Immortal Druid

I entered deeper into the Dark Order stronghold. The gates leading to the central palace had long since been shattered. Massive doors lay broken upon the ground, while statues that once glorified forgotten figures had been reduced to rubble. Chunks of stone and debris littered every corner of the courtyard. Rays of sunlight streamed through the ruined entrance behind me, yet the palace interior remained engulfed in darkness.

The darkness felt wrong.

It was not merely the absence of light. It was a living thing, an oppressive force that pushed back against the sunlight itself. The golden rays reached only a short distance before being swallowed whole. It was as though the darkness possessed a will of its own.

I tightened my grip on my staff and cast Sunlight Orb.

A sphere of brilliant radiance formed above my head, illuminating the surroundings with warm golden light. Shadows retreated from its presence, though only reluctantly. With the orb hovering overhead, I continued deeper into the palace.

The further I walked, the more silent everything became.

Eventually, I felt something change. I glanced behind me, and the entrance was gone. The corridor through which I had entered had vanished completely. There was no broken gate. No ruined courtyard. No trace of the path I had just traveled.

Instead, there was only darkness that stretched endlessly in every direction.

"Hao Lei!" I called.

My voice echoed through the void.

"If you're playing tricks on me, you'll regret it heavily when I find you!"

The darkness answered with silence.

Only my own voice returned to me.

I frowned and cast another Sunlight Orb. The newly formed sphere floated away from me, drifting ahead through the darkness. Its radiance revealed a long hallway stretching into the distance just for a brief moment.

Slowly, the darkness moved like a starving beast; it surged forward and swallowed the orb whole.

The light vanished instantly.

I instinctively stepped backward. The scenery shifted. When I regained my bearings, I found myself standing within the very hallway the orb had revealed. I immediately turned around. The darkness behind me remained unchanged.

A formation?

Maybe, an illusion?

Or perhaps something else entirely?

I narrowed my eyes.

"Thorn Whip."

A thick vine burst from the ground and slithered forward. Maintaining my phytokinesis, I extended my senses through the living plant. Sight. Hearing. Touch. Smell. The vine became my second body. As it advanced through the darkness, I followed.

It did not take long before I finally reached the source of the disturbance.

My footsteps slowed.

There stood Hao Lei.

A mysterious lantern floated above his head, flickering weakly as though struggling to remain lit. Shadowy chains wrapped around his body from every direction, binding his limbs and anchoring him firmly in place.

Four talismans hovered around him.

The characters written upon them were unlike any script I had ever encountered.

"Not a step closer!" Hao Lei cried.

"What exactly happened here?"

Hao Lei's expression darkened.

"It seems Yuan Tao was hiding something unpleasant beneath this palace. Some sort of wraith."

As he spoke, his gaze lowered toward his shadow. I followed his gaze and saw something move within his shadow. The shadow beneath Hao Lei's feet twisted unnaturally. Its outline shifted constantly, as though something inside it was attempting to crawl free.

"Leave this to me," Hao Lei said. "I don't wish to put you in danger. Your resurrection abilities are too precious. Besides, I still require your assistance for something else in the future."

I snorted.

"Don't be arrogant."

Without waiting for a response, I raised my staff and launched another Sunlight Orb directly into the shadow.

The instant it struck, an ungodly screech exploded throughout the hallway.

"SKRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

The sound was so terrible that the surrounding darkness visibly trembled.

Hao Lei winced.

I did not stop.

My staff swung repeatedly through the air. One Sunlight Orb after another materialized around me. Dozens. Hundreds. Like miniature suns. With a wave of my staff, they rained downward. Golden explosions erupted continuously.

The shadow beneath Hao Lei writhed violently.

"SKREEEEEEEEEEE!!"

A black mass suddenly tore itself free from the ground. The creature leaped out of Hao Lei's shadow and fled toward the surrounding darkness. Yet before it could escape, it slammed into an invisible barrier.

The entire corridor shook.

Only then did I notice that the four floating talismans were connected by faint streams of energy. Together, they formed a prison. The creature had been trapped the entire time. I stared at the writhing mass. The shape finally stabilized. Its body resembled a living shadow given form. Limbs emerged and dissolved constantly while countless glowing eyes opened and closed across its surface.

I immediately recognized it.

I looked at Hao Lei.

"This is a Shadow Elemental."

His eyebrows rose.

"It's familiar to you. How do you have knowledge of this thing?"

I did not answer. Shadow Elementals existed in LWO. A world that had once been nothing more than a game to me. Judging from its size and density, this one should have been somewhere between Level 500 and Level 600.

Strong.

Yet not strong enough to trouble Hao Lei to this extent.

Something felt wrong.

I slowly looked away from the imprisoned elemental. Instead, I gazed toward the darkness surrounding us. The darkness stared back. A chill crawled down my spine. The realization struck me instantly. The creature trapped before us was not the source of this darkness alone.

The talismans suddenly cracked as a sharp tearing noise echoed through the corridor. One by one, the talismans ignited. Their surfaces were blackened by something. Ash scattered through the air. The invisible barrier collapsed.

The imprisoned Shadow Elemental shrieked triumphantly as the prison shattered.

"Hao Lei—"

His expression changed as genuine urgency appeared in his eyes.

"Don't let the alpha escape!"

The rest of his words were drowned out.

"SKRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

The screech came from everywhere. The walls. The floor. The ceiling. The darkness itself. Countless eyes opened throughout the void. Thousands. Tens of thousands. Every patch of darkness around us began moving. The shadows peeled away from the walls. They crawled across the ground. They emerged from cracks in reality itself.

It was an entire swarm of Shadow Elementals.

I drove the base of my staff into the ground.

The Sunlight Orb floating above me expanded instantly. Radiance gathered. Heat surged. The surrounding air distorted. Countless motes of light ignited around the orb as I used it as a casting medium to accelerate the spell.

The darkness recoiled, and the swarm hesitated.

"Sunblaze Inferno."

The miniature sun exploded.

Golden-white flames erupted in every direction.

The darkness screamed.

An ocean of fire swept through the corridor, illuminating every hidden corner of the palace as countless Shadow Elementals were consumed beneath the fury of a true sun.

The swarm answered my spell with a chorus of madness.

"SKRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Thousands of voices merged into one ungodly shriek as the golden-white flames engulfed them. The inferno spread through the darkness like a tidal wave of sunlight. Shadow Elementals disintegrated wherever the flames touched them, yet to my surprise, the swarm endured far better than expected.

Dark barriers rose around many of them.

Others cast strange shadow spells that twisted my flames away from their bodies.

Several merged together into larger masses, sacrificing weaker individuals to shield stronger ones.

They were adapting. That alone was disturbing enough. Shadow Elementals were elemental creatures. They were supposed to possess intelligence, but this level of coordination belonged to an organized army.

I raised my staff.

"Stonebreak Sword."

The ground exploded.

Hundreds of enormous stone blades erupted upward from beneath the palace floor. The swords pierced through walls, shattered support pillars, and continued ascending until they struck the ceiling above.

BOOM!

The roof ruptured. Sunlight poured into the darkness. Brilliant rays descended from the heavens and illuminated the battlefield. The reaction was immediate. The swarm screeched violently. The darkness receded from the invading sunlight as though it had encountered a natural predator.

Unfortunately, the Shadow Elementals recovered quickly.

They surged toward me. Thousands rushed forward simultaneously. Before I could cast another spell, Hao Lei appeared beside me. The shadowy chains that had bound him were gone. He brought his palms together, and then he pushed outward.

The surrounding space distorted, and the charging swarm suddenly slowed.

Several Shadow Elementals turned around. Others walked in circles. Many crashed into one another despite having a clear path toward us. I stared for a moment before realizing what had happened. It was an illusion formation. Not one based on physical barriers. Rather, it manipulated perception itself.

The Shadow Elementals subconsciously believed they could not reach us.

To them, every route became a dead end and a maze.

It was an impressive technique.

Still, my attention remained focused elsewhere. Something about this entire situation bothered me. I had never heard of Shadow Elementals behaving like this. Not in LWO. Not in hidden lore. Not in developer notes. Not even in obscure event stories.

Elemental creatures could gather together, but they normally followed an Elemental Lord. Such beings usually existed around Level 700 to Level 800. Even then, they did not behave like monsters. They did not form swarms nor hunt in packs. They certainly did not possess alphas.

Everything about this felt wrong.

How could Hao Lei even discern the alpha from the pack in the first place?

I glanced at Hao Lei, feeling suspicious of him.

"How did you end up fighting these things?"

He maintained the illusion barrier while answering.

"When we entered the stronghold, I was ambushed. These creatures emerged from beneath the palace. I lured them into the central structure. The four-directional formation prison was already present here, so I used it to trap their leader."

That made sense, at least partially.

I continued questioning him.

"How did you know they had an alpha?"

Hao Lei hesitated, and he appeared somewhat uncomfortable.

"The Dark Order had been researching them."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Researching them?"

He nodded.

"It was Yuan Tao's directive."

That immediately caught my attention.

Hao Lei continued.

"We discovered the existence of a superior individual among them. Every observation suggested the others followed its commands. I never expected them to escape containment and join the battle."

I crossed my arms.

"So Yuan Tao created them?"

"No."

Hao Lei immediately shook his head.

"I doubt it. No method was ever discovered to control these creatures. If Yuan Tao had found one, he would have used it long ago."

That answer only raised more questions.

I looked toward the swarming darkness.

"Did your researchers ever give them a name?"

Hao Lei laughed bitterly.

"No."

His gaze lingered upon the creatures.

"We had no idea what they were. We only knew they were the object of Yuan Tao's obsession."

The illusion barrier trembled. Cracks spread across the distorted space. The Shadow Elementals were adapting again as they slammed against it one at a time with a strange power.

I stared at the swarm, then at the palace itself, my thoughts drifting toward Yuan Tao and the strange shadows as one connection after another formed inside my mind. The Dark Order might not have been the end of this mystery at all; it might only have been a single piece of something far larger.

I turned toward Hao Lei.

"Who was backing the Dark Order?"

His eyes widened slightly, and then he smiled.

"Sharp as always. I've had that suspicion for a long time, but I imagine it's more likely than what I was led to believe. Someone was helping the Dark Order from the shadows. Unfortunately, the only person who likely knew the truth would be Yuan Tao."

I sighed.

Unfortunately, Yuan Tao was already dead, so I wouldn’t be able to question him.

I thumped my staff against the ground and began preparing Summer Bloom.

It was not a complete cast.

Not yet.

Only a half-cast.

Even so, the effect was immediate.

Tiny motes of ember appeared throughout the battlefield. They danced around me like fireflies born from a dying star. The surrounding fire elements became excited beyond reason, gathering toward my position in increasingly dense concentrations.

The Shadow Elementals retreated, some shrinking back into the darkness while others flattened themselves against the walls, and several of the more powerful shadows raised barriers around themselves as though facing a natural disaster. I stared at the swarm.

"I will only say this once."

The embers around me intensified, and the temperature rose sharply.

"Back off."

The reaction from the Shadow Elementals was that of genuine fear. Beside me, Hao Lei looked at the gathering flames and then at the retreating swarm, his expression shifting from confusion to disbelief.

"Impossible."

The Immortal Realm cultivator stared at the creatures as though witnessing a miracle.

"They're afraid of it."

His gaze moved toward me.

"No matter what techniques I used, they ignored them. Sword intent, divine arts, heavenly techniques, formations. I tried everything, but none of my powers could truly harm them. None of my methods worked. And yet your spell alone is forcing them back."

I had already guessed as much. The magic system from LWO fundamentally differed from cultivation; to cultivators, power was an expression of spiritual comprehension and heavenly laws, while to me, magic operated through entirely different principles. No wonder Hao Lei had struggled despite standing in the Immortal Realm, since these creatures likely existed outside the framework cultivators normally understood. I planted my staff firmly against the ground and activated Voice of the World.

"If you continue this attack, I will destroy every single one of you."

The declaration rolled across reality like a divine decree.

The shadows trembled.

"I will burn away every shadow."

The embers around me brightened.

"I will erase your nests."

The darkness receded further.

"I will leave nothing behind."

Silence followed as the swarm stopped advancing, thousands of glowing eyes fixed upon me. Then the crowd slowly parted, allowing a single figure to emerge. It was the alpha. The Shadow Elemental moved forward while the others remained behind, the darkness around it shifting continuously as though reality itself struggled to define its shape.

I studied it carefully.

"Do you have a name?"

The creature stared at me as countless eyes opened across its body.

Finally, it answered.

"Nyx."

I blinked, and then I sighed. That was just funny. First, there was Mab. Now, there was Nyx. Hopefully, there wasn't some strange naming convention happening behind the scenes.

"Nyx," I called out to her. "Would you and your people like to form a contract with me?"

Back in LWO, I had played a full caster build, spending most of my Circle of Beast levels on shapeshifting for survivability, and the build had worked very well. However, ever since arriving in this world, my powers had continued evolving beyond the limitations of the original game, and perhaps this was another path available to me now.

Nyx stared at me for several moments before the darkness surrounding her body began changing. Shadows condensed, the void folded inward, and a humanoid figure emerged as the monstrous outline disappeared completely. Standing before me was a woman whose hair flowed like liquid night and whose skin shone with the brilliance of distant stars scattered across the heavens. Galaxies seemed to drift beneath her flesh, and her eyes contained endless darkness, yet they were strangely beautiful.

"I accept your contract," said Nyx as she dropped to one knee before me.

The surrounding swarm reacted immediately as thousands of Shadow Elementals transformed, their monstrous shadows becoming silhouettes of people. Countless humanoid figures crafted entirely from darkness appeared throughout the ruined palace before dropping to their knees one after another. Thousands upon thousands bowed their heads, every shadow lowering itself before me in a unified display of submission.

Their voices merged into a single chorus.

"We accept."

The darkness that had threatened to consume the entire stronghold no longer felt hostile.

Instead, it felt like an army offering its allegiance.

Beside me, Hao Lei remained completely silent, genuinely seemed at a loss for words.

Nyx lowered her head even further and spoke with solemn reverence. "Before the eternal darkness and the endless night from which my people were born, I, Nyx, offer you my allegiance. From this moment onward, my will is yours to command, my strength is yours to wield, and my people shall walk the path you illuminate. We shall guard your domain, obey your word, and stand beside you against all enemies until the end of our existence. This oath I swear freely, without deceit or reservation."

I got a bad feeling about this for some unexplained reason.

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