Chapter 406: Withered Shade
“Let’s go…” Ye Cang brought everyone to the side, and jumped down the jungled slope towards the other side. Little Blue Feather called out again.
Ye Cang ascertained the position and everyone quickly travelled over. They arrived at the top of the other side of the ravine and began to run through the grass until they arrived at a boundless withered field. Ye Cang stopped. He raised a hand and Little Blue Feather turned back and landed on his arm. It hopped onto Ye Cang’s shoulder, and began to leisurely clean its feathers.
Ye Cang touched the black wilted stems which immediately scattered into ashes. What was going on here?
Little Ye Tian also squatted down and examined it. “It’s similar to Really New Village, caused by the power of corruption. I think the power of nature here was reversed, turning it into a withering power…”
SpyingBlade wiped the black ashes off his hands, then slowly got up and looked at the ruined structures which were up against a cliff. “We’ll know if we go in…”
Walking through the ashes of the blackened flowers, everyone could feel the land’s sorrow. They were even hit by a debuff, reducing their defence by 25%, and healing rate by 50%. With their healing ability reduced, Little Ye Tian frowned. The curse on this land was a bit excessive. It actually cut their important healing in half and prevented their natural health regeneration. The effect said that any recovery effect from equipment or otherwise was completely prohibited. If they lost health, it wouldn’t recover without healing consumables or skills. Supplies wise, they were still sufficient. The most annoying thing was that healing effects were weakened and they even lost 25% of their defence. This sort of percentage reduction didn’t mean that their damage taken would increase by 25%. That 25% could be a huge difference depending on the strength of the attack. Some attacks could even double in damage…
SpyingBlade was also wary of this unfavorable location… He remained vigilant of every direction. He checked the position of the sun and saw that it was already almost dusk, so their exploration would go into the night…
Ye Cang looked around with his Eagle Eyes but didn’t see anything abnormal. However, a strange sense of danger kept him on guard. This field of ashes was dreadful…
As dusk arrived, the golden glow simply made the place look even more desolate. Ye Cang took off his hood and let Little Blue Feather play in it. His messy white hair was exposed. He stroked Little Blue Feather’s long, beautiful crest. Along with a sudden wind, this scene became even more dazzling. With the wind carrying the ashes, it gave an almost heartbreaking feeling to those who saw. FrozenCloud looked at Ye Cang. Team Leader might have no integrity, is always doing dishonest work, and has a vile character, but he gives off this feeling that makes others want to follow him…
…
Bal Village
ThornyRose was setting up her guild’s base, in no rush to use the guild charter. She looked towards ElegantFragrance, “How is the auction house going?”
“Of the two auction houses, we control one of them. As for Team Leader’s other property, we don’t have the manpower so we have left it to the Freedom Alliance. Tomorrow will be the opening…” ElegantFragrance reported.
“As expected of the fiancée…” FrozenBlood sighed. ThornyRose wanted to tear apart the face of this woman who was always exaggerating the bad side of things. FrozenBlood glanced at her then took out her phone. “Today, Sister Zhen…”
ThornyRose endured the depression. I’ll bear it. They are clearly born from the same mother, yet why is she so different from FrozenDino who can grin and bear it, suffer in silence, patiently… Not good, I almost messed it up, it’s FrozenCloud…
As night fell.
Ye Cang stopped walking. His danger sense were screaming. He faintly frowned, “Everyone careful. The surrounding ashes are beginning to stir…”
SpyingBlade also noticed that ever since night fell, something had been happening on this field.
Little Ye Tian went over all the possibilities in her mind, but it was still unknown. The information was too limited. She became vigilant and mounted the kagu bug, Little Rations.
In the dark of night, with their limited vision, they could only see the endless shadows… As for Ye Cang with his night vision, he saw that the withered ashes were releasing a black smoke, which became an endless amount of black energy silhouette. He identified it.
Withered Shade (Uncommon - Rare): They exist in withered fields. Along with the passage of time, hatred gathers and forms an aggressive nocturnal shape. A complex unknown creature formed from a mix of energy, the withered ashes of plants, and spirits. They normally appear in groups. They know low-level dark magic, while the higher ranked ones are more terrifying. On death, they can be used for medicine, cooking, forging, as a spell component, etc. Although their uses are many, but they are one of the rarer shadow creatures, especially the high ranked ones.
Everyone looked at the numerous shades and their hearts sank. With this amount, let alone one against ten, even one against a hundred is far from enough. Little Ye Tian began to calculate rapidly. This would be problematic. These types of energy creatures often had high physical resistance, but low magical resistance, other than dark magic of course. Ye Cang raised his brows. Wanting to get through them using ordinary means was impossible. There was only one way. He looked at his group standing among the ashes. There were less withered shades guarding the south. His two hands began to glow with the light of a Light Strike Array. “A’Xiong! Little Tian! Bring everyone towards the south. I’ll open the way for you! Leave this place to me! Get as far as you can and find a place to defend!”
Wu Na and the others didn’t understand. Zhang ZhengXiong and SpyingBlade quickly urged everyone towards the south. The light and flames of Light Strike Array exploded in that direction. Wu Na and the others saw Zhang ZhengXiong and SpyingBlade charge into the remaining flames without hesitation. The moment they entered, the healing and armor debuff disappeared. As they retreated, Little Ye Tian figured that Ye Cang must have something up his sleeve, which was why he wanted everyone to get away. She began to heal Fang Ci and Wang who had the least health, trying to keep them alive to the best of her ability. If they weren’t in the flames, a lot of healing would have been wasted.
As the withered shades were afraid of fire, they didn’t enter. They could only follow the group with their eyes as they forced their way out of the enclosure. The group ran towards the south and arrived at a normal grass field.
Ye Cang took out his ballista and unleashed a Meteor Shot! An attack brushed past him as he dodged a shade. He stored his ballista while drawing his bow. He pointed the arrowhead at an incoming shade and unleashed an Enchanted Arrow - Fire Arrow. Both hands were used to defend his position. His left hand tightly gripped his bow, while his right hand unleashed arrows. The arrows pierced through what he guessed was a head. The arrow went right out the other side of its head when it was released from the bowstring. Against an incoming attack, he disappeared with Shadow Step. A Flame Burst was cast. Then his pike swung, stabbing out like a dragon. Ice crystals and flame lotuses blossomed around him. Explosive Arrow, Multishot, Ice Shards, his skills flowed smoothly. Everyone could see the results of Ye Cang’s gorgeous ‘dance’. FrozenCloud smiled bitterly. He hadn’t been hit even once…