Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 971: Chapter 767: An Enemy That Even the Undead Tribe Fears

Hill understood well what choice the Undead Tribe would make... No matter which world humans are in, they all despise human traitors.

As long as they’ve seen the origins of the Stone-blind Barbarians, most people would think that eliminating them doesn’t even warrant talk of justice, but rather is a routine matter that shouldn’t be missed.

The Undead Tribe is the same. Although not everyone may feel they stand on the side of justice... enemies like these merely need a universally accepted excuse... it might not be worth much, but the experience is valuable!

So he silently poured himself a drink and slowly chewed on a handful of nuts.

The Undead Tribe on the screen quickly made their final decision, with almost everyone approving the proposal to check out the domain of the Stone-blind Barbarians.

Every family within the Undead Tribe actually has its own banner, to guide their family members from getting lost among the masses.

Hill’s gaze shifted to a corner at the back right where a group of Undead Tribe stood. From the very knightly names, he confirmed their identity... Not to mention the gunpowder-scented friction back in Teraxil, even before reaching Toril, these two groups were still scheming against each other! Have they formed a bond from this duress now?

He truly hadn’t expected that these folks were now not only willing to follow the command of the Snow Old Dog but also voted so orderly, at least according to their own inclinations... Hill was a little curious as to why.

So he straightforwardly asked List if he knew the reason.

”Yes, sir, Marsha has given me some records in this regard. Let me find it.” List appeared beside Hill with his little notebook, ”It is said that they organized a tournament... participated in under family names. After a month-long melee, only three families from another nation’s Undead Tribe were in the top hundred ranks.

As per the pre-tournament agreement, they could only send 3 people into the command group... and the final commander was elected by the command group’s vote... Mr. Snow Cloud Peak achieved an absolute victory, securing over 30 votes.”

Hill couldn’t help but laugh. In that alliance of ’Snow Cloud Peak’ and the allied groups around him, although there were quite a few families skilled in battle, perhaps at most ten families could make it into the top hundred.

”So, standing on the side of righteousness when doing things has never been useless hypocrisy,” Hill said softly. ”In most people’s eyes, when they know they can’t make it, they are bound to vote for their relatives and friends, if not, then choose a competent commander, and if that commander has a slightly better reputation, all the better.”

Listed nodded in agreement: ”As long as it plays a tiny role at critical times, all the things he did in the past, all the slogans he shouted, will have the greatest significance.”

The Undead Tribe finally finished their rest and began seeking the location of the Stone-blind Barbarians’ tribe.

Hill wasn’t worried that they wouldn’t find it... AO acts fairly; when the deities can’t intervene, he can at most guide some people onto his intended path but won’t take action personally.

At this time, no matter how complex the underground passages are, the numerical advantage of the Undead Tribe ensures they won’t lose their way... anyways, if they indeed hit a dead end and don’t want to turn back, they can choose to teleport back with a word.

Moreover, the Undead Tribe is really good at finding hidden clues... Hill never forgot how that evil mage, who once dwelled at the river’s bottom in Teraxil, was found out—after that incident, many mages decided to move house... and leave Saral.

So, discovering this savage tribe eventually is no big surprise, even if the cave was hidden in a very secretive corner.

Hill wasn’t too concerned; he just took out a book and started flipping through it.

So the startled cry from the Undead Tribe made him look up involuntarily, could it be that a Heart-taking Demon dared to live so close to the surface?

Hill abruptly pushed the nuts and drinks off the table: ”List, quickly pack it away.”

He pressed his hand against his eyes, almost unable to look at those white pumpkin seeds and dried coconut pieces.

Why?

Why is there a Worm Mage?

Seeing that thing covered in maggots, with fingers alternately transforming into piles of white wriggling worms and then back to human form... leaving behind slime composed of who-knows-what as it walked.

Seeing such a thing is a powerful stimulus to all mages:

When a powerful evil caster dies, sometimes its soul will control the swarming worms and maggots feasting on its corpse.

Eventually, these swarming worms turn into a Worm Mage and continue this caster’s evil plans or try to seek revenge on those who killed him.

The appearance of every Worm Mage proves the demise of an evil mage above level 30... no one would consider this worm-like creature as its resurrection.

Of course, not many people would think this mage deserves sympathy. After all, for a mage who can manipulate souls to do such a thing... who dares to say this thing is still a mage? Even liches would cast Meteor Fire Rain on him... not many intellectual undead are willing to stay with this thing.

Hill was silent for a few seconds before turning to tell List: ”Tell grandfather about the origin of the Worm Mage... Although it is indeed a rare thing, there’s actually no need for further observation.”

The wailing of the Undead Tribe after seeing that thing still echoed throughout the study... That group of little fairies had already been attracted back.

They always loved hearing screams, joining the commotion.

Hill certainly didn’t stop them, but had List prepare cleaning puppets in advance, then placed a transparent barrier around himself: although he didn’t mind the Vila swinging in his hair, he definitely didn’t want a vomiting Little Flower Fairy.

As he expected, the sounds of the Little Flower Fairies vomiting and the undead on the screen throwing up echoed in the room alternately, and Fran’s footsteps quietly stopped outside the study door... The Alchemist Master, despite not controlling his curiosity, took a moment before entering to mentally prepare himself.

So with a determined expression on his face, he found a sofa in a corner to sit down on... The shadows of the large bookshelves reaching the ceiling on both sides of the sofa hid his expression, causing Hill to involuntarily glance over, only to be met with a piercing look that forced him to retreat.

Fran presumably was quite shaken as well.

The vomit from the fairies was quickly cleaned up: a few shy, silent household brown sprites used some simple household magic, and for the first time, the air in the study, which always had a faint scent of books and ink, was filled with the gentle fragrance of lily-of-the-valley.

Hill couldn’t help but give a gentle smile to these ugly, easily jittery little brown spirits: if it weren’t for him having too many secrets, these household brown sprites were actually much more useful than puppets, as they indeed could more easily discern the master’s preferences.

The household brown sprites timidly pinched the short robes woven from spider silk on their bodies, carefully hiding on the bookshelves, willing to serve Hill but truly afraid to speak with him.

Hill didn’t even know when they collected the lily-of-the-valley fragrance... How could he not recognize the scent of his own magical plant partners? Windmill Jasmine was actually more fragrant, but Hill indeed preferred the subtle lily-of-the-valley aroma.

It’s just that he would never bring himself to say this, or even show a hint of it, otherwise, the Jasmine would feel upset.

Hill always tried to be as fair as possible when dealing with them, so he was sure he hadn’t shown any obvious preference.

Yet these little brown spirits easily discovered Hill’s likes, no wonder the Queen of Titania could even do without her husband but insisted on keeping the God of Household Brown Spirits in her Royal Palace.

”This thing seems immune to magical damage!” The voice of the Undead Tribe came from the screen... That’s the advantage of numbers. Although most of the girls and some mentally less immune men were temporarily incapacitated, as long as a third of them could still stand and cast spells, there wouldn’t be much problem.

The main thing is the defensive knights in front... The main T, 2T, and 3T don’t need to be split at this moment; having anyone brave enough to stand in the front row is already a cause for celebration.

Being able to maintain combat capabilities and being willing to face such an opponent are two different things.

So ’Snow Cloud Peak’ called to give 3 times military exploits to all defensive knights who participated, and no one had any objections... Someone even said the spoils from this camp could entirely go to these knights, as they had no desire to share.

’Snow Cloud Peak’ soon initiated a vote... It seems he didn’t want it either.

However, while the defensive knights were blocking at the front, they were still somewhat intimidated by the idea of directly fighting that thing... After all, seeing the whole thing turn into an endless wave of maggots at such close distance, crashing in front of another shield wall.

This thing is nearly physically immune too!

Since they couldn’t deal much damage anyway, most knights switched to their backup shields and spears, especially the spears used for thrusting—definitely store-bought.

Worm Mages, typically due to their peculiar structure, can reduce 50% of both magical and physical damage and can only use a few spell-like abilities: Touch of Corruption, Terrifying Visage, Ray of Deadly Cold, Withering Flame, and the most disgusting Illusion Technique: Worm Devour.

Luckily, the defenses of the Undead Tribe were strong enough that unless they saw flesh, that illusion technique wouldn’t trigger.

But if this evil mage was powerful enough in life, he could retain more of his spellcasting abilities from when he was alive, and some mage powers might remain... They usually also carry their original magic books with them.

Hill quickly looked up and indeed noticed a magic book with a metal cover hanging at the waist of that thing.

The Undead Tribe remained quite calm. After testing most of the spells, they finally confirmed this thing was weak to the Light Series.

Then a wave of lament erupted... There were less than 100 light series mages that weren’t ladies.