Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100 - Chapter 2091

Chapter 2091: Second Shadow!

Once he had collected enough Bronze Marks, Max didn’t waste any more time.

He headed straight for the far end of the second monolith, passing row after row of active battle arenas on his way to the enormous door that led into the Second Shadow Trial.

The closer he got to the entrance, though, the more he noticed something odd.

People were watching him. It wasn’t obvious enough to cause a scene, but it happened often enough that he couldn’t brush it off.

A Dragon Race genius standing near one of the arenas glanced at him, murmured something to the person beside him, and then looked back again. Two Angel Race participants did the same thing. A group of Primordials fell silent as Max walked past, and even several Spirit Race newcomers quietly tracked him with their eyes.

The attention wasn’t especially subtle to begin with, and the perception granted by his Dimensional Sovereign Body made it even clearer. He could feel every glance, every shift of attention, and every faint ripple of aura that came with recognition.

Max slowed a little, and then understanding settled in his eyes.

“So the news finally made it to the Ten Shadows Trial.”

He wasn’t surprised by that. The only thing that surprised him was how fast it had traveled.

After everything that happened in Bloodstone City, Max had already expected his name to spread across the outer layer. Far too many people had watched his fight with Greyjin, and the story of a Law Manifestation Realm cultivator casually crushing a Divine Lord Realm genius of the Dragon Race was exactly the kind of thing people loved to repeat.

Then there had been the ambush outside Bloodstone City. The devils and angels clearly believed they had killed him, and now Max had shown up at the Ten Shadows Trial alive and without a scratch. There was no chance that would stay unnoticed for long.

‘So they know.’F

Max’s expression stayed calm. If people wanted to stare, they could stare, since he had no intention of slowing down over a few rumors.

He kept walking until he reached the enormous door leading into the Second Shadow Trial.

The ancient structure towered above him, covered in inscriptions that ran deeper and more intricate than those on the first monolith’s door, and the pressure radiating from it was noticeably heavier as well.

Max stopped in front of the entrance, and a familiar system notification appeared.

[Would you like to challenge the Second Shadow Trial?]

[200 Bronze Marks will be deducted upon entry.]

Max answered right away. “Yes.”

The Bronze Mark on his palm glowed.

[200 Bronze Marks deducted.]

The space around him twisted, and then everything vanished.

When Max opened his eyes again, he was standing inside another isolated arena.

The surroundings looked almost exactly like the First Shadow Trial. Pale light fell across the battlefield beneath his feet, while everything beyond the arena’s boundary was swallowed by total darkness, and once again he couldn’t see anything past it.

He activated the Dimensional Sovereign Body, but nothing changed. His perception reached the edge of the arena and disappeared into the darkness exactly as it had before.

Max studied it briefly before turning his attention back to the battlefield.

A ripple formed ahead as darkness gathered, and a humanoid figure slowly took shape.

The Second Shadow.

Its body was completely black, with no face and no visible features of any kind. Unlike the first shadow, this one carried a long curved blade, and the weapon looked plain enough. At first glance, the shadow itself seemed unremarkable too.

Max quickly gauged its approximate level, which was the 2nd level of the Divine Lord Realm.

His brows shifted slightly.

‘Lower than the first shadow?’

That was unexpected. The First Shadow had shown power around the 3rd level of the Divine Lord Realm, yet this one seemed weaker in terms of pure cultivation. For a moment, Max wondered whether the trial scaled differently depending on the challenger.

Then the shadow moved.

There was no warning at all. Its foot touched the ground, and the figure vanished.

Max’s eyes sharpened as the curved blade appeared in front of him almost instantly.

Dragonheart flashed into his hand.

Clang!

The two weapons met, and the instant they did, Max’s expression changed.

A thin line appeared across his sleeve, and it hadn’t come from direct contact. It had come from the edge of the attack itself.

Max stepped back, and the shadow followed with another slash.

Max blocked.

Clang!

A sharp force traveled through Dragonheart, and his wrist trembled slightly. The attack wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful, but it was unbelievably sharp.

The shadow struck again, this time from the side, and Max turned Dragonheart to intercept it.

Clang!

Another thin line appeared across the stone floor behind him.

Max’s eyes narrowed as he finally understood.

The Second Shadow wasn’t built around strength, and it wasn’t built around speed either. Its combat instincts were good, though nowhere near the terrifying level the First Shadow had shown. Its real advantage lay somewhere else entirely, and that was sharpness, absolute sharpness.

Every attack carried an edge far beyond anything its cultivation realm should have been able to produce. The blade seemed capable of cutting through energy and through defenses, and to a certain degree it could even cut through space.

Max tested it carefully. He attacked from several angles, and the shadow blocked each one. When he put more force behind Dragonheart, the shadow simply redirected the blow and countered.

A slash passed close to Max’s shoulder, and he dodged it. Behind him, the air split open and a deep line carved itself into the arena floor dozens of meters away.

Max looked at it.

‘If that had landed…’

His expression grew more serious, because it would have hurt him. That realization alone made the Second Shadow far more dangerous than it first appeared.

Its cultivation sat at only the 2nd level of the Divine Lord Realm, its movements weren’t extraordinary, and its techniques weren’t complex. Even so, every single attack carried terrifying cutting power. Even Max, whose body had been tempered by the Seven Divine Veins and several powerful bloodlines, couldn’t simply ignore it.

They traded several more blows.

Clang! Clang! Clang!