Chapter 55: The Holy Shadow Rune

The night was deep and silent.

Even after the two bickering Yasha Merfolk had gone far away, their voices still echoed in the air.

"An angel..."

Gunie smiled faintly in the darkness, then shook his head.

"If we really met, we wouldn't fight."

Then Gunie turned and left.

Based on the many tales and rumors about that angel,

this angel, who could see 'evil,' specialized in slaying heinous pirates and dark creatures.

Gunie could roughly infer that this angel would not kill indiscriminately.

Although Gunie himself had killed many, he had his own bottom line and principles.

Without reason, Gunie would not kill anyone, so he naturally could not be considered 'evil.'

Even if he encountered that angel, under normal circumstances, she would have no reason to fight him.

Even if they did fight, Gunie was not afraid of that so-called six-winged angel.

In the darkness, Gunie moved forward silently.

"Although my strength is relatively great at present,"

"in the supernatural world, there are so many powerful beings."

"Take that fourth-tier angel for example; if we really fought, I might not gain the upper hand."

"Striving to improve my own strength is the true way."

"I hope this Holy Shadow Rune can bring me a different kind of change."

Gunie thought to himself.

...

In the silent gloom of the night,

Gunie's hiding place was inside a reef cave on a rocky peak.

This spot was very secluded, excellent for concealing traces.

Even if some noise were made here, because it was far from the Yasha Merfolk, they would hardly sense it.

Gunie slowly removed his palm from the crown that was like mist, and cut off the demon-touch perception channel.

In the darkness, Gunie's eyes were full of surprise.

"Is this a powerful physical rune?"

"No wonder it's a strange rune that, among terrifying creations, exists alongside the Cthulhu-esque Shadow Beast."

"Its effects are indeed astonishingly powerful."

Gunie sighed softly.

Through perception, Gunie learned about this Holy Shadow Rune.

It was a type of 'Darkness Arcane' rune, and a very bizarre physical rune.

It had the following characteristics:

First: Strengthen the body, enhance defense.

As a physical rune, enhancing the body was its most basic function.

Currently, Gunie's physical defense was merely the raw toughness of his body, without any enhancement by other means, like a perfect piece of uncut jade.

Now, after being strengthened and empowered by the Holy Shadow Rune,

it was like undergoing a meticulous and detailed construction of defense.

This would form a 'Holy Shadow Scale Armor' beneath Gunie's skin, turning his body into a 'Holy Shadow Body.'

This would greatly increase Gunie's defensive capability.

If Gunie's current physical defense toughness was at the level of Black Iron Tank Armor,

then after being strengthened by the Holy Shadow Rune, it would reach the level of 'Supernatural Magic Copper Tank Armor.'

Once it reached the Magic Copper Tank Armor level, Gunie's defense would surge by three to four times, greatly enhancing his survivability.

Second: Increased compatibility with Darkness Arcane.

The Holy Shadow Arcane was a natural arcane leaning toward the main system of darkness.

Gunie himself already comprehended Darkness Arcane very quickly.

Now, with the support of the Holy Shadow Rune, Gunie's comprehension speed of Darkness Arcane would increase further, making it easier for him to blend with dark environments.

Third: It would further enhance Gunie's speed and agility.

However, since Gunie had already undergone a physical transformation with the Holy Shadow Magic Stone,

the additional effect of the Holy Shadow Rune might not be too great, but any improvement was obviously a good thing.

Overall, the effects of the Holy Shadow Rune were still very powerful.

Especially in terms of enhancing physical toughness.

"More importantly... as my comprehension of Darkness Arcane deepens, this Holy Shadow Rune can condense a second layer, or even a third layer; by then, the defensive boost to my body will become increasingly powerful."

"But that's for later. At least I now have a rune path for continuously strengthening my body."

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Gunie's face.

"Earlier, I was worried that inheriting the Holy Shadow Rune would require reincarnation."

"But after absorbing the Holy Shadow Magic Stone, inheriting the Holy Shadow Rune is very comfortable."

"Just go ahead with the inheritance directly; no need to worry about incompatibility issues."

Immediately, Gunie calmed his mind and began the inheritance of the Holy Shadow Rune.

The entire inheritance process, just as Gunie had expected, went smoothly and naturally.

With the successful construction of the Holy Shadow Rune within his body,

Gunie clearly felt that under the effect of the Holy Shadow Rune, his body began to undergo comprehensive, detailed, and deep strengthening.

After successfully condensing the Holy Shadow Rune, Gunie initially thought about studying the Ancient Shadow Gate.

But after some thought, Gunie gave up.

The bizarre creature Shadow Beast came out of the Ancient Shadow Gate.

Gunie had not yet mastered the mysterious power of Cthulhu; he felt it would be better to study the Ancient Shadow Gate after he could grasp such strange power.

Otherwise, he wouldn't even know how he died.

The next step was to wait patiently.

Wait for the Great Elder's ascension ceremony, wait for his crew to plunder wealth on Shadow Island.

During the wait, Gunie was not idle.

Every day, Gunie spent most of his time monitoring the sacrificial ceremony on Night Reef Island.

The rest of the time, he hid and comprehended World Arcane and Darkness Arcane.

Gunie mainly comprehended World Arcane, with Darkness Arcane secondary.

As his comprehension of World Arcane gradually deepened, Gunie's perception of the entire world grew stronger.

Super-sense, spiritual perception domain, combined with the perception of the world framework gained from deep comprehension of World Arcane,

made Gunie's perception within a certain range very powerful.

"World Arcane" is one of the most powerful arcane types.

It is far more powerful than natural elemental arcane like Earth, Thunder, Wind, Fire, Water, and Wood.

All things in the world exist within the framework of the entire world.

When one's comprehension of World Arcane is deep enough, they will become the absolute ruler within that world's scope.

This was the information Gunie had learned about World Arcane when studying various natural arcane types.

At the same time, Gunie also gained something from observing Night Reef Island.

Thanks to Gunie's strong concealment ability,

during his covert investigations, Gunie saw many times people performing small-scale divinations near the altar.

Seemingly to calculate whether there was any hidden danger, but no matter how they divined, they could not detect that Gunie was hiding there.

That divination obviously found nothing unusual.

And so, they steadily proceeded with the subsequent steps of the sacrificial ascension ceremony.

Every day, various strange items were sent to the altar, and then, in a burst of white light, those things disappeared.

Among them were some human supernaturals.

Even some young, only a dozen years old, innocent boys and girls from other merfolk tribes were tied up and sent into the altar.

Live sacrifice—this was the bloody and cruel method of the evil god cult.

As Gunie waited,

the Great Elder's ascension sacrificial ceremony finally reached the time for its formal commencement.