With the Shadow Speed Technique activated, Damian's speed had greatly increased and along with that, the aura around his body also changed.

It went from a blazing aura that clearly belonged to an individual who wielded Fire Energy and had a confident demeanour, to one that caused a chill to run down all their spines and gave him a mystic presence.

They were all able to sense the change, but none of them truly understood or knew what had caused the change and all they could assume was that it was an ability of his Soul Spirit.

The mercenary leader however did have an idea of what it could be and he had heard a story about a powerful assassin clan that roamed the continent and were rumoured to give off a mystic presence and had unusual capabilities.

Although the Gobe Country was very much secluded from the rest of the continent and seen as a small and insignificant country, they still had some information from stray travellers and merchants.

They also gather some information from the few who managed to return from exploring the continent, but the amount of information they had about the continent was scarce and nothing definitive or valuable.

The most they had was a basic understanding of the power scaling of the continent, the biggest powers and what they could expect from the area around their country that they didn't stray too far into.

However, most of that knowledge and information was kept by the secret group hidden behind the Royal Family that could be thought of as the ancestors of the country.

They called themselves the secret advisors, but in actuality, they were the secret rulers of the country and since they didn't take on the responsibility of the country directly, had the freedom to explore the continent.

If Damian truly was a descendant of them or somehow had similar abilities to them, it made him much more dangerous and also increased the possibility of him being able to escape.

The man that sought entertainment had researched all sorts of interesting stories and would take on any missions that allowed for him to find out new and interesting things.

He didn't know much of the rest of the continent, but interesting and entertaining things always intrigued him and he hoped to explore the continent for himself and seek new entertainment, but he needed resources, allies and power to do that.

The mercenary leader was crazy in a sense, but his intelligence couldn't be denied and despite not caring about his subordinates, he cared greatly for his own life and above that, his own entertainment and interest.

Despite that, in this case, his assumption was correct, but his understanding of it was completely wrong and it was due to the ignorance and seclusion of the country that was caused by the secret rulers of the country.

They didn't want the country to connect with other countries as that would set them as an easy target to be taken over and controlled, while they also wanted to be able to easily control and govern the country, which was why they kept so many secrets, knowledge and information to themselves.

It was a selfish way of ruling and leading the country, but it gave them freedom, maintained balance in the country and also their own safety and that of the country.

Damian was by no means a descendant of those assassins or had their ability like the mercenary group leader believed, it was merely because he was able to use Shadow Energy which is a rare Energy Affinity for one to have.

He was likely the only one in the country that had the affinity for it and it was rare even in large and powerful countries since for one to have an affinity with shadow energy, they must have an affinity with Dark Energy.

Damian had begun understanding this and understood that Shadow Energy was derived from Dark Energy, but was also different as it had its own unique applications and capabilities.

It was similar to how Sound Energy could be derived from Wind Energy and a synergy of different forms of energy were also a possibility, such as Plant Energy which was formed by Earth and Water Energy.

There was so much that Damian was quickly understanding without the need of a teacher, while most of the rest of the Gobe Country citizens had restricted and ignorant mindsets.

Damian escaping was something that the mercenary leader couldn't allow and he was becoming more and more interested and entertained by Damian, so there was no way he was going to allow that to happen.

With a single look from their leader, the other two mercenaries left understood what they had to do and suddenly moved, causing Damian and Clay to be immediately alerted.

Luckily for them, they had been instructed not to intervene or attack them and to merely observe the battle from different locations so that they had Damian and Clay surrounded, cutting off their root of escape if they were planning it.

Damian had been alerted by the sudden movement of the other two mercenaries, but after seeing that they were merely blocking off their path of retreat, he focused back on his opponent.

He had no intention of attempting to escape, knowing that he would be unable to realistically do so and he was relieved that he wouldn't have to face all of the mercenaries at once, which would have been impossible to pull off.

However, in that split second of losing concentration, Damian who was using the Serpent Steps and his own footwork to manoeuvre around the monster and avoid its attacks lost balance and appeared to be falling backwards.

Seeing that, the monster found the perfect chance to strike and although it had become wild and crazy, it was still acting on instinct and could sense a good opportunity to strike.

While since the monster was already close to Damian, Clay was unable to do anything to save him and wouldn't have been able to act in time even if he wanted to, but Damian was still calm and his incredible manoeuvring wouldn't be beaten so easily.