Shadow Hack
chapter-409

"Those are toad tongues!"

Li Yunmu fiercely stamped on the ground as his eyes went wide.

He had to accept that the group of thousand toads which was guarding the boundary stele were extremely formidable. The power of those fireballs with a thousand meters of range was already extremely horrifying, but they could also cover a long distance in a short time.

Li Yun hadn't imagined that even after stealthily moving past the defenders, he still wouldn't be able to escape their attack which reached him in the brief two seconds.

There was a distance of three hundred meters between the two of them, but a toad had reached him through such a distance easily. When he'd been noticed, the ten or so toads which had the fastest reaction instantly turned their heads and simultaneously spit out their long tongues which stretched over a hundred meters.

The tongues were usually rolled up in their abdomens, but once they stretched out… Even if one barely scratched Li Yun, then given his present level of strength, he might not die, but he would be gravely injured.

"Finished."

Li Yunmu knew that the attempt ended in failure.

Even with his profound combat experience, Li Yun would be unable to dodge the extremely fast tongues.

Even if his Insect Step had reached seventh level, it was still impossible for him to dodge. After finding their prey, the defender toads had launched their attack at a frightening speed. When Zheng Quan and Zhang Yuan saw it, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they didn't know what sort of life-form the human-shaped shadow was, their minds quickly made the connection.

The first person who came to their mind was the one whom they had believed to have been eaten alive by the giant ants long ago, Li Yunmu. After all, the only person who was capable of accomplishing it was him, who had kept himself hidden from the start.

The control of the island falling into the hands of Li Yunmu was an outcome which neither Zheng Quan nor Zhang Yuan desired to see. Luckily, the next instant, a dazzling light erupted from the boundary stele, illuminating Li Yun who had been moving in stealth, and the terrifying toads attacked him.

Their opportunity existed at that instant. Zheng Quan especially couldn't conceal the craziness and excitement in his eyes. Originally, his aim hadn't been to lead the descenders to seize the control of the island, but to come and find an underground cave according to the guidance he'd received.

That was because the guide had clearly stated that at the end of the cave, there was a path to return to their plane. However, when all was said and done, Zheng Quan didn't follow the instructions. He had ambition, which had inflamed after learning that as long as he could obtain the acknowledgment of the boundary stele at the center of the island, he could obtain control of the island.

At that instant, Zheng Quan instantly changed his original plan. He was no longer willing to just find the path to return to their plane, but wanted to become more powerful. It was a thought which was usually concealed at the depths of his heart, something he wouldn't dare to reveal.

He wanted to use the Origin World as well as the island under his control to allow his Zheng Family to break away from the manipulation of the quasi deities and battle sages.

Yes, just because of this, Zheng Quan changed all of his plans. Moreover, at the last moment, he had also obtained Luo Honghua's approval and backing. Clearly, she was also thinking the same thing.

Zheng Quan was thinking of strengthening the Zheng Family while Luo Honghua was thinking of strengthening her Luo Family. It was obvious that if they opened the passage between the Origin World and their plane immediately, allowing the quasi deities of their world to descend, they'd lose all their value. At most, they would be considered to have rendered tremendous merits and would receive some special treatment.

But that would be all.

As long as the quasi deities reached the Origin World, their Zheng and Luo Families would lose all their authority. Moreover, the control of the island would also fall into the hands of the quasi deities.

Because of that, Zheng Quan and Luo Honghua changed their plan. Although they would still look for that passage to home, they wanted to first exploit the good opportunity of descending to the Origin World and strengthen themselves.

This was the reason why both of them had been enduring Zhang Yuan until then. As for why they hadn't shown their hands, it was because they wanted Zhang Yuan to take the lead in everything during the trip.

The two of them had planned beautifully, but in the end, they had still ignored the existence of Li Yunmu. At that instant, when everyone including Li Yunmu himself had thought that Li Yun had chance even if he was only a few meters away, an extremely astonishing event happened.

"Shadow Carapace," Li Yun suddenly shouted out under his breath. When Li Yunmu heard it, even he couldn't make out the meaning of those two words.

"What does this mean? What flux skill is this shadow carapace?"

Li Yunmu was astonished because he had never cultivated it. He remembered his skills clearly and could guarantee that he had never cultivated one like that.

However, Li Yun had surprisingly unleashed a skill which Li Yunmu had never heard of, let alone cultivated?

[Ding, congratulations host. Your shadow is innately talented and has comprehended the first shadow skill under pressure. Your shadow Li Yun's strength has increased greatly.]

[Ding, congratulations host, because of your shadow Li Yun successfully comprehending a shadow skill, you have fulfilled the conditions required to upgrade the system to the sixth level. Do you wish to upgrade it?]

The system's voice promptly echoed in Li Yunmu's mind, leaving him dumbstruck.

"Shadow Skill? You mean the shadows can also individually comprehend their innate skills instead of completely copying their master's strength?"

It was unprecedented, but at that moment, Li Yunmu wasn't in the mood to gain a clear understanding of what had happened. Similarly, he wouldn't upgrade the system at such a time, for it would fall asleep.

At that moment, all of Li Yunmu's focus was on Li Yun who unleashed Shadow Carapace. He had believed that their endeavour had been a complete failure, but a new ray of hope lit up in his heart.

However, it was extinguished the next instant.

In front of the joint attack of the several tens of tongues, even if Li Yun had unleashed the recently comprehended technique, he still lost.

When it happened, he was just one step away from reaching his target. He was trying to dodge all the golden tongues trying to wrap around him when finally one coiled around his small body, and he instantly disappeared in the mouth of its owner.