Chapter 50 The Avatar of the Lord of Shadows! (Dual Combined)
The balance of victory and defeat has been predetermined.
The full force strike from Modo completely caught the Shadow Thief Guild in Shipwreck Bay off guard. This time, Soren intended to utterly destroy the Shadow Thief Guild’s power in Shipwreck Bay, so he dispatched quite a number of subordinates. The battle outside is still ongoing, but Soren’s confrontation here is nearly coming to an end. Vampires are problematic for mortals, but for deities, they are merely ants. Throughout the ordeal, Soren did not encounter a single proper opponent; even a progenitor-level vampire would find it difficult to contend with him now.
Outside a deep, shadowy crypt.
After clearing away a group of high-level vampires, Soren walked straight out from the depths of the crypt.
However, just as he stepped outside, his brows furrowed tightly, and he scoffed, “You’ve finally decided to show yourself.”
“Lord of Shadows!”
The surrounding space was grey and murky, giving everything the appearance of being shrouded in shadows.
This space had been affected and interfered with by the Shadow Plane, temporarily sealing spatial abilities—only the Lord of Shadows could do this, as He wields the domain of Shadows.
A cold light flickered!
A hazy figure surged from the darkness, but Soren barely glanced and waved back, instantly summoning a spurt of bl**d light.
“No need to send these underlings to their deaths.”
A smirk crept onto Soren’s lips as he slowly spoke, “As a deity governing Shadows and Wanderers, our battle is destined!”
“Are you still afraid to show yourself?”
Though he said this, Soren couldn’t help but shift his stance, and at the same time, his palm moved towards his wrist, activating a mark etched on his skin.
This was a spatial beacon.
Although the surrounding environment had been assimilated by the Shadow Plane, as long as this beacon was sent out, there would naturally be someone who could pinpoint Soren’s general location.
Cackle!
A strange laughter emerged.
Next, a cloud of shadow surged from midair; Soren frowned and waved his hand, slaying a high-level Twisted Shadow.
“How much longer do you plan to wait?”
“If you don’t make your move soon, my forces will all arrive.”
The Lord of Shadows sealing this space likely expended a considerable amount of divine power; Soren was unconvinced that He could suppress His actions indefinitely.
This guy was simply too cautious.
His failure to show himself compelled Soren to refrain from acting recklessly. After all, if Soren summoned the Princess before the Lord appeared, finding the Lord of Shadows again would be quite troublesome in the future.
Time ticked by.
By now, the battle outside the crypt was nearing conclusion; Modo’s forces were closing in, and a deity in Saint form could not ignore a legendary powerhouse. If the Church’s forces gathered, the Lord of Shadows would truly have no chance of killing Soren.
Puff!
A pitch-black shadow appeared, transforming into a blade that aimed for Soren.
“You finally showed yourself!”
Soren’s spirit surged suddenly, and without hesitation, he activated his divine shield and lunged forward.
—— “Tracking Divine Profession!”
The distortion between the Shadow Plane and Material Plane was seized by Soren, revealing a semi-illusory figure in his perception.
“Divine manifestation?!”
Soren’s brow furrowed. He sneered, “Do you think a mere avatar can k*ll me?”
A twisted shadow.
It looked non-corporeal, barely showing a human outline.
The form of a deity is uncertain; they can alter their physical body into various semi-energetic forms. The Lord of Shadows had evidently transformed Himself into Shadow Life, which explained the complete absence of flesh and bl**d. If it were the deity’s real body in battle, the odds would have been roughly in favor of the Lord of Shadows, but if it were only the divine avatar fighting against Soren’s true form, the odds tilted to 80-20 in Soren’s favor; essentially, it would have been quite unlikely for the Lord’s avatar to k*ll Soren.
“Preparing to test my strength?”
In that instant, Soren devised a plan and transformed into a fleeting shadow rushing forward.
For a long time.
Most of Soren’s opponents had been mortals, and he had only fought deities a handful of times. However, precisely because of this, many deities weren’t fully aware of Soren’s true power. The only benchmark to evaluate Soren’s strength was his successful k*ll of the God of the Hunt—Mara, but that was merely a vague assumption. The last ambush couldn’t be ignored; the Lord of Shadows was likely testing Soren’s capabilities, but the effect didn’t manifest, as Lady Silver Moon had directly shielded Soren.
This time, the appearance of His avatar was probably aimed at understanding just how strong Soren was!
“Since you dare to boldly send an avatar here.”
“I won’t be polite with the divine power residing in your avatar!”
A cold smile tugged at the corner of Soren’s mouth; the Tracking Divine Profession instantly locked onto the Lord of Shadows’ avatar’s position. However, since his enemy was in charge of the Shadows domain, to evade Soren’s tracking, the Lord’s movements were nearly instantaneous; He only appeared in the Material Plane when attacking, spending other times in the Shadow Plane. In this situation, to inflict effective damage upon Him, Soren had to respond the moment the Lord attacked.
If a deity’s avatar dies, it typically only reduces their power a little.
But Soren was different from others; if he kills a deity’s avatar, he could absorb the divinity and divine power contained within!
The Lord of Shadows’ avatar could now traverse planes.
Undoubtedly, when the Lord created this avatar, He infused it with divine power!
Killing Him means absorbing divine value.
—— “Reality Alteration Divine Power!”
As a flicker of cold light surged from the Shadow Plane towards Soren, he unhesitatingly activated his divine capability. When it came to battles on the divine level, worldly methods had become limited; only the power of rules could combat it. In today’s situation, if any other legendary professional were in his stead, they would be thoroughly battered by the enemy from the Shadow Plane, having no means of retaliation except for top-tier spellcasters.
Everything around began to warp.
The rules of reality were interfered with by divine power. Shadows swirled around Soren like flowing water.
—— “Space Alteration Divine Power!”
Soren unleashed a torrent of divine power in an instant, shattering the shadowy blockade, and the next moment, a distorted shadow appeared in his view.
“Trying to escape?!”
Just as the divine power of space alteration broke free from the limitations of planar laws, the Lord of Shadows’ avatar sensed the danger and attempted to flee. But Soren would not grant Him that opportunity.
—— “Epic Divine Power!”
—— “Dimensional Lock [Divine Power Conversion]!”
To prevent the enemy from re-entering the Shadow Plane, Soren straightforwardly sealed off his own spatial abilities.
In an instant, he transformed into a blur and lunged forward, infusing divine power into his weapon, attacking with a storm of fury. However, the next scene made him furrow his brow, for although he had shred the shadow before him, it inflicted very little substantial damage. The torn shadows began to automatically congeal and soon transformed back into a human outline.
“Immune to physical damage?”
Soren seemed to realize something and raised his hand to unleash a wave of divine energy.
This guy is quite a handful!
An avatar that could even become immune to physical damage. Based on the capabilities of the Saint template, the Lord of Shadows likely also had immunity to 1-4 level spell effects.
No wonder He dared to send an avatar to test him.
With such innate abilities, others wouldn’t stand a chance; physical damage would be essentially ineffective, and the deity’s energy resistance was frighteningly high. At the same time, He remained immune to all 1-4 level spells.
If space couldn’t be sealed off, it would be almost impossible to k*ll the enemy!
—— “Mayoufu Meteor!”
A divine energy wave indeed proved effective, making the twisted shadow visibly weaken.
However, Soren’s divine power was not infinite; he was uncertain if the Lord of Shadows’ true form was nearby. He also dared not summon the Princess directly for fear of alerting the enemy, thus he couldn’t waste all his divine power. To k*ll the enemy, he had to rely on the legendary god-slaying spell ‘Mayoufu Meteor.’
This spell not only dealt physical damage but also had formidable spell damage.
Rumbling!
Two clusters of burning meteoric flames appeared in Soren’s palm, followed by a relentless barrage of attacks. The sounds of continuous explosions erupted, and Soren couldn’t even count how many shots of ammunition he had unleashed. Regardless, he kept going until he had exhausted all his memory slots for the Mayoufu Meteor spell.
The meteors created by this spell were area attacks.
Although each dealt only a few points of damage, Soren’s attack speed was so fast that even low-level spells could be cast instantaneously.
By the end of a barrage of meteoric bombardment, the Lord of Shadows’ avatar was left as a significantly weakened shadow.
“Still not dead!”
Soren hesitated momentarily but decisively pointed his finger.
—— “d*ath’s Hand [d*ath Domain]!”
In this scenario, the enemy should have already entered a dying state, with nothing left to discuss, he unleashed a direct killing ability.
Boom!
The twisted shadows shattered in an instant, followed by the cacophony of voices all around.
The Lord of Shadows’ avatar was killed on the spot, but soon a radiant light of divinity emerged from the dissipating shadows; this divine power did not return to the Lord, but was directly consumed by Soren.
A series of data appeared before his eyes:
“Killed the [Lord of Shadows]’s avatar!”
“Extracted target’s killing experience!… You gained 250,000 points of killing experience!…”
“Target possesses divine power.”
“Extracted target’s divine power!… You gained 12 points of divinity!…”
“Target possesses divine form power.”
“Extracted target’s divine form power!… You gained 6 points of divine power!…”
………………
Looking at the data notifications appearing before him, Soren’s expression instantly became rather exciting!
At the same time.
In a mysterious underground palace, a humanoid shadow that materialized on an altar suddenly emitted a low growl filled with dissatisfaction and fury!
The entire palace shook.
Many believers of the Church of Shadows gathered here couldn’t help but tremble, not understanding why their deity suddenly became so enraged.
………………
“To dare send an avatar to test me!”
Soren’s lips curled into a smile as he shook his head, “Simply courting d*ath!”
He possessed the power of Killing; any deity’s avatar he killed would have their divinity and divine form consumed by him. When confronted with the Ascendant—Eugene, Eugene summoned half-orc heroic spirits from the ancestral spirit realm. Even though it was merely an avatar dying at Soren’s hands, the core of the ancestral spirit realm fell as well.
Deities wouldn’t fall simply because their avatars died.
However, the divine power on a deity’s avatar could absolutely not be returned. Whatever amount of divinity and divine form power the Lord injected into this avatar, Soren would absorb after killing it.
These divinities and divine forms are permanently lost.
Thinking about how the Lord of Shadows permanently lost 12 points of divinity and 6 points of divine power due to the loss of His avatar, Soren felt extremely satisfied!
He even wished the Lord would send a few more avatars over.
This was practically him farming for levels!
Moreover, he raised his own strength while diminishing that of the enemy, but after today’s blows, the Lord of Shadows would likely never dare let an avatar appear before Soren again.
—— “Tracking Divine Profession!”
Although the Lord of Shadows’ avatar had been killed, the lingering divine power still left traces to follow.
Soren activated his Tracking Divine Profession to lock onto the Lord of Shadows’ aura and divine power, leaving a soul mark with his divine-level perception. In the future, whenever he discovered anything related to the Lord of Shadows, he could use the power of the Tracking Divine Profession to trace the Lord’s clues and marks to a certain degree.
Finding His hiding place would just be a matter of time!
………………
Overseas Islands, Modo.
The battle from yesterday had concluded. After overseeing the conflict at Shipwreck Bay, Gloria immediately poured all her energy into her research.
Around noon.
The silhouette of the Fallen Witch appeared in the laboratory, her expression seemingly filled with joy as she spoke, “It worked.”
“I have successfully researched the item Soren brought back.”
“This appears to be a special spell from the Arcane Empire era! The Grand Archmages could use it to accomplish many unique tasks!”
Gloria raised her head upon hearing this, gently tossing her long hair, “Oh really?”
“What is the effect of this spell?”
Just after her words fell.
The Fallen Witch’s voice echoed again from outside the laboratory, and soon another Fallen Witch appeared before Gloria, saying slowly, “The effect is truly astonishing!”
“Though it has a high requirement for mental control! However, this spell indeed bears remarkable effects!”
Two Fallen Witches.
They appeared almost identical, and unless someone had perception capabilities above legendary rank, they wouldn’t notice any differences at all.
Gloria’s expression was suddenly filled with shock!
The Fallen Witch waved her hand, making the first one disappear, then spoke, “Although the effect is remarkable! Its duration isn’t long enough!”
“Controlling the spell isn’t easy; it feels like controlling two bodies simultaneously.”
“As far as I know.”
“Many spellcasters from the Arcane Empire era could handle multiple avatars to deal with various tasks!… This spell surely has imperfections!… It might be related to some super magical techniques from the Arcane Empire!…”
………………
(PS: This is a dual chapter. Normal updates have resumed.) (To be continued ~^~)
