My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger Chapter 936 - 937: Bone To Pick

The Bone Hallows stayed hushed, save for the rare endless chasm concealed under heaps of skeletons. This location wasn't entirely still. A faint murmur lingered, echoing the moans of the deceased and the noises of skeletal fragments launched skyward by an unseen power, only to tumble back in uneasy avalanches.

Treasures existed in this realm too, yet they avoided claiming any they spotted.

The cause was straightforward. Seras refused to chance awakening forbidden entities or unleashing old hexes hidden under the bony desert.

Even the avaricious Damon held back. He was convinced that grabbing anything would curse him. Of this, he had no doubt.

Reaching the Bone Ridge proved straightforward. They concealed themselves under the shade of a colossal thigh bone as Rexagon’s sporadic bellows echoed through the vast heavens, the rumble sweeping over the barren lands like a storm.

Damon felt a bit drained, particularly after sleepless nights, but his fourth class upgrade turned him into a formidable force. Rest held little importance for him now. It was merely a routine from his mortal days. His enhanced physique granted him a lifespan exceeding a millennium effortlessly, and even without his abilities, he could detach his soul from his form—though he’d never be foolish enough to try.

So why gamble with his over-a-thousand-year existence by venturing into this forsaken domain?

He truly yearned for an easy life. A stable, serene routine filled with riches and endless meals, ensuring he’d never know hunger again.

‘Perhaps I should escape. Locate a cozy spot and adopt a new persona,’ he mused idly to himself. It sounded tempting. But success seemed unlikely. Tranquility was a mirage in a realm dominated by conflict. Here, power reigned supreme.

A single individual could demolish legions. A dragon might raze your village. A dungeon could unleash waves of beasts. A lord could steal your spouse, and the divine would turn a blind eye.

Such perils and countless others explained it all.

Damon sensed a shift in the atmosphere. More precisely, a vast expanse spanning roughly seven kilometers stretched ahead, devoid of major skeletal remains overhead, with only tiny shards dotting the soil.

This zone felt like the final approach to impending doom.

Yet that wasn’t what halted Seras. She paused due to the true threat: the dragon soaring overhead. Spotting them would spell catastrophe.

She pivoted and gave a deliberate nod, her tone hushed and steady.

"We’ll need to traverse in smaller units. I’ll lead, securing the Bone Ridge’s entry. Whatever lurks there, I’ll eliminate it, then beckon you over. Split into compact teams and trail behind."

That was Seras’ command. Damon harbored an uneasy premonition.

He glanced skyward to monitor Rexagon, and alarmingly, the beast persisted, its enormous outline gliding through the lifeless firmament.

Damon approached Seras, grasping her arm and drawing her apart.

"Hold on. Hold on. Don’t act rashly. Allow me to accompany you ahead," he murmured.

Seras blinked in surprise. He genuinely wished to endanger himself alongside her into the uncertain. But she was on the verge of letdown.

"If you scout first, all will proceed smoothly, and the group will follow. But by my turn, Rexagon will inevitably detect me. I won’t hazard that."

Seras shot him a flat look. His opening words had stirred her pulse. The follow-up plunged it into subdued dismay.

She snorted.

"You’re joining, so guard the back and quit your excessive wariness."

Seras surged ahead, her form streaking as she crossed the exposed expanse. The seven-kilometer span was trivial for her strength. It barely took three seconds, and she held back from maximum velocity to avoid drawing Rexagon’s notice.

Upon arriving at the towering Bone Ridge, her gaze first fell on an etching scratched into a huge cranium lodged in the structure. She ignored it. Time was short.

A figure lunged from the darkness. Seras anticipated it. Her sword gleamed, the tachi slicing silently through the breeze with exact, muted cuts, felling them.

She ensured minimal sound. Sheathing her tachi, she edged to the ridge’s brink and gestured for the others to advance.

Damon caught the cue and eyed Renata.

"Lead the way. Bring Lana’s team along."

Renata inclined her head, then hesitated, her gaze sharpening.

"Hold up. Are you sending me as bait?"

Damon clasped his chest theatrically.

"Renata, your well-being matters to me. I’m ensuring your safety by letting you go first, yet all I receive is distrust."

Her face stayed impassive.

"Fine, whatever. I’ll head out."

Damon observed Renata assemble Lana’s crew and dart across the barren field. Rexagon above veered away from their path.

Still, Damon stayed vigilant. He addressed Wendy, who had a crow and a rodent resting on her shoulders.

"Wendy, you’re up. Guide three teams over."

She scowled at him, his features too near.

"I won’t perish without heirs."

Damon bobbed his head gravely, hand still on his chest.

"I’ll ensure you leave a legacy."

"Are you wishing death on me?" she muttered.

"Heavens, no. Your survival is essential. Best of luck, Wendy."

"Caw caw, deceiver deceiver," the crow squawked from her perch.

Damon seized its throat.

"Quiet, or you’re dinner, bird."

The rodent stifled its snickers, paws over its face at the crow’s plight. Damon fixed it with a stare, and it snapped to attention.

Wendy swatted his grip aside and directed her groups across. Within a minute, she arrived safely.

Then Silas made it, followed by Kael, and various other units, until only Damon lingered.

He peered through the skeletons at the clouds. To confirm absolute safety, he lingered thirty more minutes.

Finally, he proceeded. As securely as possible in a lethal territory.

He halted and whispered a brief invocation.

"Goddess, it’s me. Grant me passage without mishap."

He touched his chest, sensing his subdued pulse.

"Deathless, let your kin traverse undisturbed. I vow to cherish you henceforth."

With those words, a sense of assurance washed over him. His instinct for peril hummed alertly, attuned to any anomaly.

Damon dissolved into darkness and glided onward, eyes fixed on the ridge.

A faint shade traversed the desolation until Damon hit the midpoint. Instantly, his warning instinct surged.

Before response was possible, a thunderous impact shook the earth. Skeletons erupted chaotically upward before plummeting.

Damon’s shadow form was partially entombed. Via it, he discerned entrapment between two gigantic talons.

Rexagon had descended.

Damon yearned to bolt. The divine knew he nearly did. But the mere three-kilometer divide felt like an insurmountable gulf to sanctuary.

This became Damon’s torment.

He gazed toward refuge where salvation beckoned. Seras hunkered behind a rib bone, her face etched with regret as she observed.

Tears threatened, but even inhaling seemed perilous.

Rexagon hadn’t alighted upon spotting Damon. His wings ached from endless soaring, and no nearer perch existed.

"Rarawgg," Rexagon yawned, flames licking from his jaws.

Damon held still in his shadowy state.

He’d foreseen it. He’d cautioned Seras. Deathless sought his end. What sin beyond his vile nature and scattered misdeeds?

‘I sensed it. This is retribution... payback for razing my settlement,’ he reflected, recollections of unintended losses rising.

He faltered.

‘Stop. I mustn’t dwell so.’

Rexagon eased his head down to slumber.

Yet as his snout twitched, he detected a foul odor amid the rot.

His gaze ignited.

"I detect you," Rexagon’s rumble resounded.

"The stench of demise and betrayal."

Damon froze. Rexagon nosed through the bone mounds. In flesh, Damon would’ve perished. But how does one scent a shadow?

Rexagon’s talons lashed out, hurling bones and Damon’s shade aloft.

In flight, Damon broadened his awareness and vanished, rematerializing near Seras’ weapon as Rexagon thrashed in fury. Naturally, he stayed true to character.

He deposited a note.

When the debris calmed, a lone skull endured, bearing a rough engraving.

The message declared.

I am your father today and tomorrow.

Signed Damon.

"RAWWWWWWWW!" Rexagon bellowed skyward.