The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 99

Chapter 100
Spell Card: Shadow Cloak
Eivass hadn’t expected Yulia’s reaction to be so intense after just a week of school and returning home.
But Yulia was strong-willed and determined. Upon seeing Eivass, she refused to let him leave, clinging to him and insisting he recount everyone he met and everything he experienced at school. Her reasoning was sound, leaving Eivass speechless—
Yulia asked him, “Is school such a dangerous place that you’ve been targeted for assassination twice in a single week of attending?”
She was so right that Eivass was momentarily at a loss for words.
Eivass could only sit by her bedside and talk Yulia through the entire week’s events.
As they talked, Yulia couldn’t help but start to yawn softly.
Yulia’s biological clock was akin to a primary school student’s. She could only stay up late when studying, but typically, nine o’clock was her cue to get ready for bed.
Yulia had a sharp mind, and usually, she couldn’t go out, so she spent her time quietly reading at home.
Much like Eivass, who was obsessed with Demonology but talented in the Path of Devotion, Yulia also possessed both interest and talent in the Occult. Her focus, however, leaned more toward Astrology, Alchemy, and Preservation Technique—she was far more talented in Alchemy than Eivass.
Although Moriarty Manor housed a considerable number of Occult books, the Nine Great Paths were not well-balanced. Mystical knowledge concerning the Path of Beauty, Transcendent Path, and Twilight Path was nearly nonexistent, while extensive resources were available for the Path of Balance, Path of Wisdom, and Path of Authority.
Especially the Path of Balance… Old Moriarty seemed to be an Extraordinary of the Path of Balance, but he had never showcased his Alchemy skills in front of his adopted children. Thus, Eivass had no idea about his exact level.
—If it weren’t for the Phantom Demon residing within her, preventing Yulia from attending school normally, she might have already skipped grades and become Eivass’s senior.
Yet, even so, Yulia yearned for school.
One of the reasons Eivass had decided not to attend university was because Yulia envied him so much—she would have undoubtedly achieved much higher grades than Eivass if she had gone. This had touched Eivass at the time, prompting him to forgo university and study at home with her.
Now, Eivass had returned with the experiences from university.
Naturally, Yulia didn’t want to sleep. She sat nestled in her blankets, forcing herself to stay awake and chat with Eivass a little longer.
But seeing his sister’s drowsiness, Eivass, using the lullaby he learned from Isabel, easily coaxed the sleepy Yulia to sleep. Eivass did not possess the Path of Beauty, so his lullaby didn’t carry any mystical power. Yulia was genuinely lulled to sleep by his gentle singing.
Last night, Eivass had only intended to check on Yulia’s condition and see if the Butterfly had awakened. However, Yulia kept him there, though he also enjoyed their peaceful exchange. It offered a sense of tranquility, like spending time with family, which helped relax his strained nerves.
Edward’s seal was in good condition, and the cards Eivass entrusted to Yulia for nurturing were gradually developing a bit of spirituality. If all went as expected, the Butterfly should recover around this time next week—once that happened, Eivass could begin preparing for the seal.
But he didn’t plan to seal it before his advancement on the Transcendent Path.
This was because the Butterfly was a Phantom Demon of the Path of Devotion, purely fire-attribute with no trace of darkness.
Although both sealing and summoning originated from the rituals of the Transcendent Path, its intrinsic power belonged to the Path of Devotion. Therefore, this was a power Eivass could use with his Priest identity and openly display. It was also a trump card Eivass could legitimately use in front of others—the complete opposite of the shadowy, clandestine Shadow Demon.
Consequently, Eivass’s other identity on the Transcendent Path should avoid using this power during a advancement ritual, as it could risk exposure.
Sealing the Butterfly before his advancement would only create unnecessary trouble for himself. The New Moon Ritual was already difficult, and Eivass was cautious, not wanting to add any pointless challenges.
If Yulia’s condition were poor, Eivass would have forcefully sealed it despite the greatly increased difficulty. However, since her current sealed state was good, he could wait until after his advancement to seal it.
Next Sunday evening marked the Ascension Ritual for the Transcendent Path. The day after his advancement, Eivass would seal the Butterfly that evening.
—But next week, Eivass needed to first deal with the individuals from the Noble Red Society.
The fact that an Upper Demon had attempted to assassinate him in broad daylight, and had even possibly attacked Sherlock… they might come back a second time, or employ other means to target Eivass.
Thus, Eivass directly leveled his Demon Scholar profession from six to nine, and his dark attribute Mana Pool became nine points:
Demon Scholar LV9: [Demonology – Level 2 (97%)], [Basic Ritual – Level 2 (0%)], [Demon Contract – Level 3 (80%)], [Shepherd’s (Essence) – Level 2 (0%)]
The levels of “Demonology” and “Demon Contract” could be moderately held back for now; after advancement, he could directly raise them by two levels. As long as Eivass stopped reading books on Demonology, this skill wouldn’t increase further—and as long as he used the Shadow Demon’s power, the level of Demon Contract would gradually rise.
Following the preliminary steps for creating “Enchantment Card: Blade of Shadow,” Eivass returned to his room and prepared another unactivated Tarot Card storing four Mana points. He then immediately went to sleep, intending to wake up early the next day to recover Mana and craft the card.
He currently planned to create a new “Moon” card.
Only one Illusion Card made from the same Tarot Card could be used per day. The Shadow Demon was not an Upper Phantom Demon; it only conformed to the Moon Tarot Card, whereas Upper Phantom Demons had multiple possibilities. This meant if he used a new card extracted from the Shadow Demon, he couldn’t use the old “Blade of Shadow” that day.
However, Eivass increasingly felt that the Blade of Shadow might not be suitable for all situations—for instance, when confronting the Deformed, the Blade of Shadow became utterly ineffective.
Eivass woke up after only seven hours of sleep. Seven hours of sleep were enough to fully replenish his Mana.
It was currently 5:30 AM, and the first thing Eivass did upon waking was retrieve the semi-finished Illusion Card he had been working on from his desk.
Eivass hammered the rusty nail into the card, producing a creaking sound—including the blank card, this was Eivass’s third card. He was gradually becoming more proficient.
Since he was creating a Moon card using the Shadow Demon, the initial process was exactly the same. The only difference lay in the amount of Mana infused, which resulted in Illusion Cards with entirely different attributes.
Ten or more dark attribute Mana could create “Spell Card: Shadow Cloak,” twenty or more would yield “Spell Card: Shadow Impact,” and thirty would result in “Field Card: Shadow Den.”
—[Shadow Den] was the most useful card for the Shadow Demon. It could temporarily transform the surrounding space into a confined area filled with shadows, forcefully creating a home ground where abundant shadows couldn’t be found. Within this zone, even the holy light summoned by Illuminate Spell would become extremely dim, and non-mystical light sources like torches, candles, and lamps would all be extinguished.
Within this area, the Shadow Demon could move at extreme speeds, shapeshift freely, and gain continuous all-attribute buffs, no longer being bound to Eivass’s shadow. It was equivalent to entering an explosive state.
Therefore, once Eivass could create the “Field Card: Shadow Den,” he would essentially stop using the Blade of Shadow. This would likely only be possible when his Demon Scholar reached level 19.
Eivass, after all, was not a true Sin Scholar who could directly turn wild Phantom Demons into Illusion Cards. Currently, Eivass could only bully the Shadow Demon he had contracted with. Since he only had one chance a day, skills obtainable through normal profession abilities could be set aside.
“Shadow Impact” was a purely damaging spell with no other effects besides inflicting damage.
For raw damage, other spells could achieve the same, and even the combination of Blade of Shadow and a pistol might suffice. Its advantage was instant casting—an advantage that would only become apparent when he had more distinct Tarot Cards. This would allow Eivass to instantly flip through several different Illusion Cards, unleashing a beautiful off-hand burst combo.
However, in Avalon, Eivass wouldn’t dare to blast people with such pure shadow power; whereas in rituals, Eivass could directly have the Shadow Demon act—so the twenty Mana “Shadow Impact” was actually less useful than the “Shadow Cloak” created with ten Mana.
It could even be said that even with the significant buffs the Shadow Den provided to the Shadow Demon… in PVP, the card slot for the “Moon” card would still be reserved for Shadow Cloak.
Soon, Eivass completed crafting the card. Only the final step remained: requesting Hengwo to imbue the new Tarot Card with spirituality.
Unlike before, Eivass was now a legitimate Priest. He didn’t need to sprinkle black pearl powder, stand still for extended periods, and quietly wait for Hengwo to discover the ritual. He could directly send a private message to this Pillar God of the Path of Love. This also prevented the card crafting from failing.
“I beseech Hengwo, the God of Sacred Number One, the God of Death and Rebirth, the God of Eternal Sight and Blindness—Hengwo, like the Moon!”
A golden-red radiance flashed in Eivass’s pupils. His hands hovered above the Tarot Card, praying earnestly: “Please bestow upon me love!”
—Are you there, Great One? Please take a look, Great One!
The sky had not yet fully brightened, so Hengwo responded to the prayer quite quickly.
Soon, a gentle breeze stirred within the room. It was just enough to slightly lift the fallen leaves on the ground.
As the wind blew, the shadow beneath Eivass began to be pulled out, strand by strand, like stretched cotton candy.
“…What power is this?! What is happening?”
The Shadow Demon’s astonished voice echoed beside Eivass: “Why can you directly pull out my power—”
It tried to transform into a human, but instantly collapsed; it then mimicked a hound, but the shadows constituting its mimicry were soon blown away by the spectral wind—it bubbled and evaporated on the ground.
What kind of skill was this? What mystical art?
The last time Eivass made an Illusion Card, the Shadow Demon hadn’t woken up.
It had only vaguely sensed that Eivass had drawn a portion of its power. But because that portion was too weak, it hadn’t felt much. Although it knew that a part of its aura was within that card, the Shadow Demon hadn’t known how Eivass had accomplished it at the time.
But during this card crafting, Eivass hadn’t sat on his wheelchair. The Shadow Demon was fully awake and had observed the entire process.
—It had never heard of a Demon Scholar being able to directly extract the power of their contracted demon by beseeching one of the Nine Pillar Gods!
Are you a Demon Scholar or a Priest?
Soon, the Shadow Demon caught a familiar scent from this aura:
“Is this… the ritual of [Great Sin]?”
As a demon, it naturally recognized the Heavenly Envoy who governed almost all demons.
This ritual undoubtedly came from that Primal Great Beast—whose other name was the Fallen Heavenly Envoy. The Heavenly Envoy revered by demons as [Great Sin], the one who governed concepts like falling and sin.
Great Sin was at least a top-three-tier Heavenly Envoy within the Transcendent Path, with only [Ouroboros] able to consistently suppress Him. Because Great Sin had once raised a banner of rebellion against the Father of Snakes and subsequently lost, most of His records in the Material Realm had been erased by the Father of Snakes’ followers. Only in extremely profound Demonology could one find fragments of “Fallen Heavenly Envoy.”
The Shadow Demon then realized Eivass was not ignorant of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy—he hadn’t just heard a name and learned that this was the Heavenly Envoy who governed demons, then promised it he would one day kill the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
Eivass not only possessed sufficient knowledge of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy… but he could even use His rituals!
—He was serious!
What pure and audacious transcendent desire was this!
This made the Shadow Demon tremble with excitement, but it also filled it with strong unease—was it truly possible for a mortal to defeat a Heavenly Envoy?
For the first time, the Shadow Demon genuinely worried about Eivass’s safety. Not out of loyalty, but out of concern that he was too reckless, provoking enemies he couldn’t defeat and facing meaningless defeat.
The essence of transcendence was rebellion, but rebellion presupposed victory. Otherwise, it was merely sedition.
The Shadow Demon felt that about a fifth of its power had been drained before the ritual finally ceased.
The card, which looked almost identical to “Blade of Shadow,” floated up and into Eivass’s hand.
Its attributes also appeared before Eivass:
[Spell: Shadow Cloak (Moon)]
[Requirement: Dark 1]
[Instant, Non-contact, Immediate effect]
[Effect: Repel all surrounding targets, immediately release self from any ongoing Seal, Freeze, Burn, Bind, or Petrify status, and enter complete invisibility for one minute (+30%). When this invisibility status is broken, inflict a curse on all hostile targets visually perceiving you, equivalent to “Blind Curse.”]