Chapter 188: Nullify

A second creature emerged from the darkness.

?It was a centaur.

?Its lower body resembled that of an enormous warhorse, with powerful muscles covered in coarse gray hide.

Its upper torso, however, was distinctly humanoid, with a broad, bare chest and heavily defined muscles.

Two thick black horns protruded from its head, curving backward like those of a demon.

?Its violet eyes glinted with an unsettling, predatory intelligence.

?In its hands rested a massive war bow, its wooden surface deeply engraved with intricate runic patterns that glowed faintly with mana.

?[Guard Centaur]

[Rare ★ ★ ★]

?Cassian’s gaze shifted between the two entities.

?A Dullahan and a Centaur.

?Both were Three-Star Rare monsters.

?The Centaur casually reached behind its shoulder, retrieving a thick arrow from its quiver before nocking it against the bowstring.

?There was nothing overtly threatening about the movement. It didn’t assume an elaborate stance or charge a massive spell circle.

It simply drew the string back, as though taking a routine target shot.

?Yet the instant its fingers released the string, reality seemed to snap.

?WHOOSH!

?A violent gust of wind erupted in front of Cassian.

?At the exact same millisecond, something deep within his soul flared to life.

?An instinctive, screaming warning echoed through his mind.

?It wasn’t his standard intuition.

?It was the passive [Racial Expression] he had acquired through Silas.

?Since creating his first High-Race undead, the talent had remained dormant. He hadn’t even found a proper opportunity to test its operational triggers.

?Now, under lethal pressure, it activated instantly.

?DANGER!

?Cassian’s pupils contracted to pinpricks.

?The arrow was already upon them.

?It tore through the air with such terrifying velocity that it appeared to erase the physical distance between them, leaving a chaotic corridor of vacuum and compressed wind in its wake.

?Too fast!

?Even with [Burst] active, Cassian knew he couldn’t physically step out of its trajectory in time.

?[Gate] was an option, but teleporting himself away would leave Nyxara to absorb the brunt of the kinetic strike alone.

?There was no time to weigh alternatives.

?Cassian simply reacted.

?Mana surged through his conduits as he thrust his right hand upward.

?[Push and Pull] — Pull!

?A glowing circular formation materialized above his head, its surface covered in dense, twisting shadow runes.

Unlike his standard gravitational repulsions, this configuration inverted the spatial vector, generating an overwhelming gravitational pull.

?The formation shot toward the cavern ceiling.

?The arrow was inches from Cassian’s throat when its trajectory violently warped.

?Like a homing missile re-anchoring its target, the projectile took a sharp, ninety-degree turn, abandoning Cassian to follow the intense gravitational pull of the shadow formation above.

?BOOOOOOOOOOM!

?The arrow detonated against the ceiling.

?An enormous explosion shook the entire cavern complex.

?The sheer shockwave blew backward through the passage, throwing both Cassian and Nyxara off their feet.

Their bodies slammed heavily into the far wall, stone fragments scattering like shrapnel across the floor.

?For a brief, ringing second, dead silence returned to the corridor.

?Cassian recovered first.

?He pushed himself out of the stone crater and immediately checked on Nyxara. "Are you alright?"

?"Yes, my Lord."

?Although she answered instantly, her expression was grim.

?Cassian nodded, looking upward.

?His eyes locked onto the cavern ceiling.

?A massive crater had been blasted through the solid stone, revealing an entire upper cavern layer above them.

Deep fissures spiderwebbed outward from the impact site, showering the corridor with falling rock.

?Cassian stared at the sheer structural destruction.

’?What absurd firepower...’

?He remembered how ridiculously dense the stone walls were in this sector of the rift. Even when he used [Aura Slash] to carve through rock formations, his blades had only left gouges a few inches deep.

?That made sense, considering this region housed entities capable of reaching Tier IV combat outputs.

The cavern geometry had to be durable enough to contain their territorial battles.

?Yet a single, casual shot from that war bow had blown a hole through the ceiling.

?And the Centaur had fired it without even flexing its full mana pool.

?Cassian’s expression turned dead serious.

’?That thing is exponentially more dangerous than it looks.’

?Across the corridor, the Guard Centaur stood motionless, its violet eyes locked onto Cassian.

?The casual, indifferent air was completely gone.

?A dense, suffocating aura of murder radiated from its frame as it slowly lowered the war bow.

?Cassian met its gaze.

?Then, a sudden, chilling realization hit him.

?Wait...

?His eyes snapped toward the space where the headless knight had been standing.

?It was empty.

?The Dullahan had vanished.

?Cassian’s pupils shrank.

?Where did it go?!

?SHING!

?A razor-sharp metallic ring shrieked from the air beside his neck.

?His survival instincts roared.

?A massive broadsword was already sweeping toward his throat at breakneck speed.

Cassian reacted instantly.

?[Gate]!

?Space distorted violently around him as his figure vanished.

?The Dullahan’s enormous sword swept through the empty air, crashing into the bedrock where Cassian had stood a microsecond earlier.

?BOOOOM!

?The stone floor shattered beneath the impact, sending jagged fragments flying in every direction.

?Cassian reappeared several meters away, his piercing blue eyes instantly locking onto both threats.

?The Guard Centaur had already nocked another arrow.

?Its movements were frighteningly casual, as though firing shots capable of pulverizing subterranean bedrock was nothing more than routine target practice.

?Cassian clicked his tongue. "Nyxara, handle the headless knight. I’ll take care of horse-face."

?"Understood, my Lord."

?Nyxara immediately charged toward the Dullahan, her massive scythe materializing in her grip.

?Meanwhile, Cassian activated [Gate] once more.

?His figure blurred out of existence, reappearing directly alongside the Centaur’s flank.

?’This is the classic flaw of long-range snipers. The moment you close the distance, their advantage vanishes.’

?At least, that was how combat logic was supposed to work.

?Cassian didn’t hesitate.

?Mana surged through his conduits as he raised his right hand, carving it down in a swift, devastating arc.

?[Aura Slash]!

?A brilliant, cerulean blade of compressed energy materialized before him.

?The attack shot forward at breakneck speed, slicing through the air toward the Centaur’s exposed torso.

Its razor-sharp edge carried enough kinetic destruction to cleave through meters of solid rock.

?However, something completely unexpected occurred.

?The moment the cerulean blade entered the Centaur’s immediate space, its trajectory began to warp.

?A faint, distortion shimmer coated the creature’s skin, and the cerulean blade rapidly lost its brilliance.

?Then, before it could even touch the Centaur’s hide—

?It dissolved into nothingness.

?Cassian’s eyes narrowed. What?

?The Centaur’s lips curled into a cold, mocking smile.

?It was an intensely unsettling expression on a monster. It looked as though the beast had anticipated the spatial ambush from the very start.

?Its violet eyes locked onto Cassian’s.

?The next instant, its fingers released the tension on the glowing bowstring.

?TWANG!

?Another devastating arrow exploded forward.

?A violent shockwave erupted around the projectile as it tore through the air, hurtling straight toward Cassian’s chest at point-blank range.