Chapter 381: Awakening Ritual

Before long, those hundred-plus Goblin corpses were forked out by Ximeng and the others and piled onto an open space, forming a mound of corpses; even from a dozen steps away, the stench overpowered the smell of blood. Ximeng and the others had cleaned up Goblins more than once or twice, so they were naturally already used to it, but Xia Duo had Magic, and only Mote was encountering this situation for the first time.

Death was very ordinary to him, but this stench mixed with the smell of blood was desperately trying to drill into his nostrils; with a "waa" sound, Mote really couldn't hold it back and vomited.

Several of the more unruly team members under Ximeng immediately burst into laughter, "Rookie!"

Ximeng rebuked them hurriedly; he knew that the Lord had come over in person, surely because of an important matter, and this matter—his eyes glanced toward the bald young man who was still wiping the corners of his mouth with his cuff.

Because Ximeng had previously served as a small squad leader, although he was later removed, he learned how to operate Magic Items afterward, so he was promoted again, and his prestige was not low.

After he spoke out to rebuke them, all his subordinates quieted down.

And seeing that the corpses had been piled up completely according to Mote's requirements, Xia Duo ordered Ximeng and the others to step back, and he, who was already a distance away, retreated a bit further.

Negative Energy is the kind of thing that shortens one's life if one comes into contact with it too much; it is better to avoid it as much as possible if one can!

"Mote, begin!" Xia Duo sent a message via Sending.

Mote was stunned for a moment, then began to prepare; he took a small skull container from his bosom, pinched out some powder from inside to sprinkle on himself, and sprinkled some more on the Goblin corpse mound.

Afterward, he knelt on one knee, placed his hands flat with palms facing upward on the ground, and prayed silently; the prayer was very long, and Xia Duo could vaguely hear some sentences praising the Lord of Death from afar.

The next moment, Mote suddenly raised his hands, and countless gray-black smoke surged from his palms; the Death Holy Power from the dead spread onto the corpse mound, suddenly drawing out the Negative Energy that would have otherwise needed time to be released slowly.

"All things return to death, my Lord is eternal!"

After a high-pitched prayer, the corpse mound began to shake slowly, as if something was about to crawl out from underneath, and outside of Mote's ritual, Xia Duo looked up at the sky and frowned.

I don't know when it started, but this area also seemed to have become gloomy; can a novice like Mote handle something this big?

Xia Duo was somewhat puzzled; just then, Ximeng leaned over, his face showing some fear, and he pointed at Mote not far away, asking tremblingly: "My Lord, he—"

"Watch more and ask less. In the future, when it is your squad's turn to go out on missions, Mote will go with you, just like today, understand?"

"My Lord—" Looking at Xia Duo's serious gaze, Ximeng gritted his teeth and agreed, "Yes!"

Actually, Xia Duo didn't know how to answer either; although Mote had told him some details about creating Undead before, it was limited to words, and he hadn't expected the Reality to be so complex.

"Go and soothe your people." Xia Duo saw that someone nearby had already peed himself, actually peed; perhaps he was not afraid of fighting with blades and swords, but the shaking corpse pile and the gloomy sky—such a mysterious phenomenon had already exceeded his psychological expectations.

If he isn't soothed, perhaps the next moment when the Undead comes out, he will collapse.

"Yes."

Ximeng responded and left.

And not far away, Mote's ritual seemed to have entered a critical stage; the swaying corpse mound seemed to be shrinking at this moment—no, it should be "shriveling."

Xia Duo saw from afar a wisp of gray-black smoke darting back and forth in the corpse pile; every time it passed a corpse, the gray-black smoke would grow a bit stronger, while the corpse would become shriveled.

It seemed that some unknown thing had devoured the flesh and blood, leaving only the withered skin wrapping the bones.

Finally, the corpse mound stopped shaking because it had shriveled to the extreme; some corpses had even turned into withered, broken white bones, completely devoid of their previous fresh appearance.

And that gray-black smoke, which had grown to the extreme, finally merged into the best-preserved corpse, instantly turning it into skin and bone.

"Click, click, click—"

This skin-and-bone corpse stood up shakily; I don't know how Ximeng soothed his subordinates, but it had been much quieter by now, yet Xia Duo himself felt truly horrified seeing this scene.

The boundary between life and death was broken at this moment!

That swaying skin-and-bone corpse was like a newborn baby at this moment, looking around; Xia Duo met its gaze, and there were no longer eyeballs in the other's eye sockets, but two clusters of gray-white Cold Flame, which looked somewhat mysterious.

The next moment, with a "pop" sound, the skin-and-bone corpse fell down; its cervical spine snapped directly, its head flew out, rolled a few times on the ground, and was blocked by a small stone.

And those two mysterious gray-white Cold Flames in its eye sockets were extinguished just like that!

"This—"

Xia Duo was stunned for a moment and hurriedly looked at Mote, sending a questioning gaze, and Mote happened to look at him too; his eyes held both numbness and some guilt.

I don't know when, but the gloom brought by the ritual had completely dissipated; fine sunlight sprinkled on the corpse mound and Mote's big bald head, and a glorious, eerie feeling spread out.

"My Lord, I failed!"

"Do you know what the reason for this was?"

"I, I—" Mote was full of guilt, "It is because my understanding of my Lord's profound meaning is too little!"

This answer obviously could not satisfy Xia Duo; before Mote started, he knew Mote was a novice, and what he really wanted to know were the influencing factors from other aspects, so he asked again: "Besides this, are there any other reasons?"

"Perhaps it is because the Goblin's Wisdom is too low, or perhaps it is almost noon and the sunlight is gradually becoming strong; I don't know, it must be that my understanding of my Lord's profound meaning is too little!"

"Sigh—" Xia Duo shook his head; Mote's state was simply a hundred thousand miles worse than Laidun's. He even felt that if Mote continued to doubt himself like this, who knows when his Holy Power would regress.

Having finally found a Cleric, Xia Duo did not want him to be wasted just like that, so he comforted him: "You did very well just now. Practice a few more times, and I believe you will definitely succeed. Next, I will arrange for Ximeng to take you to clear out Goblin settlements; you need to practice more!"

For someone who has already gone down a blind alley, comfort is not the best approach; the best approach is to give him a goal directly to interrupt his continued thinking.

Hearing Xia Duo's words, Mote's eyes gradually brightened; although he was still somewhat doubtful, now that he had a goal, how could he not want to try a few more times!

Seeing that the time was approaching noon, Xia Duo took out some dry rations and gave them to Mote, then arranged for Ximeng to take him to "level up"; he was no longer prepared to follow.

With a Magic Scroll on him, Ximeng was enough to deal with most situations; even if they encountered a Troll again, as long as it wasn't a whole nest, Ximeng and the others could hold out until Xia Duo went to support them.

And there was also Mote; Death Holy Power had an extraordinary lethality against living creatures, so it was good to let them get used to each other, as they would be teaming up for a long time in the future.

Returning to Linshui Village, Xia Duo patrolled every place again; the Lord's Villa had already started construction, and the craftsmen had also arrived yesterday on the "Lucky Owen".

After roughly asking about the construction period, progress, and so on, Xia Duo then returned to the small tent satisfied to read.

(End of this chapter)