For a moment, the women chattered excitedly. Chloe even said that she wanted to turn this adventure into a ballad that would be sung everywhere.
Just as everyone was rejoicing over their survival, André suddenly felt that something was wrong. This was because this passage seemed to be different from the one marked on the map. In particular, there was a rotten smell in the air, making them feel as if there was a huge garbage dump in front of them.
Just as he was about to let Little Eyes fly over to take a look, he suddenly felt a sense of danger. He quickly pulled out a crossbow arrow soaked in holy water from his quiver and stabbed the air behind him.
Instantly!
A bright white light bloomed, and a monster made entirely of shadows clutched its chest and let out a silent scream. Its whole body was emitting white smoke, and with a whoosh, it escaped into the darkness.
This strange scene stunned everyone. Because it was so sudden, they were even a little unsure of what had just happened.
But a second later, a large group of monsters that were exactly the same as before suddenly appeared behind them, completely blocking their way out.
Their pitch-black bodies were like whirlpools, constantly absorbing the negative energy contained in the air. Their two eyes flashed with an evil light.
"Run!
Run quickly!
They are creatures of the shadow plane!
And there are too many of them!
We can't deal with them at all! "
André finally recalled the contents of the Monster Illustrated Handbook. He shouted at the top of his voice as he pulled Chloe's hand and led the way forward.
A trap!
It was definitely a trap!
He didn't even have to think about it to judge the current situation in an instant.
Obviously, these shadow creatures had been lying in ambush here for a long time, waiting for the whole team to walk into the trap.
The truth … was about to surface …
"In the name of the Goddess of Dawn, Lucia!
Dispel the undead! "
Clarice raised her hands and summoned a large amount of golden light, immediately causing great damage to the shadow creatures.
As a level nine priest, the effect of her 'dispelling the undead' was surprisingly good. Although it didn't kill any of the enemies, it made them wary, and they all fled into the shadows, not daring to get too close.
Seeing that the threat behind them had been temporarily alleviated, Clarice immediately shouted at the top of her voice, "Run!
Don't stop!
The center of the labyrinth is in front of us!
The location of the seal!
There are sleepless guards there!
As long as we get in, we'll be safe! "
As the saying went, human beings had endless potential. Normally speaking, they would have been exhausted after exhausting their physical strength for several hours. However, at this moment, in order to escape for their lives, each of them exerted all their strength and ran at the speed of a 100-meter sprint. Even André, who had the weakest physical strength, didn't fall behind.
However, this strength came and went quickly. In less than two minutes, everyone's hearts began to beat wildly. They felt as if a huge rock was pressing down on their chests. They stopped and stood on the spot, panting heavily. This was because they found that they had run out of the passage and entered a relatively empty space.
Suddenly!
A series of footsteps came from the front. Not long after, the surrounding braziers were lit up with a bang, making a series of crackling sounds.
Through the firelight, Andre could clearly see that this was a huge rectangular hall. A complicated magic circle was drawn on the ground with dried, black blood, and a terrifying number of skeletons were piled on both sides of the hall. It was these skeletons that provided the magic circle with sufficient energy, continuously generating negative energy from the center of the circle.
In front of them was a two-meter-tall platform. A man wearing a black robe and a hood stood on top of it. His entire body seemed to be shrouded in shadows.
Behind him were two cages made entirely of negative energy. Two humanoid creatures with pure white wings and blue skin were trapped inside. Their appearances were very strange, especially their eyes, which did not have eyeballs. Instead, there were two golden lights that kept flashing.
"Bastard!
How dare you imprison the Goddess's servants!
Die! "
Katerina exploded with a terrifying rage without any warning. She swung her two-handed axe and jumped up. With her powerful muscles, she easily jumped onto the platform. The axe in her hand flashed with a bright golden light.
"Evil Slaying Slash!"
With a roar, the Saint Samurai's most powerful slash was finally launched. With a thunderous momentum, it descended from the sky as if it was the judgment of the gods.
As the name implied, the Evil Slaying Slash was an attack that targeted the power of evil. Although it was powerful, it could only be used on creatures of the evil alignment. Normally, if one was hit directly, even if one was wearing a full body armor made of steel, one could be split in half, let alone wearing a robe.
However, the black-robed man didn't panic at all. Instead, the corners of his mouth, hidden under the hood, curled up slightly, revealing a contemptuous smile.
"How pitiful. Do you think you can hurt me with such a small trick?
Too naive! "
As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his arm and waved it lightly. Suddenly, a thick tentacle appeared from the shadows and wrapped around Katerina tightly. Then, he ruthlessly threw her against the wall.
* Bang! *
"Ah!
Pu! "
Katerina screamed and spat out a mouthful of blood. She collapsed on the ground and fell unconscious.
"Haha!
Hahahahaha!
What a bunch of lowly insects!
If it weren't for the fact that I needed a sacrifice to open the seal, I would have crushed you all to death long ago! "The black-robed man opened his arms and laughed hysterically.
André felt a huge amount of negative energy from this guy in front of him, even more than the Necromancer Ulysses. It was obvious that he was also a very powerful mage. However, the spell just now was too strange. There was no mention of it in any book.
"Be careful!
He's an evil shadow mage! "Clarice reminded in a low voice from behind.
Shadow mage?
After receiving the hint, Andre suddenly recalled something mentioned in the book 'General History of the Continent'. A long, long time ago, a group of mages accidentally discovered the Evil Goddess of the Shadow Plane. She used her power to tempt the mages to open a passage for her. She wanted to descend to this world and kill all lifeforms before turning them into shadow lifeforms.
But it was a pity that her plan was foiled by the Goddess of Dawn. After all, light and shadow were opposites in nature.
It was said that those mages obtained great power by fusing themselves with the Shadow Plane. They didn't need to chant incantations, nor did they need to cast spells. They only needed to deepen their connection with the Shadow Plane, and they could draw endless power for their own use.
However, their numbers were too few, so they couldn't fight against the combined efforts of the church and other mages. In the end, they completely disappeared in the long river of history. Because they were good at controlling the power of shadows, they were called shadow mages.