Shadow Weaver: Sole Heir Of The Night-Chapter 170: Moon bear

"I hate tunnels," Enzo muttered under his breath, eyes lingering on the jagged mouth carved into the earth.The rocky structure stretched deep into the ground, twisting and folding as it disappeared beneath several low hills, like a buried serpent refusing to be seen whole.

The entrance alone felt wrong.Stone pressed inward at odd angles, scraped raw by something far larger than any normal beast.

His tracking had led him here, to this long, winding stretch of tunnel where moonlight failed and sound seemed to die.Even the wind avoided the place, slipping around the hills instead of passing through them.

The air felt heavy.Old.

As though the earth itself was holding its breath, waiting for something to finish sleeping.

With the power of the spirit of the forest flowing through him, following the trail had been effortless.Roots bent aside for him, soil parted softly underfoot, and the land whispered without resistance.

Every crushed blade of grass told him of weight and direction.Every broken twig spoke of haste, of dragging mass and careless strength.

The forest remembered everything.It always did.

"Yes, I saw him dragging a body down the slope just there," a small beetle explained, its shell gleaming faintly as it crawled atop a stone.Its tiny legs tapped the dirt insistently as it pointed outward with a twitch of its antennae.

"He is preparing to sleep," the beetle continued."It is dangerous to go in there."

Enzo exhaled slowly.He did not thank the beetle out loud, but the forest heard the intent all the same.

The moon bear was entering hibernation.To the uninitiated, that would sound like safety.

A sleeping beast.A still target.

Unfortunately, this was the worst possible time to approach it.A moon bear never truly slept when it buried itself away.

Its body rested, yes.Its instincts did not.

"It’s fine. My mental fortitude is good," Enzo said quietly, a bitter smile tugging at his lips.Whether it was confidence or stubbornness, even he was not sure anymore.

Before hibernation, the beast layered the area with hunting illusions.False paths.Phantom threats.

Images meant to pull at fear, hunger, guilt, and regret.Illusions designed not to kill the body, but to unravel the mind.

Stepping into its domain was no different from willingly entering a maze built to kill.Those who panicked never made it back out.

Of course, there was always a chance the illusions had already faded.A small chance.

But Enzo had survived worse odds than that.

"Let’s see," he murmured.

He circled the clearing once more, senses stretched wide.No predators lingered nearby, no curious eyes watching from the treeline.

Only silence.Only waiting.

He settled beneath a thick tree whose roots rose from the soil like ribs.The bark was rough beneath his palm as he closed his fingers around a worn pendant.

The metal was cold, grounding.A reminder of focus, of control.

The forest hummed softly as he lay down, roots pressing against his back like silent witnesses.Leaves shifted overhead, filtering the pale moonlight into broken patterns.

His breathing slowed.The world softened at the edges.

Slowly, he went to sleep.

Night Vision.

It was a skill Enzo relied on often, one that had long since stopped feeling deliberate.Before any fight, before any unknown danger, his mind reached for it instinctively.

The waking world faded.The dream opened its eyes.

And so, he dreamt.

In that dream, the ground was a sickening mixture of coiling tentacles and damp moss.The surface pulsed faintly, slick and alive beneath an unseen rhythm.

Each step sent ripples through the earth, as though the cave itself resented being disturbed.The air tasted metallic, heavy with blood and rot.

The cave walls breathed faintly.Veins of shadow crawled along stone that should have been dead.

They twitched when he passed.They listened.

Deep within, a bear-like creature lay sprawled on the ground.Its massive body was torn open, fur matted dark with gore.

Blood leaked steadily from its gut, pooling beneath it and soaking into the living moss.The wound should have been fatal.

Yet the beast was far from still.

Its chest rose and fell in slow, powerful motions.Its claws twitched, gouging shallow furrows into the stone.

Its jaws worked steadily, relentlessly.Chewing through the flesh of a human arm with dull, wet crunches.

Bone cracked.Muscle tore.

The sound echoed endlessly, rebounding off the cave walls like a warning bell.

Enzo did not flinch.His expression remained calm, distant.

This was information, not horror.Emotion would only cloud it.

His vision drifted through the chamber, slow and methodical.Corners.Ceilings.Blind spots.

He measured distances, noted elevation changes, traced airflow.Every detail etched itself into memory.

Entering the cave would be dangerous.That much was certain.

What mattered was how dangerous.

Minutes passed within the dream, each second feeding him fragments of truth.The shape of the space.The rhythm of the beast’s breathing.

The absence of layered illusions gnawed at his attention.No false paths.No phantom threats.

That alone unsettled him more than their presence ever would have.

Eventually, Enzo stirred awake.The forest returned in soft fragments of sound and scent.

He rose to his feet, brushing dirt from his cloak.A single nod followed, more habit than gesture.

Then he began walking toward the cave.

Before long, he vanished into its mouth.His form dissolved as he merged seamlessly into the shadows, becoming one more darkness among many.

Not long after, another shadow reached the clearing.It paused where Enzo had rested, eyes narrowing slightly.

Sharp senses caught the faint traces he had left behind.Pressed grass.Disturbed soil.

A frown creased Liana’s face as her gaze lifted toward the cave.Her jaw tightened as she stared into its depths.

She did not like this.Not one bit.

Meanwhile, inside.

"Getting in isn’t the problem," Enzo muttered under his breath as he moved forward."Killing the tyrant is."

His steps made no sound as he advanced, shadows clinging to him like a second skin.Every few meters, he paused to listen.

His vision had confirmed it.The beast had not activated its hibernation illusions.

The path inward was disturbingly clear.Too clear.

That meant he could reach it safely.It did not mean he could fight without consequence.

The moon bear was wounded.But it was not weak.

Enzo knew better than to underestimate a tyrant.Even with his elevated rank, unless he invoked an echo of that rank, he would fail miserably in direct combat.

And invoking an echo always came at a cost.

So as he walked through the tunnel, he took every precaution he could.Subtle echoes bloomed and faded around him, silent scouts probing ahead.

He mapped escape routes in his mind, marking collapsible sections and narrow chokepoints.Every turn was memorized.Every shadow catalogued.

Enzo was prepared to go head to head with the beast.But he was not ready to die for it.

So when he noticed the shift, he hid.

The tunnel trembled faintly.Stone groaned somewhere deeper within.

"It’s leaving already?" Enzo whispered, pressing himself into the darkness.

Ahead, the massive shape of the moon bear moved through the tunnels.Its wounded bulk scraped against stone, claws leaving deep scars behind.

"No," Enzo corrected himself as recognition settled in."It’s going back into its cave."

The familiar chamber from his dream loomed in the distance.Instinctively, Enzo nodded.

The hunt was not over.It was only just beginning.

Wrapping himself in a cold armor that radiated death, Enzo activated shadow manipulation.Darkness bled from him, seeping into the stone like ink soaking through cloth.

From cracks in the cave walls, shadows peeled free and stretched outward.They twisted and thickened, forming long tentacles that dragged themselves into the open air.

They struck instantly.Coiling around the moon bear’s limbs, its torso, its neck, tightening with suffocating intent.

For a brief moment, the beast staggered.Stone groaned beneath its weight as the shadows anchored it in place.

Unfortunately, a tyrant was not weak.Not even wounded.

Without hesitation, the moon bear flexed its massive muscles.Power surged through its frame, and the shadows screamed as they were torn apart.

One by one, the tentacles snapped, shredded into nothing as if they had never existed.Fragments of darkness scattered across the cave walls before fading away.

The beast straightened.Slowly.

Its eyes burned as they panned toward the entrance of the cave.Toward Enzo.

"Roar!!!"

The sound was violent enough to shake loose dust from the ceiling.The cave trembled as the roar crashed into Enzo’s chest like a physical blow.

Then the moon bear moved.

It dashed forward with terrifying speed, claws tearing through stone as if it were soil.The distance between them vanished in an instant.

"Fuck!"

Enzo did not hesitate.He melted into the shadow beneath his feet and vanished.

A heartbeat later, he reappeared behind the beast, boots skidding against stone.A crossbow was already in his hands.

He fired.

Bolts screamed through the air and slammed into the bear’s back in rapid succession.The impact staggered it slightly as Enzo rolled away, hitting the ground hard before regaining his footing.

He came up low, breath steady, eyes locked on the target.

Unfortunately, the arrows had done little.The beast’s hide rippled as thick muscles flexed beneath the fur.

With wet, grinding sounds, the arrowheads were pushed back out.They clattered uselessly onto the cave floor.

The moon bear turned again.Slower this time.

"Keep your distance," Enzo muttered to himself.

He circled carefully, boots sliding over blood-slick stone, shadows clinging to his outline.His heart pounded, but his breathing remained controlled.

Staying awake was already becoming a struggle.He could feel it now.

The pressure.

The bear’s illusion prowess brushed against his mind, subtle and invasive.Whispers crept along the edges of his thoughts, trying to pull him inward.

Images flickered.Memories twisted.

Enzo clenched his teeth and forced them away.He would not let that happen.

Not here.Not now.