Riven was certain she heard Dean's compassionate sigh in her heart when the robe on her chest was torn.
"I've been very restrained regarding the Shadow Order's relentless entanglement—after all, I escaped the Immortal Bastion's confines largely due to the chaos the Shadow Order caused." Dean rubbed his wrist, slowly bent down, "But why do you guys insist on chasing me?"
No Shadow Stream Assassin responded.
After the previous exchange, they had realized how troublesome Dean and Riven were, so they dared not attack rashly or speak. At this moment, the Shadow Stream Assassins merely circled the two in a besieging posture, slowly moving, seemingly trying to prevent them from leaving.
"You're waiting for the Navori Brotherhood's support, aren't you?" Dean continued, "Those militiamen are your support."
The Shadow Stream Assassins still didn't answer, but judging by the changes in their expressions, Dean's judgment was likely correct.
"To deal with dangerous enemies like us, who were originally not aggressive, you actively called in militiamen, putting them in meaningless danger." Dean sighed, "I've long heard that most members of the Shadow Order have become fanatical lunatics, and it seems that's indeed true."
Saying this, he turned and nodded to Riven: "Let's do it, quickly. We've captured a tongue; the rest will not be spared."
"You just said we should focus on breaking through." Although Riven raised her Runic Blade to attack as he requested, she clearly hadn't forgotten Dean's initial concealment of the entire plan, "Now you want to wipe them out?"
"I really hoped I could talk to the Shadow Order people." Dean shook his head, "Unfortunately, from the performance of these guys, they don't want to talk to me—if we drag it out, those militiamen will arrive, and that would be troublesome."
Upon hearing this, Riven swung her Runic Blade and nodded slightly—she understood Dean's meaning. If they delayed any longer, the militiamen who came to investigate would also be drawn into the battle, which was something neither Dean nor Riven wanted to see.
As the Runic Blade swung and iron fists flew, the besieging Shadow Stream Assassins quickly began to retreat, step by step. Although they could temporarily vanish into the shadows, they were still caught by Dean and given a good beating. In just a few moves, they showed signs of breaking ranks.
In this situation, the leading Shadow Stream Assassin finally seemed to make a decision and suddenly blew a whistle. Hearing this sound, the other three Shadow Stream Assassins became as if injected with adrenaline, desperately launching suicidal attacks against Dean and Riven, even at the cost of severe injury or death on the spot.
Unfortunately, although these three Shadow Stream Assassins intended to trade their lives for injuries, Dean and Riven remained completely unharmed until they completely fell and went silent.
Shadow Stream Assassins, accustomed to lurking in the shadows, were still a bit too strained when appearing in a direct fight.
However, it was precisely the madness of these three Shadow Stream Assassins that bought precious time for their leader.
The leader took out a transparent bottle from his waist pouch, in which a thick, inky, bizarre black liquid sloshed. Taking advantage of his subordinates' desperate assault, the Shadow Order's minor leader opened the lid and drank the liquid in one gulp.
So, when Dean and Riven quickly dealt with the three Shadow Stream Assassins and looked up again, what they saw was no longer a black-clad Shadow Stream Assassin. Instead, it was a twisted, deformed monster.
This monster still maintained a barely recognizable humanoid form, but its originally robust flesh and blood body, after drinking that bizarre black liquid, had also transformed into a semi-fluid as dark as the liquid itself.
Its gaping mouth was like a bottomless abyss, from which emanated both painful "ho ho" wails and furious shouts of "Tear's of the Shadow will Consume you!"
It's no exaggeration to say that this twisted monster was a terrifying nightmare that would make one's sanity drop just by looking at it!
Fortunately, both Dean and Riven were strong-willed individuals. Facing such a monster, Riven charged forward with her Runic Blade, swinging it down.
The heavy Runic Blade sliced across the monster's body, leaving a cut that almost severed it, but as the black, viscous liquid surged, the wound healed in the blink of an eye, like trying to cut water with a knife only to have it flow more freely.
Even more horrifying was that, although Riven's Runic Blade had struck the deformed monster, when she retracted her Runic Blade, its surface hissed and tiny bubbles appeared.
The monster's black fluid body could not only ignore physical attacks to a certain extent but also possessed astonishing corrosiveness, capable of corroding weapons in return!
The monster, having taken that blow head-on, wailed even louder. It instinctively shifted its target to Riven, took a step, and lunged at her, raising what looked like a fist and smashing it down towards Riven's head.
Riven naturally dared not directly confront such a bizarre attack and immediately chose to dodge sideways.
But what caught her off guard was that the deformed monster's fist abruptly vanished midway when it was halfway through its strike.
Gone?
No, it had shifted!
Realizing the danger, Riven unhesitatingly twisted her wrist, adopting a defensive stance with her Runic Blade behind her—a move she had perfected when dealing with various sneak attacks.
However, she had clearly forgotten a crucial detail: at this moment, she was not holding her usual Runic Blade, which was like a kite shield, but rather a makeshift Runic Blade she had reluctantly picked from the Jianpai's inventory.
The Runic Blade was not sufficient to block attacks from behind like a kite shield!
When she heard the whoosh behind her head, Riven realized something was wrong. This unexpected oversight seemed destined to become her death warrant today!
At this critical moment, Dean unhesitatingly raised his arm and grabbed the deformed monster's fist.
When the black liquid touched Dean's right hand, the skin on his body instantly became red and swollen.
The deformed monster let out a triumphant laugh: "You're the one I want, come here, become a sacrifice for Tear's of the Shadow with me!"
Although Dean struggled, the pitch-black fluid quickly enveloped him, leaving only the deformed monster's final words: "For the Shadow Order, for Ionia!"
Riven, turning around and seeing this scene, immediately had red eyes.
To be fair, her relationship with Dean wasn't particularly close; at most, they were travel companions who helped each other—but now, this travel companion had been Consumed by that disgusting black liquid while covering her. She instinctively raised her Runic Blade, wanting to disperse the black fluid and rescue Dean.
But just then, Dean's voice reappeared in her mind.
"Relax, I'm fine."
Riven's eyes widened in astonishment.
Then, she watched as the black deformed monster began to writhe wildly, as if suffering from indigestion—a few breaths later, the black liquid began to recede and compress, revealing Dean and another Shadow Stream Assassin wrapped inside.
Finally, the black liquid transformed into a single, pitch-black Tear's of the Shadow, which Dean held in his palm; and the Shadow Stream Assassin, whose skin was scorched red as if cooked, was carried on Dean's shoulder, seemingly lifeless.
"Quick, Riven, look for the sealing bottle he just dropped!" Dean shouted, holding the pitch-black Tear's of the Shadow, "I'm losing control of it... The Shadow Order's lunatics really dare to use anything!"