Chapter 900 - Horrifying Region
The shadow beast form clone immediately sensed something amiss as it looked at its wing, noticing that a bump had formed on it. It was strange since it didn't notice the bump's appearance before. Only after it felt some oddity did it notice its existence.
The shadow bump was sentient, squirming in the wing as it seemed bound to it. Moreover, it was struggling, stretching whatever shadow that bound it taut as it moved out, making the scene look like what one would see from a horror movie.
The clone immediately ripped it off from its wing and threw it away. Though, after flying for some distance, the shadow bump dissolved into specks of shadow and vanished. A second later, the bump reappeared on the wing, startling the clone.
Moreover, this time, a string of words resounded in its mind. With that, using their shared thoughts, it resounded in the minds of all the clones, including Krune.
"Give us more land."
"Give us more power."
"Increase our numbers."
"Give me an heir."
"Help us."
"Please protect us."
"Become our land's guardian."
As the voices echoed in their minds, all the clones were unable to concentrate as the voices started to become a cacophony, resounding all at the time same time, proceeding on about in a loop.
The clone immediately unleashed its Mental Energy, forming a barrier around the bump, heaving a sigh of relief once the voices in its head disappeared. It then felt relieved at the fact its Mental Energy was useful in this situation.
As Mental Energy was related to the mind and the soul, it proved of help here. With that, building upon that line of thought, the clone used Mental Energy to eradicate the bump. Unfortunately, the Mental Energy just passed through the shadow bump without affecting it in the slightest.
Sighing, the clone continued to fly, intending to first find a safe place to bank upon. In the meantime, the remaining four clones had also arrived at the scene. They too changed into the shadow beast form and took off to the air, unaffected by the shadow environment now that their forms were suitable to the habitat.
Among them, one of the clones flew straight, intending to reach the other side of the shadow area. The remaining clones each headed to one of the floating islands. Their objective hadn't changed yet, intending to find a place either rich in mineral deposits or a place with an abundance of Godly Energy that could be drawn upon.
The clone with a shadow bump on its wing had been flying for a considerable duration, now having reached the deepest part of the shadow region. The shadow region seemed to be the stretch dividing two or more continents.
This created a natural chasm that prevented the populace from the continents from interacting with the others. On top of that, the sole functioning paths seemed to have been under the control of the Empires of the respective continent that barred entry to outsiders.
This way, they fully monopolized their respective continents to their use and ruled over them for tens of thousands of years. Without any visitors, the mentality of the people in each continent was dictated by the rulers.
In such a manner, they were ruling their respective continent without any threat. Moreover, the borders were too powerful for anyone below the level of an immortal to even dare try and pass through.
'How did Cultivator and the other strong people arrive in Zamuria Continent in the first place?' Krune wondered as the clones continued to fly.
The clone with the shadow bump on its wings soon approached the biggest floating island of the entire region. It was massive, spanning a radius of 30 kilometers.
It was a massive piece of land that was floating in the region of the shadow. Also, unlike most of the floating islands the clones had come across, this place was rich with Godly Energy. Moreover, the number of indigenous people on the land was also the highest here.
They also seemed to have been considerably developed to the extent there were even a couple of cultivators in the Nascent God Realm. On top of that, unlike the other natives, the ones living on this island seemed to have integrated with the shadows the most.
Albeit their eyes, the remainder of their bodies were fully composed of the shadows. This shadow seemed free, like fluid as they were able to change their forms as they pleased.
Another strange fact to take note of was how they didn't prostrate on the ground the moment they witnessed the clone. Rather, they just looked at it with calm, eerily so. More and more of them came out of their homes to stand outside.
The housing structures were similar to those in the Zamuria Continent, ranging from single-story buildings to even multi-story ones. The only difference was its style as there didn't exist any door while the roofs were smooth, allowing for the unhindered flow of fluid as if it was designed for constant rain.
The clone noticed how there was a statue in the center of the floating island. It was almost 30 meters tall and resembled the massive shadow beast it had seen at the entrance.
The island was different from the other floating islands due to the fact that a thin stream of shadow exited the island like a waterfall and connected with the sea of shadow on the bottom. Surprisingly, the flow was in reverse here, moving against gravity, heading from the ground and into the floating island.
The place was also dark, faintly glistening with a crimson hue that barely illuminated the surroundings, creating a bleak atmosphere. Thus, upon seeing the activities that spanned below, even though it wished to bank on the dense Godly Energy in the place that seemed to be replenished with a Godly Energy vein, it was apprehensive about doing so.
After all, the shadow bump on its wings had increased from one to two by now. Moreover, as it concentrated on the second bump, it could hear numerous voices, the source of which seemed to have been the people on the island below it.
As the number of indigenous people appearing on the outside increased, the number of shadow bumps on its wings increased as well.
Thanks to their shared thoughts, all the other clones immediately vacated the area, speeding towards the opposite side to find a path of escape.
After all, something worse was happening to the clone on whose wings, bumps continued to form. The people continued to appear and unanimously stared at the clone. A couple of seconds later, when the bumps on its wings hit the double digits, a formless strength seeped into it, making the clone feel as if it could harness an intangible strength and become a powerhouse.
A second later, it was drunk on its newfound power that seemed inexhaustible.
For some reason, it flew forward and landed on the ground, causing the native population to rip parts of their bodies and create a massive pedestal over which it perched itself. As time passed, its body size continued to increase while the bumps on its wings reached three digits.
"Fuck!" Krune cursed as he massaged his forehead, alleviating the pain as tens of thousands of voices whispered in his mind. He had cut off the connection with that particular clone when he realized…it was no longer a part of him anymore.
The voices overwhelmed the clone's mind and destroyed its sense of self, turning it into an instrument that was a receptor of the wishes of the populace, turning into a wish-granting object. From a clone of Krune, it had become an entirely different entity, no longer a part of him.
"Kaawhheeee!" The shadow beast that had once been his clone raised its beak and let out an ear-piercing cry, causing the indigenous populace to roar in response. A couple hundred thousand humanoid beings were outside now, only now prostrating on the ground as they silently revered the being in the center.
The other clones had flown far away by now, reaching the other side as they began to search for an exit, soon finding a tunnel in a hill that peeked into the wall of tornadoes that formed the border in the place. Upon entering it, they changed forms, only now heaving a sigh of relief before proceeding into it.
After traveling for a long time, they drilled their way out, appearing in what seemed to be a stretch of water. Surprisingly, this ocean stretched for as long as one could see, with no sign of any major landmass.
The four remaining clones split up and flew away after turning into a bird-type demon beast. Eventually, one of the clones appeared at what seemed to be a volcanic crater. It was a lone volcano in the middle of the ocean.
What was surprising was the fact that the clone sensed a Godly Energy vein in it. Moreover, whenever the energy in the Godly Energy vein exceeded a certain extent, it would cause a spike in the energy levels within, causing the lava to churn and spill out.
With that, it was a good place since every time it erupted, it spewed forth numerous ores and minerals. That would be enough to get ahold of a variety of materials for his forging. The clone also noticed how the size of the volcano was steadily increasing as it developed.
Moreover, the fact that there wasn't any sign of human or demon beast activity or any landmass in the vicinity made this the perfect location for Krune to reap benefits.
As there wasn't enough time to mine, forge, and transport the equipment to Krune before he entered the Sub-Realm, the clone just picked a suitable spot and committed suicide, unleashing its Land Incarnation.
Moreover, this Land Incarnation was slightly modified to make the laws in it act as an energy-gathering formation. A tinge of it touched the Godly Energy vein, pulling forth energy from it as it was stored in the energy-gathering formation.
Krune planned to later revive a fragment of Little Krune from this Land Incarnation for his later explorations. As the other clones didn't manage to find anything significant, all of them too appeared near the volcano and committed suicide in the same place, increasing the strength of the Land Incarnation.
With the connection to that particular clone cut off, Krune's mental state no longer took damage. Thankfully, all the fragments revived in the Lawless Plains. It seemed a connection cut off was similar to death, and hence, the fragment revived soon after in the Lawless Plains.
After leaving behind one fragment in the area, the remaining six fragments combined into Little Krune as the teleportation formation was activated. All of them, including 90 Pseudo-Wisps, arrived in the subspace.
Followed by a deep sigh, Krune opened his eyes, gazing at the streaming crowd before him and muttered, "Well, that was a wild ride."