Chapter 1258 – A Ghastly Domain

Domain Skills were… weird. On the one hand, they were incredibly powerful and often even signature skills, while on the other hand, they were surprisingly common due to certain Legacies throughout the multiverse. However, just like the difference between two regular skills, Domain Skills could vary widely in nearly every way besides their most basic function, which defined them as Domain Skills.

Casper wasn’t the only person Jake knew with a complete Domain Skill. In fact, he knew an entire city and faction full of them.

The Shadow Realm that any proper high-grade assassin from the Court of Shadows could use was technically considered a Domain Skill. It did meet the basic requirements, though, as it allowed one to pull another person into another space that benefited the person using the skill.

There were also skills that seemed like Domain Skills, but couldn’t really be called that. Something like Jake’s Pride of the Malefic Viper and the Sword Saint’s odd ability to make it rain did change the environment and warped their immediate areas to their advantage, but they didn’t actually bring their opponents anywhere. Instead, they only changed a part of the existing world.

Perhaps the biggest difference between a complete Domain Skill and just one that created a territory around oneself was that others could enter and exit the area of a territory merely by walking into it. Meanwhile, with complete Domain Skills, one had to forcibly enter it, and there would be a clearly defined boundary.

Not to say forcibly entering domains tended to be difficult. Getting in was often pretty easy and just took a bit of willpower. It was getting out of one that was hard. Of course, there were exceptions to everything, the Shadow Realm once more standing out here due to how it worked.

The Shadow Realm existed independently of the members of the Court of Shadows, yet it was still considered a Domain Skill as it created a domain they could pull themselves and others into. It qualified, if barely. One advantage it did have, though, was that there was no boundary or anything for others to detect or enter.

One could forcibly follow an assassin and their victim into the Shadow Realm if one was capable enough, but compared to other Domain Skills, it was a tall order. Overall, the only real purpose of the Shadow Realm was to trap someone in a space where they couldn’t escape, and it didn’t actually offer that many advantages for the user.

Domain Skills, like the one Casper used, were different in so many ways. First of all, the domain didn’t actually exist. It was just a temporary manifestation that depended entirely on his own power and existence. This also meant that the Domain Skill was wholly unique, and while others could have similar ones, no domain would be exactly identical.

This was even the case with Legacy Domain Skills from the various factions of the multiverse. Valhal were also famous for using Domain Skills that created battlefields to their advantage, and Jake had even seen Carmen use the lesser variant of what would no doubt one day become a Domain Skill. Even if these domains would all naturally appear near-identical, they were still bound to and defined by the person using them and wouldn’t actually refer to a permanent place.

As Jake considered all this, one question arose in Jake’s mind… if Event Horizon truly was the beginning of what would one day become a complete Domain Skill, what kind was it? Did the space Jake see when he used the skill actually exist, or did he merely conjure it? He felt like it existed, but from all Jake had read, he knew that to the mind of a Domain Skill user, the world always seemed real, as in a way, to them, it was.

Shaking his head, Jake refocused on the here and now as he took in Casper’s domain. The shockwave washed over him, dragging both Jake and the B-grade golem into the domain as they were within its effective range.

With his sphere and other senses, Jake took in the new world he now found himself in. Beneath him, he sank slightly into the moist black soil, and when he looked above, turquoise clouds of blight energy filled the sky, with no celestial objects in sight.

Around him were countless simplistic wooden grave markers, spaced out with one every few meters and stretching as far as Jake could see, which wasn’t actually that far. A dense fog reminiscent of the clouds above filled the air, though it had a slightly darker hue as all the grave markers were leaking energy.

Curse energy… and at a level far above anything Jake had seen Casper be capable of displaying before.

However, what caught his eye the most was the center of the graveyard. A massive wooden stake stood like a spire, reaching into the sky and the clouds of blight energy above. Taking a closer look at this stake, Jake felt a shiver run down his spine as the entire thing, from top to bottom, was filled with carvings of faces that all looked to be in varying degrees of distress.

Things only got creepier when he saw black liquid start to drip out of the eyes of these faces, sliding down the wooden stake and soaking the ground, which also answered the question of how the ground had gotten moist in the first place.

Finally, Jake spotted the one who had brought him into this domain. Casper was kneeling on the ground, slouched over with dozens of curse stakes stabbed into his back, all of them pulsing with power as they released dense curse energy into the atmosphere.

Jake was about to say something when he noticed his scales reacting. Curse and blight energy passively started attacking his body, the domain turning against him. This was another thing about domains and why they weren’t necessarily always good… it was rare to find ones that could properly differentiate between friend and foe, but instead often just attacked anything foreign within.

Fortunately for Jake, he had a counter. Rather than actively blocking the energy from harming him, he took out Eternal Hunger and let it have a snack. The mythical weapon instantly started sucking in the curse energy in his immediate area, creating a safe zone around Jake.

Not that far away from him, the Aginian Crisis Protocol Golem stood, seemingly needing a moment to fully orient itself. Before it could, the environment itself turned against the golem.

The cursed ghostly mist began to swirl around the boss, and from the ground, spectres emerged. Like vengeful wraiths, they instantly attacked the B-grade, their attacks surprisingly being corporeal in nature as they clawed away at the metal creature. Looking at these ghosts, they all had bodies similar to Lyra’s, but none of them had faces, making them look even creepier.

Jake stopped merely watching at this point but took the chance to activate Unseen Hunter and hide away within the ghostly mist, preparing a proper attack while allowing Casper to show off what his domain could do.

After creating some distance, Jake took out the Protean Arrow. Sadly, he couldn’t use Eternal Hunger together with it as he needed it to defend against the domain, but he would manage.

Nocking it, Jake started channeling Arcane Powershot and turned his attention back to the confrontation between Casper and the B-grade golem.

The dungeon boss quickly reacted to the attack as its body exploded with lightning energy, instantly destroying all the ghosts attacking it and dispersing the environmental forces trying to invade and destroy its body. In its overcharged state, its power was far beyond what it was before, and it quickly turned its attention toward Casper.

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Charging toward the Risen, Casper didn’t even react. He didn’t need to.

Twice as many ghosts as before emerged from the ground, attacking in unison and actually stopping the golem’s charge by sacrificing their own bodies. Before they even had time to fully disperse, more ghosts appeared and kept up the assault as the environmental energies returned with a vengeance, their intensity and power stronger than before.

Swinging its sword wildly, the golem destroyed several more ghosts as new ones just appeared, but it still managed to approach Casper with steady steps. Soon enough, it reached the Risen and jumped forward, swinging down its sword.

Jake was concerned upon seeing this, but that concern was instantly dispelled. Casper didn’t even try to block as the sword impacted his skull and proceeded to destroy it entirely, along with most of his body. However, rather than sending flesh flying, all the golem managed to do was scatter more turquoise mist.

Casper’s body began to regather itself again, quickly making it evident his body wasn’t corporeal at all. The lightning-wrapped blade should have done damage, yet the Risen seemed entirely unaffected.

At least it did so at first, but Jake, making use of his stupid level of Perception, could see that the energy he used to heal himself was gathered from the atmosphere, weakening the domain slightly. Oh, and it was also a bit of a clue that whenever the golem hit Casper, some of the wooden grave-markers splintered, turning into dense curse energy to refuel the atmosphere.

Ghosts kept attacking the golem, tearing at it and even getting through its passive lightning-infused barrier due to the constant attacks. The surface of the golem’s body started taking on a rust-like appearance, the damage especially evident around where Jake had used Touch of the Malefic Viper.

Meanwhile, the golem continued to attack Casper, scattering his ethereal body over and over again as the Risen grimaced with every hit. He looked like he was in incredible pain, gritting his teeth, but he never once moved, no matter what happened.