Nobilis of War novel Chapter 45

A cloud of black smoke came towards Darren. He instinctively summoned his sword and blade internal force to defend himself from the attack. However, the power of the black smoke was proven to be too strong for him to handle as he felt sharp pinpricks of pain as the black smoke penetrated his body.

'This is not good. Am I going to die?'

he wondered, feeling desperate.

A few moments later, Darren felt a sensation inside his head. The black smoke was flowing to his head through the meridians.

'What? The smoke has been assimilated?'

Somehow, Darren was certain that the mysterious stone in his head was responsible for this.

'It is not only able to assimilate talent and spiritual energy but also this eerie black smoke? Just what in the world is this stone in my head?' he thought curiously.

Darren was pleased about this new discovery.

However, after he had fully absorbed the black smoke, he felt a strange ominous power course through him. A deep, dark, aggressive feeling took over.

In the instances that he had assimilated talent or spiritual energy, he had never felt something quite like the one he just felt.

As Darren examined his surroundings, he slowly started to notice that dozens of people around him were now lying on the ground. He soon realized that some of the bodies were already desiccating mummified corpses while some were letting out deafening cries of pain. It was like a horrifying scene straight out of hell.

Several guys who were madly dashing towards the wall suddenly caught Darren's eye. The wall they were heading for had a cave and inside it were a dozen panic-stricken young men.

Just near the edge of the cave about a few meters away from the entrance, there were stone structures with glowing golden runes that acted like some sort of force field preventing the black smoke from reaching the cave.

Seeing that the cave seemed to be the only safe place to hide, Darren rushed towards it as well.

'The black smoke isn't able to harm me because I somehow have the power to assimilate it. But if the fiends nearby or whatever it is inside the bronze casket were to find me, they would most likely attack me and I would be as good as dead.'

At that thought, Darren quickened his pace towards the wall.

In front of him, a group of several people led by Dalton had already reached the cave. Just as they were about to enter, a man who stood guard at the entrance waved his sword, attacking them.

"Go away!" he said scornfully.

The power that was released from the sword forced all of the men to stagger backwards into the black smoke, turning them into dried up corpses except Dalton.

He wielded his blade and withstood the attack. It was evident that he was able to match the man's power.

"You're quite strong," the man remarked. "Let him in, Steve," someone called out from the inside.

After witnessing the strength Dalton had displayed, the people inside the cave seemed to have come to an agreement and allowed him to join them.

By this point, Darren and the others had also reached the entrance to the cave. But just as Darren was about to enter, he was halted by the same man.

"Beat it, loser! You're not welcome here," Steve disdainfully said.

"Look, it's best to give up your thoughts on getting inside this cave. Now, do us elites a favor and be that monster's food!"

Without any warning, Steve swung his sword at Darren to stop him from entering the cave.

He hastily took a few steps backwards to dodge the blow.

The rest of the people who had also swarmed to the cave, however, were not as lucky as Darren. Some of them ended up being the black smoke's prey while some had been cut in half by the sword light.

Darren stood aside to take a good look at the cave and saw that there was still enough space inside to accommodate at least twenty more people.

'Damn these greedy bastards. Hogging this cave and just watching the rest of the weaklings die; how despicable, ' Darren indignantly thought.

Subsequently, wisps of black smoke swept towards Darren, but this time, he didn't feel any pain as it penetrated him.

All of a sudden, the bronze coffin shook violently and a formidable power dashed towards Darren.