Chapter Eighty-Five: Shadows!

The horde of monsters surged and jostled, so much so that even Yi Shen dared not get too close. After all, not only were these monsters powerful and high-level, but their terrifying numbers meant that even with unlimited blinking, Yi Shen could not possibly evade every attack. By now, An Qing and his group had been thoroughly scattered. The earthen wall Yi Shen had previously constructed to block their path had long since been trampled flat.

A few rogues seemed to have used special skills to escape, while most of the spellcasters, after exhausting their life-saving abilities, fell within the torrent of monsters. Yet, for some reason, just as An Qing’s health reached a perilous low, a red shadow appeared upon him! Though this crimson phantom wasn’t as large as the monsters, it was still at least twice An Qing’s own size. Its form was bizarre and indistinct, sometimes sharp, sometimes blunted, constantly driving away the surrounding beasts. When its razor-like edges struck the monsters, it actually sliced through their bodies, inflicting tremendous damage along with a corrosive effect.

Even a petrified gargoyle, upon being struck by the shadow, lost a wing—a feat even high-grade weapons would struggle to achieve. Of course, the shadow alone was not enough to turn the tide. Even as the monsters ahead shrank back, those behind continued to press forward, forcing the advance. Blow after blow, the monsters battered the shadow, and soon its size began to dwindle. Yi Shen, from afar, saw An Qing’s body grow gaunt, reduced to mere skin and bones.

This unnatural power unsettled Yi Shen, and he tried attacking the remaining shadow with fire magic, until finally An Qing was reduced to ashes.

[You have slain Explorer 9287X00192.]

As An Qing fell, a notification chimed across Yi Shen’s system interface.

It was a standard kill prompt. Purple motes of light shimmered around An Qing’s remains. With the monster tide too dense below, Yi Shen launched attacks to scatter them, then dove through an opening to loot An Qing’s belongings. He obtained an A-grade cloak, four special crystal cards, and among other discarded gear he didn’t bother with, he also discovered a blood pill identical to the one he’d found on Fan Xidiao!

An Qing’s stash of blood pills was even greater than Fan Xidiao’s—at least twenty scattered across the ground! Among them was an A-grade blood pill, which, upon use, would grant twenty thousand experience points and fifty to all attributes. Such a thing was truly extraordinary, and the system interface showed no level restriction for its use. This meant that a single blood pill could raise a newcomer by over a dozen levels in a short time! If one possessed a large quantity, they could rapidly boost someone like Yi Shen’s current self.

The aura of these blood pills was uncannily similar to that of the shadow that had enveloped An Qing in his final moments. If Yi Shen remembered correctly, according to his mother, during his father’s last battle in the Moonlight Secret Realm, a red shadow had also appeared, triggering the team’s collapse, which in turn led to the ruin of the secret realm and the ensuing chaos in Moonlight Land.

Moreover, gazing at the blood pill before him, Yi Shen felt that what it contained could not possibly be as simple as the system’s description of boosting experience and attributes—there must be another, system-external effect. In other words, this blood pill was actually an item that touched upon the concept of a “Domain.” Even the name assigned by the system hinted at some ominous portent.

An Qing’s death was not the end.

After all, Yi Shen had lured an enormous number of Moonlight Land’s monsters here, and they still needed to be dealt with. These monsters were more intelligent than he’d expected; unlike the monsters of previous secret realms, they didn’t simply line up to be slain. Their original scattering was due to their arrival from different directions and mists, but once Yi Shen had guided them into a single mass, they formed a veritable iron flood. If left unchecked, they could very well surge all the way to the city.

Yi Shen had achieved his goal by killing An Qing, but that did not mean he wished to become the city’s scourge.

Especially since his actions today had not been covert; if anyone with intent traced his movements, they might discover what he had done. Still, despite the monstrous flood, Yi Shen believed that all fear stemmed from insufficient firepower. And now, he could unleash large-scale spells without limitation—possessing absolute firepower on this battlefield!

He blinked into the air, first casting Blizzard upon the beasts charging at the front. Blizzard was a natural slowing spell, and Yi Shen’s advantage lay in his ability to cast multiple spells simultaneously, covering an immense area. Although he couldn’t envelop the entire front line, the immediate deceleration split the horde once more and forced them into a bottleneck.

Dozens of moonlight blades and other attacks hurtled indiscriminately toward Yi Shen. He activated his shield spell while blinking backward; his current priority was the outer ring of ordinary monsters. The Burn Bomb and Flame Grass Ring spells, in this situation, were nothing short of divine! In just over ten seconds, at least a hundred monsters were tagged with Burn Bombs, suffering continuous damage. After five ticks, a series of explosions erupted through the monster ranks.

The Flame Grass Ring spell was like laying landmines across their advance, and with the periodic slow from Blizzard, Yi Shen alone managed to halt the monsters’ charge—if only for a time!

Few could observe the battle at this point, but those who did quickly reported back to Zhao Nanxing and the others, leaving nearly everyone dumbfounded. If a black mage could single-handedly defeat nearly a hundred monsters, it might be explained away as a high-level explorer wielding special abilities. But now, for the black mage to stand alone and block the full might of the monster horde head-on—that was simply staggering.

Not even Zhan Yu could have withstood a thousand foes in this fashion. Just when did the Jingmen Safe Zone produce such a formidable figure, one who even seemed to be subtly supporting them from the shadows?

Of course, Yi Shen was not truly holding back a thousand with one. The sheer number of monsters meant he still had to keep maneuvering. What’s more, besides those he’d already drawn over, it seemed even more monsters were joining from the rear. Yi Shen had no idea how the other defenses were faring, but if things continued like this, even if he managed to hold his ground, other areas might still face collapse.