Solo Leveling : 10 Shadow Technique

Shade Moth – A small, dark moth with glowing violet wings that scatter sleep-inducing dust. Can be used for reconnaissance.

---

Finn stared at Mahoraga, who was just standing there. "You know, you're a lot bigger on screen," he muttered, tilting his head. Despite Mahoraga's reputation, the beast was only about half Finn's height.

Before Finn could think too much about it, he sensed one of his Shikigami on a mission. At that moment, a man in sunglasses entered the room, holding a newspaper. Without a word, the man handed it to Finn—then promptly melted into a puddle of slime with eyes. The creature leaped onto Finn's lap and sat there like a content pet.

Shaking his head, Finn absorbed both Mahoraga and the Mimic Slime back into his Shadow Garden. Then, he opened the newspaper. His eyes immediately narrowed as he read the headline:

"THE CHIMERA IS LEAVING?"

Finn exhaled through his nose. "Now what in eternity is that guy doing?" he muttered.

His eyes scanned further down the article.

"The Chimera has been spotted with multiple American guilds..."

With a dull thud, Finn banged his head on the table. "Really? I was gone for, what, a year and a half? And that guy's already being corrupted by guns?" He shook his head in disappointment.

'Well, whatever. I'll clear that S-Rank Gate first, then head back. Maybe I'll even take down that gigantic boss… ugh, those tentacles creep me out.'

Standing up, Finn summoned Great Serpent and made his way toward the mountains.

//--\\

Riding on Great Serpent's back, Finn moved swiftly through the forest. As he approached a clearing, he heard voices. Recognizing them as a guild, he dismissed Great Serpent back into his Shadow Garden and switched to stealth mode. Using every sneaking ability his Shikigami granted him, he leaped into the trees, blending seamlessly with the shadows.

Arriving at the edge of the S-Rank Gate's entrance, he spotted the guild below.

"The Founding Phoenix... huh. Great name, but I bet they'll all die," Finn thought, tilting his head. He knew this dungeon well—the weakest monster inside was A-Rank.

'Can they even escape? I doubt the Cracked King will go easy on them.'

Finn still remembered his first time here. The entrance behind him had vanished, trapping him inside. He'd barely survived the first mini-boss, a monster that could rip space apart. When it died, it had tricked Finn into jumping into one of its spatial rifts. Finn barely escaped—only to come face-to-face with the dungeon's Behemoth.

Down below, the guild members talked among themselves.

"Boss, do you think we can clear this dungeon in a day? My daughter's school performance is tomorrow," one guy asked.

The captain, an A-Rank named Vhin, smiled confidently. "We've got multiple A-Ranks here. We just need to be careful."

Finn sighed. Ah, writer, can we cut to the part where they start dying?

No such luck.

The guild entered the Gate, and Finn followed after them.

//--\\

The scenery shifted instantly. Once again, Finn stood in the ruins of a collapsed city. In the distance, he spotted the Behemoth—a six-legged colossus with slaty gray skin, its sheer mass distorting space like a gravitational anomaly.

Around it, its guardians, the Hollow Reapers, lurked in the shadows.

Then, a scream echoed through the ruins.

Finn glanced downward, spotting some of the guild members under attack by a Whispering Abyss—a sentient shadow that whispered forgotten knowledge to drive victims insane. It grew stronger the more it learned about its victims, making it nearly impossible to resist without a strong will or a hive mind to disrupt its whispers.

Luckily for Finn, he had both.

Without hesitation, Finn summoned his own Whispering Abyss from his Shadow Garden. A shifting black shadow slithered out, its eerie murmurs distorting the air. Unlike the wild ones, Finn's was more than just a mind-warping nightmare—it also served as a long-range summoning medium.

Finn groaned. "Man, do I still need to cover my face?"

Technically, he was here without approval from the Hunter's Association, but… he was an S-Rank. He shrugged and stepped forward, dropping down from his perch.

As he landed, he spread Toxin across the battlefield, adapting it to specifically target shadow-based creatures. The airborne venom took the form of spectral eagles, streaking through the ruins and striking every Whispering Abyss instantly. They shrieked before fading into nothing.

With a casual wave, Finn greeted the surviving guild members. "Yo."

One of them, a support-type hunter, stared in shock. "Wait—aren't you Chimera? Didn't you go to America to get stronger?"

Finn's eye twitched. "That guy was a clone. I've been out of the country for a year. I only came back for this S-Rank Gate—then I'm heading to Antarctica. But since I was nearby and powered up, I figured I'd clean this place up first."

The captain, Vhin, paled. "Wha—what do you mean S-Rank? This dungeon's A-Rank!"

Finn turned back to the ruins. "Nah. The weakest thing in here is the Whispering Abyss. If you guys had kept going, you would've run into worse."

Vhin swallowed hard.

Finn snapped his fingers, creating a clone. "Alright, this guy will protect you. I'm going after the Crownless King."

He hopped onto Great Serpent and rode off into the depths of the dungeon.

//--\\

Moving swiftly through the city ruins, Finn soon spotted his target—a floating golden humanoid figure wearing a cracked crown.

"There you are, you little fudger," Finn muttered.

Without hesitation, he summoned Max Elephant, blasting the Crownless King with a massive surge of water. It raised a hand to block, but Great Serpent lunged from the shadows, coiling around it and dragging it down.

The Crownless King fought back, using gravity manipulation to lift itself from the darkness. It nearly escaped—until Finn appeared in front of it, hand glowing with red particles.

"Sleep."

For a single moment, the Crownless King was paralyzed.

That was all Finn needed.

Kraven's tentacles shot out from the shadows, wrapping around the paralyzed monster and yanking it into the abyss.

A new connection formed in Finn's mind.

'Huh. Gravity manipulation. Kinda weak, but I'll take it.'

Ahead, a glowing exit gate appeared.

Finn smirked. 'Oh, right. The exit.'

Summoning Kogane, he relayed the exit's location to his clone. Across the city, the clone was handing out food from Finn's shadow storage.

The clone looked up as Finn's signal exploded in the sky. "Alright, everyone! I just killed the mini-boss. Let's get out of here."

The guild hurried toward the exit.

Meanwhile, the real Finn cracked his neck and stared at the Behemoth in the distance.

"I hate myself," he muttered, "but at least I'm getting another strong one."

He grinned, stepping forward toward his next hunt.