In the canyon, two figures—one black, one white—were locked in fierce combat.
Duoluolisi moved with agility, her blade tracing golden arcs through the air.
Her strikes were precise and fierce, each aimed at a vital point, giving her opponent no chance to breathe.
The shadow demon’s form flickered and wavered, sometimes dissolving into a cloud of black mist that the sword passed through harmlessly, sometimes solidifying at Duoluolisi’s side to strike from awkward angles.
Duoluolisi countered each ambush.
The two were locked in a stalemate at the pass.
The shadow demon dissolved into black mist again.
Duoluolisi gripped her sword tightly, her eyes sweeping the surroundings.
‘Left.’
She spun sharply, her blade ready to cut the air to her left—
‘No.’
Her perception caught something off—the shadow demon’s presence wasn’t to the left, but…
above!
Duoluolisi immediately leaned back.
The shadow demon appeared above her left shoulder, its dagger grazing the tip of her nose, stirring a cold breeze.
Seeing his aerial ambush fail, the black-robed figure reversed his grip on the dagger and flashed behind Duoluolisi to strike.
Duoluolisi turned on her foot, spinning half a circle, and blocked the dagger coming from behind.
Clang!!!
Sword and dagger clashed, sparking a few flashes.
The shadow demon used the force to leap back, creating distance.
“Little miss, you’re pretty skilled.”
The shadow demon flicked his wrist, his dark red eyes narrowing.
“I’ve never seen such sharp swordsmanship. Who taught you?”
Duoluolisi had only been pushed back half a step, still maintaining a guard position.
‘Who taught her? How would she know? She wanted to ask where these sword techniques in her head came from.’
‘Every time she swung, her mind already planned the next move, and her body reacted instantly from muscle memory.’
‘Those techniques were the same—it felt like controlling a game character. She just executed the commands; her body handled the rest.’
“That’s none of your business.”
“Oh? You don’t want to tell me?”
The shadow demon let out a low chuckle, twirling the dagger on his index finger.
“But it doesn’t matter. I don’t need to know, because you’re about to die.”
Before the words faded, its form dissolved again.
This time, the shadow demon didn’t rush to attack.
The black mist slowly spread across the ground, enveloping Duoluolisi.
Her vision began to blur, and whispers rustled in her ears.
‘It’s [Dark Mist Whisper]!’
“Haha! How do you like this one?”
From within the mist, the shadow demon’s voice came from all directions, its figure flickering in and out of view.
“Your perception is indeed strong, but in here, no amount of perception will help you.”
“The black mist will blind your eyes, the whispers will disrupt your hearing. In this fog, you can’t see, can’t hear clearly, and even your Mana Perception will be interfered with…”
The shadow demon’s voice paused, then let out a low laugh.
“In this situation, how long can you hold out?”
Duoluolisi certainly recognized this move.
Every time she went through this scene, she had to listen to the shadow demon’s introduction.
This move [Dark Mist Whisper] released black mist to obscure the opponent’s vision, and those annoying muttering-like whispers disrupted their perception.
In this situation, it was hard for the opponent to determine the shadow demon’s position, thus being ambushed to death.
There was a simple way to counter this move: just leave the range of the black mist.
That was obvious from the description.
But in the game, Feili didn’t walk out; instead, she fought head-on in the mist.
With such a good method, why didn’t Feili use it?
Because the game simply didn’t give that option.
The two fought and trash-talked in the mist, and with the plot of protecting Dailina inside the mist, the developers padded out thirty or forty pages of dialogue.
Duoluolisi took a deep breath.
‘She wasn’t going to waste her energy fighting the shadow demon here.’
‘The canyon exit was straight ahead, right?’
“Little miss, you know what? I love watching students like you in the mist.”
The shadow demon’s voice carried a mocking smile.
“At first, you’re all calm, thinking you can find me with your skills. Then you start panicking when you realize this move is harder to deal with than you thought. And then…”
The shadow demon was still rambling.
Duoluolisi stomped her right foot hard, shooting forward like an arrow from a bowstring.
“…You fall into fear—Huh?!”
The shadow demon suddenly realized that Duoluolisi was no longer in sight.
“Trying to run?!”
The black mist surged, and it immediately chased after her.
Duoluolisi infused mana into her legs, speeding up even more.
For a moment, the shadow demon couldn’t quite catch up.
“Damn it! Stop right there! Who just runs away like that?!”
The shadow demon’s voice came from behind, sounding furious.
Duoluolisi ignored it.
‘Fight you in your domain? No way. She wasn’t going to take that loss.’
As her vision brightened, Duoluolisi successfully ran out of the black mist.
But she found herself in the same forest she had walked out of earlier.
‘Huh? How did she end up in the forest?’
‘She had specifically memorized the direction of the exit before entering the mist. She hadn’t moved after that—how could she have gotten it wrong?’
The shadow demon chased out and saw Duoluolisi’s puzzled expression.
It immediately burst into an arrogant laugh.
“Hahaha! You fell for it!”
It retracted the black mist behind it and spread its arms wide.
“I deliberately reversed the direction of the mist domain, making you think the exit was ahead, but I actually lured you back to this forest!”
“So now, in this dark forest, how will you deal with me?”
Duoluolisi was speechless.
‘When you just came out, didn’t you also freeze when you saw the forest?’
‘You didn’t know I would just run, and you were still chasing me in a panic the whole way.’
‘Now you’re just backseat driving after a lucky shot.’
But she was indeed in big trouble.
The light in the forest was much dimmer than outside.
Trees surrounded her, making it difficult to maneuver.
They blocked her view and reduced her dodging space.
The shadow demon could merge into the shadows at any time and attack from any angle.
This was its home turf.
Worse, her mana was almost depleted.
She had been fighting the shadow demon for too long.
The shadow demon obviously noticed this.
Its form flickered and vanished into the forest’s shadows.
The next moment, it attacked from all directions.
Duoluolisi’s movements were much slower than before.
She barely parried, her steps becoming erratic.
“What? Out of strength?”
The shadow demon detected her exhaustion, its tone growing arrogant.
“Weren’t you running pretty fast just now? What’s wrong?”
Duoluolisi was panting.
Now she not only lacked stamina, but her mana was also completely drained.
‘At this rate… it’s over.’
“If you have any aces up your sleeve, use them now. Otherwise…”
The shadow demon sneered.
“But judging by the look of you, you probably don’t have any.”
‘Aces? Now that he mentions it, she almost forgot. She really did have an ace.’
‘She could unseal the Demon God and borrow its power.’
‘Thanks for reminding me.’
Duoluolisi quietly opened her status screen and switched to the weapon interface.
There, a sword-shaped blood-red mana bar appeared, and a lock icon at the sword’s tip flashed red, as if urging her to unseal it.
She couldn’t hesitate any longer.
She decisively unsealed it.
[Unlocked Phase 1, Acquired: Bloodthirst]
[Bloodthirst (Lv1): Castilo Holy Sword will drain a small amount of status from the target on hit]
‘This is… life drain? It directly drains the opponent’s stamina and mana? That’s too broken. As expected of the Demon God’s power.’
‘But in her current state, she couldn’t even touch the shadow demon. Having this ability was useless.’
‘Unless…’
Duoluolisi had a plan.
“You’re stronger than any student I’ve assassinated, but unfortunately, today you’ll die by my hand too.”
The shadow demon approached Duoluolisi, delivering its victory declaration.
“Let me send you off. I’ll keep your head well-preserved.”
The dagger stabbed down.
The corner of Duoluolisi’s mouth lifted slightly.
A dark red glimmer flickered along her blade.
‘Perfect. As long as this sword lands—’
The next moment, her body suddenly lifted into the air, and her vision turned to the sky.
Someone had wrapped an arm around her back from behind, and another hand firmly supported her knee.
It seemed…
she was being princess-carried?
Until a strand of pink hair brushed across her cheek, sending her mind into a blank.
‘Huh?’