Chapter 329: Shadow Creatures

However, Bishop Anbulier had now shed his previous set of bishop's vestments, having changed into a suit of armor that even bore traces of age, and was carrying a two-handed hammer in his hand that radiated holy light at all times! The "tap-tap" sound from just a moment ago was the sound of Bishop Anbulier's metal boots striking the ground! Xia Duo's eyes widened; the change in this bishop's style was just too drastic! And against a Spellcaster, was holding such a large hammer really useful?

Confusion, surprise—Xia Duo's various emotions were mixed together, extremely complex!

"Let's set off!" Bishop Anbulier called out.

Aiboke seemed unfazed, even teasing with interest, "How many years has it been! You don't even know to go get this armor of yours repaired!"

"Master Sangbo has already retired, and I don't want to go disturb him!"

"What about Master Bulutuo? Wouldn't it be fine to find him?"

"I wouldn't dare; I once had him repair it ten years ago, and that time he just casually struck a few blows with his hammer and nearly drained my purse dry!"

"Hahaha!"

After a few words of casual conversation, the three stood together in front of the Shadow Portal, which looked like a pure black curtain. Bishop Anbulier said solemnly:

"I once observed the shadows of the world while in contemplation; there, everything of the present world exists—the earth, rivers, vegetation, and buildings—but the rules there differ from the present world. Do not stray too far from my side, or you might become lost!"

As he spoke, a circle of holy radiance like water ripples overflowed from the Bishop's body and spread outward, until it filled an area of about one or two meters around him.

Xia Duo leaned toward Bishop Anbulier; situated within the holy radiance, he did not feel any discomfort. On the contrary, this radiance made him feel quite comfortable.

It was as if it were soothing the nervous emotions he felt before departing, but it was merely soothing; Xia Duo had a feeling that as long as he refused, this radiance would not linger on him at all.

This truly matched the speculations of the Netherese Mages: Faith cannot be forced, and gods do not need to force mortals; as long as one has the heart to refuse, even Divine Grace can be rejected.

……

Soon, the three stepped into the Shadow Portal.

Bishop Anbulier entered first, the eternal radiance connecting the inside and outside, and Xia Duo and Aiboke hurriedly followed.

Upon arriving here, Xia Duo was immediately shocked by everything before his eyes; the entire world was dim and gray, and everything seemed like a slightly dark black-and-white photograph, paired with inexplicable low, deep sounds in the distance, appearing exceptionally eerie.

Here, the field of vision was compressed to be very close, and the world of only black, white, and gray also made it difficult for someone like Xia Duo, who came from the normal world, to distinguish distance.

And after being shocked by the strange world, Xia Duo also noticed the place where they were currently located.

This was a place similar to building ruins, surrounded by broken walls and debris; looking closely, the place where they were located was actually—

A Temple?

If Xia Duo hadn't just come from the Main Plane, he would have doubted his own memory; the layout and a few details here were extremely similar to the Temple in the Main Plane.

Especially that large pit not far away—could it be the one left behind after the Tower of Time departed?

But this distance seemed a bit wrong; in reality, the large pit left behind after the Tower of Time departed had already been filled in, and the distance to the Temple seemed to be more than just this!

The Shadow Portal they had just passed through was in these ruins of a hall that bore some resemblance to the hall they had come from. Of course, calling it a 【Shadow Portal】 here seemed a bit inappropriate! It should be a 【Radiance Portal】! At this moment, the portal was no longer that pure black curtain appearance, but a sheet of light, like a transparent sphere, brilliant and radiant.

It was just that this radiance would not expand infinitely.

Xia Duo and the others walked a few more steps outward, and that sheet of radiance was hidden within a patch of darkness.

And at this time, Xia Duo noticed more details—

The three of them still possessed color, appearing completely out of place with everything around them.

The Magic Items on Xia Duo's person were all intact, and the Protective Spell previously reinforced by the Mage Tower still existed. However, when he saw Bishop Anbulier's hammer, which was still glowing but slightly dim, a thought sprouted in his mind.

—【Light】! A hazy, dim, and flickering ball of light appeared at Xia Duo's fingertip, but it quickly vanished! It seemed that in this shadow world, light was not easy to manifest!

During the spellcasting process just now, Xia Duo also discovered that the Magic Net did exist here, but it felt as if ink on paper had been blurred by water, giving one a feeling that was somewhat fuzzy and unclear.

It was indeed possible to cast spells, but this was based on Xia Duo's profound understanding of the essence of the Magic Net and the Principles of spells; if someone else were to come, they might not necessarily be able to cast spells normally!

Walking through these building ruins, Xia Duo could see the shadows of certain buildings from Savile Town in the Main Plane from time to time, but more were "close but not quite," giving one an indescribable, awkward feeling.

Passing through the ruins, they hadn't walked many steps before the three arrived at the edge of a forest. Just as Xia Duo was guessing whether this might be the shadow of the Green Pearl Forest in the shadow world, Bishop Anbulier suddenly said, "Stop!"

Xia Duo stopped his footsteps subconsciously, and just as he was about to ask what had happened, a wisp of light from the two-handed hammer in Bishop Anbulier's hand had already split off and shot forward.

"Ah—"

A shrill, miserable scream, as if fingernails were scraping across a wooden board or as if iron tools were clashing, suddenly came from ahead! Immediately following, a group of bizarre, deformed shadows ignited by light and fire rushed out from the forest, and a tangible malice surged directly toward the three.

But before it could even approach the three, it had already been burned to nothing.

However, it was not just this one; one after another, deformed shadows rushed out from the forest, as if they were rolling, and also as if they were rapidly squirming.

But this was not what was most unsettling!

Soon, Xia Duo saw these deformed shadows squirming, as if someone were pulling them upward, first stretching them out, then grabbing their limbs and heads! Xia Duo guessed that these shadow creatures seemed to be imitating the appearance of humans, but the invisible hand that shaped them seemed to lack any artistic talent; these shadow creatures were shaped like deformed dolls.

"Radiance be above!"

Just at this moment, Bishop Anbulier shouted loudly, lifting the two-handed hammer in his hand with one arm. The next moment, endless radiance spilled from the hammer, showering onto the deformed shadows that were rushing toward the three and already possessed a few human traits!

"Ah—ah—ah—"

More shrill, miserable screams appeared. Xia Duo frowned and also joined in the destruction, quickly summoning balls of firelight, releasing them in the form of compression and explosions.

These spells, which originally had almost no direct lethality in the Main Plane, were surprisingly useful in the shadow world!

Only Aiboke remained motionless; as the main force in the direct confrontation against Aquilain, he had to preserve his strength as much as possible.

A moment later, all the deformed shadows were wiped out.

(End of chapter)