In the bewildering night, thick swathes of Jiucai smoke drifted gently, twisting under the faint breeze. The silence was absolute, an eerie stillness blanketing the land. Yet beneath this illusion of peace, a chilling murderous intent lurked in the darkness, whispering of the night's abnormality and looming terror.
The prolonged standoff Punk had anticipated never came. Almost the moment his illusionary setup was complete, a subtle yet unmistakable fluctuation of shadow energy rippled from the east side of the smoke.
"Damn it!"
Punk cursed inwardly.
Even without the system's analysis, he immediately understood what had happened—the stalker had just used a signature skill:
Shadow Plane Evasion.
The Shadow Plane exists as the inverse reflection of Faerûn's material world—a mysterious, unpredictable realm hidden beneath reality's surface. A stalker's ability to slip into the Shadow Plane consumes vast amounts of shadow energy, allowing them to phase out of existence for mere seconds. Typically, this skill serves as a last-ditch escape mechanism, a way to evade lethal attacks.
But now, the assassin had repurposed it to pinpoint Punk and Kane's exact location.
Punk's magical smoke could not extend into the Shadow Plane. The moment the stalker shifted dimensions, she could see through the illusion and confirm their positions.
The cover was rendered meaningless.
The next instant, Punk felt a cold, foreign energy latch onto him—
Shadow Mark.
A tracking skill that functioned like a homing beacon.
The stalker had tagged him.
With this, she could find him in the darkness with ease.
Punk had no illusions that she would give him even a moment to counter it.
Without hesitation, he commanded all his Mana Distortions to detonate.
A chain reaction of violent explosions erupted. The sheer force of the mana blasts scattered the thick smoke instantly.
The ground trembled as shockwaves tore through the night, gouging massive craters into the earth. A blinding tide of light-blue energy surged outward, engulfing the entire area.
Even Punk and Kane were caught in the fringes of the blast, but both possessed formidable defenses.
The same could not be said for the assassin.
Even if she had anticipated the aberrations and evaded in time, the energy waves alone would make it impossible for her to remain hidden.
And that was all Punk needed.
"Drink!!!"
Kane had been tracking subtle fluctuations in the energy field, and the moment he detected an unnatural disturbance—a disruption in the air where something unseen obstructed the blast's path—he struck.
His battle aura ignited in a golden blaze.
His suppressed energy erupted in an instant.
Charge.
The skill activated at full force.
With an earth-shaking burst, Kane launched forward, the ground fracturing beneath his feet. His figure became a streak of gold, a human projectile tearing through the night.
BOOM!
The impact of his strike was deafening.
The sheer force cratered the land, sending stone and dirt flying in all directions. Airwaves, dense with crushed rock and dust, swept outward. Kane's steel lance, burning from the friction of his high-speed thrust, glowed an incandescent white.
Had the attack connected, the stalker would have been reduced to nothing more than a crimson mist.
But Punk saw it clearly.
A shadow-wreathed figure—graceful and elusive—flickered away just before Kane's strike landed.
"You think you can still run?!"
Punk's voice was ice.
The system detected another fluctuation—faint, but undeniable. The assassin had tried to slip away once more.
But Punk had been waiting for this.
With a sharp glint in his eyes, he pointed at the exposed stalker.
"Chaotic Lightning."
Punk had prepared this spell the moment Kane charged in. The instant his incantation was complete, etheric energy condensed into a swirling storm of chaotic lightning.
The restraints holding back the volatile power were released.
Blinding tendrils of colored lightning tore through the air at light speed, arcing straight toward the stalker. The night echoed with crackling detonations as electric discharge scorched the ground in intricate blackened patterns.
It should have been inescapable.
But the assassin had anticipated it.
The moment she dodged Kane's lance, she once again activated Shadow Plane Evasion, shifting dimensions before the lightning struck.
She had evaded another lethal attack.
Punk's eyes narrowed.
Something was wrong.
Even if she used Shadow Plane Evasion to dodge, she would still be forced to reappear moments later—right back into their attack range. And given her situation, she was already at the limit.
A trainee-level stalker using this ability multiple times in rapid succession would suffer immense strain. If she attempted to phase out a third time, her body would collapse from the sheer overload.
Which meant she had no viable escape.
So why had she wasted her last chance?
Punk's instincts screamed at him.
This is wrong.
The assassin wasn't an amateur. She wouldn't make such a low-level mistake—she wouldn't waste her final lifeline.
A cold chill crept up Punk's spine.
The moment she slipped into the Shadow Plane, he abruptly dispelled his second Chaotic Lightning.
He had planned to unleash another barrage the instant she reappeared—
But now something told him that he was the one in danger.
The brightest moon, Gar, had unknowingly slipped behind a veil of ominous clouds.
The night was still, the world blanketed in suffocating silence.
But before the assassin could even re-emerge from the shadows—
before Punk could adjust his stance—
Danger had already arrived.