SSS Awakening: Rebirth of the Strongest Vampire God - Chapter 622

Chapter 622: Umbra’s Eternal Shadow
The enormous panther, muscles like coiled steel, claws that could cleave boulders, was bowing. Bowing. Then it lifted its head, glanced at Damon, glanced at the kitten, and made a very deliberate gesture toward the darkness.

It wanted them to follow.

“…You brought me a prisoner who’s giving me directions?” Damon muttered.

The wolves barked softly, tails wagging like they’d just executed the most brilliant tactical move in history.

The kitten strutted back to Damon with the confidence of a monarch whose decree had just been obeyed without question. She flicked her tail, then hopped right onto Damon’s shoulder and tapped his cheek. Tap tap.

As if saying, Papa. We go now.

Damon chuckled at the whole interaction. He needed to talk to some humans soon. “Alright. Let’s go and check it out.”

The panther whirled around and sprinted into the darkness, stopping just long enough to make sure Damon was following. Its body flickered in and out of visibility, shadow-stepping between ridges with silent urgency.

Damon moved forward, wolves flanking him like a personal escort. The deeper he went, the thicker the shadow essence grew around him. The panther suddenly stopped at a jagged ridge, then bowed again, lowering its body all the way to the stone.

Damon frowned. “What, this is it? This rock?”

Then the rock… moved. A faint grinding noise rolled through the ridge. The entire “ridge” shifted, groaned, and split open along a long hidden seam. A cavern opened up. Not a normal cavern. Not even close. Inside was a lake looking particularly sinisterous.

It was a vast, undulating ocean of liquid shadow, swirling in slow, ominous currents. The surface rippled like ink on the verge of boiling. Wisps rose from it like evaporating darkness, twisting upward and vanishing into the cavern’s high ceiling.

The wolves whimpered in unison. The panther flattened itself to the floor in trembling reverence. The kitten lifted her head, tiny nose twitching with interest.

Damon stepped closer to the edge. Shadow essence here wasn’t just dense, it was saturated to the brim. Just being near it made his shadow affinity tingle and expand.

“What the hell is this place…?” Damon murmured.

A notification flickered.

[Umbra’s Eternal Shadow] A pool containing condensed shadow essence accumulated for millennia. Warning: Entry is fatal to 99.9% of beings.

Damon let out a low whistle and turned to the panther. “This is what you wanted to show me?”

The panther bowed again.

While the panther was shaking and trembling, barely able to stand several feet away from the pool, the little kitten hopped off Damon’s shoulder and trotted right to the edge of the shadow lake, peering down at it like an emperor inspecting her new domain. “Meow,” she declared, sounding extremely satisfied.

Damon himself wasn’t all that free of the effects of the pool. He was somewhere in between. While he was not paralyzed like the panther, he was also not able to casually walk upto the pool.

However, that was only for a moment.

Damon felt his body tighten under the oppressive pressure of the shadow lake. His muscles tensed, his flesh groaned, and for a second even he felt that instinctive warning screaming through his nerves, back away or die.

But then his blood roared.

A deep internal thrum pulsed through his veins. His Nine Million Poison Body, his bloodline, the abyssal energy he had absorbed, they all reacted at once. His skin darkened with a faint shadow sheen, his mana circuits flared, and the suffocating pressure around him began to melt.

His resistance rose. His affinity surged.

And inch by inch, the weight lifted from his shoulders.

His body, freed from the worst of the suppression, moved easily now. Damon took a step forward. Once again a tremendous pressure smacked down on him.

He waited for his body to get accustomed to the new conditions and this time, his body adjusted even faster.

The pressure slammed into him like a collapsing mountain, enough to pulverize most beings into dust. Damon gritted his teeth as his bones creaked under the force, but the familiar burn of adaptation flooded his limbs. His blood boiled, his meridians expanded, and his flesh hardened with lightning efficiency.

A thought suddenly appeared in Damon’s mind. This was the perfect chance for him to awaken a set of tricky meridians. He quickly looked around and confirmed without using his primordial senses that he was pretty much alone.

He could use his primordial senses to absolutely make sure of it but he had learned the hard way by now that using his special perception ability was a double-edged sword. He might awaken something deeply buried somewhere unnecessarily.

So he was satisfied with this limited investigation and decided to take the plunge. Well, not just yet. He summoned Goldy to stand guard for him just in case. Just like he expected, the spark wasn’t all that affected by the environment unlike the shadow beasts.

The little thing was simply curious as it tried to eat some of the shadows. Damon did not know why it thought it would be able to do something like that. Even the little spark was confused. It kept buzzing here and there, and trying to eat the shadow essence.

Soon, another being caught its attention. The spark turned towards the kitten and the kitten looked at the spark. The next second chaos ensued. The little kitten became extremely excited as it started chasing the spark.

The spark bolted upward like a startled firefly, zig-zagging through the cavern with frantic, high-pitched buzzing. The kitten launched after it with a shrill, delighted yowl, tiny paws skittering, tail puffed up in pure hunter’s joy.

Their chase ricocheted through the chamber like two hyperactive spirits in a cathedral of shadow.

Goldy dove. The kitten pounced.

Shadow ripples burst where her paws hit the ground. Goldy barely dodged, leaving a streak of glittering light as it zipped behind Damon for cover. The kitten didn’t slow for a heartbeat. She leapt over Damon’s shoulder, somersaulted, and landed on his head like an assassin with perfect aim.

Damon blinked. What the hell was happening?

***

Chapter 5 Mass Release Sponsored by Rhi Bran