Chapter 390 Invasion and Evolution

On a wasteland repeatedly plowed by war, leaving only scorched black soil and scattered stubborn rocks.

Inside a completely inconspicuous cave half-hidden by several weathered boulders, the space rippled slightly, and the figures of Jemin and Anya slowly solidified from the illusory.

The cave was dimly lit, and the air was filled with dust and a faint trace of residual energy belonging to the light element, but with a very low energy level.

Jemin's gaze swept across the cave walls, finally settling on a giant basalt rock at the bottom of the cave that seemed out of place with its surroundings and appeared too regular.

"Is this the place?" Anya asked in a low voice, her senses like invisible tentacles, cautiously probing every inch of the surrounding space.

Jemin glanced down at the faintly glowing map projected from the terminal on his wrist, then compared it with the precise coordinates and energy markers transmitted by the Starfall Wizard, and nodded:

“That’s right, the coordinates match, and the abnormal energy convergence below also points here. Underneath this rock should be the entrance crack leading to their ‘secret fortifications’.”

The two said no more and simultaneously began to employ investigative techniques.

Jemin's mental energy, like precise mercury, seeped into the microscopic structure of the boulder, while Anya probed through the life-sensing sensations attached to the microorganisms and faint air currents within the cave.

Soon, their senses penetrated the thick rock layers and they "saw" the long, narrow, winding crack that had been deliberately hidden below.

Deep within the crack, a regular and massive energy pulse could be faintly heard, like the heartbeat of a sleeping behemoth.

"These orbs of light... their awakening of intelligence is short-lived, but their instincts, or rather, their survival wisdom, are quite advanced." Jemin withdrew his senses, his tone tinged with amusement. "Knowing that to accomplish great things, they must hide underground, using thick layers of rock to conceal energy fluctuations and light leaks, they completely defy their 'radiant' nature."

Anya looked at the boulder and asked, "How do we get down? Should we just break through it?"

“No,” Jemin shook his head. “What Lord Starfall wants is detailed data on the entire process of their ‘plan’ being carried out up close. It would be pointless to alert them. We need to infiltrate and reappear when they are most complacent and think they are about to succeed. Until then, we must remain hidden as much as possible and observe quietly.”

“Understood.” Anya nodded, then looked at Jemin. “In that case, we need very covert infiltration methods.”

“That’s right, but the gap behind it is too narrow. Ordinary people can’t get through at all…” At this point, Jemin was a little embarrassed.

To be honest, he has no problem with ordinary methods of concealing his form or hiding his energy, but he really doesn't have a good method for situations like this.

The main reason is that in normal interdimensional battlefields, Jemin belongs to the main force and doesn't need to use similar methods.

Using the Five Elements Rainbow Transformation Mirror to transform light would allow me to descend directly, but it would create too much of a commotion: "In this situation, I can only use alchemy..."

“Your alchemy alters the terrain too much, which could easily trigger any warning mechanisms they might have set up along the way. Let me do it.”

Jemin readily agreed: "Okay, what's your idea?"

Anya did not answer, but simply raised her slender wrist and gently beckoned.

From her long hair, several strands of black shadow, thinner than hair and almost invisible to the naked eye, drifted out and wrapped around her fingertips as if they were alive.

Jemin could clearly sense that these were also a kind of natural spirit, only a relatively rare shadow-related spirit.

The next moment, these shadows rapidly expanded and spread, like a soft, lightless black curtain, covering Jemin and herself.

Jemin did not resist, letting the cool touch adhere to his skin.

The feeling of being enveloped in shadows is peculiar.

Looking outwards from the inside, the view is as if through a very thin layer of black glass; the light becomes dim and the color saturation decreases, but the outlines of objects remain clear.

However, his own feelings remained almost unchanged; his breathing, heartbeat, and energy flow were normal, and even the casting of witchcraft was not significantly hindered.

It was as if this shadow only affected the optical level, and could even absorb and distort the dissipated mental fluctuations to some extent.

"Don't make a sound, stay close to me." Anya's voice rang out directly in his mind, a kind of sophisticated mental communication.

Immediately, Jemin felt a slight movement beneath his feet, and his entire body floated forward along with the "shadow" that enveloped them.

From the outside, the spot where they originally stood had transformed into a writhing, deep shadow with blurred edges.

As if possessing intelligence, the shadow precisely conformed to the unevenness and light-dark boundary of the rocks inside the cave, silently "flowing" to the boulder blocking the crack.

The shadow touched the surface of the boulder without colliding. Instead, it acted like water encountering a porous reef, quickly splitting into countless finer threads that seeped into the space between the boulder and the cave walls, as well as into the tiny natural cracks in the rock itself.

Jemin could feel his body undergoing an extremely flexible transformation as it was enveloped in the shadows, as if it had turned into a liquid without a fixed shape.

But this deformation did not cause any discomfort or pain; it only brought a strange feeling of weightlessness and fluidity.

The shadows "flowed" across the boulder barrier and into the narrow, downward-sloping crevice.

The crack was less than a finger's width, winding and twisting, and filled with rough rock edges and sharp pebbles.

But under Anya's skillful manipulation, the shadows, like the most agile fish, always find the most suitable path and silently burrow downwards.

The surroundings were absolute darkness and silence, with only the faint breathing and heartbeats of the two people inside the shadows, and the increasingly clear, muffled thunderous energy pulses below.

After descending a considerable distance, the crack widened slightly, but the surrounding environment remained oppressive.

Just then, Jemin, who had been on high alert, suddenly frowned and gently patted Anya's shoulder.

Anya immediately understood, controlled the shadow to stop, and hovered in a relatively spacious "node" shadow in the crack, while looking at Jemin with a puzzled expression.

Jemin didn't say anything, but simply raised his finger and cautiously pointed to an extremely hidden horizontal crack in the rock wall above and to the side.

The crack was very narrow, and the inside was pitch black, almost blending into the surrounding environment.

Anya stared intently, initially finding nothing amiss. However, when she combined her life sense with the faint visual enhancement associated with the shadow and carefully scanned the area, she was startled.

Deep within that crack, there was a curled-up mass of... "darkness".

It was not an ordinary shadow or emptiness, but a kind of "darkness" that was alive and conscious.

Its outline vaguely resembles the irregular sphere of a light elemental creature, but it does not emit any light at all. Instead, it completely absorbs the already weak light around it, presenting a pure black that is deeper than the surrounding rock walls, as if it can absorb the gaze.

It remained motionless, like the most patient hunter, blending perfectly with the shadow of the rock.

"They... actually learned to hide their light? And even actively 'turn black' themselves?" Anya transmitted this incredulous thought through the mental link.

This completely overturns the nature of light-elemental beings to rely on light for existence and communication.

While she was still in surprise, Jemin had already silently taken out several small and sophisticated detection instruments from his internal space while shrouded in shadow—a micro-energy spectrum analyzer, a spiritual wave capture device, and a material composition analysis probe.

He manipulated the instrument, focusing the probe beam onto the "dark" creature and began collecting data. At the same time, Jemin himself activated his All-Seeing Eye to scan the creature before him.

Soon, the results from the instrument appeared in his mind.

A knowing glint flashed in Jemin's eyes as he explained to Anya through their mental link, "It's amazing... only a few months? They've actually evolved 'hypersensitive light-sensing organs.' This thing's sensitivity to light is unbelievable; it can probably even detect the faintest photons reflected by a speck of dust."

"It is precisely because of this extreme perception that it can perfectly contain all the light it produces, including the glow of metabolic byproducts, and may even convert some of the spilled energy into this 'light-absorbing coating'."

Anya immediately realized the key point: "It's a Sentinel! It's specifically stationed on this only route, using this unconventional method of concealment! Then we..."

“It’s highly likely we’ve already been ‘seen’,” Jemin confirmed Anya’s guess, his tone remaining calm. “While your shadow camouflage is exquisite, blending seamlessly into the surrounding shadows, in the face of such highly specialized ‘light perception,’ the slightest disturbance and absorption difference of our ‘shadow’ in the background light field is probably as obvious as an ink spot on a piece of white paper. However…”

He glanced at another set of data on the instrument: "The good news is that, in order to achieve ultimate concealment, this thing seems to have even suppressed and blocked the electromagnetic radiation of the specific frequency band it uses for communication. In its current state, it is more like a pure 'optical monitor,' only able to see, unable to transmit alarms in real time."

"I guess its mission is to lie in wait and record information, and then find an opportunity to leave its post and transmit the information back after the shift changes or after confirming that the intruders have penetrated deep into the area."

"So what do we do now?" Anya asked, her mental fluctuations carrying a hint of killing intent.

She was careless for a moment and her whereabouts were discovered by a level 3 thing, even if it was only at the optical level, which made her feel a little unhappy.

“Of course, we should deal with it.” Jemin said without hesitation. “Now that it has been discovered, eliminating this informant is the best option, regardless of whether it can report back immediately. Let’s keep things quiet. The fact that this guy is hiding so well and has blocked its own communication capabilities suggests that it may be isolated and helpless during its ‘duty’ or that there is a delay in information transmission.”

“We’ll take it out quietly. Even if those guys down there find out the sentinel is missing, they’ll just be suspicious and confused. They might even speed up their actions because of the tension, which would be more in line with Lord Starfall’s observation needs.”

Anya nodded, her gaze fixed on the "darkness" hidden deep within the crack.

She said nothing more, but simply raised her hand gently in that direction, her fingers slightly bent, making a loose clenching gesture.

Jemin immediately felt a strange and powerful force emanating from Anya.

It was not a violent surge of energy, but a more profound attraction that went straight to the core of life.

The next instant, he "saw" that the light element sentinel disguised as darkness, whose normally stable flow of life flames and spiritual radiance suddenly stopped as if it had encountered an irresistible black hole.

Then, it broke free from the constraints of its body and soul, transforming into countless invisible but dazzling streams of light that surged toward Anya's clenched hand!

The level-three light elemental creature didn't even have time to react, nor did it emit the slightest energy or mental fluctuation. Its very foundation—its life force—was completely drained away in an instant.

Its black shell quickly dimmed, shriveled, and disintegrated, turning into the most ordinary elemental dust, silently dissipating into the darkness of the crack.

The concentrated essence of life that gathered in Anya's palm swirled lightly around her fingertips before silently disappearing into her body, as if it had never existed.

The entire process was fast, quiet, and deadly.

Jemin's pupils contracted slightly, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

He understood the principle behind this move: Anya, with her talent for extreme affinity and control over life force, developed this special plundering magic.

In the instant she activated it, her "attraction" to life force superseded the target's own "possession" of life force, forcibly severing the connection between life, body, and soul, and completing an instantaneous plunder.

The power of this move is terrifying.

The light elemental creature from before was at the same level as Anya, level three, but it was powerless against this attack and died without even realizing it.

Jemin quickly assessed the situation in his mind. If he hadn't cultivated the Body Tempering Technique, which had resulted in a high degree of unity between his physical body and soul, a life force as condensed as steel, and meticulous control over himself, he would probably have been severely injured or even killed instantly if he had encountered this attack without any preparation.

Faced with such an attack that directly shakes the very essence of life, unless one possesses a special life form, powerful soul protection, or has constructed a targeted law defense in advance, those below level six will almost certainly not escape unscathed.

"Is this... a level 10 talent super genius?" Jemin looked at Anya's still calm and delicate profile, a hint of amazement flashing deep in his eyes.

Even now, when many of her peers have distinguished themselves, Anya's profound understanding and terrifying application of the power of life still sends chills down one's spine.

Perhaps, having the ability to kill other wizards of a higher level is the true hallmark of a genius.

Anya seemed unconcerned about having casually killed someone of the same level. She withdrew her hand, looked at Jemin, and a calm question came through the mental link: "Obstacle cleared. Continue downwards?"

Jemin composed himself and nodded: "Okay, let's continue. Be careful, there might be more unexpected 'surprises' waiting for us."

(End of this chapter)