Inside the eerie dark barrier, purplish-black runes flickered across the wind-eroded stone pillars, drawing in the sparse natural energy around them as though breathing and turning it into an ever-heavier sense of oppression. Countless shadow monsters formed from pure dark energy surged in from every direction like a tide. They had no fixed shape and let out no roars, only silent, lethal lunges and a chilling, corrosive presence that made hearts tremble.
"Back to back! Don't split up!" Kakashi shouted sharply. Lightning Blade erupted in his hand with a dazzling white light, each slash vaporizing several shadow monsters, but more immediately filled the gaps. Lightning Release was highly effective against these energy beings, but the cost was just as great.
Shino Aburame's insect swarm formed a black screen, constantly gnawing at the approaching shadow monsters with faint, teeth-grating sounds. Yet the dark energy released when the monsters were dispersed also corroded his kikaichū, and insects kept falling like drained husks.
Tokuma Hyuga struck from a distance with Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. Its fierce impact could scatter the shadow monsters, but did little to slow their reformation, while the barrier's interference severely reduced his Byakugan's field of vision.
Apart from Ling's senjutsu, Ino's Mental Shock was their most effective attack. Each precise mental blast could briefly freeze or even scatter a group of shadow monsters, but it placed an immense burden on her mental strength. Fine beads of sweat had already formed on her forehead.
Ling stood at the center of the team, azure senjutsu chakra spreading from him in continuous ripples to form a relatively safe purification zone. The moment shadow monsters entered it, they melted away like snow beneath a blazing sun. But he had to maintain this wide-area purification field while constantly sensing for weaknesses in the barrier.