Chapter 376: The Rift (8)

"But that knot went into my Inventory earlier."

"That doesn’t matter." White Hood chuckled. He slightly pulled his clothing aside, showing me the inside. "I have a hundred and seven more."

Tiny knots were sewn densely across the lining. The way they interlocked, overlapping into intricate hexagonal patterns, was strikingly beautiful. If beauty itself had power, then they would definitely hold immense sorcery.

"Now let’s try a real battle," the man said.

"A real battle?"

"Taking things slowly is ideal to build goodwill. Unfortunately, I must leave soon. Fighting together is the fastest way to strengthen our bond."

"Mm... but..."

He smirked as he watched me hesitate. "Did you intend not to fight at all?"

I did.

Defend with the Inventory. Absorb corpses. Pick up cards. I never planned to fight unknown monsters.

White Hood straightened his clothes and shrugged. "Unfortunate as it is, even if you avoid battle, the enemy will attack you anyway. Follow me."

He wasn’t wrong. Besides, I had to test what I’d just learned, and this was the ideal opportunity. White Hood was there to provide support should anything go awry.

Thus, I followed him without argument. We entered a barren wasteland devoid of trees, rocks, or any other signs of life. Spotting any approaching enemy would be easy due to the unobstructed view. White Hood looked in the direction of a section of empty air, then walked in that direction.

When I caught up, I saw a metal trap lying open on the ground. He tossed a heavy stone into it. With magically enhanced speed, the trap snapped shut, teeth glowing red. The stone was sliced clean in half as though cut by a blade.

Throwing iron into it would get the same result...

Poisoned caltrops were scattered everywhere. Their ends were bent like fishhooks, unable to be removed once lodged. Thin wires—barely visible—were rigged to hidden explosives.

"Be careful. Are we hunting the one who set these traps? A tracker?"

Casually stepping through the traps, White Hood shook his head. "No. This is the prey the trapper failed to catch. The one who set these traps has been dead for a long time."

Now that he mentioned it, not a single trap had been triggered. Arrows lay scattered everywhere, yet none of the arrowheads were damaged.

So nothing ever hit its target...?

He pointed ahead. "We’re here."

A corpse was pinned to the ground, riddled with arrows so densely it seemed like a pincushion. No wind blew, yet there wasn’t a whiff of dried blood. My Inventory had been deployed.

I stepped within five paces and examined the body. It held a large bow. The arrows embedded all over it matched the ones in its hand.

Its own arrows...

Someone had skewered it from head to toe with its own elven arrows.

Played with the corpse...

[You have acquired Archery Lv. 3!]

[Recovering Forest Adaptation Lv. 2...]

The faint green light was absorbed.

Clatter.

I lifted my head and scanned the surroundings, trying to find whoever killed the elf. There was no trace, tracks, or presence. Moreover, at some point, White Hood had vanished.

I called out in panic, "Where are you?!"

A voice answered somewhere nearby, "Relax. The creature you’re dealing with erased its presence so cleanly. How cute. Hence, I erased mine as well. Heh... even the sense of incongruity is hidden."

Swoosh!

A violent gust shook the arrow feathers and tore at the corpse. Dried blood was scattered across the dirt.

"It’s coming for you." Even through the roaring wind, the voice of the invisible White Hood was perfectly clear. "Left."

Left?

I reflexively turned my head in that direction. For an instant, the wind stopped. The arrows embedded in the corpse froze mid-tremble. I should have sensed someone, but there was no presence at all.

No sound anywhere. No footprints in the dirt. The green moon lit the scene clearly, yet all I saw was the ruined forest and broken remains scattered beneath it.

The voice came again. "Do your best. Ahead."

Thump.

Something shot straight toward me, only to bounce off my Inventory.

"Hm?"

What I saw was a spear of ice, frozen solid and sharpened so fine I couldn’t see its tip. It stabbed three times in a straight line toward my head, ricocheting off the Inventory each time. Behind it, a triangular head blinked at me, somewhat confused.

It resembled a grotesque fusion of a lizard, a viper, and a human. Its narrow mouth and long, slit yellow eyes twisted in displeasure. Dozens more ice spikes formed instantly and pierced once again. The creature retreated in a quick hop, its round scales shaking.

The enemy tilted its head, seemingly unable to comprehend the situation, before vanishing.

Honestly, even I was baffled. "Why didn’t I see it?"

"I told you. It erased its presence. The fallen elf earlier was incredible for even sensing something was wrong and firing his arrows."

I thought of the elf’s corpse. He most likely struggled desperately.

Without the Inventory, I would’ve died instantly.

Even though White Hood was invisible, his voice sounded as if he were standing right beside me. "Prepare yourself. It’s about to unleash its power."

I sharpened my focus on the Inventory when the world suddenly turned white. Before I could even imagine the enemy’s form, another barrage came.

Crackle!

Dozens of massive ice lances erupted from the ground, stabbing toward the space I occupied. At the same time, more than a hundred ice blades rained down from above, like rows of falling cage bars.

Crackle!

The reinforced Inventory shattered the ice lances, hurling fragments high into the air.

So this is its real power?

The tremors from the ice spears breaking through the bedrock vibrated up my legs.

"Now. Mark that creature with lightning."

Mark it?

Wooong!

Lightning Wave.

Crackle! Crack!

I widened the radius to ten meters and unleashed lightning. The creature flinched and leaped backward with impressive agility. It circled me, moving cautiously, yellow eyes tracking every shift.

"Ah..." The white-robed man seemed briefly at a loss for words. There was a short silence. "Haha, well... I suppose that can happen..."

He sounded like he was barely managing to speak. A multicolored knot floated up from thin air and slowly dissolved into my Inventory. "Try again."

I accepted without hesitation. Anything that helped was worth taking. This time, I could feel what the white-robed man meant. Something inside the Inventory connected me to the creature, tying a thread between us.

Ah... so it’s already there...

The reason I could sense the enemy so clearly was that the knot anchored itself inside my Inventory, acting like a fixed point. Even as the ice shook, the cold surged, circling me rapidly. I could sense it as if it never left its spot.

Bzzt! Bzzt!

I gathered the lightning spread across ten meters, drawing it into my hand.

[You have learned Lightning Condensation!]

[Skill mastery increases greatly.]

[Skill Level has increased!]

[Skill Level cap has risen to Lv. 10!]

Lightning shot forward in a straight line, riding across the frozen ground and soaking the surfaces with shattered ice. The creature vanished in a flash, but the lightning tore through the dry earth and air, striking its entire body cleanly.

Thud! Thud!

Its yellow eyes widened in terror and pain as its body convulsed violently, scales peeling away. The shed skin turned to white ash in an instant, scattering into the air. The creature beneath kicked off the ground repeatedly, leaping hundreds of meters away in a blink.

One hundred meters? Two hundred?

Even while electrocuted, it moved at astonishing speed. Strangely, I still felt the creature’s location like before.

Crackle! Crack!

Lightning struck the creature repeatedly—piercing, ripping, burning, and detonating in relentless succession.

Did I do it?

I saw it desperately erecting layers of defense, but each one shattered instantly under the lightning’s explosions. Its form collapsed entirely.

[Level Up!]

[Level...]

Relief washed over me, accompanied by a swelling sense of accomplishment.

I defeated an enemy with the Inventory!

I had pushed opponents back before with Isaac’s help, but this was the first time I had killed someone directly using these abilities. Moreover, the enemy was stronger than most Wizards of Azure. It felt like I had taken a massive step forward. If I saw Isaac again, maybe he’d be impressed.

White Hood’s voice echoed faintly through the air. "That was the last one worth absorbing. The rest are either weaklings or would take too long."

I looked up. "What was it?"

"An Isha Hatyara." White Hood materialized beside me again, staring at the charred corpse. "A demon species whose lineage is extinct. They’re the sort who chase prey until the end if they choose it. No wonder they died out."

Then, he pointed lazily at the remains with his foot. "Will you absorb it?"

I nodded. But before I moved, I checked my status.

[Remaining Points: 98 (new!)]

Just one more level...!

The Death Knight was just one step away. Except for the stat reset from Yuchirin's Regret, the true benefits of becoming a Death Knight could only be used once the class level rose. I could imagine the overwhelming potential from the description alone. Once I advanced the job, I’d ascend to an entirely different tier.

If this were the surface world, would I even need to avoid anything anymore?

With a mix of anticipation and satisfaction, I reached toward the corpse.

Wooong...!

Intense green light burrowed deep throughout my being.

Ding!

[Please select a skill.]

[1. Stealth

2. Frost(Recommended)]

I already knew what these skills were. The recommendation pointed at Frost.

Strange.

Stealth was one of the most valuable skills one could possess. In any world, being able to infiltrate even a hostile society and observe undetected was priceless. Escaping afterward also wouldn’t be a problem. And yet, the system recommended Frost.

Does that mean that once I become a Death Knight, I won’t need to hide anymore?

Would it recommend something like that for such a reason? Something about it bothered me.

I decided to ask White Hood. "Which skill do I pick?"

He answered without hesitation, "Forget Stealth."

"Why?"

"If you learn how to give your domain a little embellishment, you’ll be able to hide yourself outside the world’s rules. The only issue is the energy supply, but someone like you should be able to use it permanently. It’ll outperform a skill like Stealth by far."

In that case, his hooded cloak probably served the same function. The creature I had just killed hadn’t sensed him at all.

"You hide yourself in that cloak, right?"

"Myself..." He rolled the word in his mouth. "I hide that as well."

Did that mean he hid more than just his presence? Either way, both his advice and the system pointed in the same direction. I chose confidently.

[Recovering Frost Lv. 3(new!)]

[Acquiring Frost Lv. 4(new!)]

[Acquiring Frost Lv. 5(new!)]

[— Gained Penetration and Impaling traits.

— Ice Lance usage unlocked.]

Better than the fairy.

Two whole levels beyond my previous maximum of Frost Lv. 3.

Still, why is he being so friendly toward me?

"Thanks. If not for you—"

White Hood cut me off. "Save that for after you deploy your domain."

"...?"

No sound existed. Heat vanished inside my domain.

74%... 80%... 85%... Silence.

The water flowing beneath the ground halted.

89%, 92%, 94%...

The wind died.

95.5%...

The moonlight faded.

97%.

Inside the domain, that was the limit of the heat I could extinguish.

"Ah..." I stared at him for a moment. "To think I have this kind of power..."

Not even before my death had I reached such a level.

"Is this because of the knots?" I asked.

White Hood gave a dry smile. "I used two of them. Either way, they only grasped your inner power and linked it. You already have the root of it. Same with the domain. Even if they manage to form one, most people can barely maintain it for a moment."

Stepping naturally into the domain where 97% of the heat had vanished, he went on explaining, "A domain collides with the inertia of how you’ve lived, how you perceive the world. It devours energy mercilessly. You don’t need to thank me."

After a brief silence, I inspected the corpse.

Sword, acorn, acorn...

Unlike the fairy, whose card had vanished, this one had clearly looted others. I found two Sword cards and three Acorn cards in its pouch.

"I still need two more types."

My own card was an Acorn. So far, I only had Swords and Acorns. There was no guarantee that every opponent carried a different card.

Are some card types rarer?

If so, collecting them would be harder than expected. When I stood up, White Hood watched me with his arms crossed. "No need."

"What?"

He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Ignore the cards."

"Ignoring them? But that’s the arena’s rules."

"If you follow that nonsense, you’ll just be sent neatly to the next stage. There’s no escape." Despite his ominous words, his expression wasn’t bad. "It’s time I left. Staying in one place too long becomes troublesome. While I’m leaving, I’ll open a small path toward the Demon Realm’s center. Find what you seek there."

He reached into the empty air. His hand touched nothing, yet a gleaming pattern appeared. It looked like two spaces with different pressures pressed against each other. The pattern acted as a boundary, warping and compressing.

Creak...

Something opened.