The blue-black smoke swirling around the Orc's corpse thickened, turning pitch-black. It gathered and stretched, molding itself into a towering silhouette.
The temperature in the plaza plummeted. The terrified screams of the fleeing civilians seemed to fade into the background, drowned out by the chilling aura radiating from the corpse.
Slowly, the shadow separated itself from the dead flesh. It stood upright, a hulking mass of pure darkness with glowing, electric-blue eyes. It was an exact replica of the Orc Elias had just killed, but it radiated an entirely different kind of menace. It felt cold, absolute, and utterly loyal.
[Extraction Successful!] [You have acquired your first Shadow Soldier.] [Shadow Orc (Lv. 1) has joined your legion.]
Elias looked at the towering shadow beast kneeling before him. In his past life, he had fought side-by-side with holy knights, powerful mages, and so-called 'heroes' who eventually stabbed him in the back. But this creature? It didn't have greed. It didn't have ambition. It only existed to serve its monarch.
"Stand up," Elias commanded.
The Shadow Orc rose, standing at a massive two meters tall.
Before Elias could admire his new subordinate, a guttural roar echoed across the bloody plaza. Three more green-skinned Orcs had spotted him. Seeing their dead comrade on the ground and a strange black entity standing next to a human, they gripped their bloodstained wooden clubs and charged toward the cafe.
A normal civilian would have frozen in fear. A novice Hunter would have braced for a desperate fight.
Elias simply tilted his head, his eyes cold. He didn't even raise his makeshift wooden spear.
"Protect your monarch," Elias said softly. "Tear them apart."
The Shadow Orc didn't roar. It didn't hesitate. It shot forward like a cannonball, moving significantly faster than it ever had when it was alive.
The first living Orc swung its club down with crushing force. The attack struck the Shadow Orc square in the shoulder, a blow that would have shattered a human collarbone. But the Shadow Orc didn't flinch. Because it was made of pure mana and shadow, it felt no pain.
Instead of stepping back, the Shadow Orc reached out with massive, shadowy hands, grabbed the living Orc by its head, and slammed it face-first into the concrete pavement with a sickening crack.
The other two Orcs paused, their tiny, primitive brains struggling to comprehend what they were looking at.
That one-second hesitation was all Elias needed.
He dashed forward, his movements silent and lethal. He slipped past the second Orc's guard, pivoting on his heel. With a sharp exhale, he drove his jagged, bloody table leg straight into the side of the monster's skull. It went in through the temple and out the other side.
The third Orc let out a panicked squeal and turned to run back toward the red Gate. It didn't make it two steps.
The Shadow Orc leaped onto its back, plunging its shadowy claws directly into the monster's spine. The creature gurgled, collapsing into a lifeless heap.
The entire fight had lasted less than ten seconds. Three monsters from another dimension lay dead in pools of their own blood, easily dispatched by a man in a casual t-shirt and his dark summon.
[You have killed an Orc.] [You have killed an Orc.] [You have leveled up!] [You have leveled up!]
> Status Window <
Name: Elias
Level: 3
Class: Absolute Necromancer
Mana: 150/150
Available Stat Points: 10
Elias smiled. Ten stat points already. In his past life, it took him a week of grueling, near-death battles to reach Level 3. With the Necromancer class, his growth rate was going to be terrifying.
"Extract," Elias commanded, looking at the two intact Orc corpses.
The black smoke began to rise again. Two more pairs of glowing blue eyes opened in the darkness. He now had three Shadow Orcs standing silently behind him, waiting for his command.
Suddenly, the red Gate hovering in the center of the plaza pulsed violently. The air warped, and a shockwave of heavy, suffocating pressure washed over the street.
The remaining low-level Orcs in the plaza stopped chasing civilians and immediately dropped to their knees, bowing toward the portal.
A massive foot clad in crude iron armor stepped out of the swirling red vortex. Then came a battleaxe, taller than a grown man, dripping with fresh blood. Finally, the creature revealed itself—a Hobgoblin Chieftain, standing nearly three meters tall, its skin a dark, bruised purple.
The Chieftain's yellow eyes scanned the plaza, landing immediately on the human standing casually in the middle of the carnage, flanked by three shadows.
The boss of the first Gate had arrived.
Elias didn't run. He didn't hide. He slowly raised his bloody wooden stake, pointing it directly at the towering monster.
"Perfect," Elias muttered, a dark grin spreading across his face. "I was just looking for a new commander for my army."