There is no time to savor the wondrous sensation of passing through the Pipeline...
The shocking scene before them forcibly captured the attention of everyone present.
It seemed as if sound no longer traveled through the air, and the world before their eyes fell into a deathly silence.
Ahead, in the distance.
The giant Night Watcher stood still like a stone statue.
Its tiger head, covered in thick fur, remained intact, but more than half of its body, which is clad in white scales, was pressed flat against the ground.
The image of stepping on a can as a child popped into Moses's mind, but the scene that just happened before his eyes was actually more like a painting being suddenly erased by a rubber.
It was clearly something that happened in three-dimensional space, and they were clearly witnessing it all with their own eyes in three-dimensional space.
But it gave them a strong sense of being two-dimensional.
Just like the ability of Soul Echo...
When the ability to switch forms is activated, the three-dimensional shadow clone turns into a flat two-dimensional form in less than a second.
But how much force would it take to compress such a huge body into a flat shape that blends into the pure white earth in just one second?
And what kind of outrageous control would be needed to flatten a giant creature without letting the excess force spill onto the ground, causing massive destruction?
And the crux of the matter is, the source of all this was something that looked like a willow catkin or a feather?
No-
It's impossible to imagine how it was done.
If normal cognition is applied to such things, it would be crushed to pieces in an instant.
[Soul Echoes: Shadow World]
Moses calmed his mind and manipulated his Aura to conjure a unit of shadow, which then spread on the ground to form an entrance to the Shadow World.
"Get in, now."
Standing next to the shadow that resembled a sewer entrance, Moses urged everyone to enter the Shadow World quickly.
Hearing Moses's urging, everyone struggled to shift their gaze, then looked at the round black entrance at Moses's feet.
Without any time to think, everyone jumped into the pure black circular entrance on the ground.
Plop, plop…
As Biscuit and others jumped into the dark entrance, Moses heard the sound of heavy objects falling into the water again and again from inside.
'I guess it's because the lake water hasn't been drained yet…'
'But under the current circumstances, there is no time to drain the lake.'
Moses was the last to jump into the Shadow World's entrance. He freely fell into the cold lake water, causing splashes of water.
Lying at the bottom of the water, Moses raised his head and opened his eyes. His gaze passed through the dim lake water and fixed on the circular entrance above that let in light like a skylight.
'Close.'
With a thought, the circular entrance above suddenly closed, cutting off the bright light.
At the same time-
In the real world outside the Shadow World.
The pure black circular entrance still covered the rough white ground.
This is one of the limitations of the Shadow World Ability. When the Nen Space is opened, a two-dimensional shadow must remain in the real world.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with such limitations.
Given the nature of shadows, it may even bring an ability effect similar to the 'moon in water' to the entrance to this Nen Space.
It's like when you step over a shadow, it will briefly affect the shadow's existence.
But once you walk past it, the shadow will return to normal.
So, normally, this limitation doesn't have much impact on the Shadow World's Nen Space.
Or it could make the entrance to the Shadow World's Nen Space 'indestructible'.
However-
The ability system of Soul Echo is diverse.
It's not just one type of Vow Effect, nor just one type of Limitation Effect.
Take the shadow clone, for example. One of its Vow Effect is the ability to freely morph into various shapes, but the accompanying Limitation Effect is that it can only maintain strength in a 'complete human form'.
And this Limitation Effect would involve the Shadow World's Nen Space Ability, which is also born from the Soul Echo's ability system...
That is to say-
Under the Limitation Effect of the shadow clone, the Shadow World's channel formed by a unit of shadow in a two-dimensional state is fragile and destructible.
However, while bearing this limitation, the Shadow World's channel entrance left in the real world can also provide Moses with a shared vision ability, like a periscope.
This is the Vows and Limitations System, an unavoidable part of Nen Abilities.
Their existence is like a series of detailed structures that support the entire Nen Ability System.
In summary-
After entering the Shadow World, Moses wasn't completely safe. He still needs to control the shadow channel to quickly move away from the dangerous area.
And he did just that.
After closing the Shadow World's entrance, he controlled the two-dimensional shadow channel left behind to move in the opposite direction of the giant Night Watcher.
At the same time, he extended the shadow channel to function like a submarine periscope, allowing him to continue observing the giant Night Watcher and the mysterious feather-like entity while retreating.
Then-
Moses barely saw the black feather-like object float onto the giant Night Watcher's tiger head.
At the next moment-
He clearly saw the giant Night Watcher's tiger head and a small part of its body flatten in a faint, slightly dense black linear pattern, like a rain curtain.
The entire process took about a second, so it looked as if the giant Night Watcher had suddenly disappeared before his eyes.
If it weren't for the blood splattering from the flattened remains, it might not have been immediately clear that the giant Night Watcher had been flattened by some force...
But for some reason, the giant Night Watcher showed no reaction before being flattened in stages.
Moses didn't know the reason, but when he saw the black feather-like object flatten the giant Night Watcher for the second time, a guess formed in his mind.
'Could it be... gravity?'
He recalled the scene that had just unfolded in a second.
When the tiny black feather-like object landed on the giant Night Watcher's head, it seemed to generate an unimaginable force of gravity out of nowhere.
Then, under this gravity, the giant Night Watcher was flattened.
'But if this guess is true, the range of gravity's effect wouldn't just be limited to the giant Night Watcher… the ground within the range would also be affected.'
'Could it be that only objects touched by the black feather-like object are affected by gravity?'
'But…'
'What level of gravity would be needed to flatten such a massive creature in a second?'
'Can the Ken built with Aura defend against this unknown force?'
'If not, then even the reborn Ant King would be flattened in an instant, right?'
Even though the Dark Continent defies common sense...
Moses still couldn't imagine such a scene.
'Anyway, we must stay away from it...'
Without getting bogged down in such matters, Moses surfaced from the water, took a deep breath, and immediately controlled the shadow channel to move away from the black feather-like object as quickly as possible.
He had actually considered using a shadow clone or a long-range attack to test the nature of the black feather-like object.
But since they had just arrived, it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.