Volume 7: The Hanged Man Chapter 39: The Black Shadow

　　The moment she saw that black shadow, Bernadette didn’t have time to be afraid and instinctively clenched her right hand, coalescing an ancient style lance.

　　This lance, from the tip to the handle, was dyed with a blob or a little bit of blood-colored dark red, emitting a strong aura of destruction that seemed to be able to harm a true deity.

　　”The Lance of Longinus”!

　　This gun once appeared in an untraceable ancient era, stained with the blood of a certain great being, and at this time, through a “mysterious reappearance”, it descended into the tomb of the “Black Emperor”.

　　However, Bernadette’s forward thrust did not have any effect because the tip of the spear was pointing behind her.

　　She was clearly going to attack the black shadow in front of her, but the “Lance of Longinus” strangely went backward.

　　The area seemed to be confused or distorted from front to back, left to right, up to down.

　　On top of the gray fog, inside the palace, Klein had already noticed the black shadow when it appeared in front of Bernadette, and without hesitation, he raised the “Star Staff” in his hand.

　　At this moment, he did not wait to see what the “Queen of Mysteries” would do before considering whether or not to offer his blessing, because the danger of the black shadow gave him, the angel of the “soothsayer” path, a clear sense of foreboding.

　　In addition, more importantly, Bernadette entered the “Black Emperor” tomb, from time to time can sense the presence of the black shadow, and Klein can not use the “source of the fortress” to provide real vision to find a clue.

　　This undoubtedly means terrible and dangerous.

　　When the various jewels inlaid on the top of the black cane lit up, the sound of bells echoed loudly in the area where Bernadette and the black shadow were located.

　　When!

　　The sound of the bell from the infinite distance was filled with an indescribable sense of emptiness, causing a stagnation and solidification that was visible to the naked eye within the “Black Emperor”, causing Bernadette’s figure to freeze there as if it were frozen, unable to make any movements.

　　However, the black shadow did not fall into the vortex of time, as if it was in another world with completely different underlying rules, moving forward like a shadow between the two contradictory rivers of destiny, the raging river and the almost static river.

　　This made it appear that it was merely slowing down its movements and not experiencing the effects of the illusory bells.

　　This was the first time Klein had encountered a similar situation since he was able to simulate this aspect of his ability.

　　–Although the extraordinary effect that he simulated through the “Star Staff” was certainly not the same as the original version, but no matter what, it was still able to reflect a certain degree of authority, and it was not easy to be ignored.

　　However, the slowing down of the black shadow’s movements also gave him the opportunity to make a second attempt.

　　This time, he stimulated the ability of the “Star Staff” itself, intending to transfer the “Mystic Queen” out of the “Black Emperor’s” mausoleum, so that she could first summarize her experience, and then consider whether or not to enter the The “Mysterious Queen” will be transferred out of the “Black Emperor’s” tomb.

　　Between the flashes of the jewels on the head of the staff, Bernadette’s body, which was almost close to the black shadow, disappeared into thin air.

　　In the next second, she appeared dozens of meters away, near the high platform in the mausoleum.

　　The transfer of the “Staff of Stars” had been interfered with, the intended target location had been distorted, and everything seemed extremely chaotic.

　　Bernadette, who was experienced enough not to be alarmed or panicked by being stranded inside the “Black Emperor”, raised her left hand and, while pressing the “Sage’s Forehead” to the center of her forehead, she traced the “Pale Death” with her fingertips. The mask of “Pale Death”.

　　The glittering metallic mask suddenly became soft and wriggled rapidly, as if to form a face that did not belong to Bernadette.

　　The face had soft features, with obvious characteristics of the southern continent, but it gave people an extremely strange and terrifying feeling, making everyone who witnessed it believe that once the outline of the face became clear enough, it would come to life, from the ancient times, from the land of eternal darkness where the dead lay dormant.

　　At that time, Bernadette’s body, spirit and consciousness will belong to this face.

　　As the face came to the fore, the stone walls and floor tiles inside the tomb of the “Black Emperor” began to weather, as fast as if they had been washed away by thousands or tens of thousands of years in just a second or two.

　　They quickly became mottled, constantly falling fragments or dusted by the wind, and between the cracks there grew a small, pale white hair.

　　In the blink of an eye, these fluffy hairs grew into white feathers, the surface of which seemed to be impregnated with yellowish oil.

　　The black figure’s aura was also decaying a little bit, as if it was taking big, wild steps towards the end point that was death.

　　Its color faded significantly, and its movements grew slower and slower.

　　Within the area of the pale mask, even the concept of “death” itself would fade away.

　　However, what is labeled “death” is not the end, when the stone walls and floor tiles inside the tomb weathered to a certain extent, when the black figure decayed to a certain stage, new stones began to be created, and the ethereal aura grew rapidly.

　　During this process, the black figure poked his right hand forward.

　　This palm, which was composed purely of shadows, pinched Bernadette’s neck at once from a distance of dozens of meters!

　　This was not achieved through the lengthening of the arm, but rather, the concept of distance was confused in that instant, and forty-five meters equaled forty-five centimeters.

　　That ghostly black palm didn’t exert too much force, it just made Bernadette feel a coldness.

　　In this coldness, she realized that she was unable to utilize the “Sage’s Forehead” and “Pale Death”, the two “0” grade seals.

　　Normally, as long as she infused her spirit and gave the appropriate thoughts, the seals on her body would react correctly and create different effects, but now, the default process and rules were interfered with and distorted, and no matter how much Bernadette turned her thoughts around, she couldn’t get the seals to make a single move.

　　It was like she was talking to air.

　　On top of the gray fog, after Klein’s attempt to transfer the “Queen of Mysteries” was unsuccessful, he didn’t waste any time and immediately sketched out a series of complex symbols and magical signs in his mind.

　　What he wanted to simulate was the Secret Mage’s “Spatial Concealment”, preparing to divide the place where Bernadette was from the “Black Emperor’s” tomb and hide it, so as to help the “Mysterious Queen”. “Mysterious Queen” to get rid of the current predicament.

　　In fact, this time to simulate the “source of peach blossoms” that fairy tale magic may be more appropriate, but considering that Bernadette was once an “occultist”, Klein thought it would be better to use “spatial concealment”. However, considering that Bernadette was once an occultist, Klein thought it would be better to use “Space Hiding”, otherwise the secret of the “Fool” might be exposed.

　　As for where he learned “spatial concealment”, of course, it was the newly promoted “magician” Forsyth.

　　Previously, Klein had rented “Lemanor’s Travel Notes” in the name of “World” Germaine Sparrow, and named Miss Magician to “record” it beforehand. He named Miss Magician to “record” the appropriate ability in advance.

　　Then, he released it again and again, recorded it again and again, and recalled the complete “travel notes” from within the fog of history, and it didn’t take long for him to master the knowledge and skills to simulate spells such as “spatial concealment”.

　　As the jewels on the Staff of Stars lit up, the area where Bernadette was located became a little deeper, as if a curtain of shadows had been woven over it.

　　The curtain twisted, hiding the space and isolating the black shadow and its hand.

　　This helped Bernadette’s neck regain its freedom.

　　In the next second, the pitch-black palm that had been forcibly separated from it moved forward again, touching the boundary of the hidden space.

　　In an instant, a transparent vortex-like “door” appeared in the void that could not be seen as abnormal, or rather, the “door” that already existed voluntarily traveled over from the hidden place and opened up in front of the pitch-black palm.

　　–All hidden spaces must have a door, but the location of the door depends on the creator’s idea.

　　The palm formed by the shadow quickly passed through the open door, entered the hidden space, and pinched Bernadette’s neck again, once again interfering with the connection between this “Queen of Mysteries” and the seal on her body, and distorting the corresponding order.

　　At the same time, the black figure raised its head and looked towards the top of the tomb.

　　It seemed to be looking at the “Source Castle” and the Kraven inside the “Source Castle” through the layers of space and time and the mist.

　　Klein’s eyelids instinctively fluttered.

　　He sensed that the black shadow had some knowledge of this place, and sensed that the other party was twisting something.

　　Without realizing it, Kraven’s expression became unusually stoic, and different kinds of jewels lit up on the “Staff of Stars” in his hand.

　　He wanted to try to “steal” the corresponding extraordinary ability of the other party, and only in this way would he have a chance to restrict the black shadow.

　　In order to increase the success rate of “stealing” the target’s ability, Klein tapped the edge of the mottled table with his left palm.

　　However, his “stealing” still failed, and he didn’t even get anything.

　　Because his target has long been free from the lock.

　　The black shadow was still in place, but had already escaped the lock!

　　Klein’s gaze was frozen for a moment, and then saw that black shadow flash, enter the hidden space, and close the distance between him and Bernadette.

　　This …… it distorts my true vision, causing me to see the situation as it was in the last second or even the last two seconds …… Klein’s thoughts flashed with a preliminary judgment of the failure just now, and decided to summon Will Onsettin’s historical pore image to let k “reboot” what happened in this area.

　　At this moment, Bernadette, who was unable to use the seal, let a piece of white, illusory swan feathers grow behind her back.

　　This is the “Ugly Duckling” of fairy tale magic, which allows Bernadette to reveal the incomplete ecology of the mythological creature while remaining conscious, twice a day for fifteen seconds each time.

　　Just then, her thoughts stirred again, boiled over, and accelerated into chaos.

　　This caused her Ugly Duckling magic to cut off before it had a chance to take effect.

　　Almost at the same time, she saw the black shadow stick to her body, soaking through like a viscous, highly corrosive liquid.

　　Bernadette’s eyes sank, suddenly sensing something, seizing the last moments of her mind’s clarity, she opened her mouth slightly and pronounced a Chinese word in a well-worded accent:

　　”Hometown ……”

　　The black shadow’s erosion stopped for a moment, and its upper body slowly lifted up, looking towards Bernadette.