Chapter 354 "Green Teeth" Hekajelin
The night in the forest is cold and long.
Under the expectant eyes of the villagers, this improvised team held the torch borrowed from the miller and entered the forbidden land outside the village of Pompeii known as the "Black Forest" by the locals.
The dense coniferous forest obscured the sky, and the pale moonlight was cut into fragments, casting only mottled and strange shadows on the thick snow.
The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the crunching sound of feet on the snow and the occasional crackle of torches.
Fenik and his companions were obviously performing such a dangerous mission at night for the first time, and the brave young man had already begun to regret the rash invitation.
"The whole day... the child must have died." Barrett said in a low voice.
"Don't say that, what if there is still hope?" Leo whispered.
"Whether it's possible to save him or not, he has to give it a try... After all, he is the client's only son." When he said this, Fenick suddenly fell silent for a moment.
The only son...
Him himself?
In the past few days, he had thought more than once whether it was worth leaving his parents, leaving his hometown, and risking everything for his dream.
This journey is almost over, but among the four of them, only Ilara has actually successfully released magic so far.
And he just memorized the roster of the Mage Tower.
Perhaps...
He actually does not have the talent to become a magician, nor is he any special than the people around him.
But no matter what, the current task is the most important.
Fenick took a deep breath and tried to cheer up.
Barrett walked beside him. One of them held a sword and shield, and the other held a war hammer tightly. They looked very nervous and took every step carefully.
Hunter Leo's bow string has already been halfway drawn, and his vigilant eyes are like a hawk, constantly scanning the dark edges that the firelight cannot reach.
As for Ilara, she followed closely behind, holding a talisman engraved with runes in her hand, her small face looking extremely pale due to fear in the firelight.
The light of the torch can only open up a small fragile orange area in the boundless darkness, and the farther, bottomless darkness seems to have countless pairs of greedy eyes peering into it.
Perhaps completely opposite to the nervousness of these four young people, Mr. Colin and his party seemed too relaxed.
Luo Yan was walking in the middle of the team, his expression as relaxed as if he was not tracking the undead, but walking in his back garden.
As for Sarah, she followed him silently, like his shadow.
She made no unnecessary movements, her indifferent expression was indifferent, but her sharp vertical pupils had already captured all the movements around her.
Tuff, who was held firmly in her arms, poked her little head out of her cloak, her nostrils twitching constantly.
She paid no attention to the dangers that mortals feared, but curiously smelled the cold and decaying breath in the air that belonged only to the undead.
The group of people followed the traces left by the undead on the snow - the unnatural drag marks and scattered animal bones, and cautiously went deeper into the forest.
"Wait!" Leo, who was walking in front, suddenly lowered his body and raised his hand to signal the team to stop.
He pointed to a shadow under an oak tree ahead and said in a dry voice.
"Look there."
Everyone came forward, the fire illuminated the area, and they saw a dead wild wolf lying on the snow.
Its body maintained a struggling posture, its fur was intact, and there were no wounds on its body. But its flesh and blood shriveled up strangely, as if all the life force in its body had been drained by something invisible in an instant, leaving only a hollow body.
This is definitely not the work of hunters or monsters!
An unknown chill climbed up the spines of the four people in Fenik, making their hands and feet feel cold.
"This is not like a simple necromancer casting a spell, but more like... a lich's spell." Luo Yan looked at the corpse on the ground with interest.
Fenick swallowed and said nervously.
"Have you seen it?"
Luo Yan nodded and spoke concisely.
"Hmm... I encountered it during my journey. But don't worry, it may not be a lich, maybe it's just a rather evil wizard."
Although his words did not contain any information, it still made the four nervous young people relax.
At least...
Some of them have dealt with the Necromancer.
Having regained their morale, the group continued to move forward.
They walked through the forest for about half an hour, following the intermittent animal hair on the snow and the blood stains that had solidified into dark brown.
In the end, those crooked traces led them from the dense jungle to a relatively open area.
This seems to be a long-abandoned logging camp.
Several wooden houses have half collapsed and were almost buried under thick snow. Rusty saws and axes were casually discarded in the corners, frozen together with rotten wooden piles... everything exuded a dead silence that had been forgotten by time.
And they followed the traces all the way and stopped abruptly in the middle of this open space.
Luo Yan glanced around, and the corner of his mouth suddenly turned up with a faint smile.
As he had guessed early on, the villagers of Pompeii Village were very pitiful, but they were not honest people either.
This lumberyard was not lost on the first day, and they obviously knew who the necromancer was, where he was hiding, and what his strength was.
However, those people didn't say a word, they just cried with snot and tears, and urged themselves and the others to save people.
It is true that they were forced into panic by the inactive lord, but if they were not here, these four young men would probably be dead.
It doesn’t matter whether they come during the day or at night.
"Something's wrong," hunter Leo tightened his grip on the longbow in his hand, his voice dry, "It's too quiet here... It's like..."
Barrett swallowed and tentatively asked what Leo had already said.
���You want to say it's a trap?》
Ilara's face was pale and her calves were weak.
"Let's... why not go back first? I feel it would be better to come during the day..."
At the end, her voice was completely out of tune, like a frightened squirrel.
Sarah glanced indifferently at the three people exchanging nonsense.
Have you realized it now?
The moment Ilara finished speaking, a sudden change occurred!
As if to confirm Barrett's conjecture, a pair of miserable green light spots suddenly lit up in the dense night surrounding them.
Immediately afterwards——
It was the second pair, the third pair...
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of burning green lights lit up from all directions, like a dragnet made of malice, completely blocking this small open space!
The heartbreaking sound of bones rubbing against each other came from all directions, followed by the sound of swords scraping the snow!
With this rustling movement, hundreds of undead souls of various shapes staggered out from behind the dark woods and from the shadow of the collapsed wooden house.
The skeletons formed an airtight encirclement, cutting off all escape routes for everyone. The green soul fire burned with hatred for the living and the desire for flesh and blood!
Why——
These guys can stand like dogs, but they can only endure the pain and suffering in endless torture!
Negative aura and instinct drive them forward.
This pain——
They want them to have a taste too!
Looking at the terrifying and ferocious scene, all the blood drained from the faces of the four young men. However, for Luo Yan, who grew up in hell, this is an ordinary scenery.
"Do it! Don't let them get close!" Fenick's voice was distorted by fear, but he still forced himself to raise his sword.
Leo was the first to react. He took a deep breath, suppressed his trembling, and aimed his arrow at a skeleton warrior walking in the front.
The arrow was shot accurately, but it did not penetrate the skull as he expected.
The arrow made a "ding" sound, passing through the hollow ribs of the skeleton, and was nailed to the tree trunk in the distance in vain, while the skeleton warrior did not even pause.
"I'll fight you!!!"
Barrett roared angrily and took the initiative to greet him.
The war hammer in his hand was poured into the blacksmith's son with all his strength, and he hit the chest of another skeleton hard, smashing it to pieces!
However, this short-lived victory did not bring any respite.
As soon as he smashed one, two new undead immediately surrounded him, waving their bone blades, forcing him to retreat continuously.
"Fire... flame... quick!" Fenik shouted to Ilara behind him.
Ilala closed her eyes tightly and moved her lips quickly. She could feel the magic power surging in her body, but she could never shape it into shape. Under the extreme fear, her mind went blank, leaving only the last thought - "Fire, the name of flame - now in my hand!" She opened her eyes suddenly and shouted the complicated and obscure spell with all her strength.
A miracle happened!
A small flame really condensed and took shape in the palm of her hand!
She didn't even have time to be happy that she had successfully cast a spell again, so she pushed the flame out in a panic.
However, the flame was still too small.
Rather than saying it was a fireball, it was more like a handful of sparks that would be extinguished if blown by the wind, flying precariously towards a skeleton.
The flames hit the cold skull and instantly shattered into a few sparks, melting into the endless cold night. The skeleton just shook its head and continued to approach with heavy steps.
The last trace of color on Ilara's face faded, replaced by complete despair.
In this suffocating atmosphere, the undead that came like a tide suddenly stopped.
They no longer approach forward, but like a retreating torrent, they part to both sides, making way for their master.
A thin figure walked along the crooked road.
She was wearing a tattered mage robe, and her hair was as withered as weeds. She walked slowly up a towering, snow-covered rock, like a king on his throne, looking down at the imprisoned prey.
Luo Yan noticed that it was a pretty face belonging to a girl, but her eyes were as cloudy as that of a dying old woman.
In the depths of those green pupils, there was burning madness and resentment that was almost overflowing. But the strange thing is that her mouth is smiling.
In the encirclement, Fenick forced down the fear in his heart, protected his sword in front of him, and bravely shouted at the figure on the rock.
“Who are you?”
Hearing his rude question, instead of getting angry, the thin figure let out a chuckle.
She lifted up the hem of the tattered mage's robe and gracefully performed a standard yet strangely stiff lady's bow.
"Hekagerin," she introduced herself with a smile, her voice as light as a ghost, "Or, you can call me 'Green Fang'."
"We are here to retrieve the children of Pompeii Village!" Barrett roared in a deep voice, holding the war hammer in his hand tighter.
"Children?" Hekagerin laughed softly and said lightly, "I think you are just like children... Who are you here to find? Yourselves?"
"Then you are underestimating us," Leo smiled coldly and said bluffingly, "The person standing in front of you is not an ordinary adventurer, but a future mage. Those who know the truth should hurry up——"
That's it...you are going to take the exam in Xue Bang? "
Hekagerin looked at Leo with interest, then looked at the people around him, and the smile on his face suddenly became more cheerful, as if he had found a treasure.
Before Fenique and the others could react to what was happening, she suddenly let out a burst of laughter, her nervous voice full of ridicule and madness.
"It's another group of little sparrows going to the Xuebang exam... It's so cute, it reminds me of when I was young, ah... I really miss it."
Her voice became deep and hoarse without warning, as if another person was speaking through her throat, full of deep-seated resentment.
"Let me guess, how many geniuses are there among you? One? Two? Or six of you? Giggle... I am the same, and far greater than you. After all, you haven't gone in yet, but I have already come out."
Looking at the young men who were wide-eyed in shock, she recounted her experience in a painful tone that was both a boast and an accusation.
"Hekagelin, the genius of the past, the pride and hope of Sage Village! I entered the Academy full of dreams, thinking that it was the temple of knowledge, and thought that as long as I worked hard, I could have everything!"
Her voice rose again, suddenly becoming sharp and crazy.
"But I was wrong! Big mistake! What they value is not a person's efforts at all, but the "soul"! It is the damn soul that is destined at birth! In their eyes, we civilian geniuses are nothing more than materials! They drained my value and exhausted my talents. Then - after I spent everything in my youth and life, throw me away like a piece of garbage!"
Her voice was full of resentment, and her cloudy eyes seemed to be burning not only with her hatred, but also with the hatred belonging to others.
"They say knowledge is power? Ridiculous! Hypocritical! It's clearly about one's origin! Beyond the shackles of the soul? A virtual realm? Those resources don't belong to you at all! You are just a stepping stone for them to change their own destiny! Firewood to heat the stove!"
"Since they don't give me power, then I'll get it myself!"
"Where is that child?" Luo Yan didn't want to listen to her nonsense. He didn't speak from the beginning to the end and just said it lightly.
Hekagelin paused slightly, smiled nervously, raised his hand carelessly, and pointed to a dark cave behind him.
"Oh, that little thing?" She said in a tone of talking about items, "He is still alive. His soul is very clean. It is the best 'material' for my promotion ceremony. Maybe the side effects will be smaller."
Fenick swallowed hard and glanced secretly in the direction of Colin, hoping that the latter could inspire the power in the ring again.
He has determined that this distinguished gentleman should be a nobleman who went out to practice, or maybe even the "Prince Crankel" in the miller's mouth.
However, Mr. Colin just stood there calmly, his eyes indifferent, as if the tense situation in front of him had nothing to do with him.
After all, the two of them had only just met, and there was no tacit understanding at all.
Fenick gritted his teeth and did not give up. Then he winked at Leo behind him without leaving any trace, and mouthed two words silently——
‘Do it. 』
Leo understood.
As the calmest hunter in the team, he also saw that their strength was far from the opponent of this necromancer.
Their only chance to win is to launch an unexpected fatal blow while the opponent is still showing off and underestimating the enemy!
He pretended to give up the struggle and lowered his long bow in despair.
However, the second he pressed the long bow, his right hand pulled out a short flintlock gun from his waist like lightning!
However, the bullet that was supposed to bloom with blood actually hit an invisible barrier an inch away from Hekajelin's forehead!
With a crisp sound of "ding", a layer of dark green transparent shield showed its outline, and the ripples of energy rippled like water waves.
The deformed warhead fell powerlessly into the snow, and with it, the hearts of the four adventurers fell to the bottom of the valley.
Hekajelin suddenly laughed happily, like a wild cat teasing its prey.
"Too weak, tsk tsk..." She softly clicked her tongue, her eyes full of sarcasm, and said slowly, "Has the current academic state fallen to such a level that even such a thing can apply for it? This is really true. ... Make your seniors feel sad."
Before she finished speaking, the last trace of human clarity in her eyes was completely swallowed up by madness, and green light bloomed from her cloudy pupils.
She opened her arms as if to embrace the entire night-shrouded forest.
The will-o'-the-wisps on dozens of undead bodies around him all dimmed, and streams of pure dark energy turned into black air currents and poured into their bodies.
The wind is blowing in the forest!
The whole silent night seemed to come alive!
Unlike the four fearful young adventurers, Luo Yan, who was standing in the team, calmly assessed the rising negative energy.
Chaos, miscellaneous, and unstable impurities jointly constructed her spell-casting system. Although it seemed rough, its strength had indeed reached the level of "fine steel grade".
In this forest with a strong undead atmosphere, coupled with the home field advantage and the blessing of the night, she is even sure to challenge a silver-level opponent.
If I only use my "Black Iron Level" skills, I am afraid that I will not be able to end the battle quickly, but will put these young people in danger.
"Have you felt it? This is the power of your senior sister! Hahahaha!"
Hikajelin felt the power in his body intoxicatedly and let out a cruel scream.
She raised her hands high, and three skeletal warriors, which were made from the bones of giant bears and demon wolves and were far larger than ordinary undead, broke out of the ground behind her and stepped forward step by step, pushing the four young adventurers into despair.
"Kill them!" She waved her index finger and ordered cruelly, "Tear their skin and flesh to pieces and give their souls to me! I want their souls!"
"Roar——!!"
With her crazy orders, all the undead moved.
They let out a thundering roar, like a black wave, launching a general attack on the seven people in the center of the encirclement.
Fenick and others put on a fight-to-the-death stance, with tragic and solemn expressions on their faces.
At this critical moment, Luo Yan suddenly spoke and uttered a sentence.
"Sarah."
A piercing cold light flashed in the amber vertical pupils, and Sarah, who had been standing still, moved instantly.
She has long wanted to take action.
Not because of sympathy for humans, but because that arrogant guy dared to speak to the Demon King from a higher position than the Demon King!
「Quaaaa——!」
A short, squeezed scream sounded.
Tuff, who was held in Sarah's arms, was thrown out neatly before she could realize what was happening, and plunged into the thick snowdrift next to her.
A short, weak tail swayed helplessly outside. This stupid dragon wanted to struggle out of the snow, but its belly was too round and its body temperature was too low.
On the other side, Sarah's figure completely disappeared.
She turned into a black line that was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye, as if blending into the night itself, silently passing through the entire chaotic battlefield.
The undead creatures waving their claws in slow motion in her eyes could not even touch the corners of her clothes.
There are no gorgeous moves, and there is no huge sound, only a "hissing" sound that is so weak that it is almost inaudible when the sharp blade cuts through the air.
When Fenick and others blinked again, the lady in the cloak had returned to Mr. Colin's side, her expression and posture were the same as before. She even pulled out the tail that was dangling in the snow and held it back in her arms, as if she had never done anything.
They didn't even see whether she had drawn her weapon!
Time seems to have frozen at this moment.
On the rocks in the distance, Hekajelin's pretty face distorted by madness still maintained the posture of casting spells, but the green light in his eyes had stagnated.
Immediately afterwards, a line of blood, so thin that it was almost invisible, slowly emerged from her pale neck, bringing an understatement to her madness.
"Hoo...hoah!"
The madness on Hekagelin's face was finally replaced by severe pain and unbelievable fear.
She wanted to cover her neck with her hands, but there was nothing she could grab.
In the end, the sound of struggle turned into a shrill howl, and was drowned in the blood gushing from the arteries.
The light and fluttering figure fell silently from the rock and fell heavily into the three-foot-thick snow, lifeless.
If it is a lich that has already been cultivated, I am afraid that it will have to be killed again.
But Luo Yan watched her and waited for a long time, but did not wait for her to stand up again. Instead, Youyou leaned close to him and whispered in his ear, saying that he saw her soul.
…"It's really scary. She has sixteen arms and thirty legs. Compared with her, your Arakedo looks much more beautiful."
Luo Yan nodded slightly.
Although he couldn't see it, he could imagine what a ferocious scene it was.
"She used the Lich's promotion method, but unfortunately no one gave her guidance, and it was impossible to turn back."
Whether she was offering her loyalty to Saint Sith or to the Demon God, it was a method of advancement that was tacitly approved by everyone, or a method that was "tacitly approved by the system."
The Lich's method is different. They are more like taking advantage of loopholes in the rules to sew another independent soul to their own bodies.
If the soul is obtained on the battlefield, although there will be side effects, it will actually be smaller.
Hum, after all, war is a part of human civilization. Both the murderer and the murdered are within the "conventional rules", and they are all prepared to become the souls of the other party's sword.
Murdering is different.
She inherited the soul of the slain, as well as the resentment and unwillingness of the slain, and it is almost certain that she will be backlashed.
Even from the moment she cut open her own soul and sewed it on with the will of others, she was already dead...
"Is it knowledge obtained from the virtual realm? Or...chaos?" Staring at the black air dissipated in the wind, Luo Yan thought in his heart, and couldn't help but think of an acquaintance with a bad taste...or a familiar god.
As for Youyou, she sighed softly and murmured in a low voice, pitying the lost mortals.
"Poor child..."
No one came to pick her up.
The monster finally exiled himself in the dark forest, in another world that only gods can see.
She has already abandoned Saint Sith and will obviously not be accepted by heaven. And since she has never been loyal to hell, she will naturally not be reincarnated under the command of the devil.
He wanted to give her a hand, but she couldn't see Him at all...
With the death of the caster, the negative energy that maintained all the undead instantly collapsed.
The charging black wave came to an abrupt end, and the will-o'-the-wisps in the eyes of all the undead were extinguished at the same time, and then scattered into a place of lifeless bones and dust.
The noisy battlefield returned to deathly silence within three seconds, leaving only the "crackling" sound of burning torches and the whistling of the cold wind through the forest tops, proving that time was still passing.
Fenik and the four stood there dumbfounded, forgetting to breathe, and even forgetting fear. They looked at the body lying in the snow, and then slowly looked at the respected Mr. Colin and his guards, as well as the dragon cub who was grinning in anger.
They were saved, there is no doubt about it.
And this Mr. Colin has become increasingly unfathomable in their eyes...