The Demon King is unfathomable

Chapter 354 "Green Fang" Hecatelin

The nights in the forest are cold and long.

Under the expectant gazes of the villagers, this hastily assembled team, carrying torches borrowed from the miller, stepped into the forbidden area outside Pompeii, known locally as the "Black Forest."

The dense coniferous forest obscured the sky, and the pale moonlight was fragmented, casting only mottled and eerie shadows on the thick snow.

The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the crunching sound of footsteps on the snow and the occasional crackling of torches.

It was clearly the first time Phoenix and his companions had undertaken such a dangerous mission at night, and the brave young man was already regretting his hasty invitation.

“All day long… that child must be dead,” Barrett said in a low voice.

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

“Whether or not it can be saved, we have to try... After all, he is the client’s only son.” At this point, Phoenix suddenly fell silent for a moment.

The only son...

So why not himself?
In the past few days, he has thought more than once about whether it was worth it to leave his parents, leave his hometown, and gamble everything for his dream.

The journey is almost over, but of the four of them, only Ira has successfully cast a spell so far.

He simply memorized the list of names in the Mage Tower.

perhaps……

He didn't actually have the talent to become a magician, nor was he any different from the people around him.

However, the task at hand is the most important thing in any case.

Phoenix took a deep breath and tried to cheer himself up.

Barrett walked beside him, one holding a sword and shield, the other gripping a warhammer, both looking extremely tense, taking each step with utmost care.

The hunter Leo had already drawn his bowstring halfway, his wary gaze like that of a hawk, constantly scanning the edge of darkness beyond the reach of the firelight.

As for Illara, she followed closely behind, clutching a talisman engraved with runes in her hand. Her small face appeared exceptionally pale with fear in the firelight.

The torchlight could only illuminate a small, fragile orange patch in the boundless darkness, while in the far distance, in the unfathomable gloom, it seemed as if countless greedy eyes were watching.

In stark contrast to the tension of the four young men, Mr. Colin and his group appeared excessively relaxed.

Luo Yan walked in the middle of the group, his expression so relaxed that it was as if he were not tracking the dead, but taking a stroll in his own backyard.

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

She made no unnecessary movements, her indifferent expression remaining unmoved, but her sharp vertical pupils had already taken in everything around her.

Taf, who was held firmly in her arms, poked her little head out from under the cloak, her nostrils flaring.

She paid no heed to the dangers that mortals feared, but instead inhaled with curiosity the cold, decaying scent in the air that belonged only to the dead.

Following the tracks left by the dead on the snow—unnatural drag marks and scattered animal bones—the group cautiously ventured deeper into the forest.

"Wait!" Leo, who was walking in front, suddenly bent down and raised his hand to signal the group to stop.

He pointed to a patch of shadow under an oak tree ahead and said in a dry voice.

"Look there."

The crowd gathered around, and the firelight illuminated the area, revealing a dead wolf lying in the snow.

Its body remained in a struggling posture, its fur intact, and there were no wounds on its body. But its flesh and blood were strangely shriveled up, as if all the life force in its body had been instantly drained by something unseen, leaving only an empty shell.

This was definitely not done by a hunter or a monster!
A chill, originating from the unknown, crept up the spines of the four Phoenix members, making them feel cold in their hands and feet.

"This doesn't seem like a simple necromancer casting a spell; it's more like... a lich's magic." Luo Yan examined the corpse on the ground with great interest.

Phoenix swallowed hard and said nervously.

"You've seen him before?"

Luo Yan nodded and said succinctly.

"Hmm... I've encountered them on my travels. But don't worry, they might not be liches, they might just be some kind of wicked wizard."

Although his words contained no real information, they still relieved the four tense young men.

At least……

Some of them had dealt with necromancers.

With their morale boosted, the group continued on their way.

They walked through the forest for about half an hour, following the intermittent animal hair and bloodstains that had congealed into dark brown on the snow.

Ultimately, those crooked tracks led them from the dense jungle to a relatively open area.

This appears to be a long-abandoned logging camp.

Several wooden houses had collapsed halfway, almost completely buried by thick snow. Rusty saws and axes were carelessly discarded in a corner, frozen together with rotten wooden stakes... Everything exuded a deathly stillness, as if forgotten by time.

Their trail, which they had been following, came to an abrupt end right in the center of this open space.

Luo Yan glanced around, and a faint smile suddenly appeared on his lips.

As he had guessed long ago, the villagers of Pompeii, though pitiful, were not exactly honest and simple people.

This logging camp wasn't lost on the first day, and they clearly knew who the necromancer was, where he was hiding, and how powerful he was.

However, those people didn't say a word, they just cried and begged for help, urging their group to go and rescue the people.

They were indeed driven to desperation by their inactive lord, but if I hadn't been there, these four young men would probably be dead by now.

It doesn't matter whether they come during the day or at night.

“Something’s not right,” Hunter Leo gripped his longbow, his voice hoarse. “It’s too quiet here…it’s like…”

Barrett swallowed hard and tentatively asked the question that Leo was already on the tip of his tongue.

"...You mean a trap?"

Illala was pale and her legs felt weak.

"We...why don't we go back first? I feel like it would be better to come during the day..."

Towards the end, her voice completely went off-key, like a startled squirrel.

Sarah glanced indifferently at the three people exchanging meaningless words.

Are you only realizing this now?
The moment Ira finished speaking, a sudden change occurred!
As if to confirm Barrett's conjecture, a pair of ghastly green lights suddenly appeared in the thick, impenetrable night.

Immediately afterwards——

It's 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 of resentment and venom, completely sealing off this small open space!

"Crunch... crunch..."

The sickening sound of bones grinding together came from all directions, followed by the scraping of swords against the snow!
Accompanied by the rustling sound, hundreds of undead figures of various shapes and sizes staggered out from behind the dark woods and from the shadows of the collapsed wooden house.

The skeletons formed an impenetrable encirclement, cutting off all their escape routes. The eerie green soul flames burned with hatred for the living and a thirst for flesh and blood!

On what grounds—

These creatures can stand upright like humans, while they can only endure pain and torment in endless torture!
Negative energy and instinct drive them forward.

This pain—

They want to let them try it too!

Seeing the horrifying and grotesque scene, the four young people lost all color in their faces. However, for Luo Yan, who had grown up in hell, this was just an ordinary sight.

"Attack! Don't let them get close!" Phoenix's voice was distorted with fear, but he still forced himself to raise his sword.

Leo was the first to react. He took a deep breath, forced down his trembling, and aimed his arrow at the skeleton warrior at the front.

"Whoosh!"

The arrow was fired with precision, but it did not pierce the skull as he had expected.

The arrow pierced through the gap in the skeleton's hollow ribs with a "clang," futilely embedding itself in a tree trunk in the distance, without the skeleton warrior even pausing for a moment.

"I will fight with you!!!"

Barrett roared and charged forward.

He poured all the strength of the blacksmith's son into the warhammer in his hand and smashed it into the chest of another skeleton, shattering it into pieces!
However, this brief victory did not provide any respite.

He had just smashed one when two new undead immediately surrounded him, wielding bone blades and forcing him to retreat repeatedly.

"Fire...flame...quick!" Phoenix shouted to Illara behind him.

Ilara's eyes were tightly shut, her lips moving rapidly. She could feel the magic surging within her, yet she couldn't shape it. In her extreme terror, her mind went blank, leaving only one final thought—

"Fire, the name of flame—appear in my hand!" She suddenly opened her eyes and shouted the complicated and obscure incantation with all her might.

The miracle happened!
A tiny flame actually coalesced and took shape in her palm!
Before she could even rejoice at her successful spellcasting once again, she frantically pushed the flame away.

However, the flame was still too small.

It was less a fireball and more a wisp of sparks that would be extinguished by a gust of wind, wobbling as it flew toward a skeleton.

"puff."

The flame struck the cold skull, shattering instantly into sparks that melted into the boundless, frigid night. The skeleton merely shook its head before continuing its heavy approach.

The last trace of color drained from Ilara's face, replaced by utter despair.

In this suffocating atmosphere, the surging tide of the dead suddenly stopped.

They stopped advancing and instead parted to the sides like a receding torrent, making way for their master.

A thin figure walked along the crooked road.

She wore a tattered mage's robe, her withered hair like weeds. She walked unhurriedly up a towering, snow-covered rock, like a king ascending his throne, looking down at his trapped prey.

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

Deep within those green pupils burned an almost overflowing madness and resentment. Strangely, her mouth was smiling.

Surrounded, Phoenix forced down his fear, held his sword in front of him, and mustered his courage to shout at the figure on the rock.

"Who...who are you?!"

Upon hearing his rude question, the thin figure not only did not get angry, but instead let out a soft laugh.

She lifted the hem of her tattered mage robe and gracefully performed a standard yet slightly eerie and stiff ladylike bow.

“Hecagelin,” she introduced herself with a smile, her voice as soft as a ghost, “or you may call me ‘Green Fang’.”

"We've come to find the children of Pompeii!" Barrett roared, his grip on his warhammer tightening. "Children?" Hecaderin chuckled softly, saying casually, "You all look like children to me… Who are you looking for? Yourselves?"

"You underestimate us," Leo sneered, bluffing. "The one standing before you isn't just any adventurer, but a future mage. You'd better hurry up—"

"I see... You're going to Xuebang for the exam?"

Hecajellin looked at Leo with great interest, then at the people around him, his smile suddenly becoming even more delighted, as if he had found a treasure.

Before Phoenix and the others could react to what was happening, she suddenly let out a series of giggles, her neurotic voice filled with mockery and madness.

"Another flock of little sparrows going to the Xuebang exam... So cute, it reminds me of my youth, ah... I really miss it."

Her voice suddenly became low and hoarse, as if another person was speaking through her throat, filled with deep-seated resentment.

"Let me guess, how many geniuses are there among you? One? Two? Or all six of you? Hehehe... I'm the same, and far greater than you, after all, you haven't even gone in yet, while I've already come out of there."

Looking at the group of young men who stared in astonishment, she recounted her experience in a tone that was both boastful and accusatory.

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

Her voice rose again, suddenly becoming shrill and frantic.

"But I was wrong! Utterly wrong! What they valued wasn't a person's effort at all, but their 'soul'! That damned, predetermined soul! We ordinary geniuses were nothing more than raw materials in their eyes! They squeezed out my value, exhausted my talent, and then—after I had exhausted my youth and even everything in my life, they ruthlessly discarded me like a piece of trash!"

Her voice was filled with resentment, and her cloudy eyes seemed to burn not only with her own hatred, but also with the hatred of others.

"They say knowledge is power? Ridiculous! Hypocritical! It's clearly birth that matters! Transcending the shackles of the soul? The illusory realm? Those resources don't belong to you at all! You are merely stepping stones for them to change their own fate! Firewood to heat the furnace!"

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

"Where is that child?" Luo Yan didn't want to listen to her nonsense, and he only said this indifferently, without saying a word from beginning to end.

Hecajellin paused slightly, smiled nervously, and casually raised his hand, pointing to a dark cave behind him.

“Oh, that little thing?” she said in a tone as if discussing an object. “He’s still alive. His soul is pure, the best ‘material’ for my ascension ceremony, perhaps with fewer side effects.”

These words, like the coldest wind, shattered the last glimmer of hope for negotiation in the hearts of Phoenix and his companions.

This guy has gone crazy!
Phoenix swallowed hard and stole a glance at Colin, hoping the latter could reactivate the power in the ring.

He was now certain that this distinguished gentleman was a nobleman who had gone out to gain experience, and might even be the "Prince Krankell" that the miller had mentioned.

However, Mr. Colin simply stood there calmly, his gaze indifferent, as if the tense situation before him had nothing to do with him.

The two had only known each other for a short time and had no chemistry whatsoever.

Phoenix gritted his teeth, refusing to give up. Then, without making a sound, he winked at Leo behind him and silently mouthed two words—

'Let's get started.'

Leo understood immediately.

As the calmest hunter in the team, he also realized that their strength was far from being a match for this necromancer.

Their only chance of winning is to launch a surprise, fatal blow while the opponent is still showing off and underestimating them!
He pretended to give up the struggle and lowered his longbow in despair.

However, the very next second after he lowered his longbow, his right hand flashed out like lightning, drawing a short flintlock pistol from his waist!
"boom--!"

The deafening gunfire ripped through the forest's deathly silence, and lead bullets, carrying flames and smoke, hurtled toward Hekajelin's head on the rock.

However, the bullet that should have blossomed into a bloody flower struck an invisible barrier just an inch from Hecaderin's forehead!
With a crisp "ding," the outline of a dark green transparent shield was revealed, and ripples of energy spread like water.

The deformed bullet fell helplessly into the snow, along with the hearts of the four adventurers that plummeted to the bottom of the valley.

"Giggle..."

Hecaderin suddenly let out a delighted laugh, like a wildcat teasing its prey.

"Too weak, tsk tsk..." She clicked her tongue lightly, her eyes full of sarcasm, and said slowly, "Has the Academy fallen so low that even this kind of trash can apply? This is truly... saddening for your predecessors."

Before she could finish speaking, the last vestige of human clarity in her eyes was completely consumed by madness, and a green light burst forth from her turbid pupils.

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

The will-o'-the-wisps on the dozens of undead around them dimmed simultaneously, and streams of pure dark energy transformed into black currents that flowed into their bodies.

A fierce wind was blowing through the forest!
The entire silent night seemed to come alive!
Unlike the four terrified young adventurers, Luo Yan, standing in the middle of the group, calmly assessed the steadily rising negative energy.

Chaos, impurities, and instability together constitute her spellcasting system. Although it appears crude and unreliable, its strength has indeed reached the level of "fine steel".

In this forest thick with the aura of the undead, coupled with the home advantage and the nighttime setting, she was even confident of challenging a silver-level opponent.

If I only use my "Iron-level" skills, I probably won't be able to end the battle quickly, and it will only put these young people in danger.

"Did you feel it? This is the power of your senior sister! Hahahaha!"

Hecajellin reveled in the power within him, letting out a cruel shriek.

She raised her hands high, and three skeletal warriors, far larger than ordinary undead and pieced together from the bones of giant bears and dire wolves, burst forth from the ground behind her, stepping forward and pushing the four young adventurers into despair.

"Kill them!" she commanded cruelly, waving her index finger. "Tear their flesh apart and offer their souls to me! I want their souls!"

"Roar--!!"

With her frantic commands, all the undead moved.

They roared deafeningly, like a black tide, and launched a general attack on the seven people in the center of the encirclement.

Phoenix and the others adopted a posture of fighting to the death, their faces filled with tragic determination.

Just as tensions were running high and a critical moment was imminent, Luo Yan suddenly spoke, uttering a soft sentence.

"Sarah."

A chilling glint flashed in Sarah's amber-colored vertical pupils, and she instantly sprang to life, having stood motionless the entire time.

She had wanted to take action for a long time.

It wasn't out of sympathy for humanity, but because that arrogant fellow dared to stand in a position higher than the Demon King and speak to him!

"Caw!"

A short, agonizing scream, as if squeezed out, rang out.

Before Taff, who was being held in Sarah's arms, could even react to what was happening, she was promptly thrown out and plunged headfirst into the thick snowdrift beside her.

A short, weak tail swayed helplessly outside. The clumsy dragon tried to struggle out of the snow, but its belly was too round and its body temperature was too low.

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

She transformed into a black line almost invisible to the naked eye, as if merging into the night itself, silently traversing the chaotic battlefield.

The undead, who seemed to be waving their claws in slow motion, couldn't even touch the hem of her clothes.

There were no fancy moves, nor any loud noises, only a faint, almost inaudible hiss as a sharp blade sliced ​​through the air.

When Phoenix and the others blinked again, the cloaked lady had returned to Mr. Colin's side, her expression and demeanor exactly the same as before she made her move. She even casually pulled the dangling tail out of the snow and held it in her arms, as if she had never made a move.

They didn't even see if she drew her weapon!

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

On the distant rocks, Hecajelline's beautiful face, twisted with madness, remained in the posture of casting a spell, but the green light in her eyes had stopped.

Immediately afterwards, a thin, almost invisible line of blood slowly emerged from her pale neck, bringing a brief end to her madness.

"Ho...hoaah—!"

The madness on Hecajellin's face was finally replaced by excruciating pain and unbelievable fear.

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

In the end, the sound of struggle turned into a shrill scream, drowned out by the gushing blood from the arteries.

The light, airy figure fell silently from the rock, crashing heavily into the three-foot-thick snow, life extinguished.

If it's a lich that has already achieved enlightenment, then I'll probably have to kill it again.

Luo Yan watched her for a long time, but she didn't stand up again. Instead, she leaned close to his ear and whispered that she had seen her soul.

"...It's terrifying. She has sixteen arms and thirty legs. Compared to her, your Alakdo looks much more handsome."

Luo Yan nodded slightly.

Although he couldn't see it, he could imagine what a horrific scene it must have been.

"She used the Lich's advancement strategy, but unfortunately, no one guided her, and it's impossible for her to turn back now."

Whether one pledges loyalty to Saint Sith or to the Demon God, both are methods of advancement tacitly approved by the masses, or rather, methods "tacitly approved by the system."

The liches, however, take a different approach. They are more like exploiting loopholes in the rules to stitch another independent soul onto their own body.

If the soul is obtained on the battlefield, although there will be side effects, they will actually be smaller.

After all, war is a part of human civilization. Both the killers and the killed are operating within "established rules" and are prepared to become victims of each other's blades.

Murder is different.

She inherited the soul of the murdered, as well as their resentment and unwillingness, so it was almost certain that she would suffer a backlash.

In fact, from the moment she cut open her own soul and sewed on the will of another, she was already dead...

"Is it knowledge gained from the Void Realm? Or... Chaos?" Gazing at the black mist dissipating in the wind, Luo Yan pondered in his heart, and couldn't help but think of a familiar person with a wicked sense of humor... or rather, a familiar god.

As for Youyou, she let out a soft sigh and murmured softly, feeling pity for the lost mortals.

"poor child……"

No one came to pick her up.

The monster eventually banished itself to the dark forest, to another world that only the gods could see.

Having already betrayed Saint Sith, she would obviously not be accepted by Heaven, and having never pledged allegiance to Hell, she would naturally not be reincarnated under the command of the Demon God.

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

With the death of the spellcaster, the negative energy that sustained all the undead also collapsed instantly.

The surging black wave came to an abrupt halt, the will-o'-the-wisps in the eyes of all the dead went out at the same time, and then scattered into a pile of lifeless bones and dust with a "whoosh".

The noisy battlefield fell silent again within three seconds, with only the crackling of burning torches and the howling of the cold wind through the treetops proving that time was still passing.

Phoenix and his three companions stood frozen in place, forgetting to breathe, even forgetting their fear. They stared at the corpse lying in the snow, then slowly turned their gaze to the respected Mr. Colin and his guards, as well as the enraged, baring-toothed dragon cub.

They were saved, that much is certain.

And this Mr. Colin became increasingly unfathomable in their eyes...

(End of this chapter)