Darkness swallowed everything.
Lin Ye didn't know how long he had been unconscious. When consciousness finally returned to his body, the first thing he felt was a biting chill. The air was thick with the damp smell of earth.
He slowly opened his eyes. The underground ruins were still pitch black, but strangely, he could faintly make out his surroundings—as if the darkness had become less dense.
"I'm... still alive?"
Lin Ye sat up, a sharp pain throbbing in his head. Memories slowly flooded back. The ancient black book. And that single sentence: "The Abyss has awakened."
He whipped his head toward the stone altar. The book was gone. The altar was empty.
"What's happening..."
Lin Ye stood up. Suddenly, he noticed something wrong on the ground: his shadow. The shadow was swaying gently, even though there was no firelight or light source around him.
A chill ran down Lin Ye's spine. He tried moving his hand, and the shadow followed. But a second later, the edge of the shadow suddenly extended, stretching out like a black tentacle.
Lin Ye scrambled back in terror. "What is this...?"
Just then, a low howl echoed from the depths of the forest. It sounded like a beast, but far colder and more sinister than any ordinary animal. Lin Ye's heart tightened. He looked up toward the entrance of the ruins.
Night had fully descended outside. Moonlight filtered through the opening, illuminating a pair of eyes—faint, glowing green eyes staring at him from the darkness.
Lin Ye's breath hitched. That was no ordinary beast. That was a Shadow Wolf.
The Shadow Wolf crept into the ruins. It was twice the size of a normal wolf, with fur as black as ink and a faint black mist swirling around its limbs. Such magical creatures only appeared in the deepest parts of the forest; ordinary hunters stood no chance against them.
Lin Ye instinctively grabbed his hunting bow, his hands trembling violently. The Shadow Wolf let out a low growl, closing in step by step. Lin Ye knew he couldn't run.
With shaking hands, he notched an arrow and drew the bow. The string creaked.
Swish!
The arrow flew, but the Shadow Wolf dodged it with a graceful leap. The arrow struck the stone wall and snapped in two.
The wolf bared its fangs. In the next instant, it lunged.
Lin Ye's mind went blank. But just as the claws were about to tear into him, the shadow beneath his feet suddenly expanded, surging out like a black current.
The moment the Shadow Wolf landed, the shadow whipped upward.
Pfft!
The dark shadow skewered its body. The Shadow Wolf let out a piercing shriek, but the shadow didn't stop. A second spike, then a third—the shadows pierced through it like sharp spears.
A few seconds later, the Shadow Wolf collapsed heavily to the ground, motionless.
Lin Ye stood there dazed, having no idea what had just happened. The shadow slowly retracted, returning to the shape of a normal shadow. Yet, a strange sensation lingered in Lin Ye's mind; it felt as though the shadow would obey his command again the moment he willed it.
Right then, a violent headache struck.
"Agh—!"
Lin Ye fell to his knees. A low voice echoed in his mind, seemingly rising from the depths of the abyss:
"The power... belongs to you..."
Lin Ye's consciousness began to fade. He collapsed beside the carcass of the Shadow Wolf and fell into a deep coma.