My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

When morning came, Ranar woke to find Gunter gone.

The sun was just beginning to rise over the jagged peaks, its golden light spilling across the mountains.

She turned to wake Ric, who was sleeping beside her.

But when she looked at him, she found his eyes already open.

Ranar blinked.

”Gunter is gone.”

”Yeah, I know. He said he was going into the city to scope out the place and find somewhere for us to lay low for a while.” Ric answered while gazing at the sky as it slowly brightened.

Ranar nodded.

The first rays of sunlight touched her skin, and she immediately felt the warmth spreading through her body. Her strength gradually increased as the sun climbed higher into the sky.

She felt empowered.

Ranar stood and dusted the dirt from her clothes.

”I hope they have a bath wherever we’re going.”

Ric nodded.

He needed one too. His clothes were covered in dirt from their journey through the mountains, though he still had clean ones stored inside his storage artifact.

Just then, he glanced upward.

Gunter was walking toward them.

Alone.

As soon as the adventurer reached the campsite, he looked at them and smiled warmly.

”Ah, you’re all awake. Good. Let’s go.”

They had already rested through the night, and Ranar couldn’t wait to leave the mountains behind and return to civilization.

She followed Gunter as they packed up the campsite.

Not long afterward, they finally reached the gates of Anarchy City.

The gates were enormous.

They were constructed from black stone carved with strange symbols and ancient magical seals. The structure looked impossibly old, perhaps older than anyone who currently lived within the city.

Even the smaller gate built for humans was enormous compared to them.

”Whoa...”

Ric craned his neck as they passed beneath it, his eyes widening as he stared upward.

”They say this place used to be the dwelling of gods.”

Gia’s soft voice came from behind them.

”Once, when the world was young, the gods built this place. It was their home until they turned against one another and began seeing enemies everywhere.”

”Don’t fill their heads with nonsense. As if anyone believes that.”

Gunter groaned.

Ranar glanced at him.

”Then what happened here?”

If Gunter disagreed with Gia’s story, perhaps he had another explanation.

Gunter took a deep breath.

”It was probably built by some egomaniac with a god complex.”

”I like hers better.”

Ric’s answer came without hesitation.

They crossed through the gate.

Ranar’s eyes widened.

The city was unlike anything she had ever seen.

Towering structures rose above them, some so enormous that they made even the gate seem small. Great doors stood beneath colossal arches, while shattered statues and half-broken monuments were scattered throughout the streets.

Among those ancient ruins were tents, wooden huts, and crude little buildings.

It looked almost as if a colony of ants had settled among the remains of giants.

There were structures everywhere.

Some made perfect sense.

Others did not.

Some had clearly been built in human forms.

Others resembled creatures, beasts, or things Ranar couldn’t even begin to identify.

Ric suddenly stopped.

His gaze settled on one particular monument.

It resembled a gigantic eyeball with angelic wings and chains wrapped around its body.

”That’s Seraph Null.”

He pointed toward another.

”That’s Rafi, the River God...”

Then his finger moved toward a distant monument.

”And that should be Giji, the God of the Skies.”

The moment he finished speaking, everyone stopped.

Several people turned to look at him.

Ric raised an eyebrow.

”What?”

Ranar tilted her head.

”How do you know that?”

”My master told me.”

Ric paused.

”I’ve also seen some of them.”

His words were casual.

Everyone simply assumed he meant that he had seen their statues somewhere before.

They had no idea what he actually meant.

Ric had seen the gods themselves.

He had seen them imprisoned within the tomb of the lesser gods, trapped in an eternal slumber.

Alive.

Yet no different from the dead.

He had witnessed their magnificence when Rafi, the River God, awakened.

And he had witnessed Rafi die.

Ric was still young, but his master’s power had already left a deep impression on him.

Even a terrifying being whose very existence was intertwined with rivers had stood no chance against his master.

To Ric, his master represented the height of power.

His ideal.

One day, Ric wanted to become just like him.

Gunter merely scoffed and folded his arms.

”Hard to distinguish these so-called gods from monsters, if you ask me.”

He glanced at the ancient monuments surrounding them.

”And in case you haven’t noticed, no one here cares about gods.”

His gaze swept across the city.

”They have no power here.”

”The only god here is the City Lord. Even if the Goddess of Doom herself came here, she would have to bow her head.”

Even Ranar and Ric felt their spines tingle when they heard those words.

One did not take the name of the Goddess lightly.

Only fools spoke of her so casually.

She was transcendent, a being who stood above countless others. Even the thought of defying her was enough to make ordinary cultivators tremble.

Yet Gunter spoke as if her authority meant nothing within these mountains.

Ric followed him deeper into the city.

The moment they entered the inner streets, an explosion suddenly erupted.

BOOM!

The ground shook.

Two groups of people were already fighting in the middle of the road, their weapons clashing as spells exploded around them. Blood splattered across the stone while several corpses already lay scattered between the combatants.

Gunter didn’t even slow down.

He simply stepped around the fighting and continued walking.

Ranar stared at the battle in confusion.

”Why are they fighting?”

”Don’t mind them.”

Gunter casually walked past as a stray spell flew toward him.

He merely tilted his head.

The spell passed inches from his face and slammed into the wall behind him.

BOOM!

The stone was scorched black, smoke rising from the impact.

Gunter didn’t even look back.

”This is normal here. Every day is a battle. Every minute, blades are crossed and spells are cast.”

He continued walking.

”If you want to live in this city, always be prepared to die.”

Ranar remained silent.

Gunter’s expression gradually became more serious.

”All disputes can be settled with violence.”

He glanced toward the fighting behind them.

”Violence isn’t the question here. It’s the answer.”

He paused.

”The only answer.”

Ranar slowly nodded, though she wasn’t sure she understood.

Her eyes wandered across the street.

Blood covered the stones.

The metallic scent of it filled the air.

But then she noticed something strange.

The blood was moving.