"So when you enter the Fallen Shadow Nether Realm, use it cautiously. Once this power is used up, I won't be able to help you."

Louis glanced at her.

Seeing the visible exhaustion on her face, he seemed to glimpse the image of the Little Swan in his daze.

Louis shook his head.

What a joke.

She's definitely not the Little Swan.

And Louis was certain that even if the Black Swan, as she previously mentioned, had split from the Little Swan's body as the Body of Time,

right now, she was at least not completely the Little Swan.

Louis was utterly convinced of this.

He was very familiar with the power within the Little Swan.

One could say, as fellow bearers of great sin, the "scent" of the Little Swan was exceptionally distinguishable to him.

But now, after absorbing the Black Swan's power, he could distinctly feel that the "scent" of the Black Swan was different from the Little Swan.

It was as if something else was mixed into the Little Swan's scent.

Yet, this tremendous power...

He decided to trust the Black Swan one more time.

Or rather, if this way, he could help bring back the Little Swan and Lumi, he chose to accept.

"Can you reach me on the shadow plane as well?" he asked with a frown.

"Yes, to be precise, it's only on the shadow plane that I can accomplish this,"

The Black Swan looked up at the sky, furrowing her brow, and said:

"I'm out of time; I have to leave for now. I'll explain the situation to you later."

With that, she disappeared from Louis's side without a trace.

In the next moment, time that seemed to have stood still began to flow once more.

When Louis looked up again, he found everyone's eyes were on him.

So he waved his hand and said:

"Let's go, down to rescue them."

William opened his mouth,

unable to comprehend why Louis had suddenly raised his professional rank to legendary within a few breaths.

But the situation was urgent now, and he didn't have time to think so much and could only follow Louis into the shadow plane.

...

Amid a pervasive sense of discomforting power, Louis and his group entered the shadow plane.

Perhaps because the shadow plane was now close to the Star Continent and had an anchor point at a specific location.

So their landing location was pretty much fixed.

He even saw a few exemplary adventurers sitting on the ground with troubled expressions.

"Hey, guys, you got unlucky and got sucked in too?"

One of the adventurers waved at them.

Louis did not reply.

He had quickly realized that the people who were now falling into the shadow plane were Wanderers or those proficient in the Nine Blades of the Shadow-Hand style.

Both of these groups had power systems that involved the utilization of the shadow plane.

But just as the Arcane Network's turmoil inevitably impacts mages when casting,

a shadow plane turmoil would inevitably affect Wanderers and practitioners of the Shadow-Hand Nine Blades style.

William beside him said:

"The Hero Ceremony has already disrupted the surrounding space, and now they're greatly affected."

"If the spatial turmoil between the two realms isn't quickly quelled, they may spend quite a long time here."

Louis nodded.

He asked a few of them if they had seen a half-elf flying in the sky holding a blonde beautiful girl.

Several adventurers glanced at him.

"You're here to rescue someone?"

Louis nodded.

An adventurer pointed in a direction and said, "Those two are being chased by that big hunk of metal in that direction. If you want to rescue them, hurry up."

Louis nodded and led the group flying in that direction.

After they left, an adventurer beside the one who pointed the way said:

"They called themselves the Moonlight Cat Cat Group, right? Quite a cute name."

"Thinking of finding a chance to cooperate with them?"

"Why not?"

"Sure, if we ever get back, tell the folks in the group that they can trust this adventurer team a little more."

"Indeed... after all, they chose to come back to rescue people."

"Let's hope they're alright. An adventurer group that's kind to its own will be more pleasant to cooperate with."

Yes.

Adventurers are beings driven by profit.

To put it bluntly, most of them choose this profession just to earn more money.

When profit-seeking becomes a habit, it's hard to sincerely deal with others.

But even if they pursue profit and avoid harm, it doesn't mean they don't like working with genuine teams.

It's precisely because they seek but cannot have, that they cherish such partners even more.

...

On the other side,

as Louis hurried along, he continually questioned the Black Swan:

"So, tell me, why did you want to harm the Little Swan?"

The Black Swan's annoyed voice resounded:

"What do you mean harm? They were targeting her from the beginning; she has the cocoon of the Dark Night Goddess inside her."

Louis: ???

What do you mean?

How could the Little Swan have such a thing inside her?

"Didn't the Dark Night Goddess die a long time ago?"

Black Swan: "Died, yes, but not completely. At least now, there's one in the dark, and I don't know if it counts as her soul's monster, wanting to reclaim godhood."

Louis: "Why would the cocoon of the Dark Night Goddess be inside the Little Swan?"

Black Swan: "Go ask our dad why he became so strong back then?"

Hiss!

Louis felt a bit of scalp tingling as he rushed forward.

Had he touched upon some ultimate secrets of the Ense Royal Family?

Was this information he was even supposed to hear?

The Black Swan continued: "The wraith within the Shadow Country has no chance of climbing back up to godhood. Even if it reclaimed the cocoon from the Little Swan, it's useless."

"But just because it's useless doesn't mean it will allow itself to utterly perish."

"The closer it comes to demise, the crazier it becomes."

"It lent that power to the Mad King, which brought about chaos, and led to the emergence of so many Undead Legion."

"You could say it's always trying to reclaim the resurrection cocoon of the Dark Night Goddess from my avatar."

"However, the goddess has no chances of resurrection anymore; the cocoon is completely absorbed by my avatar."

"So now it just wants to kill my avatar and extract whatever remnants of the cocoon it can."

Louis grew more irate upon hearing this:

"Then there's even less reason for the Little Swan to be here!"

The Black Swan harrumphed and said:

"It's useless if she doesn't come here; the Shadow Country will come looking for her itself."

"Don't forget what she was like in her past life."

"If I hadn't saved her back then, she wouldn't be here now, still proclaiming she'd be fine…"

Louis was astonished.

The Little Swan indeed mentioned she had once fallen asleep in the temple of the Dark Night Goddess in her past life.

But she had no idea she had already been attacked once while slumbering.

Louis frowned and said:

"Then, the second question: the principle of collective gluttony is the Abyssal Blood War, so why can I absorb your power? And is this enhancement only temporary?"

The Black Swan let out an unhappy hum.

That sound had a hint of the Little Swan in it.

"Look at your current rank, and mine."

"If I didn't yield and temporarily let my power be devoured by you."

"If all sins didn't originate from the same source, how could you possibly absorb my power."

"Legendary and below legendary are two entirely different realms."

"Even though you've devoured it now, it's merely because I have not resisted."

"Once I resist, this power will return to me."

Louis squinted his eyes, asking a final sharp question:

"So, who are you really?"

"Don't tell me you're Olivia."

"Don't try to conceal this from me; this is the basis of our cooperation."

"You're definitely not Olivia, at least not completely!"

The Black Swan fell silent.

Eventually, she sighed softly and said:

"I am Olivia, but indeed, as you said, not entirely."

"Weren't you curious why I wouldn't want to be near here?"

"If I come close, whatever resides in the Shadow Country can kill me as easily as smashing a chicken."

"After all, I'm a false entity that stole its faith."

"I'm a fictional god crafted by the Shadow Country."

"False entities only shatter once they confront the original in any encounter."

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