He instinctively turned his head and saw Miss Tata staring at the elongated shadow she cast on the stone wall—was Miss Tata speaking to the shadow? This thought made Fang Hong feel a bout of unease.

Suddenly, he realized something was wrong—the light source came from all directions, so why was there such a deep shadow in that specific direction on the rock wall? As if sensing his thoughts, the shadow suddenly shifted direction, elongated further, and blended into the darkness of that direction.

The entire process was soundless, yet Fang Hong felt goosebumps rising over his skin.

He almost immediately recalled the local legend Hilveld had told him about—the Pale Ghosts. They had discussed these things at length and concluded they were either extremely cunning or overwhelmingly powerful.

Miss Ship's Officer agreed more with the latter hypothesized conclusion—

But Fang Hong did not expect to see this thing on the first day of arriving at the Ancient Castle. Moreover, this thing was eerier than the rumors, and recalling the moment the Strange Shadow departed, he still felt a chill.

"Be careful, Mr. Knight." Miss Tata's tone was rarely serious: "That thing is very wrong."

"Miss Tata, what was that?"

Tata shook her head. "What did you see before?"

"A shadow." Fang Hong thought for a moment, uncertain.

"What I saw was magic power," Tata's eyes flashed with Silverlight. "A very peculiar state of Ether, entirely different from our current understanding. It seemed... mixed with something."

"I can't quite describe what it is, but it makes me feel somewhat uneasy."

Even Miss Tata was showing some signs of unease.

Fang Hong felt even more uneasy. He suddenly heard a clicking sound from the Magic Guided Reactor behind him, looked back, and saw the pressure gauge spinning wildly as if it were going crazy.

Being attacked! Fang Hong realized this immediately, but when he looked around, he couldn't even see where the enemy was. Suddenly, the back of his hand felt hot, and Verdant light shot out.

In the air, there seemed to be a sharp scream, almost breaking one's eardrums.

Fang Hong instinctively covered his ears, his gaze forward as the space flickered slightly, and a translucent figure appeared there—he really didn't know how to describe what an upright shadow looked like.

It was like a mass of chaotic light and shadow, thin and long, with almost no thickness, its two eyes flashing with malevolence in the air. The Strange Shadow wielded a long Shadow Sword, thrusting it at him.

Due to the suddenness, Fang Hong had no time to control the Sword Bearer standing to the side, which was also the weakness of Combat Artisans, often powerless against surprise attacks.

But fortunately, his right hand was still grasping the Gun Lance that Sicape had given him, and without thinking, he raised it to block. A tremendous force came from the sword, throwing Fang Hong's guard open, and the handgun flew out.

But Fang Hong finally seized the opportunity, launching a Flying Fist—the Strange Shadow sidestepped, and a small number of evasion damage points jumped out from the darkness.

Fang Hong then drew back his left hand to his chest, at this moment the Energy Angel finally arrived, slashing Silverlight toward the Strange Shadow. The Strange Shadow stepped back straightly, seemingly gliding, defying physical rules to block with its sword, the two swords met, resulting in a teeth-grinding vibration.

The sword light was almost dazzling—

The two sides exchanged several blows, each strike faster than the previous, then the Energy Angel sidestepped, Fang Hong's hand slightly delayed, resulting in a deep cut on her left arm.

However, Fang Hong retaliated with a slash toward the shadow's right leg.

The Energy Angel's structural value and durability sharply dropped 44 points, the left arm's durability nearly hit zero, almost breaking.

And the Strange Shadow also jumped a numerical value. Curiously, in the system, the value was blue, Fang Hong recognized this color—it was the color of mana damage.

He was puzzled inwardly, but his hand did not slow, as two Light Gates opened behind him, one against one. The Energy Angel was losing ground, but Combat Artisans were never meant for one-on-one fights.

The Engineering Machine appeared behind Fang Hong, began remotely repairing the damaged Energy Angel under his command.

Meanwhile, on the other side, another Energy Angel blocked the Strange Shadow's retreat. Once the two Energy Angels joined the battle, the situation transformed, allowing Fang Hong to withdraw to a corner of the battlefield, staying far away.

Beware that this thing might still have some strange tricks—

It proves that the Strange Shadow is indeed troublesome, as the two Energy Angels only barely matched it. However, pinned between the two Variant Sword-Bearers, it couldn't break free, and Fang Hong finally relaxed, in no hurry.

The remote repair speed of the Engineering Machine, which Fang Hong had tested long ago, his installed Basic Repair Crystal approximately restored one durability every three seconds. The Flexible Constructs needed only magic power supply, with no physical limits, after a minute or two of battle, the injured Energy Angel was as good as new.

Yet the Strange Shadow had acquired several wounds.

Fang Hong consciously slowed his attack to maintain magic power output, as long as his Main Magic Crystal's output went unimpeded, defeating this thing was only a matter of time.

This was his first encounter with such a vexing battle. In Dolifen, he couldn't win against Nikopolas, only cleverness prevailed. And in Fenris, though he encountered monsters like an ocean underground, with the army's support, the combat was fairly smooth, albeit somewhat complicated.

And this Strange Shadow for the first time gave him the feeling of a solo boss raid—his output wasn't enough, relying only on other advantages to gradually wear it down.

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