Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1127: Section 1128 Defense Mechanisms
 

Shadow Mist Area.

From the outside, it appeared to be enveloped in dim light. However, it wasn’t until Yadasai stepped in that he realized the Shadow Mist Area was actually not as dark as it seemed from the outside.

In the Shadow Mist Area, there were still flickering lights and shadows.

If the outer world looked like Midsummer’s twilight bathed in the glow of the sky’s flames, then the inside of the Shadow Mist Area resembled the overcast morning of Cold Winter.

Although the light was dim and surging, visibility was not greatly affected. However, Yadasai immediately closed his eyes upon entering the Shadow Mist Area.

Yadasai clearly remembered that in the painting at the top of the Void Tower, which described defense mechanisms, there was a phrase: “Light and shadow are tricks to deceive the eyes.”

Originally, Yadasai did not understand what this meant, until now. Seeing the light and shadows around Shadow Mist Area, he somewhat understood.

The light here, unlike the light of the outside world, was filled with a false flavor. Yadasai even suspected that the scenes imprinted in his eyes might only be projections of his past memories.

With his eyes closed, even though Yadasai couldn’t see the specific surroundings, this did not affect his judgment. In fact, in his spiritual sense, he saw a world completely different from that with his eyes open.

The reason why the Shadow Mist Area was known as such was because from the outside, there were many shadows flickering within it.

Upon entering the Shadow Mist Area, Yadasai immediately noticed these shadows, and the one closest to him was swiftly approaching.

With eyes open, these shadows were just a dark mass of shadows. But with his eyes closed, in his spiritual sense, these shadows had contours—like the one hurtling towards him, which turned out to be an indigenous creature of the Abyss wielding a long sword.

This indigenous creature had no pupils, just pitch-black eyes. His face was very calm, even indifferent. Yet, it carried a terrifying aura as it rushed towards Yadasai.

“Such a level of energy, it must have at least reached the rank of an Intermediate Demon,” Yadasai thought as he engaged the indigenous creature. However, the more they fought, the more astonished he became.

Although this indigenous creature didn’t seem strong in his eyes, it was, after all, an indigenous person… Since when did Indigenous People possess such formidable combat power?

After several exchanges with the indigenous creature, Yadasai kicked up a lot of Dust, and the noise attracted the attention of other “shadows.”

The second shadow approached Yadasai, and in his spiritual sense, it was actually a giant leopard. But it was much larger than ordinary leopards, with a third eye on its forehead, and its lifted black tail was faintly surrounded by a Lightning Serpent.

After the leopard pounced, it did not attack Yadasai but became the mount of the sword-wielding indigenous creature from before.

To the naked eye, it was just two shadows merging together into an even larger one.

With the mount underneath him, the indigenous creature’s strength increased dramatically, and when exchanging blows with Yadasai, it swung lightning with an awe-inspiring momentum.

However, even with its strength greatly increased, the indigenous creature was still at the rank of an Intermediate Demon, and Yadasai still found it very easy to deal with.

The onslaught of the indigenous creature thundered, and the loud sound attracted a shadow lurking in the distance.

To prevent being attacked from both front and back, Yadasai burst out with full force at that moment, forcefully cutting the indigenous creature and the leopard into two.

After being slain, their shapes slowly disappeared.

To the naked eye, the shadows belonging to the indigenous creature and the leopard had now turned into dark particles, slowly rising into the air and disappearing from view.

Watching this, Yadasai suddenly remembered another painting at the top of the Void Tower. In that painting, a detail showed that the slain magical creatures turned into black smoke, floated up and blocked the Sunshine, and then shortly after, the black smoke coalesced into new magical creatures.

Yadasai didn’t understand the meaning behind that painting in the past, but now it seemed—

“Could it be that the painting describes the current situation? Are the Shadow Mist Area’s defense mechanisms the very shadows themselves? Even if the shadows are slain, will they continuously be reborn?”

Although this was just a guess of Yadasai, he faintly felt that this might be the truth.

The previous battle had drawn the attention of nearby shadows, and seeing those shadows drawing closer, Yadasai leaped to the side and took cover.

His bone wings enveloped him, and he concealed his aura.

After the shadows drew near, their true forms were revealed within his spiritual sense.

It was a Half-Blood Demon!

But this Half-Blood Demon was incredibly strong. Although Yadasai had not fought with it, he could still feel the terrifying energy fluctuations.

“At least at the level of a Demon Lord!”

An Indigenous Person previously on par with an Intermediate Demon, and now a Half-Blood Demon comparable to a Demon Lord! Everything here seemed filled with absurdity.

Yadasai, hiding on the side, remained undetected. After a while, the Half-Blood Demon patrolled elsewhere.

“Indeed, the perceptive abilities of the shadows are also off,” Yadasai mused. As soon as he entered the Shadow Mist Area, his own perception had noticeably declined; usually, if Yadasai fully extended his sense, he could easily cover the entire Lassudral. But after stepping into the Shadow Mist Area, his perception was suppressed to the extreme, only within a few dozen meters, and the accuracy of his perception had also decreased.

It appeared now that not only his own perception had decreased, but the sensory abilities of all living creatures in the Shadow Mist Area, including the shadows, had declined.

In this regard, Yadasai breathed a slight sigh of relief.

While outside before, it had noticed an abundant number of shadows in the Shadow Mist Area. If all these entities were of the Demon Lord’s level, then even if it had stepped into the Shadow Mist Area, there would be no hope of entering the Void Tower.

Now, there was still a chance, as long as it didn’t attract the attention of these dark fogs, stealthily sneaking in shouldn’t be a problem.

With this thought, Yadasai began to move.

It avoided all sorts of shadows along the way; in its spiritual sense, they were all powerful transcendent beings, none of them below the rank of Intermediate Demons. However, as it had suspected, as long as it infiltrated quietly, they wouldn’t be alerted.

Soon, Yadasai arrived near the main entrance of the Void Tower.

But just as Yadasai was preparing to sneak in, a huge shadow floated over from above. This shadow was the largest that Yadasai had encountered since entering the Shadow Mist Area.

From a distance, it looked like a towering dark cloud ready to crush the city!

Yadasai closed its eyes to heighten its spiritual sense, and through it, saw the true form of the shadow!

It was an Abyssal Dragon that spanned the sky!

This Abyssal Dragon was engulfed in purple flames, exuding a crushing presence; even at Yadasai’s level, it was taken aback with fright.

The Abyssal Dragon hovered in the air for a moment, and finally settled down on the plaza in front of the main entrance of the Void Tower, its huge body completely obscuring the gate.

Yadasai was now very close to the main entrance and the pressure from seeing the Abyssal Dragon up close was even greater. This involuntary reminded Yadasai of another Abyssal Dragon in Lassudral—Fafnir.

Fafnir had also brought a tremendous oppressive force to it, but compared to this Abyssal Dragon, it fell short.

By comparison, this Abyssal Dragon was definitely a notch above Fafnir in strength.

Yadasai knew very well that it couldn’t even defeat Fafnir, let alone this Abyssal Dragon! With that in mind, Yadasai could only sigh and give up on going through the main entrance.

Yadasai dared not confront the Abyssal Dragon directly but couldn’t help looking back at it continuously. For some reason, Yadasai felt a strange sense of familiarity emanating from the Abyssal Dragon.

After circumventing the Abyssal Dragon, Yadasai planned to take an alternate route around the side. As one of the seven publicly acknowledged authorities of the Void Tower, it was very familiar with every entrance. There was a side door nearby that could be used to enter.

However, after arriving here, Yadasai saw another terrifying shadow circling around.

In its spiritual sense, the true form of this shadow was an entity on par with the Abyssal Dragon encountered earlier—a Demon Lord who had fallen from its throne!

Though it had lost its throne, it was still once a Demon Lord. Even now, its power, no matter how diminished, was probably at the brink of lordship.

Facing such a formidable figure, Yadasai silently kept its distance.

Yadasai felt very disappointed after trying several secret doors and passageways in succession because there were incredibly powerful beings guarding each one, preventing any lifeform from approaching the Void Tower.

“Is this the Void Tower’s self-defense mechanism?” Yadasai was seeing it for the first time and was surprised by its strength.

Under normal circumstances, Yadasai would have been pleased. With such a strong defense, even if human wizards from the floating ice launched a full-scale attack, they probably wouldn’t be able to breach it.

But now, it left Yadasai feeling helpless.

What on earth was happening inside the Void Tower? Why had the seal in the basement vanished? What was Jupiter doing? Could it be related to humans?

If there really had been outside interference, then all of Lassudral might suffer the consequences!

Yadasai could only continue looking for another pathway that would allow it to blend into the Void Tower.

Just then, a disturbance suddenly came from afar.

Yadasai thought it was another shadow, but upon looking back, it saw Nitotipu who had broken into the edge of the Shadow Mist Area!

A moment later, Yadasai and Nitotipu met up.

“What’s the situation now?” Nitotipu’s expression was calm, but her eyes were filled with urgency and anxiety.

“Don’t show your true form; try to withdraw your tentacles as much as possible.” While instructing Nitotipu, Yadasai shared the general situation of the Shadow Mist Area.

“So you’re saying, there’s a powerful force guarding the entrance to the Void Tower making it inaccessible?” Nitotipu withdrew her tentacles and began fiddling with an umbrella in her hands.

Yadasai nodded. Seeing the umbrella, it understood Nitotipu’s thoughts, “If you use your umbrella, perhaps we could force our way through. But the Raincloud’s unfolding is too noticeable. It would be discovered by the shadows as soon as it appears. With countless shadows in the Shadow Mist Area, even if I protect you, we’re unlikely to last until the Raincloud is fully deployed.”

Indeed, the Raincloud Space granted Nitotipu near invincibility, but it took time to unfold.

Nitotipu understood this as well, and after pondering for a moment, suddenly remembered something, “I think I saw a hidden passage on the blueprints left by the Condensed Abyssal Eye, not located at the Inscription nexus.”