A faint blue flame burned in the glazed Soul Lamp, illuminating the surrounding environment into a strange black-and-white world.
The Soul Lamp, this magic item, allowed ordinary people to observe nearby souls and had a certain repelling effect on those bodiless undead.
Finn followed closely on the flank of the team. Under his crimson cape, muscles were tensed, in a state of alert at all times.
As a newly promoted Blood Knight, this was his first time executing a field mission with Duke Sigmund. He didn't expect to encounter a task like dealing with undead right away.
He had sufficient confidence in his own skills and didn't fear combat.
But enemies like undead could directly harm the souls of living people. Conventional magic could only interfere with undead movements, and the swordsmanship he excelled at couldn't cause any damage at all. He really didn't want to face this kind of enemy.
Because the territory was relatively far from Urbic Territory, when other lords had already hurried over following that huge flare tearing through the sky, Sigmund's team had just arrived at the edge of the sacrifice area.
Unlike the dead zone scene of scorched earth and withered everything Finn imagined, the natural vitality here was quite normal.
Wildflowers swayed in the breeze, tree crowns were verdant and dripping with green, and one could even see monsters running in the distance.
Everything was fresh and alive as usual, except for the demons who originally lived here.
In the village they were currently in, corpses in various postures lay horizontally on the stone-paved roads, under the eaves, and in the courtyards.
Finn's gaze swept over a collapsed Half-Demon by the roadside. She curled up by the threshold of her own home. Her furry face even carried a trace of relaxation, without any signs of struggle, as if she had suddenly passed away in a sweet dream.
These unlucky fellows probably died before they even realized what happened.
Just then, he faintly heard a blurred whistling sound.
Initially, Finn thought it was just the sound of the wind in the distance, but in the next second, the spectral fire inside the Soul Lamp tilted violently to the left, flaring up with a hiss!
At the edge of the black-and-white world illuminated by the Soul Lamp, a constantly twisting and stretching grayish-white silhouette swept past, charging toward the only figure at the front of the team not holding a Soul Lamp.
"My Lord, watch out for the dead soul!" Finn's warning blurted out. Simultaneously, disregarding his own safety, he forcefully threw the Soul Lamp in his hand forward.
However, the dead soul unbound by a body was still a hair faster. The instant the flying Soul Lamp illuminated it again, the undead had already crashed headfirst into Duke Sigmund's round body.
It's over!
Being directly impacted by a free-floating spirit body without protection, even a high-tier demon would inevitably be heavily injured.
Finn's mind went blank, as if he could already see the Duke staggering and falling to the ground.
"Sigmund," who was walking and drinking a beverage, reached back and scratched the spot on his back that was just rammed by the undead. Although he knew this ticklish feeling was an illusion produced after a soul impact and not a real physical itch, Lin Jun still couldn't help but scratch it.
Which one is this already?
The Hand of Passage's large-scale sacrifice drove all souls within range out of their flesh, but it seemed they didn't take all souls for the sacrifice. At least in the edge area where Fatty Xi was now, there were quite a few souls darting around randomly.
They seemed to instinctively want to return to their flesh, but those bodies on the ground truly died not long after their souls left, so when they encountered Fatty Xi, they would rush up.
However, sadly, this was just their wishful thinking.
If ramming a soul in could occupy a body, Lin Jun wouldn't need to make some "half-a-day-each" agreement with Fatty Xi.
The only ending when they rammed over was shattering and dissipating, while the person rammed would have their soul injured.
Fortunately, Lin Jun didn't need to worry about soul consumption.
Lin Jun turned around, looking at Finn and the other subordinates with surprise and doubt mixed on their faces: "What are you staring blankly for? Keep moving forward!"
"Yes!"
Picking up his Soul Lamp and looking at that stalwart figure ahead.
Finn's eyes were full of yearning!
Truly worthy of Lord Duke, methods unfathomable!
He also wanted to become an extraordinarily powerful expert like Lord Duke in the future!
Um... he looked again at that back figure trembling as it walked... no need to resemble the body shape...
...
By the time they caught up with the teams of other lords, it was already Sigmund's turn to control the body, and the battle had long ended.
Soldiers were busy, using heavy hammers to violently dismantle that cruel altar and separating the corpses wearing different styles of armor and clothing into piles.
If not for the distinction in clothing crests, the demon corpses making a mess all over the ground simply looked like a tragic Empire civil war had just concluded here.
Sigmund walked over from afar; currently controlling the body was the Duke himself.
A Marquis wearing a dark green cloak with gold trim, armor bearing fresh scratches and scorch marks, walked over quickly.
He stopped a few steps in front of Sigmund, right hand over his chest in salute, his tone carrying just the right amount of respect and a trace of unconcealable surprise: "Your Grace the Duke, I didn't expect you would come personally."
After all, other nearby Dukes only sent subordinates over.
The more earnest ones sent a Marquis like him to lead the team; the more perfunctory ones, like Duchess Elinore, only sent an ordinary troop over as a token gesture.
Sigmund nodded slightly, counting as a response to the other party's etiquette: "How is the situation?"
"Most of the low-tier cultists involved in arranging the ritual have been eliminated, but the core priest group still forced their way out." He pointed with a solemn expression at a barren path in the distance that had lost all vitality. "Marquis Ravencrow led a team in pursuit and encountered a counterattack from their high-tier members. According to what he said before falling unconscious, a young girl wearing a plain white priest robe among the opponents used a kind of... pure pitch-black unknown magic. Marquis Ravencrow was merely grazed by the edge of that power and was heavily injured. Relying on an ancestral protective item to barely hold on, he was desperately snatched back by his personal guards and has now been urgently sent back to the rear for treatment."
"Pitch-black magic..." Sigmund recalled related skills or magic. There seemed to be none that matched the description. "Which way did they flee?"
The Marquis pointed in a direction, then said: "We have already mobilized troops to rush to the three possible escape directions—Three-Ring Valley, Giant Beast Bone Field, and Thunderbeast Plains—to intercept them. Thanks for your hard work coming this trip to support, Your Grace, but we can handle the follow-up ourselves."
Other Dukes obviously didn't want Sigmund to just swagger into their territories like this. While giving enough face, the Marquis tactfully declined Sigmund's help.
Fortunately, Sigmund didn't care about this either, agreeing very naturally.
Striking the cult, taking his roommate to broaden his horizons—these were all just pretenses.
His purpose for this trip had already been achieved!
The roommate probably hadn't realized it himself yet, but his soul, compared to when they first met early last year, had already weakened a lot!
This was a matter of course. After all, the state of the roommate's soul was like a tree without roots or water without a source, naturally dissipating every moment. Being able to maintain until now and still hold the advantage relied entirely on that abnormal volume.
However, no matter how large the volume, it would slowly weaken under the washing of time.
And on this trip, Sigmund deliberately didn't carry a Soul Lamp himself. Those undead that rammed over further weakened the roommate's soul.
The moment of completely breaking free from the shackles... wasn't far!
(End of Chapter)
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