An Understated Dominance by Marina Vittori

“Damn! What the heck are these things? Why are there so many of them?

“I can’t kill them all! It’s like a relentless wave, one after another.”

“We have to find a way out. If we continue like this, we’ll exhaust ourselves and die here!”

“”The fog is everywhere. I can’t even see which way to go, and these shadows just keep coming. How can we find a way out?”

Chaos engulfed the Dragon Guard members, transitioning from disdain to shock and fear. Ultimately, it descended into despair. The issue wasn’t their incapacity to defeat the shadows but the absence of hope for survival.

With each shadow they vanquished, two more emerged, steadily increasing in numbers. As their comrades fell in each assault, the attrition pushed them closer to total annihilation.

To them, escape seemed impossible.

“Elder Reed, the situation is worsening. What should we do now?” The black- clad man, fending off enemies, sought assistance from the red-robed elder beside him.

The black-clad man had to fend off shadow attacks while navigating the surroundings carefully. A single misstep could leave him mired, restricting movement and making him an easy target for the shadows. After all, most of their fallen companions had succumbed to this trap earlier.

The red-robed elder replied irritably, ” Why are you asking me? Who the heck else should I turn to?”

If it were a simple fog formation, breaking it with his eye technique would have been easy. However, the complexity arose from an additional, more intricate layer of the formation over the fog.

eye technique to its limits, identifying a weakness remained elusive. At that moment, he found

the shadows didn’t present an immediate threat, being ensnared with no escape plan wasn’t

their elite subordinates succumbed, the red-robed elder would be helpless. Despite

lead

like this? When I escape, they’ll pay dearly with their blood!” the red-robed elder swore, persistently attacking the

hysterically, “Show yourselves, you cowards! If you’re

numerous challenges. Still, nothing had prepared

was a frustrating agony that he had never experienced

moment of madness, led his team in a futile charge. Despite their hopes, luck wasn’t on their

it an impossible feat. After a futile struggle, each of them was surrounded and killed by the

that initially numbered dozens was

“Ah!”

anger and descending into madness, frenziedly

in his path. However, instead of breaking the formation, this action only hastened the depletion of his energy. Before long,

relentless. Filled with

elder undertook a covert mission where discretion was paramount. This top-secret assignment was known only to a select few

moment, he suspected that there was a traitor within their ranks. In the area outside the formation,

situation within the array

light representing human lives were rapidly diminishing. Ultimately, only one light remained. Even that