“It’s nothing!” Po Kong retreated two steps after hearing Starlight’s warning, causing the human puppet in front of him to lose its balance and stumble to the ground.
At the same time, Po Kong closed the distance with the other human puppet. He grabbed the sword hilt still protruding from its body and slashed downward, cleanly severing a massive arm.
No blood sprayed from the severed limb. Instead, wisps of black mist seeped out. On the smooth surface of the cut, the dark grey muscle was still twitching slightly, appearing exceptionally eerie.
The blade in Po Kong’s hand did not stop after the successful strike. Empowered by his pale yellow battle qi, he quickly hacked the human puppet into pieces.
Even when reduced to fragments, the mangled remains on the ground continued to squirm as if they still possessed some form of life.
The gruesome sight caused Po Kong to suck in a breath of cold air. “What on earth are these things? How disgusting!” he cursed under his breath.
“These are puppets made from living humans; they are no longer alive!” Starlight, having recovered, moved to Po Kong’s side and summoned a grey shield to block the corrosive magic firing from a distance.
This familiar-looking shield was inspired by the black-robed figures. Since they could use dark magic to create shields, he figured he could do the same.
While neutralizing their magic with his Shadow Wave earlier, Starlight had silently memorized the magic wavelength of that dark shield, and now was the perfect time to use it.
Although he was still a bit clumsy with this hastily learned spell and couldn't achieve the 360-degree protection the black-robed figures had, it was more than enough for simple frontal defense.
With the immense magic reserves within his body, maintaining a shield of this size was effortless. Even the spell cast by the five figures working together failed to shake him in the slightest.
The black-robed figures were utterly shocked when they saw the shield in front of the two men.
Could someone really learn an opponent’s magic with just a few brief glances during combat? They were filled with doubt and unease.
Faced with their current disadvantage, they knew that splitting up again would lead to them being picked off one by one, especially now that a powerful supporter had appeared.
Even their prized human puppets hadn't lasted two rounds against the blond youth’s sword.
Sensing the tide had turned, the black-robed figures did not hesitate. They immediately turned and retreated toward the cave Starlight had seen earlier.
By then, Po Kong had finished hacking the fallen human puppet into pieces. The two shared a glance and immediately gave chase.
“You took a punch from that thing and you’re actually fine?” Only now did Po Kong notice that Starlight was moving normally, showing no signs of injury.
“Thanks to your timely arrival. If you hadn't blocked one of them, I definitely would have been hurt.” Starlight rubbed his still-numb right hand as he spoke, showing he hadn't come away completely unscathed. “By the way, why are you here?”
“Don’t even get me started! Those bandits were just a bunch of amateurs. I gave them a chance, but they couldn't even break my defense. Then, halfway through the fight, they seemed to fall under some evil spell. They went as crazy as wild beasts, acting like they wouldn't stop until they were completely killed,” Po Kong said with a frown.
“I have no interest in meaningless slaughter, and I happened to hear constant explosions coming from your direction, so I ditched them to see what was happening. At the very least, my timing was pretty good, right?”
Po Kong grinned proudly as he ran, seemingly very satisfied with his decision.
“Exactly. Thanks to your distraction, I managed to rescue everyone who was kidnapped just a few minutes ago. But now, there are still some problems to solve.” Starlight nodded at him appreciatively.
“You mean those black-robed guys have something else hidden in the cave?”
“Yes. I’ve felt something was off here from the moment I arrived. Combined with the abnormal behavior of one of the captives when passing the cave, I’m certain there’s a secret hidden inside.”
“Surely not? If they had a trump card, they should have used it by now. Those disgusting puppets are only a threat to mages like you. With me here, even ten or eight more wouldn't be a problem.”
“No, I’m worried about other things. Regardless, we can’t be careless... we’ll take it one step at a time.”
“Hahaha, don’t worry! No matter what happens, I’ll stand in front of you!”
The two chatted as they moved, soon arriving at the entrance of the eerie cave.
Up close, they saw that the area around the cave was covered in strange symbols painted with a thin black pigment. The shapes of these symbols were identical to the masks worn by the black-robed figures.
After approaching the cave cautiously, they immediately noticed something was wrong. A faint scent of rot was wafting out from the entrance.
“Do you smell that? It feels like something is rotting inside...” Po Kong said, carefully scanning the pitch-black, deep opening ahead.
Starlight nodded in agreement while meticulously checking the entrance for magical traps.
After some investigation, he found that the symbols painted around the cave were not magical inscriptions. They showed no magic reaction and seemed more like ritualistic graffiti.
“Let’s go. The tunnel looks safe for now, but stay alert,” Starlight said, nodding to Po Kong after confirming there was no immediate danger.
Po Kong understood immediately. Protecting his chest with his grey shield, he took the lead and entered the cave.
They had expected the cave to be pitch black, but they hadn't gone far before the tunnel curved and began to wind downward.
Candles for illumination appeared on both walls, adding a flicker of light to the deep tunnel.
Judging by the shape of the cavern and the surrounding environment, it was clearly man-made, and the excavation marks were still very fresh.
It was unclear why the bandits would choose to carve a tunnel like this into such hard rock; it seemed like a thankless and difficult task.
They followed the tunnel down for dozens of meters until an ancient-looking stone door appeared before them. The door was carved with many obscure words and symbols.
“Did the bandits find some secret and carve this tunnel specifically for it? Could this be the source of all their strange behavior?” Starlight whispered, studying the ancient stone door by the dim candlelight.
Po Kong paid no mind to the strange scribbles. As he moved forward to push the door open, a ghostly figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
The figure wore a black and red robe. Based on the eerie mask and unique attire, he was clearly with the black-robed figures from before.
“Leave this place, ignorant mortals. You have overstepped.”
While the two were confused, a raspy voice came from behind the mask, sounding like coarse sandpaper scraping against rock. It was enough to make one’s skin crawl.
“Stop playing tricks!” Po Kong growled, swinging his sword at the figure, but the blade passed right through the mysterious person’s body, hitting nothing but air.
The mysterious figure simply continued to repeat the same sentence in that low voice.
“It’s just a projection, likely intended to hinder our progress. To use such methods just to stall for time...” Starlight saw through the trick immediately and frowned.
With that, he stepped forward, passing directly through the lifelike phantom, and pressed his hand against the stone door.
Feeling the chill from the heavy stone slab, Starlight pushed hard. With a low rumble, the stone door slowly ground open.
The moment the door opened, an indescribable stench wafted out, forcing both of them to screw their eyes shut.
Rate on N.U.
