booktalesy Chapter 198 Necromancer
Chapter 198 Necromancer
Chapter 198 Necromancer
Skeleton Warrior?
No, it's a higher-level skeleton guardian, and judging from its equipment and lingering aura, it was probably not a weakling in life.
Behind these skeletal guardians, at the edge of the thick fog, stood three figures dressed in dark gray robes with hoods covering their faces.
They held staffs made of white bones or black wood, and were surrounded by a faint gray mist and the faintly visible faces of vengeful spirits.
A dense aura of necromantic energy emanated from them without any attempt to conceal it.
The necromancer with the pale hand!
They've finally shown up!
The necromancer at the head raised his head, revealing a pale, thin, middle-aged man's face with deep-set eyes beneath his hood.
A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, his voice dry and hoarse, like two bones rubbing together: "What rare guests—Shadow Raven's lackeys, and Forge barbarians."
"Living people are not welcome here."
The cold, hoarse words echoed through the narrow rift passage, distorted by the howling wind against the rock walls on either side, adding to the eeriness of the place.
The atmosphere instantly tensed, like a fully drawn bowstring.
Blake took a half step forward, and the heavy tower shield sank into the muddy ground with a thud, the emblem of the furnace and flames on the shield seeming to burst into flames.
His gaze beneath the visor was sharp as a knife, and his voice was steady yet carried an undeniable power: "Scum of the Pale Hand, this is territory claimed by the Empire."
"Hand over your discoveries here immediately, dispel all necromancy, surrender, and perhaps you can at least leave with a whole corpse."
""
His response was a short, piercing sneer from the pale wizard.
His withered fingers gently stroked the skull decoration at the top of the bone staff, his eyes gleaming with a ghostly green light: "The Empire's territory? When did the Scorching Hell become your backyard, a living furnace?"
"As for surrendering without a fight—hehe, once you all become part of my collection, we'll have plenty of time to talk about it slowly."
""
The other two grey-robed wizards behind him echoed in low, ambiguous voices, and greyish-white light began to gather at the tips of their staffs.
The green flames in the eye sockets of the seven or eight skeletal guards suddenly blazed fiercely. Their bones rubbed together as they raised their rusted weapons and pressed forward with stiff, heavy steps.
Every step into the mud made a sickening "plop" sound.
"Prepare for engagement!" Blake growled, his voice echoing through the tunnel.
The four Forge Guards behind him immediately raised their shields and stepped forward, standing alongside Blake to form a solid steel defensive line.
Liana raised her staff high, and the light of the purifying flames contracted and condensed, transforming into several suspended orange-red fireballs that slowly rotated around her.
Ella had already slipped to a protruding rock on the flank, her longbow fully drawn, the arrow locked onto the pale wizard at the head.
Lehman silently took a few steps back, disappearing into the shadows of a recess in the rock wall, leaving only the fine arcs of electricity dancing on his fingertips illuminating half of his cold, handsome face.
Roland stood still, the hem of his gray robe gently brushing against the sticky, damp ground.
He quickly scanned the area ahead:
The three necromancers stood apart in a triangular formation, connected by necromantic energy, clearly skilled in teamwork.
Those skeletal guards may seem clumsy, but there is a faint gray light flowing around their bones, so their defensive capabilities are probably not low. Moreover, they have blocked the narrowest part of the passage, so it will not be easy to break through quickly.
"Since you don't want to talk, then—stay here forever and add some fertilizer to this land." The pale wizard at the head, whom we'll call Skeleton, said hoarsely. The moment the last syllable fell, he slammed his bone staff into the ground!
"The corpses are awakening!"
hum! ! !
A ring of grayish-white energy ripples spread rapidly from the point where his staff landed, sweeping across the ground and the wet rock walls on both sides!
Suddenly, the mud beneath everyone's feet churned violently!
One by one, pale arms covered in mud and reduced to bones suddenly stretched out from the mud and grabbed at the ankles of the living!
At the same time, a series of cracking sounds came from the wind-eroded holes in the rock walls on both sides, revealing incomplete bodies...
A skeleton covered in bits of flesh struggled to crawl out, its eye sockets glowing with green flames, and roared as it pounced!
The ground and rock walls instantly transformed into a lair of the dead!
"Purifying Flame - Ring Explosion!" Liana reacted extremely quickly, pointing her staff downwards. Several fireballs floating around her suddenly sank down and exploded in front of her feet and the shield formation of Blake and the others!
The orange-red purifying flames formed a ring of fire that swept across the area!
The newly extended bone hands and the crawling low-level skeletons were scorched by the flames, immediately emitting a hissing sound as their bones turned black and crumbled, and the green flames went out.
The firewall cleared a small safe zone, but further out, new bone hands and skeletons continued to emerge.
"Charge!" Blake roared, bracing himself against the tower shield and charging like a moving mountain towards the defensive line of skeleton guards!
Four furnace guards followed closely behind, their battle axes and halberds glowing with intense battle aura as they slashed fiercely!
Clang! Clang!
Metal clashed with bones, producing a piercing explosion. The skeletal guards were unexpectedly powerful; their rusted swords struck the furnace guards' shields and armor, sending sparks flying.
The furnace guards' counterattack was equally fierce. Their battle axes, imbued with battle aura, could easily cleave the arms or legs of the skeleton guards. However, the skeleton guards seemed to have no sense of pain. As long as the soul fire in the core of their heads and torsos remained burning, they could still use their remaining limbs to launch a frenzied attack, even if they were missing arms or legs.
The narrow passage limited the use of numerical superiority, and the battle quickly became a stalemate.
Ella continued to draw her bow on the rock, her arrows shooting like meteors, accurately targeting the three necromancers.
But the opponent was prepared; the gray mist surrounding him automatically condensed into semi-transparent bone shields, deflecting or corroding the arrows.
Occasionally, arrows would pierce through the gaps in the bone shields, but they were nimbly dodged or blocked with their staffs.
The skeleton wizard paid no heed to Ella's harassment. He chanted incantations and waved his bone staff, sending beams of grayish-white rays of weakness and terrifying shrieks toward the furnace guards' defenses, attempting to break their morale and stamina.
The other two grey-robed wizards focused on maintaining and enhancing the undead summoning.
A gray mist continuously emanated from the staff, which transformed into new, more agile vengeful spirits upon landing, lunging at the group.
The other chanted in a low, eerie tone, and the shattered remains of the skeletons slowly writhed under his incantation, attempting to piece themselves back together.
"Rayman!" Ella shouted urgently as she shot and blew up a newly formed vengeful spirit with an arrow.
Lehman's figure vanished suddenly from the shadows!
The next second, he appeared as if by teleportation above the gray-robed wizard on the left who was focused on summoning vengeful spirits, his fists clenched, and blinding lightning burst from his gauntlets!
"Thunderous Strike - Fall!"
Boom!
A thick bolt of blue-white lightning descended from the sky, striking the gray-robed wizard with pinpoint accuracy!
Its speed and power far surpassed the electric net used against the ghosts.
The gray-robed wizard looked up in surprise, only managing to scream once before holding his staff horizontally above his head. At the same time, gray mist surged around his body, forming a thick shield.
Click!
The lightning struck the shield, causing it to flicker violently and instantly become covered in cracks. The gray mist was mostly dispelled by the violent power of the lightning!
The gray-robed wizard grunted and staggered back several steps, a charred mark appearing on the tip of his staff, clearly having suffered a loss.
But his shield didn't completely shatter, blocking the fatal blow.
Lehman missed his attack, but without pausing, he lightly touched the ground with his toes and slid backward like a ghost, barely avoiding several bone spikes that pierced the ground and the attack from the vengeful spirits behind him.
His expression grew even colder, clearly not expecting the opponent's defense to be so resilient.
Rowling never participated in the direct combat.
He stood slightly behind, observing the ring operating at full capacity, the echo unit rapidly analyzing the energy flow on the battlefield.
The lowly skeletons and vengeful spirits that kept emerging from the ground and rock walls were caused by the Bone Wizard's area-of-effect awakening spell and the continuous summoning by the other two wizards.
The threat of these low-level undead can be greatly reduced by interrupting their spellcasting or destroying their energy nodes.
His gaze was fixed on the gray-robed wizard on his right, who was chanting and trying to reassemble the skeleton.
The energy fluctuations were most concentrated when this wizard cast his spell, and several gray-black energy balls composed of negative energy and soul fragments floated around him, clearly the key to the spell.