Their watches rang.

"It's the alarm for our Shadows."

Neo swept his gaze to see how many among them would have a Shadow.

"Us two."

Clara and Sean, members of Team Lumen, revealed their watches.

Harrison slightly raised his watch to show he had a Shadow and stayed silent.

"Three Shadows. It should be manageable," Felix muttered.

They surveyed the surroundings.

Broken pieces of lands, with destroyed buildings, floated in an empty void.

The gravity was messed up.

Some pieces of lands floated upside down and some floated directly at a right angle.

High above, there was a swirling mass of shadows.

"That's the door to the Depth Level 2.

"Use your equipment to check if there is any Corner at our current Depth Level."

Neo commanded.

He looked around and failed to see any Shadow monsters.

Shadows and Shadow monsters were different.

Unlike Shadow monsters, Shadows could use the abilities of their original counterpart and copy their battle tactics.

Suddenly, another watch rang.

"My Shadow is near," Arthur spoke.

The group fell silent.

Their nerves grew taut.

They kept an eye on the surroundings when Shadows of Harrison, Clara, and Sean appeared.

"All three of them are close quarter combatants.

"Use long range attacks to deal with them," Neo said.

"Let my team handle—"

"I… I'll do it."

Leonora cut off Lucas and stepped up.

"Remember our p-promise." She whispered when she passed by Neo.

She chanted spells.

Three magic circles appeared in the air.

A powerful water beam shot out of them each.

The Shadows dodged the attacks nimbly when suddenly the water beams changed their directions and followed the Shadows.

It was easy.

Too easy.

…As if they were a distractions.

Neo senses rang.

He turned around and saw Arthur's Shadow walking towards them at a leisure pace.

It held daggers in both hand.

'Arthur is an assassin. Why is his Shadow attacking us so openly?'

'Don't tell me—'

"Everyone set up your defenses!"

They were slow to heed to Neo's warning.

Arthur's Shadow opened its mouth.

"Unique Skill: Invincible."

Black lightning gathered around it.

A heavy presence slammed on top of the three teams.

Christian stood before Neo and used his defensive Magic Spell when—

Arthur's Shadow disappeared and reappeared behind Christian.

Black lightning crackled.

And.

Christian's head fell off from his body.

Blood spurted from Christian's headless body.

There was no time for anyone to react.

Everything happened too quickly.

Arthur's Shadow disappeared again.

Lightning crackled.

Neo had barely enough time to use Ocean's Embrace.

A sharp pain surged through his heart.

The dagger pierced his chest, but failed to pierce his heart.

Neo clutched his chest.

Arthur's Shadow appeared far behind him.

It turned its head, surprised to see Neo alive.

Before it could attack him again, a fire dragon and a condensed water beam attacked it from different sides.

The attacks connected.

Black lightning crackled and the Shadow disappeared again.

It reappeared before Leonora, unscathed.

The dagger in its arm swiftly attacked her heart.

A water wall suddenly shot up between Leonora and Arthur's Shadow.

The wall stopped the dagger.

Leonora was about to attack until she saw the Shadow twisting the dagger.

Black lightning gathered at the tip of the blade and exploded.

The water wall dispersed into a mist.

Leonora sensed an attack and raised her arm to protect her neck.

The dagger sliced her arm off and was about to slit her neck when suddenly the Shadow stopped and retreated at a swift pace.

An aura slash passed through the area where the Shadow had been moments ago.

The Shadow looked at Neo, the one responsible for the attack, before it disappeared.

Everyone waited.

One breath…

Two breaths…

Ten breaths….

There was no follow up attack.

"Did the Shadows… retreat?" Jack questioned.

Neo bit his lips.

'This damned protagonist's Shadow. Why is it using the unique skill from the get go!?'

Invincible Unique skill could be used only once every 24 hours.

The Shadow shouldn't have used unless…

"Stay vigilant!"

Neo shouted.

"It hasn't ended!"

"Unique Skill: Thunderbolt."

A black lightning bolt descended from the sky.

The group dispersed to dodge.

Neo ran and picked up Leonora since she was too shocked to react.

'That attack is powerful. But there is no way it will hit us.'

'Why did the Shadow use that?'

While they were distracted, fist-sized black portals appeared next to everyone's head.

Arrows shot out of them at a lightning-fast pace.

Neo detected the attack on time.

However, he couldn't dodge with Leonora in his arms.

He triggered Ocean's Embrace and used his body to block the attack on him and Leonora.

He heard shouts of his teammates.

Not everyone was able to dodge or block the attack.

"Ch— Christian…"

Neo was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Leonora's broken voice.

She was staring at Christian's corpse while ignoring her own injury.

A thin water film, created by Ruby, stopped her arm's bleeding, but she had lost too much blood.

She could go into shock at any moment.

Neo raised his head to scan the surroundings.

There was no further attack.

'They probably retreated after the duration of Arthur Shadow's unique skills ended.'

He pressed his chest to stop the bleeding.

"Fuck…"

The last attack, probably by Lucas' Shadow, took out four members.

Clara from Team Lumen.

Gwen and Kendrick from Team Astra.

And.

Jack from Team Umbra.

Nobody spoke.

While they kept an eye on surroundings, they tried to organize their thoughts and calm their emotions.

Too much happened too quickly.

Neo picked up Leonora's arm and returned to her.

"Christian… Christian…"

She was shaking the corpse, trying to wake him up.

Her eyes were unfocused.

The scene broke Neo's heart.

He had known both of them for less than a week.

Still.

He found it hard to breath.

His ears were ringing loudly and he couldn't think of anything.

His mind was frozen.

"Leonora…"

His body continued to move.

This was no time to rest.

Shadows could use Shadow element and the elements they 'mimicked' from the original.

Unless Leonora's injury was baptized and healed quickly, her body would be contaminated by the Shadow World and she would become a shadow monster.

It was the same for Neo.