Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 5 Mission Team Departs
The Black Crow Archmage's birthday is still several months away, but that doesn't stop the students from starting to prepare their gifts early.

Depending on the length of the journey, different teams set off one after another on their way to the Dark Forest.

Chen Mo's team also assembled and headed to the Demon Tree Forest according to their assigned mission.

A group of five people walked on a road leading to an unknown destiny.

The captain is the young master of the Zircon family. Despite being classmates and potential rivals for so long, Chen Mo didn't even know the captain's name. He only knew that the captain liked to wear his family's shiny crest on his chest, and everyone called him Zircon Mage or Young Master Zircon.

Chen Mo called him Little Golden Retriever in his heart.

As the captain and leader of the team, this young master naturally walked in the very center of the group.

Actually, he was still just a big boy, with delicate features, flowing blond hair, and a youthful innocence that hadn't completely faded.

He was so young that his eyes couldn't hide anything.

The gaze directed at Ellie on his right was one of undisguised burning desire; when it swept over Chen Mo on his left, it was replaced by naked contempt and disgust.

The three people on the left, center, and right are all apprentice mages, who are also the ones in charge of this mission.

The three mage apprentices formed the main body of the group, with their respective summoned creatures silently following behind them.

Chen Mo and Ellie were both semi-new skeleton gunners, while Little Golden Hair was much more extravagant, consisting of a slow-moving ordinary zombie and a heavy-stepping iron bucket zombie with a rusty helmet.

There were two support staff members at the front and back of the team.

Leading the way was a scout nicknamed "Little Eleven." His real name was unknown, but that's what everyone called him.

He is familiar with the roads, skilled in reconnaissance, and kind-hearted, making him an extremely competent mage follower.

Just before leaving, he passed by Chen Mo and quickly uttered three words in a low voice: "Be careful!"

Just as everyone said, he's a good person.

The middle-aged man with a gloomy face, who was at the very back of the group, was Zircon Young Master's regular attendant and a genuine rank-up warrior.

As usual, I don't know their names.

Within Black Crow Castle, the mage apprentices simply kept cultivating, cultivating, cultivating. Apart from their mentors and a limited number of acquaintances, their social circle was pitifully small.

Having heard that an entry-level warrior could take down about a dozen skeleton spearmen, Chen Mo decided to name the middle-aged attendant Duogu (meaning "Many Bones").

The atmosphere along the way was quite somber, even a bit suffocating.

Apart from the little golden retriever who tried to chat with the girl intermittently, everyone else remained silent and hurried on their way.

Until we reached the breezy path.

This is a winding forest path that winds through tall tree trunks, low shrubs, ground-hugging weeds, and piles of decaying leaves. It's clear that not many people usually walk on this path. If it weren't for the few marks carved on the tree trunks, you wouldn't even be able to tell that there is such a "path" under your feet.

Here, the team members will camp for the last time.

The path inside and outside the breezy path is a completely different world.

From Black Crow Castle to Breeze Path, a journey that takes two full days, there are no particularly powerful beings within the area.

In the words of the mages in the castle, the great Black Raven Master cleared the surrounding territory and created a pure land on earth.

Privately, the apprentices mostly speculated that the Archmage Black Raven had chosen this relatively safe location when building the castle.

In any case, the shallow forest area around the castle can be considered a safe zone. Further ahead, once you step into the deep forest area of ​​the Dark Forest, the team members must kill the Dark Demon Tree in one go, complete the mission, and return quickly.

As the most expansive primeval jungle stretching between the northern and southern continents, this land is said to hold countless treasures, and naturally, it is also home to all sorts of terrifying monsters.

The most common piece of advice left by adventurers is: In the Dark Forest, never close your eyes.

Otherwise, you may never have the chance to open your eyes again.

The dividing line between safety and danger is the Breeze Path.

It can be said that this road is the boundary drawn by countless adventurers with their lives since the human race set foot in the Dark Forest.

As suggested by Scout Xiao Shiyi, the team will rest here for the night and wait for sunrise to set off again tomorrow.

Duo Gu set up a luxurious tent for the young master and began to build a stove, light a fire, and cook food.

Ellie, the younger sister from the merchant family, also took her little tent off the summoned creature and crawled inside, leaving only the skeleton guarding the door.

Little Eleven took out his sleeping bag and started munching on the dry rations he carried with him.

The most disheveled was Chen Mo, who had nothing. With great effort, he removed the bundle bound to his body with straw ropes, pulled out a herb-gathering bag, and slowly approached the bonfire burning beside the bones. Chen Mo made one last attempt.

"Captain Zircon, with your strength, dealing with the Dark Demon Tree is a piece of cake. I'm just a beginner, so I really can't be of much help. Therefore, could you allow me to gather some medicinal herbs around here?"

"I am willing to hand over all the medicinal herbs that have been collected to you for distribution."

The golden retriever, leisurely savoring its hot food, turned slightly to the side, one corner of its mouth twitching upwards in a strange smile.

For some reason, of all the potential rivals, the little golden retriever disliked this guy the most.

She loathed his calm, unreverent black eyes that looked at her; she loathed his yellow-skinned face, which, despite his humble origins, always radiated an inexplicable sunny confidence; and she loathed even more his haughty demeanor, treating nobles, commoners, and servants alike with equal humility and arrogance.

I feel an extreme aversion to it; the kind of aversion that makes me physically uncomfortable just by looking at it.

He deliberately left Chen Mo waiting for a few seconds, then raised his voice and shouted towards the small tent not far away: "Hey, Ellie, did you hear that? The kid you admire doesn't seem to want to go on an adventure with you!"

The tent was silent, without any response. The little golden retriever then turned around, a mocking smile on his face: "Look, Black Eyes, your goddess doesn't want you to leave."

"I'm sorry, but the Demon Tree Forest needs you. Put away your thoughts of those worthless herbs and obediently follow. Otherwise..."

I don't mind teaching you a little lesson!

Chen Mo nodded to indicate that he understood, then turned and left.

Not seeing Chen Mo break down, the little golden retriever himself was a bit emotionally distraught.

Smoothing his blond hair, the young master, still embarrassed and angry, couldn't help but add, "Hey, you little brat who's not even a mage yet, the forest's so dangerous, didn't you prepare a will beforehand?"

"If anything happens to you, Captain, I can be very kind and send it back to you!"

He seemed to suddenly remember something, and exaggeratedly slapped his forehead: "Oh, right! I almost forgot, you've been living alone for a long time, haven't you? Tsk tsk, that idiot skeleton standing next to you, is he your only 'relative'?"

"Should I take pity on it and bury you all together? So it won't be lonely?"

Chen Mo glanced back at him indifferently.

This young master seems to have gotten a little carried away.

From his perspective, he really had no room for resistance; the only difference was whether he would die sooner or later, and whether his death would be more or less gruesome.

In the eyes of these second-generation nobles who have always been high above others and have never experienced setbacks, everything in the world can be defined by the hierarchy of status.

When a person in a position raises their hand, those below will be like insects squeezed in a hand, at most writhing a few times before dying without any resistance.

He didn't know that the country Chen Mo once belonged to was most adept at dealing with these nobles.

Gee...

Chen Mo walked back to the spot he had chosen, leaned against a big tree, faced the group, took out his tattered backpack to use as a bedding, and curled up to sleep.

Duo Gu, who had been busy all along, had glanced at Chen Mo several times, his eyes filled with worry.

Experienced middle-aged soldiers know, of course, that such humiliation is meaningless.

The fact that the other party would rather turn their back to the darkness than hand over to the team clearly indicates that they are highly wary.

Although the young master had instructed them to create an accident at the Dark Demon Tree, Duo Gu felt that the other party wouldn't be so honest.

"Young Master, Eleven and I will take turns on night duty tonight. You mages should get some rest!"

They were supposed to take turns on night watch, but Duogu didn't sleep a wink all night. He was worried that if the little guy ran away and spoiled the young master's mood, the young master's wrath would be unleashed on him.

All night long, the middle-aged soldier stared intently at the dark figure beneath the tree.

To his surprise, Chen Mo slept very soundly.

Curled up under the tree, even the slightest twitch of the body would stir up the weary nerves of the body.

As for the skeleton spearman, it was also covered in tattered rags dug out of some cellar, and it stood motionless in front of Chen Mo, carrying a bone spear that was obviously much shorter than the other skeleton spearmen.

Time passed in the tense silence, the darkness in the forest was gradually dispelled, and the red sun finally struggled to climb to the treetops.

The first rays of sunlight pierced through the leaves in the forest, casting dappled shadows on the ground.

A new day has arrived.

Or rather, a bloody day has arrived!

(End of this chapter)