Chapter 2380: Time Flute – First Battle

Chapter 2380: Chapter 2380: Time Flute – First Battle

"Alright, the Night Watchman and the Angel’s Right Arm will stay behind, with Sister Delphine here, the Edge of Life and Death won’t be dangerous for us."

After saying this, Shard apologetically looked at Sister Delphine beside him:

"You’ve just arrived and have to set off without resting. I’m really sorry."

The gray-haired nun shook her head slightly, saying nothing more. Naturally, they wouldn’t set off immediately; the witches accompanying Shard to the Edge of Life and Death also needed to prepare their relics and spellcasting materials for the journey.

So, everyone hurried off to get ready, while Luviya helped Shard fetch the relics he intended to bring. This left Shard chatting with Sister Delphine in the entrance hall.

The Little Unicorn did not follow Emilia upstairs to fetch the sword. After the witches dispersed, it timidly approached Sister Delphine. The pure white little creature boldly sniffed at the nun’s hem, then slightly lifted its head to observe her, while the nun’s silver eyepatch also "looked" down towards it.

They "stared" at each other for a moment, after which the little creature seemed frightened and retreated behind Shard. Although Shard’s body couldn’t completely block it, it evidently felt a sense of safety.

After confirming that Sister Delphine wasn’t chasing it, it turned around and swiftly ran upstairs under the "cover" of Shard, with Angelina rushing to catch up to prevent it from bumping into others.

Shard then looked at the nun, who still had an impassive expression. The Little Unicorn’s reaction was not one of "dislike" but rather of "fear." However, Shard couldn’t understand why Little Liana was so afraid of the nun, clearly seeing her as a gentle lady through the eyes of the Outlander.

The witches and Miss Eles didn’t take long to prepare either. Once everything was ready, Sister Delphine didn’t even lift her hand, and the eastern wall of the hall in the estate began to show a phantom-like blurred area.

It resembled a shattered mirror hidden behind a thin gray curtain, and it was impossible to discern the state of the wall with just one’s eyes. But the cold wind was already blowing from that section of the wall, signaling that the passage to the Edge of Life and Death was open.

"Let’s go."

The Time Flute was sheathed in the wooden sword scabbard, and Shard spoke as he picked up his sword. The two witches and Miss Eles nodded, and Sister Delphine led the way.

"Be careful, we’ll be waiting for you to come back for a late-night snack!"

Emilia waved her hand, not suggesting that Little Liana should accompany them. This wasn’t because the little creature was afraid of Sister Delphine, but because it was best that an underage unicorn didn’t stay long in a place suffused with the Breath of Death.

The sensation of passing through the "curtain" on the wall was like going through a cold waterfall. Beyond the "curtain" was still the entrance hall of the Belindel Estate’s first floor, only now the entire world had turned to shades of gray and white.

Large patches of wall paint had peeled off, and there were sunken areas all over the floor, with even a large pit in the southeast corner like one created by a heavy object’s impact. Gray-white moss clung to the walls and corners, these materials from the Edge of Life and Death being precious undead materials, which Mr. Copus from Tobesk had purchased before.

The power of Death manifested most tangibly as a bone-chilling cold, but unlike last autumn, this time Shard was mostly unaffected.

As he glanced around, he saw that beyond a doorless portal, there was the same moonlit mist spreading in the gray-and-white manor courtyard.

"The mist here is glowing too? The power of the Unusual Glow from the real world has already invaded here."

The Blue Dragon Girl said softly; she disliked this place, it reminded her of her feelings at the dawn of her existence in the Sea of Darkness.

"It’s my first time in a place like this too."

The Countess, who felt cold because of her weak constitution, rubbed her right arm with her left hand and moved closer to Shard. Meanwhile, Miss Sylvia, sensing the peculiarity of this space, gradually perceived its truth:

"So that’s it. This is still the Material World, not a Subsidiary Space or Extra Space like Green Island. It’s only due to the conflict between Life and Death forces that it fractured into a Subspace-like area, so the scenery in the two corresponding spaces is nearly identical... Opening a Portal here is actually easier since the local church’s large-scale monitoring rituals don’t exist in this world."

The Edge of Life and Death also affects the living, including making the recovery of spirit and stamina difficult. This had little impact on Shard and Sister Delphine, and while it affected the "non-human" Miss Eles, it wasn’t severe.

As for the two witches, thanks to Grandmother Cassandra’s experience gained during the Milestone era and carrying their own Witch’s Jewelry, the impact wasn’t significant unless they stayed a prolonged time.

Sister Delphine barely needed to sense before she began guiding everyone out of the decaying mansion. Upon reaching the outdoors filled with glowing white mist, they looked up to see a faint half-silver Moon through the dense fog.

When entering the Edge of Life and Death before, Shard had never seen the Sun and Moon.

The others did not comment on this phenomenon; Sister Delphine walked in the front, and the Blue Dragon Girl at the back, as the group of five quickly headed toward the exit of the estate.

Although the scale of this "Edge of Life and Death" was far less than that of the Unclassified Level relic in Milestone, the density of the undead wandering in the fog was almost the same as over there.

After leaving the estate, the group almost immediately ran into an undead on the street. It was a "woman" with her head lowered, dressed in a tattered white wedding dress, holding a dirty rabbit doll in her left hand and a blood-stained axe in her right.

Even before seeing her appearance, Shard already heard the eerie "giggling" laughter as if it was right next to his ear. And when he saw the figure amidst the glowing dense fog, he noticed her advancing with a lurching, seemingly disabled sliding motion.

The white wedding dress glowed like the mist, and even the undead within the Edge of Life and Death were infected by the twisting force of the Unusual Glow.

"Just from her appearance, you can tell she must have quite a story."

"A bit different from ordinary undead."

Miss Belindel, with a beautiful red birthmark on her forehead, hid behind Shard and said, conscious that she was the weakest here and absolutely couldn’t leave the team:

"Could be a bit troublesome, but not very strong. Should we just take care of her directly?"

"No, let’s first test her strength and special powers. The undead here might possess specific abilities."

Miss Eles also spoke, while the nun had no opinion.

"Then I’ll do it."

Shard drew the [Time Flute]; just the act of drawing the sword produced a melodious flute sound in the fog. The group of five retreated back to the mansion, and the female ghost with objects in both hands followed in, giggling.

The nun and others moved aside, hiding in the fog, leaving the sword-wielding Shard to face the strange undead alone. Despite the blessings of countless undead, the undead chose Shard as an opponent in a one-on-one confrontation.

Her speed was extremely fast, taking only a few breaths before she was in front of Shard. The rotating sliding motion accelerated as she reached Shard, extending her arms in a wild, frenzied laugh, quickly spinning her body, making the rabbit doll and the axe attack Shard in sequence.

Her speed was so fast that it whipped up a wind and left afterimages, with the laughter possessing spiritual attack power far beyond what one could encounter in the normal world.

But Shard was faster, and with the Time Flute swiftly countered, striking the attacking doll and axe rapidly. The axe carried significant force, but within Shard’s tolerable range, while the rabbit doll barely touched Shard’s longsword when he felt an itch all over his skin.

[This undead can turn anyone who touches the doll into a rabbit.]

[It’s ineffective on you.]

Wielding the longsword, the melodious flute sound produced was exceptionally clear in the dense fog. The ladies watching the battle witnessed the spinning undead making her two "weapons" into afterimages, while Shard’s steady strikes and advancing steps forced the undead to retreat.

"Blade of Chaotic Time!"

The four swords thrust simultaneously in an instant finally halted the undead bride’s spinning motion, and the ghost in the tattered wedding dress, giggling, spun backward. Her spinning was extraordinarily graceful, so the sudden swing of the axe releasing a blood-red Light Trace wasn’t abrupt at all.

The blood-red Light Trace collided with the silver Moonlight slashed by Shard, the Moonlight pierced through the blood trace like a bamboo spear, but when it touched the undead bride’s Spiritual Body, the glow was partially absorbed by her first before the weakened Moonlight struck her body.

The giggling suddenly stopped, and a gruesome wound split open on the bride’s abdomen. However, the wound quickly healed as she spun and disappeared from the spot, reappearing behind Shard in the next second, but was blocked by Shard’s backhand slash against the attacking axe.

"Trait 1: Absorption of light-based attacks, unable to fully absorb the light, no enhancement to herself found in this absorption. This trait seemingly a universal ability among those infected by the Unusual Glow."

The Countess spoke from the fog.

The soothing sound of the [Time Flute] seemed to collaborate with Shard’s movements; with the witch present, Shard avoided using [Adel’s Time Pause], so his longsword parried the diagonal chop of the axe while the Spirit Flow from himself streamed into the longsword. The second green gemstone on the surface of the [Time Flute] suddenly shone, and the undead bride’s spinning movement slow to a crawl.

This wasn’t simply slowing down the enemy’s movement; even the skirt spread by the spinning and the rabbit doll she was holding appeared to float in the air due to the sluggishness of time.