Column

.content-archive-links-single {
    -webkit-column-count: 5; /* Chrome, Safari, Opera */
    -moz-column-count: 5; /* Firefox */
    column-count: 5;
  -webkit-column-width: 150px;
     -moz-column-width: 150px;
          column-width: 150px;
    -webkit-column-gap: 10px; /* Chrome, Safari, Opera */
    -moz-column-gap: 10px; /* Firefox */
    column-gap: 10px;
    -webkit-column-rule: 4px outset #ff00ff; /* Chrome, Safari, Opera */
    -moz-column-rule: 4px outset #ff00ff; /* Firefox */
    column-rule: 4px outset #ff00ff;
}

Resource:

Text background color

Background color for multi line text.

CSS text background color

NB. Pay attention to line-height

margin: 0px 10px; /* adjust left/right according to box-shadow */
display: inline;
background-color: #ebebeb;
box-shadow: 10px 0 0 #ebebeb, -10px 0 0 #ebebeb;
box-decoration-break: clone;