NOVEL WEB Chapter 208: The Forgotten One
The mountainous region was already buried in shadows, but when Shadeva summoned her children—
there was something different.
This time, the shadows weren't the work of ambient darkness or mindless creatures.
These were conscious. Dense. Devouring. Shadows too powerful to describe.
Dozens of figures blinked into existence around her, instantly, making the already dim realm even darker.
Then, without hesitation, they lunged toward the beasts approaching Shadeva—like wolves released from a cage.
Thousands of beasts. Shadowborn panthers and umbrabats.
Not your everyday pests—these things were notorious in the Shadow Realm. And when I say notorious, I mean the kind of monsters that make even SS-rank brutes piss themselves. Most who met them never came back.
But Shadeva wasn't most. She wasn't low-rank.
She wasn't even normal.
So, in sync—each of her summoned shadows pulled out their weapons, all forged from living shadow.
One of them was someone familiar.
Oren, the same guy Noah met back in the Forest of Darkness.
He pulled out a black spear laced with glowing red runes, holding it lazily over his shoulder like it was a twig. As the beasts closed in, he grinned, tilted his head, and pointed the tip of his spear straight at them—
"Dominating Thrust."
The spear expanded—elongated like a spear of divine judgment—and impaled the beast in front of him before it could even blink.
"Oh Oren, already going hard?" one of the shadows chuckled beside him.
Oren smirked. "I haven't even started."
No need for banter. He lunged forward.
The panthers moved like wind—fading in and out of sight, their bodies blurring with the dark. Even for Oren, tracking them was a troublesome thing. There were SS-rank. Fast as hell.
So, to lock them down—
One of his comrades slammed a boot into the earth.
"Shadow Transformation."
The ground beneath them dissolved—instantly turned into fluid shadow. The panthers hesitated for a moment, startled by this sudden transformation. But that half-second pause?
Enough.
They were slaughtered without mercy. Cut down in a flurry of blade, claw, and wrath.
But then came the umbrabats.
They screeched, and the sound shattered the silence. The air detonated with pressure. The shadows themselves recoiled in fear. Even Oren and the others had to step back, forced to halt their momentum.
"We need to deal with those flying rats first," Oren growled.
"Agreed."
"Otherwise they'll just keep screaming."
Everyone nodded. The choice was obvious.
"Let me handle it," a voice said from behind.
They turned.
A pale man walked forward—frail-looking, skin whiter than bone, posture bent like he was carrying a boulder. And he was.
On his back rested a colossal warhammer—ten times his own weight.
Oren snorted. "Weirdo. Still refusing to switch to a better weapon?"
The man grinned back, same smugness. "Never in my life, Oren."
He stepped forward, taking position in front of the group. The umbrabats screeched again, preparing to dive.
No one flinched.
The man, one the shadows call weirdo, grabbed the hammer with both hands.
And like a baseball player ready to knock the soul out of a pitch, he swung—
but not at a beast.
He hit the space itself.
BOOOOOOMMMMM.
A sonic shockwave ripped through the air. From the impact point, a wave of shadows burst out and mid-flight turned into thousands of razor-thin needles—sharp enough to pierce ancient stone.
They shot forward in a screaming storm.
They targeted the Umbrabats and pierced with surgical precision. In no time they were all exterminated.
All of them. Gone.
Shadeva, watching from the sidelines, didn't blink. She turned around, completely unbothered, and continued her stroll.
Her shadows could return to her anytime and anywhere.
She had more pressing matters. Like what kind of punishment her siblings deserved this time.
…
Meanwhile, while Shadeva was casually bulldozing her path—
Two women walked untouched. Unbothered.
Unaffected.
Not because no one was around.
But because they were simply too slippery. Too invincible.
It was, of course, the mother-daughter duo, Ester and Sari.
Both wielded Intent that made tracking them borderline impossible.
Ester's shrouded intent allowed her to vanish so deeply into her surroundings that not even most S-ranks could sniff her out. SS-ranks would need to want to find her just to have a chance.
But Sari? Sari was something else.
Her presence wasn't just low—it was nonexistent.
Even calling it "low" felt like an insult. In the Vaelgrim family, they called her The Forgotten One.
Not because she was boring or even ordinary looking. Hell no.
If anything, Sari was more beautiful than Ester. Taller. Fitter. Sharper features.
But she had something inside her—something that made people's eyes slide off her, like she didn't exist.
Not forgotten.
It looked like she was Ignored by reality itself.
And right now, the two of them were walking quietly toward Sylphira's domain. No chatter. No footsteps. Just pure stealth and grace.
This journey should've been tense. Dangerous.
Instead? Disappointingly easy.
But after a long silence, Ester finally spoke.
Decided to be the "bigger person."
"It's been a long time since we were alone like this, mother," she said, eyes ahead.
"Yes. A long time indeed. But you've been busy, haven't you?" Sari's voice was soft—just like her presence.
Ester smiled. "Indeed. A lot happened since I became Noah's shadow."
And then—
"I should thank you, mother. I wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea of becoming the shadow of Selene's spoiled little brat… but you forced me. And in the end…"
Her smile widened.
"It was the best thing that ever happened to me."
Sari looked at her daughter—really looked. That smile, that glow.
Ester had always mirrored her. The cold face, the silence. Sari had known it was just mimicry at first, but—
Live like something long enough, and it becomes real. That's how humans work. That's a fact.
And now?
Now it wasn't mimicry anymore. Ester had become like her.
But this smile? This moment?
That felt like the real Ester—peeking out from under the mask.
Sari smiled. A true, proud, mother's smile.
"I'm happy for you."
But then—
"You know, mother…" Ester purred, that grin twisting into something darker. Something degenerate.
"I'm a good daughter. And I want the best for you."
Sari blinked. Suspicion rising.
Then came the grin.
Dominique's grin.
"Why don't you become Noah's woman too? That way, we can pass more time together."
Sari froze.
She turned slowly, looking at Ester like she was seeing a stranger. But she wasn't.
That was her daughter.
The mask was off now. She had stopped pretending to be like her mother. This was the real her. The one she wished to see.
As she had always wanted her daughter to be like herself.
But maybe…
It was not that good of a wish.
That's why they say,
Be careful what you wish for.
Because sometimes, the thing you want,
Isn't the thing you need.
Right?
—End of Chapter 208—