Upon hearing and witnessing the terrifying warning, Alex’s heart sank.

Unlike skills, talents relied on the mana present in the environment, allowing Players to use them even with an empty mana pool or aura heart.

However, a manaless zone was an artificial – sometimes natural – area that had no mana, rendering the talents useless.

When Alex had fallen into this room, he had indeed felt that something was amiss, but due to the lightheadedness from before, he had ignored it.

And now, he understood what that askew feeling was.

"Shit!" He growled painfully.

Sensing Shadow Puppets coming close, he let out a sharp groan and entered his shadow.

He knew how dangerous it was, considering that these Shadow Puppets were able to attack his soul directly, but at the moment, he was injured, and he needed some time to deal with them.

Alex sprinted away from Shadow Puppets, and they followed behind him.

This time, though, he made sure to stay away from the shadows cast by the lanterns burning with ghostly blue flames.

A few moments later, he appeared at the center of the room, which was completely covered in darkness, and took a deep breath.

It was a relieved breath of at least having a few more moments to think of what he could do.

Although his body was still burning from inside, using the Vitality he had stored during the guild missions had healed him enough to focus on the matters at hand.

He lifted his gaze at Shadow Puppets and noted, "They can only jump between shadows – they can’t move in them."

He rose to his feet and took out his dagger, ready to fight them. There were nine Shadow Puppets, and he was the only one.

Even though he was as strong as low D, he was already injured and outnumbered, making it impossible for him to make use of his full strength against them.

Alex took out [Sharp Dagger], moved mana across his mana channels, and once again entered his shadow.

Due to the room being so vast, the main advantage Alex had was speed from [Shadow Movement], which he could only make use of when Shadow Puppets were away from other kinds of shadows.

And he had already forced them to move away from them.

A round shadow blitzed across the floor and appeared behind Shadow Puppet at the very end.

It sensed the shadow and turned. At the same moment, Alex jumped out with his gleaming dagger and swung with all of his strength.

Shadow Puppet sliced its claw in retaliation, and as its claws met his blade, a boom echoed throughout the room.

The strength behind Alex’s attack sent it flying.

It crashed into the other puppets and then into the floor.

Alex blinked a few times and grinned.

"Heh." He looked at his hand holding the dagger and mumbled, "I was getting worried for nothing."

The moment he said those words, a crack resounded near him.

His eyes widened, and before his shocked gaze, cracks appeared across the dagger, and it fell apart into fragments.

The system spoke the next instant.

[System: Host Alex, an artifact has been destroyed – Sharp Dagger!]

His expression darkened, his fingers trembled, and his heart thumped wildly against his chest.

Growls came from behind him as he stared at his empty palm with a dark expression.

Shadow Puppets instantly sensed his inner turmoil and ran toward him, their claws casting faint shadows across the ground.

Alex didn’t respond – he simply stood there, as though the dagger had taken a piece of him with it.

Just a few moments were all it took for Shadow Puppets to get near him, and as they did.

Alex’s body began to ripple.

No, it wasn’t his body – the space behind was rippling.

It tore open, revealing an extremely beautiful woman with long rainbow hair cascading down her waist, wearing a red regal dress, and sitting on a grand throne with glassy swords stabbed across the ground.

Helina looked at Shadow Puppets with an impassive expression and asked flatly, "Do you only feel the need for me when you are about to die?"

"That’s the deal we had made. Helina Gradlise. You would help me fight my enemies, and in return, I will help you find your parents."

"Of course. But I do have the right to complain, don’t I?" She stated, and her silver eyes glowed in brilliance.

Four of her glassy swords rose from the ground and streaked toward Shadow Puppets.

The puppets tried to move away, but they were too slow.

The swords pierced the center of their chest and stayed there. Slowly, those four Shadow Puppets froze into place and turned into black glass with their shadowy cores visible to the naked eye.

Helina gazed at them for a moment and said dejectedly, "Alas, this is all the power that I can make use of from here. Why don’t you allow me to step out?"

"This is enough," Alex responded, and the gate began to close.

Helina smiled and whispered, "What a shame."

Once the gate closed, Alex looked at the frozen puppets and noticed that the remaining five were not coming near them.

What’s wrong with them? He thought.

Shadow Puppets are lifeless golems made by feeding a Shadow Affinity Gem to a person right before their death, so it should be impossible for them to feel fear...

Unless Helina has filled these swords with enough life energy that they fear being devoured by it.

Alex shook his head and stepped over to the nearest frozen puppet.

It’s cold. He gripped the hilt of the glassy sword and pulled it out.

As he did so, cracks appeared across the frozen shadow, and it fell apart into small glass shards.

The shadow core also broke into pieces and before he could react, the shadow elementals inside it moved and entered him.

The next moment, system screens appeared before him.

[Kill: Shadow Puppet (Bronze V) (E)]

[Experience: +25]

[Evo Points: +25]

[System: Host Alex, your shadow affinity has reached (Novice – Tier II)!]

"Oh?"