]
[You have killed a Fallen Titan, Illusory Butterfly]
[You have received an Echo]
Shade felt his essence finally run out. Unable to sustain the dark transformation, his body disappeared in swirls of darkness, falling to the ground.
He had done it. He had won.
Falling on his back on the corpse of the at least 30-meter Tyrant, Shade rested.
Hearing footsteps, he watched as Gunlaug approached. He was equally injured, bleeding from several cuts and wounds received in the battle against the Corrupted and his fight against the resilient Butterfly Titan.
The dragon's body sparkled before revealing itself as a man of around twenty-seven years old. He was covered in full-body armor of black and gold; his hair was long, of a deep black, with golden eyes. His face was undoubtedly beautiful, worthy of someone Transcendent.
Gunlaug looked at his master silently before nodding, looking at the remains of the butterfly titan on the ground.
Shade raised his thumb, giving a tired smile.
"Ah, good job," said Shade.
"Sorry for making you fight those Corrupted, but I was busy with the Terror, and then this Tyrant showed up."
"Doesn't... matter... Master... Safe," the Echo said slowly.
Shade nodded.
"Keep watch while I sleep a bit, until I recover some of my essence."
Saying that, Shade closed his eyes, falling asleep into a dreamless sleep.
...
After a few hours, Uriel took control of the body, letting Shade rest. He had seen the entire fight from start to finish; without a doubt, Shade had done an excellent job while he was unconscious. Now, the rest would depend on him.
Uriel dismissed Gunlaug to his sea of souls to recover. Then he extracted the seven Ascended cores, did the same with the butterfly, and then with the Terror, extracting their Transcendent cores.
Finally, he went to where the remains of the Corrupted monsters had fallen, obtaining a few hundred of them; most were Beasts and Monsters.
He felt a bit strange. Fighting Corrupted creatures was something only a few Masters and Saints could do, and even then, it was very dangerous.
But he constantly fought these kinds of catastrophic beings and won. He even killed a Corrupted Terror and then two Fallen Titans. Actually, Shade and Gunlaug did it, but they were part of him, of his strength, so the kills counted as his.
Sighing, Uriel lit a fire and prepared food he had brought with him.
"Well, let's see how this fried rice and takoyaki turn out," said Uriel, extracting a plate of still-warm fried rice thanks to his Dark Storage.
While eating, he summoned his runes, scrolling to the invaluable memory of Dark Storage.
Memory: Dark Storage
Memory Rank: Awakened
Memory Level: I
Memory Description: [The best sorcerer always complained about having to continuously move his things every time he went on a trip. So he created a storage artifact that could hold an enormous amount of things unaffected by time.]
Enchantments: [Vast Space] [Perpetual] [Tasteless]
Enchantment Description - Vast Space: [The space inside this memory is vast, almost limitless.]
Enchantment Description - Perpetual: [Objects stored inside this memory do not change when entering or exiting, remaining the same.]
Enchantment Description - Tasteless: [Why does it have to be black?]
...
Uriel blinked at the last enchantment.
"Is it just me, or does it seem more like a complaint?" he said thoughtfully before shrugging without dwelling on the matter further.
"Well, now let's see the Echo," murmured Uriel.
Echoes: [Fallen Black Knight] [Gunlaug] [Soul Devourer] [Illusory Butterfly]
Uriel summoned the Illusory Butterfly.
The Echo took several seconds to appear. Finally, it was in front of him.
Uriel had to look up. It was at least about 30 meters tall, with its wings being almost three times its body, black with patterns that seemed to change every time he blinked.
Uriel summoned the Echo's runes. And upon observing them, he spat out the food in his mouth.
"What the hell?!"
The runes said:
Name: Illusory Butterfly
Echo Class: Titan
Rank: Ascended
Echo Description: [The Daemon of Repose, on his travels through the World Tree forest, came across a small butterfly chrysalis. Finding it curious, the Daemon of Repose took it and brought it with him. Over time, the butterfly followed the Daemon of Repose until he disappeared.]
Attributes: [Illusion] [Unbreakable] [Insidious]
Echo Abilities: [Sleep Dust] [Terrifying] [Steel Chitin] [Flight]
Ability Description - Sleep Dust: [The flapping of its wings can release a dust that slowly makes enemies fall asleep.]
Ability Description - Terrifying: [The more enemies fear, the greater strength it gains.]
Ability Description - Steel Chitin: [Its body is coated with powerful chitin that grants enormous resistance to physical or magical attacks.]
Ability Description - Flight: [This ability allows free flight through the skies, increasing its combat dexterity.]
...
"Terrifying," murmured Uriel, looking at the Ascended Titan he had obtained.
Uriel dismissed the Echo and entered his sea of souls. Upon entering, he summoned the Illusory Butterfly and transformed it into an Echo, spending seven thousand dark fragments to achieve it.
Emptying his counter, Uriel began crushing transcendent fragments for a few hours until he gathered the seven thousand again.
His essence had already been restored by the Crown of Repose.
Summoning Gunlaug, he climbed onto his head to guide him toward the floating island.
Gunlaug crossed the skies at high speed; nothing attacked them during the journey.
After what seemed like two or three days of travel, they finally arrived. Ahead of them, a few kilometers away, was the floating island from the map he had obtained in the castle.