Chapter 196
Welco, offerings of the shadow.
The mont I heard those words, I ca to a conclusion. A Shadow Sovereign would spawn here.
It was my first ti using it for real.
[Using the special skill Fla of Purification.]
I used the special skill I earned by going up to the pure fla Athenae, making a Ring of Fire, and upgrading my Person of Fire title to Pure Person of Fire.
[Select the target to be purified with Fla of Purification.]
Thinking there might be a chance a Shadow Sovereign might be here, I had morized the locations of all the torches earlier.
[Murky Magic Torch]
A magic torch of the murky attribute. Not very bright due to its murky nature.
A magic torch with a murky nature. Murky things could be purified, a fact I picked up on when we ca in earlier.
Theres not much ti.
Vela and I couldnt handle the Shadow Soldiers and Shadow Knights led by the Shadow Sovereign with just the two of us, especially not in a dark place like this with limited visibility.
[The purification targets have been selected.]
I would fight fire with fire. It wasnt a very difficult concept. Not long from now, it would beco a fairly common thing to do. And the fla I possessed was the Fla of Purification.
Fwoosh!
The torches burned imdiately brighter.
What are you doing?
Turning off the lights.
And then, darkness descended. I couldnt see anything. Not with Eye of Perception, not with Observers Eye, nothing. Complete darkness. A world devoid of even a single ray of light.
Vela. Turn around right where you are.
Eh?
Were going back to where we were.
Why?
Because Ive gotten rid of the light. You rember where it is, yes?
There was no ti for a drawn-out explanation. The Great Explorer Jackson introduced the world to the Shadow Sovereign strategy.
The Shadow Sovereign is a very tricky monster to face. It is always accompanied by shadow-type monsters, and it coordinates their movents, giving them a big buff as well as heals and even defensive spells.
The Shadow Sovereign played an interdiary role that at least doubled the stats of Shadow Soldiers and Shadow Knights, virtually carrying out its role as a sovereign to a T.
A wide level difference is necessary in order to face them in a dark place.
But we couldnt level up right at this mont. From the glimpse I had earlier, the Shadow Sovereigns level showed up as a red ? to . That ant it was a higher level than .
If there isnt a wide level difference, its best to get rid of all light in the vicinity. Because ironically, there can be no shadow without light.
If we could produce a light so bright that it cast absolutely no shadows, that would be a different story. If that were possible, it would surely deal a great blow to shadow-type monsters.
But in the current situation, thats impossible.
That left only one optionto extinguish all light here.
Were deep underground, and theres no natural light here. And Ive gotten rid of the artificial light.
Yeah. I get that much. Ive turned around. What do I do now?
The Shadow Sovereign is only really strong when shadows can be ford. Theres no light, so theres no shadow. So what do you think we have to do now?
No idea. Just tell .
I never actually hoped that Vela would understand. To Vela, what was important wasnt the process, but the result. To him, the only thing that mattered was what he had to do next. But it was different for the Guardians who were watching all this. I had to throw in the narration they desired.
We have to destroy the wall that trapped us in and let the light co in.
That mont, my ears picked up cracking noises from the wall.
Hear that? Break that wall down, quick.
Faster than the Shadow Sovereign expected, half a beat ahead of our foe, Vela let out a roar.
Ba-baaam!
And then ca a crash so loud it sounded like an explosion. I had a truly random thought. If Vela and So Yoohyuns fists collided, whose bones would shatter?
Having readied myself in advance, I imdiately shoved down Velas head.
Ack! Whatre you Velas complaint died away. Thanks. You saved .
Thanks to
pushing down his head, the Shadow Spear thrown by a Shadow Knight missed its mark. The pitch-black Shadow Spear crashed into the wall of the parking lot passage and was absorbed, seeping into the wall like black oil before quivering like it was alive.
Run.
Where to?
Up.
Vela and I began to run. The simple Vela followed my instructions just as simply. He didnt ask why, he just began to run full-tilt.
How did you know? he asked while running. That an attack would be coming?
I got rid of all the light.
I know.
He didnt seem particularly interested in the fact I had used an ability similar to magic. It looked like he had just accepted it as a matter of fact.
The Shadow Sovereign must have also concluded that in order to make shadow, it had to first make light. That would require it to destroy the wall.
Right.
That was my intent, too. The Shadow Sovereign read that intent.
It knew what I was doing, but it had to move anyway. Because without any light, shadows were powerless.
So I knew it would put a Shadow Knight on standby there.
Ohh, so you read each other's moves. Hah. Hah!
Vela started panting. It wasnt unusual, considering we were running full speed uphill. But his constitution was worse than I thoughtI was totally fine.
So distance ahead of us, I started seeing the monsters we hadnt hunted earlier.
Goblins.
Regular Trolls.
Troll Soldiers.
Orcs.
They were all not very strong.
As long as you dont think theyll deal a fatal blow, just tank the hits and keep running.
Hah! Hah! Kay.
My primary goal was to run all the way to the exit of the underground parking lot, the entrance of the hidden field. In the end, we were able to reach the entrance. Vela bent over with his hands on his knees, gasping for air.
Hah. Hah. Hah. Hah.
I activated Eye of Perception to pierce through the darkness veiling the underground space we had just run up. I couldnt see clearly, but I could sense the gist of what was happening.
The shadow monsters are hunting the regular monsters.
* * *
* * *
Jacksons strategy was correct.
The Shadow Sovereign is not the type of monster that fixates on killing humans. Each Shadow Sovereign requires a certain quota of offerings to satisfy itself.
That was why it gladly welcod us as offerings of the shadow when we first t it.
The regular monsters have been taken as offerings instead of us.
In due ti, the satisfied Shadow Sovereign would be extinguished on its own. Even without us lifting a finger, it would fade away as if we had hunted it. If the clear condition for this place was the Shadow Sovereigns death, we would be able to clear the hidden field very easily.
Though I doubt itll be that easy.
I didnt let myself relax. The Shadow Soldiers and Knights under the Shadow Sovereigns control hadnt co up this farthey were still busy hunting the ordinary monsters.
Suddenly, the hunt ca to an end.
Its quiet now.
It seed like all the monsters had been hunted. Vela and I started heading back down.
Were going back down?
We gotta negotiate with the Shadow Sovereign.
We can talk to it?
Well see.
I knew one thing for certainits actions were prescribed by several settings. As long as I could properly grasp what those settings were, I could face the Shadow Sovereign.
The shadows were voraciously devouring the monster corpses. They had no definite form. Almost like a demon with long fingers was opening its hand, the shadows wrapped around the monster corpses like fingers, chewing with gusto.
It was possible to converse with the Shadow Sovereign within set bounds.
Are the offerings I prepared to your liking, Shadow Sovereign?
A shadow around three ters tall appeared before , its amorphous form swaying. It looked like writhing black smoke billowing up.
Ptooey.
Sothing ca flying out from the shadow.
An Orc bone.
A chunk of Orc bone and innards were expelled.
Chersplat!
An organ I took to be an Orcs heart fell at my feet. I was not shaken. The Shadow Sovereign had done as its settings prescribed and hunted all the offerings it needed. It shouldnt be feeling any need to hunt further.
I dont think the Shadow Knights or Soldiers will attack, either.
The formless monsters went around picking this place clean, even chewing the organ at my feet.
Ive given you sufficient offerings, so shouldnt you give
sothing?
What would the Shadow Sovereign give ? It would soon disappear, dropping an item as it faded, but what would that item be? Would it be related to clearing this place?
Just then.
Ueeaaghh.
I heard vomiting.
It was the Shadow Sovereign. The 3-ter tall shadow spasd before vomiting two items in front of . Two items covered in a sticky, oil-like sli.
Theyre both
They were both Clear Crystals. However, the crystals ca in a completely new form I had never seen before.
Thankfully
As one would expect from the beginner period, we would be able to get a Clear Crystal with a simple trade like this. The only issue was that the Clear Crystals were a little strange.
Theres a ring around the crystals?
Each crystal was encircled by a ring. One had a black ring, and the other had a gray ring.
[You have fulfilled a special condition.]
[The Clear Crystal has been generated.]
The item descriptions on both Clear Crystals could be read.
[Black-Ringed Clear Crystal]
A Single-Ringed Crystal that exists only in the hidden field of the Gran Seoul Dungeon. Upon this crystals destruction, the voluntary growth of Players in all servers on the dinsion Earth will be limited to 40. Players will only be able to grow past 40 if they ingest a Growth Fruit.
*Voluntary growth limit: 40
*The Player who destroys this Clear Crystal will be given Premium Growth Fruit x12.
All of this was completely new to . If this crystal was crushed, the voluntary growth of Players worldwide would be limited to 40.
In the past Players not being able to raise their level past 40, was it because of this?
My heart hamred in my chest. It felt like I was peeking into the chest containing the worlds secrets. It was still too early to draw a conclusion, but I had the feeling that the world Id been living in was concealing far too many secrets.
[Gray-Ringed Clear Crystal]
A Single-Ringed Crystal that exists only in the hidden field of the Gran Seoul Dungeon. Upon this crystals destruction, the voluntary growth of Players in all servers on the dinsion Earth will be limited to 60. Players will only be able to grow past 60 if they destroy a Double-Ringed Crystal.
*Voluntary growth limit: 60
*The Player who destroys this Clear Crystal will be given a Clue Regarding the Sky of Freedom.
Each crystals destruction ca with different benefits. A great many thoughts ran through my head as I looked at these Clear Crystals, but there was really one thing I had to focus on now. Which of the two crystals was the right one to break, and would it be of any gain to ? That was the important thing. At least now, in this mont of ti.
For now lets check both of their benefits.
I decided to find out what a Premium Growth Fruit and a Clue Regarding the Sky of Freedom was.
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