Chapter 8 - Chapter 7: The Shadow

AN: So I realized that I've been spelling Kusakabe with a z which is wrong so forgive my dear readers.

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Corpses of slain fishmen littered the tunnel, they were weaker then the fishman Shoto had fought earlier allowing him to make quick work of them.

As Shoto exited the the tunnel scenery straight out of a fairly tale greeted him. A cavern adorned with magic crystals the sparkled like stars within the black walls of the cavern.

Shuuaw!

The sound of water turned Shoto's attention towards a large hole that drank water from rivers and streams the came from every direction.

"!!" Shoto's strong intuition alerted him on a danger he could not yet see. Even with the cavern illuminated by light from the crystals Shoto felt very uneasy.

His intuition had been screaming at him like a banshee causing him a splitting headache. This had only happened once before in his previous world and it didn't mean good.

"Fuck it," Shoto ran to the hole and jumped in.

A shapeless shadow followed after him. As it was about to enter the water hole a ray of heat burned through the shadow.

"Aaaaak!"The shadow screamed.

"Gotcha you shifty motherfucker," Shoto was foul mouthed when he was stressed out.

Shoto stood on water using ,  his heated palm was pointing at the Shapeless Shadow.

Shoto's palm had been burning as a side affect of the skill he had taken from the Desert Guard.

Shoto landed on the ground with his palm fully healed and fired another heat ray at the shadow. The shadow avoided the heat ray by shifting it's body and launched a counter attack.

The shadow twisted itself into a giant snake and knocked Shoto back with it's powerful tail before pinning him against the wall with it.

The shadow snake brought it's face closer to Shoto's and hissed with it's tongue flickering out.

A look of surprise came into it's eyes as it said.

[You… smell…like Shape …Shifter]

A conversation.

It's telepathy had the sound of breaking static.

"Uhm what?" It was all Shoto could say as he was heavily pinned against the wall.

[Shape…Shifter…you… don't… know?]

"No idea I just got here," Shoto replied.

[Other…worlder?] It tilted it's head in question.

"Yeah," Shoto nodded his head.

The shadow snake paused for a while Shoto could see contemplation in it's eyes.

[No…  Shapeshifter…no …revenge…THEN YOU ARE USELESS!]

End of conversation.

It telepathy roared as it's mouth to devour Shoto.

"Shit"

Zzzzz

Shoto electrocuted the shadow snake with causing it to his and back away.

"Huff huff huff" Shoto's chest had been crushed and now it was self-healing.

Shoto and the shadow circled the floor each carful of the other. The shadow snake's tongue tasted the air before Shoto fired the first strike.

Zzzzz

A bolt of lightning hit the water as the shadow snake had evaded it just in time and lunged at Shoto with it's mouth open.

Shoto's left hand dress a horizontal line in the air dividing the shadow snake's mouth.

Slash

- Horizontal Vapor Blade

The Shoto drew another line with right hand this vertically.

Slash

-Vertical Vapor Blade

Shoto split the shadow snake's mouth into four pieces to forcing it to retreat again.

(Hey Guide I need your assistance)

[Affirmative]

Shoto hand turned red as he fired a ball of heat towards the water.

[Miss—]

BOOM!

An explosion occured as the ball of heat collided with the water that had been broken down by the the electricity.

Steam enveloped the whole cave obscuring Shoto from the shadow's view.

The shadow tasted the air then moved with swiftness to attack it's opponent.

[Incoming attack 30° N]  warned.

Shoto fired the metal string he had absorbed into the cave ceiling pulling himself up before shadow could pounce on him.

hiss!

It his in annoyance as it couldn't see Shoto who was now above the steam.

'The poison in the steam should slow it down a little.'

Shoto looked at the crystal he was hanging from. "Hmmm" he pondered.

Shoto manifested a water blade , he looked down for a moment to see if they shadow was in position.

(Not yet. Guide?)

[Understood]

A small fluctuation occured in the steam cloud causing the shadow to move right under the crystal.

[Target Locked]

Shoto grinned then Slash the crystal descended from the the ceiling with Shoto adding his weight to it to increase the speed of it's fall.

Crash! Stab!

The shadow snake was pinned to the floor by the ceiling spike. Shoto had intentionally avoided it's head as it's body was now dividend in two by the large spike.

Hisss!

It was still alive it's tail and head moved wildly in pain as it couldn't move.

The shadow snake began to release a gooey black energy as pattern of red dots appeared on its head. Shoto wasted no time and attacked.

[Black Hound Sword Technique - First Form]

Shoto manifested a sword of black energy an slashed ruthlessly. The movements of the sword technique resembled fangs ripping and tearing flesh whichever way they went.

[You…Sword…Hound!] The shadow snake asked it's last question.

"Fuck off" Shoto slashed on last time killing it.

Before Shoto could harvest it the gooey black energy clung onto Shoto.

"Ahg" Shoto jumped back in surprise but the gooey black energy still clung to him.

Noticing the gooey black energy wasn't trying to harm him so sat down and began absorbing it wholeheartedly.

The shadow snake's  gooey black energy entered Shoto's body and met the desert guards wicked energy.

There was as momentary struggle the black energies as one fought to tame the other before they recognized each other,eventually fusing into one force that began pushing out built up impurities from Shoto's body.

"Haa…" Shoto sighed in relief.

His body felt lighter and much stronger than it had been before, the fatigue he has been carrying was lifted too. 

Shoto circulated the black energy through his body for a good while before stopping to look at the chopped up head off the shadow snake.

'Do I even to harvest it?' Shoto asked himself.

"" Shoto decided to harvest it to build up more magical energy.

"Huh" something felt odd, "hey Guide why didn't I gain a skill?"

[Answer: This creatures skills have been locked it will a significant amount of time to unlock the ceil with out an update]

"Update are an app?"

[Answer: the unique skill is in an outdated state due to a long period inactivity so it may not have the capability to unlock the skills]

"We can update you later for now let's get out of here"

[Affirmative]

A gate appeared in front of Shoto that would take him to the next part of the dungeon.

[AN: Hello my beautiful readers sorry this update took so long I have been quite busy since I started college but don't worry I still plan to update more frequently with 1 or 2 chapters a month. So thank you for reading my novel]