Chapter 177: Acquaintance
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
There used to be a humid and rotten smell in the forest when they walked there. The smell had changed now. The rotten smell had changed to something unbearable. Riska was a little weak and had been dry heaving already. Suzanna had her brows twisted and tried to suppress her desire to throw up. Only Anfey seemed not to be affected by that smell.
"Let’s take a break." Anfey said slowly. He could tell Riska was not able to walk anymore.
Riska heaved a sigh of relief, but hurried to cover his mouth immediately. He released a levitation magic and flew onto the tree. He set up a simple magic boundary and waved Anfey to come up to the tree.
Suzanna did not release any combat power, but to a senior swordswoman, it was not hard to jump into a tree. She followed Anfey and jumped a few times before she landed where Riska was. She took a seat next to him.
"How many zombies exactly? This smell is unbearable." Riska complained. He was simply complaining, but never had the idea of going back. Of course, he assumed that Anfey wanted to go forward.
"If those necromancers wanted to attack a mercenary group, they should have at least five or six hundred zombies," Anfey said in a worried tone. "This is only our guess. No one would know how long these necromancers have been in the Hengduan Valley. What if they have attacked a few mercenary groups?"
"Oh, my god," Riska’s jaw dropped. He thought this would be even more terrifying than Anfey’s original guess.
"Let’s wait here until dawn," Anfey slowly said. "Night is too dangerous for us." Anfey had been believing in his instincts. What was ahead of him gave him an unknown pressure. That pressure was very strong. No matter how much they wanted to kill necromancers or help Christian, they had to ensure their own safety first.
"This is the only happy thing I have heard the whole day," Riska said with a bitter smile.
"Riska, would sunlight affect necromancers if we fight with them in the daylight?" Anfey asked.
"Of course, it would affect them." Riska nodded. "If they were senior necromancers, they could release Dark Fog, Death Twirling and other magic to change their surroundings to allow themselves to have the maximum combat power."
"If we were surrounded by Dark Fog, would our combat power be affected as necromancers under sunlight?" Anfey asked.
"You would be affected unless you were a creature living in the dark," Riska answered.
Anfey turned to Suzanna and asked, "What percentage of combat power do you have if you are surrounded by Dark Fog?"
Suzanna shook her head. "I never fought with necromancers before. I am not sure."
"I guess we will have to see when it happens," Anfey sighed. It had not been very successful for them to collect information. He had to think up a plan.
"Anfey, you take some rest first. You have been busy since last night. You have not gotten any rest yet," Suzanna said quietly.
"You guys take some rest. I am fine." Anfey smiled.
Suzanna and Riska did not insist. They did not waste their time arguing and went to sleep. Everyone knew Anfey’s ability to stay up late.
The rotten smells were kept outside by the magic dome. Anfey quietly sat there with his legs crossed. Riska found a random tree crown, which was not very good for sleeping, but it was not reasonable to keep looking for a place to rest while countless zombies were in the forest. They had to take what they could. Suzanna and Riska both chose thick branches parallel to the ground. They wrapped clothes they had with them on two branches to create a simple hammock. They could barely sleep on it. Anfey felt it was better to practice than sleep.
Without knowing exactly when it was, his practicing had stalled. The main reason was his practice instructions were very complex. He did not have any experience with it. His ancestors did not even believe in the things he was told in the instructions. He did not have teachers and experience to help himself. Neither did he know what was waiting for him in the future. He would not know whether the effects he gained were good or bad. He did not know anything he should be aware of. He had to stumble through as he learned in this new area.
He knew the instructions well, which only gave him a general direction and provided him steps to follow. He had so many things he did not get, but had no one to ask. Every time after he finished his meditation, he would do a reflection on it. He always thought his practice belonged to another world. He missed his home. He thought no other place could compare to his hometown. No matter what kind of honors and social status he acquired here, Anfey still wanted to go back to his hometown and tell his parents his experiences in front of their tomb.
As time slowly passed, the sound of a bird’s flapping wings suddenly woke Anfey up from the meditation. He slowly opened his eyes and looked toward where the sound was from.
For some reason, bird’s sensibility was a lot better than those carnivores, like magic mice and wild dogs. Magic mice and wild dogs could be driven by their desire for food to attack and eat zombies. Birds would just fly away. Since they had started to track zombies down, Anfey had not seen a birding hovering above them. It only proved that Anfey was right to be concerned.
The bird hovered above the tree and landed on the tree where Anfey and his fellows rested. The bird tucked its wings back and watched Anfey and his companions with head tilted.
Anfey had already closed his eyes as the bird flew down. He leaned against a branch with his legs spread apart. He looked like he was sleeping, but he watched that weird bird through the little slits in his eyes.
Anfey could not name the bird. The bird was all black and looked like a crow, but smaller. The eyes radiated some evil bloody red lights. Anfey sneered inside. If this were a trick played by necromancers, it only proved that those necromancers, who had done so much with bones, did not have high intelligence. The bloody red eyes told Anfey the true nature of the bird. If Anfey had to do this, he definitely would make a bird that looked like a normal bird.
Suddenly, a weird feeling hit Anfey, and then he saw a very fine chain on the bird. The other side of the chain was connected to a faraway place. At the same time, Anfey felt the spirit crystal starting to tremble in his body, although he had no idea what the spirit crystal was for.
The bird chirped in a low pitch. Anfey did not see the bird moving, but a cloud like a pale spirite struggled and screamed inside the bird. Anfey could not help opening his eyes wide because he saw the lowest level of the evil spirit in Evil Abyss.
At this moment, Anfey did not have the happy and excited feeling of seeing someone from where he came from. He had always thought of himself as a human being. He thought he was a traveler or guest in Evil Abyss.
Staring at that bird for a while, Anfey recalled all kinds of memories he kept in the back of his mind. Anfey had recognized that the fine chain was a spirit chain. It was pure spirit magic. He did not need anyone to explain what that was. Instead, he could give others some pointers.
That bird trembled very hard. Maybe it was because the long distance made the power of the spirit chain decrease to the minimum. The Evil Abyss spirit struggled hard to get rid of the chain.
Anfey had a smile again. The person who tried to free the Evil Abyss spirit was not that powerful. He could not even control the lowest level of Evil Abyss spirit. He slowly took out his fingers and pointed in the air. It did not take any magic to attack the spirit. Telepathy and strong will power would just make it work. Anfey had both of them.
That spirit chain started to shake. In order to let the necromancer on the other end of the chain believe that the Evil Abyss spirit had gotten rid of the chain, Anfey only attacked the chain a few times with small amounts of telepathy. That spirit chain finally broke.
The Evil Abyss spirit finally had its freedom back, and then he noticed Anfey right away. That bird suddenly dove down at Anfey like a flying arrow. He even opened his beak as wide as a fist. It was hard to imagine such a small bird could have his mouth open so wide.
The Evil Abyss spirit suddenly paused in the air at the moment he was about to hit Anfey. Anfey’s social status was not very high in Evil Abyss, but he was smart politically. He went to whichever king was stronger. He did not do anything to hurt the kings who did not do so well. He even tried to leave untraceable hints to allow the unlucky kings to know that he would spy in other king’s country, and he was actually working for them. Anfey had received all kinds of rewards from different kings. That bird could not combat the huge difference in social status and power between Anfey and him.
Anfey slowly took back his telepathy. That bird slowly and sluggishly landed next to Anfey. The Evil Abyss spirit looked so obedient that he would just lay on the tree branch without moving at all.
Evil Abyss was a crude and simple place. The social structure only allowed obedience and fighting. Anfey was special over there. He was very social. The Evil Abyss spirit only had two options even it was in a different dimension of the world. They still had to be either obedient or fighting against something.
Anfey went quiet for a while. He waved his hand to release a small fireball. The fireball hit the bird. The evil spirit’s puppet was not useful anymore. The spirit had slowly risen from the burned bird and flew forward at Anfey’s instruction.
That magic surges produced by the little fireball woke Suzanna up. She suddenly opened her eyes. "What happened?"
"Nothing. A bird got in." Anfey smiled.
Riska rubbed his eyes and sat up to look around. "It’s almost morning."
"Yes. You guys eat something first. We will continue after the sun comes up," Anfey said.
"What kind of bird stinks so bad?" Suzanna crinkled her nose.
"Damn it." Riska saw that burned bird. "This is a puppet created by a necromancer for the deceased spirit."