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

Silence gripped the Bone Hallows, broken only by the hidden bottomless pits lurking under mounds of bones. Yet total quiet evaded this realm. A subtle hum lingered, bearing the wails of the departed and the eerie bursts of bones hurled skyward by unseen powers, only to crash down in turbulent showers.

Treasures hid within this domain as well, though they avoided laying hands on any they spotted.

The explanation was straightforward. Seras refused to chance awakening forbidden forces or unleashing buried ancient hexes within the bony wilderness.

Damon, greedy as he was, held back too. He felt certain that snatching something would curse him. Absolute confidence filled him on that point.

Reaching the Bone Ridge posed no real challenge. They sheltered under the shade of a colossal femur while Rexagon's sporadic bellows boomed through the vast skies, echoing over the barren expanse like rolling thunder.

Fatigue tugged at Damon mildly, all the more after endless sleepless days, but his fourth class advancement forged him into a formidable force. Rest held no sway over him now. It remained merely a routine etched since his early days. His enhanced form promised a lifespan well beyond a thousand years, and even lacking his ability, he could extract his soul from his flesh—though folly would keep him from such recklessness.

Given that reality, why gamble his vast lifespan exceeding a millennium by entering this doomed land?

He truly longed for an easy life. A calm, secure routine brimming with riches and endless meals could be his. Hunger would never haunt him again.

'Perhaps I should flee. Seek a cozy spot and adopt a fresh identity,' he pondered idly within. The notion tempted sweetly. Success seemed unlikely, however. Tranquility proved a mere fantasy in a battle-torn world. Here, power dictated all.

A lone figure might shatter armies. Dragons could flatten entire settlements. Dungeons might vomit forth beast swarms. Nobles could claim your beloved, and the divine turned a blind eye.

Such perils, alongside endless others, formed the crux.

Damon sensed the atmosphere shift. More accurately, a broad clearing roughly seven kilometers across lay bare, free of major bones overhead, with just minor shards strewn across the soil.

This zone felt like the grim prelude to utter calamity.

Still, that failed to explain Seras's halt. The genuine threat hovered above—the dragon patrolling the skies. Rexagon spotting them would spell doom.

She spun about, nodding deliberately, her tone hushed and steady.

"We'll need to traverse in smaller parties. I'll lead and guard the Bone Ridge entry. Anything lurking there, I'll eliminate it, then beckon you forward. Split into smaller teams and trail behind."

Seras delivered the directive. Unease twisted in Damon's gut.

He glanced upward to track Rexagon, and alarmingly, the beast persisted, its huge outline sailing through the barren heavens.

Damon neared Seras, seizing her wrist and drawing her apart.

"Hold on. Hold on. Don't act rashly. Let me join you first," he murmured.

Surprise hit Seras. He appeared ready to endanger himself beside her into the veiled dangers. Letdown awaited her shortly.

"If you lead, nothing goes wrong and the rest follow smoothly, but on my turn, Rexagon spots me just in time. I'm not risking that."

A flat gaze met him from Seras. His first words had stirred her pulse. The latter part dragged it down in subdued regret.

She let out a scoff.

"You're joining, so guard the back properly and drop the excessive worry."

Seras bolted ahead, her silhouette a haze as she crossed the exposed plain. For a being of her strength, the seven-kilometer gap meant little. She spanned it in just under three seconds, restraining her peak pace to evade alerting Rexagon.

Arriving at the towering Bone Ridge, an etching on a enormous cranium sunk into the formation caught her eye first. Reading held no priority. Time pressed.

A figure lunged from the gloom. Seras foresaw it. Her sword gleamed, the tachi hissing softly through the breeze as she felled them with exact, hushed slashes.

She kept noise to a bare minimum. Resheathing her tachi with ease, she edged to the ridge's lip and signaled the others onward.

The gesture reached Damon; he turned to Renata.

"Lead the way. Bring Lana's team too."

Renata dipped her head, then hesitated, eyes narrowing.

"Hold up. Are you sending me ahead to probe dangers?"

Damon clasped his chest with flair.

"Renata, your safety concerns me deeply. I crave your protection. That's why I'm bending efforts to usher you to security first, yet suspicion rewards me."

Her look stayed unchanged.

"Fine. Never mind. I'll head out."

Damon observed Renata rallying Lana's crew and sneaking over the barren stretch. Rexagon overhead no longer veered their way.

Circumspection held Damon firm. He faced Wendy, her shoulders hosting a raven and a squirrel.

"Wendy, handle this. Guide three teams across."

She fixed him with a scowl, his features invading her proximity.

"I won't perish without issue."

Damon inclined his head gravely, palm lingering on his chest.

"I'll ensure you leave a mark behind."

"Are you dooming me to death?" she muttered.

"No, heavens no. Your life matters to me. Fortune, Wendy."

"Caw caw, liar liar," the raven squawked from her perch.

Damon clutched its throat.

"Quiet down or I'll roast you, croft."

The squirrel pawed its jaws, suppressing jeering chirps at the raven's distress. Damon's fierce stare prompted instant composure.

Wendy swatted his grasp aside and ushered her groups over. Moments later, under a minute, she gained the far bank.

Silas went next, crossing without hitch, followed by Kael, then assorted teams more, until solitude claimed Damon.

Through bone gaps, he eyed the skies. Craving utter assurance, Damon tarried another thirty minutes.

Finally, he stirred. As securely as survival allowed in a fatal realm.

He lingered briefly, whispering a quiet plea.

"Goddess, it's me. Grant me passage free of mishap."

His hand met his torso, detecting the subtle thrum of his pulse.

"Deathless, permit your kin to proceed undisturbed. I vow to cherish you henceforth."

That eased his doubts somewhat. His peril instinct thrummed wide awake, alert to any stir.

Damon dissolved into shadow and glided on, gaze pinned to the ridge.

A minor shade skimmed the desolation till Damon hit the midpoint. The instant he arrived, his warning sense detonated.

Ere response came, a thunderous impact quaked the soil. Bones flew wildly aloft before cascading back.

Damon's shadow form lay partially interred. Via it, he grasped his snare between twin colossal talons.

Rexagon had touched down.

Flight urged Damon strongly. The Goddess beheld his near impulse. But the divide under three kilometers yawned like the gulf from bliss to torment.

Damon's torment unfolded here.

His eyes fixed on refuge's call, where salvation beckoned. Seras hunkered behind a rib bone, her features sorry as she watched.

Tears tempted him, yet even inhaling seemed hazardous.

Rexagon's arrival stemmed not from spying Damon. His wings ached from nonstop gliding, lacking any nearer haven.

"Rarawgg," Rexagon gaped, warmth pouring from his jaws.

In shadow state, Damon held still and soundless.

He had sensed it coming. Alerts to Seras rang true. Deathless hunted him now. What offenses beyond his wretched humanity and scattered misdeeds?

'I foresaw this. Retribution strikes... for erasing my village,' he reflected, visions of accidental losses emerging.

He halted.

'No. No. Such notions won't serve.'

Rexagon eased his head down for slumber.

Yet nostrils widening snared a vile odor masked under putrefaction.

His gaze blazed.

"I smell you," Rexagon's tone resounded.

"The scent of demise and betrayal."

Damon froze. Rexagon nosed the bone mounds. Fleshly, Damon would lie slain already. But scenting a shadow—how?

Rexagon's talons raked wide, flinging bones and Damon's shadow airborne.

In flight, Damon widened his awareness and shifted instantly, rematerializing by Seras's sword as Rexagon rampaged in their wake. True to himself, Damon stayed Damon.

A note he abandoned.

As bones quieted, a single skull endured, etched with rough script.

The text declared.

I am your father today and tomorrow.

Signed Damon.

"RAWWWWWWWW!" Rexagon thundered toward the skies.