CHAPTER 759 THE PHANTOMS OF THE ANCESTORS

"Oh, crap!" Darren yelled.

The sight before him was enough to break through even his stoic demeanor. If the Dark Rule and the

Primitive Fighting Force collided, Nate's body could be disintegrated outright.

There was a whoosh as Darren moved.

In a flash, he put himself before the black runes. His blade and sword intents surged, as did his dark

gold internal force.

But the runes deftly went around the obstruction and continued toward Nate, barely slowing down at all.

"Damn it! I have to try to assimilate the attack."

Saying this, Darren activated his assimilation skill. The black stone in his head buzzed, and the flying

runes reversed course, coming back and disappearing into his body.

"Well, that's good. It actually worked!" he remarked.

Normally such a gambit wouldn't have worked for him, and in fact he wasn't sure why it had this time.

Perhaps the fact that the runes' owner had been dead for a long time somehow left them vulnerable to

assimilation.

In any case, the runes were inside Darren's body, soaring and roiling about. Regathering his blade and

sword intents, he took a moment to suppress them in his elixir field.

The black runes integrated with one another, forming a black esoteric symbol within the elixir field.

Darren was surprised. 'Have I discovered how to cultivate the Dark Rule?' he wondered aloud.

That, however, was a question for another time.

Leaving it alone for the moment, he went over to Nate and asked if he was all right.

"I'm fine, thanks to you," Nate answered with a sigh of relief.

"Then let's get going," his rescuer said. "You'll need to try cultivating according to the method I taught

you, combined with your own understanding."

Nate nodded. "I understand."

With that, the two prepared to leave.

But that, of course, was not going to be so easy.

There was a terrific boom as a massive stone fell over the entrance of the chamber, sealing it

completely.

"What's happening?!" Nate exclaimed, staring.

Darren was no less shocked, but said nothing.

A moment later they found that they weren't alone when three other figures appeared in the chamber.

"Darren! Who are they?" Nate asked, his voice shaking.

"Don't panic," Darren hissed, studying their adversaries. Even as he watched, the three slowly levitated

off the ground.

In appearance, they closely resembled the three corpses from earlier, except that they were full-

muscled and powerful, full of an eerie vitality.

The middle of the three, a fierce figure dressed in black, addressed Nate in a frigid, menacing voice.

"Young man, you have received your inheritance. But you must pass a test here, now, or else you will

not be allowed to leave this place."

Nate shivered and struggled to master his voice. "What is the test, my ancestor?"

"It's quite simple," the one in black replied. "You must defeat the three of us."

"That's impossible!" the man cried in dismay. The ancestors were very powerful, and he couldn't

imagine standing any real chance of defeating them.

He was answered by another one of the phantoms, a cyan-armored figure who roared contemptuously.

"Coward! Yet you dare to think yourself worthy of our inheritance? If you cannot pass the test, then you

deserve to die!"

Seeing his companion's floundering spirit, Darren decided to encourage him. "Don't be afraid, Nate.

They are just phantoms left by the ancestors."

Hearing this, the one in black glared at him for the first time. "You there—outsider! How dare you

trespass within this place?"

Darren did not respond, adding to his friend, "Nate, go on and kill them. Don't be afraid!"

These words steadied Nate's soul, for he trusted Darren from the bottom of his soul. If he said not to be

afraid, that would be enough.

"All right. Prepare to die!"

With that, Nate rushed over, fiercely swinging his fists, ready to dash the three challengers to pieces.

He was in for a nasty surprise.

None of his blows had any effect. In fact, everything passed through the phantoms as though they were Belongs © to .

made of air.

'I can't even touch them!' he thought to himself, his courage wavering again. 'How am I supposed to

win?'

"Nate!" Darren called to him. "Use the Primitive Fighting Force!"

"The Primitive Fighting Force?" echoed Nate. He didn't know much about this skill yet. Darren had in

fact transferred a little of this force into his body, but he still couldn't use it very effectively.

"Bah, weakling!" scoffed the cyan-armored phantom. "You are not worthy of any inheritance! Now die

and rid us of your presence!" With that, he rushed forward, throwing a devastating palm strike.

It hit Nate square in the chest, sending him flying.

Darren shook his head slightly. It now was clear that these three opponents were very powerful indeed,

and Nate was no match for them. Still, he was proud of the man for trying his best.

"Okay, how about I take his place?"

Saying this, Darren stepped in front of Nate, who was nursing his wound.

The black-garbed phantom raised an accusatory finger. "You have no right to challenge us, outsider.

You can't even inherit our power. How dare you presume to undergo the test?"

"Who says that I can't inherit it?"

With a sly grin, Darren raised his hand and unleashed a stream of black runes.

They struck the cyan-armored phantom, who fell back a step, startled.

"You inherited the force of the Dark Rule!" he cried.

"How did you accomplish this?"

Darren paused to help Nate up onto his feet. Then he faced the phantoms again and said, "Don't ask

me all these boring questions. Just show me how tough you are!"

"Very well, then," snarled the same phantom who had attacked Nate. "You dare to steal our power? For

that, we will utterly destroy you!"

And with another blood-curdling roar he charged.

The air of the stone chamber seemed to be growing icier by the minute.

However, Darren's fury ignited in that moment as well, and he met the attack head-on.

The Primitive Fighting Force collided with the blade and sword intents, and the walls shook as though

about to collapse.

They clashed again and again, and the phantom was forced back, step by step.

"I don't believe it!" he complained. "How is it that you can hurt me?!"

"Not only can I hurt you—I can kill you!" Darren retorted, keeping up the counter-attack.

The tremendous blade and sword intents were surging like tidewater.

Suddenly, the man in black took action, generating huge black runes that covered the area.

His cold, dark aura was even stronger than Aaron's.

'I don't know how powerful these three were before they died, but the phantom left by the man in black

may just be a match for me!' Darren thought.

While the blade and sword intents and the black runes devoured each other, he tried another move.

The dark gold internal force surged out into the room.

"Enough of this! Let me at him!" bellowed a voice. It was the third phantom, who also wore cyan armor,

as he charged to join the melee, spear at the ready. His Primitive Fighting Force blasted and collided

with the dark gold internal force.

Nate covered his eyes as a brilliant light blazed and filled the entire chamber.

In the back of his mind, he felt grateful that he had Darren's blade and sword intents shielding him at

that moment. Without it, he would not have been able to withstand that incredible light. The main thing

Nate felt, however, was awe, as the enormous power being traded between Darren and the three

phantoms was far beyond his reach.

In the end, the dark gold internal force went through the Primitive Fighting Force, scoring a direct hit.

Cracks spread across the chest plate of the phantom's armor.

"Damn it all!" he cursed as he backed off.

His two comrades were no less enraged.

"Enough of this, you whelp!" one of them shouted at Darren. "It's time we showed you our true power!"

Darren didn't answer, only meeting their frigid stares with his own.

Then the two cyan-armored phantoms attacked at the same time, blasting their Primitive Fighting Force

at Darren.

Darren watched the attack roar toward him, gathering strength.

"All right—I'll use the Dark Force to fight you, then!"

Saying this, he released his spiritual sense, and the black symbol that had formed inside his elixir field

lit up.

Then, streams of black runes rushed from his body.

The two energies met in midair with such an explosive power that even Darren was surprised. The

room shook yet again, and flashes like scarlet lightning dazzled his eyes.

"You are strong indeed, outsider," the phantom in black said begrudgingly. "Perhaps we will need to

use the Shura Force to defeat you, then!"

The mention of the Shura Force caught Darren's interest. Despite the danger he was in, he was

interested in seeing this power in action. Simply reading the formula translated by Aaron could only tell

him so much about it.

"Come on, then!" he goaded. "Let's see who's stronger: you with your Shura Force, or me with my

dragon blood aura and demonic internal force!"

But even as he said this, Darren was transforming into his dragon form, his voice morphing to a

terrifying, serpentine growl.

He took care to keep his height from exceeding ten feet. Otherwise, he feared he really would destroy

the stone chamber in short order.

The mighty and cold dragon stared at the three phantoms.

In turn, the phantoms seemed undaunted. In fact, their eyes were as full of fury as ever. They wanted

to see this fight through to its finish.