When the shadow's claw fell off, three black HP bars appeared next to its head, with a black cursor above them displaying the words "Shadow Phantom Demon"—clearly, even the HP and name were made of shadow.
"Weren't we supposed to attack the shadow?"
Seeing Asuna's attack succeed, Akimi began forming some guesses about the Shadow Phantom Demon's abilities—it had a physical body and could use shadows as a medium to attack them, but they couldn't harm it simply by striking its shadow.
Earlier, when Akimi attacked, the demon's shadow had clearly grown larger—that was because it had moved closer to the light source to avoid the strike.
Asuna's Horizontal Square Slash, however, covered a wider range, so the demon hadn't been able to dodge in time.
From what he had seen so far, the Shadow Phantom Demon made no sound when moving, so determining its position still relied on watching the shadow.
Once Akimi grasped the key to the problem, he felt he had a rough plan.
But just as he was about to attack, he realized the demon's shadow had vanished from the wall in front of them—only his and Asuna's shadows remained.
To say it "vanished" wasn't quite accurate—the shadow had simply shifted from the wall in front of them to the wall behind.
After scanning the room, Akimi located it again, only to be struck by another surprise—at the moment, only one candle around the edge of the room seemed to be the true light source.
But a single candle couldn't possibly cast shadows on opposite sides of the room… unless it were positioned in the very center.
"What on earth… is going on…"
Akimi furrowed his brow again.
Every time he thought he'd figured out the demon's ability, it would immediately do something to overturn his theory.
The constant contradictions were giving him a headache.
While Akimi was still trying to deduce the demon's true ability, its shadow on the wall suddenly moved.
With no time left to think, he could only react on instinct—dodging its attack, then using the shadow's position to roughly judge where it was before unleashing a Water Surface Slash in an attempt to hit it.
But just before his strike could connect, the demon's shadow shifted again—this time to the wall on the right.
Without question, his attack missed.
As it shifted back and swiped its claws at him, Asuna intervened, forcing it to retreat.
"Damn it…" Akimi cursed under his breath.
Experience let them guess the demon's location most of the time, but not always—and one wrong guess could be fatal.
Without fully understanding its ability, they couldn't mount an effective counterattack.
The Shadow Phantom Demon wasn't about to give them a break.
It lunged at them again…
After nearly ten minutes of fighting, Akimi's momentary lapse in attention let the demon land a kick, slamming him into the wall.
During those ten minutes, aside from Asuna cutting off the Shadow Phantom Demon's claw at the start, the two of them hadn't managed to injure it again.
Instead, they had taken quite a few hits, and both of their HP bars were already down to half.
Watching the darting shadows all around, Akimi felt like his brain was about to overheat—Just what exactly is this demon's ability…?
As he wiped the bridge of his nose, preparing to try something again, he suddenly realized he was standing on top of one of the candles.
But instead of burning him, the flame was actually holding him up—and still burning normally!
Akimi froze for a moment.
Slowly, he reached out toward the candle's flame… there was a burning sensation, but his HP didn't drop at all.
"These candles… are fake?"
That discovery sent his mind racing, linking together all the clues and situations from before.
"Candles… shadows… Shadow Phantom Demon… I get it!" Akimi's eyes lit up.
Blocking the demon's strike with his blade, he called out to Asuna:
"Everything in this room—aside from the demon—is an illusion!
The moment we stepped in here, its illusion technique was already in effect!
Everything in the room has been under its control from the start.
That's why when we entered that tunnel and thought we'd looped back around, we were actually just walking in place!
When I swung my Nichirin Blade at the wall and hit nothing, it was because I was actually striking the door—but the illusion made me think it was a solid wooden wall!
And the reason we couldn't see the demon wasn't because it could turn invisible—it's just that we were unable to see it.
Its shadow could appear anywhere because inside this illusion, it can freely shift the true position of the light source.
So, in short—this demon's ability is to construct illusions and use them to harm us.
The shadows were just decorative flourishes for its power!
And judging from the damage its attacks have dealt so far, its stats are low—it probably can't kill us instantly even with a hit to a vital spot!"
After explaining the Shadow Phantom Demon's ability in one breath, Akimi smiled confidently while Asuna was still stunned.
He leveled his Nichirin Blade before his eyes, closed them, and said:
"Now that I know this… taking you down will be simple!
Water Breathing—Full Concentration! Water Flow Perception—"
"Tenth Form: Constant Flux!"
A blue water dragon surged toward a specific spot.
In its wake, the room's tunnels, candles, and shadows all shattered like glass—along with the demon's body.
"If my Water Flow Perception skill hadn't been level up after the last boss fight, taking this demon down would've been a real headache," Akimi said as he sheathed his blade.
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