Chapter 36: Hunt

The morning sun slowly rose above the towering stone walls of the Sterling Grand Courtyard, stretching long shadows across the perfectly maintained gardens.

Inside the private training room, Lucian stood beside a wide, soundproof window and quietly looked over the estate. The neatly trimmed hedges, peaceful ponds, and spotless pathways made the entire place feel almost completely cut off from the outside world.

It was quiet. Safe.

Lucian leaned against the windowsill, a faint smile still resting on his lips.

Then, without warning, the smile disappeared.

A thin chill suddenly ran across the back of his neck.

Lucian froze.

It wasn’t the wind. There was no sudden draft from the ventilation system beneath the building either.

Something felt wrong.

A strange, suffocating sensation crawled slowly up his spine, putting every nerve in his body on edge. For eighteen years, Lucian had survived in the lawless slums, where a single moment of carelessness could mean death for an orphan.

He had learned to trust that instinct.

And now, after awakening his Lord of Shadows talent, that instinct had become far sharper than before.

At this moment, every part of him was screaming the same warning.

Danger.

Something was coming.

Lucian couldn’t prove it. He hadn’t seen anyone sneaking across the rooftops, nor had he intercepted a single suspicious message.

But something about the silence hanging over Silverwood City bothered him.

It felt unnatural.

As if the entire city was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.

The mock trials were only two days away.

Eric was still nursing his wounded pride. The aristocratic factions were already looking for a chance to seize the upper hand. And somewhere in the shadows lurked the Outer God Cult that Magnus had warned him about.

Under circumstances like these, peace was nothing more than an illusion.

Lucian might be only a Second stage Martial Warrior, but his physical foundation was far beyond that of an ordinary student.

Even so, that didn’t make him invincible.

Against genuine killing intent, raw strength alone wasn’t enough.

There were Martial Master who could tear through steel with their bare hands. Martial Dominator who could turn entire battlefields into slaughterhouses.

If he let his guard down now, he wouldn’t get a second chance.

Lucian slowly turned away from the window.

The faint trace of warmth that had been in his eyes was gone. His gaze became sharp and cold, his mind already running through every possible threat.

"Waiting around for someone to make the first move has never been my style," he muttered.

He walked to the center of the reinforced training floor and stopped in front of the massive spirit-gathering array carved into the granite. Closing his eyes, he slowly focused his awareness on the vast expanse of his Sea of Consciousness.

Within that mental space, the obsidian Spiritual Seed floated silently in the darkness. Around it stood Nine hundred humanoid figures in perfectly ordered ranks, their shadowy forms quietly pulsing with dormant power.

With a single focused thought, Lucian extended his will.

"Assemble."

Whoosh—!

The temperature inside the private room dropped instantly. The daylight pouring through the high windows seemed to fade as thick pools of liquid darkness began to seep up through the floor.

One figure after another emerged from those dark pools, taking physical form. Within three breaths, four hundred humanoid Shadow Soldiers stood in perfect square formation across the wide chamber.

Each soldier stood nearly two meters tall, covered in layers of dark scale mail that seemed to swallow the light around them. Their bodies were completely solid, with broad shoulders and lean, athletic builds refined by the constant circulation of the Floating Pagoda Mysterious Skill. In their gauntleted hands, they gripped dark, straight-bladed sabers modeled after the Blood Battle Saber Technique. Beneath their smooth, featureless helmets, cold violet lights burned in perfect unison.

Four hundred elite killers, each capable of rivaling a martial master expert.

The combined presence of so many martial entities weighed heavily on the chamber, making the air itself seem to vibrate with a deep, suppressed hum.

Lucian slowly swept his gaze across the ranks, his voice lowering into a deep, steady tone that traveled directly through their shared soul network.

"Listen carefully," Lucian commanded. "Shadow One is currently stranded in an unknown realm. Until he returns, the four hundred of you will operate as an independent vanguard. Your area of operation is the Thousand Mountain Forest."

The violet lights beneath the four hundred visors flared at the same time as they silently awaited their orders.

"First objective: Infiltration and Harvest," Lucian continued, slowly walking along the front rank. "You’ll enter through the outer suburbs, staying clear of all municipal detection arrays. Once you reach the outer and middle ridges of the forest, hunt down every Otherworldly Beast you encounter. Stage One, Stage Three, Stage Five—it makes no difference. Kill them, use Shadow Devour, leave behind no carcass or trace of their bloodline, and send that vital essence directly back to my core."

He stopped and turned his sharp gaze toward the center of the formation.

"Second objective: Absolute Concealment. None of you are to reveal yourselves to humans. If you encounter federal patrols, mercenary squads, or clan retainers, disappear into the terrain and let them pass. You are forbidden from engaging or harming any human cultivator unless I give the direct order. You are shadows. You do not exist."

Four hundred right gauntlets rose in perfect synchronization, striking their breastplates with a dull, muffled thud.

We obey the Master’s decree.

"Move out."

With that command, the formation broke apart.

The four hundred soldiers didn’t simply vanish into mist. Instead, they moved with astonishing, almost predatory speed. Dividing into tight squads of ten, they spread out toward the lower vents, drainage outlets, and narrow gaps along the estate’s foundation.

Using the evasive footwork of the Shadow Kill Secret Canon, they slipped through every blind spot in the sprawling estate, moving like silent predators beneath the night sky. Within two minutes, all four hundred figures had cleared the perimeter of the Sterling Grand Courtyard and disappeared into the vast wilderness beyond the city’s borders.

The chamber fell silent once more.

Lucian slowly let out a controlled breath. He sat cross-legged at the center of the twenty-fold gathering array, resting his wrists loosely on his knees.

"Now," he whispered, closing his eyes. "Let’s see how much this forest can give me."

...

Far beyond the borders of Silverwood City, the Thousand Mountain Forest lay under a blanket of cold, moonlit silence.

Two days ago, the spatial anomaly had detonated and turned the northern ridgeline into an ecological dead zone. Greedy clan elders, mercenary warbands, and municipal scouts had already packed up their camps and returned to the urban districts, complaining about nothing but empty craters and wasted resources.

The forest had been left to the beasts.

But as midnight dragged on, the peaceful forest was quietly disturbed.

Deep inside a rocky ravine covered with thorny bushes, a pack of Stage 2 Martial Warrior Shadow-Stalker Wolves carefully moved along a narrow trail.

Their silver-tipped fur suddenly bristled.

Something was wrong.

Their sharp senses had picked up a faint, unnatural chill drifting through the night air.

The wolves slowed down, their instincts immediately warning them that something was nearby.