Chapter 18: Strangers

“Sos… Sos…” murmuring the boy’s name, Ravia’s eyes were filled with shock.
To her, the boy now seemed utterly strange—whether it was the tangible black aura surrounding him or his almost cold, indifferent gaze.
Sitting on the ground, Ravia stared blankly at the four Gungro trapped in the black aura. These monsters, once beyond their reach, were now struggling desperately to break free from its grip. Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, the black aura tightened like ropes around them.
“Bang!” One Gungro’s body exploded into a flood of viscous black blood, seemingly trying to escape in this way.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!” One after another, the other three Gungro trapped in the black aura used the same method to escape.
Seemingly realizing instinctively that this prey was different from the others, dozens of Gungro surrounded their target like wild beasts, cautious yet eager.
“Sos…” Ravia called softly, but received no response, which gave her an ominous feeling.
What’s wrong with this guy? This dark aura, the suppressed anger within it, and him…
Under Ravia’s incredulous gaze, the boy’s dark golden hair gradually turned black. Dark energy enveloped his entire body, slowly shaping him into a giant beast.
A bear—still a bear!
A bear over twenty yards tall!
But unlike ordinary bears, this giant bear had a pair of curved horns on its head, with pure black light flashing from their tips from time to time. It was contradictory… but indeed black light. Besides that, it also had a huge tail…
Was this… still a bear?
If not for the slight resemblance between this creature and the fire bear the boy had summoned, Ravia wouldn’t have even known what it was.
This giant bear was entirely composed of dark energy. The closer to the boy, the denser the dark energy became. Apart from pure darkness, not a hint of any other color could be seen. As it spread outward, the bear’s form became more hazy. Ravia could barely make out the curved horns on its head, but its tail seemed transparent, perhaps due to a lack of dark energy.

What terrified Lavia the most were the giant bear’s eyes—eyes that sometimes turned blood-red and at other times reverted to a pale red hue. Yet even then, it seemed there was an uncontrollable rage hidden deep within them. Lavia didn’t know how to describe those eyes in words; she only knew that when their color turned blood-red, the dark energy surrounding it became even more violent, spreading across the ground like flowing water or flames, advancing and retreating at her feet. If not for her clear awareness that she was in a tunnel, she wouldn’t have dared assume that beneath that dense layer of dark energy might lie a terrifying bottomless abyss, as that energy completely blocked any perception of mental forces. “Thos…” Lavia could still see the boy’s figure, thanks to the faint glow around him. Though that light seemed insignificant and as if it might be swallowed by darkness in an instant, it actually stabilized the barrier between the boy and the surrounding dark energy. “Roar… roar…” Dozens of soulless Gungro let out deep roars—the powerful dark energy before them instilled an instinctive fear in them. “Thos! Be… careful!” Lavia warned as she saw the Gungro charging forward, but by the time she finished speaking, a shower of black rain erupted in the tunnel, leaving her unable to see even a single Gungro anywhere. What… what had happened? Staring at the writhing black blood on the ground in the distance, Lavia widened her eyes. What just happened? Glancing at the dark energy beneath the boy’s feet, which resembled her own firewave magic, Lavia covered her mouth in disbelief. Could those Gungro have been destroyed in an instant? So quickly that she hadn’t even noticed? How was that possible? But reason told her it might be true… The writhing black blood reshaped into bodies, but these “reborn” Gungro gave Lavia an illusion—they seemed to be severely injured… Why? A few seconds later, one of the Gungro’s actions resolved her doubts. Unable to bear the pressure from that dark force, it charged wildly without hesitation. Seeing its fierce approach, Lavia didn’t even have time to utter a warning before it was grabbed by a thick claw—clawed by the giant bear.

Unlike the whip-like darkness just now, the giant bear firmly grasped the Gorgro with its massive, thick claws. The Gorgro struggled to escape using the same method, but it never managed to turn into black blood—because a faint darkness secreted from the bear’s paws acted like a shield, enveloping it tightly. In the end, unable to escape by turning into black blood, the Gorgro was swallowed whole by the bear. The dark energy inherent in it made the bear’s form slightly clearer. [Devourment]—a characteristic of dark energy!
“…” Falling to the ground, Ravia trembled involuntarily. She couldn’t believe that the monster she and her companions couldn’t match— the legendary immortal vampire Gorgro—had been defeated so easily. And moreover…
She felt a bitter taste in her mouth, and her gaze toward the bear was filled with disgust.
Losing one “companion” didn’t provoke any negative emotions in the Gorgros, as the once innocent, pitiful, kind villagers had already turned into senseless, inhumane Gorgro vampires. Yet even so, fear still shone in their eyes—fear born of instinct.
Just as Jiang Zhe and Ravia couldn’t inflict any harm on those Gorgros earlier, the current Gorgros couldn’t harm Jiang Zhe under the protection of the dark bear either. In just over ten seconds, three Gorgros had been swallowed by the bear—this was the gap in levels; the difference between these two “creatures” was far too great!
“Sos… Sos…” Ravia called out the boy’s name, but from beginning to end, the boy simply stood there with his head down, motionless and silent. He just stood there.
“No, Sos… This… this…” The girl’s tearful cries went unanswered as she endured the longest five minutes of her life. She watched helplessly as the Gorgros were swallowed one after another by the bear. It wasn’t out of pity for those immortal monsters, but because she simply couldn’t accept it.
In fact, Ravia also knew that within the realm of dark magic, devourment was a very common practice—since it stemmed from demonic power. The cruelty of dark mages didn’t lie in how evil their spells were, but in the way they acquired their power.

For them, communicating with demons in the subspace was a means to gain power, and devouring others’ magic, vitality, or even souls was also a way to acquire power. The most notorious of these was blood sacrifice—using living beings in ancient rituals to summon demons or obtain great power. These living beings were usually humans with strong vitality and good health, as humans were known among common creatures to possess the strongest soul energy.

Yet, despite understanding this, Ravia still couldn’t accept such things. What made her doubt even more was the dark energy within the boy.

After nearly three months of interaction, Ravia was certain the boy had only learned simple fire-based blue magic. Although his mastery of techniques was far beyond hers, his understanding of magic… to this day, he still only knew fireballs, fire projectiles, and the Illusion spell—something she herself had taught him. So how could he possess such powerful dark energy?

Though devoid of any repulsive sense of evil, it was indeed pure dark power—just like Professor Salter Amix, who taught black magic defense courses. No! It was even purer than the professor’s dark aura!

As Ravia was lost in thought, she suddenly noticed the utter silence around her—so silent it was frightening. She instinctively looked up and found the boy in front of her had somehow turned around, staring at her calmly and indifferently.

The coldness in his gaze made Ravia feel aggrieved, as if something once close and familiar had suddenly become strange and distant.

Without needing to look, Ravia could sense a gaze from above—coming from the Dark Bear. The icy coldness in its eyes sent her into panic.

What… what does it want?

Could it be…

“Sos…” Ravia raised her head and called the boy’s name, but his gaze remained as still as still water, without the slightest ripple.

Who… who is he?

Suddenly, Ravia felt the boy in front of her was so unfamiliar. Why did his suppressed, gloomy gaze make her feel so uncomfortable?

In her memory, although he seemed extremely cold on the surface and didn’t like to get close to people, once you got to know him, he would be a great companion. Aside from his arrogance, laziness, haughtiness, and those dismissive looks that sometimes annoyed him greatly—though those really couldn’t be called… at least that’s what Ravia thought.
But now…
“Thors, it’s me, Ravia… you bastard!”
As the girl shouted in a tone tinged with resentment, the dark giant bear raised its right paw…
“Hah.” Looking at the red glow in the bear’s eyes, the girl seemed to understand and smiled bitterly.
“Damn you…”
“Boom!” The giant bear’s paw, as thick as a pillar, slammed down onto the ground…
“Yah!” Even though Ravia tried hard not to scream, the loud noise still made her cry out instinctively. But after the scream, she was stunned.
She realized then that the target of that giant paw wasn’t her, but rather a spot about two yards in front of her.
A strong wind blew up Ravia’s magic robe, but she didn’t feel anything. With a relieved expression, she called out, “Thors?” She thought the boy had returned to normal.
But to her surprise, the boy still ignored her. Neither he nor the giant bear surrounding him paid any attention to anything but the ground beneath their feet.
Following the boy’s gaze, Ravia finally realized that perhaps the bear hadn’t been staring at her after all, but at something else…
“Crack!” A faint cracking sound came from somewhere.
“Huh?” Ravia looked around and suddenly stared at the bear’s paw on the ground and the rocks gradually cracking there.
Oh no…
As if thinking of something terrifying, Ravia’s face turned panicked.
But before she could react, there was another loud crash—the rocks collapsed, and suddenly, Ravia felt as though the ground beneath her had vanished…
“Yah!” Along with the girl’s scream, the two of them fell to the bottom of the pit.