Chapter 133
Clayton felt a surge of fear upon hearing the explanation, though he still wasn't entirely convinced that the percentages were truly that catastrophic—enough to bring down the entire company.
Even so, he kept his head down and didn't dare say a word.
As if scolding him wasn't enough, the middle-aged man stepped forward, jabbing a finger at Clayton and his coworkers. Clayton, who was already uncomfortable, now felt his irritation rising.
"Come on, speak up! Who thought this was a good idea?!" the man barked, eyes blazing as he scanned the room.
Clayton opened his mouth to explain, but his boss quickly cut him off.
"My apologies, sir. This was all Clayton's doing. He's still inexperienced, so I hope you'll understand. Besides, everything can still be fixed. Clayton—apologize. Now!"
On the surface, his boss seemed like a kind, middle-aged man, but in truth, he was just trying to save himself by pinning the blame on Clayton.
Seeing this, Clayton couldn't hold back his anger anymore. After all, it was his boss who had instructed him to do everything in the first place.
He remained silent for a moment, his jaw clenched tight as his boss continued pressuring him to apologize.
Growing furious at Clayton's silence, the middle-aged man suddenly slapped him.
Smack!
"You ungrateful brat! Your boss is trying to help you, and this is how you repay him? I don't want someone like you in my company!"
Clayton had had enough. He wasn't the one at fault—so why was he the one taking the blame?
Inside him, a surge of magical energy stirred, awakened by his rising fury.
At first, Clayton didn't notice it. But as the energy intensified, objects nearby began to shake and drift away as if caught in an invisible current.
Clayton stared, stunned.
"What… what's happening to me?"
Unaware of the building phenomenon, his boss and the others kept berating him.
The furious man, enraged by Clayton's lack of response, raised his hand again for another slap.
But this time, before the blow could land, Clayton caught his wrist mid-swing.
The room fell silent. All eyes widened in shock.
The man struggled, but Clayton's grip was immovable.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! Let go of me! I'm the owner—I can fire you right now!"
Clayton gave him a cold, dangerous smile.
"You remind me of that magical world… where I was ridiculed and treated unfairly. Most of the people who did that are already dead. And the rest… their time is coming."
"Now it's your turn."
The room erupted in gasps. Everyone stood frozen, paralyzed by fear.
Without hesitation, a projectile of water shot out.
Bang!
The man's head exploded on the spot—like a watermelon struck by a sniper round.
Screams erupted in the room. Clayton's boss felt an icy chill crawl up his spine.
"C-Clayton… what have you done?!" he stammered, trembling.
Clayton sneered.
"I'm clearing the path of anyone who stands in my way."
Suddenly, a massive whirlpool materialized out of thin air, sucking in a group of people and tearing them apart. The building trembled under the onslaught, its walls crumbling. Agonized screams echoed around them.
...
In a boundless, dark void, a young man suddenly jolted awake, disoriented.
"Did I… return?" Clayton muttered, still dazed.
In his memory, after surviving the tsunami, he had entered a dungeon. So this place was likely a continuation of that—a part of the trial. Everything earlier must have been a twisted illusion, a hallucination born of the dungeon's test.
He slowly stood, unsure of what was real anymore.
Just then, a majestic, otherworldly voice echoed:
"Leave the shadows…"
Clayton froze, puzzled and intrigued.
"What does that mean? Is a shadow just the absence of light? Was that nightmare a shadow, too? Or… is there something more to it?"
As he pondered, a strange sensation crept in. The space around him began to stretch, spin, compress, and distort—like a mind-bending psychedelic trip. Clayton briefly wondered if someone had drugged him.
Still mentally drained from casting two spells at once, his mind started unraveling.
"Aaargh! What the hell is going on?!" he shouted in frustration.
The bizarre sensations only worsened until he couldn't take it anymore. In desperation, he pulled a purification scroll from his dimensional bag.
Swoosh!
A soft, gentle light wrapped around him, immediately easing his body and mind. Relieved, Clayton felt like basking in the glow forever.
But then something unsettling happened—a grotesque shape slowly slithered from the edge of his shadow.
Clayton's heart dropped.
"What the hell is that creepy thing?!"
The creature was indescribable—amorphous and alien. Alarmed, Clayton backed away. The glow of the scroll began to fade.
Suddenly, the shadowy figure lunged at his feet.
Clayton tried to dodge, but it was too fast. The creature merged into his shadow.
Panic surged through him. He paced frantically, trying to shake it off, but it had vanished—fully fused with his shadow.
The nausea and dizziness returned, just like before.
Remembering what had helped earlier, Clayton quickly pulled out another purification scroll.
Swoosh!
The glow returned, soothing his symptoms.
But this time, he noticed something—his shadow squirmed again. The entity was still inside it, reacting to the light.
Suspicious, Clayton began to believe the creature was the source of his mental disturbance.
He focused the scroll's light directly on the shadow. The strange pressure began to lift again, though not completely.
"This… this has to be the way," Clayton muttered in relief.
As he kept the light trained on it, the entity started separating from the shadow.
Worried it might flee once the scroll's energy ran out, Clayton summoned his skeletons—along with Dingo and Gemma.
Snap!
Snap!
Water projectiles fired at the creature—but passed right through it.
Clayton felt a chill. If he hadn't seen it himself, he would've assumed it was just another hallucination.
He ordered his undead to keep attacking while the light lasted.
Swoosh!
Boom!
Bang!
Every type of magic and projectile they had was unleashed—but none of it landed. The thing was intangible.
Finally, the scroll's energy ran out. The creature darted back into Clayton's shadow.
Clayton tried to dodge again—but failed. The unease immediately returned.
"Damn it! I need to end this! If this keeps up, I'll lose my mind!"
This time, instead of shining the light on himself, he aimed it directly at the shadow again.
Strange ripples surged through the darkness. The nausea, the pressure—it all started fading.
Clayton exhaled shakily.
"This… this has to be the right way."
Just as the creature began to detach again, he shouted:
"Gemma! Hit it with your light!"
Gemma nodded. A radiant beam of purifying energy shot forth—far stronger than the scroll's glow.
The shadow creature screeched as it burned under the light and crumbled into ash.
Clayton's face lit up with joy. It was finally over.
But just as he stepped forward to inspect the remains, the ground around him darkened.
A dozen more shadowy entities rose from the surrounding gloom, circling him from all sides.
Clayton's face went pale.
"Y-you've got to be kidding me…"