Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 438 The Realm of Gaps
The worm, having failed in its first attack, did not want to fight to the death. It raised its head, then suddenly lunged downwards, turning its head to try and escape into the black tide.

DUANG!!!

A loud bang startled everyone, and the lingering echo reverberated in the sealed underground palace, making everyone's eardrums hurt.

While others only experienced ear pain, the unfortunate giant insect Nightshade suffered from toothache. Even as a semi-shadow creature with a significant reduction in pain, the intense pain still caused it to roar to the sky, its broken teeth and black blood flowing down, making it look truly miserable.

The giant insect Nightshade couldn't understand why its innate ability, which had always worked without fail, had failed this time. The black tide, which used to be as smooth as a mirror-like lake, was now like ordinary fog. Instead of reaching the shadowy layer, it plunged into it and ended up biting into the stone-paved ground.

It is true that the giant insect's mouthful of fangs can pierce iron and shatter stone, but that is by biting. Using the roots of its teeth to break large rocks would be a lose-lose situation.

What alarmed the giant worm even more was the fact that it had lost its ability to travel through shadows. This meant that, apart from fighting its way through the enemy lines to the shadow gaps, its only option was to fight to the death.

It seems like none of them are easy.

Before it could figure it out, a big, red-skinned guy rushed up in front of it.

"Thief Sun!"

The familiar roar, the familiar loss of control, the familiar beating—the giant insect Nightshade, having quickly broken free from its frenzied state, immediately felt the injuries all over its body.

Demonic fire scorched the wounds, scythe-sharp limbs were severed by the blade, and the top of his head turned from dark to pitch black under the hateful light, as if it were charred and emitting black smoke.

The giant worm was subjected to baptismal holy light, shadow flames, and the slashing of the blazing battle axe. In just a few short seconds, if it hadn't possessed a semi-shadow necromancer template, it would probably have died on the spot.

Upon regaining consciousness and finding himself surrounded, the giant insect Nightshade's mind plummeted. After trying again with the end of its body, it finally confirmed that although its close connection with the shadow remained unchanged, the connection between this place and the shadow plane and the interlayer plane was completely sealed off.

Such a wonderful thing was naturally the work of the mage. In the instant after the positions were exchanged, the dazzling diamond turned into dust at his fingertips. The brilliant crystal light shone like stardust and spread throughout the underground palace in a few moments before disappearing without a trace.

The ritual, which the mage risked his life to complete, was not inherently complicated. The Gap Realm, a fourth-circle spell, wouldn't normally require such guidance and expenditure; the mage's current skill level could easily execute it. However, there was a problem:
The effect of the Gap Domain is to block all interdimensional teleportation and dimensional gate effects within a ten-meter diameter range. It is indeed sufficient in certain situations, but what is the current situation?
In such a large underground palace, a mere thirty-odd square meters is not even a corner. Moreover, the body of that giant insect Night Shadow alone is nearly twenty meters long. So what is the point of this spell?
Only by greatly expanding its range through super magic techniques and rituals can it barely cover most of the dungeon.

The process was not easy. The power from the shadow gaps was constantly trying to distort and tear the connection between this place and the prime plane. The shadow interlayers, these dimensional fragments, were the product of this action, which made the idea that it could be easily solved with a single dimensional anchor a pipe dream.

Fortunately, the arrival of Shepherd Viconia made things a bit easier. Although she couldn't control the Shadow Realm's closed space, she could still make the spells work more smoothly by coordinating with the ritual.

Now the giant insect Nightshade was truly in a bind. However, being caught in a dilemma only fueled the ferocity of the giant insect. It withstood the giant axe's slash and the burning shadow flames. The giant insect Nightshade, coiled like a snake, suddenly leaped up and pounced on its prey like a real king cobra.

The targeted target was naturally Master Zhang again, which was not surprising. The giant insect Nightshade, possessing considerable intelligence, would not be like those mindless beasts that only focused on attacking a few front-line soldiers. Moreover, its leadership role could not escape the enemy's notice. The giant insect's long, curved body sprang up, bypassing Axe King's interception and the nearly twenty-meter distance. Using the momentum of its dive, it aimed directly at the mage, its gaping maw revealing fangs that swung like short swords.

This isn't a mouth at all; people would believe it if you said it was the tunneling device of a tunnel boring machine.

The attack was fierce and vicious; the foul stench arrived before the creature even got there, and the aura of decay and filth made the monk frown.

However, the mage who finished the spell ritual did not stand still as before. He quickly rolled away, becoming like a round, oiled ball, and in the blink of an eye, he had created distance between himself and the enemy.

The giant insect Nightshade, still gnawing at the floor, refused to give up. Its numerous eyes rolled in unison, revealing a venomous glint. Without getting up to adjust its posture, it opened its fangs like steel nails and planted them firmly in the ground. Its body twisted and turned, accompanied by a swaying of its tail, before suddenly sweeping out!
The giant insect Night Shadow swept across the entire body like a sawtooth blade, with its head as the center and its body as the axis, forming a huge arc of cutting fan. Its sharp, knife-like legs and the insect's immense strength caused all the sculptures, lampstands, and other objects it touched to suffer the misfortune of being cut in half at the waist.

This unexpected move was somewhat surprising, but it didn't cause the mage to show much astonishment. With a swift movement…

Zhang Yuan ultimately didn't dare to slide tackle. The giant worm deliberately lowered its center of gravity to deal with this tiny creature in his eyes, especially since its tail tip almost plowed through the stone slab, leaving deep grooves. If that landed on a person...

He might not necessarily die; with various protective spells and his own high physique, he could still survive, though he would lose half his life.

At the critical moment, the mage bent his knees and leaped high to avoid the attack, but this left him with nowhere to take advantage of. Not far away, the giant worm that had just performed a sweeping kick had already pulled out its fangs, bent its body and raised its head, and assumed a coiled snake posture.

The mage, descending from the height, glanced around, his gaze sweeping over the giant insect's shadow. He raised his arm and flicked his wrist, sending a black beam flying out like an arrow, but not towards the giant insect.

Whoosh~ Snap!

A long rope shot out from the mage's sleeve and instantly flew to the stone pillar in the underground palace, coiling around it like a serpent and even automatically tying a slipknot.

The mage, who had just landed after using the rope to shoot arrows, used the rope's elasticity and pulling ability to leap away, once again escaping the giant insect's attack range.

This little trick was inspired by the action game videos I watched a lot in my past life as a casual gamer; the simple, low-level spell combinations actually had a pretty good effect.

The situation has only eased, not completely ended. Although they have temporarily created some distance, they are getting closer and closer to that shadow gap. Once the giant insect Night Shadow breaks into this area, it can rush back to the shadow plane at any time. Then, the initiative to fight or flee will no longer be in their own hands.

Thank you to Tianyuan Kugou and Wanliu Tongyuan for their monthly ticket support, and thank you to our loyal reader angel for your generous donation!



(End of this chapter)