The blue light faded, leaving Kai alone in the vast stone chamber. The statue's shattered remains lay scattered like a broken mountain, pieces still faintly glowing with leftover magic.
Kai wiped dust from his face, breathing hard.
He should've been terrified.
But instead…
He felt alive.
Stronger than ever.
Then the next notification appeared:
[NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: SHADOW EXTRACTION (Lv. 1)]
[Description: Allows the Player to pull the shadow of a defeated monster and convert it into a loyal soldier.]
A swirl of dark mist circled his hand again.
Kai stared at the rubble.
"Wait… can I extract from this thing.
The statue massive, terrifying, and legendary level was still lying there like a fallen titan.
If he could get this monster as a shadow soldier…
His power would skyrocket instantly.
He stepped toward the rubble.
Kai raised his hand. Shadows gathered around his fingers like ink swirling in water.
[SHADOW EXTRACTION: Activate?]
"Yes," Kai said.
A pulse of dark energy slammed into the broken remains.
The room shook.
The rubble twitched.
A deep crack split the ground.
but nothing rose.
Instead, a message flashed:
[Extraction failed.]
[Target too powerful for current skill level.]
Kai blinked.
"T too powerful? That thing was the size of a building!"
So Shadow Extraction had limits.
At least for now.
He looked around the chamber, searching for something else to extract.
That's when he noticed them.
Small stone guardians miniature versions of the giant statue littered around the room, smashed by debris from the final explosion.
They were weaker.
Much weaker.
Kai walked toward the nearest one.
"Alright… let's try again.
Kai pointed his hand at the broken mini guardian.
[SHADOW EXTRACTION]
The floor darkened.
A ripple of cold swept through the chamber.
Then the monster's shadow peeled off the ground like a sheet of ink lifting upward twisting, bending, reshaping.
It formed a small, armored humanoid figure made of pure black mist, glowing faintly with blue runes.
It knelt.
"Master…"
Kai's heart skipped.
The shadow soldier bowed its head, ready to serve.
A notification blinked:
[Shadow Soldier Acquired]
Name: None
Rank: Pawn
Type: Guardian Shade
Kai swallowed.
"I… actually did it."
He had a soldier.
A real one.
Following his command.
The weakest hunter in the world… commanding shadows.
The chamber began to tremble.
Stone cracked as a hidden passageway opened, revealing stairs leading upward and out of the dungeon.
Kai glanced at his new shadow soldier, which stepped beside him silently like a loyal knight.
"Let's go," he said.
The shadow nodded.
For the first time in his life, he wasn't walking out of a dungeon trembling.
He was walking out with power.
And everything outside
hunters, guilds, monsters, the government.
None of them had any idea what he had become.
But they would.
Soon.