nyslfriends Chapter 20: The Underworld's Feedback!
Chapter 20: The Underworld's Feedback!
Mingfei crouched in the grass, activating the stealth ability of the "Minghu Assassination Technique." A thin barrier of gray mist formed on his body, distorting light and heat. His body became almost transparent in the darkness, and only he knew where he was.
He is waiting.
Wait until the team reaches the optimal ambush position.
The soldiers continued forward, their heavy footsteps and the clanging of metal armor particularly clear in the night wind.
The officer from the third ring walked at the front, his eyes constantly scanning his surroundings, his right hand always resting on the hilt of his sword at his waist. He was highly vigilant and clearly not an easy opponent.
But Mingfei wasn't in a hurry.
He was waiting for an opportunity—the opportunity when the terrain would naturally compress the troops.
About two hundred meters ahead, there is a low-lying valley with slightly raised mounds of earth on both sides.
If the group enters the valley, the earthen slopes on both sides will act like natural walls, restricting their movement and making it easier for the undead to surround them.
The procession continued forward.
One hundred and fifty meters. One hundred meters. Fifty meters.
The officer at the front stepped into the valley.
He stopped.
Mingfei's heart skipped a beat. Had he been discovered?
The officer didn't move; he stood there, head down, as if looking at something on the ground.
Mingfei focused his mental energy and sensed that it was blood—fresh, not yet completely dry, blood of the Dark Demon Leopard.
Bloodstains on the Dark Demon Panther.
Mingfei cursed inwardly.
He just killed the Dark Leopard here, and although he took the body to the underworld, the bloodstains are still on the grass.
The blood of the Dark Demon Leopard is not ordinary blood; it carries a special, dark aura that ordinary people cannot smell, but Soul Masters can.
The officer squatted down, dipped his finger in the bloodstain on the ground, and smelled it.
His expression changed.
"There's a soul beast," he whispered, his voice not loud, but exceptionally clear in the quiet night air. "Everyone, be on alert."
The soldiers immediately stopped. Some raised their spears, some drew their daggers, and some retreated behind the cart for cover.
Although they moved quickly, everyone showed obvious signs of fatigue and sluggishness.
Mingfei knew he couldn't wait any longer.
"superior."
The command was instantly transmitted to the senses of every undead through the connection to the underworld.
Ghost Tiger sprang out of the darkness at the rear of the group, its dark purple figure leaving a blurry afterimage in the moonlight, and landed on the last cart.
The seriously wounded on the cart didn't even have time to react before they were swept into the underworld by the gray mist.
The Dark Serpent sliced across from the right, its massive body gliding across the grass at astonishing speed. Its more than five-meter-long form unfolded before the soldiers' horrified eyes, resembling a dark purple wall.
Three human undead and seventeen hundred-year-old soul beasts launched a frontal attack.
The woman's sword tip drew sparks across the ground, the night watchman held his shield in front of him, and the second-ring man held his short sword in reverse.
Crimson Scorpion, Nether Wolf, Ironback Lizard, Windblade Bird—they surged out of the darkness like a gray tide, engulfing the front of the procession.
The officer drew his sword, and yellow spirit rings lit up on his body—three rings, two yellow and one purple.
His sword gleamed with the light of condensed soul power as he slashed fiercely at the nearest Netherwolf.
The Nether Wolf's body was split in two, and gray mist surged out, pulling it back to the Netherworld.
But before the ghost wolf was cleaved in two, its teeth left a deep wound on the officer's calf.
The officer let out a muffled groan and swayed slightly.
The woman's sword came from the side. The officer managed to parry, but the sword was too fast, and the tip cut a gash in his arm.
The watchman's shield slammed into the officer's back, knocking him forward two steps.
The officer was indeed a strong fighter; even wounded, he continued to fight valiantly.
His swordsmanship was fierce, each strike imbued with soul power. When he struck a hundred-year-old soul beast, he would cut it in two, and when he struck a human undead, he could leave a considerable wound.
But his soldiers couldn't.
Ordinary soldiers are almost powerless against the undead army.
The Crimson Scorpion's tail hook pierced a soldier's thigh, rendering him incapacitated within two seconds, causing him to collapse to the ground convulsing.
The ironbacked lizard's tail swept down three soldiers, and a cloud of gray mist surged forth, engulfing them in the underworld.
The wind blade bird swooped down from the sky, and the wind blades from its wings struck the soldiers' armor. Although they did not cause fatal injuries, they frightened the soldiers into scattering and fleeing.
Someone is trying to escape.
A second-ring Soul Master led several soldiers and rushed towards the back of the column, trying to escape back the way they came.
But Ghost Tiger stood guard there, its eerie green eyes gleaming in the darkness. With a swipe of its three gleaming claws, it knocked the weapon of the second-ring Soul Master away, slamming him to the ground. The gray mist immediately swept him away.
A group of soldiers ran up the earthen slope on the left, but the Dark Serpent lashed out like a whip, sweeping them all to the ground.
Instead of killing them, the Dark Serpent trapped them in a small area with its body, and gray mist poured out from the underworld, swallowing them one by one.
The battle lasted less than ten minutes.
All forty soldiers were taken to the underworld.
The officer was the last to be taken in. His swordsmanship was indeed excellent, and he almost injured the woman twice, but in the end, he was tackled from behind by Ghost Tiger, and the gray mist swept him into the gray space.
Mingfei stood up from the bushes and deactivated his invisibility.
The undead were scattered throughout the valley. The ghost tiger squatted on a rock, licking the blood from its paws. The dark python was coiled up and resting. Of the hundred-year-old soul beasts, only eleven remained in their original forms—the other six had been scattered and were slowly regrouping in the underworld.
Of the three human undead, the Night Watchman's shield had a deep sword wound, the Second Ringman's dagger was broken in half, and the woman's sword was stained with blood.
But no one—no ghosts—truly died.
Mingfei took a deep breath and sank his consciousness into the underworld.
Forty newly recruited living people are shrouded in gray mist in the underworld. Their consciousness is still intact, but it has been invaded by the energy of the underworld and is slowly turning into dead spirits.
The officer's will was the strongest; he was still struggling, but the gray mist had already covered most of his body. In a few hours at most, he would become a part of the underworld, just like everyone else.
Mingfei withdrew from the underworld and sat cross-legged on the grass.
The Hades Sword lay horizontally on his lap, the first and second Hades runes on its blade glowing faintly.
He focused his attention on the inside of the Hades Sword, feeling the power that flowed back from the underworld.
The forty new undead did not bring about a reward of killing, but rather an indirect improvement resulting from the expansion of the underworld.
The underworld absorbed the life force and remnant souls of forty living people, expanding its area, thickening the gray fog, and making the dark red light in the cracks brighter.
The power of the underworld will naturally flow back to Mingfei, enhancing his soul power, mental strength, and physical strength.
This is a slow, steady improvement, unlike the violent feedback from killing, but its advantage lies in its sustainability.
......