After finishing his arrangements,
Pop!
As if passing through a membrane of water, when Leylin appeared once more, he found himself in a completely different place.
The unique darkness and bone-chilling cold of the underground world permeated the surrounding air. The energy particles of Shadow and Earth were incredibly dense — even more so than what he had encountered back in the Dark Extreme Region.
"So this is the other end of the relic passage?" Leylin scanned his surroundings.
He was clearly inside a grand hall, surrounded by bizarre statues that exuded a grotesque, otherworldly style. The magic formation on the floor had dimmed, revealing a thick layer of dust.
"Unquenchable Flame!" Leylin pointed casually, and a burst of brilliant flame appeared before him in an instant.
"This place… seems to have been abandoned for a very long time. The depths of some ancient relic?" Leylin's soul power swept outward, discovering that the entire relic seemed to be shrouded in a mysterious force that even restricted a
However, with his Moon-phase true spirit power, he could still cover a small portion of the relic and instantly identified several exit routes.
"Hopefully there aren't any large-scale magical arrays outside, or that would be extremely troublesome!"
Leylin walked up to a massive stone gate — ancient and imposing, towering dozens of meters high. On the left stood a demon's statue, and on the right, a beautiful angel.
Click! Click!
Leylin pushed against the gate, and two terrifying bolts of electricity shot out instantly, only to be deflected by the Comorin's Scales on his body.
A pitch-black passage materialized before him. Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped inside.
"I didn't expect to run into exploring Wizards! That really saves me a lot of trouble!"
A smile played at the corner of Leylin's lips as his entire body merged completely into the darkness, moving in a form that defied the laws of physics.
…
On the other side, several adventurers were fleeing for their lives through the passage.
"Hurry! It's going to catch up!"
Among these adventurers were warriors in full armor and archers carrying wooden bows. Most of them, however, were Wizards in loose robes equipped with peculiar tools — a reasonably balanced team. But at this moment, every member was fleeing in terror, their clothing torn to shreds. Some were stained with blood, revealing horrifying wounds.
Thud! Thud! From the darkness behind them came the sound of heavy, rhythmic footsteps.
Upon hearing this sound, everyone's expression changed drastically, and they ran even faster.
Whoosh! A streak of dark light flashed past, followed by a black spear hurtling through the air. It pierced straight through one Wizard's innate defensive barrier, pinning him to the ground.
"Sinado! Damn it!" The leader of the adventurers was a brown-haired young man. He glanced back at his companion — pinned to the ground, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth — gritted his teeth, and kept running.
"Quick! Move!" His eyes were bloodshot as he screamed desperately.
At the same time, a fire of unwillingness and regret gnawed at his heart: "I was too careless! With our team's three-star rating, we shouldn't have come to this relic at all! Damn it — the danger level of this relic is at least five stars! If I make it out, I'll kill that bastard who sent us here!"
"No! Sinado!" The female archer with the bow on her back let out a mournful cry, skidding to a halt. Tears streaming down her face, she dropped to her knees beside the pierced Wizard and pulled a green potion from her robes, pouring it directly onto his wound.
"It's useless!" the lead adventurer screamed internally, but his feet never stopped.
A dozen seconds later, he heard his former female companion's scream of agony. His face went white, but he ran even harder.
Thud! Thud!
The footsteps behind him were like the reaper itself — though the intervals between steps were long, the speed was terrifyingly fast. Before long, the young man heard a few more muffled impacts and cries of pain.
Only then did he realize, in horror, that not a single companion remained by his side.
"No! I can't die here! I still have to become a five-star adventurer — even the Adventure King! I have dreams unfulfilled, family honor and vendettas that need me—"
His voice cut off abruptly. A ring of black light shot out. Though the young man did his best to twist aside, the dark energy grazed him, sending him spitting blood as he collapsed to the side.
Thud! Thud! Accompanied by the footsteps, an enormous figure emerged from the darkness.
It was a giant over three meters tall, carrying two pitch-black spears on its back. Complex patterns covered its body, rippling with a steel-like dark sheen.
Its expression was cold and lifeless, like that of a corpse — only two points of crimson light shone from within its pupils.
"Here… here it comes…" The young man's teeth chattered uncontrollably. This undead creature was clearly a relic's trap mechanism. After they had breached what appeared to be a tomb-like chamber, it had appeared abruptly and pursued them relentlessly ever since.
Its terrifying physical attacks and formidable resistance to magic had driven the young man to utter despair, forcing him to watch helplessly as his team members died one by one at its hands, until he was the last one standing.
Thud! Thud! The giant strode forward and pulled one of the black spears from its back.
"No! I don't want to… please…" Tears streamed from the young man's eyes, his expression bordering on madness.
Whoosh! The spear thrust forward — then stopped eerily in midair. The pain he expected never came. The young man opened his eyes.
Before him stood a black shield, blocking the spear, the two locked in a stalemate.
"Saved… I'm saved!" The young man's entire body went limp and he collapsed to the ground, tears pouring out in abundance.
"Graaah!" The giant retracted its spear and turned, roaring into the darkness. It even retreated half a step, as though something savage lurked within.
"How interesting! Though its body is still flesh and blood, it's been processed into something resembling a steel golem. And its consciousness has been erased — only the most basic guard protocols remain…"
Leylin's figure materialized from the darkness, blue light glowing in his eyes as he continuously scanned the giant.
"Moreover… the patterns on its body bear a striking resemblance to those of the Imprint Swordsmen…"
Leylin had long possessed a set of ancient Imprint Swordsman records, but they were extremely fragmented. Even after the Chip's organization and projection, they only reached the level of a First-level Wizard — practically useless.
After Leylin had upgraded the Chip several times, particularly following its update from the City in the Sky's massive database, the Chip could suddenly fill in the Imprint Swordsman records from ranks one through three. But for Leylin, who now had the entire Ouroboros Ring and even the Bloodline Alliance as his backing, that level of Imprint Swordsman was no longer useful. That was why Leylin hadn't mass-produced such cannon fodder.
But now, from this giant, he could clearly see the traces of Imprint Swordsman rune patterns.
Though the style was different — this school clearly used Imprint Swordsmen as raw material for secondary processing, ultimately creating something golem-like — the foundation was unmistakably Imprint Swordsman in origin.
The patterns alone, along with the other energy structural fluctuations, provided Leylin with tremendous insight.
Perhaps, by synthesizing the underground and surface records of the Imprint Swordsmen, the Chip could project the rune additions needed for Star-phase Imprint Swordsmen in one go.
"Graaah!" Though it sensed Leylin's terrifying presence, the guard protocols burned into its mind made the giant attack without hesitation.
Two black spears shot toward Leylin like charging dragons.
Bang! Crack! A layer of black scales materialized on Leylin's palms. Accompanied by ear-piercing shrieks and a shower of sparks, something astonishing happened.
The two spears hurled by the giant were caught firmly in Leylin's hands.
"Mm! Decent explosive force — strength at least fifty or above, and the power rivals a Third-level Wizard's attack." Leylin nodded, which made the young adventurer on the side stare with wide eyes.
During the earlier flight, he had watched his companions get pierced by those black spears one after another. Even magical defenses had offered no protection whatsoever.
And yet this man had just caught the spears bare-handed.
"Is that wizard also some kind of monster?" The young adventurer couldn't help but study Leylin's figure — dressed in an elegant black robe, wearing a mask, radiating an air of nobility and mystery, yet without the slightest hint of brutality or savagery.
"Roargh!" With its spears caught, the giant's body froze for a heartbeat, then it erupted into a thunderous roar.
The terrifying soundwave forced the young adventurer on the ground to clutch his ears. Visible dark energy particles, drawn as though the giant were a sponge meeting water, surged into its body. Layer after layer of patterns flickered to life.
"Roargh!" Accompanying the roar, the energy fluctuation of a spell emerged. A shadowy phantom of a monstrous beast's head materialized, its massive jaws gaping to reveal razor-sharp fangs, and it hurtled straight toward Leylin.
"Third-level spell — Devouring Darkness?! This spell seems to have vanished from the Central Continent for thousands of years… only mentioned in the great library of the City in the Sky…"
Leylin stroked his chin. A lost spell didn't necessarily mean a powerful one — it could simply have been naturally phased out as the times changed. He would never assume that everything ancient was automatically superior.
Blue light flickered in Leylin's eyes as the Chip whirred into action.
In nearly an instant, the operating principles and even the template of this Third-level spell were projected by the Chip.
"So that's how it works. Though this spell has decent power, its demand for Shadow particle density is far too high. No wonder it was phased out from the Central Continent!"