Chapter 94: Earthbound Spirit
2015-03-08
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
“Brother?”
Vivian squinted and carefully observed what was ahead, then signaled Soren beside her to pick her up, saying in a crisp voice, “Brother, hold me up. I think I see a small path over there! It’s just to the left of that garden, near that pile of rubble. There seems to be a path, but I don’t know where it leads!”
A small path!?
Upon hearing this, Soren immediately lifted the little girl beside him and placed Vivian on his shoulder. Her tiny feet rested on Soren’s left shoulder, and she embraced his head with her small, pale hands. After observing for a moment, she softly said, “We can go around to the left; it seems there’s no mist over there, but I don’t know where it leads!”
The mist in front of them should be part of the Maze (迷锁).
Just like in a Bagua array, where mist often appears, many Mazes contain corresponding illusions. These illusions must be seen through with keen eyes; otherwise, one would need spells, special abilities, or divine power to dispel them. It seemed that the power here had diminished greatly; otherwise, a true Maze should produce illusions and not just raise a field of mist. Even the Mazes laid by liches form Dark Skies, while those set by archmages are even more formidable!
“Let’s go.”
Soren didn’t hesitate long and said, “Let’s go around and take a look.”
Not daring to charge straight through the Maze was a sign of caution, prudence, and concern for Vivian’s safety. However, if they didn’t even dare to explore the side entrance, it would be a lack of adventurous spirit. Adventure inevitably carries risks. Soren’s boundary is to ensure that risks do not exceed his capabilities and not to avoid all risks entirely. It seemed that this side path had already been nearly destroyed by time; even if there were dangers, they likely wouldn’t be higher than directly charging through.
This way, he could also estimate the difficulty of the frontal assault!
“Be careful!”
Soren set little Vivian down and started paying attention to the surrounding environment, occasionally tapping the ground lightly with his toes. He was checking for traps nearby; theoretically, there shouldn’t be any, but he felt it necessary to be extra cautious. The narrow path passed through the corner of the garden, with a pile of rubble on the side, and there didn’t appear to be any unusual plants nearby, though the ground showed some cracks.
Soren glanced around and whispered, “Vivian! Don’t you think this path looks a bit like a way to the backyard?”
This was Soren’s intuition.
From the surrounding environment, this was the front yard of the Wizard Tower, and this narrow path seemed to lead toward the backyard or perhaps the kitchen. Arcane mages had many servants, unlike modern wizards who required only Puppet Golems for assistance. Wizards during the Arcane Empire were part of the ruling class. In addition to a significant number of servants, they also had a certain number of followers.
“It does look a bit like that.” Vivian nodded gently.
Before them appeared to be two worlds.
On the right was an eerie garden enveloped in mist, while the left revealed ruins scattered with many rubble.
Soren cautiously led Vivian through, and after walking about 300 meters, they came upon a house that was relatively well-preserved. This house had a very noticeable feature: it had a chimney. Generally speaking, houses with chimneys serve similar functions, and Soren felt he was beginning to guess correctly.
“Brother.”
Vivian tugged at Soren’s sleeve quietly. She said, “It really looks like the kitchen here!”
“Mm.” Soren nodded slightly, “Be careful. Let’s go in and take a look.”
Creak!
Soren pulled out the Curved Blade “Ice d*ath” and gave Vivian a glance. He then directly pushed open the still intact door, causing a cloud of dust to swirl around. As Soren stepped inside the house with the little girl, he immediately noticed that dust covered everything, with a layer almost half a centimeter thick. It was unknown how long it had been since any living person had appeared here.
“Brother, look!”
After entering, Vivian scanned the surroundings and pointed to a rocking chair in front, whispering, “It seems there’s something over there!”
Something!?
Soren cautiously shifted his position and picked up a stone to throw it at the rocking chair. The force caused it to tilt slightly, revealing a rather small skeleton on the chair. The height of this skeleton was about 1.25 meters, but the bones were relatively thick compared to its body height, especially in the area of the leg bones and feet. An experienced person could immediately tell what kind of creature it once was.
Soren took a look and whispered, “It’s a halfling’s bones; it might have been the Arcane mage’s cook.”
Whoo whoo whoo!
Just as he spoke, a chilling wind suddenly swept through the previously enclosed house, sending a shiver down their spines, followed by a somewhat eerie cackling sound.
Undead?
Vengeful Spirit?
Earthbound Spirit?
Soren’s thoughts changed multiple times in an instant as he shielded Vivian behind him and said in a deep voice, “It’s a spirit-type enemy! It looks like an Earthbound Spirit!”
“Be careful.”
“It should be observing us from the spiritual plane! We’ll wait until it reveals itself before attacking!”
Undead enemies.
The most common ones were the skeletal undead encountered outside, which are corporeal and relatively easy to deal with. The other type, like the one in front of them, is born from ghostly, vengeful, or evil spirits, which belong to incorporeal or semi-energetic creatures. These undead are more difficult to handle, as normal physical attacks have little effect on them.
“Cackle cackle cackle!”
The creepy laughter came from all directions. Soren remained unfazed, but Vivian looked somewhat displeased and huffed, “I hate you undead the most! Come out, you scoundrels!”
A faint spell light appeared.
— “Protection from Evil.”
Vivian first cast the first-tier spell “Protection from Evil” and then began casting another spell.
— “Detect Undead!”
An invisible spell light enveloped the entire house, and they saw a shadowy, dark red spiritual form appear behind a wall. The vast majority of undead creatures turn dark red under spell light detection, indicating a high level of evil; if a Paladin were to detect them, they would have to eliminate them.
— “Create Undead Paralyze!”
Another spell light appeared. Vivian pointed towards the distant undead, and a faint light flashed, followed by a wailing scream. The undead behind the wall suddenly charged toward Vivian furiously, as the control spell failed, and the enemy passed its saving throw, designating Vivian as the primary target.
Clang!
Soren’s Curved Blade unsheathed instantly, and he slashed toward the hazy, semi-corporeal Earthbound Spirit.
— “Shadow Assassination!”
The Legendary Curved Blade “Ice d*ath” has cold damage and special effects against undead, even though physical attacks are nearly ineffective against it, the Wanderer’s Shadow Assassination is useful as it constitutes shadow energy damage. Soren’s blade struck the charging Earthbound Spirit, which felt as if he’d hit cotton candy, the blade passed through its body; only the cold energy and shadow energy could harm it, with physical damage likely just a point or two.
— “Fear Spell [Instant]!”
As a higher-tier undead creature, the Earthbound Spirit had a unique ability to cast fear spells instantly, which could be a spell of intimidation, fear, or even a fear-inducing cloak. However, when the Earthbound Spirit launched the instant fear spell, it was momentarily stunned as both individuals seemed to completely ignore the fear spell, seemingly without any need to make fear saving throws.
Indeed.
They directly ignored the fear spell.
Vivian, as the Demon Son of Fear, naturally needed no explanation; how could she be immune to a mere fear spell? As for Soren, his resistance to fear spells was also quite high. Not to mention the powerful will saves he had accumulated, merely absorbing the essence of fear allowed him to negate fear spells cast by non-legendary enemies.
— “Dominate Humanity!”
The Earthbound Spirit seemed to possess a certain level of intelligence, knowing that the fear spell was ineffective and immediately changed its tactic. It cast a racial spell, attempting to control Soren, who appeared to be a warrior, to use him to k*ll the little girl behind that made it feel threatened. However, it miscalculated again because the spell “Dominate Humanity” had no effect whatsoever, completely countered by Soren’s strong will.
What a joke!
How could he, after encountering so many challenges, easily fall under someone else’s control!
Soren had walked this path with purpose, precisely to be prepared for situations like this!
As long as his will was strong enough, he could eventually immunize himself against most charm, mental, and control spells, which was crucial for a Wanderer whose saving abilities were generally lower than a warrior’s!
A will as solid as steel.
This was Soren’s primary element for survival!
So, when he successfully resisted the Earthbound Spirit’s “Dominate Humanity,” a hint of murderous intent appeared in his eyes as he swung his kn*fe once more at the enemy before him.
— “Shadow Assassination!”
………………(To be continued ~^~)
