Chapter 39 – Battle of the Dark Night (Part Two)

In the bewildering night, thick, colorful smoke rolled and churned gently in the breeze. The surroundings were utterly silent, as if everything remained as tranquil and peaceful as ever… Yet the heavy, murderous intent shrouded in darkness silently conveyed how extraordinarily terrifying this night was!

The prolonged standoff Punk had envisioned did not materialize. Almost immediately after he completed his deceptive setup, a faint but distinct fluctuation of shadow energy drifted from due east, just beyond the smoke…

“Damn it!” Punk cursed inwardly. Even without the System’s analysis, he knew what the Stalker had done. She had just used a signature skill of the Stalker—Phasing into the Shadow Plane¹!

The Shadow Plane could be considered the reverse of the Faerûn Plane. Its positive manifestation was the vibrant and diverse Material Plane², while its negative manifestation was the enigmatic Shadow Plane. The Stalker’s Phasing into the Shadow Plane skill consumed a significant amount of shadow energy to briefly enter the Shadow Plane. This brief entry typically lasted no more than two seconds, so the skill’s primary purpose was to evade powerful attacks. But now, this Stalker was using it to locate Punk and Kane!

The magical smoke Punk had created could not extend into the Shadow Plane. The enemy only needed to pinpoint their position from within the Shadow Plane, and the smoke’s concealment would become utterly meaningless!

Sure enough, almost in the next instant, Punk felt a chilling energy attach itself to him. This was the Stalker’s tracking skill—Shadow Affix. With this shadow energy acting as a “homing beacon,” finding Punk in the thick smoke would be effortless for the Stalker!

Although the enemy had only managed to cast a relatively low-level tracking skill—one that could be dispelled with a simple “Lesser Dispellation”—Punk didn’t believe the enemy would wait for him to cast the spell and remove it.

In a flash, upon being marked, Punk decisively commanded all the mana aberrations to self-destruct immediately. The violent explosion from the terrifying mana detonation instantly scattered all the smoke. The once-level ground trembled and roared as several massive craters were blasted open, and a pale blue energy surge enveloped the entire area!

The widespread explosion even swept up Punk and Kane themselves. However, both Punk and Kane possessed sufficiently powerful defensive measures, allowing them to withstand the successive impacts of the energy surge. But if it were the physically fragile Stalker… Even if she keenly detected the aberrant energy fluctuations of the mana aberrations and evaded in time while charging toward Punk, being struck by the residual energy waves would still be far from pleasant. And… most importantly… she couldn’t possibly maintain her stealth amid such violent shockwaves!

“Hah!!!”Kane, who had been carefully sensing energy fluctuations with his Battle Aura, instantly locked onto a location where the energy waves were clearly obstructed by something unusual. The suppressed Battle Aura in every inch of his muscles erupted violently as the “Charge” Combat Skill began operating at full power. With a powerful push from his feet and accompanied by a shockwave tinged pale yellow by overflowing Battle Aura, Kane shot forward like a bullet from a barrel, arriving at his target in a fleeting golden flash.

“BOOM!!!”

A tremendous roar exploded through the night as surging air currents mixed with shattered gravel swept out from where Kane’s Lance had struck. Standing in the massive impact crater, Kane gently shook his nearly white-hot steel Lance. Due to the intense friction with the air, his armor had turned crimson and was radiating heat.

Had this strike connected, the enemy, being a Stalker, would have been reduced to splattered flesh and blood.

But the result was unfortunate. Through magic-filled eyes, Punk clearly captured the image of a graceful figure shrouded in shadows fading away like an illusion just moments before Kane’s Lance arrived…

“You think you can hide again? Now that you’ve revealed yourself, don’t even think about going back!”

The System keenly detected faint shadow fluctuations beginning to manifest on the enemy’s body again. A sharp, cold light flashed in Punk’s eyes as he shouted softly while directing the spell in his hand toward the exposed Stalker!

“Anomalous Lightning” – with the System’s assistance, Punk had already completed constructing this spell when Kane first charged out. As soon as the ether energy was summoned, it began transforming into chaotic, explosive energy lightning at an astonishing rate. When Punk released his control and restraint over it, this terrifying energy mass continuously releasing colorful lightning instantly shot forward. A blinding lightning bolt emitting piercing explosive noises enveloped the Stalker’s body at light speed, with intense electrical discharges leaving intricate charred patterns across the surrounding land!

While the spell itself traveled at light speed, Punk’s casting was not. The Stalker had detected the explosive energy gathering in Punk’s hands the moment she dodged Kane’s attack. Immediately disregarding physical strain, she activated the “Shadow Plane Shift” skill again. With this powerful evasion method, she once more avoided the fatal strike!

“Something’s wrong!” Punk frowned slightly. Even if the enemy shifted to the Shadow Plane again to evade, she would still be targeted by both Punk and Kane upon reemergence. Escaping to the Shadow Plane at this moment would only delay death briefly without any practical benefit. With Punk and Kane’s follow-up attacks already prepared, the enemy wouldn’t be able to dodge the next assault when she reappeared in the material plane. If she dared to shift to the Shadow Plane a third time, they wouldn’t even need to attack – an Apprentice-Level Stalker using such a high-strain, high-consumption skill repeatedly in such short succession would inevitably fall unconscious. Then Punk and Kane wouldn’t need to continue fighting and could instead take a prisoner.Precisely for this reason, when facing Punk’s attack, the enemy’s choice to endure severe injury was actually the more reasonable course of action, as it still left a sliver of hope for escape…

“Something is definitely wrong. The enemy isn’t some green novice who’d make such a basic mistake and throw away their last chance of survival.” At this thought, Punk’s focus sharpened. He decisively dismissed the second “Anomalous Lightning” already prepared in his hand. The intuition honed from frequent use of Divination Spells told him that the one in danger wasn’t the Stalker who had expended over two-thirds of their shadow energy—but rather himself and Kane, who appeared to hold all the advantages!

Gloomy clouds had imperceptibly shrouded the brightest moon, Karl. The silence of the dark night didn’t last long. Before the enemy could emerge from the shadows again, danger descended without warning upon the gentle breeze.

(End of Chapter)