World Keeper

Chapter 969: The Saint Of Shadows

Thelsa looked down from a great cliff, watching the swarm of monsters running through the valley below. The crashing of their hooves against the ground shook the earth beneath them, and she could feel the tremors from her high perch.

These creatures, which she had taken to calling Black Iron Goats, had bodies more than two and a half meters tall at the shoulder, with pitch black fur. Their horns were as hard as iron from the same fifty-fifth floor as themselves, and Thelsa even suspected that this iron was a part of their diet.

The most unique trait that these creatures possessed was their magic resistance. In fact, any time an energy source approached them without having a spiritual anchor, that energy would dissipate like smoke. This had particularly annoyed Sora, as it meant that they were entirely immune to her magic. Even divine abilities were vastly weakened in the face of these creatures.

By itself, this would just make the monster an interesting life form. However,  this passive magic resistance was able to stack in the presence of others of their own kind. Once at least ten of the same species gathered, even Sora’s strongest divine attack was unable to reach them. Meanwhile, there were at least five hundred of these creatures in the valley below.

Despite being anchored to her spirit, Thelsa could sense a faint distortion in the World Shadow  from below. This meant that, should enough of them gather, they may be able to destroy her shadow world in its entirety.

However, while they were the bane of magicians and archers alike, they were far from weak in terms of physical prowess. The horns on their heads could easily shatter orichalcum, while their natural ability would weaken the enchantments placed upon it. Thelsa let out a long sigh, slowly walking to the very edge of the cliff.

Maria and Petra are sparring to try and come up with new techniques. Sora is studying her magic. They’re all aiming to reach the level five hundred benchmark as efficiently as possible. What about me?

Thelsa’s primary class had always been a Rogue. Unfortunately, she was without practice for her art for many, many years. Her skills had grown rusty, and had taken months to recover after forming her adventuring party with her shadows. After being stimulated by constant combat with the spectral knights, she had jumped far ahead of her old self. Yet, there was still a great distance to go before reaching her goal.

If I want to reach level five hundred, what will it take as a Rogue? The path of a Rogue was a middle ground between the Assassin and the Scout. At its core, they could be seen as crooked thieves, but there was more to it than that. A Rogue had to be observant, while also remaining unseen. There were many skills to lighten another’s purse, but Thelsa had always considered those skills to be supplementary.

As the Rogue class leveled up higher and higher, the majority of the class’s system-granted skills began to lean towards movement techniques. This caused Thelsa to gradually begin to treat the Rogue as a secondary class, rather than the one that she needed to exclusively focus on. Instead, she was beginning to believe that it might be better to switch her main class.

Although they were called Maxers, they did not focus entirely on one path. Such a thing was inherently impossible. For instance, the level limit that they were currently under was just over four thousand. Even if their main class was level four hundred, a remarkable achievement for any class, that left over three and a half thousand levels to fill.

If a Maxer were to simply focus that one class, and completely ignore any others as they did in the old days, they would not be able to keep pace with the monsters on these higher floors. If anything, they would be crushed by the weight of the world itself. Thus, the term Maxer instead referred to someone that was maximizing their combat ability.

Currently, Thelsa had a number of secondary classes that she could consider switching to. The first, and most obvious of course, was the Assassin. As it shared a foundation with the Rogue, she had quite a few levels in this class. There were also the Monk and Ninja to consider.

However… none of that felt right to Thelsa. No one class had the skills that she wished to utilize. She was not purely a Rogue, nor did she personally identify as an Assassin. These were all just a part of what made Thelsa… Thelsa.

If I want a class that belongs to myself, I will need to make it myself. Naturally, her first thought was to use the Legacy Class system. Although it was an outdated system, it had become a stable for different fields. Anywhere that required a certain expertise, such as police officers, fire fighters, or even teachers, there was a Legacy Class designed to help them.

The problem here was that a Legacy Class was meant to pass down skills that had already been obtained to the next generation. There was nothing to truly help the progenitor of the class solidify their ideas. Ultimately, that would require Thelsa’s own inspiration.

I know my dream. I am the Saint of Shadows. But how… how do I use that to become stronger myself? Thelsa pursed her lips as she came to the question that had brought her here. In a moment of uncertainty, she decided that there was only one way to properly establish her path. All I need is to take that first step.

And thus… she took that first step forward. The wind flew through her hair as she fell towards the valley below, her eyes closing as she took a deep breath. She needed to create a fighting style entirely unique to herself. What she lacked wasn’t the skills to do so. It wasn’t even the basic idea. What she lacked was the sense of danger that would force these skills out.

When her eyes opened, a shadow spread from under her cloak, forming black wings that allowed her to gently land on the ground. Turning, she faced the horde of monsters approaching her. In any normal situation, she would simply be able to escape into her shadow at the first sign of true danger. She would run away, assess, and bring reinforcements.

Now that she was facing these creatures in such numbers, and felt their special aura enveloping her, the connection with her shadow world weakened. Although she could still leave if she wanted, the process would be harder, slower. It would not be a clean escape, and therefore the monsters would be able to deal her extra damage to take advantage of this weakness.

Thelsa’s body briefly stiffened, realizing that this was probably one of the dumbest things that she had ever done in her life. Petra’s going to scold me later… At that thought, Thelsa smiled. No matter what happened, Petra had always been the one to look out for her, ever since the others sacrificed themselves for her.

I am the Saint of Shadows. I am the Saint of Shadows. Thelsa repeated this sentence to herself over and over as the monsters charged closer. Black blades condensed in her sleeves, falling into her hands.

The first goat reached her, lowering its head in an attempt to ram her aside. Her right foot slid to the side, a thin layer of chakra brushing the ground and causing her entire body to flicker to the right. Although the energy was dispersed as soon as it left the body, it could still be used in this manner.

Once the goat was primed to charge past Thelsa, she shifted the blade in her left hand into a reverse grip, delivering a swift stab to the neck of the rushing beast. She felt an intense resistance around the creature’s neck, unable to pierce its skin with her shadow daggers.

I am the Saint of Shadows. These words echoed in her mind, employing the footwork of the Rogue to sway in and out of the charges of the next three goats. Each time, she tried to deliver the same stab, and each time she felt their hides resisting her shadow blades.

The giant herd of goats quickly realized that they were dealing with a potential threat, and began to surround her as opposed to charging past. Being surrounded on all sides like this, Thelsa kept her body relaxed, her eyes calm as that same sentence resounded again and again.

Her mana, her ki, everything felt as if it would vanish into the air the moment that it left her body. The center of this circular formation was undoubtedly the most dangerous position, where the auras of all of these beasts overlapped one another to magnify their effects.

Three goats charged from the left. She shifted her stance, jumping gracefully into the air to flip just over the body of the central figure. This time, she landed on its back before it could fully pass her, and stabbed both of her shadow blades at its neck at once. Again, that same resistance. Something was stopping her. She couldn’t break through this defense…

I am the Saint of Shadows. She allowed her body to roll backwards off the goat when she failed to land the killing blow, landing gently on her feet. Another two were charging, this time from the back. Since going above them wasn’t an option, and going to their sides wasn’t helping, that left either meeting them head on or going below them.

Unfortunately, even Maria would be hard pressed to survive a head on collision with one of these monsters. As for below the beasts… Petra might be able to pull it off at her size, but Thelsa was quite a bit too tall. So, she sank down, compressing her body to a size less than half of her normal. 

Running forward to meet the enemy, she wove between their kicking legs, stabbing up at the unprotected stomach. Finally, she could feel her blade piercing through something. The stomach iof the goat was stabbed, and Thelsa quickly rolled to the side to prevent a retaliatory stomp. 

Thelsa felt something shift within herself, the second goat of this wave circling back to charge at her with a high pitched cry. “I am the Saint of Shadows.” Her words echoed out as her hand struck down, stabbing the black blade into the ground at her feet, into her own shadow.

Her shadow rapidly spread outwards in a web, stretching in all directions. The charging goat stumbled, letting out a sharp cry as it fell to the ground, struggling against an invisible bond. Beneath it, the shadows twisted, wrapping around the legs of the goat’s own shadow. As the shadow continued expanding, it briefly distorted under the suppression of the many goats. However, there was a difference between this and a launched spell, as this ability was still firmly attached to Thelsa’s body.

She was not controlling the World Shadow to launch an attack. Rather, she had converted part of her body into the shadow being spread out at her feet, entangling the over five hundred monster goats. Hearing their panicked cries, she looked down at her own hands, thinking about the sensation just now.

When I cut through its stomach, it was easy… why? I can tell that their stomachs aren’t any less defended. Was it because I was standing in its shadow? Or was it because I struck at a shadowed area? Or, could it be that both conditions need to be filled?

No, I shouldn’t ask that. This is an ability that I am creating. I should be the one to define its parameters through training, not allow this one ability to define how I need to fight. 

Thelsa nodded her head at that thought, slowly pulling her black blade back up. As she did, the shadow bindings tightened around the goats, and their hides began to visibly deform under the pressure of the invisible objects constricting them. “I am the Saint of Shadows, and all shadows are my weapons.”

As if in response to her declaration, multiple system windows appeared in front of her at once. Most of them were announcing level increases, but there were two that seemed… rather special.