The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 13 Pursuit
The escaping undead moved at an astonishing speed, disappearing into the darkness at the corner of the mine in the blink of an eye.

Could it be that little BOSS?

But isn’t it a wizard? How can it run so fast?
Eric was guessing various possibilities in his mind, but he didn't stop moving. He grabbed a torch and quickly chased forward.

"I'll go after them, you guys hold this side!"

While chasing, he opened the panel and clicked on the job transfer interface.

[Swordsman (Apprentice) has reached the level cap. Please select a job transfer route.]

[Promoted to 『Swordsman (Proficient)』]

[Changed to "Highland Warrior (Apprentice)"]

[Change job to 『Light Infantry (Trainee)』]

Looking at the interface and items that were no different from his previous life, Eric did not hesitate and directly chose the stage of upgrading his initial career.

[Swordsman (Apprentice)] Successfully promoted to Swordsman (Advanced)]

[Gained characteristic: "Sharpness"]

[Professional: Brave Warrior upgraded to Level 2]

After a quick glance at the various bonuses after the upgrade, he made the same choice for the second profession.

The mine tunnel was winding and dark, and the torches could only illuminate a small area in front of him, but listening to the footsteps echoing in front, Eric knew he had not lost them.

"Running so fast, aren't you afraid of throwing off all the rotten flesh on your body..."

Eric cursed inwardly, he had been fighting non-stop and was already exhausted, now he was almost at his limit.

Fortunately, judging from the footsteps in front, the other party's speed seemed to be unable to be sustained for long, and had slowed down a lot compared to when they first escaped.

Eric gritted his teeth and dragged his body forward, occasionally having to avoid the rotten corpses lying on the ground that had not been purified when he went deeper.

He should have stopped going deeper when he realized something was wrong. He thought that he was relying on his own strength to crush the undead in the mine, which was too careless.

After chasing along the mine tunnel for a while, Eric could vaguely see the limping figure in front of him with the light of the torch in his hand.

...Is this it?

Eric frowned, feeling that the figure in front of him seemed different from the one he had seen before.

Although the corpses in the cave all look like the designers were lazy and copied and pasted a model endlessly, there are still some differences between individuals.

He added one free attribute point to Agility.

Having gotten this close, there was no need to speed up. After two or three breaths, Eric finally caught up with the corpse and used the momentum of his body to stab the straight sword in the back of the opponent.

With a thud, the corpse fell forward without any struggle, and did not make any other moves except running away until its death.

And Eric didn't gain any experience.

"..."

When he was within one step of the corpse, he could already see another wound on its back.

It was also a sword piercing the heart, but the direction of penetration was different, from front to back.

That sword also came from him.

It had died again the first time they passed by.

This is a real dead body.

He was fooled.

Eric turned his head and saw a black spell flying towards him silently from the other side of the mine tunnel, already very close.

And on the ground behind him, there was a rotten corpse that was originally thought to have not been purified in time. Now it was pointing the staff in its hand at him, with a sneer of success on its rotten face.

"Die!"

It was really difficult for it to control its emotions at this moment - for this moment, it had almost sacrificed half of its life.

Just driving the corpses to continuously attack those powerful guards consumed a lot of its energy;

When they were finally exhausted, it managed to disguise itself as a low-level corpse, but was still spotted by this desperate kid, and it could only continue to run away;

Whip of the Dead, Command of Frenzy, Run for Your Life... He used all the spells originally used to control corpses on himself.

He had been dead for a long time, so these spells certainly had their effects, but the side effects were also no less severe. The flesh on his thighs was almost completely lost during his wild running.

In the end, I still couldn’t get rid of it!
How did it offend him?
If we talk about fighting, he was the first one to start. He kicked it as soon as they met, and it didn't even make a sound even after being kicked down!
Two hundred years ago, when it found itself trapped in the mine, it didn't hate it as much as it does now.

In order to escape, and more importantly, to take revenge on that ignorant boy, it used its remaining magic power to control a rotten corpse on the ground to run, while it lay on the ground disguised as a corpse, and finally tricked the other party into showing an unguarded posture.

The attack is a killing move, it will take revenge severely!
"..."

Looking at the necromancer on the ground, Eric gripped his straight sword tightly, bent his knees slightly, and had only one thought in his mind.

——It’s great to be a warrior.

Storm footwork!

Just as the smoky black spell was about to hit his face, Eric's figure suddenly disappeared. The next moment, he appeared right above the rotten corpse on the ground and swung his sword to chop it down.

cut!
The corpse's face still showed uncontrollable ecstasy and astonishment at the sudden disappearance of the target. A sword swung from top to bottom, already slashing towards its neck.

At the same critical moment, the Corpse Mage retracted his neck strangely and flexibly, narrowly avoiding the beheading sword.

Ding!
The straight sword drew a spark on the hard rock ground, making a sharp sound.

Eric's hands went numb from the shock, but his knees dropped quickly, using his body weight to hold down the rotting corpse underneath that was trying to escape.

Click!

The corpse's body was already fragile, and his heavy, aggressive kneeling had crushed countless bones. The most intuitive manifestation was that the necromancer, who had been sneering just now, was howling even more miserably than a pig waiting to be slaughtered.

"Uh-"

"Are you still in pain? Don't worry, it will go away soon."

The kneeling position made it difficult to wield a sword, but Eric was not shy in close combat. He clenched his left hand and punched the back of the corpse's head. Crack!

This was the most instinctive way of fighting, and it was also one of the things he had been training since he was a child. Judging from his attributes, he was also a first-level warrior, so even without a weapon, this punch could still cause skin and bones to break.

The Necromancer groaned, and then fell silent.

The shattered back of the head revealed flesh and bones, which were black with white, emitting a foul stench, and the flowing fluorescent blue light was not sure whether it was mutated blood or brain matter. In another situation, Eric probably would really shout "Fuck, aliens!"

"How disgusting..."

Without having time to clean the rotten flesh and broken bones on his fist, Eric pressed his knees against the corpse, straightened up, raised his sword, and stabbed it into the crack on the back of the head.

Bang!
A ball of black mist exploded without warning, and Eric's eyes suddenly became dark, plunging into absolute darkness.

Blindness...

The moment he was hit, Eric realized what he was in and then felt depressed:

How could he forget that he had this skill?
Because the magic professions in "Crown of Thorns" are fragile, basically every school has a self-protection skill, like the fire mage's fire resistance ring, the ice mage's ice barrier, and the arcane mage's flash.

The necromancer mage's self-preservation skill is blindness, which temporarily blinds enemies within a certain range around him, while also removing the enemy's lock on him.

The blindness effect lasted for five seconds, and Eric couldn't see anything, but unlike in the game, he now locked onto the target not with the keyboard and mouse, but with himself.

As long as his body remained on top of the corpse, he would not lose his target.

What's more, the opponent has lost his ability to fight.

Just five seconds.

And for the necromancers on earth, this short time means that their only remaining hope is quickly slipping away.

The sneak attack failed, and he was hit by a close-range punch, almost fainting. He woke up at the critical moment and used all his strength to cast a blindness spell to save his life temporarily, but he could not escape the danger. All that was left was despair.

He struggled to turn his dizzy head, and saw the evil star behind him staring at him with empty eyes, but his two hands were groping around his neck.

Then, clamp tightly.

"..."

Most of the physical sensations had disappeared with the death of the body two hundred years ago, but today, it once again felt goose bumps all over its body.

That kind of trembling is called fear.

True death is about to come.

Five seconds passed in a flash.

His vision cleared up again, Eric let go and stood up, kicking the corpse in the head, and the straight sword fell.

Stir, then pierce thoroughly.

The battle ends here.

[Swordsman class gains 3500 experience points]

[Swordsman class upgraded to level 16]

[Swordsman class upgraded to level 17]

[Monk profession gains 3500 experience points]

[Monk class upgraded to level 16]

[Monk class upgraded to level 17]

The experience gained from killing the small BOSS alone allowed Eric, who had already reached the first level, to level up twice in succession, which shows how generous the reward was.

“…Finally, it was done.”

His nerves suddenly relaxed, and his tense body could no longer maintain its previous state. The accumulated fatigue and pain caught up with him belatedly. Eric, who had just stood up, sat down on the ground again and breathed heavily.

What followed was a bit of relief and a hint of fear.

If he hadn't been careful and added a little agility to activate the Storm Footwork, the outcome of this battle would be hard to predict.

A necromancer of the first level of strength did not have the ability to kill him instantly, but he was able to interfere with and then destroy his sanity.

And the consequences of losing the ability to resist in front of a necromancer are far more terrifying than death.

Although he is not alone.

A torch was thrown not far away, the flames flickering, and the dim passage was filled with the sound of approaching chaotic footsteps.

Leslie and his men were fighting and retreating, and they were probably about to retreat here.

Glancing at the cold corpse beside him, Eric propped himself up and stood up to search for the spoils.

"What did the first mini-boss drop...? As for weapons, it seems the only one is a staff?"

The corpse was in tatters, and the only trophy it could be considered was the staff, which it held in its hand.

A line of translucent white text appeared out of thin air.

【Blood-soaked Wooden Staff】

"A crude apprentice-grade staff soaked in blood and dried in the flames of burning human bones.

Can slightly enhance necromancy spells.

Looking at the cracked rod, Eric's evaluation was just two words: garbage.

However, if he took this broken staff to the Spellcaster's Guild, he might be able to exchange it for some money, so he didn't throw it away directly.

As for the other stuff...

Putting away his staff, Eric looked deep into the mine where the footsteps came from. He could already see the dancing lights and shadows illuminated by the torches.

They should all be hidden in the hall at the end.

(End of this chapter)