The gale sweeping through the forest grew even colder.
Moonlight spilled across the small island shrouded in darkness, and all at once, ghostly green lights began to flare to life from every direction.
The undead sleeping on this island had all been awakened.
Looking at those awakened undead, Luke was thinking about a single question.
According to what Kavin had said, this was only the sign that the Black Mist was about to arrive.
And that Sentinel of Light, Lamins, was still somewhere on the island.
If they kept searching for her, then next they would probably have to face the Black Mist head-on.
Maybe the best plan was to retreat now and come back to search again after daybreak.
Having made his decision, Luke immediately gave the order, "Everyone, fall back to the harbor!"
Those undead that had just awakened still didn't seem especially aggressive yet, but once they fully reacted and tangled the troop up long enough for the Black Mist to arrive, things would turn ugly fast.
At the command, the formation immediately picked up the four wounded and retraced their steps.
And just after the troop had withdrawn for a short while, a black shadow came racing in from the distance. The moment it saw Surt's corpse, it froze for an instant.
Then, the next second, it exploded into even greater speed and arrived beside the body.
It was a half-human, half-demon woman with clouded eyes, a sharp muzzle full of fangs, short cyan hair, and dark energy coiling all over her body.
"Sul...tur..."
She crouched down and muttered the name under her breath, then placed her claw-like hand over the fatal wound in Sultur's chest.
She tried to pour her power into his body, black energy swirling around him.
But no matter how she called to him, he gave no response.
Then Sultur's body began to blur, turning into black smoke that drifted upward and slowly started to dissipate.
"Sultur!"
She clawed frantically at the smoke with her hands, but it slipped through her fingers.
Then, in the next instant, she threw her mouth wide open, no longer caring about anything else, grabbed Sultur's corpse, and began ravenously devouring it.
In just a few bites, Sultur's body was gone into her stomach, becoming part of her strength.
Vora sat there blankly on her knees, and two tears slowly slid from the corners of her eyes.
Looking at the two teardrops that had fallen to the ground, Vora went still for a moment.
It had never occurred to her that demons could cry.
"ROAR!!"
The next second, Vora threw back her head and let out a beast-like howl, making the forest tremble.
The demonic aura around her turned violent as she fully reverted to her demon form, her purple eyes fixed ahead and brimming with hatred.
"What was that sound?"
At that moment, many of the people hurrying back toward the harbor heard the strange cry behind them.
Quite a few turned back to look.
But none of them slowed their retreat.
Still, the commotion drew in many undead, and the island no longer seemed so silent.
The undead that had once been human or beast gathered in large numbers, glaring viciously at everyone present.
They looked no different from ordinary living beings, dressed in all kinds of clothes, wearing armor, like people one could meet anywhere at any time.
And yet the cold aura radiating from them made them feel utterly unfamiliar.
These undead were different from ordinary wraiths. While the Black Mist had granted them reanimation and strength, it had also stripped away the senses they had once possessed as humans or beasts, leaving them fully enslaved to the Mist.
Looking at them, the soldiers could not help hesitating.
In their eyes, those undead looked just like humans: fishermen, soldiers, men, old people, even youths who still looked terribly young.
Were they really supposed to strike these people down now?
"As long as they are undead, they will always have traits that no true human possesses. Do not show mercy. They are no longer human!"
Luke drew his sword and prepared for battle, then continued, "Sending them back to the afterlife is what we should be doing!"
At this moment, the undead standing before them, however lifelike they seemed, were no longer the humans the soldiers thought they saw.
They had to get back to the harbor before the Black Mist arrived.
The soldiers tightened their grips on their weapons, repeating Luke's words over and over in their minds as their eyes gradually turned resolute.
That was right. Sending these former countrymen on to the afterlife was exactly what they ought to be doing now.
"Charge!"
With one command, the whole force surged forward.
The battle erupted instantly.
The undead seemed numerous, but in life they had mostly been ordinary humans, beasts, or magical creatures. Their combat strength was not as high as it first appeared.
A few of the stronger ones were swiftly suppressed by Luke's side anyway.
After all, half the force with Luke consisted of Dauntless Vanguard soldiers, and the other half were at least at reserve-company level.
Luke cut down an undead wolf in front of him with a single effortless slash.
He glanced around at the surrounding battle. Most of the fighting posed little pressure.
But just then, the sky suddenly darkened.
That was right.
The nighttime sky somehow darkened even further.
"The Black Mist is coming..."
Kavin's weak voice rang out.
At the same time, the hairs on Luke's body stood on end as a chill spread through him. He instinctively turned and looked behind him.
There, advancing like a crushing bank of storm clouds, an immeasurable tide of Black Mist was creeping forward like some ancient beast beyond measure.
It moved slowly, but the pressure it gave off was enough to send a chill through every person there.
The temperature around them was dropping rapidly too, and the dreadful atmosphere made it feel as if they were standing in a graveyard in the dead of night.
Looking up from here, they could see the Black Mist swallowing the island little by little.
Ripples rolled through the Mist, and within it one could vaguely make out silhouettes: venomous undead, shrieking spirits, knight-like fiends, and more besides.
Those horrifying things were drawing closer, one step at a time.
Everyone was shaken by the sight.
Just then, Luke felt danger flash behind him. He spun instinctively and slashed with his sword.
It was the undead wolf he had just killed.
It had come back to life again, snarling like a beast, saliva dripping from its maw as it lunged to bite.
It still failed to survive Luke's second strike.
But as Luke watched the wolf's body scatter under the force of righteous energy, he could tell it had become stronger.
The Black Mist was reviving the slain undead again, and making them stronger each time.
That eerie development darkened everyone's mood.
If killing these undead once was easy...
Then what if it wasn't just once?
No one had time to think too hard about that question.
The revived undead attacked again at once.
"Pick up the pace! Back to the harbor!"
Luke shouted as he advanced alongside the rest of the force.
This time, the formation's progress slowed.
And in the Black Mist, things were already flying out, trailing black vapor behind them as they rushed toward the battlefield.
One of them was a flaming skull, its eye sockets empty, its teeth sharp and vicious.
Its jaw opened to a grotesque degree no living joint could ever manage, and from its throat came a shrill scream of grief.
There were many more undead like it. The Black Mist had already begun directly interfering with the battle.
Sword intent gathered along Luke's blade. Looking at the screaming skull diving at him, he swung without hesitation.
His sword split it cleanly in two straight through that hanging jaw.
Righteous energy coiled around the blade, and in the next instant the skull lost its form and dispersed.
Then a one-horned lion burst out of the Mist, roaring so fiercely it shook the forest. Its eyes burned with ghostly green light, black energy rippling wildly over its body.
It had already been a fierce magical beast in life, and as undead it looked even more terrifying.
Cithria happened to be nearest it.
Facing a one-horned lion three or four times her size, Cithria raised her shield in one hand and gripped her sword in the other, her eyes steady and calm, her expression unruffled.
In the next instant, she and the lion moved at the same time and charged each other.
Borrowing the momentum of her rush, Cithria leaned her body slightly back, deliberately lowering her center of gravity, and raised her shield to block the claw the lion swung at her.
At the same time, a white glow flashed along her steel sword, carving a long wound across the lion's body.
The moment that exchange ended, Cithria rose swiftly and drove her sword down again, plunging it savagely into the beast.
The one-horned lion let out a howl of pain.
At the same time, Cithria kicked out, sending the creature, several times her size, flying several yards away, where a few soldiers immediately swarmed it.
They finished it with a final blow.
The one-horned lion that had seemed so fearsome a moment earlier died cleanly and decisively.
Luke stole a glance in the middle of the fight and thought to himself that Cithria really was, as expected, the woman who had matched Garen's record.
Poppy, meanwhile, was darting all over the battlefield in her tiny body.
Her fighting style was the most direct of all. Any undead she ran into got smashed with one swing of her hammer.
Under that sacred hammer infused with divine power, no undead got a second say.
Vayne was using her stealth art to move through the shadows, firing silver bolts.
Yurna, not far from Luke, was cutting down undead with her short dagger, expressionless as ever.
The entire formation kept forcing its way toward the harbor.
At that moment, Luke was being tied down by two undead. He dealt with one of them first, and just as he turned to finish the second, a fierce warning flared behind him.
His figure blurred as he pulled back.
A claw tore straight through a tree, shredding it apart, while a shadow appeared where Luke had just been standing.
Looking at that shadowy figure, Luke frowned. "There's another demon?"
Even before this moment, he had kept faintly feeling that someone was watching him.
And that gaze had been creeping closer the whole time.
He had thought it was some hidden menace from the Black Mist.
He hadn't expected another demon.
This one had a blue-skinned, fang-filled face, the shape of a human woman, with long pointed ears, black-violet energy wrapped around her whole body, and purple light burning in her eyes, full of rage and hatred.
"I'll kill you!!"
Seeing that her ambush had failed, Vora stopped hiding. She opened her mouth wide and let out a demonic roar.
The next second, she lunged at Luke again, her claws flashing with cold light.
She gave Luke a very real sense of danger. The fact that she could speak human language proved her rank wasn't low.
She was obviously the companion of that Surt from before, and most likely another high-ranking demon.
A layer of righteous energy wrapped around Luke's body as he slashed with his sword, colliding with Vora's claws.
A sharp crack rang out, and fine fractures appeared in Vora's claws, but she did not retreat. Instead, she grabbed Luke's sword with her other hand, instantly burning herself on the righteous energy clinging to it, then shot her neck forward in an unnatural snap and bit down.
Crack.
Ignoring the righteous energy coating it, the Demacian steel blade shattered under that bite.
She swallowed the fragments into her mouth and crunched them noisily. Her maw, full of jagged fangs, was terrifying to behold.
Demacian steel weapons were extraordinarily durable. Under normal circumstances, they did not break easily.
But in front of this demon, they seemed fragile enough to be chewed apart like hard candy.
Luke abandoned the broken sword without hesitation and withdrew.
Just as Vora thought he was unarmed and surged forward, Luke calmly pulled out a second sword and slashed again.
Without hesitation, Vora opened her mouth and bit down once more.
Crack.
The second sword shattered too. Vora's grotesque mouth twisted as she chewed the broken blade, though the blood seeping from between her teeth made it clear that the righteous energy had injured her as well.
Yet she seemed unable to feel pain. Hatred blazed in her eyes as she stared at Luke. Demonic power burst from her body as she lunged forward again, crazed and determined to bite him to death.
Then Luke calmly pulled out a third sword.
Vora could actually be seen freezing in confusion halfway through her charge.
But with the attack already underway, she could only keep going, and met the third slash with another bite.
Crack!
This time, along with the blade, several of Vora's teeth broke as well. She chewed the shattered steel and her own broken fangs together, then swallowed them.
When she looked at Luke again—
He had already taken out a fourth sword.
Vora: "..."
Looking at the demon, who had gone momentarily blank, Luke smiled. "Had enough, kid?"
At that moment, genuine confusion showed on Vora's demonic face.
Her mouth was full of wounds now. Those swords were even harder to chew than ordinary blades, and they seemed to carry a force that was especially lethal to her.
She had thought that once she destroyed this man's weapon, killing him before the people around him could properly defend him would be easy.
But the way he just kept producing sword after sword had completely broken her train of thought.
Where were they all coming from?
Luke gave her no time to think and attacked first.
Naturally, those swords had been stored in his system inventory. Some time ago, he had discovered that the system inventory had a bit of space for holding non-system items as well.
It wasn't large, but it was still a convenient storage space.
Normally, Luke kept some of his favorite liquor in there.
And, just like now, spare weapons in case of emergencies.
At the same time, he felt a faint warmth come from his wrist.
By now, quite a few people had noticed that Luke was locked in battle with a demon.
But they were tied up by undead around them and couldn't get over to support him in time.
Vayne, hidden in the shadows, had noticed it too. Her stealth art had already reached level 4, "Mastery," and her ability to remain concealed had improved greatly.
Seeing the situation, she prepared to go support Luke.
But because she was too focused on what was happening over there, she didn't notice an undead that was exceptionally good at hiding silently appear behind her.
Aiming at Vayne's back, the undead swung a scythe-like weapon.
Vayne sensed the danger instantly and dodged on instinct, but she was still a little too slow.
Just as the scythe was about to come down on her body, a bolt wrapped in white light shot through the air with a sharp whistle and pierced straight through the undead's chest.
Vayne looked in the direction the bolt had come from and saw a woman with long brown hair, wearing a white cloak, her face looking around forty or fifty years old.
The clothes felt familiar.
She thought back to Lucian, whom she had only met briefly before. He had worn the same kind of outfit.
A Sentinel of Light?
Was this the person Luke had come looking for? Lamins?
Vayne raised her crossbow and fired straight past Lamins, the bolt immediately piercing through the skull of an undead behind her.
Lamins looked at Vayne, a faint smile appearing on her face.
At that moment, as Vayne's position was exposed and the Black Mist kept drawing closer, more and more undead creatures began to appear.
The two exchanged a glance. Without a word, they raised their weapons and began firing at the surrounding undead.
That all-encompassing Black Mist would probably swallow this battlefield in a little while.
Luke unleashed the sword intent around him and slashed toward the demon before him. Sharp sword-light flashed through the air, carrying with it a shrieking gust of wind.
"Kill!!" Vora roared like a mad beast, her demonic howl brimming with hatred as she ignored every wound on her body and fought like someone insane.
Her offensive force was terrifying. Trees around her were shredded apart by those claws, and deep gouges had been torn into the ground itself.
Purple-black blood seeped from the wounds all over her body, yet the massive, fang-filled maw of hers kept stretching open hideously, large enough to swallow Luke whole.
Luke had already seen what that bite could do, and even he had no intention of taking it head-on.
He immediately used his footwork and pulled away.
"I've got this!"
At that moment, a tiny figure came charging in from the distance, raising a massive hammer high overhead.
Looking at the demon's giant savage mouth, Poppy felt like even two of her wouldn't be enough for it to eat.
"Take this!" she shouted as she swung the sacred hammer at the demon.
Vora opened her mouth and bit down on the hammer.
Crack. Crack.
Several crisp snaps sounded in succession. A burst of intense pain exploded through her mouth, and Vora screamed as the hammer smashed her flying.
"Yikes..."
Seeing that, even Luke's eyes showed a trace of sympathy.
You really will bite anything, huh?
Did you seriously think that was something you could chew through?
Vora, sent flying by the hammer, was dazed too. It was the first time in her life she had bitten something she couldn't break.
Poppy looked at the fresh tooth marks on the sacred hammer and immediately got mad. "You're paying for that!"
She sprang several yards into the air and brought the hammer crashing down toward Vora.
Vora dodged at once. A thunderous boom exploded behind her, kicking up smoke and dust.
Then, in the next moment, her vision blurred and a sword pierced clean through her chest.
Agonizing pain surged through her, followed by a burning torment that spread through her entire body. Fear of death hit her all at once, and Vora let out a roar.
Luke pulled the sword free.
Vora's body dropped to the ground.
Pulling back his gaze, Luke looked at his wrist, where the Sentinel relic was giving off a beam of light and a faint warmth.
That meant Lamins was nearby.
Then he spotted her, working in tandem with Vayne to hunt the undead around them.
After giving her a closer look, Luke stepped over.
At this point, Vora was not completely dead yet. She stared blankly at the sky as two more tears slid down from the corners of her eyes. Amid the burning pain spreading through her body, she sank into memory.
Demons were not creatures that lived together in perfect harmony.
On the contrary, conflict among demons was fierce.
If one demon devoured another demon, it could absorb that demon's power and become stronger.
Some low-ranking demons were destined to remain low-ranking forever.
Other than submitting to stronger demons, most creatures at mid-rank or higher did not travel in groups.
From the moment Vora was born, she had already been above the low-rank level. She had possessed, from the very beginning, a hunger unlike that of other demons, one that drove her to eat anything that looked delicious.
But at first, she had still been very weak.
She hid from her own kind, afraid of being noticed by them, while at the same time searching for food.
Soon, she set her sights on a village.
The pigs, cattle, sheep, humans—every living thing there looked unbelievably delicious.
But she didn't dare eat the humans.
So she began with the livestock they kept.
Several nights passed like that, and the villagers noticed more and more of their animals disappearing. At first, they thought it was wolves or wild beasts from the mountains.
Later, they discovered that what had been eating their livestock was a demon.
So the village brought in an exorcist.
Vora knew none of this.
Just like any other night, driven by unbearable hunger, she went back to that village under the cover of darkness.
But this time was different.
Not long after entering the village, she triggered one of the exorcist's traps.
And soon after, she came under attack.
Vora threw herself desperately through the encirclement, but she was badly wounded.
She hid in a cave, her stomach gnawing with hunger, feeling as though she was about to die.
Then the owner of the cave came back.
A demon that looked like a human.
He looked much stronger than she was.
But what Vora never expected was that he didn't eat her.
"Where'd this little one come from, getting pushed around until she looks like this?"
In that demon's eyes, she was no more than a young little demon.
He treated her wounds with surprising gentleness, then brought her food she had never tasted before.
Two humans.
Though they were two old men whose meat was practically past its prime, to Vora at the time, it was still rare and delicious food.
Right in front of the demon, she devoured both humans ravenously.
Her shocking appetite seemed to catch even him off guard.
"This is the first time I've ever seen a mid-rank demon eat this much."
He smiled with interest, then said in the language of demons, "From now on, stay with me."
Vora nodded instinctively.
Not long after, she learned the demon's name.
Sultur.
Sultur took her to many places, taught her many demonic skills, and brought her lots of delicious prey.
He had a small appetite and often couldn't even finish one human, so much of the leftovers would go to her.
They went through many battles together, and Sultur protected her many times.
One day, Vora grew curious about names and pestered Sultur, wanting a name of her own.
"Only high-ranking demons get names. If you want one, hurry up and grow stronger. You can't even speak human language yet, and you still can't shapeshift into a human. You've got a long way to go."
She was slow-witted. She never seemed able to learn human language properly, nor could she take on human form.
But Sultur never blamed her.
At times like those, he would gently pat her on the head with his hand.
Not long after, she finally learned her first sentence.
She could pronounce Sultur's name in human language.
"A name..."
She pestered Sultur again.
"I suppose it's about time I gave you one. Let me think about what you should be called."
That day, Sultur searched through many human books and picked out two characters from among them.
"Vora. From now on, that's your name."
A name gave Vora even more power, but at the same time, it also made her name into her taboo.
Sultur warned her over and over that she must never let humans learn it.
Vora didn't care. She was too drunk on the joy of receiving a name.
That day, her appetite flared, and she ate five humans in one sitting.
Sultur stared at her in surprise, then laughed. "If you can eat that much, are you going to eat me someday too?"
Vora shook her head furiously and swore in clumsy human language that she never would.
"Maybe one day. If anything ever happens to me, I hope you'll be the one to eat my corpse."
"No... won't. Vora protect... Sultur."
Vora said it with complete seriousness.
And at times like that, Sultur would laugh and say, "Then I'll be counting on you. Grow stronger, Vora."
Later, they began targeting other demons.
Demons that wandered alone.
Two against one almost always went smoothly.
By devouring other demons, Vora's growth speed accelerated quickly, and before long she advanced into a high-ranking demon, stronger than Sultur himself.
"You're finally stronger than I am."
Sultur patted her on the head.
"Vora protect Sultur."
Even now, Vora had never fully mastered human speech, nor could she disguise herself with the same skill Sultur possessed.
But she knew one thing.
From that point onward, she would protect Sultur.
They kept hunting demons until one day Sultur set his sights on a dangerous target.
The Pain Demon.
If they could eat her, then both of them would advance.
But they had completely underestimated the Pain Demon's strength. Their usual flawless two-against-one tactics didn't matter to her in the slightest.
She defeated them in just a few moves.
Yet the Pain Demon did not devour them.
Instead, she took them under her command and ordered them to work for her from then on.
Their task was to squeeze as much pain out of humans as possible.
So from then onward, they became servants of the Pain Demon.
And besides them, there were three other demons who had also lost to her in the same way.
That didn't seem to change Sultur and Vora's life very much.
They still hunted humans. Still hunted demons.
As the times changed, humans grew more knowledgeable about demons and developed more ways to guard against them.
Vora remained unable to properly speak human language or take human form.
So Sultur would transform into a human to deceive people, and just like always, whatever he couldn't finish eating, she would.
"Maybe we'll just keep going like this forever. That wouldn't be so bad, right?"
Sultur sat atop a human skeleton, smiling gently at her.
Vora was chewing on a bloody human arm while nodding, and for the first time truly understood a human word.
Happiness.
Maybe she had felt it long before that and just hadn't known the meaning of the word yet.
But Vora hoped she and Sultur could go on like this forever.
She liked it.
She liked that kind of happiness.
But—
Back in the present—
"Sul...tur..."
Vora's mind flashed with Sultur's face, his gentle smile, the warmth of his hand patting her head.
And that sentence.
Vora would protect Sultur.
But Sultur was dead.
Already dead.
And she herself was about to die too.
If only she had been stronger, Sultur would not have died.
He had protected her for so long.
Sorrow, unwillingness, hatred, rage, pain—countless negative emotions burst out of Vora all at once and transformed into a dark energy.
Suddenly, the Black Mist seemed drawn to her. Part of it quickened, turning into thin black strands that drifted over from the distance.
Then the Black Mist began pouring madly into Vora's wounds.
Vora felt a powerful strength spreading through her body, and along with terrible pain, she sensed the life that had been fading from her slowly returning.
And she was becoming stronger.
Her body rose into the air. Terrifying black-violet light blazed from her eyes, and the aura around her surged as she broke through toward a higher stage.
Revenge!
The hatred in her heart became tangible power.
She would avenge Sultur!
Power!
That growing strength filled Vora with an overwhelming sense of pleasure. The Black Mist that Sultur had always warned her to stay away from was this wonderful.
Sultur, I swear I'll avenge you!
Vora roared inside her heart.
Then, the next second, with a sharp whistle, an arrow shot from afar, wrapped in powerful righteous energy, and pierced straight through Vora's head.
With a burst, righteous energy blasted her head into nothing.
The Black Mist flowing toward her scattered and withdrew, and the demon's body dropped helplessly to the ground, utterly lifeless at last.
In the distance, Luke lowered the longbow in his hand, looked at Vora's corpse, and snorted. "What kind of nonsense is this? You've got the nerve to pull a mid-fight breakthrough cheat right in front of me?"
He had already walked some distance away, and yet that demon had still been over there giving herself extra scenes.
If he hadn't felt that something was off and looked back, the Black Mist really might have brought her back to life.
He hadn't expected that big-mouthed monster to still have some life left in her. She had almost given the Black Mist an opening.
If she had really managed to break through into a higher rank mid-fight, then with something above a high-ranking demon added to the Black Mist, this would have become very unfun very quickly.
Next time, it looked like he would need to finish the job properly.
At that moment, Vayne fired a bolt and pierced an undead clean through the skull.
Beside her came Lamins' praise. "You're an excellent shot."
Vayne glanced sideways, a faint curve lifting her lips. "So are you."
From Lamins, she felt a rare kind of unspoken understanding. Even though it was their first meeting, the two of them worked together with remarkable harmony, and the speed at which they killed undead increased dramatically.
After that brief exchange, they saw the undead still gathering around them. Neither said anything more and both plunged back into the fight.
After another large wave had been cleared, the number of undead finally began to drop.
But the Black Mist was almost on top of them now.
For some reason, it seemed to be spreading rather slowly.
Nobody cared why.
"Move! Retreat!"
Luke gave the order, and everyone quickly pushed toward the harbor.
There were still plenty of undead along the way, but before the regrouped formation, they were not even enough to count as a true obstacle.
Clearing the undead as they advanced, the troop finally fell back to the harbor, where the five Dauntless warships sat quietly at anchor.
"Board!"
At Luke's command, everyone began to embark.
Lamins stood quietly by the shore, drawing Vayne's attention.
Vayne turned back and looked at her strangely. "You're not coming?"
Lamins merely smiled at her and shook her head.
Then Vayne noticed something, and her expression froze for a beat.
At Lamins' legs floated a dim ghostly green glow.
Lamins looked at Luke as he approached and said with gratitude, "Thank you for coming to support us."
Luke looked at her and said, "We were still too late."
"By the time the letter was sent, it was already too late."
Lamins smiled as if she didn't mind at all. "I was careless. I didn't expect this Black Mist to be different from the usual. Please, when you return, tell Lucian this: the Black Mist is growing more active, moving more and more often. Something must have happened at the source. He has to be careful. And then more careful still."
She clearly knew that she was no longer truly alive.
As a Sentinel of Light, she naturally possessed ways to resist the Black Mist's control.
Relying on the Black Mist itself, she had managed to linger for several extra days and aid a few Demacian soldiers.
But her strength had been weakening each day, and after tonight, she would disappear completely.
"I understand. I'll pass on every word."
Luke nodded.
"And you need to be careful too. This Black Mist is far from normal."
Lamins looked at Luke seriously. "If nothing unexpected happens, then tonight will be the Harrowing."
Luke froze for a moment.
Tonight was the Harrowing?
"The Black Mist has already been growing active in this region for far too long. Its movement tonight is unusually slow, which means the Harrowing is about to arrive. You'd best make your preparations."
Lamins looked at Luke. "During the Harrowing, there will be powerful undead. I won't be able to help you."
Luke nodded solemnly. "I'll be careful."
He truly hadn't expected that on the very first night here, he would have to face the Harrowing head-on.
Fortunately, he had already made preparations in the town ahead of time.
Everything that needed to be said had been said.
Lamins turned her gaze to Vayne and praised her again. "Your shooting really is excellent."
She stepped forward and suddenly placed the Sentinel relic weapon in Vayne's hands.
"You have the talent to become a Sentinel of Light. For now, I'm entrusting this weapon to you. I hope you can bring it back to Sentinel headquarters for me."
Lamins looked at Vayne with complete seriousness.
As someone who had served as a Sentinel of Light for over forty years, she could tell at a glance what kind of talent Vayne possessed.
And since she herself was on the verge of death, she needed to find the next bearer for the relic weapon in her hands.
And Vayne was Luke's companion.
Luke was someone Lucian trusted.
So she could trust Vayne as well.
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