My night continued on like this, I would calmly walk to the evil signatures I detected and either walk away from a pack of skeletons or kill a shade. The shades had gorged themselves on souls and ended up getting stronger, some of them even mutated into shade variants. A few were faster, some had elemental effects and a particular nasty one had developed a stunning ability. The fights weren’t as easy and I had a few close calls when groups of skeletons wandered across me fighting a shade. I had to use Etheric Step to get away from the skeletons but thankfully the shades always chased me, so I just repositioned and continued on fighting them.

I must admit, there is nothing like fighting a shade that is trying to kill you. The adrenaline rush is like no other. The downside is that it's depressing as hell, shade lairs were always in the worst places. Each lair was where lots of people had been sheltering, this meant that there were always lots of bodies and not all of them were adults. As a Soul Reaper I had travelled a lot and visited my fair share of battlefields and seen people die by the hundreds, I would always prefer to walk a battlefield where the people had a chance to fight back. When it was a pile of children that were cowering in fear, that was just dispiriting.

I was in a dreadful mood when I came to the last lair in the city. I’d been casting Lesser Regeneration non-stop to heal my latest set of cuts which weren’t healing properly. I only had half of my mana left from the constant usage and the evil signature coming from the lair was particularly strong. I looked around to figure out where I was and when I found the sign that told me, my mood darken. It read 'Tyre Hospital'.

The hospital was 4 stories tall and the size of an entire block. I guessed that the person who designed the building was a big fan of castles. I remembered that it once had a very welcoming entrance that was filled with trees and flower gardens. I could only make out where they’d been by the fact the gardens was now churned mud. The building was featureless and brutally uniform, like someone had taken the majesty of a castle and stripped it back to its bare basics. When I’d been at the hospital 3 months ago, there’d been four towers reaching up into the sky with walkways between all of them. It’d been an impressive sight back then but now they were all severely damaged. Three of the towers still stood but sections of them had fallen away revealing the rooms inside, they looked like a very strong breeze would blow them over. The walkways had all been destroyed and any indication that they’d existed was now gone. The front of the building looked to have been the worst hit, most of it had collapsed onto the gardens. This is where the goblins had entered, it was evident by the bodies that still laid where they’d fallen.

The shade lair was inside the hospital and I wondered how I was going to get inside. I really didn’t want to go inside. I could imagine the things that I would come across, people slaughtered in their beds and mass amounts of gore and viscera covering the hallways. I hesitated as I fought to swallow the bile that rose in the back of my throat, I could feel my stomach churning. Then I felt it, the subtle compulsion that seemed to radiate from the shade’s lair. It was insidious and made me feel unsure, as if killing the shade did not need to happen. My anger flared and fought back the mental compulsion, firming my resolve. I needed to kill these monsters, it had to be done and there was no point in delaying it. I could not allow a creature to feed on the suffering here, the souls deserve their rest, not eternal torment. I looked back to the hospital and studied the rubble, the goblins had climbed it to get in, there was a clear path that they had used and now it was covered in their bodies. I didn’t think there was going to be any other way in and I didn’t really want to spend more time searching for one. I sighed and slowly began to climb.

I was only about 10 feet off the ground when my Danger Sense screamed at me like a toddler throwing a tantrum. I dove off the rubble and rolled as I hit the ground, I came up holding my scythe ready as the blade faded into existence. A large black shadow arm thrust out through the rubble where I had been, I hit it with my Identification spell before casting my modified Light spell that nullified shadow magic.

Name: Alpha Shade

Level 25

Type: Uncommon

Description: A shade that was born in the deepest pit of despair and now is stronger than ever through the assimilation of Lesser Monsters. A malicious creature born of death and despair, this shade has gained strength through devouring the wayward souls and other shades near its birth place. This highly aggressive monster will attack any living creature it senses.

Health: 5000/5000

Mana: 4000/4000

Effects: Immune to non-magical attacks, immune to shadow magic.

*Note, as this creature is recognised by your Soul Reaper class as an adversary, all combat restrictions are removed from all class abilities (excluding disabled abilities or skills) and you will be able to gain xp from defeating this monster.

The alpha shade clawed its way through the rubble, I saw the rubble move as the creature passed through. I gulped as my mouth suddenly went dry, that normally didn't happen, Shades don’t affect the physical world like that. I cast Empower Attack on my scythe before using Etheric Step. I teleported to the right of the shade and slashed at its left leg, a claw lashed out and caught the strike. I was caught off guard as metal screeched on its claws for a few seconds before my scythe partially cut through one. That didn’t usually happen either, my scythe should have cut straight through the shadow. I took a step back in shock and that is what saved me. The monster’s other arm flashed through where I’d been far faster than before. It had faked being slower in order to land a fatal blow.

I recovered from my shock as the creature’s first hand came back around, I had to drop my scythe and roll backwards just to avoid the strike. Half way through the roll I launched myself upwards and cast Mage Hand. The spectral hand grabbed my fallen scythe and threw it at me, I caught it just in time to block a slash from the shade. Claws screeched on metal again and I let the shade push through my block, I used the momentum to bring the blade back around to cut through its chest. I rammed the soul lantern into the open wound and the monster let out a loud roar that left my ears ringing. I quickly cast Empower Attack and punched the monster in the face.

“Oww, fuck that hurts.” I yelled in pain as I pulled my hand back. That was not the smartest thing I’d even done but in my defence if it’d worked it would have looked cool as fuck.

My inattention let the shade rip the scythe out of my hand and toss it towards the hospital. I had to jump backwards to avoid a savage kick that would have landed between my legs. I used my Mage Hand once more to grab my scythe and bring it back to me however Mage Hand didn’t move fast and I was now weaponless in front of the shade. I had to side step and dodge its brutal attacks as it pressed its advantage. The shade moved at some impressive speed however its attacks were telegraphed so I could just about dodge them. That didn’t mean I was completely successful, more than once I was sent flying as a punch or kick connected. I only realised after a few minutes that it was trying to keep me away from my Mage Hand that was still carrying my scythe.

I cartwheeled to the right as the shade launched itself in the air, I used Etheric Step to appear next to my scythe. I wobbled on my feet as the sensation of ability overuse made me feel dizzy. I watched the shade slam down onto the ground and created a 5 foot wide crater. I gulped as I set myself in a defensive stance. I felt sweat trickle down the back of my neck, I had a sudden revelation and realised that I was not using my spells properly. I cast Haste just as the monster launched itself at me like a ballista bolt. I watched as the monster visibly slowed, it was still moving fast but not impossibly fast anymore. The spell hadn’t tipped the fight in my favour but instead levelled the playing field.

I jumped to the left and extended my arms. The shade stretched its own arm out to catch me but I was just out of its reach. It flew past me and its arm passed straight through my scythe. I watched as the severed shadow arm hit the ground and I dove after it. The arm started to fade as the shadows tried to flow back to the alpha shade but I stabbed the soul lantern into it. The shadowy tendrils stopped moving towards the shade, instead they were instead slurped up by the soul lantern like they were noodles. The alpha shade screamed in outrage as its arm disappeared, I looked up and grinned at it. I now had a way to win the fight. Then much to my horror, another arm grew where the previous one had been cut off.

While it was a brand new arm that grew out, I watched as it shrunk in size. I let out a relieved breath, at least the monster couldn’t regenerate its shadow body completely but was instead repurposing other parts of its body. If it could regenerate I would have been dead. I nodded as the fight had just become a battle of attrition, with the potions in my bag I could overcome the monster. I settled back into my well rehearsed attack patterns and combos, which mainly consisted of me spinning my scythe like it was a boa staff. Each swing brought the blade back around to cut the shade. Every dodge or extra rotation added more momentum and power to the next attack. I felt my movements become more fluid as Combat Grace finally kicked in and the speed of my scythe’s rotations increased.

While Combat Grace seemed like a cheat skill, being that it made dodging and landing hits a lot easier, it was by no means a way to easily win fights. If I tripped over a rock, I was still going to fall, the skill just meant that it would be harder for me to trip over. It also did nothing for my characteristics or survivability, the alpha shade could kill me easily if it caught me with my guard down. As the fight progressed cuts began to accumulate on my body and Lesser Regeneration was draining my mana constantly as I had to keep it active.

It took longer than I wanted, but eventually I stood over the alpha shade with my soul lantern thrust into the remains. The monster clawed at me ineffectually as it was sucked up, it had shrunk dramatically and was now Harold sized. I panted from exhaustion, my health was slowly dropping from the various cuts despite Lesser Regeneration being active. I pulled out a health potion and drank the contents. I winced at the incredibly sweet strawberry taste. My body began to tingle and itch as most of the cuts closed and the dried blood flaked off of my skin. The world became brighter as my vision cleared and I realised that the edges had been fading away.

I didn't enter the hospital. I couldn't sense anything evil left in the building and I didn’t feel like seeing the depressing sights I knew were there. I was more than a little glad I didn't have to add those to my nightmares. Tired and somewhat spent, I made my way out of the ruins, I had multiple notifications blinking at me but I ignored all except one.

Quest complete

Quest: Things that go Bump in the Night

Description: You went bump in the night and all the shades in Mountain Guard died.

Rewards: 200xp, death mana in the ruins has been significantly lowered.

I did some quick maths and realised that with the 10 shades that I killed, I was only 300xp off of getting my next class level. The excitement of getting a new class level wore off slowly as I trudged back to the camp. I thought over my fight with the alpha shade and I realised that it had been sloppy. I had to constantly cast Lesser Regeneration because I was not dodging far enough or the shade was managing to push through my blocks and parries. I also hadn’t used any of my other spells. Haste and Death Bolt would have been useful however I’d completely forgotten to use them. I stayed deep in thought and it was only when I left the ruins of Mountain Guard that I looked around. I shook my head realising that I wasn’t in any danger. I began to cast Message and I thought about Taylor, imagined what they looked like and their voice. I felt something click in place and I watched a small black and green bird fade into existence in front of me, it looked me in the eye before accelerating away faster than any bird had the right to travel. I carried on walking back to the camp and after a few minutes a small ice fairy flew up to me. I stared at it for a few seconds and it looked back at me before it began flashing different colours rapidly.

Spells like Message can be intercepted before reaching its target, it had always been a problem and the only way to ensure that the contents of the spell was secure, was to make it encrypted somehow. A few years back we came up with a solution, making the spells show colours rather than words. This created a new problem of what colour to assign for what message and it ended up with Taylor and I basically creating a new language. It was intricate and took 3 months for both of us to agree and memorise the patterns but it ended with a secure way to send messages back and forth.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

I smiled at the memory as I reached the outskirts of the camp. I stopped dead, the outskirts of camp? I needed to stop letting my mind wonder like that, I hadn’t even noticed that I had come this far. I released Detect Evil but still kept Detect Life active, I could sense all the royal marines in the camp as they moved about or slept in their tents. I also began to actively use Mana Sense and the camp exploded into bright multi coloured light. I shielded my eyes as I filtered through all the magical signals being emitted. Slowly I removed everything that I wasn’t looking for and eventually I found a small burst of mana that I recognised, with my goal in sight I began sneaking through the camp.

The walk back was long and there were more than a few times that I had to backtrack to avoid sleepy marines. I was now sure, more than ever, that the camp was definitely set up as a trap. Anyone sneaking in would have been caught, it was only thanks to Man on the Job that I’d managed to pass undetected. The mana signal led me to a white tent that was only slightly larger than the others. I pushed through the tent flap to see the rest of my party sitting around. Raven was playing cards with Taylor and Clair while Harold paced, Clair occasionally let out a small burst of green mana. Harold must have heard me enter as he had turned to look at the tent flap, I deactivated Right Clothes for the Job and let them fade away before deactivating Man on the Job.

“Luca.” Harold sighed in relief. “I'm glad that you're back. Are you hurt?"

“I am okay, a few cuts and bashes but nothing serious.” I lied, there had been more than a few close calls but I was okay.

“Your clothes don’t seem to agree.” Harold said flatly. I looked down to see that the shirt I had been wearing was shredded, it was held together by a few valiant strands. My chest underneath was still cut up but it’d stopped bleeding.

"Forgotten Gods Luca." Clair said as she looked at the state of my clothes. She dropped her cards and began fussing over me, I began to look for a new set of clothes in my bag of holding. I took a sharp breath when she poked one of the half healed cuts, she grumbled as she held out her hand.

“Can I get my pack? You still have it in your bag of holding. I think I have a poultice that will help with some of these cuts.”

I nodded and pulled out her pack before putting everyone’s packs in the middle of the tent. Raven got out of her seat and grabbed her pack while Harold grabbed his and Taylor’s. Clair rummaged through her pack before coming out holding up a small metal tin, I winced and gave Taylor a pleading look.

“I’m a little battered but nothing life threatening and a spell from Taylor would fix everything.” I said quickly.

Clair’s poultices were good but they usually burned, itched, smelled or had some other strange side effect. One of them had once turned a section of Raven’s skin green for a day. I felt a chill fall over me as Taylor cast a healing spell and I sighed inwardly. Unfortunately healing spells had their own side effects and my chest became incredibly itchy as all of the cuts visibly healed in seconds.

“You want in on the next hand?” Raven asked, she tossed a few coins into the middle of the table.

“Nah, I need to lay down, there were far more shades in the city that the captain knew about. Some of them were really nasty and would have ripped through the marines if they’d wandered into a lair unprepared.” I said moving over to the only free cot. I dropped my bag at the side of the cot, having given up on finding new clothes, and sat down.

"How many were there?" Raven asked

"10 in total."

“What’s it like in the city?” Clair asked.

“It’s not pretty,” I replied while taking off my shoes. “There are packs of ghouls and skeleton warriors like the reports said. Some of the buildings in there are completely destroyed and others are so badly damaged that they will have to be torn down.” I shook my head, “The city is filled with bodies as well. The goblins mostly left the dead where they fell so I can see it taking a long time to cleanse the city. I think it’ll take a few years before they start rebuilding.”

Everyone was quiet so I looked up to see my friends staring at me. Clair and Taylor had tears in their eyes, Raven had let her hair cover her face to hide her emotions but I could see the rage on Harold’s face. No one moved for a few seconds as they let my words sink in. Then Harold confidently walked over to his cot and picked up his breastplate and he started to put it on, he fiddled the straps to secure it in place. Taylor placed a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s not our fight.” Taylor said softly. “We have more important things to be doing than fighting the monsters in the city.”

“The city needs to be cleansed and those bodies deserve to be burned or buried.” Harold said, brushing Taylor’s hand away as he continued to fuss with the leather straps.

“And they will be put to rest, but not by you.”

“But...” He started.

“No.” Taylor said more forcefully, “I know you want to go and right the wrongs of the world but we need to stick to our objective. We are hunting the necromancer so that this,” They waved in the direction of Mountain Guard, “doesn’t happen again. You can go into that city and be swarmed by the packs of ghouls and skeletons that Luca saw, or you can do the smart thing and hunt the necromancer.”

“If the necromancer dies all of the skeletons would fall to pieces, so it should be a lot easier for the kingdom to reclaim the city.” I added.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to deescalate the situation like Taylor but I didn’t want to just leave it to them. I could see Harold’s internal struggle. He had a burning desire to protect people and fight evil, yet at the same time he wanted to complete the quest as it would save the entire kingdom. Harold was a good man and he always did the right thing. It was the reason why I had wanted to join his guild and party, I would always be able to say that we were doing the right thing. There was a major problem with Harold though, he was extremely stubborn. If he thought he was right and doing the right thing, it was nearly impossible to tell him that he was wrong. Taylor was the only person that could talk to him when he was like this. They had been adventuring together for so long, they were closer than most married couples. I watched Harold twitch and many expressions passed over his face as he struggled to come to a decision, he growled a few times but eventually let out a long defeated sigh. His shoulders drooped and his hand fell away from his breastplate straps, it flopped limply to his side like a dead eel.

“Fine.” Harold said with a dissatisfied huff. Taylor helped him take off his breastplate and guided him away from the rest of his armour.

"What does a shade look like?" Raven asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked, I looked up at her to see that she was clearing up the pack of cards.

"Well, normally when monsters like that appear, you usually deal with them before they get close to us." Raven said, "Sure you tell us that there was a shade and that you fought them, but I’ve never actually seen a shade. What do they look like? Are they monsters like large shadow cats or do they use weapons like swords? How do you kill them?"

"Huh, I never realised but none of you have actually seen me fight any.” I said with a little surprise. "Well, the first thing to know is that they are made of condensed shadows. I'm not sure what holds the shadows together but it’s not shadow magic or dark mana. " I looked around to see that I had everyone's attention. "They spend most of their time hidden in the shadows, waiting to ambush unsuspecting prey. They have regular sized legs but long gangly arms, their hands can easily rest on the ground when they are standing up. They don’t really have a face but instead have a large maw with, I guess they would be called teeth but they’re made of the same shadow stuff as the rest of the body. They don’t use weapons, or at least none of the shades I’ve ever come across have, instead have long sharp dagger-like claws that will cut through most non-magical weapons and armour like they were parchment." I pointed at my shredded shirt as evidence. "They are fast and always attempt to dive into your shadow if they come near it. Once they are inside your shadow they use a drain attack that saps your strength and health as well as using their claws to rip you to shreds. The only way to force them out of your shadow is to nullify or lock down shadow magic, like this." I cast my modified Light spell and let the dark blue orb float in the air bathing the tent in its light. "I modified a Light spell quite a few years ago to nullify shadow magic, it’s absurdly useful and has always been pivotal when fighting shades. The main way to kill a shade is with magical attacks; ranged spells work just as well as magically enhanced melee attacks or enchanted weapons.”

“You’ve had that spell for years?” Raven asked, "That's not cool man, you have to warn me if you ever use that, it’ll cut off my shadow step ability and leave me exposed."

"I don't use the spell unless I’m fighting shadow monsters.” I said dismissively, “If you were part of a fight like that, you wouldn’t want to dip into the shadow realm, they’d easily be able to trap you there.”

I decided to not tell them about my soul lantern absorbing the corrupt souls or that I’d used it to absorb the shade’s bodies since I didn’t really know what had happened there. I was sure that there would be an explanation in the notifications that I was ignoring but I was too mentally drained to look at them.

“I have a question.” Taylor said and I nodded to them. “You’ve fought shades in the past and I remember you telling us about it but you’ve never come back to us looking like this after a fight.”

I winced at their question, I’d wished that no one would’ve asked this. I’d hoped that Touch of the Reaper would have sorted itself out by now but it was still deactivated. Taylor was right though, I’d never come back this badly cut up. Touch of the Reaper had meant that I’d killed shades a lot faster and without getting this badly injured. I was going to have to come clean.

"Because one of my abilities has been disabled." I said rubbing the back of my neck.

"What!?" Everyone exclaimed almost at the same time.

"It's not really a big deal." I said trying to downplay the situation. I felt my ears burning a little.

"Yes it is." Harold and Taylor said at the same time. "Which ability was it?"

"Touch of the Reaper. All it means is that I don't insta-kill everything." I quickly added. "I still have Man on the Job and Right Clothes for the Job so nothing has changed when we go into fights.” I argued. “I don't really attack with my scythe due to Reaper's Purpose.”

“You might not attack creatures with a soul normally but you just came back from hunting soul stealers. You usually do that with Touch of the Reaper.” Taylor said, “You need to tell us things like this, Luca. This is just like Nils-on-Hill all over again.”

“I agree,” Harold said sternly, “if I'd known, I would not have let you go into the ruins alone.”

“I'm sorry I hid it from you all, but it is only a small issue that the skill is not working. And this is nothing like Nils-on-Hill.” I argued.

“This is a lot like Nils-on-Hill, you're operating without keeping the rest of us informed.” Harold said firmly. “We almost ended up in jail and that would have cost us the guild charter.”

“I'll agree that I should have told everyone that the captain of the guard was performing that sacrificial ritual on those kids but I had to move fast.” I continued to argue, like I had done multiple times before, “You would have wanted proof and by that time those children would have been sacrificed and the portal to the abyss would have been opened.”

“Let's not get this argument going again.” Clair said diplomatically. “We’ve all said our piece and agreed to move on.”

“Seconded.” Raven added.

“Fine.” Harold said, “When do you think the ability will work again?”

“I think it might be a punishment for not completing the quest I got when we faced the goblin king.” I replied. “Once we get the necromancer it'll start working again. I can't be certain but I have a gut feeling about it.”

Taylor slowly nodded in understanding, Harold still looked like he disapproved but nodded as well. I felt a bit of tension leave my stomach at their understanding, it was obvious they didn't approve and I couldn't blame them. Not having Touch of the Reaper was a larger set back if we came across stronger undead monsters or something stronger than a shade. I had been worried about telling them but we would just have to adapt our tactics, it was something that we could work out as a team.

"Out of curiosity, what was the highest level shade?" Raven asked, I could hear the intense curiosity that she was trying to mask with nonchalance. Taylor groaned as they figured out why Raven was asking.

“Leave it be Raven, let's all just get some rest.” Taylor said, trying to get us to drop the conversation. “We'll be going through the ruins tomorrow and we all need to be ready in case something goes wrong.”

I nodded in agreement with Taylor but ignored them as I looked at Raven with a savage grin. I was going to enjoy this.

"Level 25." I deadpanned.

“Fuck sake.” Taylor said, shaking their head.

Raven exploded into motion, she slapped the table and she jumped up knocking her chair over. Her face had gone from barely hidden curiosity to shock, then to disbelief before outrage. Her forehead wrinkled as she frowned. I could feel my smile widen even further.

"No way. No way, I need proof." She said, slapping the back of one hand into the palm of the other. "There is no way you can beat a level 25 monster, I call minotaur shit. Show me proof. You know the rules, part of the corpse or the kill notification. I'm not going to believe it until you show me…"

Her words died in her throat as she looked at the palm I held upwards. Her face slowly went from pink to white as I used some mana to project the kill notification.

You have slain an alpha shade Level 25, as this creature is recognised by your class as an adversary, you do not receive any penalties. You have earned 150xp.

"Witnessed." Clair said breathlessly.

"Witnessed." Harold added.

"FUCK." Raven shouted.

She grabbed her pillow and pressed her face into it before letting out a muffled scream. I couldn't help but laugh and I saw Clair giggling as well. After a few seconds the scream ended and she put the pillow down, she turned to me and if looks could kill, I'd have been assassinated right there.

“I'll take the trophy.” I said beaming at her as I held out my hand.

Raven harrumphed and began rummaging around inside of her pack. She was muttering something to herself but it was a little too quiet to hear. After a minute or so she pulled out a small decorative golden arrow that rested upon a wooden stand, there was a small metal plaque nailed to the wood that read 'Highest Level Monster Killed'. It was the kind of cheap souvenir that you could find at a festival or a tournament gift shop, something that you'd give a friend when you'd forgotten to buy them a real gift. The trophy held no monetary value but was instead for bragging rights about being the best monster hunter in the guild. Raven had held it for 4 years and had not let us forget about it. I'd told her that one day we would come across a monster my class deemed an adversary and I would happily take the trophy from her. Reluctantly she handed it over and I could tell that she really wasn't happy about it.

“Ahhh, just where it rightfully belongs.” I said not resisting the impulse to tease her about it.

"Game. Fucking. On." She said, I watched her right eye twitch.

"It's okay Raven, you can always claim it back." I said sweetly, regaining my huge smile, "when you can kill on my level!"

"Oh I'm coming for that trophy,” Raven snapped back, she whipped her head around and I could see the fire blaze in her eyes, “you're just borrowing it."