The shadows leapt in the mist, emitting a chilling laughter as they launched an assault on the nearby crowd.
Henry and his companions swiftly surrounded them, the swords in their hands forming a web of blades that shredded the advancing shadows.
Yet the shadows were like phantoms, inexhaustible.
When their forms were cut to pieces, the shattered silhouettes quickly reconverged and lunged at the group again.
The black mist churned ceaselessly like waves.
Accompanied by the shadow's attack, pairs of red eyes suddenly appeared in the mist, which swiftly formed into massive Mist Wolves.
Following behind the shadows, thousands of black Mist Wolves emerged from the mist, joining in the shadow's assault on the group.
The combat power of these shadows wasn't impressive and could even be described as frail; often, several hits wouldn't inflict effective damage.
The aggression of the black Mist Wolves wasn't strong either, but their tactics were so strange that they greatly distracted the heroes.
But it was enough.
Their attacks consumed the Heroes' energy, and it was crucial to remember that they were now underground, and any mishap could result in falling into the scorching lava.
The mages of Dark Core prioritized casting Float spells on themselves.
They were the ones with the least casualties in this sudden attack.
The leading Hero of Dark Core was a slim young man named Scott Wood.
He wore a loose mage's robe, his long hair unkempt like wild grass.
A gust of wind rose around him, whisking away the weapons around him and lifting him higher.
Looking down at the battlefield, his brow furrowed.
The shadows that reassembled after being torn apart, the Mist Wolves reappearing after being dispersed, and all the casualties so far were basically Heroes who had slipped into the lava.
"Something's off!" Scott slowly furrowed his brows, speaking hesitantly.
Everyone heard his voice.
Henry cursed loudly and shouted, "Quit beating around the bush and spit it out! If we keep this up, we'll all die here!"
"It's an illusion, this is an illusion!" Scott suddenly announced loudly.
"An illusion? What do you mean by that?"
"I can't feel any life force from these shadows or Mist Wolves, they don't even have basic forms. Haven't you noticed that their attacks haven't caused any casualties?" Scott replied.
Henry looked at the shadows before him and gritted his teeth, charging straight at them.
Scott's words were only conjectures and needed to be verified.
Henry willingly put himself in danger.
As the shadows lunged at him, he closed his eyes.
And, it felt like a breeze passing by.
The shadow indeed struck him, but it didn't cause any substantial harm.
"Bloody hell!" Henry blurted out a curse.
They had been running in circles by these harmless things.
After Henry's verification, the other Heroes also realized that the mist could not cause them any harm and couldn't help but curse out loud.
"So, what do we do now?" Jonathan also stopped in his tracks, looking towards Scott, who was floating in the air.
Although the folks from Dark Core seemed a bit eccentric, their strength was undoubtedly formidable.
"We'll use wind magic to dissipate the mist as we move forward. We'll cast a Float spell on each of you. Just be careful not to fall into the lava, and move out of this mist," Scott suggested.
After Scott finished speaking, he started instructing the Dark Core Heroes to apply Levitation spells to everyone.
The team began to float within the mist, with Scott leading the way at the forefront, the group slowly advanced within the black mist.
Jonathan destroyed a shadow close by, watching it reform a distance away.
His brow furrowed, he asked, "Scott, any intel on the origin of this mist?"
Without turning his head, Scott responded while leading everyone forward, "I can't be certain, but it's likely the Elemental Domain."
"The Elemental Domain?"
"This illusion magic is similar to our Heroes' passive abilities.
When there's a powerful elemental creature residing here, the elements around it become highly active.
The illusion in front of us is actually composed of water elements, hence it's harmless.
The problem is that we are inside a volcano where water elements are rare, so why would there be such a large scale illusion?"
Scott voiced his doubt, his expression becoming serious.
"We might be up against a high-tier Elemental Lord. My advice is to retreat after getting through this black mist... The high-tier Elemental Lord is on par with the adult dragons, with a challenge rank of A+ or above. They're proficient in wide-range magic, so having numbers doesn't give us an advantage."
"High-tier Elemental Lord..."
The team's expressions rapidly changed, all sorts of ominous scenarios playing out in their minds.
Those who had wiped in dungeons knew that wide-range magic could deal the greatest damage to Hero teams.
This wasn't a game where game designers would ensure the Boss doesn't one-shot everyone for a better game experience.
If there really was a high-tier Elemental Lord here, it meant a death sentence for most of the Heroes in the team.
The high-level Heroes would also be in a very awkward situation...
"But the problem is we can't just retreat if we want to," Henry said with a wry smile.
"There were quest teams that came before us, and even with the worst luck, they should've realized that this black mist is an illusion and anticipated the danger."
"But until now, none of the teams have made it out alive."
Henry's words came to an abrupt halt, but the implication was clear.
Every Hero's face turned frosty.
It meant that this was an inescapable fight.
After about half an hour of moving forward, they finally reached the end of the black mist.
Their hearts sunk even further; they had traveled at least 500 meters deep into the volcano.
"We're out..." Jonathan sighed with relief as he exited the black mist.
Coming out of the black mist, there was still a mist in front of them, but this time it was the more common white mist, which was not as oppressive as the black mist and visibility was much better.
Between the black mist and white mist, there seemed to be an invisible boundary, clearly dividing the two worlds.
The Heroes felt considerably relieved, except Scott whose expression turned even more serious, as did the other members of Dark Core.
Henry took a sip of water from his flask.
Seeing their grave faces, he grew anxious, "Aren't we already out of the black mist? What's with your long faces?"
Scott ran a hand through his messy hair, his face slightly pale, "We are indeed out, but haven't you noticed the size of the black mist?"
"What do you mean?"
"Elemental Lords, I've looked up information on them in this world. Their appearances are few and far between, typically popping up due to some unexpected events. Every Elemental Lord is highly aggressive," explained Scott.
"Because of their aggression, the most recent Elemental Lord invasion I know of happened a century ago. A terrible storm blew a Storm Lord into a coastal port of an Orc kingdom."
"That Storm Lord was Rank A+, but it resulted in almost a hundred thousand casualties. Nearly half of that port was destroyed... Here's the catch, the Elemental Domain that Storm Lord cast after it landed was only 500 meters in radius."
Scott, his face ashen, pointed to the black mist beside them.
"By my estimation, the straight-line distance we've traveled through this black mist definitely exceeded 500 meters. And this isn't even the full extent of this unknown Elemental Lord's domain..."
"If you add this white mist, assuming the area of this white mist is equal to that of the black mist, it means this Elemental Lord's domain has exceeded a thousand meters. This implies that the Elemental Lord we're facing is definitely Rank S!"
Rank S.
To all Heroes, this was an incredibly heavy term.
Fear comes from understanding, and having been Heroes for some time now and being high-level professionals, they fully understood the insurmountable gap between each rank.
Especially for the Rank A Heroes in the team, their faces turned utterly grim.
"So, what's the plan now? Do we continue through this white mist or retreat, hoping to find an exit within the black mist?" One of them asked.
"Whether we move forward or backward doesn't really matter. In this illusion, direction is the most deceptive aspect. If we return to the black mist and follow the path we came from, we might end up even closer to the Elemental Lord."
Everyone fell into silence, caught between a rock and a hard place.
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