Rustle.
Someone stepped onto a leaf. At first, it sounded like it was a form of conveying information, ‘stepped on a leaf,’ but as his senses were enhanced, the information his brain could process had changed.
The rustling sound and the moment someone’s foot touched a leaf, stepped on it, and created noise could be heard in more than one property. And that wasn’t all…
Whoosh.
The wind blew. Roman Dmitry’s mana mixed with the wind, and the forms of the enemies touched by the wind were naturally processed in his head. He could see how many enemies were around him, what their bodies looked like, and even the current condition of their bodies from the sound of their breathing.
The Human stage was the most basic one. The foundation of the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts developed the senses and paved the way for the usage of mana. And Roman Dmitry had reached the Human stage.
Everyone exclaimed that Roman Dmitry’s development was a leap forward, but actually, he remained on the Human stage even when he had defeated Butler. And through constant training, he broke the wall.
Stepping onto the stage of Land meant being one with nature, which went beyond just developing the senses of the body. His senses had become like those of a spider, which could sense everything in its web. If he accepted the nature of this, he would be one with the world.
One step. He moved forward. And as for the shadows, who didn’t know what this meant, they were confused.
In his past life, the day he first entered the Land stage, Baek Joong-hyuk blew off the heads of hundreds of warriors from the Justice Faction.
Kwaaak!
Aura rose in all directions. The shadows that manifested aura using their innate qi rushed at him even without a special signal.
Papak!
The first opponent rushed at him. As he tightened his feet, his thighs swelled up, and he took in a deep breath, which created a dark aura, and Roman Dmitry noticed his opponent’s intentions.
The changes in the shadows spread out in succession. As if they were all communicating through telepathy, their attacks exploded in an instant.
It was fast. The aura of darkness went around their bodies, and it struck Roman Dmitry.
However…
Euk.
The first attack had failed. His heightened senses grasped the information in his surroundings, and things such as the dagger moving and their muscles clenching were being relayed to his head.
Being assimilated with nature meant that nature that was filled with Roman’s mana made the area one with Roman. So he was able to avoid the first attack and cut off the opponent’s head at the same time.
Flash.
Puak.
A head was blown off. It was a situation that was completely incomprehensible to the shadows. Even though they used the aura of darkness, the shadows were unable to react to Roman Dmitry’s attacks. Besides, they hadn’t activated their ability to change their bodies into smoke.
‘The enemy’s abilities have weaknesses.’
The clashes from earlier gave Roman enough time to understand the abilities of his opponents. They had two weaknesses.
First, there was this moment when their bodies scattered like smoke and then formed into bodies again. At that time, they couldn’t perform any physical attacks. Roman Dmitry’s own attack couldn’t touch the formless smoke of the shadows, and when they were on the verge of death, red blood smoke would flow, and that was the moment he should aim to attack.
Second, this was a more difficult condition than the first one. The opponents were unleashing a special power, and when it was in a formless state, there was this subtle flow of mana. It was the power of the shadow’s existence.
Even when their bodies scattered like smoke, they could return to their original forms if there was mana, so Roman cut down the flow of mana at once to stop their bodies from linking, which meant the death of the shadows. As their bodies returned to their original forms, they were all shocked to witness a sword cut through them.
The power of the shadows wasn’t common. How could one attack an opponent who had left their physical body? But it wasn’t difficult for Roman, who had entered the next stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Arts.
He caught the opponent’s every single movement. He had foreseen the timing of reconstructing their bodies and the flow of mana, and this time, before the opponents could link their bodies back together, he cut the flow of mana.
Slash.
Another shadow died. At the sight of their colleagues dying, the shadows were enraged.
Kwang!
Kwakang!
There was a huge shockwave from all sides as the mana rose. Everyone was ready to attack in formation. The shadows were ready to abandon their lives.
As the head of the advancing shadow was cut, the shadow following him cut the body of the one ahead and aimed for Roman Dmitry. It was as if the shadows had no more affection for their colleagues. Even the shadow who was cut only displayed his intent to kill Roman Dmitry and extended his sword until his last breath.
Rumble.
The aura of darkness exploded. As their colleagues died, their aura rose. Their auras turned out to be more powerful than Roman had thought. The shadow people were strong.
Gustavo, Nicholas, and Butler—even if he thought of the Continental Rankers whom he had defeated so far, they weren’t as threatening as the formation attack of these shadow people.
The explosions happened in all directions. If he blocked an attack from the front, another attack would come from behind, and if he blocked the sides, they would aim directly for his head from above.
Kwang!
Rumble!
A thick cloud of dust began to rise. Since their first encounter, Roman Dmitry has brutally slashed down his enemies, who were wrapped in darkness.
Pat!
Blood splashed. Drops of dark red blood bathed all sides, and Roman’s eyes were stained red.
‘Blood Flow.’
The blood began to react as he wanted it to. The drops of blood turned into thorns and penetrated the vital organs of the shadows.
Papat!
Flinch.
The shadows trembled. Roman Dmitry reached out, grabbed a shadow’s head, and smashed it to the ground. That was all. The head that had been coming back to life until then went still.
Roman Dmitry’s face was splashed with blood to the point where he looked like a tyrant. He utilized the Blood Flowing Arts and pierced the enemies without mercy.
It was the Demonic Ghost’s Martial Arts. That was how the people of the Demonic Sect used their martial arts, which only pursued strength.
However, Roman Dmitry had not been actively using the martial arts of the Demonic Sect. The exact reason was that there was no need to do that, but it was also because of the visuals. The Demonic Sect didn’t care about what others thought, even if they bathed in blood and looked like scary demons. All that mattered was being strong.
And now, Roman Dmitry didn’t hide his skills against the Kronos Empire. Against the enemies in the darkness, Roman Dmitry created blood that could move according to his thoughts and looked like a demon.
Crush.
And he smashed the head of the enemy. It was already the tenth one. The number of enemies had been reduced significantly. They were surely strong, but Kronos’s best didn’t seem to be the solution either. The opponent had overwhelming strength.
Was it because the night sky was particularly dark? At some point, the shadow, who seemed to be the boss, disappeared.
A shadow was running through the woods. Their plan was perfect. Roman Dmitry showed warlike behavior, and as Kronos had expected, he managed to cross the borders of the estate.
As a result, it meant their plan was perfect until then. With Roman Dmitry coming alone, the shadows were convinced that their plan would succeed without any glitches.
However, they suffered one-sidedly. They couldn’t believe that Roman Dmitry was actually slaughtering the people who should have been impossible to defeat.
‘… Based on the reports from his previous battles, we did consider that Roman Dmitry might be a lot stronger than he had let on. That alone is amazing, but what was that form that looked like a demon? Our abilities didn’t even work against him, and we were the ones being pushed back in the battle of strength.’
The plan was a failure. Their advantages of mobilizing the assassination guild to reduce the number of people helping Roman, and launching a surprise attack all seemed meaningless. And finally, they were defeated in a one-on-one fight.
So against Roman Dmitry’s overwhelming strength, the shadow made a quick decision.
‘Even when the demonic humans were mobilized, we could not defeat him. Roman Dmitry is more dangerous than anything known in this world. We need to inform the empire of this fact. If even what we had just witnessed wasn’t his true strength, he would surely turn into a hurdle for the Kronos Empire’s plans.’
The shadows had undertaken numerous missions for the empire, and in the process, they had dealt with strong enemies. However, they had never suffered such a crushing defeat as this one, not even once.
The existence of those who used holy powers was outside the rankings, yet they had no choice but to give up fighting in front of them since they used the power of darkness. However, Roman Dmitry showed an entirely different result.
He was an enemy that they could have easily dealt with, and the situation was in their favor for a while. It was only a battle of strength, yet their powerful abilities were torn to pieces.
It was flustering. Undoubtedly, even the top rankers in Kronos wouldn’t be able to overcome their combined efforts like this.
‘Roman Dmitry is a person who becomes more mysterious as we get to know him. If His Majesty decides to take this matter seriously and order his death, then the entire force will have to do their best against him.’
He ran with all his might. He was thinking of creating enough distance between himself and Roman and then contacting the empire. But just then, his body tilted.
At that moment, the shadow realized what had happened. His vision changed as if it were rolling around, and the two legs he was running on were surely not tired yet. However, they were now cut out.
The shadow just fell down, unable to do anything.
Clench!
‘… Has he already defeated the others?’
It was Roman Dmitry, and he had caught up with him. The plan failed. He tried to report what happened back to the empire, but he was caught.
However, Roman Dmitry took out the magic communicator from his sleeve and tossed it to the shadow.
“Contact the Empire and report what happened.”
Roman Dmitry. His intentions were unknown. There was a chance that this was a trap, but as a shadow, he had to contact the empire and tell them about the risk, so he connected it. And…
[Have you dealt with Roman Dmitry?]
Beyond the device, Baron Charlton’s voice could be heard. The shadow looked at Roman Dmitry, and said,
“… The plan failed.”
[Failed. What the hell is that supposed to mean?!]
“Baron Charlton. From now on, please forward my words to the Emperor. Our judgment about Roman Dmitry has been completely wrong. The eighteen shadows were not able to inflict even a single wound on Roman Dmitry, and even our ability that could cancel out physical attacks didn’t work. Roman Dmitry is hiding his power. No, maybe he hasn’t even shown a little of his strength.”
Roman could see and hear him report all of that. However, he didn’t stop him. Looking down, the shadow spoke,
“The growth of Roman Dmitry in the past two years is not normal at all. We thought we had figured out everything about him, but he still holds secrets that we cannot handle. He has to be killed. Roman Dmitry is not someone we can assess, and the empire must step in and put an end to this man.”
His voice intensified as if he were asking Roman Dmitry to kill him, and his role was over. If a report like that had been conveyed with a failed result, the Emperor would not just stand by.
At that moment, there was silence behind the other line of the communication device. Was it because he was taken aback by the report? Nothing could be heard for a while, but soon, a cold voice said,
[Roman Dmitry. You are there now.]
