Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Read Chapter 428, Emma of Ash Marsh Village, now to begin your exciting day.

There is no moonlight at night at Black Lake.

Thick gray fog rose from the lake and enveloped all the villages along its shores.

Ash Swamp Village was also shrouded in thick fog, with dozens of mud and stone huts scattered about, appearing and disappearing in the mist, and a putrid smell permeating the air.

In the open space in the center of the village, there was a charred wooden stake stuck in the ground.

A bone lamp hangs atop the wooden stake, its shade made from a child's skull, flickering with a ghostly green phosphorescent light that illuminates the numb faces below.

More than a hundred men, women, and children stood silently, their clothes tattered, their faces sallow and emaciated, their eyes empty and lifeless.

Suddenly, a hoarse voice came from the fog.

"The time has come!"

Three figures clad in dark green scale armor broke through the mist and trudged heavily into the open space.

They were over two meters tall, but their bodies were hunched over. Its skin is covered with fine scales, and its palms and soles are webbed.

These are the Water Ghost Guards, the minions of Morlock, the Lord of Drowning.

The head guard, carrying a broken gong, walked to the wooden stake and scanned the crowd with his vertical pupils.

"Tonight, your village's task is to hand over a pair of children to the drowned lord for protection and peace."

Suppressed sobs could be heard from the crowd, but they quickly stopped.

……

Inside the most dilapidated thatched hut on the edge of the village, eleven-year-old Ellie held her younger sister in her arms.

Tonight is another full moon night, and he has been trembling since the afternoon.

"Brother... I'm scared." Emma's voice was soft and sweet, with a nasal tone.

She buried her face in her brother's chest, her little hands gripping his clothes tightly.

"With my brother here, I'm not afraid."

Ellie hugged his sister even tighter; he could feel her body trembling.

Three years ago, my parents went fishing on the lake in their small boat and never came back.

The villagers said that they were dragged away by a water ghost, and from then on, the two siblings depended on each other for survival.

He had promised his mother that he would take good care of his younger sister.

Emma sometimes asks when Mom and Dad will be back, and he doesn't know how to answer, so he can only lie to his sister and say, "Soon."

Then Emma would quiet down and hug the old cloth bag, which contained the wooden doll her mother had left her.

Suddenly, a commotion arose in the distance, and Ellie's body tensed up abruptly.

"Open the door! Open the door, everyone!"

"Tonight, we offer a pair of children as a sacrifice to serve our drowned lord and ensure the safety of the village!"

Ellie's pupils contracted sharply. Around this time last year, cultists came and took Aya's sister and her brother away.

The night Aya left, the sound of crying echoed throughout the village, but no door opened.

The next day, the villagers went about their work as if nothing had happened, going to the fields, starting fires, and doing farm work.

The footsteps grew closer, but they weren't the water ghost's personal guards'. These footsteps were lighter and more fragmented, carrying hesitation and a hint of ingratiation.

The villagers lead the way; it's always the same.

Ellie's heart sank as she touched her sister's dry, yellow hair.

"Emma, ​​be good."

His voice was very soft, only she could hear it.

"Brother is going out for a bit, he'll be back soon. You stay home and wait, don't come out, and don't open the door for anyone."

Emma also heard the commotion outside, and clutched Ellie's clothes tightly, fear in her eyes.

"Brother...don't go out..."

She no longer has a father and mother; she only has a brother.

Her brother would find her food, coax her to sleep, and hold her on thundery nights.

Her brother was her whole world.

But now, the world is about to collapse.

"I'm not going to..." Ellie's Adam's apple bobbed, and she forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"I went there to do some work for them, and I'll come back when I'm done."

"You're lying." Emma looked up, her little face covered in tears.

"That's what Sister Aya said last time... and she never came back..."

Ellie's hands froze, then he hardened his heart and pried his sister's hands away.

"I promised you I would come back. I'll pick some little blue flowers by the lake for you, and I'll roast some sweet potatoes for you..."

"Keep your word."

He shoved his sister into a small cellar under the bed.

He dug the cellar secretly. It was very small, just big enough for a child to curl up in. It was lined with dry grass and half a tattered blanket.

"Emma is the best, the most obedient..." Ellie's voice trembled.

"Hide inside, cover it up, and wait for your brother to come back and lift it... okay?"

Emma curled up on the hay, looking up at him with her little face upturned, tears streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't cry out.

Ellie pulled a piece of black bread from her pocket; it was as hard as a rock. This was their ration for three days.

"Here you go." He stuffed the bread into his sister's hand.

"Take a small bite when you're hungry... Your brother will come back when you're not hungry anymore."

After saying that, he dared not look into his sister's eyes again. He turned around, covered the cellar with wooden planks, and then moved a broken wooden box over and placed it on top of the planks.

Finally, he leaned close to the crack in the wooden planks and said, "Don't make a sound. No matter what you hear... don't come out."

A faint whimper came from under the wooden plank, like the mournful cry of a small animal.

Ellie stood up, wiped her face, her hands were wet, and she couldn't tell if it was sweat or tears.

He walked to the door, took a deep breath, and pushed it open. Gray fog rushed in, carrying the fishy stench of the lake.

He went outside and glanced at his neighbor, old Hawke, as he passed by.

Old Hawke turned his face away, not daring to look at him.

As he passed by the village chief, Bart, Bart moved his lips but ultimately said nothing.

It was pitch black all around. She heard her brother's footsteps and the water ghost's hoarse screams, which grew farther and farther away.

Then came a deathly silence.

Emma pressed her ear against the wooden board and tried to listen.

She wondered if her brother would suddenly run back, lift the wooden board, and laugh as he said, "Just kidding, your brother is back."

but no.

The only sound was the rustling of the wind blowing through the thatched roof.

Emma didn't know how much time had passed, but her brother still hadn't returned, and her fear grew stronger.

So, she called out "brother" in her heart over and over again.

I called out a hundred times, but my brother didn't come back. I called out a thousand times, but my brother still didn't come back.

She called out so many times she lost count.

Tears welled up again, but she covered her mouth tightly to keep the sound from leaking out.

My brother said, "Don't make a sound. No matter what you hear, don't make a sound."

She is obedient; she is very well-behaved.

Emma took out the black bread from her pocket. Her brother said, "We'll come back when we're not hungry anymore."

She took a small bite and put it in her mouth; it was hard and sweet.

She took another small bite, then another, and the bread was getting less and less, but her brother still hadn't come back.

The cellar was getting colder and colder.

The gray fog, carrying the dampness of the lake, seeped in through the cracks. Emma shivered and wrapped the tattered blanket tighter around herself.

She thought of her brother again.

Whenever she's cold, her brother will hold her, pat her back, and hum off-key songs to lull her to sleep.

Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, her head drooped little by little, and then suddenly lifted up again.

She couldn't sleep; her brother hadn't come back yet, and she had to wait for him.

But her body wouldn't obey her commands; exhaustion spread from her limbs, gradually overwhelming her consciousness.

In a daze, she saw light.

A ray of golden sunlight pierced through the darkness and fell on her eyelids, warming her gently.

She opened her eyes groggily, thinking she was dreaming that it was dawn and that her brother had come back.

Then she realized that her body was flying.

It really flew.

He floated up from the cellar, passed through the wooden planks, through the dry grass, through the hole in the roof, and slowly rose into the sky.

The wind swept past my ears, carrying the fishy smell of the lake.

She looked down and saw a dilapidated village beneath her, with crooked thatched huts, muddy roads, and torches lying by the roadside...

And those people on the ground who are not moving.

Her eyes widened suddenly, and she opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out of her throat.

Then she saw someone.

The person stood in mid-air, surrounded by a golden halo, with black hair and black eyes, the sun, moon and stars reflected deep in their pupils.

Ian looked down at the little girl who had floated out of the cellar.

Just now, his spiritual power enveloped the entire village, and all the villagers' emotions were clouded, filled with numbness, fear, despair, and resignation...

He frowned slightly. These emotions were too dirty, mixed with many impurities: selfishness, wishful thinking, and even a faint sense of relief.

Such a soul is too inferior to even be used as a sacrifice.

But one emotion pierced through all the turbidity and caught his attention.

His spiritual power penetrated the thatch and the wooden planks, revealing the little girl curled up in the darkness.

Around six years old, he was skin and bones, clutching half a moldy black bread in his arms, his face covered in tears.

Ian's eyes flickered slightly; he had seen too much death and too much despair.

But such pure sorrow... is rare, especially in this village shrouded in fear.

With a slight thought, his golden-red domain silently unfolded, isolating the gray mist from the outside.

An invisible spiritual force lifted the wooden planks of the cellar, and golden light shone into it.

Emma stared wide-eyed at the sudden light and the person standing in it.

She paused for a few seconds, then her eyes suddenly lit up.

"You...you're here to capture my god?"

Ian did not answer.

Emma's tears welled up again as she tried to straighten her small body.

"I can... I can switch with my brother..." Her voice was even softer, as if she were discussing it with herself.

"Just arrest me... then release my brother... okay?"

She looked up, her eyes red and swollen, her face covered in tears and mud, still clutching the cloth bag in her arms.

Ian crouched down, bringing his eyes level with hers, and gave her a slight smile.

"Don't be afraid, I'll take you to him."

Emma stared at him blankly, blinked, and tears welled up in her eyes again.

"Really...really?"

"Hmm." Ian reached out and gently stroked the top of her head.

Emma felt a lightness in her body, and her whole body floated up. It wasn't a dream; she was really flying.

She watched as the thatched hut beneath her feet grew smaller and smaller, and as the entire Ash Marsh Village shrank to the size of a palm.

Suddenly, her eyes widened as she saw a golden spark fall, and in the blink of an eye, Ash Swamp Village was engulfed in flames.

"This place is too polluted and needs to be cleaned up."

Emma's eyes held no sadness, only longing for her brother.

He looked at the dark lake in the distance, with a few eerie green phosphorescent lights floating on its surface.

"Brother... is over there," she whispered, pointing to the Black Erosion Lake.

Following the direction she pointed, Ian used his mental energy to penetrate the gray fog and reach the bottom of the lake, which was hundreds of meters deep, and saw an altar made of white bones.

Two thin children, a boy and a girl, were tied to the altar.

They had stopped breathing.

His body was pale from being soaked, his eye sockets were empty, and the corners of his mouth were strangely curved upwards, as if he were smiling.

Around the altar, three water ghost guards knelt, reciting obscure prayers.

Deeper still at the bottom of the lake lies a colossal entity.

Ian looked away and turned to Emma in his arms.

Little Emma was still gazing towards the lake, her eyes filled with expectation, fear, and... a last glimmer of hope.

"Brother..." she whispered, as if calling for a miracle.

Ian sighed inwardly and gently wiped his eyes with his hand.

Emma blinked, then suddenly felt very sleepy, leaned on Ian's shoulder, and fell into a deep sleep.

In my dream, my brother came back.

With little blue flowers by the lake and fragrant roasted potato chunks, she smiled like the spring sun.

Ian held the sleeping girl in his arms, gazing at the entire Black Erosion Lake.

"Hmph! Lord of drowning."

Such a filthy and evil god is not worthy of living in this world.

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