Shadow Weaver: Sole Heir Of The Night-Chapter 172: Surprise

"My vision is getting blurry, I’m seeing things."

Stabilizing the hand that clutched the crossbow, Enzo ground his teeth together until his jaw ached. Sweat slid down his temple, stinging his eyes as he tried to line up the shot on the figure standing ahead of him. The forest felt warped, as if the air itself was bending against his will.

No matter how he adjusted his stance or slowed his breathing, the bolt never found its mark. Each time he focused, the figure split apart, fragments of it peeling away and crawling straight into his mind. Images overlapped, shadows twisted, and false movements dragged his attention in every direction at once.

The pressure became unbearable.

With a shaky breath, Enzo reached to his side and pressed his palm against the medallion hanging at his waist. The cold metal throbbed faintly, its poison ready to be unleashed. He hesitated only a heartbeat, knowing the cost, knowing what it would take from him.

Before he could activate it, a sharp whistle cut through the forest.

A spear tore through the air and slammed into the moon bear’s shoulder, piercing deep and shattering bone on impact. Blood sprayed across the undergrowth as the beast roared in agony, its massive frame staggering sideways.

Enzo’s eyes snapped toward the source of the attack, his expression darkening instantly.

Liana.

That bitch had followed him here after all.

"Shit!!" Enzo cursed as his body exploded forward. His fingers twisted the medallion at his waist, cranking it open as power surged through him. He could not allow Liana another clear shot. If the moon bear survived this encounter, then everything he had done up to this point would be meaningless.

He refused to let that happen.

"Hehe." Liana smiled faintly as she watched him rush ahead. To her, Enzo was nothing more than small fry. Unlike Zeke, with his absurd growth and overwhelming presence, Enzo relied on borrowed strength, clinging to external treasures just to stand on the battlefield.

She summoned another spear into her grasp, muscles coiling as she prepared to throw.

Then a shadow swept past her.

A massive silhouette crossed her vision, wings blotting out the fading light as a giant man bat descended from above. Its presence alone carried a suffocating dread.

A Great Terror, sanctified.

Liana faltered for just a moment, her instincts screaming.

That moment was all Enzo needed.

Below them, with no regard for his own life, Enzo lunged forward and drove his dagger ahead. The blade pierced into nothingness, cutting through empty air where flesh should have been. His eyes widened, but he did not stop.

A sudden wave of heat brushed against his side.

The sensation jolted him into action. He twisted and slashed forward without thinking, his movements guided by instinct rather than sight. The shadow of the beast thickened, stretching unnaturally along the forest floor.

Dusk was settling in.

The light dimmed, and the moon bear’s presence grew heavier, more defined within the encroaching darkness.

Without hesitation, Enzo forced his body forward once more and stabbed again, muscles screaming in protest. This time the beast was caught off guard, its form flickering as the illusion wavered. Still, it managed to twist aside, avoiding a fatal blow by a hair’s breadth.

"You fucker, you think it’s that easy to kill me?" the moon bear mocked. Its voice rolled through the forest, layered and distorted, echoing from every direction at once.

"Human level intelligence," Enzo muttered, his breath ragged as his gaze locked onto the creature. It had pulled back now, giving Victoria space, its confidence no longer as absolute as before.

Daemon.

It was said that when the universe was first birthed, they crawled out from the annals of history itself and wrapped their claws around the world. Ancient records spoke of them in hushed tones, as if even writing their names invited disaster.

As a high ranking member of the institute and an official representative, Enzo had access to restricted files. He knew far more than most about what stood before him now.

These beings were among the primary sources of corruption.

Where they walked, reality decayed. Where they lingered, madness followed.

However, it went far deeper than that. From Master Inkous’s perspective, the spreaders of chaos were not a single, mindless force. There was a clear hierarchy woven into their existence, an order hidden beneath layers of destruction and madness.

Some were weak, barely able to survive without feeding on lingering corruption. Others acted as commanders, exerting control over corrupted beasts as if pulling invisible strings. Then there were the worst of them, entities capable of birthing corruption itself, flooding entire regions with twisted life in terrifying numbers.

One thing, however, never changed.

They were almost always at the tyrant level or above.

"Daemon, run!!"

Liana suddenly appeared beside Enzo, her hand clamping down hard on his shoulder before she bolted in a random direction, dragging him along without waiting for agreement. Her voice was sharp, edged with genuine urgency.

She had heard the beast speak.

That alone was enough to confirm the danger. Daemons were the Federation’s highest priority targets for a reason. If one chose to act freely, it could flatten an entire area simply by commanding corrupted beasts like pawns on a board.

Enzo did not resist.

He allowed himself to be pulled along, his boots tearing through soil and roots as they fled. Even so, his gaze remained locked on the moon bear, every instinct screaming that turning their backs was a mistake.

The creature was smiling.

That expression sent a chill down his spine.

This was not over.

The ground beneath their feet suddenly shook, a violent tremor rippling outward as the forest groaned in protest. The earth split apart and a massive shell burst from below, chunks of dirt and stone flying as a deafening roar followed.

Terra turtle.

Now everything made sense.

Enzo muttered the realization under his breath as he pulled out two void cutters, their edges humming faintly in his grip. The presence of that beast explained the devastation around them, the broken land, the unnatural movements of the forest.

The Terra turtles in this region were known to migrate when threatened. When they moved, nothing survived in their path. Trees, beasts, even terrain were reduced to ruin as a result.

Most considered this behavior instinctual.

But Enzo did not.

As a spirit of the forest, he could feel it. Something about this migration was wrong. These beasts were solitary by nature, never communal, never synchronized. This level of destruction did not align with instinct alone.

For a long time, he had kept his distance, trusting his unease.

Fortunately, on his path to greater strength, he had uncovered the truth.

They were being controlled. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The pieces clicked together in his mind in an instant.

Without hesitation, Enzo grabbed Liana by her clothes and flung a handful of sand into the air. The grains exploded outward, forming a thick, blinding blanket that swallowed the space around them.

By the time the dust settled, the forest stood empty.

Both of them were gone.

""Wait here, I’m going hunting."

Liana barely caught the words before her body was hurled away. Her back slammed into the forest floor, breath ripped from her lungs as Enzo vanished from her vision, moving with terrifying intent.

All around them, the earth split open.

One after another, Terra turtles tore free from beneath the soil, their massive shells grinding against stone as they rose. Trees were uprooted like weeds, trunks snapping as the beasts dragged them under or crushed them beneath sheer weight.

The forest screamed.

Yet despite the noise, the destruction, the overwhelming presence of titanic creatures, Enzo’s focus narrowed onto a single point. A tiny speck deep within the forest, insignificant compared to the colossal turtles, yet far more dangerous.

"Hm?"

Sensing his approach, the moon bear raised an eyebrow. Its gaze locked onto the figure stepping out from the shadows, eyes glinting with interest rather than fear.

This creature stood on the edge of ascension.

After centuries of survival on this planet, after enduring countless cycles of suppression and corruption, it was finally close. One more push and it would evolve into a demi god level daemon.

Freedom was within reach.

Until this human appeared.

"You have a death wish, kid?" the beast spoke calmly, its voice heavy with contempt. "Are you trying to be a hero?"

In truth, it had no desire to continue the fight. All it wanted was to sink into the ground alongside the Terra turtles and begin a migration. Given time, a few months at most, it could attempt to break through once again.

That was the sensible path.

But this bastard child stood in the way, eyes burning with intent that made it clear. He was not here to chase it off.

He was here to kill it.

"Maybe," Enzo replied, a sly curl forming at the corner of his mouth.

His grip tightened as his thoughts drifted, imagination running wild. He could already picture it. The strength. The authority. A daemon bear under his control, commanding corrupted beasts with ease.

That kind of power would change everything.

And he was willing to hunt for it.