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n—–

nYou have entered stealth

n>In the stealth state, your physical presence is merged with the shadows, making you seem hidden to the naked unperceptive eyes<

n—-

nBoom!

nThe massive watchtower finally collapsed.

nNone of them died though, Legolas and his companions were all able to jump out of the sinking ship before it was submerged completely.

nThe sound of the watchtower’s collapse overshadowed the sound of their fall, Legolas scrambled to stand up as he looked at himself.

nAt this moment, he no longer seemed to be in the real world and his body was slightly ethereal. It flickered between grey and black like he was in an unstable dimension that his body was reacting to.

nLegolas looked around and saw Christensen and Leo, but Brutus was nowhere to be found. Unlike them, the Shadow Hound turned completely invisible.

nThe important thing at this moment though was the undead Titans.

nRoar!

nThey roared and shrieked as they suddenly lost their targets.

nThe Warrior Titan went to the rubble of the collapsed watchtower as he flicked the debris and stones away with his massive Double-bladed sword.

nThe Titans could not see them, Legolas was overjoyed. “This is…?”

n“The Shadow Plane”. Brutus’ voice reverberated.

nThe next moment, the Shadow Hound made itself visible to them.

n“My ability works by dragging myself into the Shadow Plane and allowing me to coexist in both worlds at the same time”.

n“Since I have a shadow affinity, my coexistence is perfect”.

n“You both do not have shadow affinity and is why yours is not perfect”.

n“The darkness affinity is a close relative of the shadow affinity, that is why yours after fusing with Predator is a little better than my master’s”.

n“Haha”. Legolas laughed as he heaved a sigh of relief. “So, we’re safe right?”

n“Yes, I think”.

n“You think?” Legolas turned to look at the Warrior Titan.

nRoar!

nThe Warrior Titan roared as he could not find his targets in the rubble, the next moment, he placed his nose close to the debris and sniffed.

nBrutus’s eyes narrowed. “They can smell our scent? You never said that”.

n“Master…”

n“Shhh…” Legolas hushed his student.

nIt didn’t work though, as soon as the Warrior Titan sniffed, he turned and looked straight at Christensen’s position.

n“His coexistence is most imperfect”. Brutus said coldly.

nThud! Thud!

nThe undead Titan grinned as he marched towards Christensen, Christensen shook as he almost pissed his pants already while waiting for his master’s genius idea to save his ass once again.

n“Can he hear us?” Legolas asked.

n“No, but I advise my master not to speak”.

n“Just call him Chris”. Legolas stressed.

n“Yes, master’s master”.

n“…”

nLegolas ignored Brutus’ shenanigans. “I also didn’t know that they can follow our scents, don’t you have any way to block our scents?”

n“No, but I can change our scents”. Brutus turned to look at Legolas coldly. “First, you have to kill another Titan and let me get close to it”.

n“Got it”.

n—–

nYou have activated active ability: Dark Arrow

n—-

nThe Dark Arrow came out of nowhere, distracting all the Titans including the Warrior Titan from Legolas’s true location.

nChristensen got Legolas’s signal as he pulled the trigger. The G-96 pistols roared as bullets came out of its muzzle rapidly.

nThe bullets and multiple dark arrows ended the Titan’s life.

nBrutus sprinted after Legolas to the dead Titan’s side and without hesitation, Brutus placed a hand on the Titan and made his move.

n—–

nYou have been affected by a shadow ability: Identity Merge

n>Identity Merge: When affected by this ability, your scent and tracking characteristics will be exchanged with that of the target<

nYou have merged and exchanged identities with the Civilian Titan

n—-

nRoar!

nHaving detected the scent of his prey and seeing this prey still having the guts to kill its brothers before it, the Warrior Titan lost it.

nHe charged towards Christensen but just before he could make it to Christensen’s position, he lost the scent.

nChristensen moved just at the right moment on receiving the signal through his telepathic relationship with Brutus as he jumped out of danger.

nSweat poured down his face like a river as he laid on the ground just beside the Warrior Titan who now looked for him everywhere cluelessly.

n“Let’s leave”.

nWithout hesitation, they sneaked away.

n…

nBoom! Boom! Boom!

nExplosions raged as the Elementalists bombarded the area.

nHuge protective earthen walls were raised around them, fiery perimeters were also erected by the Elementalists as they fend off the Titans.

nThe Summoners had no choice but to send their contracted beasts out to die since that was the only way to get a shot at survival.

nCommander Knock watched their dire situation from inside the protective earthen wall. After sacrificing so many Pugilists already, they already resigned to the truth that they simply stood no chance against so many Titans.

n4 Warrior Titans led this horde of Titans that attacked them.

nSince arriving in the Ancient Titan city, the Vanguard Squad have seen nothing but death. With no one as unique as Brutus to guide them, they encountered Titans every now and then and suffered bitter casualties.

nThey learned the truth the hard way that the Titans could smell their scent after suffering dozens of casualties to the Titans.

nLess than half of the original Vanguard Squad was left alive.

nAs the explosions raged outside, a lot of things went through Commander Knock’s head as he felt like he was at the center of Darvis all of a sudden.

nDrog patted him on the shoulders. “Knock, we need you”.

nKnock felt embarrassed at his reaction at this moment but knowing that all their lives were at stake, he felt grateful. “Thanks man”.

nHe stood up and made his decision. “We won’t retreat”.

n“Even if we retreat, we have no guarantee of arriving back safely to relay what we learned. This is why I say we give our all to complete the mission”.𝒪𝗏𝐞𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t

n“Instead of retreating, we should give our all and go deeper”.

n“We are no longer far from the Titan palace, I believe that is where everything originated from. If we can get there, we can perhaps learn the truth”.

n“Follow me and let’s fight our last stand valiantly!”

nThe warriors rallied around Commander Knock as they charged out of their protective earthen walls to meet the Warrior Titans who were waiting for them.

n“Attack!” Commander Knock roared.

nBoom! Boom! Boom!

nAttacks raged, reverberating like exploding dominoes as they gave their all to carve an opening through the army of Titans that was before them.

nThey killed Titans but they also started dying like chickens in Christmas.

nFrom afar, 2 strangers and their beasts watched this battle.

nLegolas already saw the familiar purple-hair and located his member already, Altan the Emperor. Having seen the Emperor through the grey world already, he was able to recognize him.

nThe only problem was, there were too many Titans.

nLegolas thought and thought but could not arrive at any better solution, he turned to Brutus again. “I need…” He paused. “We need your help”.

n“I can’t do it for them all”. Brutus replied coldly. “I need external help”.

n“How?”

n“My master has to augment me with his ability and…” Brutus turned to look straight at Legolas. “You have to feed me with your blood and mana”.

nWhoosh!

nLegolas brought his dagger and cut his hand without hesitation.

nBrutus looked at him coldly. “Drip your blood on my back and infuse your mana, then give me some distance”.

nLegolas did as was ordered as Christensen used the basic beast energy augmentation summoner knowledge to augment Brutus’s strength.

nAs soon as Legolas’s blood touched Brutus, his blood started draining rapidly as Legolas retreated while Brutus expanded like a balloon.

nThe Shadow Hound gathered air in his mouth for 2 seconds before releasing it as this air swept outward like the outbreak of a plague in the air.

nAll the humans in the vicinity were affected.

nLegolas and Christensen were also affected again.

n—–

nYou have been affected by a Shadow Ability: Invisible Shadow

nYou have been affected by a Shadow Ability: Identity Merge

n—-

nInstantly, all the humans disappeared from the material world. Perhaps, due to the scale this time, they were not able to disappear completely as they vaguely appeared like Specters in the material world.

nLegolas charged out of his hiding as he waved at them.

n“Hey! Follow me to escape!”

nCommander Knock looked at the human that was just like a specter like them, he dared not hesitate as he ordered all his warriors to follow him.

nLegolas led them all away to a hideout that he already found.

nThe escape was not that easygoing, as specters, the Titans were still able to attack them. Though they were the cream of the crop of all 8 major tribes of the Great Desert, 5 of them died before they escaped.

nThis figure was already an incredible one.

nAll the others survived and escaped because of Brutus’ masterpiece.

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