"That's even scarier than the flames…"

Dante stared nervously beneath himself. His new boots had a faint glow as arcs of black lightning danced around Dante's legs.

Seeing it, Dante gulped.

"I hate lightning…"

He had been struck by lightning several times, the pain was unforgettable. Thus, he was a little bit afraid of lightning.

It was hilarious to think that he didn't show any reaction upon using shadow flames for the first time, but the sight of lightning alone was enough to make him hesitate.

However, he quickly got rid of his hesitation and took a step forward.

"Wha—!"

Thud!

The sudden acceleration was more than Dante was used to, causing him to quickly fall over.

He groaned and stood up, still pouring his mana into the boots. He continued practicing his new boots until he finally started understanding them.

The acceleration he was receiving from the lightning was too great to be wasted. After all, his top priority in dangerous situations was having the ability to run if it was needed.

After a few minutes, he learned how to walk with the boots.

After a few hours, he learned how to run and dodge.

After an entire day, he learned how to fight with them, using the centipede with different forms and taking advantage of his speed to increase the cutting power.

While practicing, he wondered if he could start mimicking the Lightning Aspect, but it turned out that he was far from doing so. The only reason he could mimic the other aspects was by taking advantage of Fafnir's memories and experience.

As for the next day, he started it by practicing his mana, demonic energy, spiritual energy, and ether control like usual.

It was a daily routine that he was used to already. More efficient use of mana and ether meant stronger outputs and faster casting with less consumption. It was something essential for anyone who used those energies frequently.

But this day, something new happened.

"I…!"

Dante focused in surprise and happiness at the new change. He moved his mana outside his body, making it hover a few centimetres above his hand.

From normal observations, that would look quite normal, as anyone would use the mana outside their bodies to cast spells. But Dante, as the owner of this mana, knew the change.

"I can still control it…" As that phrase left his mouth, he controlled the mana to curl around his arm, as though he was controlling it inside his mana veins.

The sensation felt unreal to his senses, it felt like he grew an extra arm, similar to when he controlled the shadow wolf. But when he moved it further from his body, he lost connection with his mana immediately.

"Only a few centimetres, but that's still great!" Dante excitedly pulled more mana outside his body and made it flow around him like water.

Controlling and manipulating his mana outside his body might look meaningless, but that wasn't truly the case.

The importance of controlling his mana outside his body was that he could finally cast spells without using his body as a medium!

Instead of pointing his finger to shoot a bolt, he could just keep standing and shoot it with a thought.

In fact, if he improved his control further and increased the distance, he'd theoretically be able to control the direction of his spells or modify them before hitting the target.

In addition to that, he wouldn't face any backlash for using some strong spells. Something like the recoil from shooting some spells was something of the past… at least for the mana.

He still had to achieve the same feat in using all his other energies, which might take a while, especially the silver Ether.

"Of course, some spells aren't affected by that. One of these spells is Shadow Detection."

It basically helped him to sense the shadows. Why would he use it outside his body? Every spell had its own use.

"That reminded me…" Dante rubbed his chin thoughtfully: "If I can detect shadows, can't I make a pure mana spell to detect mana? I think I read about something similar before."

As he muttered that, he immediately returned to the surface and used Shadow Detection to focus on the sensation of using it.

A lot of information entered his mind at once. He detected the shadows of the trees, rocks, birds, and even insects. His idea was using the same method to focus on their mana instead of their shadows.

Creating such a spell would be a real challenge. Unlike the shadows, the mana literally existed everywhere in the air. He'd have to find a way to ignore the mana in the air in order to use such a spell… unless he wanted his mind to explode by the sudden surge of information.

"...!"

As Dante was lost in the sensation, he suddenly detected a strange shadow. The shape, the position, and the angle of the shadow suggested that something was observing him!

Dante wanted to pretend that he didn't notice anything but then the shadow turned around and moved.

'Damn!'

Manifesting a shadow sword, Dante immediately turned his face toward the direction of the shadow and used Shadowstep.

He teleported to the shadow of a rock and used Shadow Detection again. But as he was about to teleport again, he noticed that the mysterious shadow merged with the shadow of a tree.

'Hiding behind a tree?'

With no hesitation, Dante used Shadowstep again and emerged from the shadow of a nearby tree. He enhanced his own body in an instant and looked at the tree with killing intent.

"Huh?"

Unlike his expectations, he couldn't see anything.

He examined the entire area and used Shadow Detection again, but he couldn't find anything.

A deep frown appeared on his face: 'What just happened?'

Shadow Spell — Shadow Wolf!

A giant shadow materialized behind Dante. He manipulated the wolf to dig into the snow around the tree. Simultaneously, he burned the tree and cut it down swiftly.

However, he found nothing.

'Was I hallucinating? Maybe I'm becoming a bit paranoid?'

As fast as these thoughts crossed his mind, he dismissed them instantly. There was no way he was hallucinating.

Something had definitely been watching him.

There had certainly been something behind the tree.

But unfortunately, he couldn't find it.

Maybe it went into the ground at a speed fast enough for him to catch.

Maybe it had a specific ability to hide.

Maybe it was something smart enough to know that Dante was sensing shadows.

There were many possibilities, but Dante couldn't confirm any of them.

Dante's gaze helplessly fell on his luck. If the sizes were compared, then it was now around 15% of the original.

That was a significant decrease, which was likely why he wasn't facing many problems recently.

Despite that, it didn't mean that he was safe. 15% of the original misfortune was still too much if compared to the misfortune of the other people.

And now, a hidden threat either had gone or was still lurking somewhere.

Dante hoped that it was the former. The only thing he could do in this situation was to hope.

He turned around helplessly and moved toward the treehouse again, but then he noticed something that sent a shiver down his spine.

With terror in his eyes, Dante stared at his misfortune again, noticing a small difference.

It usually increases gradually, as though it were a black hole absorbing misfortune at a fixed pace.

But just now… his misfortune increased by a very small amount all of a sudden.

It reminded him of the time when the baron attacked.

It reminded him of that time when the dark entity surrounded Silverwood Town.

But as fast as it appeared, his misfortune suddenly decreased to its previous size.

"I… what was that?"

Although he asked that question, Dante already had a guess.

Something—or someone—had just intended to harm him then changed its mind.

'Is it related to that shadow?'

That thought was possible. He had just encountered a strange shadow that ran away from him.

'Is it related to the dark entity?'

That was also possible. Dante didn't know whether that being could know that Dante regressed or not. If he suddenly got the urge to kill Dante and dismissed it, that would explain the sudden change in Dante's misfortune.

'No, there are many other possibilities.'

Maybe Ruby was about to do something that would cause harm to him.

"I'm not sure…"

Maybe Elizabeth had the urge to expose him for the sake of her kingdom.

"I don't know…"

Maybe Skylar or the villagers exposed his identity as a demon.

"Should I… run?"

Maybe some dragons changed their minds and wanted him dead.

"...Would leaving this place even work?"

Maybe Greed himself was planning to do something.

"Is it even something I have to run from?"

Maybe exposing himself as a regressor brought unwanted attention.

"Is it even affecting me?"

Maybe it had something to do with Fafnir, not him.

There were many possibilities, but Dante couldn't just ignore that change in his misfortune.

Dante's mind raced to find an answer, ignoring his heart that was beating rapidly. He thought for an entire hour, but there was no progress.

The memory of the baron shattering his Ether Shield flashed through his mind, following by the despair he felt against the dark entity.

He had to do something about his luck before anything similar could happen, but what was he supposed to do?

Eventually, he just collapsed under a tree and stared at the sky, letting out a sigh of helplessness and surrender.

...For some reason, the sky looked more beautiful than usual.

Wouldn't it be comfortable if he just... ignored the shadow, ignored the sudden change in his misfortune, ignored Greed, ignored everything—and just kept looking at the sky?

Maybe he could even talk a little bit with Elizabeth to pass the time, wouldn't that be perfect?

"I… I don't know what I am supposed to do…"

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