My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Damon just lay there for a moment with the soft figure of the woman slumped on his body, her breath steady even after falling from the sky.

He spread his shadow perception around him, sensing the movements of lesser demons coming his way.

He had no idea what that crazy goblin was. What he did know was that he did not want to get involved with that thing…

It gave him chills. The last time he had been that uneasy was when he first ran into the Keeper of False Truths in the ruins of Lysithara.

Damon brushed the woman's hair aside and, with a small push, slid her to the side.

There was no hesitation in his eyes. He had no hostility with whatever that thing was—but she did—so he would let her handle her own problems.

He was never here. In fact, he didn't see anything. No—better—he was blind and deaf.

Damon glanced far ahead. His familiars were already way ahead of him, diving through the trees.

"Wait for me, you jerks…"

Damon did not even consider for a moment that he was leaving a beautiful damsel in distress to face a horrible fate.

There was no hesitation, he bolted as soon as he took a step.

"Arghg…" she groaned softly, but that wasn't why he stopped. She held his leg with her hand, and her grip was strong, as if he had been held down by clamps.

She coughed out blood.

"St… stop… take… me…"

Damon sneered. Did this woman think he was some honorable fool? He wasn't getting himself killed for some chick he met in the woods.

"Screw off…"

Damon forcefully pulled his leg away as the growls of lesser demons grew closer.

He was about to teleport away with Shadow Stride when he felt a weight get added to his shadow.

This barely conscious woman did one thing right—Damon was human garbage. There was no way he'd take her with him when she was the target, not him.

He looked at his right wrist. There was a shackle there—golden, with runes and magic seals embossed on its form.

Damon intuitively knew he couldn't remove it. Still, he tried to pry it off with his strength…

It didn't work. He glanced down, the other shackle was tied to her wrist.

Damon twitched. He squatted down with the intention of patting her down to find the shackle's key—surely she must have it on her person.

With his heart calmed by his Remorseless skill, Damon took a deep breath and calculated how long before the lesser demons reached them.

He didn't hesitate to turn her around. With a quick pat of her soft body, past the light armor… he didn't find anything. Of course he wouldn't…

He was too busy being a gentleman. He took a deep breath.

Then reached his hand into her bosom, past her breast and into a pocket inside—but it was empty.

"Ahhg… damn it…"

He didn't have time to fully search every inch of her.

With no other alternative, Damon grabbed her and raised his hand, shooting his omnidirectional gear through the trees. The wires grew taut and pulled him into the tree line.

He didn't have any time. As soon as he moved into the trees, the growls of lesser demons followed as their claws and fangs ripped through the wood.

They pounced where he had been, sniffing the ground, then raised their heads and growled into the forest before continuing their chase after Damon.

With lesser demons hot on his tail, Damon did not have time to think of anything else—he just needed to escape. And he needed to do it fast. However, he had to stay within the tree line lest he fall under the same attack that killed that harpy woman Lita… and then the attack that took out this woman he was now carrying through the woods.

"I can't use Airwalk… and I can't use my Dealer's Hand to fly…"

His broken sword would have been a great option, but it was not a fast tool for flying. Then there was the forest itself… unfamiliar terrain. He had no idea where they were or what monsters lurked within these lands.

What he did know so far was there were lesser demons, Balors, Goristro… and a seriously overpowered goblin.

'I can't encounter any of them…'

He stepped on a branch as his combined weight with the woman caused it to crack and break, falling to the ground right as he jumped to the next one.

Each of those opponents would be horrible to encounter—but the goblin was the worst. Damon couldn't even imagine killing something like that.

"…With how easily he killed those in the fourth rank… that's at least sixth class advancement…"

The branch falling away from him made the sound of the lesser demons chasing grow louder.

He couldn't use Shadow Stride—not with this woman's weight consuming too much shadow energy. He could not fully turn to shadow either, because a shadow could not carry her.

She had also shackled herself to him. He could not kill her… because a corpse would be hard to carry—and if he did kill her and devoured her corpse… that would be much easier… but there were two reasons why he couldn't. The first was not even a moral one—actually, none of them were moral.

The first was because the lesser demons would realize she was gone and keep searching—meaning the goblin would know about him. The second was because his shadow was acting weird… more so than usual.

Damon stepped on the air, crossing a small distance before diving into a shrub on the ground. Rolling with the woman in his hands, sweat beading down his head, he thought of an escape… the lesser demons getting closer and closer.

"What now…"

From what he saw with his shadow perception… they had gotten his scent too and had been surrounding him.

"Damn lesser demons and their perverted intellect…"

He looked around until he saw a raven and a squirrel in the distance, gesturing toward what seemed to be a whooshing noise.

After a moment, he realized it was the sound of water. He spread his shadow perception further—a waterfall.

The lesser demons around him were already cutting through the distance.

Damon took a deep breath, then dived into the shadow of a tree. He was welcomed by the shadows—however, the woman was unknown to them… he had to pay her price, and that came in a massive amount of shadow energy.

With that, Damon teleported with her, appearing a short distance away under the dampness of a tree next to the waterfall.

He gambled, as the foam's wall and rising coldness mingled with the roar of water falling.

"This is the only way to hide our scent…"

He bit his lips… then he jumped.