My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 1019: Chapter 1021: The City That Would Rot

The rules Damon knew did not exist yet.

Not here. Not in this time.

But when night fell, instinct returned like an old scar aching before rain.

Mugu sat inside his tent, unsure whether to keep a light burning or hide in complete darkness, holding his breath and praying that none of the horrors he had seen during the day would come looking for him.

Above him, creatures leapt from tree to tree.

Branches shook. Leaves trembled.

Damon did not want to look up.

He already knew what they were.

Devil monkeys.

Seeing them would be bad.

But Damon was outside Mugu’s body for now.

So he looked.

They were just as hideous as he remembered long limbs, twisted backs, and faces that looked disturbingly human when the firelight caught them between the branches.

After much deliberation, Mugu chose to start a fire.

He crawled into his tent and arranged enough wood for it to burn through the night. He left a small slit in the tent fabric, just wide enough to see the flames so he could feed the fire without stepping outside.

Beyond the glow of the fire, shapes lingered in the tree line.

They watched him.

Kept him company.

They did not approach.

Not yet.

Because he had not acknowledged them.

Mugu closed his eyes.

Laughter echoed through the woods sharp, childish, mocking.

He did not move.

Sweat ran down his face. His fingers dug into the fabric of the tent.

Unlike Damon’s old party, who had once been too exhausted to stay awake and paid dearly for it, Mugu did not sleep at all.

He did not take that risk.

But he also knew he could not survive like this for long.

So when the sun rose, Mugu did not leave.

He slept.

He slept through the morning and woke at noon.

Damon chuckled softly.

How clever.

The horrors were most active at night, so he slept during the day and traveled when the sun was highest.

Even so, the day was far from safe.

Mugu had more than a few terrible encounters.

Once, devil monkeys nearly captured him.

Another time, a pale white creature trapped him inside a living cocoon that pulsed like a heartbeat.

He spent three days standing in a daze, staring at a tree, because something inside it wanted to be noticed.

At one point, small eyes began to grow across his skin because a creature nearby wanted him to look at it.

It took him a month to finally find his way out of the Duhu Mountains.

When he did, he stood before a bridge.

After everything he had endured, Mugu had reached First Class.

He had gained a class Damon had never heard of before.

Wanderer.

Damon glanced back at the mountains and exhaled slowly.

’This place is far worse than I remembered.’

Mugu stepped onto the bridge.

His intuition screamed at him not to look down, no matter what he heard.

This bridge was different from the one Damon remembered. There was no mist. No wandering mist people.

No surprise.

The events that would create them had not happened yet.

But as Mugu crossed, something else occurred.

A mental trial.

Visions forced their way into his mind, making him relive things he had buried deep within himself.

He walked through it without stopping.

His face did not change.

His steps did not falter.

And when he finally reached the other side, three knights were waiting for him.

""Halt."

The knights raised their hands as one, steel shifting softly as they stepped into Mugu’s path. Surprise edged their voices.

Mugu stopped.

He studied them in silence, shoulders squared, feet planted. Part of him expected blades to be drawn or demands to be made. Instead, the three men simply stared at him as if something impossible stood before them.

"You... you came from that direction?"

Mugu gave a single nod.

His face had lost the softness of youth. Hard lines had settled around his eyes and mouth. A strange stillness clung to him, an aura that made even the armored knights uneasy. His gaze did not wander. It did not flinch. It felt as though nothing in this world could move him anymore.

He was a man who had walked through the Duhu Mountains without a path.

A pioneer without knowing it.

This was where the legend of Mugu began.

"Yes," he said calmly. "Is something the problem?"

"You crossed the Duhu Mountains and the bridge... alone?" one knight asked, his voice lowering in disbelief.

"Yes."

The three knights exchanged glances, then looked back at him with a mixture of awe and discomfort.

"What a strange man," one muttered under his breath. "You actually came from there. And you are heading to Lysithara. No... you are already past the forest and marsh. The city is not far."

He tried to smile, but it came out strained.

"By the two goddesses, we have to report this," another knight said quickly. He turned to the youngest among them. "Thren, you are a rookie. Take the griffin and this young man. Get him registered. I will contact the captain."

The younger knight snapped a salute and motioned for Mugu to follow.

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

’So this is Thren.’

When Damon had met and killed him, Thren had already fallen to corruption. Seeing him now, young and earnest, felt strangely unsettling.

The knight in charge pulled out a small communication device and spoke into it. A voice answered from within.

Mugu’s eyes widened. He had traveled far, but he had never seen magic used like that.

"They do not have communication devices in this era," Ashcroft said calmly. "Lysithara is the exception. They build what others cannot imagine."

Damon scoffed, but excitement stirred within him.

Lysithara.

He would see Valerie again.

Even if she was only a memory shaped by fate and the Black Box.

Thren led Mugu toward the trees. Mugu followed cautiously, his hand never straying far from his weapon. When they reached a clearing, several griffins waited behind the foliage.

Thren brightened immediately. He pointed proudly to a large griffin resting in the shade.

"This is Strider. He is mine."

Mugu stiffened and instinctively stepped back.

"A monster... you keep a monster?" he asked, his voice controlled though his eyes betrayed his shock.

Thren laughed.

"These are the cheap kind. I am not a full knight yet, so I do not get a wyvern or a great griffin. Just an average one. But one day I will be a knight acknowledged by Lady Valerie."

Damon’s heart thumped at the name.

Right. Thren was low ranked. How did Valerie know him so well later? There had to be a reason.

"Who is that?" Mugu asked.

Thren’s mouth fell open in exaggerated disbelief, then he chuckled.

"You will find out. She is one of the sages of this city. A teacher. A warrior. Someone everyone respects."

He reached out and offered Mugu a hand to help him onto the griffin.

For the first time in a long while, Mugu hesitated not out of fear, but because something about this moment felt... right. As if he had finally arrived where he was meant to be.

As they mounted, Mugu asked the question that had been weighing on him.

"Can I become stronger here?"

Thren laughed as Strider beat his wings and lifted them above the trees.

"This is Lysithara. You can become anything here."

Wind rushed past Mugu’s face as they climbed higher. The forest fell away beneath them, revealing a massive city beyond. Its gates towered over the land, countless magic seals shimmering along its walls like constellations.

Mugu’s eyes widened.

"Wow," he breathed.

Thren grinned.

"Yeah. Wow is the word. I have lived here my whole life and it still amazes me. This is our city."

He gestured proudly ahead.

"The city of Lysithara. Path of kings."

Then he glanced back at Mugu.

"Here, anyone with enough will can write their own legend and change the world. How far can your will take you?"

Mugu slowly clenched his fist, eyes fixed on the city.

"To the end."

"Thren laughed loudly.

"Hahaha, you are crazy. That is exactly the type of people this city has. I am normal, by the way."

Damon drifted to the side, watching Thren with mild curiosity, but his attention remained on Mugu.

Thren lifted a hand and pointed ahead as Strider glided through the air.

"You see that giant metal control tower? It is filled with strange magic devices. It was built by Vulcan. Do not call him lord though. He hates that. We still do it behind his back because we respect him too much."

He pointed again toward another structure rising in the distance.

"That one was built by Lady Valcara. She is a master of foresight. They say she can see the future."

As the griffin descended toward the city walls, Thren continued excitedly pointing out landmarks, barely giving Mugu time to process any of it.

They finally landed in a wide training square paved with stone. Thren hopped down first, barely containing his excitement. He raised his hand and waved toward a tall marble tower nearby.

"Captain. I found someone new. He came from the Duhu Mountains and crossed the bridge to get here."

The moment the words left his mouth, the sound of training stopped.

Blades lowered. Conversations died. Dozens of eyes turned toward Mugu at once.

He stood still, not used to this kind of attention.

Then a voice boomed from above, echoing across the square.

"What did you just say? Someone was crazy enough to come through the Duhu Mountains?"