Ashen Dragon-Chapter 144 - 72 Voice of the Night (I)

Cassius followed the black mist as it flew through the castle.

He saw the array in the iron cage flickering, countless blood slaves howling as they exploded, turning into ghostly black mist, rushing in a certain direction.

"These blood slaves have all been sacrificed..."

"Their destination is probably the outside world."

Thinking of this, Cassius stopped chasing and instead flapped his wings to fly upwards, his massive dragon body crashing through walls and ceilings made of stone, rampaging through the fortress.

Quickly, with the continuous collapse of the buildings behind him, Cassius swiftly reached the outside.

However, the scene before his eyes had changed drastically from before.

There was neither a bright moon nor a starry sky in the outside world at this moment.

It was a night without light.

The sky overhead was shrouded in heavy shadow, resembling a deep black canopy.

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The surrounding colors were tainted by the environment, dim as the universe, filled with monotonous black and white, while tall black mountains appeared in the distance.

Over the Twilight Forest, countless clumps of shadowy material gathered together, forming a continuously rotating black mist vortex.

Cassius gazed at the black sky and murmured:

"This is a projection of the Nether Shadow Realm..."

"No, it’s that old bat who breached the barrier between the Shadow Realm and the Prime Material World."

The Nether Shadow Realm, also called the Shadow Plane, was a dim layer connected and coexisting with the Prime Material World, a realm of darkness and power, sinister in nature, a desolate borderland of the unknown.

It was filled with amorphous, mist-like shadow creatures, empty and desolate, devoid of any life.

The black mist assembly in the sky was evidently an otherworldly vortex connecting the Shadow Realm and the Prime Material World, set to summon the unknown shadowy creatures from there.

"No, I must stop him."

At this moment, Cassius finally understood the vampire’s dying curse, "You will all die."

Once the shadow curse from the Nether Shadow Realm invaded, the whole Northwind Castle would turn into a dead city filled with shadow creatures, assimilated by the endless, all-devouring darkness, and he himself might even be transformed into an undying shadow red dragon.

Enveloped in a faint light barrier, Cassius forced his way into the vortex, attempting to halt the breaching of the planar barrier by the black mist vortex.

[Spell Nullification Barrier]

However, it had no effect; the level of this otherworldly vortex was clearly far beyond the fifth tier. Even the usually unfailing Spell Nullification Barrier could not handle such a complex, high-tier space distortion, only smoothing out the most superficial fluctuations.

The red dragon opened its mouth, spewing out a scorching Flame Breath.

The blazing flames immediately set those shadow creatures ablaze, producing a series of shrill wails.

But its scale was already too vast, thousands of shadows forming a giant vortex nearly a hundred meters in diameter in the sky, and even if the red dragon exhausted its dragonflame, it couldn’t easily burn it to ashes.

"Such a degree of Magic Web fluctuation."

"Such a scale..."

"What on earth did that old bat summon?"

A chill rose from the depths of Cassius’s heart. The entity coming to the Prime Material Plane through this otherworldly vortex was likely not something he could contend with!

Thinking of this, he spared no effort, throwing Fireball Technique, Fire Wall Spell, Lightning Bolt, and other area-damage spells into the vortex recklessly.

Flames, lightning, and radiance intertwined and crisscrossed within the vortex, yet they could not stop the black mist from continuously gathering, swelling madly, and obscuring the sky.

"I can’t drag this out any longer."

Cassius thought.

A terrifying pressure emanated from the vortex, making even Cassius feel a tremor throughout his body.

As a naturally powerful red dragon, Cassius rarely felt this kind of instinctive oppression, but now he felt it, and it was strong!

"Roar—"

Accompanied by a deep roar, a dragon projection wrapped in black mist floated out from the vortex, becoming visibly more solid.

The powerful existence in the Nether Shadow Realm, truly descending into the Prime Material Plane, required some time.

Its enormous body, over twenty meters long, was covered in lusterless black scales, hued like embers, with wings devoid of wing membranes, instead appearing to be made of a spirit-like translucent material.

Most terrifying were its eyes, pools of utterly dim gray-white with no pupils or lenses, like the Abyssal depths aiming to swallow one’s soul.

At this moment, those gray-white eyes were fixed on Cassius, accompanied by a hoarse voice.

"So it’s a former kin?"

"A young red dragon? No wonder. I was wondering who could drive my poor contractor to such desperation."

"However, I should thank you."

The giant dragon, or rather the shadow dragon, licked its lips expectantly, black mist-like dragon saliva dripping.

"Soon, I’ll be back in the Prime Material World again, and this feeling... is really nice."

Cassius flapped his wings with all his might, barely managing to hover in midair, facing the far larger and more terrifying shadow dragon apparition.

[Based on your own strength, you can observe the following information]

[Voice of the Night, Motifel]

Basic Ability: ???

Challenge Level: 21 (33000xp)

Assessment: Motifel arrived at the Nether Shadow Realm seven hundred years ago and has resided there since. He enjoys its bleakness and desolation, cursing all light and life venomously, eager to spread its darkness and evil outward.

He often transforms into a mage calling himself the "Voice of the Night," signing contracts with traps hidden within with humanoids, leading them toward their downfall, ultimately turning villages, even towns, into desolate places filled with shadowy specters, greedily siphoning their strength.

"Legendary..."

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Cassius’s expression changed drastically.

A Challenge Level of 21, undoubtedly a Legendary Level being.

And due to the unique nature of dragons, its actual strength would only be higher than the paper stats indicated.

In other words, this was an existence that a whole legendary adventurer squad could barely contend with! Enough to trigger a planar-level disaster!

Since Cassius arrived at Erezer Gate, he had never encountered such a powerful opponent.

Voice of the Night, Motifel, was a name Cassius had heard of in his previous life, from the 4.0 [Planar Expedition] version, rumored to be the final boss of the high-difficulty side dungeon [Dragon Shadow City] in the Gloomy Region.

But Cassius never thought he’d encounter such a formidable enemy now. In his view, the Anzeta Great Wilderness was just a barren and remote area, not worth the attention of significant figures.

However, his estimation was incorrect.

Evidently, this shadow dragon was very interested in spreading darkness and death across the Anzeta Great Wilderness, transforming it into a dead land.

Duke Brad vanished without a trace after his Ascension Ritual was destroyed in an explosion in the previous life, likely meeting a cruel fate at the hands of this shadow dragon.

"I must not let him truly descend into the Prime Material World!"

This was Cassius’s only thought at this moment.