Chapter 180 Experimenting With Shadow Crawlers

In the dark field, the cries of the monsters could still be heard. A boy was covered in a cage made up of triangular links joined together to form long blackish-purple chains. Even in such a dire situation, covered by enemies from everywhere, he was laughing.

If someone saw him in such a state, he might think that he had lost it and gone mad, but little did they know that he was completely stable. He was laughing because of the beautiful scene before him.

Monsters that made out of all the traps and reached him cried at him before trying to jump on him to devour every ounce of his flesh and drink every sip of blood inside him, but what they didn't know was that their happy dream of consuming him would remain only a dream.

The monsters approached Rishi with their mouths dripping in saliva; from the look on their faces, they couldn't wait to tear his flesh apart and chew him alive just as they were close to him. Rishi's eyes shone again in a blackish-purple glow, and he pointed his left hand, which too was covered in some blackish-purple mist, towards them.

A smile came to his tired face as he laughed and said "Come out my babies; I have prepared a meal for you" "Rise up, 'Shadow Crawlers'; it's time for dinner."

Nothing happened for a second, and the monsters loosened their guard, thinking their opponent had gone insane, but just as they were about to jump at him, strange black tentacles came out of nowhere from below them and started crawling on their faces.

First, they blocked the monster's vision, making them stop before entering their mount and nose. The tentacle-like creatures were surprisingly fast and stretchable. They were like rubber; they stretched inside the nasal cavity of the monsters and blocked their windpipe, making it impossible for them to breathe.

The monsters cried and tried to struggle, but nothing worked. These creatures were somewhat immune to physical attacks, and it only took a while before the tentacles blocked the respiration of the monsters they targeted. After some time, the moving bodies of the monsters stopped, signaling that the souls of all of them had been liberated.

The tentacles slowly came out of the corpses of the monsters and started to absorb the dark mist from their bodies. They grew in size and moved around joyfully like kids.

Rishi laughed and praised, "Well done, now come here fast." The tentacle-like creatures shook and followed his command; he sent them to the front of the cage he had made. Many injured monsters were there, which were very easy targets for these 'Shadow Crawlers' to consume and gain strength from.

It was already the third batch; there were already more than sixty 'Shadow Crawlers." It required very little mana to summon them, and they could sustain themselves as long as they fed enough, with the bonus of getting stronger the more shadows they consumed.

"If I want, I can just rest, but I don't have such a long time. I think it's now time to counterattack. I don't believe they are endless, and even if they are, there must be some other way to clear this trial, maybe some portal or some door."

"I just need a small break to recover my mana; I should rest a little bit and start creating more 'Shadow Crawlers' later. In the meantime, I should recover using the 'regeneration' skill and use 'Enhanced Focus' to increase my shadow control."

He asked the 'Shadow Crawlers' to protect him before entering a meditative state. He first used 'regeneration' to recover, after which he activated 'Enhanced Focus' and started to meditate. He knew it was not a very good idea, but he didn't have any better plan.

He rested for an hour before starting to create his army again; this time he realized that he could summon more of them and even manipulate them a little. "The meditation is paying off, just the pace is very slow."

After going through many sessions, he got an understanding. He realized from the information inside his memory what a shadow really is. After understanding it, his proficiency increased a lot. He could now sense shadows in the surroundings. He realized that the light blocked by an object forms a shadow.

It depends on the shape and size of the object, but then a question came to his mind: what about the shadow without an object? It took him some time, but he finally guessed that it was similar to a soul surviving without a body. If a soul can, then what stops a shadow too?

A shadow is limited and bounded when it is attached to a living being, but after the being dies, it is free. Its destiny is in its hands. Its shape is decided by it. Its size is decided by it.

He called a giant 'Shadow Crawler.' It was now one foot tall; it looked like tall grass from far, but from close, it looked very ugly. Its form was very bad; it was like a mold of a claw. Rishi closed his eyes and thought about a good shape for it. He suddenly remembered the octopus shape, and he made some more changes to it before putting his hand on the top of the shadow crawler and saying, "Transform; you are free now, not bound by the limitations of the body. Hear my command and change into a more complex being. I, your master, seek your assistance. Change for me!"

The 'Shadow Crawler's' whole body shook. It released a black mist and started shrinking. After shrinking, it looked smaller, but when Rishi touched it and saw its shape, He petted it. His new form was that of an octopus-like creature, but instead of eight tentacles, it had four tentacles.

He had assumed it to have sharp teeth that could tear apart the flesh of any opponent. Trying to change his tentacles to have sharp daggers at the end looked like a waste to him, so he chose to invest every offense in jaws and sharp teeth.

The attack method he chose was simple: first, the Shadow Crawler would use its tentacles as a rope to get close to the head of the opponent, and once its mouth reached there, it could just tear apart its neck and destroy its opponent.

Rishi looked closely at the first encounter of the newly upgraded Shadow Crawler with the monster; the shadow crawler used its physical resistance and crawled through his chains to find a suitable location. Its new, strong tentacles made it possible for it to climb on chains.