The wind howled sharply in his ears.
Lin Gui sat astride the rapidly flying oak staff.
In his arms, he tightly held Elvia, who was constantly coughing up blood.
On his back, the unconscious Rona was secured with ropes.
He was like a rider navigating a shadow.
He threaded and dodged through extreme danger.
Elvia's desperately unleashed golden sword qi and these ancient traps, suddenly fully activated and indiscriminately targeting friend and foe alike, became their only chance of survival at this moment.
“Cough, cough... Didn't you say... they wouldn't be able to detect us? It seems... everything you told me just now... was just bragging...”
In his arms, Elvia coughed up another mouthful of blood, complaining weakly.
The wound on her abdomen was gruesome and terrifying.
Even with a simple bandage, bright red blood continued to seep out.
Lin Gui's brow was tightly furrowed, his mind highly focused.
He controlled the staff, executing extreme drifts through the gaps between poison arrows and falling rocks.
There were indeed many ways to see through the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】.
But most of them were extremely rare.
Wide-range divination spells, top-tier Legendary Rank perception magic, blanket indiscriminate physical attacks... None of these matched Gorn's class characteristics or his recent behavior.
Thus, the possibility pointed to the very last option.
His peripheral vision swept over the special steel needles on Rona's body on his back.
“Does that Legendary archer possess soul-type scouting methods?”
Lin Gui asked in a deep voice, his words slightly muffled by the howling wind.
Elvia shook her head weakly, her eyes already beginning to lose focus.
“I don't know... All I know is... no one targeted by Gorn... has ever... escaped his grasp...”
“Is that so?” Lin Gui's gaze was as cold as a blade.
“Then the prey he hunts down—are they all tagged with these steel needles?”
Elvia's unfocused eyes suddenly sharpened for an instant, understanding Lin Gui's implication.
“You... you mean...”
“Get some rest.” Lin Gui interrupted her, his voice carrying an unquestionable calm. “We'll find out... in a moment.”
He spoke no more.
He silently stared at the darkness rushing past and the falling boulders ahead.
Finally, the path ahead suddenly opened up!
Carrying the three of them, the staff suddenly burst out of the peril-filled tomb corridor.
They returned to that vast, deathly silent underground space.
Almost the exact instant they left the tomb corridor entrance, Lin Gui immediately deactivated the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】.
They were visible for barely a breath!
A silver figure, waiting in ambush, lunged out from the shadows on the flank.
She grabbed the floating oak staff, using the momentum to steady herself.
It was Theia.
Her emerald eyes sharply swept over the wounded in Lin Gui's arms and on his back.
Without any nonsense, she simply secured Linno, who was on her own back, a bit tighter.
“Go!”
Lin Gui barked in a low voice, pushing 【Levitation】 to its absolute limit.
Carrying the weight of everyone, they ascended rapidly.
They returned to the crevice among the stalactites.
The wooden box was still intact, and the knocked-out catgirl, Luo Youyou, was still fast asleep on top of it.
They laid Linno and Rona on the ground.
Lin Gui immediately came to Rona's side and pulled out the steel needles from her body one by one.
In her unconscious state, Rona's body convulsed slightly.
Fine sweat beaded on her forehead, as if her soul were being dragged out along with them.
On the other side, Theia hurriedly helped Elvia lean against the rock wall.
She cast a mid-tier magic spell with her right hand, Wood Healing.
However, the Wood Healing spell had no effect at all, as if it were blocked.
It did absolutely nothing.
Theia's expression stiffened. Could Elvia's injuries really be so severe that...
Elvia spoke in a weak voice to Theia,
“Hey, half-demon... I might be dying. Before I draw my last breath... can you grant me one wish?”
Seeing Elvia in this state, tears instantly welled up in Theia's eyes.
She grabbed Elvia's hand and said sorrowfully,
“Tell me. As long as it's within my power, even if I have to die, I will fulfill it for you!”
Theia's eyes were filled with sorrow. Elvia instinctively turned her head aside and said weakly,
“I don't want to die just like this... carrying the demon curse. So...”
“Can you ask... Lin Gui... to give me the antidote?”
Theia nodded heavily.
“Alright, I'll go right now—”
She suddenly snapped out of it and stared at Elvia.
Elvia quickly coughed up a few more splatters of blood to prove she was on the verge of death.
At the same time, she turned her body to the side, revealing the gap in her equipment that had been shattered and "pierced" by the arrow.
Theia stared with sharp eyes, then pushed aside the fragments around the gap in the armor.
And then, she saw the inner armor worn underneath, which was only slightly damaged.
Although this inner armor was battered and dim from losing its energy nourishment, its quality was not low. It was at least a Stellar-tier Armor.
She silently shifted her gaze and stared flatly at Elvia.
Elvia gave an embarrassed smile.
“Well... at least, I really did almost die. That was a Legendary arrow, after all. If I hadn't salvaged this inner armor from a pile of corpses, I'd be dead by now.”
Theia gave Elvia a cold glare.
The stare made cold sweat pour down Elvia's back.
It was strange. She clearly had no real connection with this half-demon, so why did being looked at like this after deceiving her make her feel like she was sitting on pins and needles?
In all her years of growing up, this was the first time Elvia had ever felt this way.
Even when no one invited her to dance at noble balls, she had never felt so uncomfortable.
“Cough, cough. Actually, I was just playing a... little joke.”
“That is not funny, Elvia. Do not joke about your own life.”
With that, Theia ignored Elvia.
Elvia stared blankly at Theia's retreating back.
Was she... worried about her?
She walked over to Lin Gui's side and found that he had already pulled out all the steel needles.
He bundled them together, mounted the oak staff, and prepared to fly down.
Beside him, Rona and Linno were floating.
Theia quickly hugged him from behind.
Feeling the softness behind him, Lin Gui raised an eyebrow.
“No need to follow me. I'm just going to verify why the Shroud of the Gloomy Night was seen through.”
Having broken through to the Mid-tier High Rank, his proficiency with the Shroud of the Gloomy Night was now fully maxed out.
In theory, even if he loitered right under the nose of that Legendary archer...
the other party wouldn't be able to detect him.
Yet, he had been discovered in the end.
Lin Gui had to figure it out. The other party was a knight from the Royal Capital.
There was a good chance they would cross paths again in the future.
“Let me go with you. At a critical moment, I can also help block a few arrows for you.”
“Just like that... liar did.”
Theia said with a dark face. She hated it when the people she cherished joked about their own lives.
Lin Gui did not refuse.
He controlled the oak staff and floated downward.
The entrance to the tomb corridor had already collapsed. With a sudden explosion, Gorn charged out in a fury.
Seeing this from above, Lin Gui used Levitation to fling the bundles of steel needles toward the distance.
He also controlled the floating Rona and Linno to fly away, sending them as far as his Levitation spell could reach.
To avoid exposing his position, he applied the Shroud of the Gloomy Night to both the steel needles and the two girls.
Ever since Lin Gui's proficiency with the Shroud of the Gloomy Night had been maxed out,
not only could he cast without chanting, but more derivative effects that Lin Gui had anticipated were also unlocked.
After completing the Special Commission to deliver the letter to Rona, Lin Gui's personal status looked like this:
【Host: Lin Gui】
【Class: Mage】
【Rank: Mid-tier High Rank Mage】
【Mana Reserve: (3270/4256) - 1,744 mana points away from the next breakthrough】
【Magic Skills:】
【High Rank Magic: Shroud of the Gloomy Night LV10 (MAX) - [Chantless Casting / Stance Liberation / Brief Object Attachment]】
【Mid Rank Magic: Sharp Wind Slash LV7...】
【Low Rank Magic: Levitation LV9...】
【Ding! Host rank advancement detected!】
【Mana cap increased by 100%! Mana recovery speed increased by 50%!】
【Ding! High Rank Magic 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】 proficiency is full. Level increased to LV10!】
【Unlocked Effects: Chantless Casting! Stance Liberation!】
【Allows large physical movements without affecting spell maintenance!】
【New Effect: Allows attaching 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】 to non-living objects or other people for a short period of time.】
Attaching the effect of the Shroud of the Gloomy Night to other objects also extended to his own attacks.
It was precisely because Elvia's sword qi had been cloaked by his Shroud of the Gloomy Night that they had caught the opponent completely off guard.
Behind him, Theia watched with wide eyes as the steel needles, Rona, and Linno vanished into thin air after flying out of the range of the Shroud of the Gloomy Night.
She questioned Lin Gui, and he held nothing back from someone he could trust with his life.
After hearing about the various breakthroughs of Lin Gui's Shroud of the Gloomy Night, Theia took a deep breath.
She looked at the Legendary Gorn not far away, who was grinning savagely as he drew his bow and unleashed a torrent of arrows into a corner.
A red gleam flashed in her emerald eyes, carrying a trace of madness.
It was he who had wounded Elvia and pushed Lin Gui into a desperate corner.
No matter how well Lin Gui concealed it, she could still smell the scent of blood on him.
A single strike from a Legendary arrow had rendered Elvia, a High-tier High Rank knight, completely incapacitated.
Let alone Lin Gui; even though the arrow hadn't hit him directly,
the residual shockwave of energy had still caused him significant harm.
She had almost lost everything...
She couldn't just let this guy escape so easily.
She leaned close to Lin Gui's ear and said,
“I have an idea.”
“No, you don't.”
Lin Gui immediately refused.
He looked at Gorn, who was looking around in bewilderment.
Lin Gui knew his goal had been achieved.
The other party's soul perception could only detect the fluctuations of the steel needles.
As for Rona and Linno, neither of them had been tampered with.
Controlling the two of them, Lin Gui prepared to make his escape.
Clinging to his back, Theia said to him,
“Lin Gui, fifty shots. Give me fifty chances, and I can kill this Legendary expert.”
Lin Gui was unmoved. Instead, he said to Theia,
“You must understand, even if fifty shots can kill him, a single shot from him is enough to kill us.”
“I don't want the person who hurt you to live. I must kill him!”
Lin Gui frowned. Theia was usually calm and listened to him. Why did she seem somewhat out of control right now?
A sharp, uncontrollable killing intent surged out.
Her blood-red eyes broke through her disguise, and a black mist continuously seeped from the silver-haired elf's body.
It was... demon power, the most violent and difficult-to-control danger among the five types of energy on the Akara Continent.
Lin Gui sighed. The main reason half-demons could be accepted by the alliance of city-states...
was because they did not possess demon power within their bodies.
Yet Theia could not only control demons, but also unleash demon power.
It seemed the other parent who had passed down her half-demon bloodline was definitely of no ordinary origin.
Lin Gui didn't know if Theia was aware of it, but her eyes were filled with madness right now.
The hands gripping his shoulders squeezed tighter and tighter.
That suddenly awakened power was taking control of her mind; she needed an outlet.
“Five minutes... I will buy you five minutes, but we have to send Rona and the others back first.”
“...Alright.”
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