Seeing that the mist was swirling and moving toward him bit by bit, Neo's face paled, and his fingers tightened around the hilt of his weapon.
He knew way too well what that phenomenon meant and what was approaching him, after all, he too possessed the same ability, hence knowing from where it had originated and what beasts could use it.
Ice-Claw Panthers... As he acquired his Mist Camouflage from the Ice-Claw Panther Stella slain back in the Shivering Woods, it wasn't impossible to imagine how a Specter gained the same ability too, but instead through a magical System as him, they ate the flesh of the horror instead!
"I advise you not to speculate things so easily. Don't forget what that man stated, these vandals succeeded in taming those horrors and even brought some here."
[He is correct, Master.]
Aurora agreed and quickly added;
[Although any of them could indeed possess Mist Camouflage, the possibility of a Monster hiding within the fog is not low at all. I advise you to be careful.]
Hearing the words of the two, Neo's face paled even more than before, and shifted his attention to his surroundings. Currently, he was standing between the ruins of two burning buildings, meaning he only had two options ― Either run toward the opposite direction from where the swirling fog was approaching or stay and fight.
'I should run... Right?' Neo pondered silently, knowing way too well that this time the risk was just too high.
If it was a Specter, he could win a confrontation using the element of surprise thanks to his Artifact, but if it was a Monster... Well, it was a completely different story.
Not only was he slower and weaker than an Ice-Claw Panther, as it already had been proven before, but he wasn't even confident in himself to land a fatal blow on the horror without risking a limb or two in the process, or even worse his life!
Thinking about this, Neo glanced at the swirling mist now not so far away from him, then shook his head.
'Yeah... It's just too risky. I should g-'
[Master, try and focus on your hearing in the fog.]
Surprised, Neo raised a brow.
'Why?'
[I'y sure you will understand once you do it.]
Neo was confused, but seeing how he had less than a few seconds before the edge of the thick mist reached him he clenched his teeth and did as he was told.
And less than a second later...
'What!?'
Neo almost dropped his weapon out of his hand the moment he saw how the mist before him all of a sudden became thinner, allowing him to pierce right through it with his hearing and see what lurked within!
Not only that but for some reason, although only things that were less than 10 meters away from him, he had no problem sensing what was behind him!
It felt like he had a third eye, right behind his back!
'I... can use my Legacy even like this?' Neo mumbled in his heart, watching with a mixture of awe and alertness how within the fog a Specter holding a dagger was slowly walking toward his way.
[That's right! All this time, you had been using your Legacy passively, and this is its true potential]
[Naturally, this also means you cannot use it all the time. Just like how there is a limit to your other Legacy while you use it, this one also has its own.]
Indeed, Neo could feel how his body became weaker by the second, much faster than during his using his Mist Camouflage! If he had to take a rough guess, he could only use this ability of his for about a minute or even less than that!
"One minute? Just three seconds alone will be more than enough to kill that bastard." Zen spoke, coldness visible in his voice.
Neo glanced at the Specter and a second later nodded. He was right. Because of the way the Specter used his power, filling the whole area around him with thick mist instead of just his body, like how Neo did, his vision was completely obstructed. Except for those who entered the fog, allowing him to sense them within, he could see no one at all outside!
Which, came perfectly in handy.
Raising his Bone Cleaver over and behind his shoulder before flexing all the muscles in his arm, Neo silently activated his Artifact's Attribute, aimed, then threw!
Swish!
With a speed that was neither as insanely fast nor incredibly slow, the Bone Cleaver flew through the air in a straight line, piercing the swirling fog before reaching the Specter within and cleanly slicing through his helmet and skull!
"Bullseye!"
Clenching his fingers into a fist from joy seeing how the Specter died and the mist around him began to dissipate, Neo quickly ran beside the corpse and pulled his weapon out of it, drawing blood along the way!
BOOOOOM!
Suddenly, just as Neo straightened his back and deactivated his Enhanced Sense to avoid getting himself more exhausted than he already was, another explosion shook the whole Shelter, this one way more powerful than any of the others until now.
Turning his head to the side, Neo frowned.
'Just what is happening there?'
"Why don't we check it out?"
'...'
Neo remained silent, pondered, then shook his head
'No. First, let's take care of this mess here.'
Although he didn't really wish to fight, as he already stated, he still felt like he had to pay back the favor he owed Stella. Thus, like it or not, he had to do it.
"Whatever... Do as you wish."
Neo nodded and after giving one final glance at the direction from where the explosion came, he turned around and quickly ran away.
* * *
Within the Shivering Woods, only a few meters away from the Shelter.
In the past, the scenery was like that of any ordinary forest during winter with large, bare trees covered in thick layers of snow towering silently toward the sky everywhere. However, after the ambush of the Specters, such a sight changed completely...
The white ground was painted crimson, filled with hundreds of corpses laying around. Some were shredded into numerous pieces, some were pierced in the chest or head, while some simply missed a limb or two together with their head.
Moreover, numerous trees were visibly wrecked all around as well as deep craters here and there, some filled with the squashed remains of corpses.
As for whether they were once people or beasts, it was unknown...
BOOOOOM!
A massive explosion resounded the next moment, followed by a great tremor and ripple that swept through the entirety of the forest for several seconds before finally everything became normal once again.
"DAD!"
Standing atop one of the trees, on one of its thick branches that could support her weight without any issue, Stella stared ahead with a pale face, her scarcely trembling hand tightly holding her large bow.
However, soon enough, as the thick cloud of dust not far away from her faded, allowing her to see her father's figure standing straight and firmly in a small pit with his greatsword in hand, a sigh of relief escaped her mouth.
Then, her expression turned worried, her eyes shifting in front of Logan where another figure was visible, this one wearing heavy armor and large, metal gloves, the latter dyed red from blood and covered in chunks of flesh and organs!
"That man... Just how strong is he really?"