Chapter 114: The Black Shadows Appear
The endless expanse of the Fragmentum, the air thick with the smell of death, was like a scroll painting from an icy hell.
This was the border of Belobog, the very front line against the Fragmentum. Behind it was the Silvermane Guard Restricted Zone, the most heavily guarded military zone in all of Belobog. The front-line battlefield and the restricted zone were separated by a chasm like the Chu River and Han Border, connected only by a rotating mechanical bridge.
The Silvermane Guards would rest and recuperate in the restricted zone. Once the mechanical structure issued its dull roar, it signaled another charge. Countless warriors, marching to their deaths, fought and bled on this cruel front line. Their blood froze into ice shards, their bodies losing their last trace of warmth.
As the secretary of the Guards, Pela was a civilian official without combat capabilities, so she remained in the restricted zone.
Gepard and Bronya led a troop of Guards across the rotating mechanical bridge. Before they even set foot in the Fragmentum space, they could hear the soldiers' shouts of battle. On the snowy ground, hundreds of Guards armed with gun-axes were engaged in combat with some never-before-seen monsters.
"Those things... are they really Fragmentum creatures?" Gepard's face was grim.
Those creatures had gray-blue bodies, wore strange, dark black clothes, and had dark red belts. Their eyes were crimson. The clash of blades, darts, and spears rang out. The black-clad figures seemed to have the ability to conjure weapons, and they could use all of them skillfully. They were agile, their faces expressionless, like emotionless fighting machines.
Fortunately, their combat power was weaker than that of ordinary Fragmentum monsters; otherwise, the difficulty would have been unimaginable. Even the most common Fragmentum creature was not something an ordinary Guard could handle alone. Normally, one well-trained Silvermane Guard was certain to die. Two might suffer casualties. It took three well-trained Guards to properly deal with a single Fragmentum monster! But these shadow soldiers, a Guard could mostly handle one-on-one. Some veterans with rich combat experience could even handle two or three.
"No. They are the ninja soldiers of the Shadowkhan."
Bronya slowly uttered words that astonished Gepard.
"Shadowkhan? Ninja soldiers?"
Bronya nodded, her gaze sweeping over the black shadows on the battlefield. "Good thing they're just the basic type." The basic type's combat power was relatively weak compared to other specialized black shadows, but their strength was their balanced stats. And weak was relative. Don't be fooled by the cartoon where a certain archaeologist could fight a whole group of the Shadowkhan.
But was Jackie Chan even human?
Yes.
After all, Superman was also a man. In one of Jackie's famous scenes, a villain, Rasu, had exclaimed, "He's practically Superman!" Physics allows a creature to run at high speed from the front of a falling locomotive, jump up, and grab onto the tracks to pull itself up, but biology does not allow that creature to be human. An archaeologist cannot be used as a combat reference.
"All units, form up! Charge!"
Wielding the original Bronya's old-fashioned long rifle, Bronya led Gepard and the Guards in a charge. Though filled with questions, the situation at hand didn't allow Gepard to inquire further.
"Justice is served!"
He raised the large shield on his left arm, leaped into the air, and slammed it into the ground. The massive impact sent several shadow soldiers flying. The flying ninja soldiers burst like punctured balloons, turning into ink-like shadows that merged with the ground and the darkness.
"This!" Gepard's brow immediately furrowed. First, the shadow soldiers' defense seemed to be far inferior to their combat power. Second was the strange phenomenon after they were destroyed.
"Don't let your guard down!"
Kicking a shadow soldier away with a roundhouse kick, Bronya skillfully pulled the bolt, swung her long rifle, and the bayonet drew a beautiful, silvery arc, returning another shadow soldier to the shadow realm.
"The trouble with the Shadowkhan isn't their combat power."
She infused Honkai energy into the firearm and pulled the trigger at the head of a shadow soldier right in front of her.
Bang!
Flames erupted from the muzzle. The Honkai-infused bullet instantly pierced the ninja's head. Green smoke wafted from the hole as the black shadow fell back to the ground.
"It's their numbers," Bronya said, turning her head to look at the exit of the Fragmentum space. Black shadow soldiers were still continuously leaping out, joining the battlefield. The numbers weren't large each time, but they were endless. The essence of the Shadowkhan was shadow; as long as there was energy, they could be generated infinitely.
"Gepard, I'm leaving this to you!"
Bronya used the old rifle as a long-handled bayonet, arcs of ice-blue light blooming on the chests of the shadow soldiers as she issued a command in her capacity as the commander of the Guards. "Hold back the Shadowkhan. You can enter the shallow areas of the Fragmentum, but do not go deep. I will find the source of the shadows."
"Lady Bronya!"
Gepard cried out anxiously. How could they let the front-line commander personally take such a risk? If anyone was to find the source of the shadows, it should be him leading men deep into the Fragmentum.
After dealing with the surrounding shadow soldiers, he turned his head and saw that the silver-haired girl had already entered the dark, glowing spatial rift with a member of her personal guard. Despite his anxiety and helplessness, Gepard could only obey the order.
Entering the Fragmentum was like stepping from a smoke-filled, war-torn battlefield into a post-war hell. The clang of blades and the sound of guns and cannons all disappeared. In the eerie, dead silence, only the sound of snowflakes drifting in the wind and landing on the ground could be heard.
In the shadows of the dark, broken space, soldiers were moving silently. The second Bronya and the other Guard's figure left footprints on the snow, shadow ninjas rose from the darkness and charged at them.
"Hah, finally, I can let loose."
The member of the personal guard quickly unbuttoned her standard Silvermane Guard uniform, revealing the curvaceous body hidden beneath. The furry Guard hat was removed, releasing a head of fine, smooth gray hair. Raven pulled out a crimson-dotted black dagger from her waist, her red eyes sharp.
Bronya didn't even glance at Raven. After all, they were one person, like a left hand and a right hand. Communication was meaningless. As for the real Miss Black Raven, after completing the "beheading" phase of the mission, Midnight Absinthe had used her phone to search for some classic songs on the interstellar network. Although being a plagiarist was a slow way to make money, in such a short time, Raven couldn't possibly memorize the technical blueprints for fields that Earth's civilization lacked. She planned to go back and find some buyers first. On Midnight Absinthe's side, she could be called upon at any time if needed.
Dealing with some black shadow soldiers didn't even require activating auto-battle. In terms of combat experience and skills alone, with constant practice, experiential learning, and training chips, Caelus could now probably be considered one of the best among B-rank Valkyries. To grow from an ordinary person to this level in just over a month was a terrifying speed! And he had so many trump cards and buffs!
Raven's S-rank physical stats, plus the badge of a close-combat master and enhanced multi-body perception, made fighting A-rank opponents a breeze, let alone these basic-type shadow ninjas.
"To think they would fall into this Fragmentum... is it a coincidence, or is it related to the Stellaron?"
Bronya slung the long rifle over her back and took out the Obsidian Ripper from her system space. The sharp blade glinted with a dark light as it sliced a ninja soldier in half at the waist. It's reasonable for a sister to use her younger sister's stuff, let alone a weapon. The main reason was that her marksmanship was average, and with no one else around, she didn't need to play the part of the original Bronya.
The Shadowkhan couldn't hinder Raven and Bronya. The two of them quickly moved in the direction the shadows were coming from. As everyone knows, the shadow soldiers completely obey the will of their summoner. And the task these shadow soldiers were carrying out was to attack living beings.
"The one wearing the Tala mask... could it be a Fragmentum creature?"
As Raven and Bronya went deeper into the Fragmentum, what stood in their way was not just the shadow soldiers, but also the Fragmentum creatures drawn by the signs of life and the sounds of battle.
"Tch, more and more of them."
Surrounded by Fragmentum creatures, Raven took Bronya's soft hand, and with Bronya's cooperative jump, forcefully threw her into the air. Then, she lightly leaped off the bodies of the Fragmentum creatures, once again holding hands with Bronya in mid-air. The two of them moved in a coordinated motion, and Raven flung Bronya deeper into the Fragmentum.
Sir Isaac Newton could rest in peace in the Fragmentum. Due to the equal and opposite reaction, the moment they separated, Raven flew in the opposite direction. However, Bronya raised her hand, and with the residual power of the Herrscher of Reason in her body, created an ice wall behind Raven.
The faint badge of Kiana's examination ticket further enhanced Raven's agility and movement speed. She forcefully pushed off the ice wall and soared into the sky like a raven spreading its wings. Wanting only to find the Fragmentum creature wearing the Tala mask, Bronya and Raven were like players of Dead Cells on a speedrun challenge, running from every monster they encountered.
Their perfect coordination, like one person using their left and right hands, made them look like they were performing a duet amidst the monster hordes. Swarms of Fragmentum creatures chased after them relentlessly.
As the two of them passed through the core area of the old border fortress and were about to reach the ancient battlefield in the far north where the blizzard raged, they found several Guardian's Shadows, which were clearly high-level elite monsters, guarding the entrance ahead. With the strength of their two bodies, even if they called upon Raven, it wouldn't be easy to get past, mainly because there were too many monsters gathered behind them. If Bronya had a Project Bunny, she might have been able to try, but she didn't.
"Something's not right."
The two of them noticed that the number of shadow ninjas was gradually decreasing.
Bronya and Raven held each other, their full chests pressing and rubbing together. It was too cold here! Even with Honkai energy protecting their bodies, they could feel a coldness that penetrated to the bone. The two of them pressed their bodies together for warmth, an act that could be compared to a single person rubbing their hands together in a snowy field.
Suddenly, after a wave of energy, the source of the shadows seemed to have dried up, and the soldiers stopped generating.
"This energy... it's the Stellaron!"
Bronya and Raven's pupils constricted simultaneously. As Caelus at their core, another half of the Stellaron spirit, they were of course familiar with this power. The reason the shadow soldiers stopped generating... first, they could rule out a lack of energy. The Stellaron's Imaginary energy was endless. However, summoning the shadows also required darkness in the heart.
Although the Stellaron was a living being, it shouldn't be able to wear and use the Tala mask, right? Otherwise, what they would be facing wouldn't just be the gathered Fragmentum creatures, but an endless army of the Shadowkhan.
"Should we force our way in?"
The Tala mask should be inside the ancient battlefield, but with just Raven and Bronya, they couldn't easily break through the monster defense line. If the Stellaron were to erupt, and their escape route was blocked by monsters, it would be troublesome. The main concern was that approaching the Stellaron would inevitably trigger a reaction from Cocolia, which would ruin all their preparations in the city.
After a moment of hesitation, before they were completely blocked by the monsters, Raven and Bronya retreated.
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