The crystal window shattered, and Francis II smashed through the window and landed on a layer of soft carpet.

Rug?

The old king realized in an instant that something was wrong, and he rolled over as fast as he could—for a moment, he almost forgot that he was an old man, and in fact, he did make a movement that was impossible for his age—and when he was on his feet, he quickly glanced at his surroundings, and saw the familiar lounge, the familiar golden and red carpet and couch, and a fully regenerated monster standing not far away, The monster's twisted human body still had strips of cloth from the squire's uniform, and the window that should have been smashed was intact.

Hallucinogens? Spiritual suggestion? When?

Francis II was alarmed, but there was no despair, he knew that since he could still realize that something was wrong, it meant that his mind was still his own, and as long as he could still think, the situation would not get out of control!

The old king quickly sketched a few runes in front of him, blessing himself with protective spells one by one, and at the same time turned the strange ring with the black swirling cloud symbol on his left hand, and at the same time, the regenerated flesh monster had already let out a roar and rushed forward.

It pounced on Francis II, knocking the aging king to the ground, and then frantically biting at the prey beneath him with its terrifying, twisted and festering jaws, and clouds of shadow smoke and dust permeated the prey, enveloping the monster's figure.

A shadow mist suddenly appeared in the other corner of the room, and the figure of Francis II condensed in the shadow mist, the old king raised his left hand, a hazy glimmer floated on the surface of the strange ring he was wearing, and a strange voice seemed to be mixed with several voices came from his mouth: "Born in the realm of shadows, prostrate in the shadows, the descendants of the Covenant need your help!" ”

In the Shadow Proving Ground, Amber and Thordrin arrive in a clearing in the middle of the cavern, studying the area curiously.

The clearing was elevated above the surrounding area, so it was not flooded, and it was clear that a large amount of equipment had been housed in the dry clearing, as there were still many of the remaining grooves and unremoved magic pipes scattered around the outer edge of the clearing, but these were not the things that Amber and Toldling were most curious about.

What made them most curious was a circular pit in the center of the clearing with a diameter of about ten meters.

The circular pit seemed to descend down the steps in layers, until it sank to a depth of about a meter below the platform, and on each of the "steps" inside it, a large number of complex magic patterns and dimmed magic crystals could be seen, and at the bottom of the pit, only a fragmented ancient metal device could be seen—the most central component had apparently not survived the erosion of a thousand years, and it had been completely unrecognizable in the poorly preserved environment of the cave.

"It looks like some kind of facility used to open a spatial door," Thorderling said, based on his knowledge of ancient Gondor technology, "but this is the first time I've seen a spatial door that lies on the ground, or even embedded in the ground......"

"I've never seen it again," Amber looked down, "but I think there's gold in the pile of metal down there......"

Thorderling glanced at Amber silently, then turned his head to look around, "Speaking of which, what about Miss Tyr?" ”

"She's said it's a comfortable place to stay in, and she's going to find a place to sleep," Amber waved her hand, "and I'm probably soaking in some waterhole now." Don't worry about it, anyway, if you soak enough, you will float up on your own. ”

Then she frowned slightly, and looked down at the shattered metal device below: "Ranger, you stay here, I'm going to the Shadow Realm to have a look." ”

Thorderling immediately became serious: "What did you find?" ”

"I'm not sure yet, I'll have to wait until I get back."

Amber left these words, and the whole figure of the person had turned into a hazy black smoke in the air, and drifted away with the wind.

Thorderling was a little stunned to watch Amber enter the Shadow Realm so neatly, and he didn't react for a while: "...... Didn't you say that this half-elf is usually cowardly? ”

Amber, who had already entered the Shadow Realm, could not hear what Thorderling was saying, she just allowed her perception to fall rapidly in that state of crossing the two realms, and after a very brief moment, she was already standing on the ground of the Shadow Realm.

A long strand of black hair danced in the air without wind, and the lower half of her body was shrouded in a hazy cloud of shadows, and Amber, who had taken the form of a shadow fairy, opened her eyes and observed the scene in front of her curiously.

The cavern was black and white, invisible light making everything in the cavern visible, and in front of her, where what should have been a circular pit, was surging with swirling black clouds.

As she perceived on the "mortal" level, a door had opened here—only in the Shadow Realm.

Amber watched curiously at the swirling black clouds, but one hand involuntarily pressed her chest: "Strange...... How is that inexplicable familiarity gone...... I felt like I was here......"

She was just halfway through her self-talk when an old trembling voice suddenly came from the cloud: "...... Residents crawling in the shadows...... The descendants need your help......"

Amber's eyes widened, and the familiarity that had made her disregard for safety, even resisting her own "cowardice", came out of the clouds again, but before she could step forward, many other auras suddenly appeared in the shadow realm and she stopped her movements.

She quickly took a few steps back, and as she retreated, hazy figures emerged from all directions, tall and slender figures, dressed in short robes or robes painted with strange symbols, vaguely human, but their bodies seemed to be made of smoke, and the smoke rolled and surged under their symbol-painted clothes, never shaped, only strange to describe.

These are the natives of the Shadow Realm - the ubiquitous but unobservable natives who can be found anywhere in the Shadow Realm, but almost never a Shadow Master can ever see them in person, and even Amber himself has a very limited number of interactions with them.

The shadow dwellers emerged from some of their hidden phases and scrambled towards the door, towards the swirling cloud of black smoke, many of them passing by Amber, occasionally stopping to glance at the latter, as if Amber's appearance of being a shadow creature and a physical creature made them curious, but none of the Shadow Dwellers actually stopped to talk to Amber.

"Ahem!" In the end, Amber couldn't help it, and stepped forward to grab a person and asked, "Where are you going?!" ”

Dealing with the Shadow Dwellers is dangerous, these powerful and strange creatures possess knowledge and powers beyond human comprehension, and they can easily tear to shreds uninvited guests who enter the Shadow Realm, even the most high-ranking and even legendary among mortals, but Amber knows that these Shadow Dwellers will not attack her.

However, this "friendship" is limited to not attacking themselves, and based on past communication experience, the Shadow Dwellers do not seem to understand the current inhabitants, and their response methods are strange and broken, and it is very difficult to communicate.

As she expected, the Shadow Dwellers responded with only a few messy and broken words: "...... Response...... Bring back ...... It's not time to ......."

The shadow dwellers who had been held in suddenly vanished, easily breaking away from Amber's hands.

Amber watched in amazement as the shadow dwellers poured into the depths of the black mist, and almost subconsciously, she slowly reached out and touched a treasured thing from her arms.

It was a strange ring, the off-white metal ring that lacked decoration made it look unattractive, and on the ring, a black swirling pattern could be seen, as if it were exactly the same as the black smoke swirl in front of him.

"Dad...... Mother...... Is that ...... you on the other side?"

The shadow dwellers who appeared around the "gate" had already entered the depths of the black mist, but the black fog still showed no sign of stopping, Amber stopped in front of the black fog and hesitated for a long time, and finally enveloped herself with a shadow mist, and then took a step forward.

Francis II trembled and lowered his left hand with the ring, forcing the Shadow Seal Ring to throb his nerves when the blood did not match, but the price was worth it.

In the center of the room, the monster swooped down on the position of his shadow avatar, and the space was torn open a huge chasm, and a dozen strange and terrifying shadow creatures poured out of the rift, these shadow creatures were obviously extremely powerful around the rift, and they easily tore apart the powerful and terrifying flesh monster that could barely be killed without even using any spells.

Before the shadow creatures pounced on him, Francis II decisively reversed the summoning spell and sent the terrifying, dark creatures back to where they had come from.

The spatial rift in the room hadn't gone yet, but Francis II had breathed a sigh of relief, and he went to the place where the monster had died, hoping to find some clues from the broken flesh to determine who had killed him.

But just as he could bend down to check, a violent crash suddenly came from the doorway.

The old king immediately turned around, tensed his nerves and stared in the direction of the door.

With the sound of a crash coming from outside the door, mixed with the screeching sound of some kind of magical prohibition being broken, Francis II felt the barrier that enveloped the room suddenly disappear, and then the door slammed open, and a sweaty Master Duke rushed in.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, are you alright?! The archmage shouted as he rushed in, and then he saw the monster at the feet of Francis II for the first time, and the dark chasm that still lay in mid-air," ...... O goddess of magic! I was trapped in a magic trap for ten minutes! I thought everything was irreparable! ”

"Master Duke," Francis II looked warily at the legendary mage in front of him who had been loyal to the royal family for decades, and once again quietly stroked the ring on his left hand, "you are trapped in a trap?" ”

"Yes," the old magician said with a look of shame on his face, "I was careless, I was trapped in some kind of mirror space the moment I went out, if it weren't for Prince Edmund noticing the anomaly and breaking the seal from the outside, I don't know how long I would have lingered in those mirror images......"

"Edmund?"

"I'm here." Prince Edmund's voice came from outside the door, and in the next second, the young prince, who was already fully armed, appeared in front of Francis II, and the old king noticed that the young man had a fine layer of sweat on his forehead and a wound on his hand, which was probably caused by the forced impact of the seal.

"Father, fortunately you are safe and sound...... I almost ordered someone to blow up this wall. ”

Francis II finally breathed a sigh of relief: "It's a good thing I have the Shadow Ring with me. ”

"You ought to wear it," said the young prince, smiling, as he walked with Duke the Sorcerer, "if you don't wear it, how will Mr. Clement test his newly-made pet?" ”

Francis II was stunned: "Mr. Clement? ”

Duke the Legendary Mage stepped forward, and a ray of corrosion leaped silently from his fingertips, piercing Francis II's chest.

"My real name, Your Majesty."