The last time he had tried to equip the Sword of Oblivion it had nearly killed him, so this time he wanted to be prepared. All he needed to do was open the portal with the sword and then unequip it immediately after, doing the same thing again whenever he was ready to move back.

Levon immediately selected the spirit vein crystals. It was finally time to ingest them.

Without wasting time he swallowed one of the crystals, and after a short while he felt a warm energy circulating through his body before it illuminated softly.

[You have just ingested one Mana Vein Crystal. Your Spirit has increased by 20 points.]

Levon immediately ingested the remaining two simultaneously, and after a moment the system chimed again.

[You have just ingested 2 Spirit Vein Crystals. Your Spirit has increased by 40 points.]

Levon felt noticeably lighter almost instantly and was fairly confident he would soon be able to use fireballs and other magical skills.

Without wasting any more time, he immediately equipped the Sword of Oblivion.

Almost instantly he heard its voice pressing against his mind and demanding that he yield to its needs.

"Shadow crystals. I need more shadow crystals," it said, clearer than ever and even louder than before, draining Levon’s life force at a pace that was faster than it had been earlier. It felt like a powerful drag pulling at his very consciousness.

At first Levon wasn’t entirely sure what he wanted to do, but since he could communicate with his sword mentally there was no need to say anything out loud.

A saint grade weapon should have the ability to connect directly with its user.

So without speaking, Levon immediately slashed the air in front of him, and just as he expected a large portal tore open right before him, blowing a rush of air outward like a powerful gate had just been forced open.

Levon was caught off guard by the scale of it, but he didn’t waste a moment. He jumped straight through the portal, and it sealed shut the instant he entered.

The moment he was inside he unequipped the sword and switched back to his venomous sword. He was already gasping slightly for breath inside the shadow world.

’But why exactly is the sword draining that much life force? My spirit is already quite high,’ Levon thought as he tried to steady himself.

He still couldn’t understand why the sword needed to take that much from him. Was it trying to kill him?

Or maybe it fed on shadow crystals, and since it had none to draw from, it was pulling from his life force to compensate. That would explain why the voice sounded so weak and strained. It needed to be fed shadow crystals before it could function properly.

But there was no time to dwell on that. He had come here for a reason and that was all that mattered right now.

What exactly was the shadow world?

Levon scanned his surroundings. Just as he had expected, there was almost complete darkness in every direction, though he could still see clearly enough. There was no doubt that no ordinary human would be able to see a single thing in this place.

Looking ahead, it appeared he had been dropped into a vast open space at the edge of a forest.

A shadow forest.

The leaves of every plant were as dark as coal, and nothing around him carried any real color. It was like endless darkness given form.

Just as Levon was about to move away from the forest edge, a massive roar erupted from deep inside it.

Within moments something dragged him straight into the forest.

It was like stepping into an entirely different world. The creature was enormous, and just like everything around it, it carried no real color. Only pure darkness and faint traces of white.

Just as the creature brought him toward its mouth, Levon immediately drew his sword and sliced its hands clean off, sending himself dropping free.

But to his complete surprise, the creature’s hands grew back instantly.

’What on earth,’ Levon thought, though he had no time to process it properly. The fear debuff was already active.

He could see the creature stepping backward, clearly afraid of what stood before it. Levon immediately seized the opening and launched himself straight at the shadow creature, hands raised high, unleashing a rapid flurry of strikes.

He severed both hands and its head cleanly from its body.

The shadow creature collapsed onto the dark grass below.

Levon waited, but the system said nothing.

No rewards for killing a shadow monster? If that was the case, there was no real point in hunting them. He had expected at least a shadow crystal or something of genuine value, but he received nothing.

But just as Levon was about to move on, the creature stood straight back up, fully restored, both hands and its head reattached as though nothing had happened.

A flood of questions rushed through his mind all at once.

There was so much he wanted to ask and no one to ask it to.

Why had the fear debuff worked when the poison had not? Were shadow creatures simply unable to die, or was there something specific he was supposed to do to kill them?

Just as he was turning these thoughts over, the creature attacked again with even greater force and ferocity than before.

Levon matched its energy head on, cutting its limbs down almost as fast as they regenerated.

Then, just as he was trying to make sense of the situation, a shadowy figure suddenly emerged from the darkness and lunged at the creature with a spear.

Levon immediately read the motion and smoothly slipped to the side as the figure drove the spear deep into the chest of the monster.

Levon stood there watching. The precision the figure used was remarkable, targeting the heart of the creature with pinpoint accuracy.

But just as the creature dropped to the ground, something very unusual began to happen. Something that made Levon freeze entirely.