Chapter 379 Astonishment  

The inside of Eldoria Vale presented a distinct biome from the outside, characterized by a dense mana presence and the oddly shaped flora and flora rich in various colors. Inhaling the white, hazy mist in the air instilled a profound sense of calm and clarity in one's mind.

Alex followed Xylena's lead as they made their way to the towering mountain peak that produced rich, dark elemental ore and housed the Voidshifter deep underground in its pitch-dark cave system. The mountain was itself priceless, but no one was allowed to mine the ore because it was the food source for Voidshiforers, and they were much more valuable than just the ore.

The entirety of Eldoria Vale was a place of wonder, filled with valuable things that were hardly found in any other place on the continent, which baffled many, but after the discovery of the hidden pocket of space, everything would make sense.

Alex knew little about the hidden pocket as all his knowledge came from a single video showing the plethora of life and vastness of the hidden space, made by Boras after he acquired the legacy, and he did so to sell entries into the space.

At the same time, Boras also made an offer to the Elven Empire, which they happily accepted, which was why, just a day after he published the video, he made it clear he would only start selling entries after one year and just months later he was declared a thief and the hardly seen on any platform.

As they reached the lair of the Voidshifters, Xylena came to a halt and began introducing each member and their experiences.

"Draven is an Assassin, so his strongest suit is his speed, sense, and staying undetected, and he would be responsible for informing us of any sneak attacks or the position of the Voidshifter when it does a void jump while also actively helping us,"

"Lyraena will be our support, as she would be responsible for healing, creating barriers, and casting illusions to trap a Voidshifter,"

"While I am an Archer and would damage from a distance, and we are all third-stage Elementalists," "I can tell that you are a battle mage, but that's about it, so if you can share what elements you wield and your style of fighting, then it would help us to communicate better in battle as you need to engage in a head-on battle," Xylena said as she handed threw a Sixth Rank night vision potion toward Alex. In the lair of Voidshifters, the concentration of diverse dark elements was exceptionally high, posing challenges to both sight and mana sense. So, in the absence of special means, relying on a night vision potion became a practical choice to avoid significant disadvantages against a foe that was known for its ambush speed.

"I am a sword user and wield the elements of Chaos and Darkness, and I am confident that I would fulfill the role you have hired me to do," Alex said, not sharing his time element skills even though he planned to test them.

"Do you even know how to deal with the Voidshifters? Because, from your oozing confidence, I can tell you don't even know what we are going to fight against, and your mistake could seriously affect you and us," Draven said, his aura pulsing, seeing Alex not sharing his strengths and weaknesses.

"Draven, we should respect his decision not to share his skills, but I hope you can back your words," Xylena said, seeing Alex standing there unaffected, gazing at her.

"Before we begin the search, let's make a few facts about the Voidshifters clear," Xylena said, looking toward Alex.

"As we know, Voidshifters are lone creatures, but it is also not uncommon to encounter a pair of them, so we need to be prepared to deal with two of them and have a plan of attack and retreat according to the situation,"

"If we encounter a single Voidshifter, everyone will take their role, and if we encounter two, then Edrith and Draven will take on one while Xylena and I will take the other, but if there are three or more, we make a retreat," "A Voidshifter could freely enter and exit the void, but after each jump, they need to exit in just a few seconds, and then they need to wait thirty seconds to two minutes before they can do it again,"

"They could also turn their bodies intangible, making them immune to physical and magical attacks, but they have limitations as they are also unable to attack."

"A Fifth Rank Voidshifter could stay intangible for three seconds and ten to twenty seconds for higher Rank, but in that state, their core keeps its physical state and could be crushed to sever their link and kill them,"

"However, destroying the shell of the core is easier said than done, and most Voidshifters employ this trick to bait one to attack and, at the last moment, shift their bodies and deliver a critical attack to their opponent, so be careful,"

"The other way to kill them is by destroying their brain, which is protected by a passive space shield that is hard to pierce, but it is disabled for a mere moment every time a Voidshifter uses a mental attack, which they mostly do when they are in danger," "So, the plan is simple. Xylena will cast a space isolation spell to make sure our target can't run away, and Edrith and Draven will push him to a corner, forcing him to use a mental attack, and when he does, I will pick his head, killing him," Xylena said, and seeing Alex having nothing to say she nodded before moving toward the cavernous chambers deep in the mountain. As they roamed the connected hollow chambers, they were welcomed with the sight of lines of protruding dark gems and gray crystals that shimmered in a hazy glow in pitch darkness, and it didn't take long for them to get ambushed by a middle-stage Sixth Rank Voidshifter.

The Voidshifter came out prepared as he appeared out of thin air mere meters away from the group, with the edges of his whip-like arms cloaked in space element, sending out a barrage of giant space energy slashes toward them.

The Voidshifter was a five-foot-long bug-like creature with a hunched back, six eyes lining his long dark skull, a large mouth lined with razor-sharp teeth, four long arms hanging down, and a long whip-like tail twice its size with him having no legs.

Its skin was pitch dark with great resistance to both physical and magical attacks, so everyone was expecting a long-drawn battle, as only when an opportunity presented itself for a final attack and made use of it would the battle end.

As planned, everyone moved into a formation, with Alex using his dark energy slashes to counter the attack as he used an airwalk to bridge the distance and clash head-on against the creature.

The Voidshifters were elementally strong creatures, so Alex didn't need to use Dragon Might to physically enhance his strength to face one, and he also wanted to test his time skill, which required him not to dominate in a battle.

So, when the creature focused on him, Alex used the Time Weav, the first skill unlocked by the sword that required his weapon to make physical contact to leave a residual temporal effect on the target.

After the recent upgrade and Alex Rank promotion, the skill had become stronger, and the limitations were gone, as now the effects could stack up to six times, which was a major upgrade from the previous no-effect stacking.

Alex cloaked his sword in pulsing chaotic mana and sword intent to cover the strange effect that would become apparent quickly and began clashing against the creature's moving arms, landing tens of strikes with each moment. It just took seven seconds after the battle started and two after Alex engaged for the nastiest temporal effect to trigger and stack twice, and to the astonishment of everyone, the creature stopped in track.

Alex didn't waste a moment, knowing the temporal freeze, which lasted six seconds on weaker opponents at best, would last a second or two at best.

In an instant, the aura around his sword flared before condensing on edge as he stepped to the side with his sword held high and swung it sideways in a flash, targeting the soft side of the belly where its core lay to deal the most damage.

Alex has not tested the skill because it burned through too much mana, as 10k mana was burned every second and 1.8 million for the hundred and eighty seconds, and on a head-on clash, it was bearable, but on a battlefield, it would not be worth it.

The sword tore through the belly, swiftly coming to a halt as it struck the protected core, but still taking away close to 20% of the creature's health.

As the attack ended, the creature also broke free from the momentary pause, and with a ghostly roar, it flung its tail at Alex.

Its body swiftly began to lose its color as it turned intangible, and in the next instant, the creature was gone from sight, having done the void jump.