Book 3: Chapter 125: Stepping into the Shadow World |
"Found it. It's right here."
After traveling another few hundred meters through the mountains, the four of them discovered a concealed spatial rift.
The crystal floating in Kaelan's hand continuously emitted cobalt-blue light in all directions. Wherever this light swept, some areas revealed faint white, unnatural traces—and these were the hidden spatial gaps.
"Such a small rift normally wouldn't pose any danger, nor would it be easy for monsters or humans to pass through," Burne observed with a mix of curiosity and confusion.
"That's true, but you also said 'normally.' A Transcendent who specializes in and understands this type of spatial rift can use secret techniques to traverse through them—especially members with the 'Alien Star' Aspect." As she spoke, Kaelan unconsciously glanced at Sylutia, since the largest faction of the 'Alien Star' Aspect within the Mage Alliance right now was the Mithril Clock school.
"Well... I haven't learned how to use spatial rifts for traversal yet," the girl explained sheepishly.
Although she did know how to traverse them, it seemed to be an instinctive ability. As for the theory behind it and the dismantled spells involved, she wasn't very familiar with them. The Hundred-Eyes Sect had a similar skill called 'Astral Traversal,' but that leaned more toward communicating with other worlds rather than spatial displacement in reality.
"You're only a first-year student, so it's normal that you wouldn't know." Kaelan didn't mind and shifted her gaze toward Jegas ahead.
After inspecting the rift, the captain took a pocket watch from his chest and opened its lid. The hands on the dial began spinning rapidly up and down, and a strange ripple spread from around it, slowly stabilizing these gaps.
"Both of you are only at Third Tier and have no experience exploring the Shadow World, so stay here and wait." It seemed he was uneasy about letting the two of them follow.
Hearing this, Sylutia pondered briefly before responding.
"I think I can handle the exploration inside and protect myself." Sylutia had no choice but to find a way to prove herself. After speaking, she took out the stone slab with which she'd previously contracted an Evil Eye from her storage key and showed it to the two of them.
"A Fourth-Tier Astral creature? Your college sure is generous, preparing something like that for you. Or maybe it's because you're the Chief that you're especially favored?" Kaelan commented with a smile.
Seeing what Sylutia had presented, Burne opened his mouth in surprise. He now clearly understood the weight behind the words "Tetis College." He certainly didn't have anything so rare.
Even though she'd proven she had some ability to protect herself, Jegas still didn't relent. In his view, this girl might not necessarily be helpful once inside, but if something went wrong, the Mithril Clock school would come after him as the captain, and he'd bear undeniable responsibility.
Fortunately, just as the two were locked in a standoff, Kaelan stepped in to defuse the situation.
"Having one more person will ultimately make finding her easier. If it's just the two of us, Carmilla could be in danger if we're too late."
"I'll give this 'Scent-Seeking Bug' and a 'Beacon Orb' to Hedra. She can use the former to track Carmilla's trail, and the latter can provide protection in dangerous situations and summon us to her side." Hearing this, Jegas reluctantly nodded.
After that came the division of tasks. Burne stayed behind to watch over the protection and guidance magic array, and if necessary, he would activate the array to let the three in the Shadow World be pulled back through the spatial rifts. If something seemed wrong, he could also send a distress signal to summon help from other members of the Origin Hourglass school.
On the other side, Jegas, Sylutia, and Kaelan entered the Shadow World together. Before leaving, Kaelan handed Sylutia a booklet that detailed the precautions for entering the Shadow World. Sylutia was actually already familiar with all this content, so nothing was new.
After preparations were complete, Jegas activated the pocket watch used for spatial traversal, and the three of them were sucked into the narrow rift, traveling through it like being in a violent, raging tunnel of wind.
A few seconds later, Sylutia was thrown out, landing in a dim white forest.
Feeling the external pressure and the faint traces of erosion and distortion, she recalled her past days in the Hidden Grove Alliance.
Unlike the more visible small organizations like the Mage Alliance, the Hidden Grove was relatively loose, an alliance inclined toward seclusion. Its surface-world strongholds were few, with most bases and personnel distributed in the Shadow World.
Standing in the forest covered in rotting leaves, Sylutia looked around and assessed the current situation.
It seemed this should be a secret realm within the Shadow World, with little trace of human activity and few twisted monsters.
It was probably a lower-danger secret realm, Sylutia thought. She then took out the Scent-Seeking Bug Kaelan had given her, hoping to find any clues about Carmilla's whereabouts.
After entering the Shadow World, the Scent-Seeking Bug was clearly somewhat unsettled, but fortunately it calmed down after a while and began trying to find scent trails.
But after watching it spin around in circles dozens of times with no results, Sylutia shook her head and put the plump little bug away.
It shouldn't be around here. She needed to find another spot.
Sylutia's body floated up, lifting off the ground, and then she began to fly swiftly through the forest, blinking as light flowed in her eyes while she scanned the surrounding environment.
Many trees had small monsters clinging to them, their colors matching the tree bark. They looked like withered leaves, but when peeled off, the edges underneath had tiny tentacles that allowed them to crawl around. If any relatively weak animal set foot in this forest, they could easily be swarmed and killed like ants overwhelming an elephant.
Beyond that, the forest also revealed some moldy strange snakes, twisted insect monsters lurking in the soil, and other things. But these creatures were all of low rank, only First or Second Tier.
After surveying and familiarizing herself with the environment, Sylutia accelerated, charging through the dense canopy and reaching above the forest. But she couldn't fly very high, because above the forest, the gray-white zone covered everything. Traveling through it consumed extra energy and cut off much of her perception.
While Sylutia was searching toward the next secret realm area, Jegas had made a discovery shortly after landing.
"This corpse... looks like it's been drained by the Blood Clan."
He looked at the large, dead horned monster in front of him, which resembled a hippopotamus magnified several times, except with a short, thick horn growing from its head. Its massive body was now nothing but skin and bones, dried up completely.
The Blood Clan could drain the blood of other creatures to restore their own power or condense special 'Bloodline' gems. This was one of their most notable traits.
The dead monster in front of him was around Fourth Tier in strength. There were no obvious signs of battle nearby, meaning the opponent had defeated and killed it with ease, without much resistance.
Analyzing this, Jegas's heart sank with a bad feeling.
If the opponent could kill the monster so effortlessly, it meant their strength was likely above Fourth Tier, reaching Fifth Tier. While Jegas himself could handle such an enemy, for Carmilla and the other two team members, this was extremely dangerous.
He needed to speed up. Jegas murmured to himself, then followed the trail and chased forward quickly.