Clinging to the Witcher world to become a god of martial arts

Chapter 245 Shadow Ghost

The area was somewhat dim under the influence of negative energy, so Estelle gently raised her hand, and a point of icy blue light gathered at her fingertips, illuminating the area ahead.

Under the light, one can see that the ground of the square is covered with dark, worn tiles, and the stone pillars bear large areas of charred black and deep marks left by some kind of sharp weapon.

Most strikingly, in the center of the square, lay several long-weathered skeletons, which emitted a groaning sound when a breeze blew by.

The skeletons were contorted in their postures, as if they had experienced intense struggle or pain before their deaths. It is unknown what kind of terror the swarm of crows brought.

The last time the two of them lingered on the outermost edge, and it was right when the crow's nest had just started its attack, so the impact on them was relatively small.

Estelle did not sense any particularly dangerous presences; most of them were first- or second-tier wizards, and no great wizards had personally descended.

She silently squatted down and carefully examined the skeletons.

The bones above were not the normal pale or grayish-yellow color, but rather an ominous dark blue, covered with fine, ice-crystal-like particles.

"The scent of frost..." Estelle clicked her tongue in amazement, carefully examining the remains and the traces on the ground, her tone tinged with a strangeness.

"This is not naturally formed frost; it is caused by ice magic with frost properties... at the level of a formal wizard."

"The time of death is difficult to determine. In this negative energy environment, the decomposition process of the body will be greatly slowed down or even transformed, but the magical residue on the bones is still clear."

Lorne's senses swept over the skeleton, and among those dark blue crystalline particles, there were indeed extremely faint but essentially cold magical fluctuations, very similar to the aura he had sensed from Estelle.

But it seems... to be purer?

Because it also contained a very faint, sharp aura that was completely out of place with ice magic.

"The Frostmark School?" Lorne thought of what Estelle had said to him at the rear camp in the Tranquil Canyon.

Of the three great wizards who founded the City of Hope, one was a scholar of the Frostscar School, which was the fundamental reason she came to the City of Hope with him.

"Could it be that the Frostmark School also sent envoys to the City of Hope in search of the legacy that the great wizard might have left behind?" Lorne asked.

"I don't know." Estelle stood up, her sharp gaze sweeping over the charred marks and scratches on the surrounding walls.

"Judging from the traces at the scene, it was not just one force. The charred marks were caused by fire or corrosive energy, while the scratches had obvious physical slashing characteristics, with fine cracks at the edges, like heavy weapons."

"A fierce battle took place here, involving more than one side. The ice magic might have been the ability of one side, or it might have been left behind by later entrants..."

"But the ability to completely freeze the skeleton into this state seems more like a seal imposed to prevent some kind of mutation or resurrection."

Although these skeletons are inanimate objects, they may undergo further mutations under the corrosive influence of negative energy.

She pointed to some almost imperceptible cracks in the ground beneath the skeletons: "Something tried to approach these skeletons from underground, but was blocked or repelled upon contact with the icy seal. I'm not sure if it's a low-level undead creature born from negative energy?"

Before he could finish speaking, Lorne's senses suddenly gave him a warning!

It didn't come from these skeletons or from deep beneath their feet, but from—the top of their heads!

What kind of attack could suddenly come from overhead? This square is completely open-air...

"Above!" Without time to think, Lorne shouted and unhesitatingly activated his Heavenly River Qi to quickly flash to the side and rear.

Almost at the same moment, Estelle also moved. The effect of spiritual elevation on perception is to broaden more levels, rather than to enhance the level of perception.

With a gentle press of the left hand upwards, a chilling aura quickly circulated, forming an "ice wall."

An ice shield instantly solidified above where the two had been standing.

"Snap!"

The ice shield had just formed when it was struck by several shadows that descended from the sky!

They moved as swiftly as black lightning, not as physical attacks, but as several beams of dark energy condensed into a tangible form, carrying strong characteristics of mental erosion and negative energy corrosion.

The ice shield trembled violently, and spiderweb-like cracks instantly appeared on its surface as dark energy, like a persistent, insidious infection, tried to seep inward.

In the instant the ice shield blocked their view, Lorne and Estelle, through the faint icy blue light emanating from Estelle's fingertips, were able to clearly see the attacker's appearance.

Directly above their heads, on the broken beam, several objects hung silently upside down, hidden in the shadows.

They have a human-like outline, but their limbs are unusually slender and long, like elongated shadows.

The skin was a pure gray-black, reflecting no light at all, and completely hidden within it, its outline invisible.

Its face had no features, and its entire head was sunken in. In spiritual perception, an extremely strong malice mixed with greed, resentment, and hunger came.

Their fingertips extend into sharp claws like condensed shadows, from which negative energy constantly dissipates.

"It seems the skeletons on the ground are these creatures." Estelle's voice was as cold as ice. "Before coming to the City of Hope, I saw similar creatures in an encyclopedia."

"Shadow Ghosts are the essence of evil thoughts that are born from areas where negative energy is highly concentrated."

"Physical attacks are ineffective; they excel at shadow movement, mental attacks, and negative energy erosion."

"The weakness is that it is extremely sensitive to strong light and lightning elements, but here..." She glanced at the thick gray-black fog around her, "the one thing we have in abundance is shadow."

As if to confirm her words, the few shadow ghosts that had failed in their attack flickered and disappeared into the shadows as if they had melted away.

The next moment, from the shadows of the walls on either side of Lorne, dark claws emerged simultaneously, silently reaching for his neck and ribs!

It was extremely fast, with a tricky attack trajectory, carrying a chilling coldness and a mental shriek that interfered with its attack.

Lorne's eyes swirled with icy blue starlight. His heightened perception allowed him to clearly capture the moment the Shadow Ghost emerged from the shadows, the trajectory of its energy condensation, and even the frequency of its mental shrieks.

He didn't attempt to block directly with Shadowstrike, as Estelle had said that physical attacks were ineffective against them.

Just before the claws were about to touch his body, he suddenly changed his footing and quickly unleashed the Nine Dragons Technique, his body narrowly escaping the gap between the two attacks. At the same time, his dantian star core spun rapidly, and the Heavenly River Qi surged forth.

A chilling aura spread rapidly from Estelle, instantly engulfing the shadow ghosts.

"Hiss!"

The claws of the two Shadow Devouring Demons grazed the cold magic, as if they were piercing through ice and snow, and the contact points were immediately covered with a layer of frost.

The shadow ghost let out a silent, piercing scream that echoed in the mental realm, impacting the mental seas of the two people before its body abruptly retreated into the shadows.

But the attacks did not stop.

Several other shadow ghosts emerged from the shadows in different directions, their dark energy beams weaving into a net that enveloped Estelle.

In their assessment, this woman radiating frost-like magic posed a greater threat.