Though the mage seemed utterly defenseless, Ange could feel the occasional soul wave scanning him from the skull of the Bone Horse. Even without the Bone Horse's vigilance, Ange had no intention of annoying this mage. He was but a humble skeleton who loved to farm, not a troublemaker like Little Zombie.
Blocking the passage between two pits was done to prevent Little Zombie from hearing any noise and crawling over.
The night passed without a word spoken. The wind ceased by the daylight, awakening the mage who rubbed his face vigorously as if he were washing it.
As soon as he came to his senses, he turned to Ange with a surprised look and chuckled, "What a quiet skeleton you are! It's rare to see an amiable one like you. Hope you survive till my next visit."
His best wishes were sincere, as skeletons in the area replaced one another quickly. If there were more mischief makers like Little Zombie, the replacement pace would be even quicker.
Though Ange was undeniably a docile skeleton, he had been inadvertently caught up with the mage. He was lucky that the mage had no ill intentions; if it were any other predator, Ange would be in big trouble. Therefore, 'surviving till next time' was not an easy goal to achieve. It required great luck.
The mage crawled out of the pit, attached the skull of the Bone Horse onto its body and with a whispering hiss, the nostrils of the Bone Horse let out a blue flame and it sprung to its feet.
The mage led the Bone Horse a couple steps forward, then he remembered something and turned around, "Oh, oh, oh! How careless of me! I forgot to introduce myself. I am Aisike, a wandering trader on the Gold Road, and I also happen to be a Necromancer."
Aisike bowed his chest in farewell, nodded to Ange, and set off towards the plains downhill.
Ange watched Aisike's figure receding into the distance and noticed the direction of his travel. The Soul Fire in Ange's eyes flickered a few times. Perhaps something crossed his mind, no one could tell. He climbed out of the pit and followed Aisike from afar.
Aisike didn't get far before he discovered Ange. He stopped, and so did Ange. He moved, and Ange followed suit, always maintaining a distance of a few dozen meters. Ange seemed to have picked up some stubborn traits from Little Zombie.
Amused, Aisike shook his head and ignored Ange.
As they descended the slopes, more skeletons came into sight. The lower-level skeletons were scared away by the Bone Horse. When they reached the pit that Ange used to dig, an Ashbone Skeleton crawled out.
It was the same skeleton that had once chased Ange and Little Zombie. Apparently, it had understood the advantages of the pit and decided to lay claim on it.
While the other skeletons were frightened away by the Bone Horse, the Ashbone Skeleton remained. It crawled onto the ground with its back arched, jaw opened wide, and let out a soul-shattering howl.
The surroundings were stirred, as one after another, more than a dozen low-level skeletons crawled out.
This time was different compared to the previous chase. The Ashbone Skeleton had significantly fewer underlings, only about a dozen, and several of them bore concave marks on their faces.
Ange suspected that it was the work of Little Zombie. Ever since Little Zombie got a slice wound on its face from the previous chase, it developed a strange fondness for smashing other's faces. Several times Ange had seen similar concavities on the facial bones of the skeletons Little Zombie dragged back.
During this period, Little Zombie always left early and returned late. Could it have been out looking for the subordinates of the Ashbone Skeleton to cause trouble?
Someone had dared to invade its territory. Enraged, the Ashbone Skeleton drew its bone sword and led its underlings to rush forward.
The Bone Horse was only of white bone level, one level lower than the Ashbone Skeleton. However, its size was several times large. In theory, the Bone Horse was not weaker than the Ashbone Skeleton.
But the Bone Horse didn't fight against the Ashbone Skeleton; it simply ducked behind Aisike with agility.
Aisike stepped forward with empty hands, forming a claw-like gesture towards the two leading skeletons. An invisible force immediately acted between the skeletons and Aisike. The Soul Fire from the skeletons' skulls was forcibly pulled out, strand by strand, and gathered into the palm of his hand.
'What kind of magic is this?' thought Ange, who observed with apprehension.
After extracting the Soul Fire, it condensed into two Soul Flames in the palm of Aisike. He quickly recited an incantation, whispering too softly for Ange to hear clearly.
Aisike then cast the two Soul Flames onto the ground. With a sizzling sound, two shrieking Wraiths burst from the flames and charged towards the Ashbone Skeleton.
The Ashbone Skeleton waved its bone sword to slash at the Wraiths. The sword split the Wraith in two. However, it remained unharmed. After the sword passed, the two halves recombined into one and latched onto the Ashbone Skeleton.
The Ashbone Skeleton put one arm around the Wraith. Strangely, it managed to grab hold of the immaterial Wraith and tried to pull it away.
During the screech, the Wraith stretched out its claws and frantically reached for the eye sockets of the Ashbone Skeleton.
The Soul Fire resided inside the eye sockets. It seemed the Ashbone Skeleton was wary of this. While it turned its head to avoid the Wraith's claws, the other arm formed a fist and began to hammer the Wraith's form.
Although immaterial, the Wraith let out pitiful screams under the attack, ultimately being shattered in midair. After killing one Wraith, the Ashbone Skeleton resumed its fight with the other one.
This gave Aisike ample time. Just like the previous two skeletons, he pulled out their souls and transformed them into Soul Flame.
As he rapidly recited his incantation, he then threw it onto the ground.
The Flame Soul burst into a ripple-like wave. Upon encounter with anything, the wave transformed into two claws, holding that object tightly in place.
These claws appeared very thin. Ange felt that he could easily break free. However, those low-level skeletons weren't as fortunate. They were firmly pinned down and became sitting ducks for the taking.
Aisike started casting shadow arrows, shooting through the eye sockets of the skeletons, shattering the Soul Fires within the skull. By the time the Ashbone Skeleton finished dealing with the two Wraiths, it found that its dozen or so minions had turned into scattered bones on the ground.
Single-handedly, the Ashbone Skeleton didn't stand a chance against Aisike. Aisike threw a ball of black fire onto its head, setting the entire skull ablaze. After the flame dissipated, the skull remained intact but the soul within completely vanished.
Just like that, effortlessly, Aisike got rid of the Ashbone Skeleton and its underlings. More astonishingly, he didn't seem to have put his all into the fight. Even the Bone Horse - physically capable of taking on the Ashbone Skeleton - didn't have to lift a finger.
Aisike didn't appear excited and treated it as if it was something easy to accomplish. He glanced back at Ange before leading the Bone Horse towards the stone pillars. Arriving at the pit where Ange had dug signified that the spatial passage between the two stone pillars was not far away.
Upon reaching the stone pillars, Aisike began to tinker with them. He took several blue crystal stones from his waist pouch and embedded them in various locations on the pillars. Then he went in front of the pillars, knelt down reverently, and under his prostration, the two pillars slowly lit up.