My Goblin System : Levelling up with my SSS Class Devouring skill-Chapter 334

Richard had seen this attack too—his foresight had shown him both the first strike and this follow-up. He pivoted smoothly, dodging with minimal wasted movement, the blade passing harmlessly through the space he’d occupied a moment before.

"SHADOW STEP!"

Attack from the right. Richard dodged, his movements unhurried because he had five full seconds to react to each strike.

"SHADOW STEP!"

Attack from above. Dodge.

"SHADOW STEP!"

Attack from below, blade sweeping up toward Richard’s legs. Dodge.

"SHADOW STEP! SHADOW STEP! SHADOW STEP!"

Attacks kept coming, each one from a different angle, each one telegraphed five seconds in advance, each one dodged with what looked like casual ease.

But careful observation would have revealed something Richard hadn’t noticed yet.

The comfortable margin he’d had—two full feet of clearance on that first dodge—was shrinking.

Two feet became eighteen inches.

Eighteen inches became one foot.

One foot became six inches.

Six inches became two inches.

Because Satou wasn’t just attacking randomly. He was attacking faster. And faster. And faster.

"ENHANCED AGILITY—MAXIMUM!"

"ENHANCED REFLEXES—MAXIMUM!"

"ENHANCED SPEED—MAXIMUM!"

All three abilities pushed to their absolute limits, enhanced further by Bloodlust Form’s power amplification, driven by dragoblin physiology that was designed for explosive bursts of superhuman speed.

Ten strikes per second became twenty. Twenty became thirty. Thirty became forty. Each strike coming from a different three-dimensional angle, each one enhanced with void energy, each one potentially lethal if it connected.

Richard was dodging all of them—his five-second foresight showed him every attack pattern, showed him exactly where to position himself, showed him the optimal path through the storm of strikes—but his comfortable margin of error was evaporating like water on hot stone.

Two inches became one inch.

One inch became half an inch.

Half an inch became a hair’s breadth, close enough that void energy was pulling at his clothes, close enough that he could feel the temperature drop from Void Fang essence passing near his skin.

"Impossible," Richard’s chorus of voices said, and for the first time there was genuine strain in his tone. "Even knowing what’s coming five seconds in advance, I can barely—"

He didn’t finish the sentence because Satou suddenly changed tactics entirely.

"SHADOW MANIPULATION—MAXIMUM OUTPUT!"

The entire library section became pitch black in an instant. Not natural darkness—not the simple absence of light—this was something far more fundamental and terrifying.

This was the absolute void, the fundamental negation of illumination, shadow made solid and weaponized and given malevolent purpose. This was darkness so complete that it devoured light that tried to enter it, that consumed flames trying to illuminate it, that ate magical illumination like a hungry beast.

Absolute darkness that turned three-dimensional space into something that felt like drowning in ink.

But Satou wasn’t just creating darkness for concealment, wasn’t just using it to blind his opponent.

He was turning it into a weapon.

"SHADOW BIND—ENDLESS PRISON!"

Tendrils of shadow erupted from every surface—floor, walls, ceiling, bookshelves, even the air itself seemed to spawn grasping appendages made of living darkness. Not just dozens. Not just hundreds. Thousands of them, each one moving independently with predatory intelligence, each one enhanced with sovereign-tier shadow control that made them nearly indestructible.

The tendrils weren’t random either. They were coordinated, working together with hive-mind precision, creating attack patterns that would have required dozens of fighters to execute if they were independent entities.

Richard’s five-second foresight showed him the attack pattern. He could see exactly where each tendril would be, could calculate the safe path through them, could see the optimal route that would let him avoid all contact.

He began moving along that predetermined route, his temporal acceleration giving him plenty of time to execute the complex series of dodges and position shifts required—

The tendrils changed course mid-strike.

Not randomly. Not chaotically. But deliberately, intelligently, as if they’d known Richard would commit to that dodge pattern and had been waiting for exactly that.

Satou was using Shadow Manipulation combined with Combat Transcendence to alter the attack pattern after Richard had already committed to his dodge, after Richard’s foresight had shown him one future, creating a completely different future that the temporal perception couldn’t account for because it hadn’t existed yet when Richard had seen it.

Three tendrils wrapped around Richard’s legs like serpents, tightening with crushing force. Two more grabbed his arms, yanking them to the sides. Five more came from different angles—one wrapping around his torso, two more grabbing at his neck, two more trying to cover his face and blind him.

Richard’s response was immediate and desperate.

"AGE ACCELERATION—DECAY PULSE!"

Temporal energy exploded outward from his body, aging everything it touched. The shadow constructs that had grabbed him aged rapidly—a process that would normally affect physical matter by turning it old and brittle and weak.

But shadows weren’t normal matter. They aged strangely, incompletely, resisting the temporal effect in ways that solid objects wouldn’t. Still, the technique worked—the tendrils weakened, lost cohesion, began dissolving back into formless darkness.

Richard broke free, pulling his limbs from the decaying shadows.

But for every tendril that dissolved, three more appeared to take its place. For every shadow that aged into nothing, five more spawned from different surfaces. The endless prison lived up to its name—there was no end to the constructs Satou could create, no limit to how many times he could regenerate destroyed shadows.

"SHADOW BLADE—VOID FANG ENHANCEMENT!"

The blade thrust from the darkness, aimed directly at Richard’s heart, moving with blinding speed enhanced by Bloodlust Form.

Richard had seen this attack five seconds ago. His foresight had shown him exactly when it would come, exactly what angle, exactly how fast.

He twisted his body, temporal acceleration making the movement blur-fast—

"SHADOW STEP" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Satou repositioned mid-thrust without canceling the attack’s momentum. The blade that Richard had seen coming from the front suddenly came from forty-five degrees to the side, from an angle his dodge hadn’t accounted for because it hadn’t existed five seconds ago when his foresight had scanned the future.

Richard’s eyes widened—all his glitching versions showing the same expression of shock simultaneously—and he barely, barely got his temporal sword up in time to parry.