Chapter 58: Shadow and Feast!

Inside the dark passage.

Shadow-formed tentacles twisted the oil‑lamp, moving forward silently.

It seemed as if a mass of shadow was chasing the light.

"Whoosh—"

The sound of waves crashing against the shore, rhythmic and melodic, rang in Ta Ke's ears.

Besides the wave sound, many strange, eerie faint noises were mixed in with the surf.

With the opening of the Dark Sun ritual, the Ashen Dark Tide had gradually seeped into La Mo'er High Tower City-state.

Perhaps ordinary extraordinary beings cannot hear or see it.

But here, in Ta Ke's presence, every ripple of the Ashen Dark Tide is clearly visible.

As he moved forward, Ta Ke, shrouded in shadow, examined the supernatural crystals obtained from the slain rat leader and several rat elites.

Being relatively small supernatural creatures.

The supernatural crystals of the rat elites are also somewhat smaller, about the size of a quail egg.

Materials from rodent creatures are usually not used as advancement materials for human extraordinary beings.

They serve as equipment materials, or as some special auxiliary materials, etc.

Although slightly small, as elite‑grade materials they can still fetch a decent price.

This batch of material is worth at least ten magic gold.

Killing rat‑elite creatures is not difficult.

The main issue is that they hide very deep, making them hard to find.

His gaze skimmed over the first‑tier elite materials, and Ta Ke turned to the most important gain of this outing: the crystal material of the rat leader.

About the size of a chicken egg, the amber crystal held a mass of heavy, extremely pure "Shadow Property".

Yes!

The supernatural trait condensed after the rat leader's death is 【Shadow】.

And it is a very pure "Leader‑tier" Shadow.

"Although it's only level 15 Shadow, this is a rare leader‑tier material."

"If we smelt it into the Runic Shadow Ring Staff, the staff's power will definitely increase by a notch."

Ta Ke pondered silently.

Currently, the Shadow Essence Property of Ta Ke's Shadow Ring Staff is roughly at level 22‑23 of the Shadow Sequence.

Except that the Shadow Rune has been strengthened on it.

But the Shadow Ring Staff's own shadow power is not high enough.

With the incorporation of this level‑15 Leader‑tier shadow power,

it can raise its shadow level to at least 27, perhaps even 28.

By then, the three functions of the Runic Ring Staff will all improve significantly.

Moreover, with additional shadow materials, forging a third‑tier Shadow Ring Staff becomes possible.

"The Shadow supernatural trait itself is relatively rare."

Obtaining such a large amount of this pure shadow is truly a stroke of great luck.

After a moment of thought, Ta Ke gradually gathered his spirit and looked ahead.

The aura of death and the disturbance of the undead loom close.

Ta Ke pondered briefly, then waved his hand to dispel the shadow power.

He returned to his true identity, an ordinary Source Energy Mage.

His feet touched the ground, feeling somewhat unsteady.

Even the soles of his feet sent a faint stinging sensation.

"A pure Shadow Form does not mesh well with a human's bodily form."

"After floating for a while, my legs feel weak."

"To develop my own Shadow Form, it's best to combine physical strength with the shadow state."

"That way I can effectively use the Shadow Form's traits while letting my body exert itself, avoiding the sore feet I have now when landing."

Lost in thought, Ta Ke, holding the oil lamp, arrived at the cavern exit.

At the end of the cavern, the view suddenly opened up.

Orange‑yellow wall lamps lined both sides of the rock wall.

Ta Ke glanced and saw they were all wicks of fire‑source lamps condensed by sorcery.

Numerous wall lamps lit the place brightly.

Within the rock‑valley passage beneath the rock frame.

It carried an exotic dimensional aura that hit him in the face.

More precisely, it was a dimensional rift of exotic undead aura.

As the Ashen Dark Tide surged in, that "Undead Rift" greedily drank its energy like heavenly nectar, constantly expanding.

Ta Ke did not know how large the Undead Rift had been before.

But now, the Undead Rift's height is already twenty to thirty meters.

The width where the illusory Undead Rift's projection meets the ground.

Ta Ke estimated that a small car could pass through without issue.

The position where Ta Ke and the others are located is ten meters above the ground, on a corridor built into the wall's rock frame.

If we say the Undead Rift occupies the "heavenly timing" of the Ashen Dark Tide.

So, Ta Ke and the others are the 'territorial advantage' occupying the terrain advantage.

As for 'harmony among people'.

Ta Ke felt that the people were not harmonious.

At this time, on the rock-shelf corridors on both sides of the rock wall, there were about twenty or thirty spellcasters who were superhumans.

Those in the low teens level were the majority, while those above twenty level were fewer.

The number of necromancers accounted for about half.

The number of spellcasters was not small, but from their positions it could be seen that basically each was fighting on their own.

The Ashen Dark Tide would cause a large number of undead to descend into the underground passages.

And everyone's goal was to block the foreign undead army's assault on the Undead High Tower.

Until Sir Ao Bu Li arrived.

After all, in the past, the foreign undead army of the Ashen Dark Tide was ultimately blocked by Sir Ao Bu Li's undead army.

At this time, Amandi and Tanilu were at a protruding rock-shelf not far away, which looked quite good.

"How's the situation over there?" Seeing Ta Ke approach, Amandi lowered her voice and asked.

"The rat tide has basically been dealt with." Ta Ke said lightly.

This remark caused both of them to slightly change expression; that rat tide is not easy to deal with.

Even spellcasters of over thirty level might not be able to handle it.

Ta Ke, who is only in the low teens level, actually managed to deal with it alone.

Without waiting for the two to ask more, Ta Ke looked around and then gazed at Amandi.

"Have you also previously defended here against the advance of the undead army?"

"Mm!" Amandi nodded.

"How long can these people around here hold out?" Ta Ke asked.

"At most just one or two days; if they grit their teeth and persist, three days is the limit."

"In other words, this Ashen Dark Tide that lasts almost a month… ultimately still has to rely on Instructor Ao Bu Li's undead army?"

"What else would there be?" Amandi countered.

Ta Ke took a deep breath, turned his body, and looked toward the "Undead Rift" that manifested as a deep-dimensional context fissure.

"You say… is there a possibility that we ourselves could hold it?"

"What?"

Both of them looked over with faces of disbelief.

"What joke are you making?"

The one who spoke was Tanilu.

As a member of the high tower, he naturally knew the severity of the Undead Rift.

"At first, it was only because the rift's energy upper limit was low, just level seven or eight, with undead creatures in the low teens level, mainly skeletal beings."

"Later on, the undead creatures not only become higher level, but their varieties also increase."

"Wraiths with flight and phasing abilities, and agile ghouls, would cause us to lose our geographical advantage."

"Fast undead knights with extremely strong impact, and powerful undead bone dragon creatures, could easily destroy the necromancers' undead defense line."

"Moreover, those adept at assassination, the 'Soul Capturing Ghosts,' can directly threaten the necromancers themselves."

"Then, how would we hold up? With our heads?"

Tanilu, who had originally been conscripted by Ta Ke, was quite dissatisfied.

Having finally found an opportunity, he gave Ta Ke a hard time.

"Mm, you're absolutely right!" Ta Ke nodded.

"So… we need to be fully prepared, and hold out for as long as we can."

"We can't help with the situation outside; we can only guard the Undead Rift here and wait for the outside outcome."

"At the same time…"

Ta Ke examined the Undead Rift.

"This is also a rare——feast!"

(End of chapter)