My Goblin System : Levelling up with my SSS Class Devouring skill-Chapter 330

But Satou wasn’t there.

Shadow Step.

Satou appeared five feet to Richard’s left. No warning, no transitional movement—just instant repositioning through the darkness that connected all shadowed spaces.

Richard’s blade hit empty air, and the force of his swing left him momentarily off-balance. Satou’s Shadow Blade was already slashing toward his exposed ribs.

Richard’s temporal perception screamed warning. He saw the attack coming, saw the trajectory, twisted away with supernatural speed. The blade missed by inches, but the Void Fang essence along its edge created a vacuum effect that tugged at his robes.

They separated, circling.

"Fast," Richard admitted, his temporal magic already active, making his outline shimmer as he existed partially in multiple time states. "But I’ve seen fast before."

Satou didn’t respond with words. He attacked with Shadow Manipulation, creating tendrils of darkness that lashed out from six different directions simultaneously—two high, two middle, two low. Each tendril was as solid as steel cable and moved with serpentine speed.

Richard’s chrono-shield activated, a visible distortion in the air around him. The shadow tendrils slowed dramatically as they entered the temporal field, giving Richard time to dodge. He moved with time-dilated speed, his perception making the tendrils appear to crawl rather than strike.

But Satou had expected the dodge. While Richard focused on the tendrils, Satou used Shadow Step to appear directly above him, dropping from the ceiling with Shadow Blade extended.

Richard looked up—his temporal perception had shown him this attack was coming—and fired an age acceleration beam. The temporal energy lanced upward, aimed at Satou mid-drop.

Satou twisted in mid-air with impossible agility, the beam missing him by inches. He could feel the temporal distortion as it passed—the air itself aging rapidly, becoming stale and dead. If that hit him directly, it would age his body decades in seconds.

He used Shadow Step mid-fall, appearing behind Richard instead of above him. His blade slashed horizontally, aimed at Richard’s spine.

Richard spun, his time dilation making the movement blur-fast, bringing his temporal sword up in a perfect parry. Metal met shadow with a sound like reality cracking.

BOOM.

The shockwave from their clash rattled bookshelves and shattered nearby glass. Both fighters held the blade lock for a split second, testing each other’s strength.

Satou’s dragoblin physiology gave him raw power. Richard’s temporal magic enhanced his physical abilities beyond human limits. The result was a stalemate—neither could overpower the other directly.

They broke apart simultaneously, both recognizing that a strength contest would go nowhere.

Richard attacked next, creating temporal echoes—after-images of himself that persisted for several seconds. Suddenly there were five Richards moving through the library, each one appearing solid and real, each one attacking from a different angle.

Satou’s eyes tracked all five. His Dark Vision pierced through the visual deception, seeing that four were illusions and only one was real. But which one?

All five Richards attacked simultaneously. Temporal swords came at Satou from five different directions—a coordinated assault that seemed impossible to defend against.

Satou used Shadow Bind, creating grasping tendrils that grabbed at all five Richards. Four of the tendrils passed through echoes harmlessly—the after-images were visual phenomena, not solid matter. But the fifth tendril caught the real Richard’s leg.

Found him.

Satou Shadow Stepped toward that Richard, his blade thrusting forward.

But Richard had anticipated the counter. He aged the shadow tendril gripping his leg, making it decay and release him, then used time dilation to accelerate out of Satou’s strike path.

The Shadow Blade missed, and Richard counter-attacked with an age acceleration beam aimed at Satou’s chest.

Satou created a Shadow Manipulation barrier—a shield of compressed darkness. The temporal beam hit the barrier and began aging it rapidly. The shadows decayed, but not before Satou Shadow Stepped out of the beam’s path.

They were trading attacks now, both fighters moving at incredible speed, the exchanges coming so fast that watching them was like trying to track lightning.

Richard fired three age acceleration beams in rapid succession—targeting Satou’s head, chest, and legs simultaneously. Satou Shadow Stepped twice, dodging the first two, then created a shadow platform to leap over the third.

While in mid-air, Satou used Shadow Manipulation to create a dozen smaller shadow constructs—blades, spears, arrows—all launching toward Richard at once.

Richard’s temporal perception showed him the attack pattern. He activated his chrono-shield at maximum intensity, slowing all the shadow constructs to a crawl within his defensive zone. Then he methodically aged each one, turning them to dissipating darkness.

But while Richard was focused on the constructs, Satou used Perfect Stealth, becoming completely undetectable. He moved through the shadows Richard had just destroyed, repositioning without being seen or heard.

Richard finished destroying the last shadow construct and looked for Satou.

Satou vanished from Richard sights.

"Hiding?" Richard called out, his temporal perception scanning for future attacks. "That won’t save you!"

He created more temporal echoes, surrounding himself with defensive after-images. Then he began firing age acceleration beams in a sweeping pattern, trying to force Satou out of concealment.

Satou watched from his hidden position, studying Richard’s pattern. The beams were methodical, systematic—Richard was searching sector by sector, covering every possible hiding spot.

Professional. Experienced. But predictable.

Satou waited for the perfect moment—when Richard’s sweep pattern left a brief gap in coverage—then Shadow Stepped into that gap and attacked with Soul Strike.

The invisible attack bypassed Richard’s temporal shields entirely, striking his essence directly. Richard gasped, doubling over as void energy damaged something fundamental within him.

"Gah! What—"

Satou pressed the advantage. While Richard was reeling from the soul damage, Satou used Shadow Bind to create tendrils that wrapped around Richard’s arms and legs, restraining him.

Richard’s temporal magic flared, aging the tendrils rapidly. They decayed and fell apart within seconds—but seconds was all Satou needed.

Shadow Blade thrust forward, aimed at Richard’s heart.

Richard’s temporal perception saw it coming despite his pain and distraction. He threw all his power into time dilation, accelerating his perception to the absolute maximum. From his perspective, Satou’s blade moved in extreme slow motion, giving him just enough time to twist his body.