All Chapters of Lazy Gods and Hungry Shadows: Chapter 1
- Chapter 7
7 chapters
Chapter 1
The soft chair at Riverside Café felt like sitting on a cloud. Adrian let his head lean back into the cushioned fabric. He exhaled, the sound mixing with the noise of cups clinking and people chatting about expensive things. His old life had been exhausting, struggling with bills and cheap food. In this life, he’d found the ultimate trick. He didn’t need to fight with swords or speak strange words like the arrogant fools filling this city. He just had to be alive.A blue transparent box appeared before his eyes, only he could see it.[Lazy God System Active][Status: Resting / Sitting / Breathing][XP Gained: 6,000,000][Current Level: 99]Adrian held back a yawn. Five million points just for resting. It was almost too simple. He watched a man in an expensive suit pass by, puffing his chest with pride of a Level 12 Awakener. That guy probably spent eighteen hours every day in a training chamber to reach that weak level. Adrian shifted slightly, and the system gave him another wave of
Chapter 2
The bright purple fire hit a barrier that wasn’t there a moment before. Adrian didn’t even lift his hand. He just breathed out. A clear ripple, shimmering like heat on hot pavement, spread from his body. The dark fire touched the ripple and disappeared like it was swallowed by empty space. Not a single spark touched the table. The coffee in his cup didn’t even move.Isabelle gasped, her body pressed so tightly against him that she could feel his calm, steady heartbeat. She looked up at him, her eyes full of confusion. He was still holding his half-eaten pastry in one hand, the other on her waist like they were dancing in a ballroom instead of standing in a dangerous fight.“You’re not human,” Isabelle whispered, barely audible over the crackling energy outside the shield.“I’m a man who likes his mornings quiet,” Adrian replied. He took another bite of his pastry and chewed slowly. “You’re making it hard to enjoy the crust.”Outside the barrier, the sorcerers stood frozen. The leader,
Chapter 3
Cole didn’t even flinch. He tilted his head, his golden eyes narrowing behind his glasses. The glowing cane in his hand pulsed, casting long shadows against the broken walls of the ruined café. He looked at the receipt in Adrian’s hand, then back at his face with pure confusion.“A receipt?” Cole asked, his voice dripping with mean amusement. “You have seconds to live, you absolute fool, and you’re worried about a bill at a café that’s being turned into a graveyard?”Adrian sighed, the sound echoing through the quiet. He flicked the crumpled paper toward the floor with a bored look. It floated down, landing nearly in a puddle of spilled coffee.“You interrupted my coffee, Cole. That’s a serious offense in my book,” Adrian said. He didn’t get into a fighting stance. He didn’t even tense up. He just stood there, hands in his pockets, looking like a man waiting for a bus that was ten minutes late.Isabelle stepped up beside him, her breathing shaky. Her hand moved toward the small silver
Chapter 4
The quiet that followed Adrian’s question was heavy enough to crush. The dozens of black-robed sorcerers froze, their fingers twitching over their staves as they waited for an order that never came. Adrian didn’t wait for them to make a choice. He shifted his weight, his hand firmly around Isabelle’s waist, and let out a long, exaggerated yawn that sounded like the earth grinding.“I’ve reached my limit for dealing with people today,” Adrian muttered, his eyes narrowing.He didn’t make a big gesture. He simply tapped the toe of his shoe against the cracked pavement. A ring of golden light spread from the point of contact, moving at the speed of a falling star. The sorcerers didn’t scream. They didn’t even have time to blink. The light washed over them, and in an instant, they were simply gone, leaving behind only the faint smell of burned air and the sound of wind rushing into empty space.Isabelle gasped, her legs giving out. Adrian caught her easily, pulling her body against his. Th
Chapter 5
Cole walked into the room with the elegance of a hunter stalking wounded game. He didn’t appear like an assassin who’d just been crushed under piles of rubble. His clothing was spotless, the fabric pristine and untouched by dirt. He held the crinkled café receipt between two fingers as if it were a treasured relic. His gaze shifted from Adrian to the bed where Isabelle sat, her complexion ashen against the charcoal sheets.“You genuinely should have disposed of that receipt properly, Adrian,” Cole remarked, his voice a chilly, crystalline tone. “It’s been quite an expedition pursuing the spiritual signature abandoned by a man who handles existence as his private playground. I have to acknowledge, the estate is magnificent. Rather extravagant for a hedonist, perhaps.”Adrian remained seated on the mattress’s perimeter, his physique loose, his stare lethargic with the variety of tiredness that typically indicated devastation ahead. He extended his arm and grabbed a tumbler of liquid fro
Chapter 6
The faceless being tilted its head, the mirror-like exterior of its form rippling like disturbed water. Isabelle felt a deep scream climbing in her throat, but the overwhelming presence of the approaching darkness stole her air. Adrian, the man who’d easily destroyed groups with a hand motion, lay collapsed against her body like abandoned baggage. The needle in his neck shimmered with a sickly, pulsating violet glow that prevented his system from recovering.“Adrian, wake up!” Isabelle screamed, shaking his shoulders. Her hands were wet with the cold sweat pouring from his body. “This isn’t a game anymore!”The mirrored being stepped forward, its footwear making no sound on the wooden surface. It raised a thin hand, and the blades held by the surrounding darkness began to vibrate with a high sound that broke the nearby mirror. Every piece of glass lifted, rotating to face them like tiny weapons.“The Lazy God rests,” the being hummed. The voice wasn’t one sound, but a mixture of hundr
Chapter 7
Isabelle held the steering equipment so hard her digits became pale, her gaze shifting among the pathway and the returning mirror. The motorcycle operators distributed like a lethal dark stream, their charcoal cables whistling via the atmosphere with a tone that made the hair on her limbs stand up. Adrian positioned himself on top of the moving vehicle, his posture as relaxed as if he were standing for a morning bus. He didn’t trouble to pull a cutting implement. He simply examined down at the gathering of operatives, his orbitals radiating with that sluggish, frightening golden tone.“You genuinely should have inspected the climate projection,” Adrian bellowed via the roar of the moving atmosphere.He didn’t hang back for a response. He positioned his footwear against the automobile’s covering, and the hard surface beneath the rushing motorcycles lifted upward in a ragged wall of material. Multiple bikes collided into the unexpected barrier, their operators launched into the evening