Chapter 269: City Within the Volcano

The moment the great doors swung open, a biting cold wind sliced across Erbi Si's face like a series of icy blades, howling like a beast as it swirled up a sky of snow, leaving everything frosted.

The sky was choked with dark clouds, as if a massive gray curtain draped the earth, and around it massive walls formed a circle; within those walls a mysterious black city stood silently.

The city walls were built of jet‑black stone, flashing a mysterious dim light in the faint illumination, as if they had grown naturally from endless darkness. The streets wound and twisted like a labyrinth, exuding a faint, lingering sense of dread.

Tall, bizarre structures were arranged irregularly, their styles unique and eerie, with sharp angles and twisted shapes, as if they were the embodiment of dark power. Their surfaces were covered with unknown black vines that seemed to draw the city's life force.

In the city's centre, a towering black temple rose from the ground; its dark walls glimmered with a strange light in the weak light, as if hiding countless unknown secrets. At its apex was a massive breach, burning with black flame like a demon's gaping maw.

From that breach, black magma constantly spewed, as if the fires of hell were burning. The magma flowed down the temple's walls, coursed through the city's streets, and finally reached the surrounding stone walls, climbing upward along the rough rock as if it were alive.

"." Erbi Si was left speechless, shocked by the scene, realizing that the magma they had seen at the foot of the mountain appeared exactly like this, no wonder the volcano's interior lacked magma.

"What do we do now?" Erbi Si snapped back, looking to Xia Nai as if pleading for help; in a city this huge, where could they find that damned Half‑plane Nexus?

Xia Nai pointed toward the distant temple and said quietly, "The book records: the Half‑plane Nexus lies within the half‑god lich's bedchamber; it is the repository of his Life Box and the place where he prays to his deity."

After scanning the area, only that temple matched the notes.

Kai De snapped his jaw shut, thinking the two might be crazy; this place clearly looked like the lair of some evil Monster, they couldn't possibly intend to go inside, could they?

"Hey, look closely, we're not the only ones in this city!" Kai De lifted his chin to hint at them.

The two women looked toward the city's streets and saw occasional black shadows drifting over the black magma roads. They moved swiftly, like phantoms slipping through the darkness, impossible to grasp.

Xia Nai's expression darkened.

"What's wrong? Do you know who they are?" Erbi Si observed Xia Nai's change of face and asked softly.

Xia Nai nodded, "They belong to an organization called the Shadow Alliance."

When Erbi Si heard the words "Shadow Alliance," her pupils contracted and her complexion turned pale.

"Shadow… Alliance?" she asked, her voice trembling.

Xia Nai looked at her suspiciously, "What? Do you know this organization?"

Erbi Si swallowed, her gaze unfocused as if recalling something, "My master once told me she came from an organization called the Shadow Alliance."

"She said, 'If I ever encounter them, I must run the first chance!'"

Xia Nai was a bit surprised; she hadn't expected this shadow assassin to have any connection with the Shadow Alliance. She admitted she had initially been curious why a naturally kind‑hearted, carefree dwarf would become a cold‑blooded assassin—such a profession isn't something naive dwarf children could accept.

Seeing the fear, regret, anger, and nostalgia flash in Erbi Si's eyes, she silently put away her questions.

She seemed to be someone with a story like hers.

"We have no way out," Xia Nai said calmly, "Regardless, we have only two choices: try to find the Half‑plane Nexus, or stay here and wait for death."

"No matter what you think, I will definitely seek a way out," she declared firmly.

Her revenge was unfinished, her wish unfulfilled. The road of life was long; she wouldn't stop here. Erbi Si and Kai De exchanged a glance and sighed in succession.

It was time to take a gamble.

"What's your idea?" Erbi Si resolved, sweeping away the fear in her eyes, and looked steadfastly at Xia Nai.

After a moment's thought, Xia Nai pulled a Scroll from her spatial bag.

"This is a Seven‑Ring Illusion School spell 【Group Invisibility】; we'll have to rely on it now."

Erbi Si and Kai De's eyes lit up; with such a good thing, what were they afraid of? As long as they were careful, they could sneak to the temple.

Xia Nai efficiently tore the Scroll to pieces, a dense magical aura swirling around the three of them, concealing their bodies.

"Stay close to me, don't go beyond six meters, or you'll become visible instantly," she warned while walking.

The invisibility of 【Group Invisibility】 can last almost forever, as long as the affected party isn't attacked or initiates an attack; the effect persists, making it an indispensable means for escape and infiltration.

Moreover, 【Group Invisibility】 erases footprints and scent; unless those Shadow Alliance members are extraordinarily keen‑eared mutants, they cannot detect them.

!

Thus the three slipped silently into the nameless black city.

At first, the three worried about encountering scorching magma on the streets, but after Kai De's reckless test revealed the magma was not hot at all but extremely cold, they relaxed.

With the aid of a cold‑resistance spell, they walked on the magma as easily as on flat ground.

They tiptoed quietly into the city and discovered that within the gothic black buildings, many of the black shadows flashing by were actually humans!

A group of humans dressed in identical uniforms.

Each uniform bore a half‑closed, bleeding eye.

It was the symbol of the Shadow Alliance.

Xia Nai clenched her teeth, fearing she might lose control and charge at these blood‑feud enemies for a life‑or‑death clash, and walked silently along the street.

Occasionally, assassins darted past them, sensing something amiss, but unable to pierce the limits of 【Group Invisibility】; the journey was fraught with tension but without danger.

"The temple isn't far."

Xia Nai looked toward the faintly visible temple in the distance, a hint of excitement in her expression, yet also growing doubt.

According to the book, a Spectral Shadow Dragon should be stationed within this Half‑plane Nexus; why then do these Shadow Alliance assassins stride in and out of every place, even seemingly occupying the temple itself?

Could it be that they have struck a pact with that dragon?

(End of Chapter)