As soon as they entered the cave, they were greeted by a scene of corpses strewn everywhere. By a rough estimate, there were at least a few dozen. Judging by their clothing, there were guards, some nobles who'd come shopping, and even a few slaves who'd been kept in the cages.
Many torches burned along the walls, casting a bright light over the entire area. It looked like a place where slaves were kept. There were many cages made of iron bars lying around, as well as some torture equipment. It looked as if this was the place they used to teach unruly slaves a lesson.
A black stone had been placed in the centre, shaped into a pedestal. A corpse was tied to some iron bars on top of the pedestal. In the middle of the stone was an indentation about three metres wide and long, from which a thick smell of blood emanated.
More than ten zombie warriors had been summoned, and they picked up the corpses on the ground and threw them into the bloody pool in the middle of the pedestal. The whole bodies sank into the blood with a splash. Shortly afterwards, the surface began to bubble and then became calm, with the liquid level rising slightly.
The amount of fresh blood in the pool increased as the bodies were thrown in. In fact, it was about to overflow. The necromancer Han Shuo had seen earlier was standing off to the side of the pedestal. He was holding the bone staff and had revealed his face. His body was withered and he stared into the pool of blood with no expression. There was no sign of life in his grey pupils.
Han Shuo and Emily immediately retreated to a corner and used a crack in the wall to observe what was going on. Emily set up a soundproof barrier around the two of them and said in a low voice, "It looks like the Necromancer is setting up some sort of ritual altar. I wonder what he's going to do?"
Han Shuo shook his head and replied with a serious expression, "Maybe it's because I know too little about necromancy magic, but I don't know anything about the altar the necromancer has set up. It looks like necromancers at the Archmage level have indeed mastered many more powerful magics.
Just as Han Shuo and Emily were talking in hushed tones, the necromancer suddenly waved the bone staff in his hand and muttered an incantation. The pool of blood on the altar suddenly began to churn, and the corpse tied to the altar suddenly had its flesh and skin ripped off, turning into a stark white skeleton.
Another necromancy spell was cast as the undispersed souls of the newly dead on the ground seemed to materialise and condense into grey smoke that poured into the pool of blood surrounding the altar. The pool of blood turned into a whirlpool as the bones of the corpses that had just sunk to the bottom reappeared, slowly transformed into a three-eyed demon god with eight spikes on its head and a spiked tail attached to its waist.
The three-eyed demon god was formed from the white bones, and its three eyes were red, yellow, and blue, embedded in its head in the shape of a triangle. An enormous buffet of evil presence began to emanate from it as it formed, filling the entire area with its evil presence. It was an evil that was wildly violent and bloodthirsty.
Even though they were quite far away, Han Shuo felt a chill in his heart as he fixed his gaze on the three-eyed demon god, not looking away for a second and focusing all his attention on the movement by the altar.
"Oh, my God! He's connected to the three-eyed demon god Ansidesi through the altar!" Emily let out a soft exclamation, her eyes filled with surprise.
A god was a being of supreme strength at a legendary level of existence. They possessed divine arts that reached to the heavens, but were restricted by the laws of their plane of existence and couldn't reveal their actual bodies in this world, but through certain rituals and mediums, some people in this world could use mystical arts to contact the gods.
Han Shuo had always found this unfounded saying to be quite ridiculous, and felt that it was something that could not really exist, but now that the truth was staring him in the face, Han Shuo had no choice but to believe it. The three-eyed demon god Ansidesi had appeared from who knew how many planes of existence through this necromancer's ritual and descended his consciousness onto these skeletons. Han Shuo stood blankly for a moment, his thoughts swirling in confusion.
A series of deep and ancient sounds emanated from Ansidesi's mouth. Han Shuo and Emily were completely dumbfounded as they had no idea what this series of sounds meant. However, the Mage Necromancer seemed to be able to communicate with it.
However, the necromancer had been crouched on the ground, his head buried in his chest in worship, when he suddenly lifted his head with a look of fright, then quickly chanted an incantation, releasing the 'Life Recognition' spell and sending it out into the surrounding area.
"This is bad!" Han Shuo knew that things were going to get bad as soon as he saw that spell appear. He suddenly exhaled and planned to get Emily out of here.
It was a pity that he was still a bit too slow. The Life Reconnaissance spell suddenly lit up as it approached Han Shuo and Emily's position. The necromancer on the ground immediately lowered his face and waved his bone staff, sending the dozens of zombie warriors towards them.
"We've been made. We have to get out of here!" Emily shouted and suddenly backed up, planning to take Han Shuo away from here.
At that moment, Han Shuo's sharp eyes saw Ansidesi's white bone body fall back into the pool of blood with a thud as the necromancer lost his concentration. It seemed that a necromancer could not lose his concentration for even a second when using the mystical arts and the blood and bones in the pool to communicate with the three-eyed demon god. When the necromancer turned his attention to Han Shuo and Emily, the divine consciousness that had crossed who knew how many planes of existence would be unable to use the bone and blood to manifest itself.
"The Three-Eyed Demon God can't help him, we don't need to be afraid of him." Han Shuo's body stopped in front of the cave entrance as he pulled Emily's retreating body to a halt as well.
As Emily's movement was stopped by Han Shuo, her beautiful eyes focused on the altar as she heard his words. She also discovered that Ansidesi had disappeared into the bloody pool, and cool composure wrote itself across her face. "Who are you and how dare you use such an evil ceremony to summon Ansidesi within Valen City?"
"You two shouldn't have come here. Otherwise I wouldn't have killed you." The shriveled necromancer spoke in an extremely dry and cracked voice, using a levitation spell to float from the altar towards Han Shuo and Emily.
He waved the bone staff in his hand as he cast an Adept level necromancy spell, 'Chain of Wraiths'. More than a dozen wraiths were twisted into a long metal chain that snaked towards Han Shuo and Emily. Dozens of zombie warriors also raised their wooden clubs and rushed to attack Han Shuo and Emily.
With a soft snort, Emily took out her staff and quietly chanted a dark magic spell, forming a jet black reaper blade out of the air. She swung it at the zombie warriors with a wave of her staff, and the zombie warriors were all sliced cleanly like paper under the blade's reaping. Not a single one was able to get near Han Shuo and Emily.
As the 'Chain of Wraiths' rushed over, Han Shuo's Demonslayer Edge suddenly whistled out of his hand as he activated the 'Glacial Mystic Spellfire'. The Demonslayer's Edge emitted an eye-piercing red light, surrounded by red spellfire as the temperature of the surrounding air suddenly skyrocketed. The Demonslayer's Edge burned with the red spellfire as it swiftly landed on the chain.
The dozens of wraith that made up the chain all opened their mouths to scream in terror under the searing heat of the Demonslayer Edge's red spellfire. As the Demonslayer's Edge sank into the chain, the chain emitted sharp squealing sounds and grey smoke. The dozens of wraiths flew to pieces, screeching and wailing.
Three bone spears suddenly formed and shot towards Han Shuo and Emily. Han Shuo used his mind to control the Demonslayer Edge to block the two that were aimed at Emily. He also chanted in a low voice and sent a bone spear flying through the air, crashing into the other bone spear that was about to hit him.
"Eh, boy, you're a necromancer too!" The Archmage necromancer suddenly exclaimed in amazement and looked at Han Shuo with great surprise.
"Heh heh, indeed, indeed. We even teamed up to take out Clark at Calvert's earlier. This is our second meeting tonight." Han Shuo looked leisurely at this necromancer and said with a slight smile.
Han Shuo had kept his features covered at Calvert's and had only taken off his mask after killing Clark. The two of them had been a long way apart when the necromancer had attacked Han Shuo, so he hadn't seen Han Shuo clearly in the dead of night. It was obvious that he hadn't recognised Han Shuo this time either.
"So it was you!" The Necromancer called out in a low voice and then quickly floated towards Han Shuo. He said sinisterly, "As a fellow necromancer, I'd like to see if you truly understand the secrets of necromancy."
The necromancer made a move after he finished speaking, looking as if he was going to take Han Shuo out first!