?Chapter 1225: 389. Shadow Thief_2


    “Bang Bang Bang…”


    A series of muffled sounds came from the ground as another few airdrop troop transport shipsnded.


    The newly arrived troop transport had also turned into giant metal apes capable of firingser beams, unleashing firepower on the subway entrance.


    “Tarsali really wants to trap the wizards underground…”


    Nnd Lee pondered for a few seconds, feeling that he had to do something.


    The rtionship between him and that group of wizards was one of mutual dependence. <div>


    ...


    Once Tarsali was done with the wizards, he’d be the next unfortunate one, the person hiding in the shadows.


    Nnd Lee focused his gaze in the direction of the subway train.


    In his mind, a few magic visions had always been tracking these trains.


    The trains were now stopping near another underground factory, and Death Steel Soldiers were moving anti-magic materials into the factory to continue producing anti-magicponents.


    “Tarsali had countless opportunities to transfer the anti-magic materials, but I only have one chance to steal them. If Tarsali fails, he’ll just sacrifice a batch of materials, but I’d be paying with my life.”


    Nnd Lee reached into his magic pouch, deciding to cause some more distractions for Tarsali.


    In his magic pouch lived a frequent visitor, that is, an Eighth Circle Shadow Death Wizard who had been abducted from the City of Exiles.


    That guy was a shadow creature with a befuddled mind.


    After being modified by the Assassin Angel, its mind waspletely erased, turning it into a shadow puppet that could only follow orders.


    Tarsali believed that the thief who had stolen the Soul Gem was the Shadow Executioner, well then, Nnd Lee would help solidify this suspicion.


    Nnd Lee took out the Shadow Orb from the pouch and used [Mage’s Hand] to secure it in front of him.


    With his Shadow Wand, he guided the shadow puppet from within the orb to leave its cage, and then threw a Veil of Different Worlds (Imitation) at it, erasing all traces of its presence.


    “Go, fulfill your mission, lure Tarsali away for me, and let those besieged wizards catch their breath.”


    Nnd Lee focused his mind and controlled the shadow puppet to fly toward the city ruins.


    The destination of the shadow puppet was not the subway entrance covered byser beams but an underground space venttion shaft untouched by the battle.


    Though the venttion shaft was buried by the ruins, this was not a difficult feat for the shadow puppet, which had no fixed form and was ghost-like.


    Squeezing through the gaps in the rubble, passing the venttion shaft clogged with broken stones, Nnd Lee saw several figures he had expected.


    They were some of the wizards with more agile minds.


    After discovering that they were trapped underground, they sought ways to escape through the cramped, unguarded pipes.


    The intangible nature of the Flight Spell allowed them to navigate through the narrow pipes.


    Just as the shadow puppet was passing through the venttion duct, this group of quick-witted wizards was about to reach ground level, precisely brushing past the shadow puppet in absolute invisibility status.


    “Good luck to you, wizards. You might avoid the Death Steel Soldiers, but you can’t circumvent the eyes of Tarsali.”


    As an afterthought, Nnd Lee sent his blessings to the passing wizards while controlling the shadow puppet to continue exploring further.


    After traveling along the venttion duct for nearly half an hour, the shadow puppet finally arrived at the heavily guarded underground factory without any noise.


    Like the previous underground factory, the floor, ceiling, and walls of this factory were contaminated by Tarsali.


    The warehouse holding the anti-magic materials was the same—the door frame was one of Tarsali’s contaminants.


    Nnd Lee patiently sorted out the problematic ingots from the anti-demon metal ingots and set them aside.


    Then, he had the shadow puppet cram all the anti-magic metal ingots without spell marks into the body of the puppet.


    “Ding ding ding————”


    As expected, just as the shadow puppet was about to retreat sessfully with the anti-magic metal ingots, a piercing rm went off.


    The next second, the walls of the factory came to life with densely packed ripples emerging all over them.


    “Buzz buzz buzz buzz————”


    An endless shockwave swept through the entire factory and in just an instant, the “Veil of Different Worlds (Imitation)” that Nnd Lee had set upon the shadow construct was exposed, unable to adapt its form to follow the changing shockwaves.


    Forced to reveal itself, the shadow construct jerked awkwardly.


    Nnd Lee immediately took control and directed it to pass through the slowly closing great gate of the factory, elerating its flight through the dark subway tunnels.


    At the same time, Nnd Lee activated the shadow construct’s built-in “Shadow Cloak,” using the dense shadow energy to blend it seamlessly into the dark environment.


    This near-perfect state of invisibility could deceive wizards up to the Eighth, Ninth, and even the Ten Rings, but was certainly insufficient to fool the Metal Ancestor Dragon.


    Indeed, as the shadow construct entered a metal venttion duct, the duct was promptly squeezed tight by an invisible force at both ends, forming a sealed container trapping the shadow construct.


    “Foolish one, have you stayed so long in the Barren Universe that you believe you can deceive me twice with the same trick?”


    The voice of Tarsali resonated within the underground space, irritated yet slightly smug.


    The pipeline that held the shadow constructpressed inward, emitting a grating noise of metal deformation.


    “Come on, tell me, what did Nyrephale (the White Ancestral Dragon) offer you to make youe… huh? Wait a moment…”


    Tarsali’s speech halted abruptly mid-sentence.


    A grave gaze shot out from the wall of the pipe, scanning back and forth over the shadow construct.


    Nnd Lee knew that the shadow construct couldn’t fool Tarsali for long, so he decisivelymanded it to self-destruct.


    The shadow construct had been modified from a Shadow Dark Soul.


    Upon death, a Shadow Dark Soul’s body would turn into Shadow Fragments, which would travel towards a pre-set Resurrection Ritual Array.


    A Shadow Dark Soul possesses its own personal space, known as a “Shadow Pouch.”


    Only if all the Shadow Fragments were destroyed would the “Shadow Pouch” appear on the corpse of the Shadow Dark Soul.


    If even a single Shadow Fragment escaped, the “Shadow Pouch” would follow that fragment away from the battlefield, allowing its owner to be reborn.


    And the contents inside the “Shadow Pouch” would be preserved intact.


    Aware of these secrets, Nnd Lee’s decision to order the self-destruction of the shadow construct was a strategic move to forcefully take with him the Anti-Demon Material stored inside the pouch, utilizing the special features of the Shadow Dark Soul and “Shadow Pouch.”


    The impact of the self-destruction was equivalent to an Eighth Circle Combat Wizard exerting all their power to unleash a shadow energy burst.


    The metal duct trapping the shadow construct was not made of Anti-Demon Material.


    Even with the Metal Ancestor Dragon’s augmentation, the metal duct inevitably cracked, releasing a high-pitched metallic snap and forming a slender fissure.


    The Shadow Fragments, like nimble fish, burst through the crack and immediately escaped, darting into the dim underground space.


    Tarsali suddenly chuckled lightly, saying,


    “No wonder you don’t dare to face me openly; it seems your power has waned to the point where you must rely on the shadow magic of this world to contend with me!”


    Nnd Lee’s eyebrows rose, realizing that the other party was still firmly convinced that the shadow entity before him was the Shadow Executioner.


    This was a good thing.


    As long as Tarsali remained unaware, the probability of Nnd Lee sessfully stealing the Anti-Demon Material all but reached 100%.


    Several Shadow Fragments meandered through the darkness, with Tarsali in relentless pursuit, using the intricate venttion ducts and subway tracks to block their paths.


    In the midst of this chase, a few Shadow Fragments were covered by the “Veil of Different Worlds (Imitation),” disappearing right under Tarsali’s nose.


    Tarsali seemed entirely immersed in the cat-and-mouse game,pletely oblivious to the vanishing Shadow Fragments.


    Some kilometers away from the urban area, Nnd Lee took out the ritual array for the resurrection of Shadow Fragments and wrapped it in the “Veil of Different Worlds (Imitation),” quietly waiting for the Shadow Fragments, carrying the “Shadow Pouch,” to make their way here.


    This was the most dangerous phase.


    If Tarsali noticed the missing Shadow Fragments reappearing on the cknd outside the city, then Nnd Lee would very likely face a direct threat from him.


    Just then!


    A climax emerged in the battle within the urban area; the wizards that had been trapped underground for a long time finally organized a significant counterattack.