Blake didn't fly too long before he encountered the bears.
As he flew Nightwing above the clouds, thousands of feet in the air, he noticed that a group of Peak Tier A ranked Shadowflame Bears were currently in a dispute with a pack of Peak Tier A ranked Shadow Wolves who must've lived nearby. For a normal cultivator, such perception was impossible at his current level, but, thanks to Blake 's exceptional ability to sense auras and shadows and his own insanely overpowered sensory and perception abilities, sensing a conflict and viewing it thousands of feet above ground level wasn't an impossible feat.
'Oh, this is interesting,' Blake thought to himself, reining Nightwing to circle overhead, staying high above the clouds and hidden from the sight of those below. 'I came to cull the bears, but it seems I will be culling both the wolves and the bears, strengthening my own shadow undead army in the process. You can't make this shit up. Oh, this is just too good!
'That said, I wonder which I should attack first,' Blake thought, dawning his Glider's Cloak and tying the laces of his Feathered Foot Boots — Two artifacts that worked extremely well together in Blake 's hands. The cloak allowed Blake to glide like a bird and the bots allowed Blake to be as light and silent as a feather, increasing his speed in semi-arial combat dramatically. 'Fuck it, I choose the bear… Or maybe the wolf. Eh, I'll decide when I land — And I choose to land with style!'
My Greenfang set armour was damaged during my fight with Pallas,' Blake thought to himself, eyes squinting. 'It's probably best I don't use it in combat, lest I do it irreparable damage…Perhaps I'll have Marxes repair it, or, at least, make me something else until I can get it repaired…'.
Pulling out Darkstar, Blake ordered Nightwing to stay high above to keep out of sight. He didn't want to have the Tainted unicorn be caught in enemy crossfire or ruin his own chances of infiltration by being spotted.
Done with that, Blake dawned his pantherface mask, which allowed him to hide his cultivation, before jumping off his mount, diving like a spear through the air, towards the ground below. He was more like a bullet than a spear, though, as his cloak remained tucked inward and his head facing forward as he sped to the planet's surface at multiple miles per hour, a shadow energy protecting him from the force of gravity.
7,000 feet. 6,500 feet. 6, 000 feet. 5,000 feet. 4,000 feet. 3,000 feet. 2, 000 feet. 1,500 feet. 1,000 feet. 500 feet.
The ground seemed to get closer and closer, but Blake did not pull the flaps of his cloak nor did he activate the active abilities of his boots. 'Not yet,' he thought, mid-dive.
450 feet. 400 feet. 390 feet. 365 feet. 400 feet. He still didn't pull out nor activate the boots active skill.
310 feet.
290 feet.
265 feet.
200 feet.
Blake still didn't pull out the flap or the cloak nor did he activate the boots' active skill. The forest floor was approaching faster and faster. The wind howled in successive and building force, as if to warn Blake of the very real possibility of turning into a pancake in the middle of a territorial dispute between magical beasts.
But he still didn't pull out the flap.
190 feet.
180 feet.
170 feet.
160.
150.
145.
By now, the sound of something fast heading their way had reached the beasts below, some of whom had begun to look around in bewilderment, likely hearing the sound of Blake 's supersonic descent. They knew something wasn't right, but they couldn't yet distinguish what that was just yet. They could clearly hear the faint whistle of something fast approaching, but they couldn't distinguish the direction it was coming from.
70 feet.
60 feet.
50 feet.
45.
30.
Finally, at around 20 feet, Blake activated his boots' active skill and extended the flaps of his floak artifact, controlling his fall as he descended onto the land right between the two warring animal groups without even a sound.
Looking around, he noticed that the fighting between both parties — the shadowflame bears and the pack of shadow wolves — had paused, as both parties turned to look at Blake with tilted, confused heads.
"Hiya, friends," Blake said cheerfully, his pale white, violet-tinted eyes could be seen through his masks, his cherry voice confusing the fathered animals even more. 'Does the human know where he is?' they all seem to think. 'Stupid human.'
Blake waved at them enthusiastically.
The animals, figuring he was an easy lunch, finally started staking him, circling him like prey. They were growling, prowling, both the bears and the wolves, at both Blake and each other.
Now that Blake was here, he could note his proper observations of the beasts around him.
There were a total of 4 Peak level Tier A shadowflame bears, 4 Mid level Tier A shadowflame bears and 1 Mid-level Tier S shadowflame bear, likely the alpha. Each bear was at least 6 to 7 meters long and 4 to 5 meters tall, easily the size of a garbage truck, all with a thick, black hide of fur. Each at least surpassed the 12 feet mark for most normal bears and each had fiery fur at the wrist of the paws made of a real orange flame. They had teeth like razors and ever sharper claws that could cut through steel. Their eyes seemed to be made of fire and their presence was one of dominance and unmatched ferocity.
The shadow wolves on the other hand were numbered in the 20s — there were exactly 25 wolves total in the pack, most were at Low level Tier A rank. Three were at the Peak of Tier A rank and one was at Mid-level Tier S rank, likely the alpha.
Despite their numbers advantage, they didn't seem as formidable as the shadowflame bears, but, then again, considering they were wolves, Blake personally would not risk underestimating them. They were all roughly the size of a car, with various shades of blacks and greys in fur amongst their ranks; they had sharp canines and jagged claws, each the size of knives or longer. The alpha even had a mane of black fur that matched the rest of its body.
Nodding, Blake took out Skyron and his own pack of shadow wolves, alongside Argento and the shadow lightningwing Mountain Lions he had turned into his own shadow undead, intent of evening the odds…Or jut shattering the equilibrium entirely, considering Blake alone would've been enough to handle both packs of predators.
'Master!' Skyron's wolf-ish voice sounded within his mind. 'Have you summoned us to feast?'
'I haven't had shadowflame bear since my life before becoming a Tainted,' Argento's voice mused within his mind. 'I wouldn't mind such delicacies.'
As Blake subconsciously commanded his undead to get into defensive position, he looked towards both sides of the battlefield, taking note of his enemies' reactions.
This move shocked the bears and wolves nearby as they hadn't expected the clueless human to possess powerful summons. They had assumed Corcen was alone — and his clueless behavior upon descending upon the battlefield was one that they had fallen for. After all, how could they have guessed he had a small army hidden within him?
"Take no survivors! KIll them all!" Blake ordered his legion. "The alphas I want taken beaten, not killed. Everyone else's lives don't matter. Attack!"
In response to his commands, the Tainted summons and their shadow undead brethren gave their growls and howls, choosing their own opponents before advancing on the two monster groups, who were only then beginning to get over their shock at this turn of events.
"Awhoo!" The sudden howl of Skyron The Tainted Wolf sounded as he bypassed the enemy shadow wolves and went straight for the alpha enemy shadow wolf. As an alpha wolf himself, Skyron found the enemy wolf's presence insulting and a challenge to his authority. It didn't really care about the other enemy wolves, as he left them for his own pack to handle. He would go directly after the alpha.
"Awhoo!" the shadow wolf alpha, also desiring to clash with Skyron charged forward, as if to answer Skyron's blatant challenge with his own. It has led this pack of shadow wolves for over a decade. It has battled its way from the very bottom of the pack order to the very top and the precipice of beastial society in this part of the Dark Forest. The whole point of battling with the shadowflame bears was to assert its dominance and become a third power within these parts of the forests, up there with the lightningwind mountain lions and the shadowflame bears. It would not have its authority contested and its efforts thwarted by a no-name, unworthy foe such as the wolf before him.
The two met in the middle in a grapple of fur and fury. Caws clashed against claws, teeth and fangs pierce the furred hide of flesh and the ground trembled as both alphas rolled on the ground in blood and fur. Neither side was given much advantage over the other, even despite there being a minor level gap in power between the two alpha wolves[what with Skyron being a Low level Tier S while the shadow alpha wolf was at Mid level Tier S].
If anything, Skyron had the superior strength by a short margin, but the other alpha had faster reflexes and was much swifter than Skyron was. This was without Skyron using his stellar beam attack, though. If Skyron had decided to use his energy attack, then this shadow wolf alpha wouldn't have any defense against it — the battle would've been over before it even started. But Skyron wanted a physical battle to test his own physical ability against a similarly leveled physical foe. As for which side was physically superior, they both seemed so equal in physicality to one another in contrast, that they both seemed to cancel the other out to a standstill.
The same could be said about the two sides of the shadow wolves — One side made of biotic, living shadows, evolved to fight in darkness and shadow, the other shadowy undead beasts whom never needed rest and could fight for however long Blake could supply them his shadow energy —- And it was darkness, so Blake 's shadow energy was limitless.
Sure, there were more enemy shadow wolves than Blake 's own undead wolves, and they were slightly stronger than Blake s' wolves — By a whole minor level, in fact. However, Blake shadow wolves not only didn't get exhausted, but they also had the shadow undead werewolves in their ranks as well, which pretty much evened out the odds. The shadow werewolves were a minor level or two higher than normal shadow wolves — and much stronger.
On the second front, where the shadowflame bears were clashing against the shadow lightningwind mountain lions, Azurez and Argento faced off against the Shadowflame Bear alpha in a heated exchange. And, while they were faster and had versatility on their side[i.e., Azurez flying in and out of the bear's torrent of breath fire, striking when she could with her own projectiles of spikes; and Argento dodging the bear's c;aw strikes and getting in a few of its own) it was evident that the bear was physically stronger despite the power gap that should've been there[given the bear being a Tier S(Mid) while Argento being Tier S(Peak) and Azurez being Tier A(Peak)].
There was also the addition of the shadowflame bear's fur acting as thick armor, tough and difficult to effectively penetrate. Argento may have been faster and Azurez may have had the maneuverability of air access, but neither had claws or attacks that could break through the shadowflame bear's defense.
"So that's the difference between bloodlines and species-specific advantages, huh?" Blake muttered under his breath in thought, if only to himself. 'Some species are more gifted and blessed than others, even with power gaps at play. Interesting…'.
"Flicker? Asher?" Blake looked at the two Low Tier S werewolves materializing from his shadow behind him, standing on guard. "It's time to join in, no?"
The two werewolves bowed in subservience. "What are your orders, master?"
"Hmm…," Blake pondered, Darkstar in hand. "FLicker, help Skyron with the Shadow Alpha. Asher, with me. Let's go skin a bear."
Without further word or even looking back to see if his lieutenant werewolves followed his commands(he knew they did), Blake dashed to the alpha of the shadowflame bears, with Asher on his heels and Flicker vanishing from sight, appearing instantaneously, Blake sensed, upon a surprised Shadow Wolf Alpha.
Blake and Asher reached Argento and Azurez just as the bear unleashed a torrent of fire, blasting Argento through the trees. The flames clipped Azurez's wing, and before he could recover, a savage claw swipe ripped through the air like a projectile, striking him mid-flight. Already reeling, the griffin lost control and plummeted, smashing into the earth with a thunderous crash that carved a crater beneath him.
"ROARRR!" the bear unleashed a wrathful roar, enraged. 'How dare these low life, no-named beasts challenge HIM? HIM!?!' he thought. 'He's killed underlings for minor transgressions!'
'It's strong, but…,' Blake thought, using his soul glance ability to get a feel of his enemy. Suddenly vanishing from his spot, appearing directly before the bear, with Darkstar raised. 'I'm undoubtedly faster, and, in a confrontation with speed going against strength, speed wins 6 times out of 10. I'll win this with minimal effort!'
Then, with a downwards stroke, Blake lashed Darkstar across its chest in a bloody, gushing arc. It screamed in agony, as red, hot blood exploded from the wound like lava from a volcano. The wound left behind from the gash was one that looked deep and hurt like a bitch.
Sadly, that wound alone wasn't enough to actually kill it, only make it angrier. It clawed forward, fury flowing off of it in waves as the air around it rose like the surface temperature of the Sun, burning the grass to cinders and causing great trees to burn like a great and terrible forest fire upon the land.
"ROOARRR!" Its roar was one of wrath and fury, charging at Blake , thrusting a claw his way, with surprising speed and undeniable force. Blake raised Darkstar to defend himself, but, though it sturdily blocked the strike, the force of the blow sent him flying back through 3 trees before stopping into a fourth, bigger, thicker tree with a loud, thickening BOOM, leaving his own imprint upon it.
Blake could swear he broke some bones from the impact of the crash. He definitely tore through his muscles with that second tree and that first tree most definitely lodged surface puncture twigs and branches into his back and arms. That third tree, Blake sensed, had dislocated his right shoulder.
Frowning, Blake looked at his unnaturally bent, dislocated shoulder in mild annoyance, as he got up from the Blake -shaped crater within the final tree he crashed into. Lining up to the thick tree trunk, Blake counted down from three, randomly pushing his weight back on 2.
CRACK!
With that his shoulder returned back inside his socks, his healing factors already working on mending what other damage with the shoulder it could find. Blake 's body was still torn asunder, and he was feeling immense pain coming from his back. Thankfully, though, his healing factor was working overtime to heal him as fast as it could.
Meanwhile, the other bears were being handled by the lightningwind mountain lions. Because of their heavier bulkiness, the lions were ganging up on the bears, with better success than their king. For every bear, there were two or three lions. And, for the bears that had no opponents or charged blindly at the lions, the lions would evade, continuing to gang up on the bears they were fighting, evading and avoiding the ones they weren't. It was a sound strategy and one that was working almost flawlessly.
"ROARR!"
The bear Blake had just fought had just noticed that its wound wasn't healing as it usually would, roaring even more in rage as it casually knocked Asher aside, causing the werewolf to crash into a low hanging branch of a thick, old tree. The bear then began charging at Blake , intending to get revenge and end a possible threat: His sword.
Before the bear could follow up, Asher exploded into motion. In a blur of speed, he darted past its bulk and cut directly into its path, fist cocked back. His punch connected squarely with the beast's snout, the impact reverberating like a cannon blast. Despite its massive size, the alpha staggered back several steps, eyes blazing with fury.
Asher was faster, stronger than any werewolf of his rank in Blake 's summons—his physicality alone rivaled the beast before him. For sheer force, he was the closest match to the Shadowflame alpha.
But the bear was no easy prey. With a guttural roar, it swiped, claws cleaving the air. Asher met it head-on. Their strikes collided again and again, each clash detonating like TNT, rocking the battlefield with thunderous shockwaves. The ground split and trees rattled with every exchange, neither fighter yielding an inch.
By the time Blake rejoined the fray, the alpha's torso was raked with bloody gouges—testament to Asher's relentless assault. Yet Asher bore his own scars, claw-marks scored across his chest and torso. Unlike the bear, whose wounds bled freely, Asher's flesh already stirred with life, knitting back together under his healing factor. Slowly, but visibly.
'Now's my chance,' Blake thought, eyeing the wary bear. 'Time to finish this.'
Blake decided to charge forward again, his blade, Darkstar, clashing with the bear's claws numerous times in the span of seconds.
'Shadow Tendril: Shadow Bind!' Blake thought, thrusting his hand forward, willing the surrounding shadows as well as the bear's shadow to extend, turning against the bear and wrapping around it in numerous tendrils, ropes and chains made of shadows. Surprised, the bear tried to resist, fighting the hold from which the shadowy bindings possessed him with, sadly, to no avail. Even as the bear struggled to resist, it was a pointless endeavor.
Shadow Bind was a skill that drew power, not just from Blake , but from the being that's being bound. So long as that being's willpower wasn't greater than Blake 's, then that being's shadow would draw energy from both himself and the being it was the shadow of, thereby making bound foes struggling a futile and baseless action.
Azurez, nearly fully healed, but healed enough to fight again, once more took to the skies, diving down upon the bear, clawing at the already still bleeding wound on its chest, followed by a lightning breath from Argento, the lightningwind mountain lion finally able to stand, once more awake from being unconscious.
"ROARR!" the bear roared in outrage. It would not die this way. It refused to die this way! After everything it built, it would not die so horrendously! Having one more attack in its arsenal to deal with these intruders, its body ignited into flames as a sound began building up.
"GrrrRRRRMMMMmmmmm…."An energy build up sound began sounding, as the bear charged up in a final attack. The energy was so great that Blake 's instincts told him to NOT let the beast finish chagrin in the attack.
'Asher! Don't let him finish that attack!' Blake mentally commanded his summons, already charging forward his own self, becoming a blur of movement in the process. The two charged forward.
"HhhhhhSSSSHHhhhkkkkkkk-WUUUUMMMmmm…," the build up continued. Blake wasn't sure if he'd make it, but he knew he had to. Otherwise he may just die.
"VVVRRrrrRROOooOOOoooommm—SSSHhhhhhkkk—" Blake 's instincts told him that the build up was reaching its zenith. He was still 2 meters away.
'I'm not gonna make it,' Blake thought in realization. He was contemplating if he could hide from the blast in his shadow when—
BANG!
A full-strength, all-or-nothing fist to the back of the bear's neck caused the energy to vanish instantly, exploding outward prematurely, almost harmlessly, as Blake Shadow Jumped into the bear's own shadow as the wave of heat reached the spot he was just at and the trees all around him.
'Thank the primordials for this werewolf!' Blake thought, leaping out of the bear's shadow and delivering two strikes to the bear's chest, two to the next and, in a single swing, decapitating the bear with his sword.
Storing its head in his shadow and ripping out its mana core from his belly, Blake then re-awkaenned the bear as a shadow undead.
'I wanted to use Taint on it, but it was stronger than I had expected, and the last trump card was too dangerous to let it unleash,' Blake thought in mild annoyance, before shrugging. 'Oh, well, an undead is the next best thing. Plus, I've got its core.'
No longer were its flames a fiery orange. No, now its flaming feet were a pale white, unholy flame. It was the same size as it was before it was turned. And it radiated a similar aura, though this time with an undead touch to it.
"You shall be…,' Blake decided. "Ghostfyre!"
With its resurrection and new name, it skipped directly from Mid-level Tier S, past High level and directly to Peak level Tier S.
By that time, the battle was pretty much over.
Skyron and Flicker had knocked the alpha wolf unconscious, and both the shadowflame bears and shadow wolves were murdered. Blake took the heads of the Shadowflame bears as well as their cores before turning both the shadowflame bears and shadowolves into his undead.
He then gathered the beast core of the alpa before deciding not to use Taint on it, and turned it also into his undead. He named it "Ghost," for its speed and stealth capabilities. It, too, reached Tier S(Peak) rank from Tier S(Mid) rank.
As Blake was about to leave, though, he felt his connection with Nightwing cut off, and, a second later, the winged Pegasus could be seen falling from the sky, before crashing down onto the ground in a crater of its own making.
Before anyone could react or Blake could even figure out what was going on, though, Blake felt his connection to Azurez and Asher vanish as well. He turned to find them dead, hitting the ground with a THUD.
'What the Hell?' Blake thought.
Suddenly, darkness coated his environment and he found that each of his newly obtained shadow undead were instantly killed, spikes of darkness impelled into them, a hundred per undead, before his connection to them vanished and, with it, them.
"Shit!" Blake realized too late. "I'm being attacked!"
And the worst part? Blake couldn't sense them with neither his Shadow Sense nor his enhanced perception abilities.
The person, whose aura was hidden, had decided to reveal themselves on their own, though. They were a masculine figure with sharp, pointy ears, dark hair and wore all black, with a mask covering their lower face in a ninja-assassin-like fashion. Their power was at mid-Legendary rank, though that was all Blake could perceive from their presence.. In their hand, they carried a Legendary ranked, Carolingian sword. Their aura was one of great darkness and cold ruthlesslessness.
"Blake Orpheus…," spoke the figure's masculine voice through his mask. "I've come to bring you in. You have two options, come in warm or come in cold. Choose."
'Well, shit,' Blake screamed, internally. 'This is just about my fucking luck! I ain't choosing the first. I have too much pride. But the second is hardly an answer.'
"No answer is answer enough," the assassin said, unsheathing his blade. "You've chosen to come in cold."
'FUCKING HELLS!' Screamed Blake internally. 'FUCK ME!'