It didn’t take long for Ronan to hit level fifteen. Or at least, it didn’t take long compared to how other hunters leveled up.

By his own mental clock, he and Sarael had been grinding for more than a day now. His third day with the system, and still the moon overhead hadn’t moved.

Ronan was thankful for that; he didn’t know how much weaker he’d be without darkness. It was the one constant that kept his skills working.

[Level Up: 14 → 15]

[Ronan Night]

[Class: God-Bound (???)]

[Level: 15]

[STR: 30 +20 +110]

[AGI: 28 +20 +15]

[CON: 26 +20 +150]

[MAG: 20 +20 +0]

[New Skill Unlocked: Corrosive Dark]

[Corrosive Dark: Enemies damaged by the user while shrouded in moonlight or darkness become infected with a paralyzing, agonizing poison. (Effect scales with affinity to the Goddess.)]

’Level 15, huh? Should that be enough for the lit city? I have Sarael with me as well. Maybe I should try it out? I still have some food supplies left... but should I really stay here for longer?’

Ronan crouched under a tree, turning the decision over in his mind. Sarael rested her head on his shoulder, now fully comfortable, or at least slightly more comfortable, ever since he’d accepted her.

She was content to follow his lead, whatever he decided.

And it wasn’t like this was his only chance to be here. Once he returned home, reported what had happened, they’d send another expedition. More hunters, more backup, another opportunity to grind EXP with an army at his back.

"Sarael, let’s get out of here."

***

The ridge overlooking the lit city hadn’t changed. The warm orange lights still burned in every window, along every street, a city frozen mid-breath and waiting for someone to exhale. Ronan still had no idea where the electricity was coming from, or if it was even electricity at all.

"Sarael," he said, settling into a crouch at the ridge’s edge. "Scan for threats."

"Got it."

The shadows unfurled from Sarael’s feet and spread down the ridge. Ronan watched them go, that cold, weightless sensation brushing past his boots and continuing downward toward the lit city below.

She closed her eyes. Her brow furrowed. The same expression of concentration she’d worn in the dead forest, but this time it held longer.

Tenser.

A full minute passed.

Then another.

"Sarael?"

"There’s... something."

Her voice had lost its eager, puppy-like enthusiasm. The shadows at her feet rippled uneasily, pressing flat against the stone like they were trying to hide.

"The city isn’t empty. I can feel movement down there. Lots of it, but it’s... strange."

"Strange how?"

"It’s not scattered, I don’t think they’re just monsters wandering or hunting. It feels more organized."

She paused, her violet eyes opening to slits.

"Like patrols."

Ronan’s jaw tightened. Patrols meant intelligence. Intelligence meant something down there could think, plan, and coordinate. The worst monsters he’d faced in forty-seven days had been driven by instinct. Hunger and territory and the simple math of predator versus prey.

This was different.

And it explained why his commotion from before didn’t alert anything.

"Can you tell what they are? Species, rank, anything?"

"No, the lights are interfering with my shadows. It’s like trying to see through fog." Her fingers curled against her thighs. "I’m sorry. I should be able to—"

"You’re fine." He cut her off before she could spiral. "What about numbers? Can you at least estimate how many?"

Another pause. Her shadows pulsed, then retreated back toward her feet in a sudden rush that made her stumble.

"Hundreds," she said quietly. "At least, maybe more. They’re concentrated near the center, where the lights are brightest."

Hundreds.

Ronan processed that number with the same cold calculation he’d learned over forty-seven days of watching people die. Hundreds of unknown entities, organized into patrols, concentrated around the center of the city where the forward camp and the exit gate were waiting.

And he was level fifteen with one goddess and now three flesh golem shadows in storage.

"Sarael, are you good at throwing things?"

"I can use my shadows to fling things, why?"

"Let’s destroy every light source before going inside, and preferably, take out some of these ’hundreds’ you talked about through collateral."

Ronan gestured at the rubble and dead trees scattered behind them.

"These will be our ammunition. Can you handle it?"

"O-Of course, that’s nothing to me!"

Ronan’s plan was simple. All his skills worked through darkness, shadows, or moonlight. Moonlight wasn’t an issue, but shadows were more limited. If he needed to teleport away, he couldn’t if every street was lit up like daylight.

So he planned to bathe the city in darkness before going in. As for the collateral, he’d throw everything he could each time, hoping a few crumbling buildings would flatten whatever was inside.

He knew the exit would survive. They were invulnerable, at least based on every other gate Ronan had seen.

"Then let’s get at it."

***

The first boulder left Sarael’s shadows like a cannon shot.

The darkness beneath her feet gathered, coiled, and launched the chunk of rubble in a high arc that sent it crashing through the roof of the nearest lit building. The orange light in its windows flickered once, then died.

"Good shot."

"Thank you!"

She was already reaching for another, her shadows curling around a slab of broken highway guardrail.

"Where next?"

Ronan pointed toward a cluster of streetlights near the city’s outer edge, their warm glow pooling across cracked pavement.

"Those, take out every light source you can see from here. I’ll handle the larger buildings."

He didn’t bother with a weapon.

His fingers closed around a chunk of concrete the size of his torso, rebar jutting from one end like exposed bone. He tested the weight, barely noticeable now, and wound up like a pitcher on the mound.

The concrete left his hand with a crack that split the air.

It hit a building with a particularly bright glow in its upper windows and kept going, punching through the facade, through the floor behind it, through whatever was on the other side. The upper floor collapsed inward. Glass shattering, lights dying, and dust billowing out into the violet-tinged sky.

[Soul Absorbed: 150 EXP]

[Soul Absorbed: 250 EXP]

Ronan was already reaching for another chunk of rubble.

"Huh."

"What is it?"

"Killed something, two somethings."

Sarael’s expression flickered between pride and something more predatory.

"Then the plan is working. Should I aim for buildings that look occupied?"

"Do it."

She did.

The bombardment continued for the better part of an hour. Sarael’s shadows proved tireless, launching chunk after chunk of rubble with the precision of a trebuchet crew that had been drilling for decades.

She didn’t even miss. Every projectile found a window, a streetlight, a glowing billboard that might once have advertised something mundane and was now just another source of unwanted illumination.

Ronan matched her pace with brute force. Boulders, slabs of concrete, rusted vehicle parts, anything with weight became ammunition.

His arms didn’t tire. His aim improved with every throw. Buildings that had stood for centuries, or whatever passed for centuries in this dead world, came apart under the barrage.

And with every collapse, the system chimed.

[Soul Absorbed: 100 EXP]

[Soul Absorbed: 200 EXP]

[Soul Absorbed: 150 EXP]

[Soul Absorbed: 300 EXP]

"They’re definitely in the buildings."

Ronan muttered, watching the notifications scroll past. He hefted a chunk of asphalt the size of a small car and sent it hurtling toward a row of lit windows.

"Hiding from something? Or just nesting?"

"Does it matter?"

Sarael launched another boulder, this one aimed at a cluster of streetlights that had somehow survived the initial bombardment. They shattered in sequence, spraying glass across the pavement.

"Dead things don’t need explanations."

"Fair point."

By the time they stopped, Ronan had emptied half the ridge of loose rubble, and the lit city was no longer lit.