Letting the giant eagle climb to a safe height and leave this dangerous area, Shandris, not to be outdone, launched a counterattack against all the Seaweed Vrykul attacking her.
Guided by the light of Elune, almost every precise arrow pierced the Vrykul's vital points, but what flowed from their wounds was not red blood, but an indescribable black mist.
Clearing out the nearby Vrykul as quickly as possible, Shandris' brow furrowed.
'What is with these Vrykul? Semi-corporeal ghosts?'
The slain Vrykul left no corpses; the only trace of their existence was the clumps of seaweed that fell to the ground.
'Is this the handiwork of the witch Helya that Andreas mentioned...?'
To ensure Shandris' safety, Andreas had told his wife about the situation in Stormheim before she set out.
Although Shandris arrived here nearly 3,000 years earlier than the Legion expansion, Helya's influence had taken root in this land even earlier.
Due to lack of time before departure, Andreas did not tell Shandris in detail about the grievances between Helya and Odyn, but simply described the potential dangers in Mistsong Harbor.
Helya controls a demi-plane attached to Azeroth—the Abyssal Depths—where she can intercept a portion of the souls that should have entered the Shadowlands and use them for her own purposes.
Mistsong Harbor is Helya's important stronghold in the physical world. Andreas had repeatedly reminded Shandris to avoid fighting the local Vrykul as much as possible to avoid drawing Helya's special attention.
Although Shandris was titled a Priestess of the Moon, having received ranger training since childhood, she was very familiar with the law of the jungle in the wilderness.
After killing the Vrykul who took the initiative to appear, Shandris immediately chose to keep a low profile. Using the cover of the mist, she began to search for her target along the nearby cliff wall.
With a cliff wall on one side as a reference, she could at least ensure she wouldn't lose her way in the thick fog, avoid attacks from the cliff side, and focus her attention on threats from other directions.
As Shandris gradually went deeper into the outskirts of Mistsong Harbor, the shouts of the Vrykul faded away, and no sound could be heard except for the faint sound of running water.
It was as if this place were a forbidden zone for life; no chirping insects or singing birds could be heard, but the pressure and sense of threat coming from the thick fog reminded Shandris that she was being watched.
"Heh~ interesting."
A gleam of excitement flashed in Shandris' eyes. She alertly lowered her center of gravity, ensuring she was always in a position to either attack or retreat.
Although Shandris had never relaxed her training, years of peace had often made her lament to her husband that she was getting rusty.
A life-threatening danger that would terrify an ordinary person instead made Shandris' blood boil; she couldn't wait to flush out Dakar and have a grand battle with it.
"Tap~ tap~"
It was basically impossible to step without making any sound in the muddy terrain. As Shandris advanced while feeling the cliff wall, she gradually felt the sense of threat nearby continuing to rise.
'Am I near its lair?'
Shandris did not rashly continue forward. She crouched down and paused for a moment, her hands covertly performing some actions on the ground.
"Whoosh!"
Without any roar, when the slight sound of breaking wind was caught by Shandris' long elven ears, she disregarded her image and nimbly rolled across the damp ground of Mistsong Harbor to dodge.
As it turned out, Shandris' decisive action was correct.
A huge beast, several sizes larger than an ordinary black panther, appeared where Shandris had just been crouching. Had she hesitated for even a second, she would likely have become its meal by now.
"Very good~"
Licking the corners of her mouth in excitement, Shandris took out two cold, gleaming daggers from her waist and held them in her hands.
"Come on, big kitty, let's see who's the prey."
Dakar glared at Shandris with cold eyes. It did not engage her head-on, easily breaking free from the rope trap she had just set, and silently merged back into the mist.
In the thick fog, danger was everywhere, and the pitch-black environment created great psychological pressure on anyone within it.
Shandris took a deep breath, keeping her composure as she silently waited for Dakar's second attack.
She repeated her old trick, setting a rope trap under her feet that seemed to have no effect.
Dakar pounced from the mist almost silently again, but the alert Shandris still gave it no opportunity.
This time, within the fraction of a second the rope trap bound Dakar, Shandris lightly grazed it with her dagger, but unfortunately failed to cut through its tough fur.
This battle between hunter and prey was a significant test of patience and psychological fortitude.
After missing several times and having several non-penetrating wounds inflicted on it, Dakar gradually began to grow irritable.
Dodging Dakar's sneak attack once more, Shandris did not hesitate this time. Her long, powerful legs propelled her forward in an explosive burst as a faint blue Arcane glow began to shimmer on her daggers.
Just as Dakar prepared to break free from the trap, it discovered to its shock and anger that it could not move.
Its right front paw, which had stepped into the trap, was bound by strange black vines that were even absorbing the energy within its body.
"Roar!"
For the first time since the battle began, it let out a roar. Dakar anxiously shook its right front paw as grayish-white death energy surged wildly from its body.
But the sturdy vines held firm and were not broken; the death energy covering them failed to penetrate the vines to drain their vitality, blocked by a layer of purple-black energy.
"Hooked at last!"
Shandris calmly prayed to Elune for light. Cold moonlight illuminated a large area of the surroundings shrouded in thick fog as an expressionless Shandris rapidly swung the dual blades in her hands.
The activated enchanted dual blades finally cut through Dakar's skin. The heavy scent of blood wafted into her nose, and Dakar struggled even more furiously.
"Clatter!"
The vines Andreas had given Shandris were not themselves broken, but the ferocious Dakar actually managed to pull the vines out of the ground through sheer brute force.
However, regaining its mobility now was clearly too late. In the blink of an eye, Shandris leaped up to dodge Dakar's outstretched left claw and the bloody maw that followed immediately after.
Stretching her body in mid-air to adjust her posture, Shandris' hands swung outward like a giant roc spreading its wings. The dazzling Arcane light formed an X-shaped shadow that slashed heavily onto the back of Dakar's neck.
Landing steadily, Dakar remained in place, frozen for a few seconds.
"Swish!"
As a large amount of blood sprayed out, the panther's head slid off its neck, and its massive body subsequently collapsed powerlessly to the ground.