Chapter 143: The Peak Strength of the Shadow (Part I)

With bloodshot eyes and ragged, uneven breathing, Shadow stared at the Skeleton King, who remained calmly seated upon his throne. A dense, overwhelming murderous intent consumed his heart.

Never before had anything incited him to such a degree. Even during the final battle of the past, though he had felt profound resentment and harbored intense killing intent, he had never felt such raw, concentrated malice directed toward a single individual.

Watching the group charge in, the Skeleton King acted as if he saw nothing at all, as if they did not exist. This was a clear display of contempt. In the eyes of the now-evolved monarch, those who might have once been considered formidable opponents were now nothing more than trivialities.

Shadow and his companions could naturally sense this disdain. They could also feel that the aura emanating from the creature before them had changed drastically from its usual state. If measured by game strength, there was no doubt: the former Level 150 Lord-tier boss, having absorbed half of Li Ren’s blue spirit fire, had evolved into a blue-flame Skeleton King. His power was now comparable to those of a Level 250 Lord or higher. This meant that with his current strength, the Skeleton Mountain would truly be ranked among the factions closest to the heart of the super-massive monster gathering grounds of the Phantasmagoric Mountains.

For beings like the Skeleton King or those from the Fanyun Mountains who already originated from the Underworld, increasing their strength within this game could not be achieved through the methods used by players. As for why this was the case, even the great beings governing the Underworld could not explain it. They only knew that these magical realms did not allow for their own evolution; instead, they accelerated the soul intensity of the humans from reality who participated in the game. This growth in intensity did not merely rely on the "Heavenly Evils" they hunted on the battlefield; rather, a mysterious method unknown to anyone forcibly channeled the soul power required for their advancement into the bodies of those called players.

As for Li Ren, he was a rather unique individual who could be considered a player, even though he appeared to have been categorized from the start within the faction belonging to the Underworld. It was precisely because of this that the Skeleton King had conceived his plan, laboring from the very beginning to cultivate Li Ren’s abilities, only to forcibly consume the evolved spirit fire Li Ren had attained to achieve his own advancement.

It must be said that this was a remarkably effective strategy for the Skeleton race; had it been anyone else, they might have been unable to resist such a temptation.

The two sides stood in a standoff within the skeletal hall. While it was called a standoff, it appeared as though one side was merely watching with ease, not considering the other a true opponent at all. The silence did not last long. Amidst Shadow’s increasingly rapid breathing, he let out a roar, his eyes burning crimson, and lunged toward the throne.

His speed was truly rare. Even Landis, standing beside him, could not help but watch in shock as the figure approached the Skeleton King in the blink of an eye.

"Since when did this guy become so powerful?" Landis whispered to himself. Seeing the same expression of astonishment on Lania’s face, they could only wait and watch to see what the crazed Shadow would do next.

Shadow’s sudden burst of speed caught even the enthroned Skeleton King off guard. Moving as if he had teleported, Shadow appeared directly before him. Faced with the massive phantom of a fist, the Skeleton King raised his arm, fingers curled into claws, and lashed out at the incoming strike with a hiss that tore through the air. Had that claw connected, it is no exaggeration to say that, given the force capable of rending the atmosphere, it would have easily crushed a man’s fist to pieces.

However, when the Skeleton King’s strike landed on Shadow’s fist, a scene of profound astonishment unfolded. The claw passed right through the fist as if it were nothing but air. This sight left Landis and Lania shocked, and even the Skeleton King himself was filled with utter disbelief.

"An afterimage!" was all Landis could manage to think before the Skeleton King, to the shock of all present, was sent tumbling from his throne.

Only then did Landis see Shadow’s true position. At some point, Shadow had reached the rear of the Skeleton King and delivered an unreserved blow directly into his unguarded back. The explosive force detonated with such violence that even the Skeleton King could not control it, and he collapsed into the hall in a wretched state.

The strength Shadow had suddenly unleashed left everyone secretly amazed. Yet, as Lania scrutinized him, she noticed something different from the usual. With her sensitivity to blood, she could easily perceive that the blood surging within Shadow’s body was moving at a pace no normal human could sustain. It boiled within him, crashing against his own frame and wreaking havoc. Though it wasn't immediately apparent, if left unchecked, it would inevitably lead to severe injury.

If that were all, it would be one thing; she knew that boiling one's own blood could temporarily increase one's power, but there was no way it could increase to this extent. What truly alarmed Lania was that the boiling blood, in its constant circulation, was subtly beginning to diminish. Yet, there was not a single trace on his body to explain where this blood was going.

It was as if a void had opened within him—every time the blood flowed past a certain point, a portion was absorbed by that microscopic void, and in exchange, it returned the overwhelming, peerless power he now possessed!

But why such a bizarre occurrence existed, and what the true cause of that power was, Lania did not know. From the source of that faint energy, she sensed an aura that both terrified her and felt strangely, hauntingly familiar.