Chapter 373: In Despair
“Watch out!” Zen cried.
He was the first person to notice something had gone wrong.
When Zen looked back to see what was going on, he saw Zade bending over to pick up a herb and right behind him was a dark figure. In one swift movement, a hand turned from the dark mass was suddenly covering Zade.
Everyone turned right away when they heard Zen cry out loud. Zade looked frightened as he was grabbed by the dark figure.
He sprang to his feet right away but to no avail. The dark figure had already grabbed him by then.
Everyone could see Zade being enveloped by the black mass, which now looked like a black cloth. Zade tried to wriggle himself free but the black mass was too strong.
Soon, Zade withered, having exhausted all his energy. The dark figure had enveloped Zade completely, coughing out only a few bones.
“Zade-Zade was swallowed by that stuff. Those are his bones!” Lewis spewed out, teeth chattering, and eyes filled with fear.
He had never seen anything like that before–he never thought it was possible that such a thing could exist, something that could eat up a man in the blink of an eye.
“It's a Dark Devil Phantom! Everybody... Watch your step!” The disciple from the Cloud Hall suddenly raised his voice to remind them.
At this moment, everyone just wanted to get rid of the dark figure–they didn't even want to put a name on such a horrible thing. Right now, their priority was to survive. Just a few moments after they were warned, the same kind of dark mass had spread on the ground and was slowly closing in on them.
“Run, everybody! Run!” Frank yelled. He looked serious and determined.
This unknown Dark Devil Phantom was even more terrifying than the Flying Yaksha because that evil beast could be killed. Meanwhile, they had no idea what a Dark Devil Phantom was more so how to destroy it. The Dark Devil Phantom looked like a sticky mass and Frank didn't even know if it was alive. What use could his spear be?
“Ahh!” Lois let out a scream as one of her legs was dragged by the Dark Devil Phantom.
Frank gritted his teeth, took his spear out and stabbed it on the Dark Devil Phantom that had a hold on Lois' leg. As soon as the spear touched its surface, Frank grabbed Lois and dashed off.
At this time, the Dark Devil Phantom had spread majority of its substance on the ground leaving little room for running. If they stopped, the Dark Devil Phantom might catch them.
In a world as small as this, it was not unusual to run into Dark Devil Phantoms. These dark stuff only hunted living creatures as their vitality was what attracted them.
The moment the eight of them stepped inside this world, the Dark Devil Phantoms already smelled them. They were able to follow them discreetly since Dark Devil Phantoms moved slowly and took the form of whatever they were in like thick liquids.
“Frank! I'm so scared! I don't want to be swallowed up and be left with nothing but bones!” Lois screamed as she and Frank raced fast. As the strongest female disciple in the Iridescence Sect, Lois possessed powerful strength. Unfortunately, women were not as brave as men. When Lois saw what happened with Zade, she shrank in fear.
“Don't be scared. I'll protect you!” Frank said to comfort Lois. Frank, though, wasn't really sure how they could escape. While his spear skills were undeniably strong, it didn't seem to be doing enough damage on the Dark Devil Phantom. At best, he made a dent on the stuff but it only grew back, like liquid.
The fastest runner among them wasn't Frank, Zen, or not even Rocher but it was Lewis.
He was the quickest of them all while the most timid too. While they were banned from flying, he maximized his speed by staying afloat as long as possible.
Lewis stayed ahead of them until he stopped. He stared ahead and he looked dumbfounded.
Just ahead of them were large groups of Dark Devil Phantoms coming towards them. Each one was about ten feet high and all headed towards them like a moving mountain.
Frank, Lois, Zen, and the others had just caught up to him. They felt their insides twist and turn at the sight of this. They realized they were being purposely attacked by the Dark Devil Phantoms.
“They're everywhere! What are we going to do?” Rocher asked anxiously. Rocher pulled out his sword and bit his tongue to distract himself with the pain.
Zen also unsheathed his sword. He let out a gasp, “We have no choice but to fight our way out!”
Frank remained resolute all throughout as he led the attack. At this point, there was a line of blood splattered across his white spear and if one looked closely, one could tell that it was in the form of a dragon.
Frank built up his strength and aimed it at the mountain of Dark Devil Phantoms.
Within a split second, a powerful gust of spear energy appeared. It whirled and shot forward! The power of this blow could have destroyed an actual mountain!
“Swish... ”
The spear was able to attack six Dark Devil Phantoms all at once. It created a hole in each of their bodies. According to their power on defense, there was no way they could have countered this attack.
However, the Dark Devil Phantom wasn't a beast nor a creature–it was a special form of life or a being made of energy. While Frank's attack was extremely powerful, it only took a few seconds for their bodies to heal as if no spear had pierced it before.
“It didn't work. Physical attacks don't work on them...” A dark shadow cast on Frank's face.
What a proud man he was! In terms of talent and strength, he was the best among the young generation in the Central Region! None of his peers in the Cloud Hall could match him! To him, even Lennon, who was known to be the hope of the younger generation under the South Wang-Zhao Family, didn't even hold a candle to him.
No matter how difficult it got, he always wore an easy smile on his face as if he lived and breathed hardships and challenges.
But for the first time ever, he felt powerless and helpless before the Dark Devil Phantoms.
He shuddered at the thought of him and Lois dying in this disgusting place, on a pile of bones.
'Why did I bring Lois here?' he asked himself. He realized it was his pride. He was so sure that he could overcome the Death Road. Overconfidence led to arrogance and arrogance often led to stupidity.
'Looks like I'm gonna die here due to my own stupidity. I never should've brought Lois...' Frank tightened his grip on Lois' hand as he thought it all over. But he knew it was no use crying over spilt milk.
All the others felt their hearts drop when they saw the despair on Frank's face. As the Dark Devil Phantoms slowly closed in on them, everyone drew back and formed a circle on their backs.
Zen quietly whispered, “Don't give up!”
The look on Frank's face was enough to keep everyone dejected despite Zen's words of encouragement.
Only the disciple from the Cloud Hall stood without a hint of fear on his face. However, he merely stood along with the others, doing nothing too.
“Rocher, you've learned the Extreme Thunder Sword Intent, and the Dark Devil Phantom is a kind of evil thing. All evil things are afraid of the refinement techniques of thunder attribute... ” Zen suddenly said.
Rocher's eyes lit up. He was just as dejected as everyone else when he saw the look on Frank's face but Zen was making sense which to him, was a ray of hope.
In fact, Patrick's Green Lotus Karma Fire should have some effect on Dark Devil Phantoms too. Unfortunately, Patrick had already used the Acalanatha's shadow once which prevented him from summoning the Green Lotus Karma Fire again.
As Rocher drew his sword, Frank cast a brief glance at him with his dim eyes before shaking his head. Rocher was just a nature creature. Even if he had practiced the refinement technique of thunder attribute many times before, how effective would his technique be?
However, what happened next stunned Frank.
When Rocher raised his Blood-corroding Sword toward the sky, an infinite momentum rushed to his sword and at the same time, a large amount of heavenly thunder was sucked into it.
“It's... consummate sword intent!” Frank muttered. “How is it possible?”
How could a nature creature perform the consummate sword intent? Frank didn't achieve the consummate spear intent until he entered the Illuminating Soul Realm so he never thought that a guy at the peak of the nature level could master the consummate sword intent!
The most amazing thing was that the thunder he drew was not made up of life vitality but heavenly thunder! Heavenly thunder and the thunder that was condensed by life vitality were completely different–the power of the latter could not be compared with that of the former! Frank was astounded!
“Crackling!”
“The Extreme Thunder Sword Intent!” Rocher shouted. “Heavenly Swords! Four swords in one!”
Rocher was well aware that these Dark Devil Phantoms were not afraid of physical attacks and that what could really hurt them was the heavenly thunder in his Extreme Thunder Sword Intent.
He was already in a state of panic and he was willing to do whatever he could to destroy the Dark Devil Phantoms.
When the Extreme Thunder Sword Intent struck two Dark Devil Phantoms, they were suddenly enveloped in lightning just as they sparked and evaporated.
“It worked!” A gleam of hope shone across Frank's face.
“Patrick, this disciple from your Cloud Sect is... really powerful!” When Frank saw Rocher's Extreme Thunder Sword Intent, he sensed that Rocher would have as much potential as he did after he entered the Illuminating Soul Realm. He had to admit that he had underestimated Rocher.
But at the moment, Frank was glad he was wrong.
Patrick startled everyone with his comment. “Rocher is indeed strong,” he chuckled, “but Zen is more powerful. Even I'm no match for him, he's the strongest disciple in our sect.”
“What?” Frank was so stunned that he had forgotten for a moment that they were in a battle with Dark Devil Phantoms. “You mean the guy at the third grade of nature level?” Frank asked in disbelief. “You think he's better than you?”