Chapter 268: In the Darkness

Looking at the massive dome, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding.

What does all of this mean?

Unable to suppress my curiosity, I decided to approach the dome. I kept Sköll and Hati by my side in case I was ambushed by Damian and I needed to stop time for a split second.

As I ran through the city, I sent one of my ravens forward to observe the dome. It was made out of a hard black material that had the properties of darkness itself. Looking at it through the raven’s eyes, I was now a hundred percent sure that this dome was built by Mariah.

But why? Was it to trap something inside? Or was it someone?

Don’t tell me she trapped Damian inside with the intention of facing off against him.

The moment that thought dawned on me, I picked up the speed at which I was moving. By herself, Mariah wouldn’t even last a second against Damian.

[Congratulations, you have ascended to level 60]

Another system notification popped up, stating that I had leveled up once again, but at this point, my thoughts were elsewhere. I leaped from building to building, digging my claws into the structure before leaping to the next.

Within just a few seconds, I arrived outside the dome. The closer I got to the dome, the more I realized just how large it really was. If I had to guess, the dome covered at least 4 city blocks.

Rushing towards the massive dome, I increased my pace, and at the last second, I launched myself at full force towards the dome. Strangely, crashing into the dome wasn’t as bad as I thought. I felt my body slow down as I hit the dome, but I still managed to slip in easily.

Landing inside the dome, i was hit by a familiar sight. At the same time Sköll and Hati landed beside me after leaping in from the outside just like I did.

Just like the last time I entered Mariah’s dome, the space was pitch black. Inside the darkness, no sounds were produced, and everything smelled the same, making it difficult to make your way around. If Damian was here, then he must’ve been experiencing the same thing.

Since the dome this time was large and covered at least 4 city blocks, Mariah could make her way through the darkness to evade Damian. If I had to guess, that was her plan. She wanted to trap him here so he couldn’t and keep him distracted while I leveled up.

But if that was the case, why wouldn’t Damian just escape?

With that question lingering on my mind, I turned my attention back to the wall made of shadow behind me. I summoned most of my strength and I punched the wall as hard as I could. My hand sunk into the shadow as it felt as if it was wrapping around my fist.

Witnessing this, Sköll and Hati stared at me before tilting their heads in confusion.

Though what I was doing may have seemed foolish from their perspective, I realized something from punching the wall: The inside of the shadow was almost elastic.

Like a slingshot, my fist was sent flying backwards at such a strong force that I almost lost my balance.

Looking back at the wall, I was left stunned. With the wall being elastic-like, it seemed almost impossible to beak out just from brute force. This was the perfect prison for him.

This place was amazing. It was exactly what I needed. With Damian trapped here, it meant that he wouldn’t be able to continue killing the lesser ghouls and the valkyries. It wouldn’t pose as much trouble to my pack as he did before. All I needed to do was keep him here until I evolved.

The downside in all of this, though, is that we were trapped here with Damian. He was lurking around somewhere in the darkness. and the only thing I had to aid me was my thermal vision. I quickly activated it, and surprisingly, I could spot a few heat signatures.

Based on how they were moving, I immediately realized that most of these heat signatures belonged to my lesser ghouls.

“This makes things harder,” I mumbled to myself.

If it was only Mariah and Damian here, then I could’ve easily figured out where they were, but since it was overcrowded by ghouls, it was harder to figure out who was who.

Taking a deep sigh, I began to move through the darkness. My goal was finding Mariah. If I had to guess, she was most likely being hunted by Damian. The last time I fought Mariah, she was able to move around her darkness easily, which tells me she has the advantage.

Since I wasn’t sure who was who, I made sure not to get too close to any of the heat signatures. Since Mariah was a part of my pack, I should’ve been able to sense her, but the shadow seemed to be restricting that as well.

Without a clue in sight, I continued to move through the darkness, and just as I was beginning to doubt that I would find them, I spotted something. One of the heat signatures that was close in proximity to me had disappeared.

Living creatures only lost their heat signature when they were dead. I was fairly certain that the creature who lost their heat signature was a ghoul, and someone had killed it.

Seeing that was taking place, I decided to halt my movements and observe. Just like before, another ghoul was killed, except this time I had a good guess as to which heat signature had killed the ghoul.

Whoever killed the ghouls seemed to have used a long-ranged attack; hence, it was difficult to tell who it was. Yet still, to use such an attack, the culprit had to move in a way that wasn’t normal for ghouls. It swung its arm out, and a second later, the heat signature of the ghoul disappeared.

After finding the heat signature, I decided to approach them. There were a few things I noticed with the attack, but I wasn’t a hundred percent certain.

Creeping my way through the darkness, I followed behind the heat signature. A few minutes later, I was proven correct when the person swung its arm once again, and the head of a ghoul was once again decapitated.

I waited until the time was just right for me to make my move. The best time to hunt a predator was when it was hunting prey, so I waited until the person swung their arms once again to kill a ghoul.

That was when I made my move and attacked them from behind.

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