This Necromancer Just Wants to Plant Trees - Chapter 44

The significance of the outpost was vividly evident in this unexpected encounter.

Matthew had never imagined himself single-handedly facing off against three major evil organizations. Therefore, after the failed attack, his tactics immediately shifted to focus on delaying and probing.

Ella lived up to her reputation as well.

The sound of hooves.

A total of eight knights arrived smoothly to support Matthew, with the heavily armed Blackthorn leading the way, along with the casually dressed Zeller. The remaining six knights were equally armed to the teeth. Matthew knew they weren't part of the outpost's defense team; they were members of the Lord's personal guard.

"Lord, already knows. He ordered me to come ahead, and additional reinforcements are on their way," Zeller dismounted and stood shoulder to shoulder with Matthew.

The knights, carrying long spears, began to advance slowly.

Under the cover of the night, the nearly three-meter-long spears exuded immense pressure. These were genuine military-grade weapons!

Even the arrogant Edson no longer dared to pursue them recklessly. He hurriedly retreated towards the mine entrance.

Brad and the others were about to pursue.

Matthew quickly reminded them, "Be careful, those wooden boxes are suspicious!"

The knights quickly tightened their reins upon hearing his words.

Moonlight illuminated the desolate land ahead. Among the numerous goblin corpses, several wooden boxes lay scattered. Some of them had already been opened due to the fall, appearing empty.

However, Matthew's instincts were strongly tingling. "Be careful!"

"Is that 'Molting Gel'? Do you have any 'Revelation Powder'?" He saw the information prompt.

He knew that the creatures in the wooden boxes were taking advantage of the night's cover and their unique forms to sneak closer.

Without a word, Zeller smashed a glass bottle into the open space in front of them. With a bang, the bottle shattered, and a pale purple smoke spread from it. Wherever the smoke went, the previously hard-to-discern molting gel was instantly coated with a thick layer of purple!

This was 'Revelation Powder,' a potent tool for low to mid-level adventurers to deal with concealed entities. The only drawback was its high cost, something Matthew couldn't afford.

The fastest of the molting gels had already approached their position.

The front horse suddenly reared up in fear, neighing loudly.

The knight at the front barely maintained his balance and quickly reined in the horse.

Brad was quick to react; he thrust his iron-cast long spear forward. It easily pierced the gelatinous body of the molting gel, but it was merely pinned to the ground and seemed unharmed.

"You can't kill them like this; you need fire or lightning, or you can simply dehydrate them," Matthew said as a mage.

His basic knowledge was sufficient. Molting gels were a type of mud golem, appearing translucent or semi-transparent, gel-like in form. They weren't fast, but they were exceptionally easy to overlook. Once they came into contact with a living creature by accident, they would rapidly expand, wrapping and devour the creature alive, causing the victim to endure great pain for 72 hours. The victims couldn't escape or struggle and could only watch death approach. Their flesh, organs, and bones would be effortlessly digested by the molting gel, leaving only a few hairs and an intact skin. After digestion, the molting gel would regurgitate the skin and hair before moving on to find its next prey.

It was because of this characteristic that some wicked spellcasters or organizations would keep molting gels, using them for skinning. However, there were also many instances in history where those who kept molting gels ended up accidentally consumed by their own creatures.

These things were far from as clumsy and harmless as they appeared.

With Matthew's warning, everyone began to clean up the molting gels nearby.

Zeller also carefully counted the number of wooden boxes to ensure that no molting gels remained in the vicinity to harm the residents.

During this opportunity, Matthew cast his Necromancy Summoning spell on the pile of goblin corpses.

"Prompt: Necromancy Summoning successful. You have obtained 30 Silvermoon Goblin Zombies (average level LV6). You have obtained 3 Goblin Skeleton Warriors (average level LV4)."

After the round of summoning was completed, Matthew's mana was nearly depleted.

The goblins that had just been charging for the Cult of Cataclysm suddenly turned against them, except for three whose bodies had been too damaged by Elai to summon skeletons. The rest of the goblins had all been transformed into Silvermoon Zombies.

Compared to human-converted Silvermoon Zombies, they were smaller and of lower level but inherited abilities like "Tree Bark," "Lunar Power," and "Divine Lunar Armor."

Their agility decreased, but they became stronger in other aspects.

This was the first time Matthew had controlled so many undead creatures at once, but he didn't feel overwhelmed. Instead, he felt as though he were playing a real-time strategy game in his mind. He drew boxes in his consciousness, commanding the goblins to attack, defend, or stand their ground. The latter could be executed smoothly, but more detailed instructions were more difficult to convey. To engage in finer control, Matthew would need to study advanced magic techniques related to "group control."

With the goblin zombies helping to clear the molting gels, the pressure on the knights was greatly reduced. They turned their attention to the mine entrance.

At this moment, the people at the entrance were engaged in a fierce dispute with Edson.

"We've been discovered by the official authorities of Rolling Stone Town. That evil necromancer looks like a tough nut to crack. We're unarmed and lack manpower. It's time to admit that this operation has failed," a one-eyed man dropped these words and walked into the mine without looking back. Although the others didn't explicitly agree, they tacitly consented.

Only Edson had a dark look on his face, burning with anger, but he showed no sign of retreating.

Kuna and Leon exchanged a glance, both sensing something peculiar.

However, there were several knights outside the mine who had bypassed the remaining molting gels and were chasing after them. Their eyes revealed their intention to withdraw. For members of the evil organizations, acknowledging failure and understanding the principle of discretion were the highest forms of survival. If Edson and the Cult of Cataclysm could indeed tear open Rolling Stone Town's wound as he claimed, causing panic here, they wouldn't mind joining forces with the Cult of Cataclysm to create a celebration for evil organizations in Rolling Stone Town.

But the current situation was different.

Rolling Stone Town was tougher than they had imagined.

So, leaving was the best choice.

More and more people retreated into the mine.

Edson's face, however, bore a mocking smile.

Kuna and Leon furrowed their brows and took a few steps into the mine, but not long after, those who had left earlier involuntarily started to retreat.

"Make way!" A rough voice echoed from deep within the mine. Several peripheral members of the Silverfrost Brotherhood who couldn't evade in time were sent crashing into the stone wall by a tremendous force.

Boom, boom, boom! The entire mine trembled violently.

The people were forced to retreat toward the entrance.

Another soft voice spoke, "How many times have I told you, don't slam people into the wall. The soil here is soft, and you might accidentally bury yourself."

With the voice came footsteps.

Emerging from the shadows was a dark-skinned, slender elven woman.

She wore minimal clothing, barely enough to protect her modesty. Apart from her captivating figure, what drew the most attention was the curved blades hanging on her long, slender thighs.

The curved blades had a substantial curvature, with a glimmering silver edge.

Without a doubt, she was a formidable elven warrior.

Behind her, a bluish-skinned ogre walked lazily. His head almost brushed against the cave's ceiling.

Compared to regular ogres, this particular one had one distinctive feature - he was incredibly obese!

He occupied almost the entire width of the mine passage by himself.

The black-clad thugs who had just been thrown around were undoubtedly the victims of this obese ogre's actions.

"Hey, girl, how many times have you told Sinvak!?"

The ogre scolded the elven warrior:

"Sinvak's memory lasts for a maximum of 17 seconds; what you tell him is pointless! Useless!"

The elven warrior rolled her eyes.

She couldn't be bothered to argue with this dim-witted fellow.

At this moment, everyone had been forced out of the cave, and they watched the obese ogre struggle to squeeze his massive body out of the entrance, then simply fall to the side—

Boom! The earth trembled slightly.

The ogre lay on the ground, emitting contented moans.

"Sinvak, you're the most self-aware ogre I've ever seen, but next time you lie down, please give me a heads-up; I have earthquake phobia."

Two more people appeared behind the ogre.

The one who spoke had a gigantic battle axe and was a minotaur.

But the warrior beside him was even more eye-catching—

He was of short stature, had a ring of tiny scales on his forehead, and a small horn.

His back sported a long, slender tail with dark blue scales that shone strangely in the night.

Combining the scales, the deep vertical pupils, the identity of this warrior was evident.

A half-dragon.

…

"Warning: You have encountered the Southern Quartet of the Cult of Cataclysm—

Leyla, the Huntress (Elven Warrior/LV15);

Sinvak the Furious (Ogre/LV14);

Mehedius the Hundred-Man Slayer (Half-Dragon Cursed Swordsman/LV14);

Bawn, the Howling Butcher (Minotaur Warrior/LV14);

…

You have encountered the Subterranean Coalition from the Shadowed Territories (Gnolls, Jackals, Gnomes, Imps, etc.), numbering over 300!"

…

As Matthew read through these lines of information, his eyebrows twitched.

He had guessed that the Cult of Cataclysm wouldn't send Edson alone.

But he never imagined that their reinforcements would be this formidable. Having four Level-14 powerhouses was one thing, but the remaining coalition forces from the Shadowed Territories were completely unexpected!

"It seems like this isn't just a ritual of plunder. The Cult of Cataclysm wants to attack Rolling Stone Town!"

Zeller's expression turned extremely serious:

"We may have miscalculated the enemy's true intentions!"

Matthew was equally prepared.

He gazed intently in the direction of the cave entrance. In the distance, numerous gnolls and jackals streamed out, still distributing weapons to the Silverfrost Brotherhood and the Withering Sect!

At this critical juncture, the other two organizations had no choice but to jump on the Cult of Cataclysm's bandwagon.

War.

At the very least, a small-scale battle was unavoidable!

"We might need to retreat for now."

Zeller suggested.

"Let's wait a bit."

Matthew spoke without shifting his gaze from the direction of the entrance.

Zeller followed his line of sight.

There, they saw the evil mage Edson, who was still cursing at his subordinates!

"Take action."

Matthew suddenly whispered.

The air around Edson twisted, and several broken bottles smashed into him and the ground. In the next moment, gnolls' foreheads, backs, and chests burst into blazing flames.

"Who?!"

A gnoll roared in anger, swinging a maul, but it hit empty air.

Peggy, who had stealthily approached, made a quick escape.

The minotaur skeleton, who had been hidden behind Edson, dashed out of sight.

Only the rest of the group was hurriedly trying to put out the fires.

However, what Peggy had thrown were the "Blazing Gel" and "Firebomb" she had acquired from the arsonist.

Once ignited, the flames were uncontrollable.

What's more, Edson's body was the best kindling.

In just a few seconds, as Edson leaped and rolled around, his black fur was burnt away entirely.

Mysterious blood mist emerged once again.

The power of resurrection granted by the Midnight God could save the gnoll's life, and it might even prompt his fur to regrow rapidly. But the most critical patches of fur were now gone!

…

"Prompt: Peggy used Blazing Gel to burn the gnoll's fur (including two copies of 'Exile Writ' in his chest hair)."

…

"So, you were hiding two more. You really schemed hard."

Matthew said with a calm smile.

The next moment, just as Edson was furiously ordering his subordinates to charge into the oak forest,

A glaring halo flashed in an open space ahead.

A colossal skeleton appeared out of thin air.

It turned its head, gazing directly toward the cave entrance, and the eerie, soul-like flame in its skull was terrifying.

At that moment,

Everyone had a sense of impending catastrophe!

Chapter 45 >>

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