With the obvious disappointment laced on my face, I turned to leave the forest, but then multiple arrows shot toward me, whistling through the branches of the dense forest.

I drew the dual daggers in both hands and swung them around my body, deflecting the arrows.

Amidst the regular arrows with wooden shafts and pointed steel ends, there was one arrow that stood out from the rest. Radiating neon-green Soulforce, the arrow moved through the air as if it had a mind of its own and, in the blink of an eye, reached a nail's length from my temple.

Before it could touch my skin, I moved the dagger closer to my face, its sharp edge pointing at the end of the arrow.

With a smooth slik, the arrow sliced in two—one half passing above my head while the other brushed past below my chin.

"Hmm, this must be that insolent mortal that killed the first apprentice I took in."

Even before ascending as a God, I preferred to stay alone and didn't converse with anyone except Her Majesty unless it was absolutely necessary. It was only because Raj insisted that I agreed to train someone. Not to mention, the people I had to train were mortals who weren't even awakened.

I didn't have much expectation from them; however, there was one mortal who actually managed to surprise me.

Edrick. The weakest among the group and the one with the poorest talent in cultivation.

I abhorred mortals—specifically humans—because they were selfish, greedy, and short-tempered. However, this kid didn't have any of these defects. He had no talent, no power, and yet he refused to bend. Every day he proved that strength wasn't always written in one's bones but carved through effort.

He was also the only one who awakened the attribute of darkness—the same attribute as me.

And when I finally thought that I'd found a successor, his lifeless body returned with a huge hole in his heart.

My glare sharpened towards the direction from where the green arrow was launched, and an unexpected fury raged inside me.

Within a couple of breaths, another set of arrows lunged, but this time, instead of blocking them, I descended into the shadow, completely vanishing from my position.

"What! Where did he vanish?"

"Stay sharp! This man has the ability to teleport, so he might appear anywhere. Even behind—Gawk!"

While one of the awakeners was warning the others from the high branch of a tree, my dagger pierced through his throat, splattering a waterfall of blood.

"Hmm, there are fifty-one of you," I murmured, scanning the trees where multiple mortals, each carrying a bow in their hands, were stationed.

Taking my dagger out with a sklrch, I corrected myself, "Fifty now."

Without blinking an eye for their fallen comrade, they launched arrows straight at me, even though my body was covered behind one of their companions.

The arrows pierced through the torso of the dying mortal, and he took his final breath with tears of sadness in his eyes, as the weapon that took his life wasn't that of an enemy but of his friend whom he had been warning just a moment ago.

"These mortals are no more than poison that will contaminate the whole river if left alone."

I let my body bend backward and, just as I reached parallel to the branch, my presence once again vanished as if I were never there to begin with.

The mortals scanned their surroundings with quick, frantic movements, their eyes widening in disbelief, their hands trembling around their bows.

Inside the Senseless Dimension, from where I hunt my prey, I took a deep breath, locked every target with my eyes, and began the hunt.

"Forty-nine."

"Forty-eight."

.

.

.

"Thirty-two."

"Thirty-one."

With every count echoing from my lips, another lifeless body of a mortal fell without even making a sound.

As the number of dead bodies began piling up, the terror within the group intensified.

Some had already pissed their pants, while others were looking for a way to retreat.

"Tsk. This is taking too much time," I muttered, obviously frustrated.

Now that I was already aware of the location of each mortal, I stood at the zenith of the tallest tree and weaved multiple hand signs in quick succession.

"Th-there he is! Kill him!" one of the foolish mortals shouted, pointing at me.

Unfortunately for them, before they could draw their arrows with their slow mortal bodies, both of my thumbs touched my ring fingers while the other fingers angled sharply outward like spears.

Nightshade Blade Doctrine: Chapter 3

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In a blink, the shadows beneath their feet snapped into sharp, black lances. Before they could even flinch, the deadly shards tore through their torsos, splattering blood everywhere.

At the same time, the darkness of the forest was washed by a green light as a spear-sized arrow pierced through the air, its star-shaped tip gleaming.

"This must be the attack that took Edrick's life."

The grip around my dagger tightened, and the darkness I always kept suppressed inside me began subconsciously leaking out. The white of my eyes blackened, and my eyelashes stretched into long tails of darkness flowing outward.

When the giant arrow drew closer, I extended my hand forward, letting it crash into my palm.

The darkness from my hand erupted, turning my fingers into an abyssal palm as it slowly devoured the arrow into nothingness.

"Hmm, so this is where you were hiding," I murmured, instantly turning opposite to the direction from which the arrow had been shot.

"H-how did he find out my location even when I made the arrow take completely opposite route? Wh-who the fuck is he?" the mortal named Armin gasped, cowering behind the trunk of the tree farthest from where the rest of his comrades were once stationed.

"I-it was a mistake. We provoked an unfathomable entity."

Pushing himself upright, he took quick but wobbly steps deeper into the forest.

"Oh right, we still have that weapon," he murmured, a trembling smile coiling on his terrified face.

"If I reach Lady Nyx in time, we will be able to—

K/

...kill him?"

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