Shadow Seer (Rogue Merchant Book #3): LitRPG Series by Roman Prokofiev (read ebook pdf .TXT) 📕

“HotCat?” Fayana froze, startled by my appearance. “Where did you...ouch!”

A wave of icy wind passed over the hold, accompanied by a howl at the upper edge of my hearing. The lanterns blinked, and some of them went out like blown candles. Sharp weakness overcame me; my whole body felt numb, and a new line appeared in the log.

You are under the effect of Otherworldly Call! Your Dread was increased by 5!

My Dread was already at three, resulting in eight points—almost enough to paralyze. Thankfully, I had been wearing a four-point Estel gear set when Tormis yanked me out of Helt Akor, which served to cushion the blow. Still, even minus forty percent to all attributes was hard to bear, and Fayana was much worse off.

The girl went limp, as if unconscious, and slumped, but something kept holding her in the air. With my blurred vision, I saw her fade away, vanishing in the air while reaching out to me, pleading. What was going on?

Fayana Fly: Warning! Help me! I’m in the hold, attacked by an unknown creature! I’m under a debuff, shadow magic! It’s...it’s dragging me to the Shadow Plane!

So supreme shadows could take people with them? I realized that I didn’t know anything at all about these creatures, the danger they posed, or their skills. Maybe I had just let in an invincible predator capable of destroying the entire crew.

When I scrambled to my feet, the walls revolved around me—dizziness was still active. Too bad, really, but I had no choice, and I activated Shadow Travel. It would last only a minute, but that should be enough.

Yes, they were right there, just a few steps away from me. The creature had dragged Fayana into the Shadow Plane, wrapping her in multiple coils and ravenously consuming her. Blobs of energy split away from the Pioneer, and her shadow shell became less solid, while the shadow quickly grew in size.

One swing, one blow. I had no idea if my flaming sword worked here, but I saw no other option. Aelmaris flashed white, casting a circle of light. As it saw my blade, the supreme shadow hissed and started turning around to me, its hood inflating like a giant cobra’s. But I was too close. The blue blade slashed through the black coils around Fayana and cleaved the flowing hood on its way back.

You dealt 3500 damage to Belech, a supreme shadow. Souls eaten: +1!

Attention: you have absorbed the soul of a non-playing character unable to respawn!

A piercing shriek went off, followed by a howl, and the black smoke flew inside my blade. Two welcome pieces of news: a supreme shadow’s soul could be stolen and Aelmaris worked in the Shadow! I left the plane together with Fayana. Lying on my back and gasping for air, I read the combat log.

You are the first player to steal the soul of a creature from the Shadow Plane! Unique achievement unlocked: First Shadowcatcher! You receive 5 free attribute points! You receive 500,000 XP!

You dealt damage to a creature from the Shadow Plane! You are the 243rd player to do that! Achievement unlocked: Shadow Fighter! You receive 1 free attribute point! You receive 100,000 XP!

Attention: a shadow entity is sealed inside your sword. Your sword gains a new ability: Shadow Breath. When unsheathed, it inflicts Dread (3/10) on all surrounding characters.

* * *

“So you say you’ve escaped the resp circle?” Thrainul asked, squinting and nipping at his beard. “Will you tell us how? As far as I know, the Pandas are searching the island, looking under every stone.

“I have a surprise. I can enter the Shadow Plane. Did you see me disappear when fighting Yota? That’s how I escaped.”

“I see,” the captain said, scratching his protruding belly. “And where did the shadow monster on my ship come from?”

“It’s my fault. I used that shadow as a mount. It carried me here...and after that, I couldn’t overpower it. It seemed crazy...” I paused, trying to pick the right words. “It was ravaged by hunger; that’s why it started attacking. Sorry, Fayana.”

“No complaints from me,” the Pioneer said, looking at me with shining eyes. “HotCat saved us all by killing that creature.”

“I didn’t kill it, just sent it away,” I said, trying to avoid going into details.

“It doesn’t matter. I do regret losing six attribute points, though...” She sighed. “But I know how you can pay me back! Wow, the Shadow Plane! Did you know that it’s mostly uncharted? We, the Pioneers, have been searching a long time for a player who will explore it and classify the shadows. Any videos from there will be the bomb!”

“Hmm, I can try, I guess, but I can’t promise anything,” I said warily.

“Wait!” Thrainul said, waving. “So you brought that shadow here from the Stone Forest. Is that right?”

“Yes, it is. It’s been loitering in some deep half-flooded catacombs beneath the settlement.”

“Holy crap, it’s the Tormentor! An epic quest, the final one in a long chain given out by the local faction!” Thrainul blurted out in shock. “Many tried, but nobody ever managed to find that creature. So many NPCs died there! We thought it was a ghost. So you put it down? It should be one hell of a reward!”

“No, I just fended it off. It’s too early to talk about a reward.”

Thrainul let out a disgruntled croak, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. His entire expression told me: show me your log, buddy. I want to make sure that you really didn’t kill it but simply fought it off. I decided to change the subject.

“So what about our agreement, Captain? Will you take me to Scale?”

“I would’ve taken way more if I knew about the Pandas!” Thrainul replied. “But it’s a done deal. I will. We’ll get there in a day.”

“The