Chapter 218: Saving Vladimir, Getting Barked At In Return

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Riven took longer than he would have wanted to fully absorb the poison, carefully synthesize a proper antidote, and then feed it to the hunters who had been poisoned. They lay completely paralyzed and were slowly dying from the toxin coursing through their veins.

He quickly realized that the entire process was much faster when he used his real physical body. Doing it through pure Mana alone turned out to be a far more complicated and slower endeavor. He had to manually control and manipulate every single toxin molecule right there in front of him instead of allowing the process to happen automatically inside his own body and bloodstream.

However, he managed to complete the task just barely in time. He injected the finished antidote into everyone’s bloodstream. The antidote proved so effective that most of the hunters instantly regained consciousness and woke up, feeling as though they could move their limbs again.

That result would have been wonderful under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, Vladimir was likely being shredded apart outside at that very moment, and these hunters were all useless rookies who could not even handle a small pack of Kobolds even when fighting together in larger groups.

Without any mercy, and deciding he would speak with Natalie later about negotiations involving her family’s pharmaceutical business, Riven quickly sent everyone into the "Shadow Realm" — the dark pocket dimension that existed within his Shadow Self.

The place was well administered with a steady supply of oxygen drawn from the outside world, so at least the hunters would not die from suffocation. Of course, they still all screamed in pure terror as they found themselves endlessly falling through a pitch-black abyss. It felt more like torture than being rescued, but Riven had absolutely no time to worry about how they felt regarding the method.

He clenched his teeth hard and quickly heard Vladimir’s painful screams mixed with the wet, sickening sound of weapons piercing and tearing through living flesh. Riven roared his subordinate’s name and charged outside at full speed, tearing apart the stone floor beneath his feet as he ran while scanning the chaos for the Kobolds that filled the area.

With pure, burning fury he swung his Shadow Claws and unleashed a powerful Soul-Tearing Beast Claw Assault against the nearest group of Kobolds. Seas of tearing, slicing waves made of pure shadow and ghostly mana cut through their bodies one after another as he forced a path toward his subordinate.

And there he was. Riven’s eyes widened the moment he finally located Vladimir. The man was completely overwhelmed. He was still clenching his teeth and fighting with everything he had even though he had already been thrown to the floor and impaled by dozens of spears.

He vomited thick blood while continuing to roar and gnaw savagely at the legs of a nearby Kobold. The beast hissed in pain and smashed its fists repeatedly against Vladimir’s head until the werewolf finally caught it and tore the creature apart with raw strength, guts and blood splattering everywhere.

That, however, proved to be the last of his remaining strength. Vladimir’s entire body became paralyzed in an instant. He had been infused with far too much poison from the spears that had pierced his back, limbs, and neck. He groaned in pure agony and completely collapsed. The surrounding Kobolds laughed and roared in triumph while charging forward with the clear intention of finishing him off for good.

Of course, Riven would never allow them to succeed. With a single step forward he blurred through space itself as living shadows erupted from the ground and continued expanding in every direction. His shadow shapeshifted rapidly and suddenly created a large pair of black-feathered wings that helped him reach his foes even faster than before.

His Shadow Self was like living, moldable clay — even more capable of shapeshifting than his physical body could ever achieve. When this shadow form was combined with his psionic avatar, it worked as a kind of internal "skeleton," making the shadows hit with far greater force and become significantly tougher.

His body continued growing larger as he moved at breakneck speed. The shadows pulsed like living flesh while he began sprouting dozens of extra arms, each one gripping a ghostly poisonous blade made of condensed mana and pure darkness. The blades were conjured from his own Mana Aura and the various Mana Natures mixed into it. His Titan Mana Heart pulsed rapidly, continuously feeding more and more Mana into the Shadow Self as the battle demanded.

Then he unleashed a deadly technique he had refined over a long period of time: Quadruple Abyssal Assault Arts – Guillotine Cascade. The technique cut through every single foe surrounding Vladimir in one overwhelming instant.

Dozens upon dozens of precise, overlapping slashing attacks engulfed all the Kobolds at once, sending their bodies crashing into the floor and the surrounding walls. Their hard scales proved completely unable to resist Riven’s wrathful assault. The attacks swiftly and efficiently tore their bodies apart, dicing them into shreds and splattering their remains across the entire area.

Blood, guts, bones, and other remains covered the ground in a thick layer as Riven looked down. He found Vladimir barely keeping himself alive while coughing up mouthfuls of blood. The poison was only mildly paralyzing his body thanks to his werewolf form, which allowed him to resist the toxin as much as possible.

Even against these lethal wounds he still clung stubbornly to life. Yet it was clear he was once again standing at death’s door. All of this had happened because Riven had taken longer than he should have — a simple miscalculation on his part. He had wrongly believed that synthesizing an antidote using raw Mana would be just as fast as doing it inside his own physical body.

"Cough, cough...!" Vladimir coughed in clear annoyance. "You damn son of a bitch, took you long enough!"

"Language," Riven said in a calm voice.

"Shut up and heal me!!!" Vladimir barked back with what little strength he still possessed.

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