The Lamia hissed and charged rapidly when she saw Dun, dislocating her jaws and opening them a few feet wide. However, Dun melted into the shadows again and reappeared just behind her, stabbing a blade into her tail. She jerked to a stop but the Lamia quickly turned around to spit a ball of venom. Unfortunately for her, Dun disappeared once more and arose right in front of her open jaws. His shadow spat out hundreds of black spears into the gaping hole, piercing holes into the Lamia’s head like a honeycomb and eventually blowing it off completely. The headless, woman-snake corpse fell and more black blades appeared only to slice it to bits.

The Human had sprinted rapidly towards them from his position a few kilometers away after having noticed the Lamia’s fluctuating aura. The moment he saw Dun, he threw his spear and it shot off in a straight path, right at the Dark Elf’s head. Dun wearily turned to the incoming attack and barely tilted his head to dodge the weapon. However, a part of his ear was blown off. Of course, it started to regenerate, but somewhat slowly. Dun had virtually no mana left. If he didn’t rest soon, he wouldn’t be able to recover anything.

Although the Human had missed, he sprinted forwards at a monstrous speed, as expected of an ancient. He soon came face to face with Dun in the span of less than a few seconds. The Human suddenly withdrew two daggers and swung madly at Dun. It seemed the Human wasn’t a spearman but a weapons master! Dun could only look up and summon two black daggers of his own to block them. It was the only thing he could materialize right then, and he didn’t have enough mana yet to enter the shadows. Only a head-on fight was left!

Dun was no longer smiling and laughing creepily and instead wore his original expression of hardened indifference. The battle thus far had successfully vented his stress and memories of pain were subdued by inflicting pain upon others. It was twisted kind of mentality, but it was one that Dun had to live with nonetheless.

The two danced and clashed with their blades in hand. The Human was clearly in the upper hand, however, as he was specialized in combat that involved weapons. Dun was more skilled in taking his enemy by surprise and using quantity to overwhelm them. Unfortunately, his depleted mana pool wouldn’t allow him to do either of those things.

Dun twisted his arms upwards to block an incoming strike but winced as the opponent had swung his free hand and made a gash in the weakened black armor. Dun was quick and nimble and he did a few back handsprings to escape the incessant assault. But the Human chased after, not wanting Dun to catch his breath, and threw his daggers at Dun’s head and heart. Dun promptly blocked the projectiles but allowed the Human to come close and charge into his chest! At some point, the Human had pulled out two short swords and one plunged into Dun’s chest while the other pierced where Dun’s neck was. Black blood spilled out and the Human smiled in victory before letting out a ragged breath.

“Been holding my breath, damned monster一” the Human began but the rest came out as gurgling sound.

A single thin, black blade had pierced his neck before it turned sideways and sliced the Human’s head off. Once more, a headless corpse dropped to the ground. A naked youth with ashy skin was holding the blade before he plopped down to the ground. Dun tiredly chopped the body to pieces. He had ended the battle spectacularly and with an ambush that interrupted the enemy in the middle of a sentence no less.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Fake blood and a single blade. Good thing my armor had covered my body entirely,” Dun gasped for air. “But now I really have no mana, no armor and just one sword.”

He turned his head towards the Specter of Light. It was tens of kilometers away but was rapidly honing in on his position. It would arrive any second now. The incorporeal ball was leaving a trail of scorched land in its wake. Even from afar, it was a painfully blinding sight which Dun didn’t like one bit. He weakly propped himself up with his blade and staggered slightly before regaining his balance. Dun made a bitter smile thinking that he, a being of the shadows, might die by the hands of light.

“Sorry Master, I wasn’t able to take them all down,” he said and his eyes flashed with a glint of determination. “But I will not fall here without a fight.”

But before Dun could charge forth, a hand pulled him back roughly and he fell flat on the ground. He turned around in surprise and saw a man with a black suit, a red tie, and a top hat wearing a white mask.

“Nah, Dun, you did good job! I’ll take care of it from here. You just rest up, buddy,” Em assured. “I need you alive to come with me to the next world anyway.”

Tears of relief and joy dripped down from Dun’s face. His Master was truly a considerate person. This battle bore much fruit for Dun, both in terms of his mental state and his combat prowess. He felt much stronger physically and held better control over his magic. His mind wouldn’t go berserk anymore when he used the full extent of his power either. Now, his Master came to his rescue, regardless of the reason, and intended to take Dun with him. Dun was truly glad to have met this being.

Em turned to the Specter which had just arrived. Hundreds of beams of light started to form, intending to vaporize the two targets below. However, Em just looked up and gave a snicker before flicking his fingers. A horrifying, deafening shockwave rammed into the Light Specter and made it dissipate instantly. The clouds up above were blown away and the sky became instantly clear of any obstructions. The beams disappeared as if nothing was there in the first place.

“Now that that’s taken care of, let’s go Dun,” Dun said and walked back to Dun.

“Right now, Master?”

“Sure.”

Dun looked around. All that was left of the Dark Elves’ territory was a desert. The ground was pulverized to dust and nothing of importance remained except for the rotting carcasses of the ancients. Even the nobilities, armies, and other belligerents vanished, having long been caught up in the battle.

Dun realized that he and his Master had just toppled this world’s hierarchy of power to an extreme degree. The powerhouses were kidnapped and sent to the White Realm. The nobilities and soldiers died as a result of catastrophic battles. Most of the remaining ancients fell by Dun’s hand.

“Master...what will happen to this world?” Dun asked out of pure curiosity.

Dun wasn't particularly attached to Solvenheim, anyway, having spent most of his life in a cellar.

“I harvested the good crops and pulled out the weeds. New, better crops can take their place...I guess?” Em ventured offhandedly. “Remember, there's still the common people and not all combatants participated in this war. Anyway, that’s besides the main point. I've decided to go to a pretty cool world next, Dun! It has, like, mafias and hit men and stuff...!”

Em flew off on a tangent while Dun nodded his head. After a while, Dun plopped down to the ground and his eyes closed slowly. Soon, he started snoring. Even when Em continued rambling and started to tear the fabric of space again, Dun remained in a peaceful slumber. After all, it was the kind of sleep that he hadn't had for a long time.

Em picked up Dun roughly under his arm. Before jumping into the tear, he gave one last look at the vast desert of sand.

“Okay, we’re going now, Dun. Say bye-bye to Solvenheim.”

He chuckled when Dun responded with a snore and waved his hand before jumping into the portal to another world.