One SSS Affix per Level: My Novice Club Can Slay Gods!

At the center of Giantwood Town, the enormous black shadow of the tree continued to churn violently.

Countless monsters crawled out from the darkness, relentlessly battering the temporary defensive line.

Standing on high ground, Glen issued order after order. He split the shield soldiers between the two flanks, then commanded the archers to retreat nearly a hundred meters.

At first glance, these movements appeared designed to avoid the monsters’ frontal assault.

However, a gap was gradually opening in the center of the defensive line.

The wounded soldiers were forced to step forward and fill it.

Just as the entire formation was about to collapse, every monster suddenly froze in place.

The next second—

Bang!

Their bodies shattered one after another, crumbling into piles of gray-black residue that scattered across the ground.

The streets instantly fell silent.

At the center of the giant tree’s shadow, a gray portal slowly emerged.

The immense shadow covering half the town began to contract violently.

The crown.

The branches.

The roots.

Every trace of darkness receded like the falling tide, surging toward the portal.

In only a dozen seconds, the shadow of the giant tree vanished completely.

At the same time, the gray portal was dyed pitch-black.

Glen stared at it and immediately raised a hand.

"Everyone still capable of fighting, assemble immediately!"

"Shield soldiers, surround the entrance!"

"Archers, get onto the walls!"

The surviving soldiers dragged their injured bodies forward and swiftly formed a battle formation around the portal.

Glen stood at the very front, his longsword partially drawn from its sheath.

The black vortex suddenly began to ripple violently.

A figure stepped out first.

It was John.

Zoey and Nonoa followed closely behind him.

[You have left the special map: Land of Fading Silhouettes!]

[Corrosion of the Fading Silhouettes has ended!]

[Your lost core attributes are gradually recovering!]

The surrounding soldiers froze when they recognized the three of them.

Then deafening cheers erupted.

"They’re back!"

"Someone actually came out of the tree’s shadow alive!"

"The monsters have disappeared too!"

"We held the line!"

The soldiers raised their weapons high.

Some collapsed onto the ground and burst into laughter.

Several heavily wounded soldiers supported one another as they offered the three adventurers a formal knight’s salute.

John lowered his gaze and examined the gray-black residue covering the street. He could more or less guess what had just happened.

The monsters invading Giantwood Town had probably all been under Charon’s control.

Once Charon died, the shadow monsters that had crossed into this world lost the source of their Strength as well.

Glen sheathed his sword, stepped forward, and solemnly saluted the three of them.

"Thank you for everything you have done for Giantwood Town."

"Without you, this monster tide would most likely have broken through our defensive line."

John glanced at the surrounding soldiers.

The shield soldiers had gathered separately on both sides of the street.

Meanwhile, a large number of lightly armored soldiers lay wounded in the central area.

The formation looked somewhat strange.

However, they had just survived a brutal battle. It was normal for hurried battlefield deployments to become disorganized.

John did not think much of it.

"Take us to the mayor."

"We’ll explain what happened underground once we get there."

"Understood."

Glen turned and led the way.

As they passed the place where the giant tree’s shadow had disappeared, he glanced back at the black portal.

His gaze lingered for half a second.

Then he calmly looked away as though nothing had happened.

...

Inside the mayor’s office, Morris hurried to the entrance with the support of his cane after hearing that the three adventurers had emerged from the tree’s shadow alive.

The instant he saw John, his footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

"You’re all still alive?"

John looked down at himself, then glanced at the two girls behind him.

"What else would we be?"

"Surely you don’t think there are three ghosts standing in front of you?"

Only then did Morris realize that he had lost his composure.

"My apologies."

"Over the past ten years, no one who entered the tree’s shadow has ever returned."

"I simply wasn’t prepared for this."

He quickly invited the three of them to sit.

"But now is not the time to dwell on that."

"Please tell me everything you saw inside the tree’s shadow."

John did not conceal anything.

He began by explaining the special rules of the Land of Fading Silhouettes.

The world consisting solely of black, white, and gray.

The duplicated version of Giantwood Town.

The wandering souls of the town’s former residents.

The vast rows of coffins standing beneath the giant tree.

The projections left behind in the Shadow Realm by mages from the real world.

And Charon, the Shadow Realm general who had been exiled to the edge of the world.

John also revealed his own theory.

Ten years ago, Charon had used a large-scale teleportation spell to drag the giant tree, along with part of Giantwood Town at the time, into the Land of Fading Silhouettes.

The shadow of the giant tree left behind in the real world had become a passage connecting the two worlds.

Every monster tide since then had consisted of Shadow Realm creatures transported to the surface through Charon’s teleportation formation.

The fact that every monster on the surface had disintegrated following Charon’s death further supported this conclusion.

The more Morris heard, the graver his expression became.

"An entire giant tree was transferred into another world..."

"And a general of the Shadow Realm was involved as well."

He paced back and forth across the room.

"This is far beyond Giantwood Town’s ability to handle."

"I must personally travel to Sunset City and report everything directly to City Lord Raymond."

"There is simply too much to explain in a single request for aid."

Only after Morris finished speaking did John retrieve the black stone tablet from his Void Arsenal.

The moment it appeared, Glen’s expression changed almost imperceptibly.

"A Command Stone?"

John turned toward him.

"You recognize it?"

Glen answered immediately.

"Recognize it?"

"Over the years, we recovered several similar stone tablets while resisting the monster tides."

"However, they seemed to be protected by some special spell."

"The moment an ordinary person touched one, the tablet would immediately dissolve into black smoke."

As he spoke, he looked once more at the stone tablet in John’s hand.

"I didn’t expect one to remain intact in your possession."

Morris frowned.

"You recovered several of them?"

"Why have I never heard you report this?"

Glen fell silent for a moment.

"The tablets disappeared the moment they were touched."

"We were unable to recover any writing or obtain any reliable information from them."

"I assumed they were merely some kind of residue left behind by the monsters, so I didn’t consider them important enough to report separately."

Morris studied him for several seconds but did not press the matter.

He retrieved a silver-gray box from the depths of a cabinet and placed it on the desk.

Several runes capable of isolating magical energy had been engraved across its surface.

"Place it in here for now."

"I’ve never seen anything like it either."

"The Mage Association or the Holy See in Sunset City should have a way to identify it."

"When I meet the city lord, I’ll take it with me."

John placed the Command Stone inside the box.

Click.

The lid closed.

The runes across its surface lit up one after another, completely isolating the faint energy fluctuations emitted by the stone tablet.

Standing behind Morris, Glen lowered his gaze.

However, one of his fingers lightly tapped the hilt of his sword.

John continued,

"Have either of you heard of the Shadow Archer?"

Morris fell into thought.

"The Shadow Archer..."

He repeated the name several times before finally shaking his head.

"I’ve never heard of it."

"Is it a monster from the Shadow Realm?"

"One of Charon’s former subordinates."

John briefly explained,

"We came here for another quest as well."

"We need to locate and kill the Shadow Archer."

Morris replied helplessly,

"My apologies."

"That name has never appeared in any of Giantwood Town’s records."

The trail had gone cold once again.

Charon’s description had confirmed that the Shadow Archer truly existed.

The Command Stone pointed toward an agent operating on the surface.

However, the stone tablet could not yet be deciphered, and the mayor possessed no relevant information.

It seemed they could only wait until Morris reached Sunset City, then search for further clues through the city lord or the Holy See.

The three of them bid farewell to the mayor and left the administrative building.

Glen remained inside the room.

Just before the office door closed, John glanced back.

Glen was standing beside the box containing the Command Stone, speaking quietly with Morris.