Chapter 355: Green Tooth

The night in the forest is cold and long.

Under the expectant eyes of the villagers, this temporarily assembled team held the torches borrowed from the miller and stepped into the forbidden land known locally as the "Black Forest" outside Pompeii Village.

The dense coniferous forest covered the firmament, the pale moonlight was cut into pieces, and could only cast mottled and eerie shadows on the thick snow.

The surroundings were surprisingly quiet, leaving only the "creaking" sound of feet stepping on the snow, and the occasional "crackling" sound of the torch.

Finik and his companions were obviously performing such a dangerous mission at night for the first time, and this brave young man had already begun to regret that rash invitation at the time.

"A whole day... that child must be dead." Baret lowered his voice and said.

"Don't say that, what if there is still a rescue?" Leo said in a low voice.

"Regardless of whether there is a rescue, we have to try... that is the only son of the client after all." When he said this, Finik suddenly fell silent for a moment.

The only son...

Isn't he the same?

He had thought more than once these days whether it was worth leaving his parents, leaving his hometown, and betting everything on his dreams.

This journey was almost over, but among the four of them, only Ilara had truly successfully released magic so far.

And he just memorized the roster of the Mage Tower.

Perhaps...

He actually didn't have the talent to become a magician, and he wasn't more special than the people around him.

But no matter what, the task at hand is the most important.

Finik took a deep breath and tried to cheer up.

Baret walked beside him, one holding a sword and shield, the other holding a war hammer tightly, his expression highly nervous, walking carefully every step.

Hunter Leo's bowstring had long been pulled halfway, his vigilant gaze like a falcon, constantly scanning the edge of the darkness that the torchlight could not reach.

As for Ilara, she followed closely behind, clutching an amulet engraved with runes in her hand, her small face looking exceptionally pale in the torchlight due to fear.

The light of the torch could only support a small fragile orange area in the boundless darkness, and the deep, bottomless gloom further away seemed to have countless greedy eyes peeping.

In sharp contrast to the tension of these four young people, the Kelin party seemed overly relaxed.

Luo Yan walked in the middle of the team, his expression relaxed as if he were not tracking the undead, but strolling in his own backyard.

As for Sarah, she followed silently beside him, just like his shadow.

She had no extra movements, her indifferent expression was unmoved, and those sharp vertical pupils had already taken in all the movements around her.

Tafu, who was held steadily in her arms, poked her small head out of the cloak, her nostrils constantly twitching.

She didn't care about the danger that ordinary people feared, just curiously sniffing the cold and decaying aura unique to the undead in the air.

Following the dragging marks and scattered animal bones left by the undead on the snow, the group cautiously went deep into the depths of 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, his voice dry.

"Look there."

Everyone gathered around, the torchlight illuminated that area, only to see a dead wolf lying in the snow.

Its body maintained a struggling posture, its fur was complete, and there were no wounds on its body. But its flesh and blood were strangely shriveled, as if all the vitality of its body had been instantly drained by something invisible, leaving only a hollow shell.

This is definitely not done by hunters or magical beasts!

A kind of coldness derived from the unknown climbed up the spines of Finik and the four, making them feel hands and feet cold.

"This doesn't look like an undead mage casting spells alone, more like... a lich's spell." Luo Yan examined the corpse on the ground with interest.

Finik swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked tentatively.

"Have you seen it?"

Luo Yan nodded and said concisely.

"Hmm... encountered it on the journey. But don't worry, it may not be a lich, maybe just a more evil wizard."

Although his sentence contained no information, it still made the four young people whose nerves were tense breathe a sigh of relief.

At least...

Someone among them had dealt with undead mages.

Regaining morale, the group continued to move forward.

Following the intermittent animal fur and bloodstains that had solidified into dark brown on the snow, they walked through the forest for about half an hour.

Finally, those twisted traces led them from the dense jungle to a relatively open area.

This seemed to be a long-abandoned logging site.

Several wooden houses had collapsed halfway, almost buried by thick snow. Rusted saws and axes were discarded in the corners, frozen with rotten stumps... everything revealed a dead silence forgotten by time.

And the traces they had been tracking all the way, right in the center of this open space, came to an abrupt end.

Luo Yan glanced at the surroundings, and a faint smile suddenly appeared at the corner of his mouth.

As he had guessed early on, the villagers of Pompeii Village were pitiful, but they were not honest people.

This logging site hadn't been lost for the first day, and they obviously knew who this undead mage was, and knew where it was hiding, and how strong it was.

However, those people didn't say a word, just crying with snot and tears, and urging their party to save people.

They were indeed forced by the inactive lord, but if he hadn't been here, these four guys would probably have died.

No matter if they came during the day or at night.

"Not right," hunter Leo gripped the long bow in his hand, his voice dry. "It's too quiet here... as if..."

Baret swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked tentatively the words that had already surged to Leo's mouth.

"... You want to say it's a trap?"

Ilara's face was pale, her legs soft.

"We... should go back first, I feel it would be better to come during the day..."

Behind, her voice was completely out of tune, like a frightened squirrel.

Sarah glanced at the three people who were exchanging nonsense indifferently.

Only realized it now?

Just as Ilara's voice fell, a change suddenly occurred!

As if to verify Baret's conjecture, a pair of miserable green light spots suddenly lit up in the night curtain that couldn't be dissolved.

Immediately after—

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 net woven from resentment, completely sealing this small open space!

"Creak... creak..."

The sound of teeth-aching bone friction came from all directions, followed by the sound of swords scraping the snow!

Accompanied by this rustling movement, hundreds of undead in various forms walked out from behind the dark forest and from the shadows of the collapsed wooden houses.

Those skeletons formed an airtight encirclement, cutting off all the retreat of the crowd, the soul fire burning in the hollow eye sockets burning with hatred for the living, and the desire for flesh and blood!

Why—

These guys can stand like humans, while they can only endure pain and suffering in endless torture!

Negative aura and instinct drove them forward.

This pain—

They want to let them taste it too!

Looking at the terrifying and hideous scene, the blood on the faces of the four young people disappeared. However, for Luo Yan who grew up in Hell, this was the most ordinary scenery.

"Do it! Don't let them get close!" Finik's voice was a bit deformed by fear, but he still forced himself to raise his sword.

Leo made the first reaction, he took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the trembling, and aimed the arrow at a skeleton warrior walking at the forefront.

"Whoosh!"

The arrow shot out accurately, but it didn't pierce the skull as he expected.

That arrow passed through the gap in the hollow ribs with a "clatter," and nailed uselessly to a tree trunk in the distance, while the skeleton warrior didn't even pause.

o￠O

"I'll fight you!!!"

Baret roared, taking the initiative to meet it.

The heavy war hammer in his hand poured all the strength of the blacksmith's son, smashed hard on the chest of another skeleton, smashing it into pieces!

However, this short-lived victory did not bring any breathing space.

As soon as he smashed one, two new undead immediately surrounded him, waving bone blades, forcing him to retreat again and again.

"Fire... fire... quick!" Finik shouted at Ilara behind him.

Ilara closed her eyes tightly, her lips twitching rapidly, she could feel the magic power in her body surging, but she couldn't shape them. Under extreme fear, her mind was blank, leaving only the last thought—

"Fire, in the name of fire—appear in my hand!" She opened her eyes wide and shouted the cumbersome and obscure spell with all her strength.

A miracle happened!

A small flame really condensed into shape in her palm!

She didn't even have time to be happy that she successfully cast a spell again, and pushed this flame out in a panic.

However, the flame was still too small.

Rather than saying it was a fireball, it was better to say it was a spark that would go out when blown by the wind, swaying towards a skeleton.

"Puff."

The flame hit the cold skull, instantly shattered into a few sparks, and melted into the boundless cold night. The skeleton just shook its head and continued to approach with heavy steps.

The last trace of blood on Ilara's face faded, replaced by complete despair.

Just in this suffocating atmosphere, the undead rushing like a tide suddenly stopped.

They no longer approached, but like a retreating torrent, separated to both sides, making way for their master.

A thin figure walked along the twisted road.

She wore a tattered mage robe, and her withered hair was like weeds. She walked unhurriedly onto a towering rock covered with snow, like a king ascending his own throne, looking down at the prey trapped in the encirclement from above.

Luo Yan noticed that it was a clear face belonging to a young girl, but those eyes were as turbid as an old woman who was about to die.

In the depths of those green pupils, madness and resentment that were almost overflowing were burning. And strangely, her mouth was smiling.

In the encirclement, Finik forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart, protected his sword in front of his chest, and shouted at the figure on the rock with courage.

"Who... are you!"

Hearing his rude questioning, the thin figure didn't get angry, but let out a light laugh.

She lifted the hem of the tattered mage robe and performed a standard yet slightly strangely stiff lady's salute.

"Hekajielin," she introduced herself with a smile, her voice as light as a ghost, "Or, you can call me 'Green Tooth'."

"We are here to find the children of Pompeii Village!" Baret roared in a deep voice. "Children?" Hekajielin laughed lightly, and said lightly, "I think you look like children... who are you looking for here? Yourself?"

"Then you underestimate us," Leo sneered coldly, bluffing, "Standing in front of you are not ordinary adventurers, but future Mage adults. If you are sensible, hurry up—"

"So that's it... are you going to the Academy State for the exam?"

Hekajielin looked at Leo with interest, and then looked at the others beside him, the smile on her face suddenly became happier, as if she had picked up a treasure.

Without waiting for Finik and others to react to what happened, she suddenly let out a "cackle" laugh, that neurotic voice full of mockery and madness.

"Another group of little sparrows going to the Academy State for the exam... so cute, it reminds me of when I was young, ah... really nostalgic."

Her voice became low 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 among you? One? Two? Or are all six of you? Cackle... me too, and far greater than you, after all, you haven't entered yet, and I have already come out of there."

Looking at the shocked young men with wide eyes, she told her experience in a tone that was both like showing off and like painful accusation.

"Hekajielin, the genius of the past, the pride and hope of Sagebrush Village! I entered the Academy State full of dreams, thinking that it was a temple of knowledge, thinking that as long as I worked hard, I could have everything!"

Her voice rose again, suddenly becoming sharp and crazy.

"But I was wrong! Very wrong! What they value is not a person's effort at all, but 'soul'! It's that damn, born-destined soul! In their eyes, we commoner geniuses are just materials! They squeezed my value, exhausted my talent, and then—after I exhausted my youth and even everything in my life, they threw me away ruthlessly like throwing away a piece of garbage!"

Her voice was full of resentment, and the madness burning in those turbid eyes seemed not only to be her hatred, but also hidden the hatred belonging to others.

"They say knowledge is power? Ridiculous! Hypocritical! Obviously, origin is! Surpassing the shackles of the soul? Void? Those resources don't belong to you at all! You are just stepping stones for them to change their own destiny! Firewood for burning the stove!"

"Since they won't give me power, then I'll take it myself!"

"Where is that child?" Luo Yan didn't want to listen to her nonsense, he hadn't opened his mouth from beginning to end, just said indifferently.

Hekajielin paused slightly, laughing neurotically, and pointed to a dark cave behind her casually.

"Oh, that little thing?" She said in a tone of discussing 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."

These words, like the coldest cold wind, completely shattered the last trace of fantasy of negotiation in the hearts of Finik and others—

This guy is already crazy!

Finik swallowed a mouthful of saliva with difficulty, secretly looked at Kelin's direction, hoping that the latter would stimulate the power in the ring again.

He had already concluded that this respected gentleman should be a noble who went out to practice, and even possibly the "Prince Klanker" in the miller's mouth.

However, Mr. Kelin just stood there calmly, his gaze indifferent, as if everything that was sword-drawn and bow-bent in front of him had nothing to do with him.

The two had just met not long ago, and there was no tacit understanding at all.

Finik gritted his teeth, didn't give up, and then signaled Leo beside him without a trace, saying two words silently with his mouth—

'Do it.'

Leo understood.

As the calmest hunter in the team, he also saw that their strength was far from the opponent of this undead mage.

Their only chance of winning was to launch a fatal blow when the opponent was still showing off and underestimating the enemy!

He pretended to give up struggling and lowered his long bow in despair.

However, the second after he lowered his long bow, his right hand had already drawn a short flintlock gun from his waist like lightning!

"Bang——!"

The deafening gunshot tore through the silence of the forest, the lead bullet wrapped in flames and smoke, heading straight for Hekajielin's head on the rock.

However, that bullet that should have bloomed with blood hit a barrier invisible to the naked eye one inch in front of Hekajielin's forehead!

Only a crisp sound of "ding" was heard, a layer of dark green transparent shield showed its outline, and the ripples of energy swayed like water waves.

And that deformed bullet fell weakly into the snow, and falling with it were the hearts of the four adventurers that fell to the bottom of the valley.

"Cackle..."

Hekajielin suddenly let out a joyful laugh, like a wild cat playing with prey.

"Too weak, tsk tsk..." She clicked her tongue lightly, her eyes full of sarcasm, and said slowly, "Has the Academy State fallen to the point where even this kind of goods can apply for the exam? This is really... making your predecessors feel sad."

Before the words fell, the last trace of clarity belonging to humans in her eyes was completely swallowed by madness, and green light bloomed from those turbid pupils.

She opened her arms, as if to embrace the entire forest shrouded in the night curtain.

The ghost fire on the dozens of undead around dimmed in unison, and strands of pure dark energy turned into black air currents and poured into their bodies.

A gale blew in the forest!

The entire silent night seemed to have come alive!

Unlike the four young adventurers who were afraid, Luo Yan, who was standing in the team, calmly evaluated the negative energy that was rising steadily.

Chaotic, mixed, and unstable impurities together constructed her spell-casting system, although it seemed rough, the strength had indeed reached the level of "Steel."

In this forest with a rich undead aura, plus the home field advantage and the blessing of the night, she even had the confidence to challenge a Silver-level opponent.

If he only took out the skills of the "Black Iron level," he might not be able to end the battle quickly, but would let these young people fall into danger.

"Feel it? This is the power of your senior sister! Hahahaha!"

Hekajielin felt the power in her body intoxicatedly and let out a cruel scream.

She raised her hands high, and three skeleton warriors pieced together from giant bears and magic wolves, far larger than ordinary undead, broke out of the ground behind her, stepped forward step by step, pushing the four young adventurers into despair.

"Roar——!!"

Accompanied by her crazy order, all the undead moved.

They let out a roar that shook the sky, like a black wave, launching a general attack on the seven people in the center of the encirclement.

Finik and others set up a posture of fighting to the death, their faces full of tragedy.

Just at this sword-drawn and bow-bent, imminent moment, Luo Yan suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a sentence.

"Sarah."

A bone-chilling cold light flashed in the amber vertical pupils, and Sarah, who had been standing still, moved instantly.

She had wanted to take action long ago.

Not because of sympathy for humans, but because that arrogant guy dared to stand in a position higher than the Demon King and speak to the Demon King!

"Quack—!"

A short, squeezed scream sounded.

Tafu, who was held in Sarah's arms, hadn't reacted to what happened, and was thrown out neatly, plunging into the thick snow beside her.

A short, powerless tail swayed helplessly outside, this stupid dragon wanted to struggle out of the snow, but her belly was too round and her body temperature was too low.

On the other side, Sarah's figure disappeared completely.

She turned into a black line that was almost invisible to the naked eye, as if integrated into the night itself, silently passing through the entire chaotic battlefield.

Those undead who were waving their claws and teeth like slow motion in her eyes couldn't even touch the corner of her clothes.

There were no gorgeous moves, nor any huge sounds, only a faint "hiss" sound that was almost inaudible when the blade cut through the air.

When Finik and others blinked again, the lady in the cloak had returned to Mr. Kelin's side, her expression and posture were the same as before she took action, and she even pulled out the tail that was shaking in the snow, held it back in her arms, as if she had never taken action.

They didn't even see clearly whether she drew her weapon!

Time, at this moment, seemed to freeze.

On the rock in the distance, Hekajielin's pretty face, distorted by madness, still maintained the posture of casting spells, but the green light in her eyes stopped.

Immediately after, a thin blood line that was almost invisible slowly emerged from her pale neck, drawing a light period for her madness.

"Hoo... hoooo——!"

The madness on Hekajielin's face was finally replaced by severe pain and unbelievable fear.

She wanted to cover her neck with her hands, but couldn't grab anything.

Finally, the struggling sound turned into a shrill scream, drowned in the blood plasma gushing from the artery.

That light figure fell from the rock silently, fell heavily into the three-foot-thick snow, and her life was cut off.

If it was a lich that had already been cultivated, I'm afraid it would have to be killed again.

But Luo Yan watched her and waited for a long time, but didn't wait for her to stand up again, instead Hearing You You leaned close to his ear and muttered, saying she saw her soul.

"... It's really terrible, she has sixteen arms, thirty legs, and your Arakdo looks delicate compared to her."

Luo Yan nodded slightly.

Although he couldn't see it, he could imagine what a hideous picture it was.

"She used the lich's promotion idea, it's a pity that no one pointed it out, thinking of turning back is already impossible."

Whether it is offering loyalty to Saint Xisi or offering loyalty to the Demon God, it belongs to the promotion method tacitly approved by everyone, or rather, the method "tacitly approved by the system."

And the lich's method is different, they are more like using the loopholes of the rules to sew another independent soul onto their own body.

If it is a soul obtained on the battlefield, although there are side effects, it is actually smaller.

After all, war is a part of human civilization, whether it is the killer or the killed, they are in the "conventionally agreed rules," and they are also prepared to become the soul under the other party's sword.

And murder is different.

She inherited the soul of the killed, and also inherited the resentment and unwillingness of the killed, and the backlash is almost certain.

Even, from the moment she cut her own soul and sewed on the will of others, she was already dead...

"Is it knowledge obtained from the Void? Or... Chaos?" Watching the black gas dissipating with the wind, Luo Yan pondered in his heart, and couldn't help but think of an eccentric acquaintance... or rather a familiar god.

As for Hearing You You, she let out a light sigh, whispering softly, pitying the lost mortal.

"Poor child..."

No one came to pick her up.

That monster finally exiled itself into the dark forest, in another world that only gods can see.

Having long since betrayed Saint Xisi, she obviously wouldn't be accepted by Heaven, and she had never been loyal to Hell, so naturally she wouldn't be reincarnated under the Demon God's command.

He wanted to pull her, but she couldn't see him at all...

With the death of the caster, the negative energy maintaining all the undead also collapsed instantly.

That black wave of charging stopped abruptly, the ghost fire in the eyes of all the undead went out at the same time, and then "clattered" and scattered into a pile of lifeless dry bones and dust.

The noisy battlefield returned to dead silence within three seconds, leaving only the "crackling" sound of the torch burning and the whimpering of the cold wind passing through the treetops, proving that time was still passing.

Finik and the four stood dumbfounded in place, forgetting to breathe, even forgetting fear, looking at the corpse lying in the snow, and then slowly looked at the respected Mr. Kelin and his guard, as well as the giant dragon cub gnashing her teeth in anger.

They were saved, there is no doubt about this.

And this Mr. Kelin, in their eyes, became increasingly unfathomable... ===== CHAPTER 356 =====

And this Mr. Kelin, in their eyes, had become increasingly unfathomable...