Chapter 1110: Arrival of the Gray Mist (Part 2)

Chapter 1110: Chapter 897: Arrival of the Gray Mist (Part 2)

Under the cloak, there were no feet, nor any body parts touching the ground, the entire body silently floated inches above the air.

What protruded from the cloak’s tear were not limbs, but a pair of hands so dried and skeletal that they were almost pure bone, with extremely long fingers covered in shriveled dark gray skin.

And in the depths of the hood, where a face should have been, there was only a pure void, with no facial features, no expression, just an indescribable cold emptiness, as if dragged into an abyss.

The moment Duke saw that thing, he instinctively felt uncomfortable.

The Life Rules inherently reject all existences opposed to Life Force, and the death aura surrounding this figure was extremely intense.

It was a pure, unshielded Death Rules, the absolute opposite of life’s essence.

Level 4 Undead Demons, as Duke sensed the Life Rules frantically warning him, he immediately judged that this was something he couldn’t confront directly now.

He pushed against the stone wall behind him, and the key in his right hand trembled slightly as Magic Power was injected, the Gate of Rules inside the stone wall opened in response, he directly fell backwards into the inner side of the safe house’s stone wall.

As he passed through the stone wall, he glanced back and managed to catch the black shadow silently drifting past the stone corridor outside the safe house.

The tattered black cloak dragged slowly in the gray mist, skeletal fingers hung at the side, and whenever they occasionally touched the stone slab ground, the ancient patterns on the gray-white stone slab instantly dimmed, as if drained of all Life Force.

Along the path it traveled, all the stone wall’s patterns extinguished, leaving only a straight, ash-gray streak.

Standing on the inner side of the safe house, Duke stared at the black shadow gradually drifting away through the one-way transparent light golden membrane until it completely disappeared into the depths of the gray mist, before slowly letting out a breath.

The repulsive feeling from the depths of the Life Rules still hadn’t completely subsided, instinctively feeling very rejected.

Just that brief close contact, merely sensing the presence of the other side through the safe house’s stone wall had already made his body instinctively react with rejection.

If he were to face that thing head-on, the consequences would be unimaginable.

After the black shadow drifted past, the gray mist began to slowly dissipate, the ancient patterns on the stone wall gradually lit up again, and the faint golden light reappeared from the depths of the cracks.

The safe house’s time limit hit zero before the gray mist had completely dissipated.

Duke could clearly sense the ancient patterns on the surface of the key in his hand extinguishing one by one, and the light golden energy membrane inside the stone wall thinning and becoming transparent at a visible rate, then suddenly, as the last pattern extinguished, the entire stone wall of the safe house contracted inward sharply.

The next second, an irresistible push burst from the depths of the stone wall, ejecting him entirely from inside the wall.

He staggered two steps on the rubble ground before steadying himself, looking back as the stone wall regained its original gray-white coarse texture, any trace of the safe house’s existence was completely gone.

The gray mist still permeated the stone corridor, slightly lighter than when the black shadow had just drifted past, but visibility remained extremely low.

The concentration of Dark Attribute and Negative Attribute Energy Particles remained high, Spiritual Power was suppressed tightly, relying solely on eyesight and regular senses, his detection range in the gray mist was merely a few meters around him.

In such an environment, a Level 4 Undead Creature might silently appear behind him at any moment, and he might not even notice it until its fingers stretched to the back of his neck.

This thought made the hairs on his back stand slightly upright, he had to find a way to sense a greater distance in this gray mist within the shortest possible time, else every second spent was a gamble with his life.

Duke quickly had an idea and decided to enter the Dark Attribute Elementalization form.

The environment had completely changed now, the gray mist was filled with intense Death Energy, this energy opposed Life Rules but was akin to Shadow Rules.

Using Dark Attribute Elementalization in the densely Death Energy environment allowed his own aura to blend into the surrounding environmental background to the maximum extent, the suppression of gray mist on such homogenous energy fluctuations was much weaker than on other attributes.

Duke’s body gently shook in place, the flesh silently dispersed from inside out, transforming into a mass of constantly tumbling dark gray fog.

The perception in Dark Attribute Elementalization form was entirely different from Wind Elementalization, lacking the extreme lightness and agility, replaced by a deep and restrained encompassing sense, the entire gray mist ceased to be a mere obstacle but instead seemed to become some kind of energy medium that could be understood and partially penetrated.

His consciousness was spread across each wisp of black mist, slowly drifting forward along the edge of the gray-white stone wall.

The gray mist’s blocking effect on his Spiritual Power perception indeed notably weakened, the perception range expanded from a few meters to dozens of meters, though far from his usual extensive detection range, it was sufficient to allow him to foresee most dangers in this gray mist.

He moved silently along the stone wall edge, passing through several intersections submerged in gray mist, completely merging himself into this desolate dimness.

Duke moved silently along the stone wall edge, pressing the Dark Attribute Elementalized body extremely low, like a thin fog slowly flowing along the ground.

As he passed through an intersection submerged in gray mist, the edge of his perception suddenly captured several extremely faint energy signals.

The nature of those signals was identical to the earlier Level 4 black shadow, cold, hollow, devoid of Life Force, like several pitch-black vortices floating in the gray mist.

He slowed his pace even more, cautiously extending his perception around the corner of the stone wall.

In the stone corridor ahead, three identical Undead Demons were silently floating in the gray mist, tattered black cloaks dragging long ghostly trails in the mist, skeletal fingers hung at the side, lightly sweeping across the stone slab ground.

And beneath them on the ground lay a massive mutated creature, its gray-white bony carapace covered in dark gray stains left by the erosion of Death Energy.

The mutated creature wasn’t completely dead yet, its chest still weakly rising and falling, but as the three Undead Demons leaned down, skeletal fingers pierced the shell gaps, the last remaining Life Force was forcibly extracted by a visible emerald green light thread from the wound, flowing into their bodies through the Undead fingers.

The emerald green light thread transformed into even more intense Death Energy upon entering the Undead body, merging into the gray mist, becoming part of the mist.

This was the first time Duke had witnessed such Undead Demons preying on other creatures, the mutated creature’s aura was approximately at Demigod Level, not as formidable as the Fire God’s Heart Fragment Guardian Beast he’d encountered previously, yet under normal circumstances not something easily exterminated.

However, in the presence of these three Undead Demons, it was like a moth bound by cobwebs, utterly powerless.

The Undead Demons’ attack method wasn’t biting, slashing, or any form of physical strike but directly extracting Life Force.

This was deadly for any creature relying on flesh and energy circulation.

Duke retreated slowly, shrinking back into the shadow of the stone pillar at the intersection.

There were clearly many more Undead Demons around than when they were a solitary black shadow drifting past.

The gray mist earlier was most likely merely the Death Energy emanating from these Undead Demons when moving in groups, and now the area he was in likely lay at the very dense core of their activity.

He quickly summoned the map he’d previously worked out in his mind, matching the positions of the intersections he just passed with the areas he had marked from prior exploration.

This area was located mid-way along the main passage, slightly to the west, with intersections noticeably numerous, several cul-de-sacs he’d marked during exploration.

Those dead-end areas contained no treasures or keys, but the deep recessed stone wall structures were sufficient for temporary hiding.