Umbra's surprise attack worked partially because the Air chanter panther's hind leg had been pierced, preventing it from using its most powerful trait.

It's horrifyingly high speed!

With that in mind, Shane could distance himself a little from the battle that was about to happen.

It wouldn't be the smartest move if he were to attack a peak-Awakened stage beast whose forte was its agility and lightning-fast reflexes.

On the other hand, Shane's speed was at most comparable to that of a low-Awakened stage beast and that was after he utilized every little trick that he could pull out!

As such, Umbra had to fight against the Air chanter Panther alone, which was something Shane didn't like to see!

Their strength was at par with each other, but Umbra's affinity was higher in rank than the panther's. It allowed him to utilize the advantage he had over the injured panther, forcing it to retreat.

While Umbra focused on manifesting several dozen compressed darkness needles, one batch after another, Shane looked around in vigilance, trying to pay attention to his surroundings.

After the Air chanter panther figured out that it was at a disadvantage due to the injury it received during the long snake's ambush, it was forced to slowly retreat, while paying attention to both Shane and the snake in front of it.

As the Air chanter panther observed its two enemies intently, it realized that there was something interesting about the duo. The beast wasn't completely sure if its gut feeling was right but it wanted to check if its theory was correct. Thus, without wasting any more time, the Air chanter panther shot several crescent blades manifested out of wind. However, the blades reached Umbra, only to bend, making the snake throw its opponent a surprised look.

Flying past Umbra, the wind crescent blades shot towards Shane, who had been standing between two large trees trying to prevent his companion from fighting the peak-Awakened beast alone.

However, that was exactly what happened as Umbra tried to protect Shane from every danger. This allowed the Air chanter panther to realize that the human-like being was, in fact, the gigantic snake's master.

The injured beast made a split-second decision to attack the snake's master instead of the snake itself. Owing to the fact that the master appeared to be weaker and much easier to defeat, the Air chanter panther decided to focus its attack on Shane, which he realized albeit a second late.

He had already expected a similar outcome after he saw how protective Umbra acted around him. Thus, Shane exerted his second Berserk skill for the day.

At the same time, he transferred a large amount of mana from Hidden Paradise's world core to himself to break through his own limits.

His pores burst open and he could only shout out as he released his whole bloodlust-killing-intent at once.

Enveloping himself with the bloodlust-killing-intent while circulating a humongous amount of mana through his body, Shane looked like he was about to burst apart any moment.

However, even that didn't seem to be enough to evade the wind crescent blades that seemed to move in an unpredictable, zigzag motion.

He marginally avoided the first two crescent blades by jumping backward, and they instead sliced through the trunks of the thick trees that had covered him a moment earlier, while the remaining crescent blades shot towards him.

If he were to take out the curved longsword right now, he would be thrown off balance, because one side of his body would be heavier. Trying to adjust his stance midway, even if it took only a single moment could end up in a devastating result.

As such, Shane instinctively retrieved the dagger set he had purchased a long time ago and enveloped it with his bloodlust-killing-intent and mana to make it sturdier and sharper.

At that moment, the five crescent blades shot towards him at the same time, followed by the last batch of 6 crescent blades.

Cursing loudly, Shane could barely manage to deflect the first three crescent blades that intended to cut him in half as the last two that targeted his chest was about to hit him.

Putting into effect the last usage of his Berserk skill, he overlapped it with the second one that was still in use in order to increase his speed by a small margin.

This was barely enough, allowing him to move his hands that grasped his Tier-2 daggers firmly. He managed to deflect the last two wind crescent blades that were in front of him when he heard a shattering noise. Trying to locate the source, he looked down, only to see that the daggers had been broken into two.

The crescent blades' impact had been so high that it left his weapons in tatters while the blades themselves had barely been reduced.

Shock spread through Shane's mind when he saw this making him go numb momentarily. He was unable to twist his body to evade the slowed-down crescent blades whose trajectory had been averted by a small margin.

Time seemed to slow down as he watched with a dazed look how the crescent blades pierced into his chest which caused a huge fountain of blood to spurt out of his body.

When Umbra saw that Shane was attacked, he wanted to help him, realising the Air chanter panther's sly move of attacking Shane when he was distracted.

However, when Umbra sensed that Shane had been seriously injured, his entire mana pool was unleashed at once. His Limit Breaker title seemed to glow within Umbra's status panel.

For a quarter of a second, Umbra transformed from a long snake into the most terrifying beast. The Air chanter panther only stared with wide eyes at the most horrifying scene it had seen in its whole life as it got enveloped in utter darkness.

Umbra had released his darkness affinity to its fullest extent before he used the ability One with the Darkness(Rare) to merge with the darkness he had created for a short moment.

The Air chanter panther who was enveloped in darkness didn't even know what happened to it when Umbra's yellow eyes stared at it from behind.

Even if the air chanter panther noticed that something was wrong, it was too slow to retaliate. The injury on its hind leg had slowed it down considerably and it watched in horror as Umbra's maw engulfed its body. The jaws closed around its body before he bit down in a powerful crunch.

Only a moment later, the darkness enveloping both Umbra and the air chanter panther whose lifeless body hung limply in Umbra's maw was left behind.

However, instead of being proud of eliminating the threat, Umbra turned around to see what happened to Shane.

He was still alive, yet seriously injured.

Umbra slithered towards Shane who was breathing heavily, helplessly watching him suffer. In between labored breaths, Shane could only say

"Thank you guys

".

This was not directed at Umbra, but rather towards the small artisan group within his world.

When they sensed that Shane had used a large amount of mana that had been stored within Hidden Paradise's core, they knew that something was wrong.

Averting their attention from the Lesser Starlet Fox, they took a look at what was going on with Shane, when they realised that he was targeted by a dozen crescent wind blades that had the strength of a peak-Awakened beast!

They were aware of Shane's strength but at the same time, their rational thinking allowed them to comprehend that it would be a miracle if he survived such an attack.

Instinctively they looked around with desperate expressions as Talia shouted

"spatial ring!

"

After that, she took out huge wooden logs and ores of the Tier-2 (Common) grade which they required for other things as she threw them through the portal that was connected to the outside world.

When Shane thought that he would die any moment, a variety of high-grade materials were thrown out of his body.

The two crescent blades that had already pierced into Shane's flesh were obstructed from sinking deeper into him as all kinds of wooden logs, stones, furniture, and even farming tools, saving his life by a hair's breadth.

However, Shane couldn't calm down because there were still 6 crescent wind blades left that were shooting towards him.

He wanted to step aside, but his whole body seemed to be paralyzed and it was taking every single ounce of energy to even move.

Searing pain spread through his whole body while he let out an agonizing scream, forcing himself to move, as he threw himself to the ground. Ignoring the pain that intensified when he moved, he changed the direction of the portal connecting to the Hidden Paradise to that in his front, while Talia and the rest continued to throw out materials.

Only when they had nothing left to throw out did they take a look to see whether Shane was still alive or not.

Hearing a 'Thank you guys' caused them to sigh in relief because they could tell that Shane wouldn't die.

At least, he was still speaking which meant he hadn't lost his consciousness yet. And, from the looks of it, Shane was able to move to a certain degree too.

Yet, when they saw Shane's bloody reflection through Umbra's large eyes, the girls couldn't help but scream in fear while the boys' expressions twisted as if they could feel his pain too.

There were two deep cuts in his chest with thick blood gushing out of the wounds. Circulating mana through his body, Shane enveloped the two serious injuries with it.

This accelerated the healing process and forcefully stopped the bleeding.

At least, that should suffice for now.

Using the vast majority of his remaining strength, he took out a few potions from his spatial ring and hastily gulped them down without bothering to check their effects.

His sight was already blurred and he was unable to tell whether Umbra or a tree was right next to him as he said with a forced smile on his lips

"Umbra, will you stop looking at me like that, if you want to do something, return the materials to the Hidden Paradise, will you?

"

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