Chapter 479: The Hundred-Eyed Ghost and the Arriving One

Having said that.

Vivian broke free from Rod's hand, slightly parted her sandalwood lips, let her pink little tongue curl out, and kissed him again.

Rod felt helpless.

He yielded for a moment, then pushed her away.

"That Withered One, Greta—how close a friend is she to Vivian?"

"Greta... drove away bad guys... saved Vivian."

"Hmm, if, I mean if, this Greta intended to do something harmful to the forest, what would Vivian do?"

Vivian paused, her eyes shining with Bai Guang, revealing confusion.

Tree spirits lack certain emotions, but they are not completely heartless creatures.

Anyone whose name she can remember must hold a certain degree of importance.

Vivian is a girl who inspires pity.

The Greta who was driven back will only be gone temporarily.

Rod believed that the Wind Wall Forest, after its ascension, would exert a strong attraction on the so-called Withered Ones.

He hoped to find a way to resolve this matter without hurting Vivian.

"Vivian doesn't know."

The girl looked a bit downcast, unable to answer this question.

She lifted her gaze and kissed him again.

Rod sighed.

Then there's no other way; some things I must do personally.

Knock, knock, knock—

The sound of knocking on the door rang out.

"Enter."

The wooden door opened; it was the Spider-Elf Watching Yuna.

She glanced at the scene on the bed.

The Young Lady Tree Spirit, greedily kissing her master, and the Young Lady Succubus, performing cleaning duties.

She had seen it so often it was no longer strange.

"Master, the War Soul Gu Hua Cheng Gong ritual is ready; it can be performed at any time."

She said respectfully.

"Mm, I'm going over there now. Vivian, I'm heading out; will you rest here?"

"Together, with Rod."

"Fine. Tally, you may."

"Suck, suck, suck~~"

"Let go of me!"

"No~"

The open ground outside the Bai Yu District.

Still the same old spot.

At the center of the War Soul Gu Hua Cheng Gong ritual arranged by Watching Yuna stood Rod, bare-chested.

Behind him loomed the terrifying phantom of the Hundred-Eyed Ghost, its ghostly hands formed into a ball.

Outside the ritual.

Were Vivian, Tally, and Watching Yuna, watching.

The Tree Spirit, as always, showed no expression.

Tally had turned into a half-dragon today, sitting cross-legged on the ground and yawning.

The Young Lady Spider-Elf, meanwhile, looked slightly nervous, staring back and forth at the glowing mana lines on the ground, as if constantly checking them.

Watching Yuna's work was still quite reassuring.

Even though this was her first time arranging such a ritual, Rod inspected it and found no problems whatsoever.

It was even far more precise and efficient than what he would have arranged.

It could save a considerable amount of mana and spell components.

So,

such matters require each person to fulfill their own role.

As the master, one need not be proficient in everything; he simply needs to leverage the strengths of the girls.

【Hundred-Eyed Ghost War Soul Gu Hua Cheng Gong】

【Gain Buffs: Fierce Power, Omni-Directional Vision, Grasp】

【Fierce Power +1: Strength slightly enhanced; when used, physical attacks deal extra damage. The skill has a side effect of 'Overdoing It'; the extra damage ranges from -22% to +22%.】

【Omni-Directional Vision +1: The Hundred-Eyed Ghost possesses flawless, all-around vision during combat and gains the additional skill 'Eye Growth'; for every additional eye, perception increases by 1.1%.】

【Grasp +1: This skill grants humanoid hands the effects of 'Telekinetic Grasp' and 'Grasp Mastery'; 'Grasp Mastery' requires a Strength check; failure causes the control to fail.】

Hmm.

Although because of using 【Spirit Devouring Casting】, all skills received +1.

It still felt a bit plain.

Not that it wasn't powerful.

The Hundred-Eyed Ghost and the Astral Ambusher, as cosmic beings, seem to have certain distinctions from the Great Dragons, which are native creatures of the continent.

The giant dragon granted more physical stats.

Those two cosmic beings clearly didn't look like power-focused candidates, yet they mostly granted active skills.

However,

what is 'overdoing it'?

Extra damage could even be negative, and the granted stats weren't high either.

Rod couldn't help but laugh in frustration.

Fortunately, with 【Global Vision】, the eyeball sacrifice method for 【Flame Ray】 had finally been successfully coordinated.

He tested the brass spirit-measuring sphere's stats on the spot.

—399 Ke Yin.

After all, the strength increase from 【Power Strike】 alone only added 9 Ke Yin.

It landed exactly on the 400 Ke Yin threshold.

It made Rod feel terribly frustrated.

The light of the ritual array dimmed.

The hundred-eyed oni war soul, which had been baring its fangs and claws, dissolved into a large cloud of blue-white mist and swiftly drilled into Rod's body.

"This war soul is so ugly, Master. Tally can't even tell where its willy is."

Tally commented.

For the first time, Watching Yuna, who had presided over the important ritual, let out a sigh of relief, patted her elastic chest, and trembled unsteadily.

Vivian, meanwhile, walked slowly to Rod's side, staring expressionlessly at the ground; she didn't embrace him, merely pressing her cheek against his arm.

For a period after dealing with the 【Lust Ke Yin】, the Tree Spirit Young Lady would become particularly clingy.

Rod smiled and was just about to pat her head.

Suddenly, he noticed a black dot appearing far away in the sky over the farmland district of Shi Ying Town to the south.

The flying black dot rapidly grew larger.

It revealed itself to be a rotting black bird.

The Withered One, Greta?

Rod took a closer look.

Beside the black bird that was Greta's manifestation, there was also a vulture with a skull for a head, its eyes flickering with soul fire.

Like Greta, it carried the same chilling natural power.

"Oh."

Another Withered One.

After being scared off, Greta not only didn't know when to give up but had even called for teammates.

"Hehe."

Henry Farm was actually situated on the side-rear of the trade route near the southern farmland district of Shi Ying Town; the important defensive forces in the town center of Shi Ying Town could hardly reach this area.

Though it wasn't really necessary anyway.

This was also the route the Dark Elf traitor Atticus had taken when he bypassed the area without magic power back then.

However,

today is different from yesterday.

Rod's location was at a higher elevation; he could see that as the two giant birds in the sky approached the farmland district, several arrows shot upward from below, passing in front of the two undead giant birds.

Immediately after, they were engulfed by swirling dust.

Several wolf riders of the Blizzard Mercenary Band, riding dark gray giant wolves, galloped toward the targets in the sky.

Each held a white crossbow in hand, etched with incomprehensible magical runes, and they were currently reloading with speed and efficiency.

Behind them, archers and heavy armored cavalry followed closely.

One of the mages used 【Phantom Sound Art】 on the targets in the sky, issuing a stern warning.

Declaring this the territory of Shi Ying Town and forbidding all unauthorized flight!

What no one expected was,

the two undead giant birds actually stopped obediently, landed on the ground, and began speaking with the people of the Blizzard Mercenary Band.

Rod was also somewhat surprised.

Instead of waiting on the spot, he simply took the girls and went forward.

Quickly,

Rod saw the true forms of those two Withered Ones.

(End of this chapter)