A stream of shadow power flowed into him through Limuru.

Correspondingly, Louis' mimicry became increasingly powerful.

After crushing a beauty snake in his embrace with a lethal hug, he realized that the shadow power he absorbed could no longer perfect the tiger taming technique magic model.

He lowered his head and looked at his reflection in the creek.

In mimicry mode, his Fallen Shadow Beauty Snake form underwent a subtle change, with a bony crown growing on its head at an unknown time.

Merlin's ethereal presence floated nearby, clicking his tongue in amazement:

"Amazing, truly amazing."

"The Fallen Shadow Beauty Snake has existed since ancient times, typically ranging from level 3 to level 5."

"But only one in ten thousand beauty snakes might evolve into a Fallen Shadow King Snake."

"The distinguishing feature of the King Snake is the addition of a white bone crown on its head."

"This is the third time I've seen a Fallen Shadow King Snake."

Louis raised an eyebrow and said:

"Is it very impressive?"

"It's not exactly impressive, but the King Snake has a very unique characteristic."

"How unique?"

Merlin said peculiarly:

"Its body becomes even larger, and ordinary beauty snakes will easily submit when encountering a King Snake. Moreover, the Fallen Shadow King Snake transforms from a mere shadow reflection into a real creature."

"Unlike those shadow creatures that merged into the earth when killed, the King Snake leaves a corpse even when slain."

"Perhaps because it is no longer a mere reflection but a living creature, the King Snake readily produces offspring when mating with beauty snakes."

"King Snakes can almost freely use any beauty snake under their rule."

"The beauty snake tribe seems to harbor an extreme enthusiasm for laying eggs."

"Given a bit more time, the Fallen Shadow Beauty Snakes could truly become tangible native shadow realm creatures."

Louis nodded.

Half of the morning had already passed.

He and the three women didn't linger much longer, continuing directly forward.

They needed to head toward the passage leading out of the Fallen Shadow Nether Realm.

...

Meanwhile, it was a tough time for William.

In a massive nest, William put down his longsword, showing a rare expression of fatigue.

"Your Highness, where on earth have you gone?"

Before William lay a dense mass of fallen Shadow Beauty Snake corpses.

Perhaps due to killing them too swiftly, many hadn't turned into ink flowing into the earth.

There were also quite a few tiger-shaped shadow creatures nearby.

Upon being slain, they also began to dissolve into ink absorbed by the soil.

William kicked away a Fallen Shadow Beauty Snake that lay before him.

"Can this beauty snake tribe also produce a leader?"

"I wonder if it has any useful magical materials on it."

While William had some knowledge of the Shadow Nether Realm, he truly wasn't aware of the existence of the King Snake.

But that didn't stop him from harvesting materials from the beauty snakes.

After some examination, he removed the skin and the crown from the head of the Fallen Shadow King Snake and turned to leave.

Suddenly, he heard a series of sonic booms in the sky.

Looking up, he saw Lumi, clad in armor, flying rapidly overhead.

William's face lit up with joy as he shouted:

"Lady Lumi!"

Yet before he could finish his sentence, Lumi had already vanished into the horizon.

William was speechless.

Just as he was about to say something, he saw a stream of white foam charging towards him in the sky.

Upon closer inspection, it was Lumi, who had flown far away, doubling back.

︿(￣︶￣)︿

Lumi descended from mid-air and tossed a magical artifact over.

"Take this to suppress the shadow curse on you."

What she threw to William was an anti-curse artifact blessed by a top-notch priest.

Unlike Louis' group, she and William had lower resistance to the Shadow Curse.

Without this, she and William would be in quite the predicament.

"Can you sense where Louis and his team are?"

William, almost in tears, said: "I can't sense them, they're too far away, and His Highness Louis' mark hasn't responded at all."

He had left a locator with Louis.

Indeed, having the locator allowed him to use the Iron Guard's skills to teleport instantly to Louis' side.

But now, his locator wasn't responding whatsoever.

It was clear he was a considerable distance away from Louis.

Lumi showed a faint expression of fatigue, tossing a horse token at him, saying:

"A horse token crafted by the conjuration mages. Get on, I'll join you in the search."

Conjuration mages specialize in summoning creatures from other realms. The horse token was bound to a type of extraterrestrial horse.

Activating the artifact summons a swift steed to temporarily serve as a mount.

"Remember to pay me back afterward."

Lumi added.

Though they could endure the shadow curse, it didn't mean the summoned horse could resist it.

Most likely, the horse token would be wasted as the shadow curse deeply seeped into the horse, rendering it useless.

——After all, a shadow-transformed horse wasn't much different from a dead one.

After mounting, the two continued to scatter around like headless flies.

The only silver lining was that she now had William, the "human Louis locator."

She was sure that wherever Louis was, the little swan would also be.

"We better pick up the pace a bit."

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