Chapter 829 – Surrounded

Mira nodded.

Naomi cleared her throat. "Uh... I guess the analysis needs to stop here."

Rava’s tentacles shifted uneasily beneath her cloak. "I feel the chill..."

Ely’s aura flickered instinctively. Her voice lowered. "We’re surrounded."

They all felt it now.

The darkness beneath their feet began to ripple.

Not like wind.

Like liquid.

Like something breathing.

Shadows peeled away from the ground itself. They stretched upward, elongating, twisting into humanoid silhouettes with jagged edges. No faces. No eyes. Only hollow voids where features should be.

Then more appeared.

And more.

Not dozens.

Hundreds.

They rose from every direction, forming a tightening ring around the group. The air temperature dropped sharply as whispers filled the void-like sky above them. The shadows did not roar like the dragon echoes. They hissed. They scraped. They breathed in unison.

Mira’s voice hardened. "This is bad."

Naomi clenched her fists. "Yeah. This isn’t fair."

The circle closed tighter.

The shadows’ bodies flickered between solid and vapor, tendrils slithering across the ground as if tasting prey. The cursed chains around the dragon glowed faintly in response, as though these creatures were extensions of the binding itself. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Lux stepped forward.

Calm.

Unhurried.

"You have me," he said.

The shadows surged closer.

"You’ve seen me fight."

His eyes darkened.

"But I will show you..."

The ambient mana shifted violently around him. The ground beneath his shoes cracked, not from force, but from pressure.

"...my demonic power."

He took one step forward.

And muttered, "Abyssal Grasp."

The void answered.

From beneath the cracked stone, darkness erupted, not passive shadow, but something deeper. Something ancient. Tendrils burst upward in a violent bloom, thick and writhing like living serpents of the lower abyss.

They pierced.

They wrapped.

They crushed.

Hundreds of shadow creatures were impaled instantly, void tendrils skewering through torsos and dragging them upward into the air. Others were ensnared mid-lunge, limbs bound tight before being compacted into nothingness by crushing pressure.

The ground transformed into a writhing field of black appendages.

Screeches filled the air.

A wave of Terror spread outward.

The shadow creatures faltered. Some froze mid-motion, bodies trembling as the abyssal presence overwhelmed them. Others tried to retreat, only to be dragged downward by unseen hands clawing from below.

Lux stood at the center.

Unmoving.

His eyes glowed faintly crimson.

The tendrils responded to his will like extensions of his own nervous system. Every twitch. Every snap. Every contraction was deliberate.

A cluster of shadows attempted to flank from the rear. The abyssal tendrils reacted instantly, shooting sideways like spears, impaling them in synchronized motion.

More emerged from above, descending like falling ink.

Lux raised his hand slightly.

The tendrils arced upward in a dome-like sweep, intercepting the descending wave and shredding them mid-air. Fragments of dissipating shadow rained down like black ash.

The girls watched in stunned silence.

This was not elegant blade work.

This was dominion.

This was territorial annihilation.

The battlefield became a living abyss.

The tendrils expanded outward, widening their radius as more shadows tried to press in. Each one that entered the range was either pierced, ensnared, or crushed into dissolving residue.

Rava’s breath caught. "That’s... insane."

Naomi stared at Lux’s back. "He wasn’t even trying before."

Ely felt her heartbeat accelerate, not in fear, but in awe. The aura radiating from Lux now was heavier. Colder. Ancient.

Mira’s eyes sharpened.

She understood now.

The demonic binding chains resonated faintly with the abyssal tendrils, almost as if recognizing shared origin.

Lux’s power wasn’t clashing with the curse.

It was speaking the same language.

The shadows kept coming.

But they were thinning.

Hundreds became dozens.

Dozens became scattered remnants desperately trying to flee.

The abyss did not allow retreat.

Tendrils shot outward in long arcs, dragging escaping shadows back into the kill radius. The crushing force intensified, compacting the last resistance into flickering fragments before they too vanished.

Silence slowly returned.

The tendrils lingered for a moment longer, coiling protectively around Lux like a crown of writhing darkness.

Then, with a controlled exhale, he released the skill.

The abyss receded.

The ground returned to stillness.

Not a single shadow remained.

Lux stood there, breathing steady, eyes normal once more.

The cursed dragon at the center pulsed faintly again.

The chains flickered.

A low hum spread across the barren expanse, vibrating through the air like a heartbeat echoing from the underworld itself. Lux’s smirk returned, slow and knowing, as he stepped closer to the bound colossus.

"You feel me, right?" he murmured.

In response, the chains glowed brighter, their runes igniting with a hostile crimson light. The reaction was unmistakable. Recognition. Resistance. Resentment.

A flutter of wings broke the tension as Corvus reappeared beside Lux, perching lightly on his shoulder as if he had never left.

"I detected the king’s power from that bind," the raven said, voice unusually serious.

Lux arched a brow. "Oh? Really?"

Corvus nodded. "I’m sure of it. This isn’t just restraining her body. It’s binding her soul."

Lux’s expression sharpened. "Soul? That means this is connected to the underworld."

"Yes," Corvus confirmed. "You need to be careful, boss. These chains are forcing submission. Enslavement without contract. They’re making her work against her will."

Lux’s eyes darkened with displeasure. "Fine. You’re dismissed. Send an urgent report to the Greed Tower in case something goes wrong."

"Got it." Corvus dipped his head and vanished into a ripple of shadow.

Rava exhaled slowly. "I assume this could be bad."

Lux gave a small, reassuring smile. "Yup. But don’t worry. I can evacuate you if we need to."

With that, they advanced toward the dragon.

With each step, the creature appeared larger, less like a beast and more like a mountain given breath. The chains tightened and pulsed, reacting violently to Lux’s proximity. Their energy felt disturbingly familiar, sharing the same infernal origin as Lux’s own power, yet clearly hostile toward it.

They did not welcome him.

They rejected him.

And then the ground screamed.

A jagged crack split the barren stone between Lux and the dragon, erupting in a geyser of black flame. From the fissure, skeletal pillars of bone and shadow thrust upward, forming a circular barrier that sealed the group inside a newly created arena. Infernal sigils burned along the pillars, locking space and suppressing teleportation.