Chapter 314: Blood Expulsion and Cleanup

"Dumping blood into the river again?"

He had actually seen this scene before, and at the time he hadn't cared at all — he figured that with this small amount of blood, even if the virus were strong, it would be diluted in an instant.

But after later talking with Lady Kali, she mentioned that there were rumors that beast-blood was the ancient blood of some formless deity.

Now he wasn't quite so sure.

If it really was divine blood, god knew what would happen if such blood flowed into the river on a large scale?

The Hansen River cuts through the Twilight Hills, and even near Windwall Forest there are tributaries of it.

Rod didn't want to wait any longer.

He hurried back to the mountain road defense line in the Claw Valley highlands and explained the situation to everyone.

Rosalia treated it as a grave threat, her brows tightly knit.

Compared to beast-plague patients one could see with the naked eye, the blood virus lurking in the river water was clearly far more troublesome.

"I'll go with you."

She immediately declared.

"I don't really know the Tooth Fairy's spiritual arts. Dealing with beast-plague requires a certain amount of ranged ability, otherwise there's a real risk of infection."

"Please rest assured, we are quite adept at manipulating moonlight."

The rabbit-person mage Orna raised a hand and cut her off.

"Rod and I going together will be enough. Consider it rent for my stay in Shi Ying town."

"How could that be proper? Lady Orna coming to Shi Ying town in the first place was already us getting the better end of the deal," Rosalia hurriedly said.

"No need for pleasantries. It's settled then, Rod — let's go."

Rod took out the ceramic swan and cast a group flight spell on it.

He rose into the sky with Orna, heading toward the distant Koch Plains.

Underground, Pan Ni silently raised a hand, as if she too wanted to go along.

It's just that she never spoke such things directly to her own master.

The two of them followed the Hansen River forward.

After nearly an hour, they finally spotted a cluster of beast-plague patients near a small town called Levin.

Three or four hundred at the very least.

At the very front by the river, there was indeed a blue-robed mage.

His rank wasn't high — he looked to be only at the early stage of the sixth tier.

At that moment he was rapidly chanting an incantation.

With a wet pop, the chest of the beast-plague patient standing beside him burst open with a cross-shaped wound, and a great tangled mass of twisted blood vessels was pulled out.

And thrown into the river.

Then the next beast-plague patient stepped forward, and the process repeated.

Behind him stretched a long line — all the beast-plague patients seemed to have come of their own accord.

"It's 【Blood Expulsion】."

Orna identified the spell the other was using at a glance.

Rod's eyes lit up.

"Isn't that the dedicated spell for dealing with beast-plague patients?"

"Not as things stand. The way this spell extracts blood vessels is quite crude — it basically always bursts out a cloud of blood mist. Although it dissipates after a while, these kinds of small details often lead to unexpected things happening."

Having said that,

she pulled from her spell satchel a spellbook titled 【Blood Expulsion: The Necromantic Art of Dancing Vessels】 and handed it to Rod.

"Your ghoul companion Pan Ni has quite a talent for necromancy spells. Perhaps she could make a more refined modification."

Rod didn't bother objecting to the term "ghoul companion."

He took the spellbook.

He couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Pan Ni's a bit of a dim bulb. Before, she couldn't even master something as low-tier as Message Spell, let alone modifying spells — she probably isn't cut out for it."

"Don't underestimate her. Pan Ni just lacks a little confidence. And meat."

"Meat?"

Rod was puzzled.

He certainly hadn't shorted Pan Ni on a single bite to eat.

"At the end of the day, Pan Ni is a ghoul — she'll always crave the fresh flesh of people she's familiar with and fond of. I'll say it straight: she wants to eat your meat. That might even let her advance further. Don't you have a spiritual art for flesh proliferation?"

That much was true.

Every time he and Pan Ni got intimate,

she would always gnaw at Rod's shoulders and neck.

This wasn't the affectionate kissing and gentle nibbling of the sort Tally did, but genuine, honest-to-god force trying to tear off a chunk of flesh.

The kind of forceful ripping and tearing, gnaw gnaw.

It's just that Rod was thick-skinned and tough — she couldn't bite through at all — and he found her absent-minded biting rather cute, which only added a bit of a playful spark to the occasion.

"... You've known her less than an hour. Why do you sound like you know her better than I do?"

Orna gave a charming smile.

"Have you forgotten who I am? Bao Mu Fa mage Orna — my spiritual arts can soothe even Lady Yulia!"

"But they don't work on me."

She instantly stiffened, then said in a flustered huff:

"That is because of your problem, Rod! Your mental resistance is even stronger than My Lord Yulia's! This completely overturns the mages' understanding!"

Rod smiled but did not answer her.

He cast a 【Shadow Cloak】 on Tally to prevent blood infection.

He changed course, diving like a hawk hunting its prey.

At the same time, he applied a high-capacity 【Repulsion Spell】 to his feet as thrust.

Boom—With a deafening roar, his speed surged, even exploding a white mist barrier in mid-air.

The mages on the ground were naturally startled by this loud noise.

In panic, he raised his staff.

A ball of mana condensed, then quickly dissipated.

The spell failed.

Perhaps it was a problem of focus, or perhaps the werewolf disease.

In any case, in his haste, he could only fling out a few magic missiles.

Then they hit Rod harmlessly, with no effect whatsoever.

Rod suddenly slammed on the brakes.

The gravitational pressure of the high-speed stop had no effect on him, pressing a semi-circular air wave into the ground.

Then he barely hovered above the ground.

He raised one hand toward the werewolf patients who had immediately fallen into a 【Frenzy】 state.

Crack—

【Yudian's Ice Blade Domain】.

A freezing giant wave formed of ice crystals surged up, freezing a batch of werewolf patients ahead.

That blue-robed mage was obviously not very proficient in combat.

He left his own life to his body's instincts; he only had time to raise his hand to block before being covered by the sky-filling wave of ice crystals.

【Yudian's Ice Blade Domain】 was not merely simple frost.

Hidden within the ice crystals composed of spirituality were dangerous spiritual ice blades; once frozen, even the internal organs would be utterly destroyed.

Ona slowly descended nearby.

She clapped her hands in delight: "To be honest, Rod, I thought you would rush in and fight them hand-to-hand."

"The stereotype of spiritual warriors is too close to the Hansen River here; who knows what will happen after their blood is contaminated."

"That is true. I will show mercy; I want to take a few live bodies for research."

"No problem."

While speaking, Rod manipulated the ice domain to freeze enemies on the other side who intended to attack.

This time, the spirituality was much milder, barely controlling their movements.

"Speaking of which, you are clearly the Deputy Director of the Containment Department; why do you also work as My Lord Yulia's personal mage?"

His momentum and offense were too strong.

Many werewolf patients had already started to turn and flee.

"Huh? Didn't I tell you? My Lord Yulia was originally a contained individual."

Ona tilted her head and said matter-of-factly.

(End of Chapter)