Chapter Thirty-Eight: Shadow Phantom

After equipping the Gate of Darkness, Li Ren let out a sly laugh. At that moment, Shadow, still unaware of what was happening, glanced at Li Ren, who was sticking his head out to observe the three-headed hounds with a roguish grin. Shadow couldn’t help but curse internally, “Lunatic.”

Yet after cursing, he began to seriously consider the possibility of forcibly subduing the mass of three-headed hounds before them. No matter how hard he pondered, he made no breakthrough, but he sensed that Li Ren at his side was already eager to give it a try. Terrified, Shadow hurriedly grabbed Li Ren and voiced his own opinion.

“Master, how about this—we lure out those three-headed hounds bit by bit, and wear them down little by little. That way, perhaps we’ll have a chance.”

“No need, no need. This time, you just stand back and watch. Keep your eyes open.” Li Ren laughed heartily, exuding boundless bravado.

With a grand flourish, a cold, chilling wind swept past behind him, and ten shadow demon guards emerged, wrapped in thick black mist. Their armor, dominated by dark crimson, covered their bodies completely, and the giant swords in their hands gleamed blood-red, radiating terror at a mere glance.

On Li Ren’s command, the ten shadow guards rushed out from their hiding place at top speed, instantly drawing the attention of the three-headed hounds roaming in the hollow ahead.

A single howl stirred up a chorus of roars in the hollow. The ten guards charged into the depression from different directions. Though their health wasn’t as high as the hounds’, their attributes, enhanced by Li Ren’s 200% bonus, were more than enough to suppress the beasts.

However, Li Ren’s orders to them were simple: run, and nothing else. Just keep running.

At this point, Shadow, now realizing Li Ren’s plan upon seeing the guards, couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat for them. Under Li Ren’s command, the guards were almost recklessly wild.

They crashed and barreled through, utterly ignoring the packs of three-headed hounds inside. Luckily, the hollow wasn’t too large; the ten guards formed ten straight lines, cutting across the entire depression.

Once the guards had run from one end to the other, luring all the hounds behind them, Li Ren ordered them to circle back, running around the hollow.

Such a spectacle was not something an ordinary person could ever witness.

The ten guards, who could only last for ten minutes, were running madly, followed by a countless horde of three-headed hounds sprinting in frenzy. Under Li Ren’s careful control, the hounds bunched together, chasing after the guards in a tight mass.

Calculating the distance, Li Ren ordered the guards to halt and prepare for battle. The hounds, their fury stoked, crashed into the formation of shadow guards.

Before their attacks could land, Li Ren’s own strike arrived first.

A colossal phantom appeared in the sky—a gigantic door. When Li Ren unleashed the Shadow Demon Enchantment skill, this door manifested overhead.

Li Ren’s magical energy plummeted rapidly. A black filament instantly connected him to the great door. As the last thread of energy flowed out of him, he collapsed onto the ground.

He hadn’t expected that the skill, which supposedly just consumed all of his magic, would be so agonizing. Now, he felt utterly drained, so weak he wished he could simply lie down and never rise again.

But seeing the results, Li Ren nodded in satisfaction, thinking, “Worth it!”

After draining Li Ren’s last drop of magic, the door slid slowly apart. A thick, viscous darkness poured out, instantly forming an enchantress sculpted from pure shadow.

Her figure was exquisite and seductive, robes of silk and feathers fluttered freely in the air, and waves of fragrance cascaded down from above. If not for the fact that she was formed entirely of pure darkness, Li Ren might have surrendered to such overwhelming allure.

Accompanied by a breathy, alluring sigh from the enchantress, petals began to appear in the sky, at first sparse, then abundant, covering all the hounds chasing the guards.

Each petal gently landed on the hounds, enveloping them in moments.

The enchantress giggled, her voice tinkling like silver bells in the hollow. She spun gracefully, stretching her bewitching form as she descended into the sea of flowers.

The world before them was shrouded in darkness. A powerful wave emanated from the hollow, reverberating through the black earth domain. Creatures dwelling everywhere whimpered softly, as if respectfully welcoming something.

When calm was restored, Li Ren’s summoned guards had vanished—and with them, the countless lives of the three-headed hounds within the hollow!

A shower of white light rained down on Shadow’s head. After Li Ren slaughtered every last hound, Shadow, as a party member, found his own level skyrocketing, only stopping at level sixty-two.

Li Ren stared at Shadow in surprise.

He had always assumed that Shadow, like himself, needed blood essence to gain experience, since neither of them was truly a player. But unexpectedly, Shadow possessed this player trait, gaining experience simply by killing monsters!

“This is good news. I was planning to share the blood essence with you, but it looks like that’s unnecessary now.” Li Ren chuckled, very pleased with the results of their hunt.

Shadow smiled wryly and shook his head. Such commotion in this cursed black earth domain—it was amazing they hadn’t attracted anything else. But for now, it seemed they were safe, and this meant another huge harvest.

Li Ren called out and dashed toward the bodies of the fallen hounds to convert their blood essence. Thanks to Shadow’s player-like qualities, the hounds dropped a wealth of equipment, which he now needed to gather.

After spending some time converting the corpses to blood essence, Li Ren smiled with satisfaction and hurried Shadow to leave.

The Gate of Shadows had been stowed in his backpack; its cooldown time was rather long, though its power was undeniable. The thought of instantly annihilating so many hounds left Li Ren feeling exhilarated.

“I wonder how much experience and attribute points I’ll gain from ingesting this blood essence?” Li Ren followed behind Shadow, his heart full of joyful anticipation.

Deep within the black earth domain, a pair of pale blue eyes seemed to gaze across infinite distance at Li Ren and Shadow’s retreating figures. After a long while, the owner of those eyes began walking in their direction, as if taking a leisurely stroll; yet in the blink of an eye, their form had already reached the distant horizon.

－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

Please recommend and add to your favorites! Thank you for your support!! My deepest gratitude!