275 Chapter 275 – Shadow Shroud
Darkness.
Up above, an endless plane of steel plates.
Below, black water.
In this space, nearly nothing lived.
No insects, no fish, no animals, no humans.
This was a space that rarely saw life.
But at this moment, a completely black figure crawled across the endless ceiling of steel.
If anyone saw the black figure, they would immediately run away in terror.
It had no features, and its entire body was covered in some kind of black cloth.
And yet, it seemed to shine in the eternal darkness.
It was almost like light was coming out from the black figure, giving it an ethereal feel.
Slowly, the black figure buried its claws in the ceiling of steel, leaving behind small holes.
The figure had been traveling like this for several minutes.
Finally, it came to a halt in front of one specific plate, which didn't seem any different from any other.
"That's it!" the rat riding on the figure's torso said. "Gimme a second!"
The next moment, the rat crawled away from the black figure and latched onto a small crevice in the ceiling.
"Hey! Hey!" the rat shouted. "I've got a deal for ya!"
Silence.
"I know you guys have someone stationed here! This is a once-
in-a-lifetime opportunity! I've got a fresh new Adult, and if you're not getting it, I'm giving it to Solace!" the rat shouted.
The figure in black didn't move.
Suddenly, the sound of steel being moved resounded from behind the big plate.
And then, the big plate of steel moved to the side.
A person with a grey uniform of a Zephyx Extractor belonging to the Spartans looked down into the hole.
"You got an offer?" the guy asked with uncertainty.
The rat looked at him. "Really?" the rat asked with annoyance. "You guys seriously only have a Newbie guarding this hole?"
The Newbie looked at the rat with discomfort.
This was the Parasite.
The Newbie had heard a lot about the Parasite, but he had never talked to it before.
"Should I call the supervisor?" the Newbie asked.
"Yes!" the rat said with excitement. "I got a great offer!"
The Newbie still felt quite insecure in front of the Parasite.
This was a level five Specter, a Fanatic!
"Okay, give me a second," the Newbie said before turning around.
As the Newbie walked towards the entrance of the small room, a black mist came out from the hole behind him.
Sadly, the Newbie didn't notice.
The Newbie opened the door, walked outside, and closed the door.
As soon as the Newbie exited, the artificial light in the room vanished.
After all, keeping these artificial lights running was extremely expensive.
A moment later, a black figure seemed to manifest in one of the upper corners of the room.
Even though it was completely black, it somehow seemed to shine in the darkness.
"Hey, the supervisor also counts as a guard, okay?!" the rat shouted at the black figure.
"Sure," Nick said neutrally.
Naturally, the black figure was Nick.
Yet, no matter how one looked at the black figure, it didn't resemble Nick at all.
The black cloth covering him looked torn, and it didn't feel natural at all.
In fact, it felt very similar to Specters.
Even more, the black nails at the end of Nick's black hands felt just as strange.
Well, that was because Nick was essentially covered in things made of Specters.
The black cloth covering Nick's body was made from materials harvested from the Fiend of Darkness.
The Fiend of Darkness was a floating black cloak in the shape of a person, and it gained power by enveloping someone in darkness.
It was one of the rare few Specters that gained power by using an Eternal.
When the Fiend of Darkness saw a victim, it rushed towards them and enveloped them with its body.
A second later, the person seemed to completely vanish, and the Fiend of Darkness regained its old appearance.
The fact was that the victim was transported into a plane of darkness, in which they lived until the Nightmare killed them.
It was almost like the Fiend of Darkness sacrificed people to the Nightmare.
The Fiend of Darkness had been a blight upon Crimson Fungus City a couple of decades ago.
Luckily, it was eventually contained.
The black cloth covering Nick's body was made of the Fiend of Darkness' cloth.
The nails on the end of Nick's fingertips were harvested from the Black Nail.
The Black Nail was a bleeding pile of flesh with dozens of big iron nails hammered into its body.
When it saw a victim, it floated over, summoned black nails, and slowly inserted them in their body until they died.
Death usually took several hours to arrive.
The Black Nail was very good at killing its victims slowly.
Meanwhile, there were several lines shining with artificial light on the inside of the black cloth.
These were shining strings harvested from the Blinding Light, the Specter from which Wyntor had received his ability.
The lines of light used external Zephyx to produce light.
The black cloth completely blocked all of the light.
The black nails were used as weapons and to move silently.
With all of these things combined, one could move through the darkness without being noticed and without being influenced by the Nightmare.
This suit was a marvel of technology, and it was very, very expensive.
The Blinding Light was a level three Specter.
The Black Nail was a level four Specter.
And the Fiend of Darkness was a level five Specter.
Naturally, the price would be high for something made of these three Specters.
So high, in fact, that it was worth about as much as all of Dark Dream.
The suit Nick was wearing at the moment didn't belong to him.
It was a loan from Vernon.
All the aforementioned Specters were owned by Kugelblitz, and only they had these kinds of suits.
Every Specialist and a couple of Experts working for Kugelblitz owned one of these suits.
They were used for espionage, reconnaissance, and assassination.
They were called Shadow Shrouds.
