Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 441 Root Cause of the Problem
After a moment of contemplation, the monk spoke:

"An altar and a small shrine will be built for you, but regarding the ownership of the giant worm Nightshade's soul..."

"Well, you'll have to have a good talk with our Mr. Nevinmore. He's cheerful and enthusiastic, not the kind of unreasonable person, ah no, devil."

As Zhang Yuan spoke, he pointed to the Shadow Demon, who was crouching beside the giant insect Night Shadow, fearing that the giant insect might suddenly die and its soul would escape.

Upon hearing the manager's call, he realized what was going on and turned to look at Viconia.

"Who is coveting Navinmore's treasures!"

Nevin Moore's eyes blazed with intense fire, the flames blinding, and the dark smoke billowing out seemed to ignite two small kilns on his face.

"Ah, you black insect, is that you? How dare you steal the delicious food from my mouth."

The Shadow Demon, over four meters tall, bent down to look at the Drow who was barely up to his waist, spewing sparks from his mouth like a rain of fire, forcing the Drow to retreat and create distance.

Is this what they call good temper? They're not much different from those Tanari in the Abyss, are they?

Seeing the monk's indifferent and aloof demeanor, Viconia was immediately filled with anger.

She wasn't a naive little girl; how could she not understand that the so-called "neither side helps nor the other" was just a pretext to make her negotiate with this guy in front of her, who was no less formidable than the Balrog and the Flame Lord?

The female pastor wisely chose to give up, but she ground her molars as if she were chewing on someone's flesh.

As Zhang Yuan watched Shadow Fiend deliver the final blow to the giant insect Nightshade, he was also making his own calculations.

He was certainly tempted to acquire a Shadowbound Guardian, but he had more reasons for disagreeing with Viconia's proposal.

Indeed, considering the strength of the Giant Insect Night Shadow's main body plus the Soul-Binding Corpse as a reference, its strength wouldn't be too bad. However, the strength of a vassal cannot be completely equivalent to one's own strength; the balance needs to be measured.

Viconia, who already controls the Word Bearers, will gain her own sanctuary after this operation. With the favor of the Night Lady, she might even make further progress, and she might even be given a giant worm to guard her.
Hmmmm ~
While it may not reach the point of being unmanageable, it's always good to nip it in the bud.

The mage looked back and saw the Shadow Demon extracting the soul of the giant insect Nightshade and taking it into his body. The swirling shadow flames enveloped a long, slender black shadow with bared fangs and claws, slowly and steadily dragging it into Nevenmore's open, fiery cavernous chest cavity.

The moment the giant worm's soul touched the Shadow Demon's chest, the dark flames rising from its chest cavity instantly churned violently, forming a vortex of fire that almost impatiently pulled and devoured the soul.

Gollum~
"A powerful soul is always so delicious, hiccup~"

With a satisfied look on his face, Nevinmore opened his mouth and made a burp motion. A few scattered shadowy souls escaped, seemingly having eaten their fill.

"Navimore, the souls you devour don't actually perish; they're imprisoned within your body, right?"

Zhang Yuan looked thoughtfully at the Shadow Demon, who quickly covered his mouth with both hands, his voice muffled and strained:

"Manager, you can't even take away poor old Nevenmore's food!"

"That's not what I meant." The mage waved his hand to signal the other person to relax, and then continued:

"But your capacity is limited, isn't it? If you encounter a more powerful soul, will you be able to release the soul of the giant worm Nightshade?"

"That's no problem."

Upon hearing that it wasn't someone trying to steal food from its mouth, the Shadow Demon was relieved and resumed swinging its arms, waving and laughing.
"If that's the case, then I would be happy to present it to you, Your Excellency the Administrator."

Upon hearing this, the mage looked at Viconia, the meaning in his eyes self-evident.

The drow inwardly grumbled: a soul more powerful than the giant insect Nightshade? It wasn't impossible, but they were mostly at the level of adult dragons. When would they ever reach that level?
But it's still a glimmer of hope, isn't it? Besides, what's done is done. Why bother trying to extract the soul from that Flame Demon King's mouth?
"Then I'll be waiting for that day."

Viconia's eyes darted around, but a smile appeared on her face.

Too lazy to care whether the other party had truly come to their senses or was just putting on an act, the mage stepped forward to examine the remaining shell of the giant insect Nightshade. After performing some simple maintenance, he set it aside for the time being, and then strolled to the front of the shadow gap.

Like a crack in a clear mirror, an invisible and intangible space was torn open, stretching across the depths of the underground palace like a black eye of destruction, its light flickering and opening and closing uncertainly. The surrounding spatial dimensions were distorted and torn apart, and the ripples it stirred up were like the ebb and flow of the tide.

What the mage needs to do now is to restore this alienated realm, or at least temporarily restore it to the spatial nature of the main plane.

Dimensional transformation rituals are a common practice for spellcasters or planners who like to wander into other worlds.

After all, not all, and in fact most, extradimensional environments are unsuitable for human survival. The Abyss Dimension is an extreme example, and even the Shadow Dimension, a relatively mild subdimensional, is not a good place to stay for long.

If ordinary people live under these shadows mixed with negative energy for a long time, their fate will probably not be much better than having their life force drained by the shadows.

Since the goal is to take over this ancient castle, how can we leave such a hidden danger behind?
After finally standing in front of the shadow gap and repeatedly studying and calculating, the mage had to admit that this thing was indeed quite troublesome and difficult to deal with; the wounds of the prime plane were not so easy to heal.

The primal power of shadow, mixed with cold negative energy, surged from the cracks and crevices, continuously influencing the entire hall and filling the shadowy mist and black tide that had been thinned by the previous battle.

Judging from this situation alone, it can be concluded that even if the dimensional characteristics of this place are forcibly reversed by magic, it will not be a long-term solution. In the end, the problem still has to come back to its root: the gap and rift itself.

Fortunately, the mage was not entirely unprepared for this. His trip to the academy was not just to put chains around the necks of the Word Bearers, but also to take the opportunity to inquire about how to deal with such spatial rifts.

The conclusion was not entirely unexpected. Repairing the dimensional gaps was no easy task to begin with, and the distortion caused by the Shadow Fiend Network at this juncture made it significantly more difficult.

The former alone had already caused Zhang Yuan a great deal of trouble. If the latter interference were added, forcibly repairing this gap would be beyond his capabilities and difficult to accomplish.

However, things can change with human effort, and the key now lies with these two.

The mage's gaze settled on Nevenmore and Viconia, and the kindness in his eyes, like that of an old farmer during the autumn harvest, sent a chill down their spines.

Thank you to the Blue and White Society's Explainer for the monthly ticket support!
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(End of this chapter)