Reborn Regress Return: I Am the Heir of Shadows!

"Ah?!"

Fran screamed suddenly, following the sound of shuffling feet. The room's walls started to shake, and the relentless rolling of drums increased in tempo as the goblin calls grew more intense.

"...Looks like we need to finish this later, Maria."

"Don't call me that..."

Eleanor narrowed her eyes and bit her lower lip regretfully. Despite that request, Julian shook his head and pushed himself off the marble bookshelf. He skipped towards the door before turning back to her for a brief moment.

"What about Sena, how would you explain that?"

'I don't want to hurt Sena, no matter how much I have remembered.'

The room shuddered due to the dungeon changes. A loud rattling echo tapped the walls, building tension and anxiety.

"Fran? Are you alright?"

"Julian, I didn't meant to do this..."

"I know—hurry to get your bow and prepare to fight. We have to rush to the end of the dungeon before the time limit runs out."

His rushed voice caused Fran's arms to shudder, grasping tight into fists.

If he didn't pick up the pace, the situation would become dangerous. Once the goblins had amassed, he would lose the chance to enter the game. He couldn't risk this. Julian became nervous and focused on preparation.

"Come on, make sure your arrows are ready, and focus on movement."

"Mm, I will."

Fran's response lacked confidence, but looking at Julian eased her fear. He seemed more confident and focused than usual and helped calm her stressful mind.

'Everything will be okay, Julian is here.'

"Julian, what's going to happen?"

Eleanor asked calmly, seeming to have recovered from their previous mood. Her eyes fluttered. Slowly approaching him, she wrapped her body in ten orbs of water, obviously prepared for combat.

'She managed to recover quickly, good.'

He never wished to upset or bring her down.

However, Julian's priority would remain himself, then Sena, and after that, maybe Fran and Maria's survival would be more important. The issue in his heart was if he accepted her as Eleanora, he couldn't stop himself.

"The gauntlet is going to start—prepare any items or potions you might have and get ready once they attack. The doors will start to collapse, and we'll be on a timer."

"Understood, Fran, stick with me."

"Um, is that okay, Julian?"

Fran's loyalty lay with Julian. Her affection and friendliness to Nora remained neutral but leaned towards a friendly. Luckily, the game systems still existed, allowing the pair to see Fran's current status and mindset.

'She's a little spooked and uneasy, but she hasn't reached a state of horror or fear yet.'

Julian narrowed his eyes, only needing to worry about Maria—if she panicked and caused trouble, then everything might collapse without the support of a mystic.

Crack!

The wooden doors suddenly started cracking, with sharp axes and blunt hammers smashing through them.

His hand quickly formed a small fist before he stepped toward the central part of the Hall of Hope. He gripped Maria's and then Fran's hands as he dragged them towards the exit, his feet pushing off the floor and breaking into a sprint.

'Umbra... come to me.'

With a flicker of darkness, a black shadowy mist wrapped around his body, followed by the delicate pale hand of Umbra, who gripped Julian's shoulder while hovering off the ground before her body wrapped in a solid black armour.

"Master, there are lots of enemies. What should I do for you?"

A low, sensual whisper like the darkness itself speaking beside his ear. Yet the warm breath and smooth sensation of Umbra's cheek told Julian how much she had changed since evolving into her new phantom form.

'I can feel Eclipsa getting annoyed from Umbra being so close, do they resonate or something?'

Julian thought his shadows would always get along.

However, this proved that sometimes they didn't, and he might need to be careful in the future, as evolving them increased their individuality and personality.

"Clear the way soon that door will open. I want you to unleash your strongest skills and kill the goblins to ensure we can escape."

"Is that everything, Master?"

Fran and Maria remained quiet while Julian spoke to Umbra—they couldn't help but be conscious of his warm hands grasping theirs and refusing to let go.

"Once you've cleared a path, catch up with us and don't become caught up in the battle."

"As you wish," Umbra whispered gently, leaning against him and pressing her chest against Julian's back before dissipating into darkness once again.

'I didn't know she could do this...'

Although her new form was beautiful, he worried she might lose her advantage of being able to fade and become intangible or float to hard-to-reach spots during combat.

Smash!

Finally, the goblins broke through the front door, the thick wood splintered and torn apart, a glimpse of drooling green faces, aggressive and filthy. Beings that had lived in this dark, underground for countless years.

A dark sphere of shadow appeared in Julian's palm, crackling with unstable energy. He pointed it towards the door and fired the pulsating orb into the crack.

Boom!

A wave of force exploded outwards, sending goblin bodies flying and crashing into the walls, the damage dealing 468 damage and causing their corpses to melt from the sheer power.

Because these monsters weren't elites, their health pools couldn't compare to the stronger monsters, but their numbers constantly increased.

[You have gained 60 experience]

[You have gained 60 experience]

[You have gained 60 experience]

[You have gained 60 experience]

...

After the explosion cleared both the door and the goblins, he grasped their hands and dashed towards the exit. The doorway brought them to a vast, expansive junction used to connect countless dwarven caves and cities through various tunnels.

However, because it was a dungeon, there was only a single path. In the distance, a tall archway led to the mountain exit, which led to the other side of the mountain.

"Hurry, if a goblin comes close, then do whatever you can to stop it. I am going to keep us moving, with short breaks to reduce their numbers in between."

"Understood, Julian!" Fran's eyes burned with determination.

"...Okay." Eleanor nodded, although her face showed signs of nervousness.

Julian's eyes narrowed, and he was unable to comfort her. Instead, he squeezed her hand as they rushed out into the open. With Umbra rushing out like a wild hunting dog, the pop-ups started to echo in his mind as the goblins became an experience for the party members.

The party dashed several metres before almost stumbling as the ground shook.

'If the timer reaches zero, then 'that' thing will arrive.'

The timer's absence made him nervous, maybe because it was a nightmare world. But he couldn't afford to make mistakes, or else they would all die.

They had to escape within the time limit, or else everything would be for nothing, and he might lose his chance to change the future.

Thanks to the double experience buff, he would soon reach level 13, but that didn't mean much on the grand scale of things, and they only managed to defeat the boss by sheer luck.

'Without Solaria saving my ass and my deus ex-machina evolution, that monster would have killed us.'

Julian's mind raced as he created a shadowy orb atop his palm.

The gauntlets allowed him to cast magic while moving at double the cast time, but thanks to his quick cast, it just meant he cast the spells at their original speed.

'My class is stronger than I thought...'

How could a normal party survive? Their tank would be affected by fear and bleeding effects. They wouldn't have someone able to fill extra roles like me. And of course, their caster wouldn't have a meat shield protecting his physical body.

At first, Julian believed this was his penance and punishment. All for his past failures, but Solaria's words started to change this. His true purpose and the help he received.

[You have gained 60 experience]

[You have gained 60 experience]

....

Experience poured in as Umbra slaughtered the goblins, almost becoming a blur in the distance as she ran down the cave corridors, killing every enemy that approached the group. 'Come back.' However, the moment he called, her body transformed into a comet and rushed back to him in record time.

"Fran, Nora... Let's kill the goblins ahead!"

Dozens of goblins formed a pack in the distance, approaching them with swords, clubs and feral expressions. But with Julian's range, they were sitting ducks.

"Arcane Flurry!"

Fran's bow glowed blue as ten ghostly arrows landed directly in the crowd.

Julian followed up and flung another shadow bomb.

This time, he didn't boost the damage, but thanks to Fran's volley, the damage killed ten goblins and weakened another fifteen, and a huge amount of experience flowed into them. Both Julian and Maria glowed as they reached level 13.

"Push forward!"

Julian led the way, with Maria and Fran following behind him as they reached the halfway point of the junction, with hundreds of goblins running down the stone pillars surrounding them.

"Julian, what do we do?"