Chapter 1928: 544 Am I dreaming?

…

The so-called shadow nodes

refer to an interface where the ubiquitous shadow plane touches the material layers of various spaces.

Through these nodes,

creatures that had mastered the beginner techniques of the shadows could move freely between the two spaces.

Due to the unique nature of the Shadow World,

most spaces throughout the Multiverse had nodes leading to the shadow plane, albeit in varying numbers.

Only a few places like the once Heavenly Family Palace, the lower three levels of purgatory, and the depths of the astral world, where the energy levels were too high, even omnipresent shadows couldn’t penetrate or fuse, thus no corresponding shadow nodes could form there.

Matthew noticed

that the shadow creature which had just attacked him had appeared suddenly, given that their location wasn’t anywhere near the front lines approaching the conquest of the Shadow Castle.

Therefore, it was highly probable that the shadow creature had executed its ambush through a shadow node.

In fact,

not just Matthew,

on the plains in front of the castle, many devils who were still far from the frontline had also suffered similar attacks from shadow creatures.

These series of ambushes had caught the devils off guard.

The situation on the battlefield looked even more chaotic.

Matthew took a moment to check—

Although shadow creatures made sweeping strikes due to the geographical advantage of the nodes and scored some successes, under the Inspiration of the Summoning Banner, devils were united as never before, with steadfast Will.

This did not undermine their morale but instead fueled the devils’ raging fires.

As the devils grew wary,

the efficiency of attacks from the shadow nodes plummeted sharply.

Both sides quickly returned to a stalemate.

It was during this period

that Matthew, using his keen Insight, successfully traced back to the origin of that shadow creature:

“Found it!”

“Right here…”

Matthew pointed to a spot of space about twelve inches away, roughly just up to his knees.

The next second,

Matthew drew the Sword of Slaughter, which, with its powerful ability to penetrate barriers and domains,

easily pried open the backdoor to the shadow node!

Simultaneously,

Camela also cooperatively cast two illusions, covering Matthew’s actions without any blind spots from all angles.

“Let’s go!”

Matthew pulled Camela and plunged into the node!

For a moment,

the surroundings became much quieter.

Positioned within the shadow node, Matthew could still hear the sounds from the battlefield of the torn plane, but the volume was roughly one-tenth of what it had been.

Their world ahead turned into black and white.

As outsiders, Matthew and Camela were both pure white, distorted humanoid figures, while the surrounding Shadow World was a vibrant black.

These white figures were so dazzling in the darkness.

Soon,

their arrival began to unsettle some nearby shadow creatures.

“Lucky us, this shadow node is only linked to two other additional nodes.”

Matthew knew

that most mid to high-level shadow creatures could easily hop between shadow nodes.

In order to avoid injuries from the devils on the battlefield,

many shadow creatures were using their high mobility to move back and forth between the torn plane and the Shadow World.

This resulted in high mobility of shadow creatures within the shadow nodes.

Matthew’s objective was to discreetly observe the battle.

The fewer other nodes a shadow node was connected to, the easier it was for him to achieve his goal; with careful handling, this node would be relatively safe in the short term.

Both shadow creatures and Purgatory Devils would virtually ignore their presence.

With this in mind,

Matthew quickly summoned Soldier, ordering him through his control of the Shadow Domain to subdue the nearby lower-level shadow creatures—

This task was somewhat challenging in terms of practical operation for Soldier.

But with the quality of the domain and his legendary level at his service, the communication between Dual Blade Sage and shadow creatures went unusually smooth.

Before long,

all the shadow creatures settled down, as if those hidden in the node were natives of the Shadow World themselves.

Then,

within Soldier’s Shadow Domain, Camela used divine power to create a two-meter cubed space.

Standing in this small cube,

the two regained their ability to move and communicate as if they were in the material world.

After completing all this,

Camela set up two misleading and protective barriers on this shadow node.

These barriers reduced the likelihood of shadow creatures jumping in through other nodes.

Next came the time to sit back and watch the tigers fight.

Through direct observation from the shadow node and individual intelligence gathering methods of Matthew and Camela,

they could clearly keep up with the changes on the battlefield.

Matthew initially thought that shadow creatures could hardly stop the advance of the Devil Army.

Even with the aid of shadow nodes, it seemed so.

But soon, he realized his judgment had been somewhat hasty.

For shadow creatures, the benefit of a single node wasn’t as great as initially.

Yet, accompanied by the faint chanting that seemed to come from deep within the castle,

more and more shadow nodes began appearing on the battlefield of the torn plane.

Quantity caused a qualitative change.

Through the shadow nodes, massive volumes of shadow creatures surged from the castle, continually flanking and even executing suicidal attacks on the devil leaders.