"Buzz——"
The boy with tear-filled eyes leapt into the air, transforming into a black arrow over a foot long amidst the rolling black smoke.
The black arrow tore through the void, like lightning traversing the dark realm, its black trail swirling around the strolling Ronan. Everywhere it passed, all monsters, regardless of size, even those with strength reaching the Fourth Rank, exploded completely.
Ronan occasionally stopped to collect so valuable monster corpses into his Space Ring, leaving the remaining wreckage to be cleaned by Ahaxia.
Undead Series servants are probably the easiest to feed, as all filth can help them grow.
As Ronan walked, he explored various aspects of the waterway, encountering other ghosts similar to craftsman ghosts, among which one had strength reaching the Fourth Rank and could cast so eerie Ghost Soul Series spells.
They were likely Keldim’s wizards when alive, remnants of casting instincts within their souls turned them into entities akin to "Ghost Wizards."
However, Ronan found no traces of written clues on these ghosts, and relics were even less possible, for they had long decayed to dust with ti.
Along the way, Ronan was constantly searching for Magic Nodes, not only those of the waterway’s lighting system but also trying to uncover more truths about Keldim’s downfall, since what craftsman ghosts could witness during their lifeti was too narrow, what they knew might not be the whole truth.
Unfortunately, the majority of magic nodes were damaged, and Ronan explored straight out for tens of kiloters, lighting up so areas sporadically. He resembled a curious traveler intruding into an old house covered with spider silk, wiping away so sepulchral colors and dust.
"Gurgle gurgle——"
The Ghost Arrow displayed formidable power, relentlessly harvesting the deford and fetid lives along the way, with Ahaxia, the corporeal form of the Ghost Arrow, "feeding" voraciously with an oily mouth. Her entire being surged with murky dark and undead aura like boiling water, her figure developing grotesquely toward aberration.
Ronan frowned slightly; this is the issue with undead series servants. Gorging too much blood and residual souls leaves their huge and mixed will diluting their original consciousness, easily leading to undead rebellion.
Ronan already sensed he was about to struggle to suppress Ahaxia’s violent bloodthirsty "rebellious" thoughts, but fortunately, he had laid multiple safeguards on Ahaxia initially, besides normal master-servant restrictions, with the black cowbell of Bone Bell to impose control.
As Ronan contemplated retrieving Ahaxia into the Cow Bell Space for a period of nurturing, an irritating buzz sounded from ahead.
Ronan extended his spiritual power to see skeletons covered in dirt and moss, maintaining a kneeling posture, facing a broken stone wall of the waterway, their hands seeming to clutch sothing closely.
Above these remains hovered a whirl of "black fog."
To describe it as black fog was inaccurate; it resembled more a swarm of insects. Yet oddly, each individual in this swarm looked like fragnts of burnt black book pages, unlike living beings, yet persistently fluttering strangely.
When Ronan’s gaze fell on the black swarm, the buzzing noise suddenly intensified, the black swarm flew straight toward Ronan.
Ronan’s eyes flashed, the "swelling" Ahaxia growled fiercely, suppressing low, transford instantly into a black arrow, shot rapidly toward the swarm.
"Boom!"
The black Ghost Arrow collided with the black swarm mid-air, with no obstruction, the latter exploded directly with a "boom."
However, there was no relaxation on Ronan’s face; instead, he frowned slightly.
The exploded swarm imdiately re-converged, its aura seed to even rise.
"Bang! Boom! Boom!"
Ronan continuously controlled the Ghost Arrow, penetrating and exploding the swarm several tis.
The swarm’s aura climbed steeply, while Ahaxia’s murky tempest posture slightly cald.
Ronan finally confird—the eerie black swarm could absorb Ahaxia’s power during combat and use it to strengthen itself!
"Buzz buzz buzz——"
Amid the spacious waterway ruins, the buzzing of the swarm grew louder, its scale expanded by about a quarter compared to when Ronan first saw it.
The entire swarm’s flying speed wasn’t particularly fast, repeatedly blown up by the Ghost Arrow, so it never managed to approach Ronan’s vicinity, but its direction remained steady, determined to eventually reach Ronan.
Ronan’s expression was calm, his mind moved slightly, the Ghost Arrow swimming like a fish through the void suddenly stopped, followed by mysterious runes lighting up on the arrow.
"Buzz——"
Strange and eerie sounds emitted, the slightly tremoring Ghost Arrow suddenly unleashed a circle of black ripples.
[Destructive Sound]!
Since Ronan inscribed the complete [Destructive Sound] rune within Ahaxia, this was the first ti wielding its power.
Originating from the talents of Otherworldly Creature Zhi Bone Demon Snail, possibly intertwined with mysteries of Ancient Sound Multisound Magic inheritance, driven by Ghostly Power...ignition!
Black waves swiftly swept over the swarm.
This ti, just with a glimpse, the entire swarm exploded thunderously.
Before it had a chance to reassemble, the second wave of sound arrived.
Like black tides surging repeatedly, the bizarre swarm finally began undergoing new changes.
Dense like fragnts of black pages, the "bug corpses" fell downward, until finally, at the swarm’s core, a grotesquely shaped peculiar mosquito monster was revealed.
This was absolutely the largest mosquito Ronan had ever seen, with a body of three bent hooks, densely packed with transparent feathers on its back, its proboscis soft and limp, but staring into its blood-red eyes felt a slight tugging of the soul.
It seed this eerie mosquito monster could not only absorb blood and flesh but also soul.
Ronan’s index finger twitched slightly, the Ghost Arrow vibrating mid-air adjusted its arrow tip, aid at the mosquito monster, and suddenly vanished, eyes could only catch rings of black ripples spreading through the void, turning abruptly into peaks and valleys, like the tip of a giant transparent spear.
The mosquito monster was pierced, and its body exploded with a "pop," turning into countless blood mists.
Then a swirl of black smoke appeared, revealing the soul body of Ahaxia slowly wiping the crimson edge of his mouth with the back of his hand.
"You’re pretty quick..."
Ronan shook his head. He didn’t rush to put away Ahaxia but instead walked towards the decayed corpse beneath where the dead mosquito monster had nested.
The strange mosquito monster capable of siphoning souls was undoubtedly a product of the otherworld, its strength only at the fourth rank, but its characteristic of growing stronger with every battle was enough to beco a nightmare for an average Level 4 Wizard.
It was only the powerful domination of the Ghost Arrow, inscribed with the "Destructive Sound," that made it easy to slay it.
Approaching the corpse, Ronan gently flicked his sleeve, sweeping away the dirt and moss covering the surface with a mighty spiritual field. Unfortunately, after so much ti, the remains beneath shattered and scattered.
A broken black stone slab was revealed, seemingly with so writing on it.
Ronan casually bent down, and the mont his finger touched the slab, his expression suddenly froze.
"Holy Shrine Stone?!"
Sowhat surprised, he quickly picked up a fragnt of the slab, not even bothering to check the inscriptions on it.
"Indeed, it’s the material of the Holy Shrine Stone..."
Ronan examined the stone slab in his hand closely, his expression curious.
He had personally co into contact with several Holy Shrines before, and no one could be more familiar with the unique black stone containing Holy Shrine Power.
He looked down again at the writings on the stone slab, piecing together a short sentence—"They attempted... to use the power of the altar... to transform those demons erging from the gaps..."
The last word appeared very scrawled, as if unfinished before death.
"Failed in the end?
Or perhaps the process of constructing the waterway undoubtedly excavated a passage connecting to the space of the otherworld, releasing the otherworld’s demons, just the cause...
The real calamity was triggered by the unknown secret experints conducted by the Keldim Empire’s wizards on this foundation, which ultimately spiraled out of control."
Ronan’s speculation was not without reason. Often, overconfidence is the lure to catastrophic disasters.
Just like the ancient secrets Molli’er once shared with him, the prideful and arrogant Ancient Wizards’ abuse of the World Stone eventually led to a drastic change in the world’s structure...
Of course, Ronan wasn’t interested in verifying this point; his attention was completely fixated on the words "altar" on the black stone slab.
"Are they referring to the Holy Shrine Altar?"
He directly took out a completely black stone ball from the Space Ring, and there was a crack on the ball, but unfortunately, no light shone through the crack anymore.
The defensive Holy Shrine Power within had already been entirely used up by Ronan during the Minotaur Maze incident.
Ronan lightly patted the surface of the stone ball with his palm, a slight spell fluctuation emanated, and in the next second, in a vision visible only to him, he saw—
Inside the black stone ball, countless semi-transparent black lines spread out densely, extending dozens or even hundreds of strands!
Ronan was montarily stunned, then quickly filled with intense joy.
There were actually dozens or even a hundred Holy Shrine Altars buried within the Ancient Waterway?!
His Ascetic Body Refinent had been stuck at a Master Level proficiency of 1599 for a long ti; for this, he had gone out several tis seeking Holy Shrine Power to aid in breaking through.
Yet each ti, the shrines he found were either already opened or not what he desired.
And every Holy Shrine was located in a significantly distant and unknown place, often leading to a lengthy journey that resulted in nothing but disappointnt.
This needle-in-a-haystack approach combined with luck had left Ronan sowhat weary.
Now, the dawn suddenly appeared before Ronan’s eyes.
"With dozens, nearly a hundred Holy Shrine Altars, even if it’s purely luck, I should be able to encounter one, right..."
Ronan took a deep breath, restraining his sowhat agitated emotions.
The trial competition concerning the "Spirit Lake’s Son," even aiming for higher positions, was no longer aimless for him.
Since it’s all about exploration, he might as well search for the Holy Shrines he desired while exploring the Ancient Waterway.
As he was contemplating, the guardian beside him, Ahaxia, suddenly let out a low growl of slight unease.
Ronan looked up and saw Ahaxia staring intently in a certain direction in the darkness ahead, with a sense of challenge toward a formidable enemy and a readiness to leap into action.
He extended his spiritual power to investigate, and soon "saw" a swarm of black insects, far exceeding the size of those previously nested here by tenfold, "buzzing" with a thunderous low roar, rapidly approaching this direction.
Ronan put away the stone slab at his feet, narrowing his eyes slightly, and stood up.
"Fifth-rank Mosquito Monster?!"
....
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