CHAPTER 29: Fighting the 6th Shadow Princess

Outside the capital of the Demer Kingdom. Isaac is following a flying talisman through the forest. With only his katana, he sliced and killed beasts with ease such as gray wolves and monsters such as goblins. In the forest, the monsters are weak that Isaac can kill them easily despite his lack of skills in using the katana. The downfall is that Isaac would need to kill hundreds of them for him to level up. He is currently at level 29 and he heard from the guards that the deeper they are in the forest, the stronger the monster is.

He has been running for an hour now and the only thing he can see is trees and carcasses of monsters with some being eaten by a beast. The difference between beast and monsters is that the beast is animal-like creatures while monsters are not. A dragon is a beast since it resembles a snake with wings or a lizard with wings while a lich is a monster since they are humanoid-like beings that are hostile to everyone.

Suddenly, a vine wrapped around his legs out of nowhere as he falls to the ground. With a swing of his katana, the vine was split into two but ten vines exploded from the nearby tree as it makes its way towards Isaac. He quickly stands up to strike the vines but it accelerated faster than he expected as half of them quickly appears behind him and trying to wrap around him. With a strong jump, he was able to dodge the attack but the vines flew upwards with the intent of striking him down since he can't move in the air. The vines are faster than his falling speed so he raised his katana.

"Crimson Blade Style: Downward Slash" a large red shockwave descended towards the vines as everything was cut into pieces before he lands on the floor. He surveyed around him only for him to see a woman wearing a green dress with vines designed in it. The woman is closing her eyes as leaves are circling her. There is a slight green glow around her body as she walks slowly and with ease. Isaac is staring at her with his katana and ready to strike if needed.

"Forgive me, human. I'm merely a guardian of this forest. You can call me Hempia." she says gently with a smile and despite closing her eyes, it seems that she can clearly see the hostility of Isaac.

"Then why did you attack me?" Isaac asked, still skeptical about this woman. He won't hesitate to strike her now but finding Melissa is more important. Fighting this woman doesn't benefit him and he would rather fight monsters rather than this mysterious woman. There is also a hint of uneasiness he can feel around the wind surrounding the area.

"I sensed demonic energy inside the forest so the traps i laid activated to slow those demons before i can kill them. " the woman says with a gentle tone before flashing a friendly smile.

"So you're planning on killing me?" Isaac asked once more, he activated his eyes of truth but it failed as there is no status that appeared. His head throbs but he can't feel the pain as he can fully understand that fighting this woman would just be suicide. The hint of uneasiness he felt in the wind is actually the mana strands that are coming from the woman. This can act as a rope or wire and with the wind added, it can slice a man in half even in steel armor.

"I won't be talking to you if i wanted you dead. Don't worry, even if you wield the cursed sacred weapons, the ego has no control over you. Despite, your sins and wrongdoing. Your heart is unclouded with greed and lust. It's rare for an otherworlder" the woman smiled as the wind around the area loosens up while the mana strands are disappearing. Isaac can't detect any hostility from this woman as he lowers his katana.

"I see…then i have to go" Isaac said but the woman grabbed his wrist as he turned around to look at her as she handed him a small green pill.

"Take this, this is a vitality pill used to strengthen the body. It can increase one tier of your stat as long as it doesn't reach rank s. Treat this as my apology" the woman smiled before walking away as leaves started circling and surrounding her body as the leaves flew in the air with the woman nowhere to be found. Isaac stared at the pill before pocketing it as he sees that the talisman is getting farther than before. Clicking his tongue, he dashes forward to catch up.

"I need a movement spell…it's a pain to run this slowly" Isaac says to himself as he headed deeper into the forest.

Meanwhile, inside Alrich's room. Alrich is still unconscious on the bed as Kyle is thinking about what to do next. Luckily, it wasn't poison but only a liquid that can lead to a man unconscious with just a prick of a needle. Still, being targeted by the shadow princess is not a nice experience. The 13 shadow princes and princesses are the elite force of the shadow with everyone having near-perfect assassination rates, efficient information gathering, and influence akin to dukes and marquis. Each of them has terrifying combat capabilities that they can assassinate a golden knight or kill one in a straight fight. The first prince was rumored to be slaughterer, usually disguising as a mercenary and killing armies by himself before vanishing. Still, Kyle would rather be targeted by him who excels at face to face combat rather than assassinations. The 6th princess is a crazy madman with perfect assassinations throughout her career, with her use of deadly poisons and restrictive spells. No one was able to escape her since the only thing that allowed them to escape is underestimating him and the fact that she's not serious about killing them. If it was an assassination job, then Alrich would've been dead by now.

"Dammit, why are these happening. First, Ciaran has gone missing, then we got targeted by the shadow princess. It's only a few days before the banquet and with Alrich unconscious for god knows what time. The plan might not work" Kyle gritted his teeth while pacing around the room.

"Maybe i can use the fact that we are envoys of the witch of destruction and a guest of the Venir family. Still, would that madman stop if she knows about this." Kyle said to himself when a chain suddenly wrapped around his arms and chest before he falls to the ground.

"Did you really think i wouldn't be able to find you?" the woman smirked while crouching to make eye contact with Kyle before grabbing his chin and lifting it up.

"I still have questions i really want to ask" she smiled

"Ask away, it's not like i can do anything" Kyle smiled back

"I see" she stands up before gazing at the sleeping Alrich.

"If you like him, kidnapping reduces your chance of him liking you" Kyle says but she just chuckled.

"I have this love potion here. I really wanted to try it on him" she revealed a bottle filled with unknown liquid as she shakes it gently.

"Why are you doing this?" Kyle asked with anger but the woman ignored him as she sits in the bed while gazing at Alrich.

"I don't know, as a stress reliever i guess." she shrugged as she opened the bottle of liquid.

"I see…so you're just wasting my time…my time…." Kyle says with no emotions as the woman calmly stared at him.

"So? the weak should entertain the strong. It's the only thing you guys can do with your pathetic powers and you're lack of ability. It's to stop my boredom" the woman sneered at him.

"I see, here i am. Trying my best to stop the destruction of the world but you humans and your pride really annoys me. Acting like the superior one despite being just a burden" Kyle says as he struggled standing up with the chains binding his arms and chest.

"I don't care what you are blabbering about but this is getting tiring" the woman sighed as she tried pouring the liquid to Alrich's mouth but a portal appeared in front of her as she felt someone pushing her towards it.

"The hell?" she yelled but she finds herself inside the forest. She can still see the portal as Kyle breaks the chain and exited the portal before it vanished.

"Wanna fight me? Sure, just don't cry to mommy if you get beaten" she smirked.

"Don't worry, i'll make sure your grandpa can see your beaten body laid in the forest" Kyle says back.

"Interesting!" she shouted as she reveals a chain whip from her robe before swinging it around as every swing creates a cracking sound like a clap of thunder. As Kyle stabs his stomach with his spear instead of blood, black miasma appeared from the wound. The spear shakes violently as it now emits black smoke all around it.

"Chaos Magic: Dark Sweep" he swings his spear sideways as a large black shockwave rushes towards the woman. The grass and trees were all destroyed as it accelerates every second.

"Lightning Whip Style: 100 strikes" her whips crackled as the whip moved at an extreme speed that it seems there are a hundred whips being struck at the same time while lighting moved randomly and crazily as it easily destroyed the black shockwave. Kyle can only see that there are already wounds on his arms and legs from the attack as he jumped back. Lighting is coursing through his injuries as it shocks him relentlessly. He gritted his teeth as he blocks the strike from the woman's whip before he flew from the force behind the attack.

"Body Technique: Forceful Regeneration + Chaos Magic: Temporal Body" the trees and grass quickly died and wilted as his body was being healed. With a flick of her wrist, her whip smashes towards his chest but it merely passed through like there is nothing there. Suddenly, in the corner of her eyes. A black dragon roared and bites her arms as blood flew in her air. She swings her hand as it destroyed the dragon but it transformed into a spear before Kyle thrust his spear towards her eyes.

She moves her head away but Kyle quickly changes his attack instantly to a sweep as it hits her neck with the metal shaft of the spear. She grips the spear after the attack and throws 3 knives coated with different kinds of poison only to pass through Kyle and it hits the ground. The spear was absorbed back from his black cube storage as the woman revealed a dagger and strikes Kyle in different vital parts, the head, heart, and sides but every attack just passes through his body. Kyle summoned the spear back and tried to stab her stomach only for her to parry it with her dagger. Kyle relentlessly attacks every part of her body but all of the attacks were blocked and parried.

"Chaos Magic: Annihilation 5x" 5 black orbs surrounded the both of them as they caught the woman in surprise as she attempted to jump up but Kyle already predicted this as he wraps his arms around her waist. She attempted to smash his head with her dagger but it just passes through.

"Enlarge" he muttered as it swallowed the both of them as everything in a two hundred meter area radius was covered with this utter destruction.

The dryad notices this and teleported there while a shadowed figure dashes towards the destruction. The black hole converges into one and destroyed and obliterated everything in the vicinity.

"Creation Magic: World Rejuvenation" the dryad named Hempia clasped her hands together like she was praying as she glowed bright green. While the shadowed figure notices the destruction and started laying talisman and seals all around the black hole and with his speed. It didn't even last a minute before he started chanting.

"Shadow Magic: Seal of Oblivion" runic letters covered the black orb of destruction at it slowly absorbs the black energy from it. With the help of the shadowed figure, the dryad has an easier time healing the destruction around and hindering the movement of the spell. Slowly, the black hole disappears into a small orb before flickering to nothingness. The forest was restored like nothing ever happened but in the middle of it is a woman with her arms scorched and half of her body full of burns and wounds as the shadowed figure dashes forward. She's still standing but her eyes are flickering open and close. She struggled to stand as she falls to her knees. The shadowed figure opened her lips as he gave her a potion before she healed completely. She slowly wakes up with her head ringing and in pain.

"D-dad?" she muttered with tears welling in her face as she hugged him.

"It's fine. Your dad is here" the shadowed figure removed his robe to reveal a middle-aged man with scars on his face with his brown hair having strands of white into it. His unkempt beard and rugged face make him intimidating even when he's holding his daughter in his hands.

"What a monster" Kyle chuckled beside them as the woman glared at him. He coughed awkwardly before bowing to both the dryad and the man.

"Guardian of this forest, forgive me for destroying a part of the forest. Once i recover, i will come back here and offer you gifts befitting your beauty" he tried his best to smile charmingly but his body is not in good shape. He feels his body breaking into pieces with his body slightly trembling. Even standing feels like his knees are being smashed by a hammer repeatedly

"Greetings, the second shadow prince. Forgive me for injuring your daughter but she's the one at fault. She kidnapped my friend and tried to kill us both. I will ask for lenience and forgiveness. I must leave for now" he stared at the father but ignored the woman as he tried leaving only to feel someone grabbing his shoulder.

"Stay here" the woman says with a glare.

"Listen, you're lucky your father is here or you might be dead already. Let me go" he glared back but he felt chains surrounding his body.

"Who are you? How are you this strong despite only level 30" the man says while surveying Kyle's body. He's sure that this young man is injured to beyond belief that only his monstrous mentality allows him to remain speaking and standing. He wanted to praise this young man but he may get ignored and hated by his daughter. Sneakily, he enchanted the chains with healing magic as it heals this young man externally and internally.

'This sneaky old man, you think i would stay here and be chained to receive healing?'

"Damn straight….i do" he muttered weakly between his coughs. He started relaxing his body since there is no hostility from the man and the dryad. Besides, he can just activate his title again and teleport away from here.

"Yeah! I tried attacking your body but it just passes through! You're already dead if you didn't cheat!" the woman seemingly turned childish as she pouted and crossed her arms. The father just pats her head to calm her down and weirdly enough, it works as she looked happy and full of smiles. He recoiled from this scene as he stared at the man.

"Oh? I've encountered many types of skills and spells but i never heard of a spell that can allow attacks to just pass through" the man looked at Kyle with interest in his eyes.

"Are you sure it's not illusions or mirages?" the man asked his daughter.

"Nope, he can still attack me and use spells"

"Interesting…listen young man. I'll give you a position in the shadow organization and i'll give you any type of artifact in my vault if you explain to me how you did that." the man smirked as he can see Kyle pondering seriously but he notices a gleam of greed in this young man's eyes. Kyle coughs and acts like he is not interested before smiling and grabbing the man's hand.

"No taking back?" he asked cheerily

"No taking back" the man smiled.

"Is the dryad interested as well?" Kyle asked as the dryad can see his heart having full of greed inside it as she sighs.

"Yes..i'll give you the branch of the kiggurad tree" she smiles gently

"I guess if i tell your father, then he will also tell it to you." Kyle glared at the woman

"Of course" she proudly says

"Fine..But i wanted me and my friend to enter the shadow organization as your right and left hand" he smiled

"I can't guarantee you that, you must win against them in battle first but why not. As long as you win against them. I wouldn't mind, they are both level 40 to 45" the man says but he's already ecstatic, he can learn a new spell and he gains a monster of an otherworlder that can fight against her daughter in his forces.

"That's a given. So listen. You can tell this to other people but i doubt they will believe you. I use the flow of time to avoid the attacks coming towards me and using this, i can reverse the time in my body by a second every time my body gets hit. So in your eyes, i avoided it but in reality, i just healed the damage by going back in time. " Kyle explained but everyone was skeptical about this.

"Even so! I aimed at your heart and head. If you truly take damage from it then you would be dead instantly!" the woman said or the 6th shadow princess Layla said with doubt in her expression.

"It's not something i have to say. You guys only paid to know for that spell and nothing else" he smiled but he can feel the chains tightening

"Fine! I'll explain that too..i feel like being scammed" he said while fake crying and acting that he was the one who got tricked as everyone glared at him.

'Scammed?! Asshole!'

'A scammed? That's not fair young man!'

'Oh, such a tricky guy this is. I should probably shorten the branch'

"I guess i have to tell you about my regeneration spell and this special eye of mine" he sighed as he realizes that his heart might be too blinded with greed.