Chapter 864: Chapter 864

Accompanying the intense roar, layers upon layers of shadows separated from the stooped figure, all draped in similar hoods, lean in build, brandishing scythe-like weapons as if they were cast from the shadows themselves.

Piercing howls echoed in the silent darkness, these surging black shadows flying through the sky like crows, the whistling wind brushing past torches that still burned on either side.

With a ’pop,’ the roaring flames of the torches suddenly extinguished, plunging the world once more into thick, pitch darkness.

A ghostly green lantern cast a chilling glow, forming a small circular haven of illuminated land.

He Ao’s gaze sharpened, ignoring the howls resounding around him as he stepped forward directly into the darkness ahead.

Kavina immediately took a step forward to follow He Ao, with Komo keeping pace beside her.

The bright, eerie green light illuminated the darkness, sweeping across the ground like a spotlight as they moved quickly forward.

With a sharp shriek, a black shadow burst from the darkness, lunging at He Ao.

He Ao lifted his sword and sliced through the shadow’s form in an instant.

Decayed bones scattered in the light, then fell back into the darkness.

Similar to the undead, but not entirely so.

These black shadows were stronger than those that had attacked He Ao outside the castle, their overall attack power reaching C-level, but they had extremely weak defenses. However, due to their spiritual body traits, ordinary physical weapons would barely harm them.

He Ao had ample experience dealing with such creatures. Upon seeing these flying shadows, he immediately covered his bone sword with his Divine Sense.

Divine Sense could damage spiritual bodies.

These black shadows probably couldn’t leave the castle; otherwise, the mastermind behind this would have released them to attack the crowds being evacuated.

The shrill howls echoed once more in the silent darkness as a shadow flew out from the left, a giant scythe slashing towards Komo on the left rear.

Komo immediately raised his sleeve, flicking out two pitch-black nunchaku to guard himself.

But the dark scythe, upon touching the nunchaku, didn’t stop like an illusion, it passed through the nunchaku and cut towards Komo’s neck.

He Ao turned and thrust his sword back, piercing the black shadow’s form.

"They possess the characteristics of a spiritual body."

As decaying bones fell into the darkness, He Ao withdrew his bone sword, quickly warning.

Komo was momentarily stunned, then nodded rapidly, meekly tucking himself between He Ao and Kavina.

Among the three, he was the weakest, and since he had no means of attacking spiritual entities, the best solution was to keep a low profile, preserve himself, and avoid causing trouble for He Ao.

Kavina, standing at the rear, glanced up at Komo, who had suddenly moved closer, and subtly increased their slightly encroaching distance, without saying much.

In this way, the three maintained a sandwich-like formation, piercing rapidly into the darkness like a spear.

The orchestrator behind the black shadows seemed not to have anticipated He Ao’s strategy of rapid progression; the large number of attacks directed at He Ao were left behind after a brief entanglement.

Although more black shadows continued to emerge from the darkness in front, their number was already sparse compared to the total.

Even these ’few’ shadows, still swarming like bats disturbed in a cave, quickly darted into the green glow, to be shredded by He Ao’s bone sword or pierced by Kavina’s thrown darts.

In front of them, denser shadows spread, seeming to fill the entire darkness, their forms pressing down like a tide, enveloping the green light and, for an instant, the dark tendrils retracting inward, completely obscuring the brightness.

"Close the distance!"

He Ao, brandishing his bone sword, called out sharply.

Komo looked up, eyeing the gap in front, immediately stepping forward to block a shadow from wedging between the two, with Kavina swiftly following suit, their distance drawing even closer.

At that moment, Kavina looked up towards He Ao’s back.

With a piercing scream, two black shadows skirted the edge of He Ao’s sword light and burst into He Ao’s rear, attacking Kavina and Komo who were behind.

Kavina quickly raised her darts, piercing the black shadow that approached her, but another shadow surged out of her blind spot, striking toward Komo in the center.

Komo immediately lifted his stick, attempting to dodge to the side, but it was already too late. The black shadow’s speed was several times faster than his reaction, reaching him in an instant.

At this time, He Ao’s front was filled with densely packed Black Shadows, and the pure white sword light had been completely delayed, nearly unable to muster any action to assist.

But at this last moment, Komo of course saw it all. He stared at the black shadow close to his face, stared at the skull almost touching his cheek under the dark hood, and held his breath.

Sometimes, death arrives just like that, sudden.

The heartbeat that was already somewhat rapid throbbed even more intensively, like some call from the depths of Hell, urgent and desperate.

Accompanied by the sharp sound of penetration, a dark broad sword came through above his shoulder, piercing the black shadow that was close to him.

The world seemed to fall into silence at that moment, and as the rotted body split into two and dissolved in front of him, Komo suddenly snapped back to reality.

His body was filled with cold sweat, he could even feel his coat clinging to his back.

"Stay alert, keep closer."

With a heavy panting sound, the dark broad sword was pulled out from over Komo’s head, and the young man’s calm, somewhat cold voice, like the most empowering and gentle call, awakened Komo from the fear of death.

Komo opened his mouth and looked up at the youth’s back in front, wanting to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.

Finally, he took a step forward, following close behind He Ao.

And Kavina, standing at the rear, quickened her pace as well and looked up at the broad sword in He Ao’s hand.

At this moment, He Ao held a bone sword in one hand and a broad sword in the other, each tilted at a certain angle to the left and right, like a dagger thrusting forward, rapidly piercing into the depths of the night.

The broad sword was longer than the bone sword, so sometimes, Kavina could even feel the sharp blade sweeping past her side.

Her brow slightly furrowed, she said nothing and gripped the lantern tighter, following the two more closely.

He Ao also clenched the broad sword tightly, without offering further explanation.

This broad sword was obtained last time in the ’Underground Palace,’ from the remains of a Martial Arts Expert within, very tough and capable of breaking through a C-level defense. However, it was not essentially a powerful Extraordinary Item, so it could be put into the Pirate Treasure Box.

As He Ao drew the broad sword, the surrounding Black Shadows grew even more frenetic, and He Ao quickened his steps.

Kavina gripped the lantern in her hand, looking to the side. Everything around them had been covered by darkness, the layered Black Shadows were dense like ink, hiding all brilliance, and the light from the lantern was confined to their immediate vicinity.

She continuously threw out darts, cutting down the Black Shadows attacking from behind.

Although a lot had happened, all of it actually took place in a very short amount of time, He Ao’s speed hardly slowed down, even becoming faster, leaving a large number of Black Shadows ’absorbed’ behind them.

And He Ao’s tactics seemed to be effective, they were probably very close to the ’Stone Door’ they had seen earlier, closer to the bent figure standing in front of the door.

When an enemy’s attack reaches its fiercest peak, it often means they are very close to the most critical location.

And at this point, the stooped figure in front of the Stone Door finally realized that this level of assault was incapable of stopping He Ao, he completely changed tactics, directly piling up a large number of Black Shadows.

The dense Black Shadows were like dark walls blocking in front of He Ao. As soon as He Ao shattered one, new Black Shadows instantly filled the space, which slowed his advance more and more.

And with their speed slowing, the Black Shadows that had been ’delayed’ behind them during their rapid intrusion were quickly circling back.

Twisting and overlapping Black Shadows surged towards them in a flood. Initially, Kavina, who was standing at the rear, could still turn and deploy her darts to defend against the Black Shadows coming from behind, but soon, these Black Shadows broke through her ’limit.’

More and more Black Shadows broke through her defense, attacking the trio from behind, then getting cut down by He Ao’s sword light.

Even with swords in both hands, the number of Black Shadows was starting to exceed He Ao’s range of response.

Kavina quickly turned around and glanced at He Ao, shouting urgently.

At this moment, He Ao’s forward progress had almost come to a complete stop. The dense Black Shadows let out a sharp wail, nearly fearlessly blocking in front of He Ao, using their comrades as shields to delay his movements.

And as Black Shadows continued to pile up behind He Ao, the pressure he could bear increased, further slowing his push forward.

He Ao did not respond to Kavina but instead looked up at the Black Shadows ahead.

The wall of Black Shadows was becoming denser and denser before his eyes.

Under the strangulation of these overlapping C-level Black Shadows, even a normal B-level expert would be exhausted to death.

From the strength perspective, these overlapping Black Shadows are a "B-level" skill.

Therefore, the hunched figure is very likely a B-level, and under normal circumstances, most B-level individuals have only one particularly remarkable attribute.

If a Mage’s spells are strong, then their physical fitness will not be exceptionally high.

Clearly, the hunched figure’s ’advantage’ lies with these Black Shadows, which means his physical fitness is likely not strong.

That’s also why He Ao had just adopted the tactic of a rapid assault.

His current situation was a bit like an individual against an army; hence, not engaging in battle with the ordinary and numerous Black Shadows, and instead executing a beheading strategy was the most effective method.

And from the fact that the hunched figure at last resorted to desperately blocking his path with Black Shadows, it seemed to prove his direction was correct.

The opponent’s physical fitness may not be that ’strong.’

Of course, He Ao didn’t rule out the possibility that the opponent was luring him deeper on purpose.

And since the beginning, he hadn’t revealed any B-level strength.

Although he had shown far superior ability to an ordinary C-level during his attack, it was the effect of his base physical fitness plus his Fist Technique, still a small gap away from a true B-level.

Countless thoughts flashed through He Ao’s mind, he only had one chance; if he didn’t succeed, it might not affect him much, but the people behind him would immediately be devoured by these Black Shadows, leaving nothing behind.

And if the battle dragged on, he would also be directly swallowed by these endless Black Shadows, prolonging the fight was not in his favor.

Kavina looked back at He Ao again, the Black Shadows in front of her were multiplying, and they were on the verge of breaking through from the back, at this moment it seemed that He Ao’s reinforcement was the best decision.

Komo, caught in the middle, was at a loss.

His strength was not enough to influence the situation, but he could see clearly, once the Black Shadows broke through, they would undoubtedly die.

But if He Ao went back to rescue the rear, they would also be caught by these Black Shadows.

They had ventured too deep into the Black Shadows, being caught meant certain death as well.

It seemed like an inescapable dead end.

Just as Kavina turned to look at He Ao, He Ao abruptly withdrew his bone sword, then raised his black broad sword and cleaved through the thick wall of Black Shadows in front of him.

In that instant, he activated Super Memory.

His powerful Divine Sense instantly covered the black broad sword, and the dark sword light, like a sharp blade splitting heaven and earth, cut through the dense wall of Black Shadows.

The lamplight, following the split opened up, shone on the astonished cheeks of the figure behind the wall of Black Shadows.

The whole world seemed to fall silent at that moment, even the piercing screech emitted by the multitude of overlapping Black Shadows became muted.

"You’re courting death!"

The shock on the hunched figure’s face faded in an extremely short time, and he sneered at the approaching He Ao.

Many people, seeing his powerful spells, would think his body was very weak.

But in reality, his close combat ability, though slightly weaker than Black Shadow ability, was still extremely powerful for an average B-level.

Such weak B-levels, he could fight two at a time.

This ’young man’ in front of him seemed to have some hidden ability to temporarily gain B-level strength, but had never exceeded his control.

This young man was youthful, capable, and had secrets, likely a genius with serendipitous encounters who had not yet grown up, but that was all.

These fools living in the Old World had never seen true power, nor could they imagine a greater world.

Did they think B-level strength could decide the outcome? That by bringing out B-level strength, they could reverse the entire situation at the last moment?

They were just frogs in a well.

He lifted his hand, and dark Shadows gathered in his palm, coalescing into a giant scythe.

In this castle, he possessed absolute sovereign strength, with only Li Cheng and the mysterious ’Hao Yi’ posing some threat to him; all others who entered here were lambs to the slaughter.

Next, it was time to let this ignorant young man witness what real power was.

"You will pay for your foolishness···"

With a crisp sound, the black broad sword collided with the pitch-black scythe.

On the other side, the terrifying black shadow had already breached Kavina’s defenses and arrived before her, the sharp scythe slicing towards her slender, delicate neck.

Kavina immediately retracted her gaze from behind and focused in front, where the sinister skeleton revealed its form in front of the girl.

Accompanied by a light echo resounding through the darkness, the terrifying black shadow stopped its motion, its substantial, frightful face crouching in mid-air, its body rapidly disintegrating until it became decayed dust that scattered from the sky.

The dense black shadows also dissolved continuously like crumbling dunes, falling to the sides of Kavina and Komo.

Kavina immediately turned her head to look behind, the wall constructed of shadows collapsing in her field of view.

As the gap behind the still collapsing shadow wall was not yet fully closed, the hunched figure’s hand held a terrible, hardened scythe snapped in two, revealing a smooth cross-section.

Thick, black blood spurted from the wound in the hunched figure’s chest.

"How could... this be..."

The hunched figure opened its mouth, trying to turn to look at the youth behind.

His body, with this turn, suddenly split in two, crashing to the ground, revealing an arc-shaped cross-section.

He Ao lifted the broad sword in his hand, turned around at the edge of the lantern’s glow, his face emerging from the darkness.

The guy’s physical fitness was probably around five thousand, less than he had expected and not comparable to his over six thousand—boosted by ’Super Memory’ and ’Fist Technique’—physical fitness, the opponent’s battle prowess was also not high, only relying on brute strength, obviously used to skulking behind and using skills, not so good in close combat.

He Ao glanced at the hunched figure’s remains.

However, the opponent’s energy convergence point was a bit interesting; it was a three-point structure, and these three points connected into an obtuse triangle.

All energy circuits extended from this triangle.

When He Ao had just cut off the first point of the triangle, the other two points were clearly rapidly converging energy to reorganize into a new third point, so he didn’t stop, instead moving upwards, bending an arc, cutting off all three points in one motion.

Thus resulting in an arc-shaped cross-section.

"Minister He? How are you?"

Under the descending decayed black shadows, Kavina immediately rushed over, standing in front of He Ao.

Just now, He Ao and the hunched figure brushed past each other, and the pitch-black wall of shadows briefly blocked He Ao’s figure.

At this time, Komo also ran over anxiously.

He Ao glanced at the two and shook his head, then he turned around to look at the stone door behind, "It seems like there’s something drawn on this door."

Kavina immediately lifted the lantern, the bright light revealing the embossed engravings on the stone door.

"This seems to be, a carving of a mural?"

Komo guessed as he looked at the contents on the stone door.

The content of the mural was simple; it depicted something similar to an opened book, with many people worshiping this book.

Next, in another scene, those worshipers became part of the contents of the book, while the outside of the book turned into buildings.

And then, where there should be the next scene, was just a blank space, seemingly nothing left behind.

"What does this mean?"

Komo was a bit puzzled, "Those worshipers entered the book?"

"Maybe it’s not that simple."

He Ao shook his head, memorizing the mural.

He reached out, pressing on the stone door in front of him, and slowly pushed open the door.