Chapter 91: Twisted Shadow
Twisted Shadow.
This semi-energetic form of shadow life does not require eating like other monsters, nor does it have a fixed lair, and it does not leave any traces when moving. So often you cannot determine their location at all; you only know where they are hiding when these monsters emerge from nearby shadows. Fortunately, these monsters are mostly lacking in intelligence, acting purely on instinct and filled with a desire for destruction and aggression; otherwise, they would be quite difficult stealth assassins to deal with.
A mass of shadows emerged.
These twisted shadows have a characteristic: within their grotesquely twisted bodies, there is a vague human shape hidden in the darkness. It is said that this is their soul, and twisted shadows are rumored to be the souls of many creatures that died in the Shadow Plane. Such shadowy monsters exist all over the Shadow Plane, especially in the cities of the Shadow Plane, where these shadow-like creatures are often seen.
— “Fire Arrow!”
— “Acid Arrow!”
— “Missile Storm!”
Because Soren was within range, Vivian dared not use wide-area attack spells, and could only k*ll the twisted shadows one by one. At the same time, she cast Acid Arrow, targeting the skeletal undead; the acid is highly corrosive to bones, and although Acid Arrow is just a spell below the third tier, it has strong lethality against many creatures.
— “Stone Skin!”
— “Haste!”
Soren also did not dare to be careless in this situation; he directly activated the elemental crystal and also activated an equipment he had seized from a legendary naval battle, which could temporarily trigger the effect of Haste, but could only be used twice, and the duration is relatively short. High-level extraordinary items are too rare; there aren’t many on the entire Southern Coast. The best equipment Soren has are still the two items given to him by the Princess of Arendelle. It seems that after dealing with the matters on the Overseas Islands, he would need to find time to visit the desert region.
Soren remembers that there are three pieces of legendary equipment there, as well as the ‘Anti-Detection Cloak,’ which is very important to wanderers.
Clang! Clang!
The curved blade slashed through gory light onto the skeletal undead, and Soren leaped more than ten meters in a single bound, swinging his blade at the twisted shadow.
The blade seemed to cut into tough rubber.
Soren frowned as he struck, and simultaneously withdrew. However, at that moment, the twisted shadow had already pounced, merely brushing against Soren’s arm, causing his whole body to shudder momentarily.
A flurry of data prompts appeared:
“You have been attacked by the twisted shadow!…”
“The twisted shadow deals 1 point of bruise damage to you!… You are affected by the shadow erosion effect!… You additionally take 14 points of shadow erosion damage!…”
— “Shadow Assassination!”
At the same time Soren was attacked, he swung a backhand strike; the twisted shadow’s erosion attack was similar to Shadow Assassination, as both used shadow energy to erode the other. The life force of the twisted shadow isn’t strong, and Soren struck it several times in succession. Finally, one was taken down, earning Soren a total of 3,250 points of killing experience.
Shadow-type monsters have about a 20% experience bonus.
— “Ice Storm!”
As Soren pulled back, Vivian seized the opportunity to cast. The little girl quickly finished the incantation, and then a howling gale and sharp hail appeared within 40 feet. This was a fourth-tier spell. Not a commonly used spell, but it was just right for the current situation, managing to keep Soren out of its radius. Compared to the explosive impact of Fireball, Ice Storm not only harmed enemies but also slightly affected their movement.
— “Sword Intent: Spinning Dance!”
— “Sword Intent: Decapitation!”
Soren seized the opportunity to take down the two nearby twisted shadows, enduring a single hit from the shadow energy erosion, and finally resolved the trouble around him.
The subsequent battle became much simpler.
Vivian’s Ice Storm inflicted considerable cold damage; transmutation spells generally have decent burst power. Soren turned around and began harvesting kills, earning nearly twenty thousand points of killing experience in one breath. However, the skeletal undead ultimately fell to Vivian’s hands, directly melted by Acid Arrow at the cervical vertebrae; otherwise, it would have provided around 5,000 points of killing experience.
A quick cleanup of the battlefield.
The skeletal undead dropped nothing, but the twisted shadows dropped three blocks of gray-black crystal fragments.
These are alchemical materials.
A type of crystal containing soul energy and elemental energy, appearing only in a small number of special creatures; this can be directly exchanged for equipment in the hands of high-level wizards.
Soren carefully collected them.
He had been too busy to learn alchemy recently, and Vivian, focused on spell study, had also barely dabbled in alchemy; together, their alchemy level probably wouldn’t even reach 50 points.
The two rested briefly and then moved forward again.
But at this point, they had to be much more cautious, and Vivian dared not run around anymore, as it was clearly much more dangerous than the Material Plane.
Next, there were almost no monsters.
Soren led Vivian about three hundred meters forward, and in front of them appeared a dilapidated building. They were nearing the outskirts of the Wizard Tower, with many ruined structures nearby, as if there had once been a group of people living around the Wizard Tower.
“Be careful.”
Soren turned to glance at the little girl and said, “Let’s see what’s here; it seems no one has been here for a long time. Don’t get too close to the Wizard Tower, so as not to trigger its defense mechanisms.”
Vivian nodded lightly, then with a serious expression on her small face said, “Brother! It seems there’s a legendary ‘Maze’ ahead! This could be the Wizard’s Tower of some archmage!”
Ahead was a grayish expanse.
The space below the Wizard Tower seemed somewhat distorted, appearing rather unreal. The ‘Maze’ was a technique from the Arcane Empire period, akin to a powerful array; only archmages could set up mazes. In the Arcane Empire period, not all wizards were archmages, as this is a highly talent-requiring advanced profession, akin to how now only a legendary wizard can advance to an Archmage, with both being advanced professions with certain connections.
Soren nodded lightly and then pushed open a door to the left.
Inside was filled with dust.
It seemed there were no monsters, but there also did not seem to be anything useful. Just as Soren was preparing to leave, he suddenly felt he had discovered something, squatting down to knock on the wall with his hand, then pulling out his curved blade and stabbing it in, directly carving out a hole in the wall. Inside was surprisingly empty, and within the roughly thirty-centimeter hole was a rather exquisite box.
“Fortunately, my search skills are good!”
Soren reached out and knocked on the box, then signaled Vivian to step back. He took out a lock-picking tool from his dimensional bag, preparing to open the box and see what was inside.
………………(To be continued ~^~)
