Chapter 19: It Tried to Run—Only Then Did I Level Up Twice
The black lightning kept more than the Forgotten Shrine awake.
At the top of a tower in a distant white-stone Domain, Dame Maelin was the first to look up.
One bolt after another tore through the night above the war fog.
The lightning did not brighten the sky.
It seemed to make that entire stretch of darkness even deeper.
Seraphine came up the tower stairs with a coat thrown over her shoulders.
"Naturally formed?"
"No."
Maelin watched for several breaths.
"Someone triggered a Dark Monster Tide on purpose."
Seraphine’s gaze settled on the distant black lightning.
"Scale?"
"At the very least, not something a Rank I Domain should be touching."
Maelin paused.
"If it’s close to anyone, they’re not having an easy night."
Seraphine said nothing.
She simply opened the Hero Power Ranking.
The ranking had not settled yet.
First-place reward: Epic Chest.
She looked at the black lightning again.
"I hope it isn’t the person I’m thinking of."
——
Forgotten Shrine.
The Dread Duke had fully crossed the rift.
Dark-violet fire burned beneath the Nightmare’s hooves without fading. A black-flamed lance nearly three meters long had appeared in the armored rider’s hand.
The Dark monsters around it moved aside on their own.
The Dread Duke raised its head.
The two dark-red flames beneath its helmet settled on Cassian.
"Human."
"Were you the one who opened the gate?"
Cassian did not answer.
"Tower."
CLACK!
The Repeater Ballista Tower snapped taut.
More than two hundred meters vanished in an instant.
BOOM!
A Blacksteel Ballista Bolt slammed straight into the Dread Duke’s chest.
Dense shadow surged out from beneath its cloak.
[Dread Mantle]
BANG!
The bolt struck what felt like an invisible wall and was forced half a foot off line, scraping across the black armor instead of punching through.
The Nightmare only took a single step back.
The Dread Duke lowered its gaze to the pale scrape across its chestplate.
"Good."
It looked up again.
"I’ll tear out your bones first—"
The second ballista bolt arrived.
The Dread Duke whipped up its lance.
CLANG!
The shaft knocked the bolt aside.
Cassian had already drawn his Refined Blacksteel Sword.
"Gloomhoof. Split left and right."
"Tower, keep pressure on it."
"Blackfang, hold the boundary. Don’t chase."
The orders spread through Pack Dominion.
The twelve Gloomhoof immediately divided toward both flanks. Their bows were not aimed at the Dread Duke. They turned instead toward the Dark Rangers and Hollow Mages still pouring through the rifts.
Veyra stood beside Cassian with Crimson Oath already drawn.
"And me?"
Cassian watched the Nightmare begin to accelerate.
"The rest."
Veyra followed his gaze.
Then she smiled.
"Fine."
The next second, the Dread Duke moved.
CLACK.
The first hoofbeat landed.
The second was already ten meters closer.
Dark-violet fire streamed behind the Nightmare as it charged straight at Cassian. The black-flamed lance lowered at the same time.
Too fast.
Cassian did not retreat.
[Predator Step I]
Stone cracked beneath his foot.
His body cut sideways.
The lance point passed his ribs by inches.
Cassian reversed his sword and slashed for the Nightmare’s rear leg.
CLANG!
Steel bit into a layer of black scales.
Half an inch.
No more.
The Nightmare shrieked.
The Dread Duke was already twisting in the saddle.
The lance swept back.
Cassian could not clear it completely.
He raised his sword to block.
BANG!
Force hammered through the blade and into both arms.
Cassian slid three meters sideways, his boots carving two long tracks through the broken stone.
His right arm went numb.
His chest tightened from the impact.
The Dread Duke turned the Nightmare around.
"Weak."
Cassian flexed his right hand.
He did not answer.
Because the rest of the battlefield had already erupted.
Six Six-Eyed Gloomcrows dove from the sky.
They had not even crossed the Domain boundary when twelve bows rose together.
THRUM—!
A storm of arrows swept upward.
Four shafts punched through the first Gloomcrow and dropped it on the spot.
The second tried to climb.
The Repeater Ballista Tower was already rotating.
BOOM!
Black feathers exploded across the night.
Farther away, Veyra stepped directly between a Dark Ranger and a Grave Wraith.
Crimson Oath swept sideways.
No Eclipse Spear.
No massive black-gold lance of divine power.
Even so, the force of her Level 3 manifestation drove through the blade hard enough to send the first Dark Rangers flying as if they had been struck by a wall.
A Grave Wraith tried to pass through her from behind.
Veyra turned her wrist.
The sword point pierced its translucent chest.
Its gray-black body suddenly solidified.
Then shattered.
[Veyra killed Grave Wraith.]
[Battle Essence +186]
Veyra pulled her sword free.
"Yours is still alive."
Cassian was already moving back toward the Dread Duke.
"I can see that."
Second exchange.
Third.
Every time the Dread Duke brought its lance down, the impact was heavier than one of Alaric’s Stone Trolls.
But it was not flawless.
The Nightmare was fast.
Extremely fast in a straight line.
But every time it forced a sharp turn, the right rear leg lagged half a beat behind the left.
Cassian’s first slash had not crippled it.
It had made that difference worse.
So Cassian began moving almost exclusively toward its right side.
The Dread Duke noticed.
"You think that will—"
Cassian stepped in.
[Predator Step I]
The black-flamed lance had only just pulled back.
Cassian was already inside its reach.
His sword did not go for the rider.
It went for the Nightmare again.
SHNK!
This time, the Refined Blacksteel Sword drove straight into the wound he had already opened.
The Nightmare lurched sideways.
The Dread Duke’s lance went off line with it.
Cassian did not get greedy for a second strike.
Sword out.
Back away.
Almost at the same moment, shadow erupted from beneath the Dread Duke’s cloak.
BOOM!
The stone where Cassian had been standing shattered outward.
[Dread Pulse]
That shadow was not only defense.
At close range, it could explode outward as an attack.
Cassian glanced at the broken ground.
Remembered it.
Across the rest of the battlefield, the Dark monsters were steadily disappearing.
The Gloomhoof had compressed from their original three groups into two wings.
The Blackfang stayed inside the Domain, finishing anything that slipped through the arrow lines.
Every two seconds, the Repeater Ballista Tower changed targets.
It did not obsess over a single enemy.
Whenever a Hollow Mage appeared somewhere dangerous, the Tower turned first.
BOOM!
Another Hollow Mage was nailed into the ground together with its bone staff.
System notices flickered at the edge of Cassian’s vision.
[Battle Essence +214]
[Battle Essence +172]
[Battle Essence +196]
...
Cassian did not stop to read them.
Only when the Dread Duke withdrew from his blade for the third time did a separate notification force its way to the center of his vision.
[Dark Monster Tide — Battle Essence gained so far: 38,700]
[Current Battle Essence is sufficient to continue leveling Cassian Vale.]
Cassian glanced at it once.
Closed it.
Veyra had just split a Hexeye with one stroke.
She looked over.
"You’re not leveling?"
"Not yet."
The Dread Duke charged again.
Cassian tightened his grip on his sword.
He had not finished reading it yet.
If he leveled now, his strength would change.
His speed would change.
Every distance he had just measured would shift with them.
No need.
The Dread Duke seemed to realize that the rest of the battlefield was collapsing.
Less than half of its Dark Rangers remained.
Veyra had cut down the Grave Wraiths the fastest.
The Gloomhoof wings were closing toward the center.
And on the Forgotten Shrine’s side—
not one unit had fallen.
For the first time, the shadow over the Dread Duke’s chest visibly wavered.
It abruptly abandoned Cassian.
The reins snapped tight.
The Nightmare reared.
Then turned.
Straight toward the farthest spatial rift that had not yet closed.
Veyra blinked.
"It’s running."
Cassian did not look surprised.
"Mm."
He had left four Gloomhoof outside that line earlier.
Not to shoot the Dread Duke.
To watch the rift.
Now all four Rare Level 6 Gloomhoof stepped forward at once.
Their bows rose.
Arrowheads angled low.
The Dread Duke did not slow down.
"MOVE!"
The black-flamed lance swept sideways.
All four Gloomhoof retreated at once.
None of them tried to block it head-on.
But that hesitation was enough.
Cassian reopened his level panel.
This time, he did not close it.
"Two levels."
Light dropped instantly.
[Cassian Vale: Level 5 → Level 6]
A second beam followed.
[Level 6 → Level 7]
[Battle Essence spent: 10,000]
Power detonated through his body.
The numbness from repeatedly blocking the Dread Duke’s lance vanished almost at once.
His breathing steadied.
Even his sense of distance changed.
The Nightmare had already accelerated again.
Less than twenty meters remained before the rift.
Cassian kicked off the ground.
[Predator Step I]
This time, he was faster.
The Dread Duke snapped its head sideways.
A heartbeat later, Cassian landed directly in front of the rift.
His Refined Blacksteel Sword hung loosely at his side.
Behind him, the four Gloomhoof drew their bows again.
They did not release.
Veyra remained farther back.
She did not come over either.
The Dread Duke stared at Cassian.
For the first time, the dark-red flames beneath its helmet visibly shook.
Cassian raised his sword.
"Keep going."
"You weren’t finished, were you?"