Chapter 7

He felt a dread that he didn't know he could feel. He wasn't this scared even when the giant skeleton was chasing him. Something about darkness and suffocation scared even the most trained veterans. Both are great sources of fear by themselves but combined together, cause a synergistic effect, which amplifies the dread.

Ralph also started freaking out when all his senses were deprived at once, leaving him with less situational awareness than a cockroach without a head.

"...." He screamed but no noise came out of his throat, all of it consumed by the darkness.

That state of pure terror lasted for a few moments. Ralph calmed down and relaxed his body after he realized that he could still breathe. After taking slow and deep breaths he was now ready to observe his condition, although he couldn't observe or even feel anything.

The dome of darkness couldn't have lasted more than a minute but he had felt days pass.

Ralph landed face first on the pavement, he dusted himself with an exasperated look. "What was all that?".

'I thought it would be like those mana stones that the mages used.'

He decided to think about it when he got back home. He jogged the way back to his car after he picked up the duffel bag.

'Do I feel lighter or is that just my imagination.'

With those thoughts in his head, he gave the duffel bag a tug, only to find it as heavy as before.

"Yup, just me daydreaming"

He drove his car back home and parked in the middle of the road. People would have screamed by now if they could.

'Ah shit, I forgot to bring back more food.'

He blamed his good friend and decided to call it a day before he suddenly grew serious.

'I doubt that'll be the last time I come across those things.'

'When it rains, it pours. I better patrol the town from now on.'

'I still don't know their full range of abilities and even if they turn out to be weak, they can still easily overwhelm me with numbers, better kill them while they are still scattered.'

Ralph gave the shotgun a tired look and gasped, 'Looks like I need to run some more tests today if I want to create a more efficient way to kill them'.

He decide to test their flammability first.

'I need to look up ways to burn things from a safe distance, I don't want to burn myself to death.'

At the library, he looked up ways to burn people, for educational purposes.After some browsing he settled on Molotov cocktails.

'Now I can finally make use of all that topshelf alcohol.'

After preparing a single Molotov cocktail that looked like it would work well, he went around the town looking for a victim.

'Found one, seems like it couldn't make its way out either, lucky me I guess.'

Just as he was casually planning his course of action the Shadowman jumped out and dashed towards Ralph at the speed of an athlete. Ralph didn't waste a second as he made a run for it, he didn't want to get in a physical altercation with something that jumped out of stories used to scare children into obedience, so it would be better to engage from a safe distance.

He fumbled as he took out the lighter from his pocket and almost ended up dropping it. Thankfully, he still managed a grip with his sweaty palms, lit the Molotov in a hurry and turned around to make a throw, only to find his opponent burning already which had slowed down its momentum.

It still walked towards him even as it burned, to which Ralph responded by throwing the Molotov.

It burned brightly for 10 sec after which, it dissipated like the previous one, leaving behind a charred road and a "mana stone".

'The only reason I can attribute to it burning up suddenly would be the Sun, it appears that standing under the blazing Sun has its benefits.'

' It only does point damage though, I can't rely on it to erase these guys in time. Meanwhile, it looked like the Molotov did more damage for a short duration while the fuel lasted.'

'I can't expect shadows to be inflammable now, can I?"

Isn't this one slightly bigger than the previous one", he admired the stone as he picked it up.

Unlike the previous one, it just assimilated into his body without anything dramatic.

"Well that was anti-climatic, Am I gonna get stronger or what?", With a dissatisfied look he went back to his house.

'Wouldn't the gym be a good way to measure if my strength increased or not, If nothing else I do have to do something about my weak stamina, so going to the gym wouldn't harm me anyway.'

He tried various machines with sufficient rest in between to get a good measure of his strength, after which he finally headed over to the treadmill to get a measure of his stamina. It was like saving the final boss for last.

And so he ran, for a good 10 minutes before collapsing. He stood that way panting for quite some time after which he got up with some effort and heaved a euphoric sigh.

"Whew, that was tough."

He made his way to benches with staggering steps and picked up a notepad to compile his results.

[ 20 kg squats for 3 sets

25 kg bench presses for 1 set

35 kg deadlift

5 kg lateral raises for 1 set

1km jog ]

"It's not that bad if I do say so myself", he praised himself in front of the mirror.

'Now that I have some reference data, its time to take a rest.'

He didn't cook anything and ate some leftovers before dropping dead on his bed.

The next morning he woke up with a crazed gleam in his eyes, " Time to harvest some souls."

He prepared a crate of Molotov cocktails along with a lighter with his cramped body.

"Maybe next time I won't test my limits in a single day".

He chose to travel by foot this time as he still didn't know whether noise attracted the "shadowmen ".He came across the first after half an hour.

'These guys are popping up more frequently than yesterday, I might have to move away from here if the mana stones don't give me any strength.

He stopped a long distance away from it and started screaming at the top of his lungs, "Over here, you waste of space!".The Shadowman that was standing still didn't even give him a look.

' They can't hear at all and can only perceive things in a limited radius, whichever way they do.'

He picked up a stone next which he could throw, "Let's see if it can perceive non-living objects".He threw the stone at its feet which didn't garner a response.

Next, he took out a Molotov which he threw at a distance away from it.He took care not to throw it too close, It didn't care about the world burning around it either.

He then decided to throw one at it and it simply began burning. After 15 seconds, it disappeared and as always left behind a mana stone.

He understood the creature better now in his head, 'No hearing, no sight, probably no smell and no self-preservation instinct other than staying in the shadow it came out of, which it seems to abandon at the first sign of a target.'

"Why was I scared of such a low-level mob", he said with a annoyed expression.

'Then again my caution might just be what is keeping me alive, there are some really dangerous monsters out there. I know that I probably won't die but I still don't want to die a worthless death."

He absorbed the stone and went on a killing spree around the town and burned 35 shadowmen. He only returned because he ran out of Molotovs.

He decided to check if he had gained any strength tomorrow. He was quite hungry after a long day at the field.'

He threw the empty bag on the couch and grilled a few sandwiches which he thoroughly enjoyed with a movie before dozing off on the couch.

Little did he know that shadows lengthened and merged all over the nearest town Lederberg, forming beings much more vile than what he had come across yet.

The thing that looked more sentient than its counterparts was learning its abilities and limitations as it didn't rely on just instincts but had thoughts and could learn from its experiences.