Katsuki quickly deflected the tiny needles away, not even letting a single one pass her.

I tried to use [Screened] on him but for some reason, I could get nothing from him. It's like the boon was not registering him at all as if he doesn't exist?

I reached out my hand and shot a [Spark Strike] at him, the bolt of lightning flying towards him at blinding speeds.

It struck him in the chest and I was expecting it to at least do some damage but he didn't even react to the attack and simply continued throwing needles at us.

Katsuki continued to be my shield and deflect away the needles that were aimed at us.

This time I switched to shooting a [Laser] at him instead, thinking that he might have some kind of enchantment that protects him from electromancy based attacks.

The beam of light flew towards him and struck him where his head should be.

But instead of piercing through his head as I thought it would, the light beam looked like it was absorbed by the darkness and disappeared.

Huh… I'm going to make a wild guess that the darkness around him functioned like a shield of sorts as well. Maybe it protects him from magic damage?

Let me just test out another element then…

This time I used [Rock Bullet] to shoot out a projectile made of earth at him.

I figured that this should at least have some sort of physical damage to it as well so if he was only negating magical damage, this should affect him.

However, the same thing happened and the stone projectile was absorbed by the darkness around him, leaving no trace of damage on him.

Damn it… Maybe it's just any damage with a magical origin will be absorbed by the darkness?

Guess I might as well try with a physical attack to make sure then…

But that means I will need to get close to this guy… And he's still tossing needles at the both of us.

I activated my ring's telepathic connection with Katsuki, 'Can you hold his attention for a second?'

'Please leave it to me, Mistress.'

Receiving her assurance, I used [Link Portal] to create a portal behind me right as Katsuki cast her [Fire Blast] spell, filling the air in front of her with a large blast of fire.

Another portal appeared behind the guy and I jumped into my side of the portal, teleporting behind him while materialising my Shadow Sword.

Without a moment's hesitation, I slashed my sword towards his neck, aiming to decapitate him.

But instead of slashing through his neck like I was hoping it would, my sword ended up getting stuck in the cloak he was wearing.

It felt like I had just tried to slash a block of thick jelly or something and now my sword was stuck.

"Interesting… You seem to be quite proficient in different magic types. And you are also a swordswoman as well? This is definitely interesting. But I suppose this is where your road ends."

He turned around to face me, my sword somehow still stuck in the same position despite him moving.

I watched as he started to reach his hand towards me, as though trying to grab my face.

Not wanting that to happen, I activated my sword's enchantment, the flames of the sword flaring to life.

I was afraid that the flames might also be consumed by that dark cloak around him but surprisingly, they were not.

The guy let out a roar before he jumped back from me, the cloak around him seemingly spasming out as the fire continued to stick to the darkness.

The darkness tried to wrap around my flames but the fire just set more of it on fire instead.

I was going to rush forward to finish him off but he leapt into the air and did a somersault before diving head first towards the ground.

I was expecting to see him smash into the ground but he melted into the shadow on the ground like the ground was made of liquid and disappeared into it, just like how my Shadow Guards would.

Strange… Don't tell me that guy was actually a Shadow Summon?

I somehow don't think that was the case, so that means he was able to manipulate the shadows somehow to both protect him and use it as a means to escape.

I waited to see if he would appear again but nothing happened for a good long minute.

I'm going to assume that he was still trying to put the fire out and didn't know that the flames were unquenchable and would continue to burn as long as I did not extinguish it.

Hopefully, that guy would just burn to death or something… But if he were to ditch that shadow cloak, I suppose he would still survive.

"Katsuki? Are you alright?" I asked, returning to check on my maid.

She bowed, "I am fine, Mistress. Please forgive me for not realising that he was there before this."

I waved my hand, "It's not your fault. But I assume that this guy probably has something to do with the slavers we dealt with earlier, right?"

"I would assume so, Mistress."

"Do we know if that group is affiliated with anyone? Maybe it was under the control of someone else?"

She bowed her head again, "I will have to check again, Mistress. My apologies for not knowing the answer to this question."

"Ah, I'm not blaming you at all, Katsuki. I just thought it was odd that he appeared out of nowhere and we saw no signs of someone else at the hideout… So how did he know that it was us? We didn't even leave any traces did we?"

"I will find out about him, Mistress."

She then disappeared from in front of me, presumably to go gather information about the guy who just ran away.

I guess I should also warn my girls about him just in case he goes after them as well. Especially since now we know that he can use the shadows as gateway to travel and--

"Finally. I thought she would never leave…"

I spun around and saw the same guy pulling himself out from a shadow, the flames from my sword already absent.

"I will admit, I was not expecting something like that… But as long as I can toss it away and don on a new one, your flames will not reach me."

Shit… He probably realised he couldn't fight both of us at the same time and waited until I was alone to attack again.

And I knew it… He's basically using the shadows as some kind of armour around him. Which explains why [Screened] didn't work because it's like I was trying to inspect a mass of shadows instead of the person behind it.

Before I could think about calling for help, he swung his arm and his needles flew out towards me again.

I threw my hands up and created a wall of earth in front of me with my Geomancy, protecting me from the projectiles.

When I dispersed the earth wall, I realised I was staring at an empty space.

Where did he go?

I heard a rustle behind me and I turned, just in time to see him appearing out from another shadow with his arm raised and prepared to throw more needles at me.

I was in the midst of creating a shield of light in front of me when Katsuki suddenly appeared and gave him a flying kick from the side.

But instead of sending him flying away, her foot got stuck in the shadow and did not slow him down at all.

His hand swung forward and the needles flew towards me, only to be blocked by a shield of light that I materialised in front of me.

Katsuki tried to pull away from him but her foot remained stuck to the shadow that was wrapped around him.

"Hmph… So you came back… No matter. You ended up falling into this trap anyway… Now you will--"

I charged towards him and swung my Shadow Sword again, the blade already ablaze with the enchantment and smacking against his other side to set him on fire.

I was expecting him to panic and retreat again but this time, he simply moved the shadow around him and I realised he was redirecting the burning part of his cloak to where Katsuki was stuck instead.

You bastard!!!

Just as I was about to stop the fire, Katsuki's dagger flashed out again and I saw blood flying in the air.

My Inugami maid flipped herself through the air and landed on a single foot, the bleeding stump of where she had cut off her foot left hanging above the ground.

Katsukiiiii!!!

This bastard!! This fucking piece of shit bastard!! How dare you?! How dare you make my Katsuki do this to herself?!! You biiiiiitch!!!!

I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!

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