Chapter 1244

The necromancer elder's hand rose, his wrinkled hand trembling slightly.

Ding ling~

The necromancer elder pulled the bell beside him, and at the moment the bell rang, a necromancer sitting cross-legged under the sheltering tree opened his eyes, his pupils burning with green flames, his bare upper body covered in scars.

After a few leaps, the bare-chested necromancer arrived at the treehouse, first tidying his appearance, then raising his hand to lightly knock on the wooden door.

"Come in."

The hoarse voice came from inside the wooden door; the necromancer outside gently pushed it open, and upon seeing the scene within, his pupils rapidly constricted as a terrifying aura burst forth.

"Enlightened One, what has happened to you?"

The bare-chested necromancer stepped forward quickly; the necromancer elder seated on the wooden bed lifted his head, his mouth and nose stained with blood.

"Iron... Iron Hand Bai Ye, find him, kill him—only then will the necromancer race have a future."

The necromancer elder pressed one hand against his chest.

"Dig out my heart; my heart will guide you."

After speaking these words, the necromancer elder lost strength, leaning against the wooden wall behind him, the branches and leaves on the wall wrapping around him.

"En... Enlightened One."

The bare-chested necromancer stood dazed in place, tears sliding down his cheeks; his strength even surpassed that of Duncan Nik, whom he often sparred with until death, yet Duncan Nik never once defeated him.

Two hours later, waves of crying echoed from beneath the sheltering tree, as tens of thousands of necromancers knelt around it, some grief-stricken to the point of despair, others having cried themselves into near-fainting.

Necromancer King Sumeier knelt on one knee before the sheltering tree; the necromancer kingship is passed down through generations, while the "Enlightened One" appears only once every hundred years. To the necromancer race, every generation's Enlightened One is their most revered figure—the guiding fireflies in the night.

The Enlightened One does not interfere with the necromancer race's military authority or finances; his sole purpose is to ensure the necromancer race endures. Without the Enlightened One, the necromancer race would have vanished a thousand years ago.

Necromancer King Sumeier held aloft a bleeding heart, marked with an insignia. If Su Xiao saw this mark, he would be astonished to discover that its resonance speed with the mark on his own hand exceeds 90%.

"Cease war with humanity."

Necromancer King Sumeier rose to his feet, raising the heart in his hands high.

"Find that human, kill him, and offer his blood as sacrifice to the Enlightened One."

……

Within necromancer territory lies the Kroifni Desert.

Su Xiao walks across the desert, his vision a haze of yellow; whenever wind and sand surge, vast amounts of rubble and dry grass are swept along.

Su Xiao has penetrated deep into necromancer territory for over two hours; his map is somewhat crude, but fortunately allows him to roughly determine his current position.

Su Xiao's penetration here is a lone force deep in enemy territory; earlier, he passed through a small village, where near its outskirts he found a necromancer civilian and deliberately allowed himself to be discovered—this was a test to determine whether he is hostile to all necromancers.

Upon seeing Su Xiao, the necromancer farmer nearly instinctively retreated a few steps and then lay face-down on the ground, utterly spiritless, raising both hands.

Prolonged warfare inflicts the greatest suffering not on soldiers—even if they die in battle, their pain is fleeting—whereas human and necromancer civilians endure the constant torment of war.

The appearance of humans in necromancer territory is not uncommon; once large-scale war erupts, scattered units are inevitable, later drifting through each other's territories.

The necromancer farmer's reaction confirmed one thing for Su Xiao: the mark on his hand does not provoke hatred from all necromancers. Take this farmer—his eyes held only fear, nothing else; he was so terrified he forgot to hate.

To be certain, Su Xiao deliberately displayed the mark on his hand to the farmer, who stared blankly, pondered for a long time, then extended his thumb toward Su Xiao—his will to live is extremely strong.

Perhaps the danger does not come from hatred drawn by the mark; this puzzles Su Xiao. Even if the necromancers hunt him, there must be a reason—it is unlikely the Cycle Paradise controls the necromancers to hunt him.

What Su Xiao does not know is that the Cycle Paradise indeed did not control the necromancers, but it killed the necromancers' Enlightened One and made him witness a terrifying vision.

Initially, the mark on the Enlightened One's heart could not precisely locate Su Xiao, only informing the necromancers of his general area. Under these circumstances, if the necromancers wished to find Su Xiao, they would need to dispatch troops to search—thus Su Xiao would only encounter small units. This is the initial stage.

Once the necromancers confirm Su Xiao's position, it becomes a mighty army encircling and suppressing him. When the necromancers deploy large forces, Su Xiao enters the second stage—the survival stage.

When the necromancer army mobilizes, the necromancer elites follow closely. When the necromancers deploy these elites, Su Xiao enters the third stage—the purgatory stage.

After the third stage persists for six hours, the fourth stage begins—the nightmare stage, the final stage. At this point, Su Xiao must not only face the necromancers' encirclement and slaughter, but also be rejected by this world.

Su Xiao sits beneath a tree, a cigarette clenched in his mouth, holding a map, while Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang lies asleep on the ground nearby, snoring loudly.

From the human capital to necromancer territory, Su Xiao has not rested a moment; now he is inevitably fatigued, so he decides to rest for one hour.

Su Xiao's current position is roughly 200 kilometers from the Divine Wall; reaching the Dark Moon Marsh still requires a long journey. Even if he never stops and moves at full speed, it would take over ten hours.

The ruins of the Law-Extinguishing Shadow lie near the Dark Moon Marsh. Su Xiao's plan is simple and brutal: use the ruins to complete the adventuring group's promotion assessment. As long as he remains inside, the necromancers can only stare helplessly.

The ruins of the Law-Extinguishing Shadow are close to the necromancer capital, yet to this day no necromancer has entered them—this only proves one thing: the necromancers cannot enter.

Thinking this, Su Xiao flicks away his cigarette butt, stands up, and declares that as long as he reaches the Law-Extinguishing Shadow ruins before being surrounded by the necromancer army, he will have won.

"Let's go."

Su Xiao awakens Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and calls back Am, who was gnawing on a tree trunk; the group resumes its journey.

At full speed, time passes quickly; after eight hours, the slightly out-of-breath Su Xiao stops, hearing a thud behind him—Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Am have collapsed, their eyes rolling white from exhaustion.

Do not think marching eight hours at speed is easy; under Su Xiao's rapid advance, Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Ignoring Bubu Wang and Am can only keep up by exerting their full effort.

Su Xiao halts in place, sweat dripping from his chin—not because his stamina fails, but because the surroundings are too quiet, unnervingly so.

Suddenly, Su Xiao faintly hears the clash of metal from several dozen meters away; he draws the long sword at his waist and makes a feinting slash forward.

Zheng.

A pale blue blade aura detaches from the edge, slicing forward and ultimately embedding itself several dozen meters into the soil.

A trench several meters deep appears, within which lies a corpse severed in two, its hand still gripping a metallic sphere.

Ka-na, ka-ba...

The metallic sphere rotates, ejecting a finger-thick cylindrical tube with a hiss; a red smoke plume shoots straight into the sky at extreme speed, finally bursting with a deafening explosion.

Although it is daytime, the red smoke ball in the sky is exceptionally conspicuous and does not dissipate for a long time.

At this moment, Su Xiao is 425 kilometers from the Dark Moon Marsh and 436 kilometers from the Law-Extinguishing Shadow ruins.

The initial stage has begun—no, it should be said that the initial stage will not last long before ending, as the vast necromancer army is about to attack, and Su Xiao will enter the survival stage.