Chapter 483 - Spirit Flesh Integration

Looking up, Gaven didn’t know when, but a shadow resembling a bat, matching the size of a young Red Dragon, had swept over his head, sending a bone-chilling cold through his scalp.Had the Half-Moon Colt not reacted in time, both rider and steed would probably have been slammed head-on by this terrifying dark creature.

Not good!

It’s a Winged Night Shadow!

That bone-chilling coldness allowed Gaven to immediately recognize the creature, signaling the biggest crisis he had faced since his rebirth, and a shadow loomed over his heart.

Bionic Art of Bear’s Tenacity activated, Constitution attribute +4 internally.

Overclocking activated, all attributes +2.

Constitution soared to a terrifying 25 points, initiating his Transcendent Constitution choice.

Transcendent Constitution Bonus (choose one of three)

One, Constitution permanently +2.

Two, Spirit Flesh Integration (Special Ability) — your soul and body bind together extremely tightly, allowing you to use Will in place of Fortitude for saving throws, providing an advantage against spells targeting soul extraction, and giving you finer control over your physical form.

Three, Transcendent Regeneration (Special Ability) — You have an extraordinary Constitution, granting you ten points of regeneration ability.

Gaven had long struggled to choose between Spirit Flesh Integration and Transcendent Regeneration.

The benefits of Transcendent Regeneration were obvious - it was comparable to a vampire’s regenerative powers, capable of healing lost limbs or even severe internal injuries in minutes, so long as they were not fatal.

Spirit Flesh Integration, on the other hand, seemed like an exclusive ability fostered by the Psychic Sorcerer Shapeshifter, with equally clear benefits.

The path he was destined to take would surely lead to his soul consciousness becoming far more powerful than his physical body.

Using Will instead of Fortitude meant he would have an edge when saving against command spells, death magic, and other Fortitude-related effects.

It also meant deepening his control over his own body.

But his current predicament forced him to choose Spirit Flesh Integration without hesitation.

Because the Death’s Pointer, a seventh-circle spell, was already upon him.

Death’s Pointer could kill a creature at close range; the target could make a Fortitude save. If successful, they’d suffer 3D6+caster’s level (up to +25) in damage, if failed, the target would die instantly.

Memorizing all potentially threatening spells wasn’t just a necessity for mages; it was also a survival skill for any professional who wanted to live longer.

In this regard, Gaven had already qualified in his past life.

The icy tendrils of death enveloped Gaven instantly, tearing at his soul, trying to rip it from his flesh.

Neither the Crown Shield nor the damage reduction from his Combat Armor had any effect, as this was a command spell acting directly on the soul.

Not until thirty points of his life had been stripped did the deathly force finally dissipate.

Gaven wasn’t sure if it was his high Constitution or the effect of Spirit Flesh Integration that helped him survive this ordeal.

At the same time, he managed to gather data on the enemy that had just nearly cost him his life.

Winged Night Shadow.

Life Force: 108 (Life Dice: 17D12)

Attributes: Strength 26, Dexterity 18, Constitution -, Intelligence 19, Perception 19, Charisma 18

Special Ability: Undead Traits (Special Ability) — Immune to effects that influence the mind, poisons, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and diseases; critical hits, crushing blows, attribute damage, Energy Drain, or effects causing instant death from severe injuries also have no impact.

Chill Aura (Supernatural) — All Nightshadows emit a chilling spiritual energy radius of 18 meters that cannot hurt living creatures but can ruin any food or drink, as well as holy water, magic potions, oils, and ointments it touches, unless the item can succeed in a Fortitude save. After passing a check, they are unaffected by the Nightshadow’s Chill Aura for the rest of the day.

Spell-Like Abilities (Special Ability) — Can freely cast spells causing diseases, Charm Human, Death Cloud Spell, Confusion, Dark Arts, Dispel Magic, Acceleration Spell, Human Paralysis, and Invisibility; Death’s Pointer once per night. These abilities function as though cast by a Magician of equal level to the Nightshadow’s maximum Life Dice.

Summon Undead (Special Ability) — Every four hours, can summon Undead creatures, which will arrive seconds later, serving for an hour or until dismissed.

Sunlight Aversion (Special Ability) — Nightshadows are creatures of absolute darkness and abhor all forms of light, particularly natural sunlight, which suppresses their abilities when exposed.

Cold Immunity (Special Ability) — Cold cannot harm Nightshadows.

Spell Immunity (Special Ability) — Spells of 6th circle or lower cannot affect Nightshadows, as if the caster failed to overcome their spell resistance.

Detect Magic (Supernatural) — Nightshadows can continuously Detect Magic as if cast by a 20th-level Magician and can suppress this effect.

See Invisibility (Supernatural) — Nightshadows can continuously See Invisibility as if cast by a 20th-level Magician and can suppress this effect.

Telepathy (Supernatural) — Nightshadows can communicate with any language-using creature within thirty meters via telepathy.

Damage Reduction (Supernatural) — All Nightshadows have damage reduction of 25/+3.

Supreme Resistance (Special Ability) — Nightshadows possess 50 points of resistance to acid, fire, and electricity.

Magic Absorption (Supernatural) — Magic Armor, weapons, and shields touched by Winged Night Shadows become weakened. Affected items must pass a Fortitude save, or they will lose a +1 enhancement level. If all magic is absorbed, the items become mundane and lose their powers. Casting "Counterspell Evil" on an item can restore its lost magic effects, but the spell must be cast within a certain number of days after the attack, matching the caster’s spellcasting level.

Overbearing (Special Ability) — Benefits from extraordinary Strength in physical contests, treated as if one size category larger.

Not to mention anything else, the mere array of data was enough to be awe-inspiring.

The surface-level data was courtesy of the Dragon’s Sight Glasses, while those deeper special abilities came from the Legendary Warrior’s memory.

In his previous life, he had encountered such a creature. Even as a Quasi-Legendary Warrior, he had been chased by it through the skies without a path, and the earth without a door, fleeing in embarrassment for hundreds of kilometers.

This creature was one of the most ferocious natives of the Shadow Plane and was well-known among people. Many Undead Necromancers and deities associated with shadows liked to use these highly intelligent Undead Creatures as servants or guardians.

Death’s Pointer gave it a terrifying ability to kill single targets.

See Invisibility allowed it to guard against the approach of most stealth users.

Spell Immunity made spellcasters below level fourteen helpless when facing it, and even mages above level fourteen were restrained by its Supreme Resistance. Among the damage-dealing attributes in the magic system, acid, lightning, and fire are the highest; it, being Undead, is naturally immune to instant death magic of the Undead category, leaving only light-based spells as its one effective counter.

Damage Reduction, with a formidable reduction of 25/+3, was even more vicious than the Combat Armor on Gaven, rendering magic weapons below +3 quite ineffective against it.

Even if you possessed a magic weapon of +3 or higher, a moment of carelessness could see its Magic Absorption ability reduce it below +3, making it no threat at all.

To put it simply, the young Red Dragon that Gaven blasted away would generally turn and flee upon encountering a Winged Night Shadow.

For ordinary Combat Profession Practitioners below Transcendent, facing it usually meant having no chance to flee; few could withstand its Death’s Pointer, and survival depended mostly on sheer luck.

Even if they survived that, the 3d6+17 (20-35) soul damage was deadly to low-level Professionals, a value equivalent to the life force of average fifth or sixth-level spellcasters.

Upon seeing that Gaven took a hit from Death’s Pointer and still looked as lively as a dragon, not only did the Dwarves Elf Commander look astonished, but even in the crimson eyes of the Winged Night Shadow lurked an undeniable confusion, causing it to question whether Death’s Pointer missed its target?

But Death’s Pointer belonged to command spells, affecting the soul directly, leaving no room for evasion.

Surprise notwithstanding, that did not stop the phantom from launching a second round of attacks.

Before it swooped in again, a series of Spell-Like Abilities had already been cast.

Dark Arts, which once again concealed its figure, it had previously used this spell to hide itself within a corrupted living construction.

Charm Human, this spell was directly immune to by the Crown Shield.

Even without the Crown Shield, in the special state of Spirit Flesh Integration, the chances of Gaven being charmed were not high.

Confusion, just like Charm Human, failed to take effect as well, whether nullified by the Crown Shield or simply because Gaven’s resistance in this area was too high.

Dispel Magic did cause Gaven a bit of trouble by removing the Bionic Art of Bear’s Tenacity.

But the next second, it was back.

This is where Psychic Abilities had an advantage over spells, as long as Psychic Power Points were not exhausted, lower- and mid-level Special Abilities were instantaneous.

Death Cloud Spell, the Winged Night Shadow did not use this as spreading-type spells had poor effects in aerial combat.

The last spells it cast were the Acceleration Spell and Invisibility, allowing it to blend into the darkness once again and significantly enhancing its melee ability.

In Gaven’s eyes, it was a troublesome pest.

In the eyes of the Winged Night Shadow, wasn’t Gaven equally an extraordinary pest?

Normally, against beings below Transcendent, it rarely had the chance to engage in melee combat; with a series of Spell-Like Abilities, it could easily toy an enemy to death. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by N(o)vᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt

But with Gaven, most of them were of little use.

Forcing it to rely on its lesser-developed close combat abilities, even though it possessed the Special Ability of Magic Absorption, it would avoid using it if possible.

Of course, that’s not to say it feared melee combat; composed purely of Negative Energy, its body was unaffected by most ordinary attacks.

The only question now was how to catch up with the adversary.

The Pegasus beneath the adversary was somewhat unusual; both its agility and flying speed were astonishing, and even bearing a knight, it still surpassed its own speed.

If the other party was determined to flee, it would not be able to catch up.

Just as the Winged Night Shadow was at a loss, the man and his mount surprisingly turned around mid-air and charged towards it.

Was this guy scared silly? Or did he think that it had no more tricks to use and wanted to engage in close combat?

Then let you experience firsthand the despair of being powerless!

With dark thoughts, the Winged Night Shadow, along with the Ghost it had just summoned, charged towards the man and his mount.

"Attack!" bellowed the knight.

Dazzling white light burst forth from the knight’s Armor, especially the sun insignia at the top of the helmet, which seemed like it could emit sunlight, further enhancing the power of this spell.

The magical darkness surrounding the Winged Night Shadow was instantly dispersed, exposing it and the newly summoned Ghost under the light.

Streams of dark mist emanated from their bodies.

Made purely of Negative Energy, this endowed them with extreme strength but also an extreme weakness.

That was their sensitivity to light, even more so than Vampires.

At least vampires don’t react too badly to a third-ring Daylight Spell.

But it couldn’t handle it, even the slanting rays of the setting sun made it extremely uncomfortable; its first instinct was to initiate a new Dark Arts spell, cloaking itself once more.