Chapter 667: Abyssal Hound
After a powerful display, Shadow Princess quietly turned her gaze down and focused on the palm-sized egg on Charles's hand.
"You have no time to fool around. Enter this egg soon." Charles said in an urging tone and walked out of the cavern.
On the other hand, the gigantic illusionary winged snake suddenly turned into a beam of light and directly descended towards Charles's palm. But as she moved closer, the ray of light shrunk into a small one and soon entered the snake egg.
After that, Charles noticed that her presence disappeared completely!
'She entered the empty soul already. As long as she found the soul core, she will become the true owner of this body and soul.' Charles took a leather bag from his space ring and placed the egg in it.
'Let's wait for her to hatch into a new being.' He carefully placed the bag on his back and walked towards the south.
Although he bumped into many Rank-5 and even a few Rank-6 shadow creatures, no one dared to attack him. No, all the monsters tried to avoid him, and some even ran away.
'What the heck? Is it due to Shadow Princess's presence?' Even though she completely hid within the soul, the mere dreadful aura she released in the third layer made every creature guard up.
Thanks to this, Charles's journey became even smoother.
At the end of the second day, he reached the southern border of the Second Layer and saw a gigantic mountain cave, which seemed to be a gateway of the Abyss itself. At that moment, its entrance was shrouded in an eerie mist that seemed to writhe and pulse with sinister energy.
But thanks to Charles's [Night Vision] skill, he clearly saw the cavern's interior. With a flick of his finger, he conjured a ball of fire and let it hover more than a few feet above his head, illuminating the surroundings.
Its entrance was framed by gnarled, shadowy rock formations that seemed to reach out like fingers, their jagged edges casting eerie silhouettes against the dim light. The air around the cave was thick with a damp chill, hinting of earthiness and an undertone of something more ominous.
As Charles stepped deeper into the cavern, the walls closed around him, the narrow passage leading him further into the heart of the mountain. The walls were rough and uneven, their surfaces marked by the passage of time and the elements. Here and there, patches of luminescent fungi emitted a faint, ghostly glow, casting faint glimmers of light upon the path.
The floor beneath his feet was uneven, with occasional dips and rises, giving the impression of a natural, meandering path carved by the passage of water long ago.
The cavern's walls opened up suddenly, revealing a vast chamber that stretched into darkness, its farthest reaches lost to sight. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like icicles of stone, their pointed tips seemingly reaching for the ground below. The chamber seemed to pulse with a faint, ethereal light, like the faint glow of distant stars seen through a heavy mist.
At the center of the chamber lay a circular platform, its surface adorned with intricate, swirling patterns that seemed to shift and change with every flicker of light.
"Teleportation circle!" Charles's eyes widened.
But what made him halt his footstep was a 2-meter-tall black hound standing at the center of the teleportation circle and growling at him with its fierce red eyes. It had six legs and long ears and released a strange chill whenever it exhaled the air.
At the same time, a row of information appeared before his eyes.
...
[Name: ????
Race: Abyssal Hound
Rank: Legend Rank (Peak)
Age: 503,500 years
Health: Normal
Affiliation: Chaotic Evil
Title: Hell's Guardian, Mount of the True Devil, Void Walker.
Attributes:
Strength: 49.9
Agility: 49.9
Vitality: 49.9
Chaos Power: 1,998
Wisdom Power: 999
Bloodline Spells:
Soul Drainer, Shadow Cloak, Abyssal Howl, Void Walking, Abyssal Evasion, Umbral Pulse, Eldrich Sight.
Unique Skill: Astral Chain, Body of the Void.]
...
'It has two unique skills.' As he gazed at the skills, another round of information about each spell appeared, causing him to furrow deeper.
While analyzing, he stored the leather bag in his space ring and got ready for the battle.
At that moment, the Abyssal Hound suddenly disappeared from its standing and reappeared behind Charles.
Charles had long known of its action and tried to intercept its thoughts with his 'Burning Thoughts' spell.
But to his astonishment, it didn't work.
He also tried invading its mind with [Fire Seed], [Purple Consciousness], and [Knowledge Seeker] spells but found out those spells weren't working on the Abyssal Hound.
At that moment, it also sensed his action and leaped towards him, opening its chilling mouth wide.
But just as it was about to bite him, an Eclipse Shield of shadowy energy appeared around him and blocked it from getting near.
Instead of backing away, its fierce red eyes emitted a strange darkish red pulsing energy, releasing a unique dark essence towards the Eclipse Shield.
It was the bloodline spell called 'Umbral Pulse.'
A moment later, the strange dark energy entered the shield and disrupted the flow of shadow energy, breaking the defense spell instantly!
At the same time, the Abyssal Hound also opened its mouth wide and released a bone-chilling abyssal aura to the surrounding.
Within a moment, a strange ice essence appeared out of nowhere and started restricting Charles's movement!
Utilizing the opportunity, the Abyssal Hound again opened its mouth and tried to bite his head.
Charles had also long sensed the danger and quickly cast the [Soul Shock] spell on the Abyssal Hound, directly inflicting damage to its soul.
Simultaneously, he turned around and cast the [Chaos Eye] spell.
A moment later, a reddish chaotic ray of fire came out of his forehead and flew towards the Abyssal Hound at an incredible speed.
When the Abyssal Hound had managed to disperse the soul damage paralysis effect, the reddish ray of fire filled with pure chaos essences had already arrived before its forehead.
But before the fire could pierce through its head, the Abyssal Hound suddenly moved towards the left side at an amazing speed and evaded the spell attack mysteriously.
'Abyssal Evasion spell?' Charles clicked his tongue and waved his hand.
A second later, the surroundings were enveloped in crimson fire, causing the chilling air to disperse.
Slowly, the rocks started to melt and formed into pure lavas. At the same time, the nearby mutated plants and trees also burned in fierce light and illuminated the whole cavern chamber.
Meanwhile, the Abyssal Hound's movement speed had become extremely slow.
But that lasted only for a few seconds. A moment later, a strange bluish aura appeared out of nowhere and enveloped the Abyssal Hound, allowing it to move normally.
'Body of the Void? So, it has ability to even nullify any time related spells, huh.' Charles furrowed his brows and soon noticed that the Abyssal Hound suddenly vanished from its spot.
'Tsk, it's tricky to handle.' Just as he spoke, he noticed all the future visions in Right Eye showing him standing in the same place before getting devoured by the Abyssal Hound.
'It has another ability to restrict my movement? Astral Chain?' Before he could analyze the situation, strange invisible chains appeared out of nowhere and completely enveloped him.
At that moment, it managed to bind his soul form, causing his whole body to stiffen.
The next instant, the Abyssal Hound suddenly appeared before him and opened his mouth to bite his head off.
But out of nowhere, an invisible forcefield-like structure appeared and blocked the Hound from biting him.
It was the 'Ancient Ward' spell.
'But why didn't it appear in my earlier visions?' Although he was curious about this spell, he decided to research on it later.
Infuriated, the Abyssal Hound let out a fierce growl and released an eerie Umbral Pulse energy to disrupt the defensive shield.
But as the eerie energy touched the defensive shield, it vaporized!
'Wow, this defensive spell is something else!'
At that moment, Charles also managed to release his soul form from the Astral Chain and unsheathed the long sword.
Sensing the upcoming danger, the Abyssal Hound didn't hesitate to cast the [Shadow Cloak] spell and disappeared.
A cold glint appeared in Charles's eyes as he saw its sneaky action.
"Grace, lend me a hand." Just as he spoke, a lot of life force was sucked away from his soul, resulting in him losing more than ten years of lifespan!
But Charles knew that it was just an appetizer for Grace!
'I'm not strong enough to use this sword yet.' As he muttered, he noticed a fierce reddish aura from the long sword that completely enveloped his body. At the same time, he sensed that the whole rebirth domain became more powerful, allowing the speed of time flow to be doubled again.
Not only his abilities but even all his physical attributes were also doubled.
'What the heck? My physical attributes have actually crossed 64!' Charles didn't hesitate as he waved his left hand, activated [Hands of Wonder] skill, and released more than ten thousand invisible strings to the surroundings.
All of them moved like minute snakes and formed strange web-like patterns. In a blink, Charles discovered where this Abyssal Hound was hiding and sprinted forward.
At the same time, he cast the [False Field] spell, [Eye of the Faceless] skill, and even analyzed its every action using the Rune Eye skill.
Thanks to his doubled physical attributes, Charles arrived before the Abyssal Hound in a second and raised his sword.
Although the 'Abyssal Hound' tried to use the 'Abyssal Evasion' spell, many invisible web-like strings suddenly spiraled around its legs and stopped its movement.
As it was about to use the 'Void Walking' spell, a strange purple fire entered its consciousness and erased its current thoughts.
Before it could wake up from the shock, Charles slashed the sword vertically and cleaved the Abyssal Hound into two.
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