Several black panthers burst from the shadows, lunging at Mydei.
It's worth noting that Mydei wasn't wearing a Badge. The item worked by disguising its wearer, making the Monsters in the Darkness perceive them as one of their own. However, as a god walking among mortals, a Magic Item of this level could never conceal or disguise his aura.
In other words, the Badge was useless to Mydei—not that he needed it anyway. The monsters in the shadows likely hadn't attacked him earlier because he had been moving at high speed through the sky. Now that he had stopped, they naturally swarmed toward his scent.
"Watch out!" the soldier reporting to him shouted instinctively.
But Mydei didn't even turn his head. He simply snapped his arm up, driving his elbow directly into the nearest panther's skull. The creature's head crumpled like paper, twisting grotesquely with a sickening crunch.
Simultaneously, red crystals erupted from the ground, piercing through all the other black panthers. In the blink of an eye, the entire wave of attacking monsters was skewered completely.
Mydei hadn't actively released his divine power or aura; he simply stood there calmly. Yet, to the others, his presence exuded an overwhelming pressure.
"So... so powerful..." The soldier who had shouted earlier stared in a daze. He knew that his own unit needed an entire squad, extensive preparation, and meticulous tactics just to hunt a single one of these monsters. But this golden-haired man had effortlessly annihilated a whole group without even batting an eye.
Mydei looked at the soldiers and said, "Stop gawking. Lead the way to where the Shadow fell."
"Y-Yes, sir!" The soldier nodded sharply and immediately led the way. The soldiers marched at the front, Gerald and Wyvern Thor in the middle, while Mydei brought up the rear.
This wasn't out of cowardice. On the contrary, since he now attracted the monsters' attacks, it was better to maintain a slight distance from the main group.
And indeed, this proved to be true. Along the way, creatures would periodically leap out from nooks and crannies to attack him. As they drew closer to the city center, the monsters' forms were no longer limited to black panthers; other shapes began to appear.
The darkness was so thick that Mydei couldn't make out their features clearly. He could only tell that the newer monsters were stronger, larger, and more agile.
Among all of Okhema's Demigods, Mydei's perception was likely one of the weakest. If Aglaea were here, she could have spread her Golden Threads to preemptively block all attacks and strangle these monsters within the shadows.
But for Mydei, when these creatures lurked in the darkness, he had no effective way to detect them. He could only wait for them to strike first and then counterattack.
During this time, Mydei was caught off guard a few times, sustaining minor injuries. For instance, one absurdly fast monster bit into his shoulder, causing a superficial wound.
However, while Mydei might lack the perception of other Demigods, he possessed the thickest health bar of them all. The minor wound he had just sustained healed in the blink of an eye. Mydei grabbed the monster's head with a reverse grip and crushed it with his bare hands.
Then, as he walked, black tentacles suddenly erupted from the ground, wrapping around his ankles. But Mydei acted as if he hadn't noticed, his pace unwavering as he simply tore the tentacles apart with sheer force.
The soldier leading the way glanced back periodically. Seeing Mydei strolling along, casually crushing monsters, he couldn't help but exclaim, "He's like a god of war."
Gerald overheard and corrected him, "Drop the 'like.' He is a god of war. Well, to be more precise, the God of Strife."
The soldier stared blankly. "Huh?"
Wait, I was just kidding, using a metaphor. But the metaphor is actually real?
After rounding another corner, the soldier leading the way pointed ahead and said, "The Shadow first appeared somewhere around here. But if we get any closer, strange voices start appearing in our minds. Several people have already gone mad because of it, attacking their comrades indiscriminately. So we didn't investigate any further."
Mydei crossed his arms. "A wise decision. This is corruption from an Outer God—not something ordinary mortals like you can resist."
Though everything before him was pitch-black, Mydei could sense a subtle difference. While the darkness elsewhere was merely an absence of light, the darkness here was inherent to the place itself.
Gerald took another step forward, but the thirty-meter sphere of light centered on him didn't move with him as usual. The light ahead seemed to have been devoured—or perhaps simply covered—and vanished.
This was indeed where the Shadow had first appeared. The divine power of the Child of Flesh was most concentrated here, and this darkness was the closest thing to its Shadow Domain.
Mydei crossed his arms, a thoughtful expression on his face. Although I don't know what lies inside this Shadow, he thought, it's better to launch an attack from the outside than to venture into that pitch-black darkness. No matter what's in there, a saturation bombardment is always the right move!
Mydei asked aloud, "There are no civilians nearby, are there?"
"Of course not," the soldier replied. "This area is too dangerous. We evacuated all civilians to the city's outskirts immediately. There's no one left around here now."
Mydei nodded. "Then all of you, step back."
Before anyone could react, crimson divine power surged around him. In an instant, everyone—including Gerald—felt an immense pressure, an indescribable weight pressing down on them, as if dozens of pounds had suddenly been placed on their shoulders.
Next, Gerald saw the sky, which should have been utterly dark, suddenly "light up." The darkness was driven back as a magnificent greatsword, too grand to be described in words, slowly materialized in the heavens.