How come this arcanist is invincible?

Chapter 222 Enemy Deep in the Cave

The following morning, several armed ships departed from the Finafenne family estate.

On the foremost ship, Kane was listening to reports from Sophia and Logan Susas.

Sophia said, "The mercenaries have prepared crossbows and plenty of arrows, and are wearing light armor and light shields as you requested—"

An unusual light flickered in her eyes.

When they were at the Dark Brotherhood's stronghold, the support from headquarters was pitifully scarce.

Once you become a subordinate force of the Mage Academy, all you need to do is maintain good communication, and the merchant guilds under the academy will deliver equipment to you.

Kane nodded, looked at the woman who had already taken her revenge, and said, "There are clearly many problems in the abandoned riverbed area, and battles are inevitable."

"Remember, in the event of close combat, the mercenaries must stand in front of the mages; if anyone is injured or killed, the academy will provide generous compensation."

"Understood," Sophia replied in a deep voice.

Kane nodded again, then turned to Logan Susas, who spoke in a cool tone: "In preparation for possible skirmishes, the duty mage team has prepared several large-scale resurrection spells, including lightning storms, firestorms, poisonous swamps, and terrain alteration."

As long as the enemy is not large, it is sufficient to deal with them.

Kane nodded slightly.

Guided by Sofia, their armed boats traveled along the river, passing through several waterways in Twin Harbor before finally entering a tributary.

Kane's eyes narrowed slightly.

The water in this tributary is very turbid, and the water volume is decreasing.

Moreover, the buildings on both sides of the river exude an air of decay and desolation. Although people still live there, they are completely different from the main urban area they first encountered.

Upon reaching a section of the river, the boats finally arrived at a stone embankment, but due to the dryness of the riverbed, the boats all became stuck in the mudflats.

"Dean, we'll have to walk from here on out."

Sofia said, and Kane nodded.

Following Logan Susas's instructions, the mages on duty quickly disembarked and followed the mercenary team that had gone ahead to scout the way.

The two groups of people were clearly separated, but they crossed the embankment together and walked along the slope.

After walking only a few steps, everyone's feet were covered in mud.

Kane frowned slightly at the sudden sight before him.

The ground was parched and harsh, with large areas of soil cracked and bulging.

The crisscrossing cracks resembled scars on the earth, with gravel and hardened silt covering the entire depression, devoid of any water, a scene of utter desolation.

On this isolated riverbed, one can still see some abandoned stone foundations, broken piers, and stones scattered on the riverbank, showing its dilapidated and desolate state.

Kane frowned, and not only him, but all the mages who could sense the aether instinctively gripped their staffs.

The atmosphere here is as if something has been drained of all its life force.

"The negative energy here is very concentrated; something's not right."

As a mage in the Necromancer's Division, Logan Susas immediately sensed something was amiss.

She uttered a soft murmur, and the two tall figures at the back of the group slowly removed their outer robes; they were the two corpse servants.

"Go find the source of negative energy."

She gave a low command, and the two corpse servants immediately rushed to the front of the group and ran off into the distance.

This scene was witnessed by many mercenaries, who immediately fell silent and lowered their heads in fear.

For most mercenaries, necromancers are synonymous with evil.

Half an hour later, the group followed the trail of the corpse servants to their destination, where a deep cave appeared before them.

Two corpse servants stood at the entrance of the cave, the ghostly fire in their eyes seeming to burn brighter than before.

In contrast, the others felt a chilling aura wash over them, and several mercenaries even shivered involuntarily.

Kane frowned slightly, looking at the bottomless cavern before him, but he wasn't surprised.

Before being abandoned, abandoned riverbeds would naturally form caves due to years of erosion and scouring, which are then expanded by the erosion of water flow.

This did not originally affect the passage of the river, so few people paid attention to it.

He looked at Logan Susas, who frowned slightly and said, "The deeper we go, the denser the negative energy ether becomes. Continuing deeper might lead us to encounter undead creatures. Should we continue?"

Kane scanned the crowd, lingering on the mercenaries' faces for a few seconds, and said, "Proceed in formation, mercenaries in front and behind, mages in the middle, into the cave."

It wasn't that he didn't want to find someone to scout ahead; it was just that most of the mercenaries in the Dark Brotherhood only had Tier 1 strength and lacked sufficient exploration capabilities.

A cavern that can conceal a third-tier mage must be fraught with danger; hastily splitting up the force would only demoralize the team.

Upon hearing Kane's order, the group quickly divided up their tasks and began entering the cave.

The mages immediately cast a light spell, and several mercenaries lit torches.

The group walked cautiously through the main passage of the cave, the sounds of dripping water and footsteps echoing in the empty cavern.

Kane walked at the front of the group, his eyes slightly narrowed.

In his memory, there was no record of Twin Harbor, but there had been similar ceremonies.

Around the time of the rise of the Demonic Cult, other cults also resurfaced.

For example, the Church of Hell that worships the devil, the Church of the Dead that worships undead creatures, and the Faceless Ones who worship murder and sacrifice.

During the period when the church's power was waning, these cults did make some progress and committed many horrific atrocities.

However, due to conflicts of interest between them and the demonic cults, many cults were even directly slaughtered by the demonic cults.

Their scriptures and rituals were also burned to ashes by the demon cult.

"However, the situation is different now."

Kane's gaze shifted slightly.

"The Demon Cult's plot to build a demon legion through the City of War and to induce the six kingdoms to expand their demonic armaments has been substantially thwarted."

Now we can only rely on powerful figures in various countries.

For example, the Duke—to promote this plan.

"In this situation, it is difficult to determine whether the demon cult is directly hostile to other cults or exploits them."

After all, in the original storyline, they directly eliminated other cults.

What they are fighting for are the soul resources of the material plane; they cannot easily give them up.

"This place is just dense with negative energy, but if it were a conspiracy by a demonic cult, the etheric energy should be much more chaotic."

He continued walking while deep in thought.

Just as the group ventured deeper into the cave, a strange noise suddenly came from the rear of the group.

A mercenary lowered his head and abruptly stopped in his tracks.

The torch in his hand fell to the ground and went out instantly, and he also left the group.

This scene immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Sofia, who was walking at the front of the group, looked at the figure in the darkness, quickly walked over, and asked, "Butcher, what happened?"

Kane, standing at the front of the group, frowned slightly as he looked at the figure, then said, "Sophia, stop."

Sophia paused for a moment, and with the help of the light spells cast by the mages, she finally saw the mercenary clearly.

His eyes were wide open, and a long bone arrow was stuck in his chest, the arrow shaft still covered in green juice.

"Big sister————"

Before he could finish speaking, blood gushed from the corner of his mouth, and he collapsed to the ground with a muffled thud.

"Damn it, enemy attack!" a mercenary shouted.

As soon as he finished speaking, a series of dense and crisp skeletal footsteps came from all directions.

Countless skeletons of varying sizes suddenly appeared above the cave, in the circular or bowl-shaped depressions on the rock walls, and in the small caves all around.

Their eyes flickered with will-o'-the-wisps, and they held bows and arrows or spears in their hands. They were densely packed and overwhelming, all pointing their weapons at the group of people.

"Set up defenses and block the attack!" Kane shouted the order.

The next moment, the group quickly shrank, the mercenaries gripped their shields, and formed a defensive circle around the mages.

At the same time, more than ten mages began chanting spells: "Shield," "Blade Protection," "Mage Armor," "Resistance" —

In the brief intervals between the chanting of the mages, hundreds of bone arrows shot densely from the sky towards the crowd.

The vast majority of bone arrows were intercepted and annihilated by fireballs and lightning spells, and the few that slipped through were blocked by invisible protective barriers.

Ultimately, only a small portion landed within the defensive perimeter.

Even so, a few bone arrows still fell through the gaps in the defenses, splashing up bursts of blood.

Many mercenaries had cuts on their arms and legs, and their faces showed signs of pain.

But the moment he was hit by the arrow, a mage cast an antidote or offered him an antidote, preventing him from suffering the same fate as the mercenary.

The skeletons, who lacked ranged attack capabilities, rushed forward, engaging in close combat with their mostly rotten and broken weapons.

"Mercenaries, protect the mage while launching a timely counterattack!"

"Mages, construct a complex spell, and use terrain-based spells!"

Logan Susas and Sofia's voices came down one after the other in a cold and stern tone.

Instantly, the well-trained mages began chanting in unison, then were directed by one of the mages.

With a loud bang, the floor of the cave suddenly cracked open, and the skeleton soldiers rushing forward fell into the crack, plunging the cave into chaos.

The skeletons below tried to climb up, while the skeletons above continued to rush forward, pushing and shoving each other.

Meanwhile, the skeleton archers in the small caves on both sides of the cave wall were affected by the ground tremors and fell down one after another.

Many skeletons were smashed to pieces, and even those that survived were rendered powerless, leaving only their skulls opening and closing gently on the ground.

With just one wave of spells, the skeletons suffered heavy losses; thousands of skeletons either fell apart or were trapped in the rift.

The remaining amount is less than 30% of the original amount.

Aside from the mercenary who died, only a few of Kane's group of mercenaries were injured.

But the skeletons had no fear and continued to charge forward, wielding scimitars, attacking the group in the dark cavern.

"Mages, use your magic freely!"

Logan Susas's voice rang out again.

Subsequently, spells were cast upon the undead creatures, and Logan's two corpse servants joined the battle.

The addition of two Tier 2 Corpse Servants sped up the clearing process, and the skeleton soldiers were defeated one by one.

The ghostly flames in the eyes of the two corpse servants seemed to have intensified.

Seeing that the mages and mercenaries had gained a decisive advantage, Kane's heart stirred slightly:

These skeleton soldiers may seem numerous and powerful, but their offensive methods are limited. Only a very small number of them are professional-level, and they rely solely on massive arrow rain and numerical superiority to exert pressure.

However, if he hadn't brought a team of second-tier mages capable of using wide-area reversal spells...

An ordinary mission team would probably have been wiped out in the first wave of arrows.

Sure enough, just as he expected, in less than half an hour, all the skeletons that were still able to move were completely wiped out.

The mages began to close their eyes and meditate, restoring their strength and spell slots.

The mercenaries grumbled as they swept the battlefield, occasionally kicking bones off the ground.

Kane fell into deep thought, while Logan Susas stepped forward and bowed respectfully, saying, "I apologize, Dean Kane."

"What's wrong?" Kane asked.

"If I had noticed the anomaly sooner, that mercenary wouldn't have been killed."

Logan Susas kept his head down.

"I am a necromancer, so I should be more sensitive to negative energy."

Kane looked at the necromancer and shook his head: "Logan, even if you are an excellent spellcaster, you can't keep your detection spell slots forever. You need to save your spells to deal with potentially more dangerous situations."

As for the mercenary who sacrificed his life, I will provide him with adequate compensation.

Meanwhile, Sofia was sending people to collect the body of the deceased and cover it with a white sheet.

Many mercenaries had a serious look in their eyes, but most remained calm.

After all, as a mercenary, he had long been accustomed to life and death.

Kane looked at Sophia and asked, "Does he have family?"

Sofia thought for a moment and nodded: "He has a wife and a five-year-old son."

However, his wife couldn't stand that life of constant danger and left him for someone else, while his son was sent to live with his parents in the Free City.

"Son—" Kane's eyes flickered as he looked at the mercenaries present and said, "When his son reaches the age where he can learn magic, I will send someone to test his talent."

If he passes the test, I will admit him to my branch academy as a mage apprentice.

"Become a mage?!"

The mercenaries were instantly shaken.

In any country, monks are the noblest group, and besides talent, there are many hidden barriers that prevent ordinary people from becoming monks.

But their new employer was actually willing to take in the victim's child as a sorcerer apprentice.

It should be noted that in the past, other employers would simply give a sum of money as compensation when a mercenary died; they never made such a promise.

Kane looked at the mercenaries' expressions and nodded slightly.

The mercenaries' performance today gave him an idea:

Mages must coordinate closely with melee classes; otherwise, the first wave of attacks might have resulted in the sacrifice of a second-tier mage.

Therefore, he plans to build his own team.

Using the training techniques of the Silent Killers, combined with the learning methods of the Night's Watch, this is not difficult.

These mercenaries from the Dark Brotherhood, though limited in talent, were enough to form the initial core of his team.

Therefore, winning people's hearts and minds is an essential step.

"Clean up the battlefield and take stock of the spoils," Sofia ordered in a deep voice.

Logan Susas then instructed, "Meditate on the spot to restore your spell slots, and at the same time, take stock of the remaining potions."

Kane nodded, not holding high hopes.

After all, these skeletons, formed naturally from negative energy, mostly had broken and tattered weapons, and had no valuable spoils of war.

But just then, a mercenary who was cleaning up the battlefield rushed over and handed Sophia something.

Sofia frowned as she glanced at it, then handed it to Kane.

Kane looked at the spoils in his hands, his tone becoming serious.

"The Lantern Bearers' emblem—they've been attacked—"

"The rest period is over—let's move on—"