Chương 68: Shroud

Gozen pulled up his status sheet and selected the Transmit Voice icon at the very top. Boy! If you don't want to succumb to Mana Overload, you have to listen to me this time! His voice exploded inside Gray's skull. Pierce your core open! A single strike from a mere steel blade won't be enough, so you must persevere. Create an exit point for the mana! What? Gray winced and clutched his temples. Mana Overload? What is that? We don't have time for explanations. Just do it! Gozen snapped.

"Y-yeah. Okay." Gray's hands trembled as he reached into his dimensional ring and drew out one of the Granite Soldiers' swords. A heavy grunt came from the doorway before he could act. William was already pushing himself off the floor.

"Just send me to space, why don't ya!" he shouted, brushing dust from his armor. Gray needed to buy himself a few more seconds. Before turning the blade on himself, he activated Gravity Well one last time. A vortex ripped open flush against the ceiling, and the sudden pull tore William off his feet, hurling him upward until he hung suspended a foot beneath the swirling mouth of the spell.

Even at full force, the suction couldn't drag his armored bulk completely into the typhoon's eye, but it was enough to stall him. Gray forced his attention back to the marble sword in his hands. The weapon was too long to aim properly at his own chest, so he gripped it at the base of the blade instead. Its sharp edge bit into his palms, and warm blood trickled down his hands. He planted the tip against his sternum. His jaw clenched. His eyes squeezed shut. His arms tensed— Clang.

The sword slipped from his grasp and clattered against the curved floor of William's mana sphere. His arms hung uselessly at his sides. He couldn't feel them. Couldn't move them. The faint tingling that had been crawling through his nerves suddenly erupted into blistering agony, racing through his veins like molten fire. His knees buckled beneath him, and he collapsed onto his side, his cheek striking the hard surface of the barrier. Yet the impact barely registered—he couldn't feel his face, either.

At the edge of his vision, Gray caught sight of his exposed ankle. The flesh was no longer its usual pale pink; it glowed a vivid cobalt blue. He dragged his gaze toward his paralyzed arms, sprawled across the floor, and found them carrying the same unnatural hue.

"Oh? What's this?" William landed roughly on his feet as Gravity Well expired.

"Are these the side effects of signing a deal with the devil?" He walked closer, amusement sharpening his voice.

"You just broke the fundamental law of cooldowns! Of course there are consequences. You—" William's words died in his throat. Thin wisps of smoke began curling from Gray's body. At first they were faint and translucent, but they thickened quickly, darkening into pitch-black vapor that spread through the enclosed mana sphere. Beneath the churning haze, the cobalt glow began to recede.

The unnatural color drained from Gray's flesh vein by vein, as though the smoke were siphoning the excess mana straight from his body and carrying it to the surface. Healthy color slowly returned in its wake. Then sensation came rushing back. Gray flexed his fingers once, then again, curling them into tight fists as feeling returned to every joint and muscle.

He planted his palms against the floor and pushed himself upright, but the instant he regained his footing, a system prompt materialized in the center of his vision. Vessel in dire condition. Legacy of Shroud has been unsealed. Shroud [Legacy] Toggle Cooldown: None Passive: Envelop mana and system constructs within your shroud, smothering them into oblivion. Cost: The user is not immune to Shroud's effects and must maintain its aura while the ability is active. Soul Blade Effect:??? The legacy ability.

It was the same spell that had remained locked after Gray redeemed his fourth-level ability shard. Now, the system's censorship had finally lifted. The knowledge of the spell's application etched itself into his mind the moment it unsealed, and with that understanding came a realization that made everything click.

The signs had been there all along: Gwen struggling to clear his smoke cloud inside the department store, the Goblin Archmage's fireball fizzling out at the club, Ivan's enchanted chest plate withering into nothing. Gray wanted to dissect the exact mechanics of his new legacy right then and there. What did the system mean when it said he wasn't immune? Did Shroud affect every trace of smoke he produced? What about Shroud Domain—would any spell cast inside the dome simply be smothered on the spot?

And if he entered the WraithForm, would he become some kind of floating, magic-nullifying ghost? Before he could test any of those theories, another prompt materialized in his vision, half-obscured by the pitch-black vapor swirling around him. Thanks to his ability to see through smoke, though, the words remained perfectly clear. DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE, KID?! The text appeared in all caps as Tim's voice thundered directly into Gray's mind. YOU CAN'T HANDLE THAT POWER AT YOUR RANK!

YOU NEED AT LEAST A PEAK CONSTITUTION TO WITHSTAND IT! Gray flinched at the sheer volume of the voice shrieking in his mind. What?! Why can't I handle it? Seems to me like I'm doing just fine. It even saved me from that mana sickness. He turned his arms over, inspecting the healthy color that had returned to his skin. Such a naive kid. Your smoke will slowly devour the mana stored inside your spell pockets. Then, it'll consume the pockets themselves. And finally, your mana core will be smothered into nothingness.

You're dead. Dead! Tim's anger gave way to bitter regret. If I'd known what that elixir would've done, I would've severed the finger wearing your dimensional ring, even at the cost of my own vitality. Why would you drink anything given to you by that walking salad?! Gray frantically swatted at the smoky tendrils clinging to his flesh, but they slipped through his fingers and continued curling around his arms. You think I wanted to? I didn't have a choice! Did you know this text is from a different site?

Read the official version to support the creator. No choice, he says. Tim scoffed. I gave you a choice: avoid your brother at all costs. And you ignored me. Now look at the mess you've gotten yourself into! Gray curled his fingers into tight fists. You know what? Fuck you, you sentient AI psychopath. I liked you better when you were just a floating blue box of text. I'll deal with this myself. Turning off an ability can't be that difficult. Ha! Tim snorted. There's no turning it off, kid.

The only way to keep your insides from being eaten alive is to either subdue the legacy or get knocked unconscious so the power shuts down on its own. In other words, you're out of luck! It took Rai ages to master the power of Shroud, and he unlocked it at the Peak Rank. I highly doubt asking your beefy friend over there to knock you unconscious is a viable option, either. A long, defeated sigh echoed through Gray's skull. Oh well. Doesn't matter now.

Having to wait five years to replace a rabid vessel like you was probably the best outcome anyway. The system window shattered into a thousand glowing pixels. Gray tried to deactivate the power, straining to smother the sinister aura pouring from his body, but Tim was right. It wouldn't stop. A sharp burn suddenly flared deep inside Gray's chest—nothing like the Mana Overload. If that had felt like his lungs were slowly filling with water, this felt as though someone were pumping them full of toxic gas.

Between unlocking the legacy and arguing with the system, he hadn't noticed William fleeing through the doorway. Strangely, the tank hadn't tried to challenge him head-on; perhaps even William knew better than to charge blindly into something he didn't understand. If this was going to be Gray's last stand, he would make it count. He had to save Hyun, and he couldn't do that while trapped inside a mana bubble. If he couldn't shut the legacy off, then he would embrace it instead.

Shroud The limp wisps drifting from his skin thickened at once, twisting into heavy tendrils before erupting outward in violent plumes of flame. Deep within his core, a tiny black will-o'-the-wisp had ignited beside his other spell pockets, occupying the same domain. The instant Gray activated the legacy, that shadowy flame swelled into a raging inferno, its edges creeping toward the neighboring pocket until it consumed the pocket whole. Seconds later, a notification flashed across his vision.

The ability "Wraith" has been corrupted. Mana pool has dissipated. Spell unavailable. Gray's pulse spiked. He had to move. He raised a palm, drew power from his Shroud Mastery pocket, and unleashed a plume of smoke inside William's mana sphere. The familiar charcoal-gray vapor was gone; in its place spilled smoke of a deep, onyx black. The moment it touched the mana barrier, the construct began to melt away.

A harsh sizzle filled the enclosed sphere as holes spread across its glowing surface, and the smoke chewed through layer after layer until the structure could no longer hold itself together. With a sharp crack, the entire bubble collapsed into thousands of blue mana particles. Gray thrust out a hand, recalled Tobari into his grip, and sprinted through the doorway after William, emerging only a few feet behind him. Another notification appeared. The ability "Gravity Well" has been corrupted.

Mana pool has dissipated. Spell unavailable. The Vanguard was already closing in on Hyun. Under normal circumstances, William could have used his barrier to crush Gray's helpless brother on the spot. Instead, a black shadow crawled over William's shield as he activated his armament ability. Gray relaxed his shoulders in relief. Breaking out of the mana sphere had forced William's barrier skill into a cooldown.

After being imprisoned inside that domain like a caged animal, Gray found it only fitting to return the favor. Shroud Domain Black vapor hissed from his chest, then exploded outward in the same sequence. The storm cloud expanded in a violent rush, swallowing William, Hyun, and Gray in seconds. This domain bore little resemblance to the one Gray had used before—the familiar ash-gray haze was gone, replaced by an impenetrable pitch-black that smothered the world around them.

Tendrils of darkness crawled over Gray's body, swallowing his limbs, torso, and face until his physical form dissolved into the same abyssal hue as the smoke surrounding him. Freed from gravity's pull, Gray shot into the air. Below, William skidded to a halt and raised his shield, settling into a guarded stance. He turned in a slow, wary circle, searching for the threat concealed beyond the black haze. Then the smog reached his lungs.

William doubled over, coughing violently into his fist as Shroud invaded his airways. With each breath, the smoke seeped deeper, slipping into his bloodstream and following his mana circuit toward the core. The corruption found William's shadowy-black spell pocket first. A thin tendril of Gray's smoke slithered toward the suspended construct, coiled around it, and tightened little by little, growing denser with every breath William drew—until it swallowed the spell pocket whole.

The ability "Vanguard's Armament [Legacy]" has been corrupted. Mana pool has dissipated. Spell unavailable. The ebony sheen of mana coating William's frame flickered out, stripping away his outer layer of magical defense.

"What? What the hell is happening?" William shouted, yanking his fist away from his mouth. Before he could continue, the black smoke burrowed deeper into his airways and dragged a dry, ragged cough from his throat. Gray had once believed his smoke was only good for hiding—concealment, nothing more. The affinity had always been useful, but after seeing what his shadow clone could accomplish with the Mistveil class, he couldn't help feeling inferior. Until today.

His true path—the legacy of Shroud—was more devastating than anything he could have imagined: the power to neutralize other powers entirely, to erase mana, to dismantle the system's own constructs. He was an anomaly within it. A glitch. A bug. It was a shame he was going to die today before he could discover where that path led. But if the legacy intended to devour him from the inside out, then Gray had one last task to finish before it did. Another notification flickered across his vision.

The ability "Damage Repulsion" has been corrupted. Mana pool has dissipated. Spell unavailable.

"What are you doing to me?!" William staggered backward, panic creeping into his voice.

"It's this smoke, isn't it?!" He broke into a desperate sprint. Gray was running on borrowed time. Shroud was actively consuming him from within, but worse, his Wraith form had begun to deteriorate. He could feel the edges of his ethereal body losing cohesion, and numbness crept through his fingers and toes until all sensation vanished. Shroud's penalty was absolute: it smothered all mana and system constructs into oblivion, and Gray's Wraith form fit the criteria.

If he remained like this much longer, there might not be anything left of him to turn back into. But before surrendering the advantage, he intended to exploit every second of it. Gray dove. His smoky form rocketed toward the Vanguard's retreating back. If Gray was going to die a gruesome death, William was coming with him—for every vile word he had spat about Hyun, for imprisoning Gray like an animal, and for hanging him upside down in chains.

Unlike his fight with Nabi, Gray didn't angle the concealed blade toward William's spine. That would have been too merciful. Abandoning all finesse, Gray accelerated with everything he had. His Wraith form slammed silently into William's back. The Vanguard's sharp grunt and the shriek of steel-plated armor scraping across pavement were the only sounds that pierced the silent domain. The instant they collided, Gray snapped back into flesh. Thankfully, his hands and feet came back with him.

William scrambled to recover, pushing himself onto his hands and knees, but his ragged breathing abruptly hitched as a crushing pressure seized his throat and clawed its way down into his chest. Hollow Gray manifested a dense cloud of toxic vapor directly over William's face—the same poison he had used against Ivan. His expression went cold, his eyes hollow, as he approached the choking Vanguard.

"Turn around and look at me." Gray's voice was calm. William hammered a fist against his chest and swatted frantically at the haze clinging to his face. Each desperate swipe scattered the vapor for only a moment before it rolled back in even thicker. Still coughing, he staggered toward the edge of the domain in a desperate bid to escape. Gray was already one step ahead of him. Tobari hovered beside him.

At its master's command, the Soul Blade trembled with a high-pitched hum, pivoted sharply in midair, and aligned its tip with William's retreating calves. Then it launched. The blade weaved through the crevice in the back of the Vanguard's knee and impaled the flesh beneath. The strike wasn't lethal. It didn't need to be. William's leg buckled beneath him. He lurched forward and crashed onto the pavement. The tank had finally reached his limit.

He planted both hands against the ground and tried to rise, but his arms shook violently beneath the combined weight of his body and armor until his elbows gave out. His face slammed against the pavement, and the heavy plates of his armor settled with one final scrape. William went completely limp.