All Chapters of SHADOWS OF THE VEIL: Chapter 161
- Chapter 170
235 chapters
Chapter 164 – When the Void Looks Back
The night sky trembled.Every collision between Arin and Kaelith sent shockwaves tearing through the forest—leaves ripped from branches, stone split, and the ground cracked like shattered glass.Rick could barely stand. “Arin… how is he even alive right now?!”Zaya grabbed his arm, pulling him behind a fallen tree as another burst of force rippled outward. “He’s not fighting with strength alone. The Ember and the Void—those cores aren’t cooperating. They’re competing. The pressure is tearing him apart inside.”Rick’s stomach twisted. “Then why isn’t he stopping?”Zaya’s eyes darkened. “Because if he stops… you die.”Rick froze.Kaelith appeared in front of Arin again, spear raised.“You’ve improved within minutes. Fascinating. But this is still—”Arin struck with a burst of flame so bright it lit the entire forest.Kaelith blocked with one hand.“One–sided.”He twisted, driving his knee into Arin’s stomach. The impact echoed like a drumbeat. Arin gasped, stumbling back as void energy
Chapter 165 – The Name Buried in the Void
Night settled uneasily over the shattered forest.The battle was done, but nothing felt victorious. Every broken tree, every cracked stone hummed with leftover void energy, like the world itself was recovering from a panic attack.Rick knelt beside Arin, hand still gripping the boy’s shoulder.“Come on, man… wake up…”Arin didn’t move.Zaya crouched on the other side, tracing runes in the air—soft blue sigils meant for stabilizing soul pressure. They flickered, then dimmed.She clicked her tongue anxiously. “His core isn’t responding. It’s like something larger is suppressing it from the inside.”Rick swallowed. “That shadow thing? The Void Monarch?”Zaya hesitated.“Yes. Or… a fragment of it.”Rick’s voice shook.“Zaya. What does that even mean?”Before she could answer—A wave of cold rippled through the forest.Not natural cold.Void cold.Rick felt it brush against his skin like a whispering fingertip. His breath caught.“Zaya… tell me that’s not Kaelith coming back.”Zaya shook h
Chapter 166 – The City That Shouldn’t Exist
The storm above the Ruined Frontier finally calmed, leaving behind a sky split between silver clouds and dark haze. Ethan, Selena, Aiden, Mei, and the rest of the expedition stepped through the shimmering veil—the remnant of the Aether Boundary Ethan had just stabilized with his power.What lay beyond made everyone fall silent.A vast city stretched out across the horizon, built from obsidian stones that glowed faintly with blue veins of energy. The buildings were impossibly tall, sharp-edged, and ornately carved with runes that seemed to shift whenever one blinked.Aiden’s voice cracked.“Impossible… This place looks older than every known civilization.”Selena scanned the ruins, her eyes narrowed. “Older—and far more dangerous.”Ethan stepped forward. The ground beneath him hummed, reacting to the Oblivion Core in his body. For a moment he saw ghost-like silhouettes, flickering like echoes from the past. Warriors, scholars, strange humanoid beings—vanishing as quickly as they appear
Chapter 167 – Awakening of the Fallen Kingdom
The earth trembled violently as ancient gears deep beneath the ground began to turn. Dust fell from towering ruins. Cracks spread like spiderwebs across the streets.Aiden shouted over the rumbling, “EVERYONE MOVE BACK! The whole city is shifting!”The expedition squad scrambled for balance. But Ethan… Ethan couldn’t move.The glowing Aether figure stood before him, its translucent form flickering like a candle about to go out.Selena grabbed Ethan’s arm.“Ethan! Snap out of it! We need to leave—now!”But Ethan’s heart hammered with a strange weight.“No… I think this is meant for me. The city is responding to the Oblivion Core.”The figure stretched out a hand toward him.“Do not fear.”As its palm hovered inches from Ethan’s chest, the runes across the city pulsed brighter—like a heartbeat.BOOM… BOOM… BOOM.Huge slabs of obsidian lifted themselves from the ground. Broken towers straightened, reconstructing piece by piece. Bridges formed mid-air, reconnecting ancient pathways. It wa
CHAPTER 168 — THE BREATHING DARK
The world around Rick wasn’t a world at all.It was… shifting.Breathing.Alive.He floated in a space that felt like a void and a dream at the same time, the darkness thick enough to touch, yet weightless enough to move like mist. Sometimes it felt cold, then suddenly warm, as if the place couldn’t decide what it wanted to be.Rick tried to move his hands, but the darkness wrapped around them like soft ropes.“Hello?” he called.His voice didn’t echo.It vibrated, like the air itself listened.A whisper came back—not from a direction, but from everywhere at once:“Bridge…”Rick froze.That same voice…the same one that pulled him through the door back in the ruins…the same one that had opened its eyes from the shadows…It was here with him.Rick swallowed hard. “Why do you keep calling me that? Who are you?”A ripple went through the darkness, like something massive shifting just out of sight.“We… are the Ones Before.”“Before what?” Rick asked.This time, the darkness trembled.“
CHAPTER 169 — THE RUINS THAT REMEMBERED
Rick didn’t know how long he drifted through the darkness this time.Minutes?Hours?Days?It felt like floating in ink.Then — suddenly — the darkness peeled away like a curtain being pulled aside.And Rick fell.Not hard.Not painful.Just… dropped, as if the world gently placed him somewhere new.He landed on one knee, breathing fast.Stone beneath him.Air around him.Cold.Real.Rick blinked, letting his eyes adjust.He wasn’t in the void anymore.He stood in the middle of ancient ruins, illuminated by veins of faint blue light running across the floor like streams of magic. Pillars had collapsed everywhere, half–buried in dust. Broken statues watched him from the shadows — tall, elegant shapes that looked neither fully human nor fully creature.Rick whispered, “Where am I?”A voice answered him.A familiar one.“Where you were always meant to be.”Rick turned sharply.A figure stepped from behind a fallen column.Not the shifting shape from the void.Not a monster.Not a strange
CHAPTER 170 — THE PRISON THAT WAITED
The growl behind the stone door didn’t sound like a creature.It sounded like a storm.A storm that had been trapped too long.Rick felt the air thicken with pressure, the kind that made every hair on his arms rise. The glowing chains wrapped around the massive door pulsed like veins, struggling to hold whatever was inside.Rick exhaled slowly.“Whatever is in there… used to be mine?”Lysara stepped beside him, hands folded behind her back.“Not a creature. Not a weapon. A part of you.”Rick frowned. “A part of me doesn’t growl like that.”“Your soul does,” she replied.Rick’s chest tightened. “You’re not helping.”Lysara ignored the comment. She motioned to the glowing floor beneath the door. Symbols began aligning themselves, forming a circular seal made of shifting light.“Before the Veil was made,” she explained, “your past self bound your own power in a place no enemy could reach.”Rick stared. “And now you want me to… release it?”“You cannot face the Devourer without it.”Rick
CHAPTER 171_THE SHADOWS MOVE AT NIGHT
The wind over Blackstone Ridge carried the smell of burnt iron, flicking Ethan’s cloak as he stood at the edge of the cliff. Below him, the valley glowed faintly with scattered campfires—his forces, quietly preparing for the long night ahead.Rick walked up beside him, arms folded, eyes narrowed. “You’re not sleeping again.”Ethan didn’t answer immediately. His mind was still replaying the moment from earlier that day—the mysterious cloaked figure who appeared and whispered “Abyssfall is coming.” The presence was so vast, so suffocating, that even Ethan’s newly advanced cultivation trembled.Rick studied him for a long moment. “Talk to me. I can’t watch your back if I don’t know what’s chasing your mind.”Ethan exhaled slowly. “Something… ancient. I could feel it pressing against the world. Like the air was struggling to hold its shape.”Rick chuckled lightly, though his voice carried tension. “Great. More ancient things trying to kill us.”Ethan smirked. “We must be famous in the wro
CHAPTER 172_THE OVERLORD’S WRATH
The shadows surged like a black ocean, all rushing toward Rick at the commander’s command.Rick braced himself, blades crossed, aura flaring. “Come on then!”But Ethan was already moving.He blurred across the battlefield, appearing in front of Rick before the shadows even reached him. His eyes glowed with a violent black-gold radiance—raw Oblivion energy swirling around him like a storm that had finally stopped pretending to be gentle.Rick shouted, “Ethan, don’t—!”Too late.Ethan unleashed everything.A deafening blast erupted from his body, a shockwave so powerful that even the ground cracked like shattered pottery. The first wave of shadows disintegrated instantly, torn apart by sheer force. The second wave never reached them. The third dissolved in midair, screaming as Ethan’s power consumed them.The commander’s head tilted slightly, as if surprised.Rick staggered backward, shielding his eyes from the blinding light. “Bro… what the hell did you just do?!”Ethan’s breath came h
CHAPTER 173_THE VESSEL AND THE ANCHOR
The shadows attacked like a tidal wave of living darkness—teeth, claws, limbs, and shapes that didn’t obey the laws of any world Ethan knew.Rick slashed one creature across the chest, but it dissolved and reformed instantly.“Ethan! They don’t die normally!”“I know!” Ethan spun, unleashing a sweep of Oblivion energy. “They’re made from raw Abyssal will. You can’t kill them—you can only overpower them.”Rick dodged another shadow spike. “Then hurry up and overpower them!”Ethan pushed his aura higher, but the Abyss resisted, swallowing part of his energy like it was food.Rick’s eyes widened. “Your power—it's fading!”“No,” Ethan whispered. “This place is feeding on it.”A giant shadow lunged toward Rick.Ethan didn’t even think.He teleported—vanishing and appearing directly in front of Rick—blocking the attack with his bare arm. The impact sent a shockwave through the fog.Rick grabbed him, alarmed. “Ethan! Your arm—!”Black cracks spidered across Ethan’s skin where the shadow had