The 31st Piece Turns the Tables

Chapter 359

Episode 359:

When Kang Seol completed his eyes that could see through the darkness of the labyrinth, Shin Hyeon only said thank you for your hard work and left the annex.

Snowfall returned to the annex and lay down, stretching out her arms and legs for the first time in a long time.

Fatigue suddenly set in.

Shoot…

It started raining soon.

Opening my eyes in the labyrinth brought more discomfort than opening my eyes underwater.

For example, the pain I am feeling right now as if my eyeball is falling out.

‘It’s a good sign.’

If this was just pain, it would have been one of the factors that caused irritation, but Kang-seol could guess that it was not that.

‘It means that Shen Jian’s evolution is imminent.’

These growing eyes will probably change for the better on their own if you provide them with the nutrients they need.

Even so, Seon Ji-an, who had recently achieved the best he had, often showed incompetence and was feeling discouraged, so he took the opportunity at the right time.

Kang Seol felt at peace with the peace that had come for the first time in a long time.

Although he was practicing intensely every day, there was no real crisis that came to him. There was no scary-looking lizard chasing them, and there was no planned battle for the fate of the tribe.

The snowfall was just snowfall now.

I grew up always throwing myself into the abyss of despair. Partly because it was fast and efficient, but also because I wasn’t confident in devoting myself to something.

But when I actually opened the lid, it wasn’t that bad.

Of course, whether you think so or not, it is true that there is still a long way to go.

‘Because I can only see it now. ‘There’s still a long way to go.’

They came here to practice shadows.

Just because I was able to see the darkness of the labyrinth, I should not be conceited.

“Hmm…”

A figure was heard outside the door.

Shinhyeon was a man who walked around without a trace, so it was clear that he made his presence on purpose.

“Please come in.”

“I see… no, it would be better for you to come out.”

Kang Seol was curious about what Shin Hyeon had come to see, so he went outside the annex.

“Ugh…”

“Hehehe… Why are you doing that?”

Shinhyeon piled up chestnuts in one corner of the yard of the outbuilding. All of them were clearly dead, and their number was well over ten.

“This is it….”

“The carcass of a night beast hunted nearby. “They are all small children and their souls have already perished.”

In short, it is an empty shell.

‘Then why did you bring it to me?’

Shin-hyeon seems to have noticed Kang-seol’s doubts and gets straight to the point.

“What you have to do from now on is the skin of the night beast. In other words, it deals with the shadow shell.”

“… Yes?”

– to?

– Didn’t you hear well?

– Are you sleeping well?

“What are you surprised about? Do you think it would be useless?”

“No, I’m curious about the reason.”

“Hmm… The ghosts here don’t disappear even if you cut their throats or pull out their internal organs. Because both are useless. So to speak, these guys are like mushrooms. “It’s a shadow that lives on the soul.”

“Hmm…”

“When the soul disappears, they become as mushy as feces and disappear.”

“…disappearing?”

“Yes, you will be absorbed into the labyrinth again. And then it attaches itself to another soul again. In other words, it’s like fighting an eternal battle that won’t end simply by cutting them down.”

I finally got a feel for it.

Shin Rip and Shin Hyeon stayed in the labyrinth for a long time and seemed to have learned how the labyrinth builds its ecosystem.

“Fortunately, there is a way. If you scrape out the soul residue inside and burn it, most of it just disappears. Otherwise, they always win. Because the darkness will eventually return to the labyrinth. From now on, I will entrust that glorious task to you. Well, the explanation ends here. “What do you have to say?”

– Summary) I’m having trouble doing this, so I’d like you to do it for me. Join the glorious evolution.

– It is necessary for the world. Of course, the job is yours.

– Is it twisted? What if I screw you up?

– The labyrinth is also a breeze…

– I’m becoming more and more confident. We have to escape from here…

“Nothing.”

“….”

Kang Seol roughly nodded and went in front of the corpse.

Shinhyeon looked at the snowfall for a moment and then left.

Perhaps this was the second gateway that Snowfall had to experience.

Of course, I wasn’t particularly happy about the content of the class.

‘Shin Rip and Shin Hyeon are legendary swordsmen. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to learn swordsmanship.’

If I had to make a specific plan, if I studied swordsmanship for about 10 years and devoted myself to it… if I did well, I might become better at using the sword than Shin Rip or Shin Hyeon.

However, if you ask whether that is appropriate, the answer will be no at all.

‘Because I came here for the shadow.’

It may be that I met a teacher who lies on the vague border between shadows and swordsmanship, and that led me to worry like this.

In the first place, being a summoner doesn’t mean there is a penalty to weapon skills.

No, to be precise, there was one.

If a summoner uses a heavy weapon, their overall stats will be reduced, and the same goes for heavy armor.

It wasn’t a martial forest from the martial arts world, and Pandea wasn’t a very comfortable place to deal with monsters wearing only a piece of cloth.

Of course, the clothing that Kang Seol is wearing boasts a strong defense power that crushes such a concept, but this is generally said anyway.

‘It’s good to have swordsmanship, but it’s not good if you don’t. First of all, let’s get rid of this damn shadow.’

However, even as a way to advance the power of shadows, there was something about the disposal of corpses that was a little unconvincing.

I never thought I would be digging up corpses rather than fighting.

‘Well, I wouldn’t have just ordered it…’

A disciple cannot see the teacher’s big picture.

Still, I was going to do as I was told for now.

Sigh…

These are the guys I hunted today.

The breath stopped, but the shadow did not disperse. There wasn’t really a soul in sight.

‘It looks like there’s some residue left.’

However, Shinhyeon did not teach how to remove the debris.

‘Well… I guess we can do it like this.’

He converted the grief into the form of a dagger and drove it into the night beast’s solar plexus.

Quick-!

‘Yes, it was like this shell.’

If the crow’s shadow was skin, then the night beast’s shadow was skin.

hard shell.

Snowfall painted grief from top to bottom.

Tsuzuzuzuzu that is-!

Open stomach with a sound that makes you feel strange.

– Police Chief Bob enters.

– Even Prosecutor General Bob is with us.

– Oh wow;; If you eat a bowl of rice thoroughly… this is hell!

Snowfall opened both chests of the corpse.

Jjeok…

It’s like a hollow bread shell.

‘Where is the dregs of the soul?’

As I was scanning everything with my own two eyes, something caught my eye.

A black thread connected to something that looks like flesh. A faint light was emanating from there.

The light of the soul was clear.

‘found.’

Snowfall scraping off flesh and examining it.

‘This is how they manipulate it.’

The thread was digging into the flesh.

The flesh was stained black under the influence of something injected from the thread.

“The method is vicious.”

What does the dregs of the soul smell like?

Also, what about the texture?

Kang Seol held it to her nose and even brought it right in front of her eyes to observe it closely.

– Shinhyeon: What is this guy doing?

– I was told to burn the trash, but I think it would be better to just burn it together.

– Comes from the National Accreditation Association. This person is a huge pervert.

“In this way, souls were bound and nutrients were exploited.”

In any case, the darkness that has binding power may be the darkness itself that spreads throughout this pitch-black labyrinth.

‘Okay… then…’

Now that all the debris was removed, there was no problem. Soon the shadow will fall.

Drooling…

a flowing shadow.

Snowfall burned it with the fire she had prepared. I thought what would happen if it didn’t catch fire well, but surprisingly it burned well.

What is surprising is that even though fire exists, one is helpless in the pitch blackness of the labyrinth.

‘If you didn’t make snow.’

anyway.

It’s been about 15 days since I went through this process.

Grumble…

Something special happened to Kangseol, who was repeating the process of observing and burning the guys as usual.

When I tried to bring the torch to the disembodied shadow, the shadow wriggled as if it had life and took refuge toward the snowfall.

‘what? This guy…’

He even climbed up the other arm.

This absurd situation where the shadow is attached to Kang Seol, not the soul.

‘Do these guys have intelligence? Or is it possible because there is no intelligence at all?’

I thought the shadow was stealing souls through someone’s will, but that wasn’t the case; it seemed to work the same principle as the water that fills the ocean.

Creating an ecosystem just by being there.

‘It means there is no will. There is no purpose. Just… um?’

After Kang Seol learned a little about the nature of this shadow, he thought for a moment.

‘There is no will… There is no will… Then what if you instill will? For example…’

Whioooooo…

Snowfall tilted her palm with the intention of sucking up the shadow that had crawled up her arm.

He actually used his power.

OK.

Whiriri profit profit!

The shadow was sucked into my heart.

“… what?”

There was even a message that I could now see.

[Passive: Shadows respond to the sticky darkness.]

[Absorbs shadows.]

[Shadow space is permanently increased by 30.] [ The

grace of darkness is granted.]

[Proficiency in shadow-related abilities increases.]

[ enlightenment! Awakens a new ability.]

[Continuous: Awakens Shadow Affinity.]

…

[What’s wrong?]

Grief approached and stood on Snowfall’s shoulder. And I looked into his eyes.

“huh?”

Snowfall’s pupils were shaking.

* * *

“Is he doing well and not cheating?”

“You were so absorbed in it that you even hummed a song. Did you end up working hard at everything, unlike the first time when you had no motivation?”

“Anyway, it’s a good thing. “Now that we are sharing the work, the number of animals in the area has decreased significantly.”

“Hehehe… Now I just have to cut without worrying about it.”

“It is important to understand those beasts. He still doesn’t have enough power to fight them. “You have to take it step by step.”

“Well, that will happen someday.”

“Still, I did odd jobs for two months, and it’s amazing that he followed me without saying anything.”

The night beast was something they had to fight against, but at the same time, it was very similar to the current snowfall situation itself.

Therefore, in addition to disposing of the corpses of night beasts, we also created an opportunity to understand for ourselves how they move and why they are strong.

“Hmm…”

Unlike Shin Rip, who was praising Kang Seol, Shin Hyeon was smoothing his beard as if something was bothering him.

“Why are you doing that?”

“They asked if he had a strange temperament or if he was getting bigger.”

“Hmm… If it’s the original purpose, it should be to check how the big guy is also being consumed by darkness.”

“And… um… this is….”

“If you want to say something, say it.”

Shinhyeon scratched his head.

“This guy’s energy has become a little… strange.”

“Is it getting weird?”

“Should I say it has become heavier?”

“… Did you do any training during the night?”

“I don’t know because I don’t go to the outbuildings outside of the designated times. But it has definitely become heavier.”

“It’s amazing. “I will stop by the annex in person…”

That was then.

Someone walked from the direction of the annex.

It was a snowfall that had not left the outbuilding for nearly five months.

Kang Seol left the annex on his own and came to meet Shin Rip and Shin Hyeon.

Shin Rip and Shin Hyeon were more worried than happy. When people do things they wouldn’t normally do, there’s a reason. It’s usually on the bad side.

The energy of snowfall was felt with every step.

Shin Rip and Shin Hyeon are people who can feel each other’s energy from the way they walk.

Shin Rip’s eyes narrowed.

“Hyuna, what you said is true.”

“Isn’t it strange?”

Before we knew it, the snowfall had come close to normal.

“What happened?”

“There is no difference, there is a difference.”

“Tell me.”

“I want to see a living night beast, not a corpse.”

“… hmm?”

Kang Seol politely asked his brother.

“Please take me on this hunt.”

“You are not ready to go hunting yet.”

“I will not go hunting. “I just want to get closer to them.”

“…Why?”

Shin Lip waited for his answer.

Soon, Kangseol gave the answer.

“I need to check something.”