Imperial Throne

Chapter 126: Shadow Panther

With Ion's warning signal, everyone immediately prepared themselves.

Akar took down his warbow, and flames had already begun to flicker on the fingers of his right hand.

Over the past year or so, he certainly hadn’t been idle.

He was now capable of quickly shaping arrows using flames with just his hands, no longer needing tools. This naturally improved his combat speed. Moreover, thanks to prolonged archery practice, he now performed like a true archer. He no longer needed to rely on spiritual power to guide his fire arrows as before, which in effect greatly enhanced Akar’s combat capability.

He stood in the central position, eyes fixed forward.

Roda and two Bloodline Knights from the White Mountain Territory stood guarding by Akar's side.

These two Bloodline Knights, like Roda, were more inclined toward protection and defense—because the White Mountain Territory had previously experienced several assassination attempts. Whether it was Lily, Ion, or Yam, none of them truly trusted the people from the lord’s manor of the White Mountain Territory. Unlike Baroness Anna, who wielded an iron hand to bloodily purge all opposition and unrest, they instead chose the most stable means of protection.

These three also clearly understood their true duty, so they positioned themselves at Akar’s side to ensure that when combat broke out, Akar, who was better at long-range attacks, would not be eliminated at the first opportunity.

Besides Akar and his group, the four members of the Shelf Mercenary Group were not idle either.

Having lived and fought together for many years, they had a strong mutual understanding and coordination that needed no explanation.

However, since they had never fought alongside Ion and the others before, they didn’t integrate into Ion’s defensive formation. Instead, they maintained a bit of distance—enough to support each other and fight in coordination, but not so close as to interfere with one another.

“Maintain this formation as we move,” Ion said in a low voice.

He too had drawn his longsword.

Although the loss of an arm made it difficult for him to keep balance during combat, he wasn’t truly crippled. His wealth of experience and battle skills still had much to offer, especially since he had completely changed his previous fighting style. In reality, Ion was now more dangerous than ever.

It was just that no one knew yet.

The group of eight cautiously began to withdraw from the mountain.

“Father?” Akar spoke again.

Ion didn’t reply.

But he knew—the danger wasn’t over yet.

Back when he served on the frontier, things hadn’t always gone smoothly. He had encountered numerous life-threatening crises. The feeling of death approaching, as if everything might collapse in the next moment, had left a deep impression on him. It had given him an instinct—he couldn’t quite describe it, but he knew that whenever he felt this way, it usually meant something extremely dangerous was imminent.

And from the time he retired from the military to now, he had felt that sensation only three times.

The first was when Baron Hess ordered the siege of Iron Wolf Mountain.

The second was during his time in Plain Village.

And the third—was right now.

Ion vaguely saw himself standing before a giant beast with its bloody maw wide open, half of his body already inside its mouth.

“Light the fire!”

Suddenly recalling something, Ion shouted abruptly.

The others hadn’t reacted yet, but Akar had already pushed his power to the limit.

With his raised right hand, a massive fireball rapidly formed.

While the fireball couldn’t cover everyone’s head, the over-one-meter-diameter orb hovering above his head was still a sight none of them had ever seen before.

The terrifying feeling Ion had—as though sending himself into the beast’s mouth—also rapidly receded with the fireball’s appearance, making Ion clearly aware that his judgment was correct. He immediately shifted his gaze to the shadows beneath everyone’s feet, focusing on identifying anything unusual. Flames ignited on the longsword in his right hand, and his clothing instantly turned to ash.

“Beware the shadows!”

Seeing Ion’s actions, everyone present instantly understood.

Not everyone knew how to deal with a magical beast. That knowledge belonged to the Bloodline Nobles. Even among the Bloodline Nobles, not all of them knew every way to counter magical beasts.

In this world, only the Hall of Spirits knew the weaknesses of all known magical beasts.

And if even Bloodline Users had such difficulty, then ordinary people stood no chance—those past ordinary demon hunters from the Red Soil Territory had relied on life-sacrificing experience to face magical beasts. So, of course, they valued legacy immensely.

The information on the Shadow Panther was something Ion had only seen in a brief record within the library of Baroness Anna’s lord’s manor. He knew it was a kind of magical beast that exhibited greater power at night, and was particularly fond of ambushing in dark environments to deliver fatal strikes.

From that sparse record and his own special crisis instinct, Ion suspected this was a magical beast that could, quite literally, hide within shadows.

So, the moment the fireball ignited, Ion knew he had bet correctly. At that instant, his attention instinctively focused on the shadows on the ground.

“There!” Akar’s eyesight was naturally keener than Ion’s.

When his focus locked onto the shadows formed by figures on the ground, he was the first to detect the abnormality.

Roda’s shadow was slightly more bloated than everyone else’s, entirely exceeding the outline of his body.

Ion didn’t hesitate at all. He raised his sword and thrust—his longsword, blazing with flame, stabbed straight into Roda’s shadow. The sensation of resistance fed back from the sword told Ion that he hadn’t pierced rock or soil.

In the next moment, flames erupted violently!

“Roar—”

A beast’s shrill howl suddenly rang out.

Immediately after, a panther-like creature, pitch-black all over, sprang from Roda’s shadow.

This entirely ink-black panther-like magical beast had a pair of violet-red eyes. A wound on its flank marked where the longsword had pierced it, and the blood flowing out was also black—as if the black blood too had become fuel for the eerie blue flames still burning at the wound. If not for those flames, no one would have noticed the beast’s blood was black.

At this moment, seeing the beast's appearance, everyone finally understood what the “dark” in “Shadow Panther” meant. And from this, they also guessed the meaning of “shadow”—it likely referred to its ability to hide in others’ shadows.

If it had returned to their camp while hidden in Roda’s shadow, and waited until nightfall to strike, none of them would have survived.

“Finish it quickly!”

Taking advantage of the fact that night hadn’t fully fallen and the Shadow Panther hadn’t reached its peak state, Ion gave a low shout and swung his sword again.

The beast’s eyes were filled with hatred as it looked at Ion.

With a sudden lash of its tail—

A sharp whooshing noise sliced through the air.

But strangely, after lashing its tail, the beast thrust it into the shadow beneath itself. In the very next second, from within another’s shadow, a segment of that whistling tail whipped toward Ion’s back.

“Boom—”

Amid the explosion-like sound, it was Roda who cried out in pain.

The tail had emerged from his shadow. The moment he saw it lashing toward Ion, he moved instantly.

But strangely, the shadow beneath him didn’t move with him. It was as if something had nailed it in place. With no better option, Roda used his body’s resilience and healing power to intercept the tail’s strike.

Even so, he hadn’t expected the sheer force of the blow.

His arms were nearly flayed, and even the bones showed signs of fracturing.

That gave a clear idea of the tail’s power.

Ion seized the opportunity while Roda blocked the attack to rush the Shadow Panther. He raised his longsword and slashed down again.

Having lost an arm, Ion’s balance was inevitably compromised.

So, he changed his combat style to one that ignored defense—trading injuries for injuries.

But what worked well against humans didn’t fare as well against magical beasts.

The Shadow Panther showed no fear. It knew only that this two-legged creature had hurt it and must pay. Though it wanted to lash out with its tail again, Ion was already in front of it. It was too late to use its tail, so it lunged forward in an attempt to bite him to death.

“Roar—”

Its pouncing roar and the stench in its breath didn’t deter Ion, but the beast’s speed exceeded his expectations. He managed to block the bite with his sword, but he was still knocked to the ground.

“Father!”

Akar, needing to maintain the fireball, had no hand free to shoot. He could only cry out urgently.

The two Bloodline Knights guarding Akar immediately charged the Shadow Panther, trying to pull Ion from its jaws.

However, the fastest counterattack came from the four members of the Shelf Mercenary Group.

“Throw the fireball!”

Aliman shouted as he charged forward with his spear. “Throw it above it!”

Akar hesitated for only a second before following Aliman’s instruction.

He didn’t trust the man, but he trusted Yam’s arrangement.

A shockwave burst through the air the next moment.

“Boom—”

Now with his hands free, Akar drew his bow as he sensed the shockwave rippling from the fireball he had thrown.

But one blast wasn’t enough to detonate it.

The Shelf Mercenary Group clearly realized this too, and multiple shockwaves rang out in rapid succession.

After four successive bursts, the fifth finally caused the fireball to explode!

As a rain of fire scattered like stars from heaven, Aliman thrust his spear directly at one of the Shadow Panther’s eyes.