My health recovery is incredibly fast.

That night, as usual, he questioned the other four resident mages, while also subtly inquiring whether any strange shadows had appeared in the city.

The four people's answers were highly consistent. They all said that more than two months ago, there had been a paranormal event in the market district of Pisco – more than a dozen civilians reported that the oil lamps and candles in their homes flickered when lit, but the shadows of furniture such as dining tables and bookshelves did not move.

Erin was the one in charge of investigating the case at the time.

Chapter 21 Shipborne Detection Array

In the latter half of the night of the same day.

Xia Zuo sent Yani and the other three away and waited for Dim alone on the top floor of the tower.

When Dim arrived over Pisco fortress in his small airship, dawn was just breaking on the horizon.

Awakening from their sleep, the residents and soldiers, beginning their day's work, glanced curiously at the airship beside the tower before being urged on by the rhythm of life to begin their day's work.

Dim is a high-level mage who can fly, and it will take him at most 3 hours to travel from Starry Night Academy to Pisco Fortress.

He chose to come in an airship to use the ship's onboard detection array to search for the Shadow Demon's whereabouts over a wide area.

The prerequisite for detecting a target is to know some of its characteristics—just as you need to know what an ordinary person looks like to perform facial recognition, when searching for Shadow Fiend, it is best to know the Shadow Fiend's energy fluctuation signature in advance.

Last night, after Beatrice brought Erin back, she used an enchantment spell to copy the Dark Chamber Mark inside Erin's body.

After obtaining a copy of the Dark Chamber Mark, Dim flew his airship to Pisco Fortress while simultaneously adjusting the ship's detection array in the pilot's seat.

When they arrived at the tower where Xia Zuo was, the detection array had just finished being adjusted.

Inside the airship, the two stood side by side in front of the holographic device, where a holographic topographic map of Pisco Fortress was being rapidly constructed.

“I already told Yani that there will be a strong magical fluctuation throughout the city later. It’s best to put on mage armor before the fluctuation ends.” Xia Zuo looked at the letter in his hand. “She replied asking if we should notify all the ordinary people in the city to go back to their houses, and also take some protective measures for the monsters imprisoned in the city? What do you think, Dim?”

“No need.” Dim shook his thick finger. “The magical fluctuations of the ship’s detection array can only be sensed by people or monsters whose spiritual ocean has reached a certain level. Monsters are thick-skinned and don’t feel pain, so we don’t need to worry about them. As long as the garrison mages take good care of their personal protection, it will be fine.”

Xia Zuo used communication technology to write another letter and send it out.

Dim reached out and pressed a few buttons next to the magic circle slot. "The detection circle is ready. Now begin charging. The first detection spell is expected to be cast in one minute."

The two waited quietly for one minute.

A crisp notification sound rang out, and the indicators on the control panel turned from yellow to green.

Dim slammed the button down. "Start detection."

An invisible magical fluctuation emanated from the magic array. After leaving the airship, the magical fluctuation rapidly intensified, and its propagation speed increased dramatically. It spread throughout half of the fortress in almost 3 seconds, and scanned the entire fortress in 5 seconds.

"Beep beep beep..." More than a dozen red dots lit up on the holographic map of the city fortress.

“These are the Shadow Fiend’s activity traces.” Dim pointed to the darker red dots. “The darker the color, the ‘fresher’ the activity traces. Dots that are almost blackish-red represent activity traces that occurred within the last 48 hours. Dots that are even lighter than pink represent activity traces that occurred more than 100 hours ago.”

Dim turned the wheel on the control panel, focusing the detection direction of the detection array onto the deep red dot.

Another minute passed, the magic array was fully charged, and the detection waves concentrated and rushed towards the northwest direction of the fortress.

"Beep beep beep..." A long row of red dots appeared on the city fortress holographic map, forming a red line pointing to the border of the kingdom.

“Oh~ it seems we alerted the Shadow Fiend when we took Erin away last night.” Dim zoomed in on the holographic map, carefully comparing the “freshness” of the red dots, and finally came to a conclusion, “Obviously, that damned Shadow Fiend has run off to the mountains beyond our borders. We need to hurry and catch up.”

Dim patted Shazo on the shoulder, “You control the detection array, I’ll pilot the airship.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of it.” Xia Zuo nodded.

Dim got into the cockpit and started the thrusters.

The airship slowly accelerated, leaving the Piek fortress and heading northwest along the red lines on the holographic map towards the mountains.

"Dim, do you think it's possible that this Shadow Demon went to find the monster cubs?" Xia Zuo asked while manipulating the detection direction of the magic circle.

“That’s possible, but I’m not sure.” Dim scratched his beard, looking slightly puzzled. “I’m not quite sure why a Shadow Fiend would help a monster cub escape from Masno City into the mountains. Could this Shadow Fiend be a monster cub enthusiast?”

It wasn't the Shadow Demon who helped the monster cub escape, but Erin... Shazo opened his mouth, but didn't correct Dim's misunderstanding. He'd wait until Beatrice detected Erin's bloodline power, and then let Beatrice explain to Dim.

However, Dim's words also reminded Xia Zuo of something:

The Shadow Fiend has no interest in monster cubs; to be precise, it is only interested in human targets whose shadows can be devoured.

If we assume that the Shadow Fiend is on its way to find the monster cubs, then it must find evidence that these fleeing monster cubs are of benefit to the Shadow Fiend.

Currently, there is no evidence to support this claim, and Xia Zuo's hypothesis seems more like unfounded speculation.

However, an hour later, Beatrice's secret message confirmed to Shazo and Dim that the Shadow Demon was indeed heading towards the group of monster cubs.

Incidentally, Beatrice's secret message also explained to Shazo why Erin wasn't worried about having her memories read.

When the Shadow Fiend advances to the cube level, it will transform from a two-dimensional monster into a three-dimensional monster, its form changing from flat to three-dimensional.

In addition to changes in appearance, Shadow Fiend will also undergo a significant mutation during this process.

Just like the initial mutation when a dragon is born, Shadow Fiend's mutation is also a random mutation, and he can only choose one mutation direction.

Because the Shadow Demon's physical structure is not complex, the mutation directions they can choose are relatively limited. In addition, there is a certain probability that the mutation will be passed on to their offspring intact during inheritance. As a type of demon, the Shadow Demon has become the most complete demon in the Church of Demons.

The Shadow Demon Overlord who controls the Dark Chamber plane achieved his ultimate mastery of shadow energy manipulation, which is why he ascended to the throne of the plane's ruler.

In addition to shadow energy, Shadow Fiend also dabbles in mental energy.

When Xia Zuo was working in the Poseidon City action team, he used [Flesh Control] to identify the body toxins of the Cube Shadow Demon.

At that time, Xia Zuo suffered from a negative effect called "severe self-doubt".

This negative effect is the mental power controlled by the Shadow Demon. Anyone who comes into contact with it will be infected by its mental energy and suffer from severe self-doubt.

There are very few Shadow Fiends who undergo mutations in the direction of spiritual energy, after all, the leader of Shadow Fiends follows the path of shadow energy.

Chapter 22 Sealing the Shadow Demon

As luck would have it, the Shadow Demon that Erin encountered was unconventional, following the path of spiritual energy.

Its special ability is [Fictional Memory] – a bizarre ability to weave false memories to resist [Memory Reading].

The Shadow Fiend had ulterior motives when he helped Erin fabricate her memories.

Instead of keeping its promise to Erin and sealing Erin's true memories in a certain area of ​​Erin's brain, it stuffed the true memories into the little brain of the monster cub.

It's obvious that Shadow Fiend did this to blackmail Erin with his true memories, forcing her into becoming his slave.

Now, what Xia Zuo and Dim need to do is to bring back Erin's true memories before the Shadow Demon destroys the monster cubs.

Otherwise, this individual who first became a mage and then awakened his bloodline power would be considered a true madman.

The Shadow Fiend's false memories are like a virus, slowly spreading in Erin's mind, constantly altering other real memories.

According to Beatrice's secret message, the false memories implanted in Erin's body will eventually transform her into a cold-blooded, cunning, and cunning spy who is adept at disguising herself, deeply rooted in the city's mage ranks.

Upon learning all this, Xia and Zuo immediately sped up their pursuit of the Shadow Demon.

After a long search, the two finally spotted the Shadow Demon on the mountainside of a desolate mountain at dusk that day.

The blood-red sunset dyed the mountains and forests red, and a ghostly black shadow moved through the shade of the trees, using the shadows as springboards to leap and bound forward, trying its best to avoid the huge object in the sky.

Dim lowered the airship's altitude, so that the bottom of the cabin was almost touching the crown of the tree canopy.

Xia Zuo fiddled with the ship's detection array, using both hands to grip the joystick on the control panel and shake it left and right, trying to lock the ring on the holographic map onto the dark figure.

Once night falls and the sky darkens, Shadow Fiend can use the darkness to disappear into the black night sky.

We must catch it before the sun completely sinks below the horizon!

"Done, Dim! The turret has locked onto the target!" Shazo wiped the sweat from his forehead.

The airship ascended, its bow tilting upwards, and a cannon barrel extended from the bottom of the cabin—this was the airship's built-in small pulse energy turret, capable of rapidly firing 10 energy pulse shells on a single charge, each with a power of up to 100 points. A salvo could destroy a small hilltop. To avoid being affected by the blast wave, the airship had to climb to a height of 30 meters.

Once the airship was out of the blast radius, Dim slammed his right fist into the launch button on the control panel. "You'll regret this, Shadow Fiend!"

"Bang bang bang!!" Short, dense explosions erupted in the woods below, drawing a perfect square bombardment zone in half a second, blocking all of Shadow Fiend's paths.

"The Shadow Fiend's energy readings haven't disappeared; it's still alive!" Shazo called out to Dim.

"Charging complete, launch!" Dim pressed the launch button again.

Ten crimson fireballs spewed from the cannon barrels and hurtled downwards, adding fuel to the already raging forest fire.

"Bang bang bang!!" Dust flew everywhere, trees snapped in half and fell into the sea of ​​fire, and lush green grass turned into black scorched earth.

"Perfect timing! The Shadow Fiend's energy reading is only one-third of what it used to be." Xia Zuo walked towards the hatch. "I'll seal it off. You hurry up and put out the fire."

"Alright, hurry back." Dim waved behind him.

After Xia Zuo left the cabin, Dim accelerated the airship to full speed, circling the edge of the fire several times and scattering large amounts of fire extinguishing oil. Before the fire got out of control, he contained the forest fire to this small hill.

Xia Zuo used his flight technique to land on the ground, simultaneously activating his [Toxin Sensing] ability, and followed the poisonous smoke in the air into the center of the sea of ​​fire.

Layers of magical barriers and shields enveloped him, blocking the flames licking at his clothes and the acrid smoke, allowing Xia Zuo to reach the side of a crater without hindrance.

The Cube Shadow Fiend was crouching in the dark crater, seemingly trying to heal its wounds, or perhaps lying in ambush.

Xia Zuo will not give his opponent a chance to launch a sneak attack.

He clapped his hands in front of him, casting the [Blazing Shield] spell. The magical shield surrounding him burst into flames, making him appear as if he were standing right in the middle of a bonfire.

In order to withstand the bombardment, Shadow Fiend consumed a large amount of shadow energy and was now helpless against Shazo, who was like a fireman.

It let out a hiss and transformed into a wandering black snake, darting around the edge of the embers, trying to escape the sea of ​​fire.

Xia Zuo did not chase after them.

Ever since he mastered the [Binding Ability Field], he had been wanting to test the spell's effectiveness in actual combat.

Xia Zuo pointed at the winding black snake, and a beam of crimson light shot out from his fingertip.

Following Xia Zuo's will, the light constructed an impenetrable wall of flames wherever it passed, with one scorching obstacle after another blocking the black serpent's path, ultimately trapping it within a small container of flames.

The Shadow Fiend was forced to reveal its true form, spewing out black smoke to ward off the scorching flames from the container.

Xia Zuo suddenly clenched his right hand, and the square flame container collapsed and compressed inward, turning into a red light orb the size of a fireball.

"So the binding force field can really be used like this~" Xia Zuo chuckled.

That sequence of actions was something that had never appeared in textbooks before; it was a completely new spell that Xia Zuo invented on the spot based on his understanding of the binding energy field.

The principle is to use a beam energy field to construct an energy shield, and use this shield as a cage to seal the Shadow Fiend.