A moment later.
Lynch shook his head in resignation and temporarily suppressed the doubts in his heart.
"Forget it. Even a master angler occasionally comes up empty-handed."
It was getting late. Today's harvest was already plentiful enough. It was time to find a hidden spot to stash his Skeleton Corps before returning to the academy to rest.
The night grew darker.
Lynch recalled Bone Jade and its Fishman Skeleton Corps. He merged his forces and carefully crossed a gloomy forest situated between the swamp and the main road. Towering ancient trees with lush foliage blanketed the area. The woods felt profoundly deep even during the day, but after nightfall, the light became hopelessly dim.
Out of an abundance of caution, Lynch had Bone Jade casually kill a few jungle squirrels during their march. He then cast the Skeleton Resurrection Skill, converting the tiny carcasses into Undead Units. These Squirrel Skeletons had petite frames and fragile bones, rendering their combat power essentially zero. Resurrecting them provided almost no Skill experience points and was purely a waste of Mana. However, Lynch had his own plans.
He split off a few faint strands of Spiritual Power to link with the Squirrel Skeletons. Like a puppeteer pulling strings, he manipulated the tiny Undead Creatures to nimbly scatter. Two darted up the surrounding trees, while the rest burrowed into the nearby bushes. The Squirrel Skeletons fanned out around the main army, moving silently within a hundred-meter radius. They became Lynch's extended eyes. Meanwhile, the Skeleton Corps continued its quiet march through the woods. The rustling of their bony feet crushing fallen leaves mixed with the howling of the night wind, adding a chilling sense of dread to the atmosphere.
Just as the army was about to pass through the center of the forest.
Suddenly, Lynch's expression shifted. Through the vision of a Squirrel Skeleton perched on a treetop, he vaguely caught a fleeting wisp of Holy Light in the distance. The aura was weak, but Lynch was far too familiar with it, having suffered countless brutal beatings from the Holy Light System before.
"Halt."
Lynch willed his command. The quietly advancing Skeleton Corps froze instantly, stopping all movement dead in its tracks. He quickly crouched down, using the dense bushes to conceal his figure. Holding his breath in intense concentration, he carefully sensed the distant commotion. A few moments later, several more moderately weak bursts of Holy Light auras erupted. Moreover, it seemed they were rapidly approaching his position.
Startled, Lynch hurriedly used his Spiritual Power to order the Skeletons into hiding. The Skeletons loyally fulfilled their mission, swiftly scattering to find cover. Some curled up deep within the thickets, while others simply laid flat in the thick piles of rotting leaves and dead branches, disguising themselves as an inconspicuous heap of dry bones. In the blink of an eye, the previously sizable Skeleton Corps vanished into the gloomy forest like a drop of water merging into the ocean. Without Lynch's explicit command, they would not make a single move, emitting absolutely zero breathing sounds or energy fluctuations. As for Lynch himself, he shrank back into an exceptionally dense bush with his few personal guards, stifling his breath to the absolute minimum.
The distant commotion grew closer and closer.
A few muffled voices drifted to his ears on the wind.
"B-Barry... I can't go on... Leave me behind! Just run! Hurry up and go!"
"Carl, what kind of nonsense are you sprouting? We came here together, and we are going to leave together."
"Holy Light, please grant your most loyal believer the strength to eradicate evil!"
Amidst the chaotic shouting, a cold and erratic voice chimed in, its tone dripping with mockery. "You foolish, damned little Holy Light brats! There was a path to Heaven, yet you refused to take it. Hell had no gates, yet you stubbornly forced your way in! I was hiding perfectly fine, yet you just had to come looking for trouble. Be good little boys and leave your lives behind to become my loyal corpse servants!"
Along with that sinister voice, a powerful wave of Death Energy washed over the area.
HOLY SHIT!
Lynch's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Weren't those Barry's guys? What the hell were they doing here?! And from the sound of things, they seemed to have provoked a Necromancer?
"Mad!" Lynch felt as if ten thousand alpacas had just stampeded through his mind. "I won't stop you if you want to seek your own deaths, and I absolutely won't block your path if you want to run away. But couldn't you fucking run in any direction other than the exact spot where I'm hiding?!"
Heaven knew that Lynch merely wanted to peacefully catch a few small fish to pad his wallet, and perhaps deal an unforgettable lesson to those reckless punks in passing. Who could have expected that instead of biting his hook, the fish would ram headfirst into a fellow colleague in the dark arts?
What should he do now?! Run?!
No, the distance between the two parties was far too close. It was already too late to escape. Furthermore, the enemy was also a Necromancer, meaning his sensitivity to Undead Creatures was far sharper than that of the Holy Light System crowd.
Right as Lynch was cursing internally, secretly praying for this group of walking disasters to change direction.
Barry and the others, who were currently fleeing in absolute misery, were also complaining bitterly in their hearts. What the hell was going on?!
Having previously suffered losses at Lynch's hands, they had been staking him out for days. When they finally caught a rare opportunity where he headed out alone to complete a mission, Barry immediately gathered Carl and a few other close companions to quietly tail him, preparing to launch a sneak attack from the shadows. Who would have thought that after wandering the edges of the swamp and forest for half the day, they would fail to catch even a glimpse of Lynch's shadow?
Just as they lost interest and prepared to pack it up and head home, they accidentally stumbled across a sneaky little Skeleton poking its head around the woods. The Skeleton looked incredibly weak and clumsy. Barry and the others subconsciously assumed it was one of that bastard Lynch's Undead Summoned Creatures.
"Follow it! We'll definitely find that bastard Lynch," Barry had thought with a burst of joy. He felt they had searched high and low in vain, only for their target to deliver itself right to their doorstep.
Therefore, they shadowed the little Skeleton all the way. After navigating a dizzying maze of twists and turns for quite a while, they eventually discovered an extremely hidden, vine-covered entrance to an ancient tomb. Watching the little Skeleton squeeze inside, Barry and the others exchanged meaningful glances, convinced their chance had finally arrived. Lynch was definitely hiding inside.
"Charge in and teach him a lesson he'll never forget!"
With their blood boiling and Holy Light Power condensing, the group bellowed, "By the Holy Light, this enemy is worthy of battle!" before charging resolutely into the tomb.
However, what awaited them was not a solitary, isolated Lynch.
Instead, they met an unfamiliar Necromancer, his face twisted with sinister fury. What truly scared them out of their wits was the dense, overwhelmingly powerful aura of death radiating from his body. They instantly linked him to the wanted Necromancer who had recently been operating near Saint Roland City and had yet to be captured. Rumor had it that this maniac had slaughtered two remote villages, stolen all the corpses, and even launched a night raid on the Holy Maiden Convent. He was the prime culprit who had utterly screwed over their good senior, Leon.
This was a seasoned, official Tier One Necromancer.
Seriously, who could possibly understand the absolute despair in their hearts? They originally just wanted to teach a classmate they had beef with a lesson, only to swan-dive directly into the lair of a homicidal maniac.
Meanwhile, Lynch was also cursing their mothers in the dark.
Barry's gang had already fled straight into his territory, bringing an evil and powerful Necromancer right along with them. Lynch could already faintly sense the thick Death Energy rolling off the encroaching enemy.
Barry, you motherfucker!