CHAPTER 262: CHAPTER 261: EGGS AND LIZARD FRENZY

After putting away the samples he had collected, Aiven looked around and discovered that the remaining ones were all the same; the biodiversity of the Shadow Realm was evidently far less rich than that of the Material World.

"Let’s go, we’ll continue deeper."

With the prior reconnaissance by the sea birds, having the intelligence advantage, the three of them walked through without encountering any surprises.

In fact, this seemingly sizable ring-shaped coral reef itself contained no surprises, and it could even be said to be unrealistically calm!

It took about an hour, and with the stamina of three Extraordinary Knights, they had traversed most areas of the island.

Strangely enough, though they collected many plants with strong Shadow Realm traits, they didn’t see a single animal.

The only somewhat peculiar sight was the large and small semi-transparent obsidian scattered across the island, bearing traces of lava cooling after a volcanic eruption, making it seem like a volcanic island formed through such eruptions.

The discovery of a small-scale volcanic hot spring emitting a sulfurous odor on the island later proved their speculation was correct.

But even on a volcanic island, shouldn’t there be at least some animals along with the plants?

"Could it be that the animals living on the island fled into the Shadow Realm’s sea before the ’Black Dam’ invasion? How is it that not even a single bug was seen?"

Aiven had already had his sea birds scout several times, but they still found nothing.

However, Aiven had clearly seen some chew marks on certain plants earlier, proving that some kind of animal should have inhabited there.

Beside him, Milan knew it was time for him to contribute.

"Let me try!"

Ignoring the obvious signs of biological activity on the island was not the purpose of their exploration of this island.

Moreover, since the "Storm Horn" would remain here for about a day, unknown otherworldly creatures always posed a potential risk.

Thus, hearing Milan volunteer, Aiven nodded to assure him to cast his spell with peace of mind.

Milan took out a spirit pendulum adorned with an amethyst pendant on a silver chain, and when searching for something in a setting like this, such a divination tool was evidently more efficient and direct than a crystal ball.

First, he clasped the amethyst pendant in his palms, silently praying:

"Find the place with the strongest life force on this island!"

Then he held the silver chain with one hand, letting the amethyst pendant hang naturally straight down.

depr——

The ethereal incantation resonated with the Spiritual World, emitting a distant echo resembling an empty valley, an unseen wind penetrated both worlds, ingeniously connecting the information streams extending from the Spiritual World with the spirit pendulum.

[Witchcraft: Spiritual Detection]

Instantly, the diamond-shaped amethyst emitted a purple glow, visible only within spiritual vision, seeming to be pulled by an unseen hand, it began to rotate on its own, and after spinning three times, it slowly pointed in a specific direction.

"Got it, follow me!"

Excitedly beckoning to Aiven and Gary, Milan already took the lead, running towards the direction they had come from.

At a point near the inner circle of the ring-shaped coral reef, just a few hundred meters from the innermost lagoon, stood a huge opaque obsidian.

Compared to other stones on the island, this stone, towering at four meters high, was like a small mountain, and even if one searched the entire ring-shaped coral reef, they might find only a few pieces like it.

Following the spirit pendulum, the group approached this piece of obsidian.

"The most obvious life reaction on the island is right here!"

As he spoke, Milan already extended his fingers, infused with spiritual radiance, to lightly touch a spot about one-fifth of the way up from the bottom of the giant obsidian.

Tss la!

A sound like tearing paper echoed in their ears.

In reality, nothing visibly changed on the obsidian itself, but before the three of them, it was as if a black curtain was suddenly pulled away, instantly changing their view.

Upon looking again at that piece of obsidian, especially the spot just touched by Milan, a blackish hole, about the size of a washbasin, appeared.

Clap—

Without needing any orders from Aiven, Milan already snapped his fingers, releasing a light ball created with a Lighting Technique, illuminating the hole entirely.

"Oh? It’s an egg? No wonder the life reaction was so weak."

Under the white light, inside the hole lay a solitary jet-black egg about the size of a volleyball.

Even in the bright light, it reflected no shine; the three could only notice it due to its sheer darkness compared to the surrounding obsidian.

Prior to this, none of them had truly seen so-called shadow creatures.

Even for the high-profile, well-to-do "wizards" among the Extraordinary, lacking the ability for interplane travel, they were unlikely to ever have contact with the Shadow Realm in their lifetime.

To most Extraordinary individuals, the Shadow Realm and shadow creatures seemed more like a long-standing legend.

Of course, their understanding of the habits and characteristics of shadow creatures was extremely limited.

Even for Aiven, who had copied half of the library, the traits of otherworldly creatures had already exceeded the limits of his knowledge system. Though there might be deeper resources in the library, they were not accessible to him at the moment.

However, the unique hidden nature of this egg suddenly opened up their thoughts.

"Do you think there’s an egg hidden by the shadow barrier here, could it..."

He reached out and took the pitch-black egg, gently stroking the smooth and hard eggshell that seemed like jade.

Aiven’s expression slightly solemn, he looked towards the countless obsidian scattered across the island!

Screech! Screech!....

Screech! Screech!....

But responding to him were not Milan and Gary, but an odd chorus of cries.

This small fragment of the "shadow barrier" shattered like it had stirred up a huge hornet’s nest.

At this moment, the sunlight was just right.

Yet beneath the shadow cast by every stone on the island, pairs of ruby-like eyes abruptly opened, quickly followed by a relentless rush of "Screech Screech" cries, even denser and more frantic than the croaking of countless frogs in a summer pond!

Then, numerous two-meter-long lizards with spikes on their backs and forked tongues emerged from the island’s shadows, charging unhesitatingly towards the three people.

The world is vast, and even many creatures in the material world remain unnamed, let alone those from other worlds, so we’ll temporarily call them "shadow lizards."

These "shadow lizards," while charging, instinctively and continuously transformed, becoming like normal animals from the material world under the sunlight.

When passing through shadows, if a "shadow lizard" slowed its pace, it gradually transformed into a thin shadow and merged within, looking like a gradual transition between three-dimensional and two-dimensional worlds.

This might just be an innate talent for most creatures of the shadow realm, but for humans living in the material world, it was a baffling and troublesome skill.

It’s imaginable that when they are in a state of shadow transformation, without corresponding extraordinary means, even large-caliber artillery bombardments might not harm these otherworldly visitors!

"Whoa—!"

Seeing the rolling mass of black rushing over, the instigator Milan opened his mouth widely, absent-mindedly uttering an exclamation.

"Whoa, my foot, run!"

Cursing, Aiven grabbed Milan and bolted towards the longboat, as the endless enemies surged like a tide. Even if they were just ordinary big lizards, it would be unbearable!

Needless to say, these were obviously demonized creatures from beyond!

For knights and low-tier wizards without large-scale attack capabilities, this swarm of small monsters was even more troublesome than a "final boss"; getting overwhelmed would be disastrous.

At this point, they had already realized that it wasn’t the island’s "masters" who conveniently left before the "Black Dam" invaded the material world.

It was that upon suddenly entering a sunlit world, these shadow creatures, unaccustomed to the light, opted to hide in shadows where they felt more comfortable to hibernate.

Until Milan broke the shadow barrier hiding the egg, waking these massive lizards.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The three of them leapt onto the longboat as fast as they could, while Gary and Milan grabbed the oars and began paddling frantically.

Aiven had already casually scattered a handful of date pit-shaped seeds, then loudly chanted the [Activated Plants] curse:

flo—

Lively syllables resonated intensely with the omnipresent natural energy of this world.

Snap!

In the vigorous green extraordinary spiritual light.

An entire handful of iron-like date seeds instantly exploded, countless black thorns grew rapidly and solidified.

In the blink of an eye, a forest of brambles dozens of meters wide had grown along the shore, densely packed with cold, gleaming thorns, not inferior to iron spears in the slightest.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!....

The explosive growth speed of the brambles was so swift that even pierced the air with a piercing hissing sound like that of snakes!

According to the Inheritance Secret Scroll "Flesh Sacrifice," the first Great Wizard to develop this kind of plant had already honed its lethality to the extreme.

A single seed could create a thorn forest stretching over a few kilometers.

This was also the prerequisite for the Vitalist School’s exclusive [Military Witchcraft: Blackthorn Forest]!

Screech! Screech!...

Amidst the piercing cries.

The tide of rushing "shadow lizards" was already close at hand.