139 Soul Summoning 1/3

The light from the Skeleton Staff glowed brighter and brighter, bringing the already precarious situation to an extreme. Lin Li seemed to have heard a continuous whoosh—it was the sound of a large number of Skeletal Warriors stirring. The surrounding earth was slowly loosening, and deathly white skeletons slowly crept out of the ground one after another…

The Skeletal Warriors that were approaching steadily increased from tens to hundreds in an instant. At that moment, the numerous deathly white skeletons and their rusty machetes exuded a depressing aura of death in the dark of the night.

The battle that came after could be described as a dying struggle. Facing an almost impossible-to-defeat enemy, the three trial mages chose not to teleport, but to recite their spells. Among them, the injured long-haired youngster was the strongest, and had the most sufficient mana. He undertook the attack role almost alone. His two teammates had exhausted too much mana, and had no ability to attack at this time; they could only use some low-consumption spells such as the Delaying Spell and the Spell of Frost to provide some assistance to their teammates.

Despite suffering some injuries, the real strength of the long-haired youngster was not weak. For a moment, he was killing with bravado with the full support of his two teammates. He unleashed one lethal spell after another, and wiped out more than a dozen Skeletal Warriors in a flash.

But on the other side of the battlefield, the summoning of the Hell Ghoul continued; a steady stream of white bones rose from the ground. Every dozen of Skeletal Warriors that fell was replaced with another dozen of Skeletal Warriors. This was the most terrifying aspect of the undead—they were not afraid of exhaustion at all. The endless cannon fodder could slowly nibble at any enemy. Faced with an endless sea of corpses and bones, even a legendary mage would have their mana exhausted.

Lin Li had seen through the strength of the trial team ahead—two level-eight mages who had exhausted their mana and one injured level-nine mage. It would have been extremely difficult to confront a large number of Skeletal Warriors with such a force, not to mention the addition of the Hell Ghoul. Unless they were able to kill the Hell Ghoul instantly, the Skeletal Warriors it constantly summoned would be enough to send the three back to the camp.

From the current situation, perhaps this only way would not be feasible as well.

Under the siege of the large group of Skeletal Warriors, they would not be able to fly out even if they had wings, let alone kill the Hell Ghoul.

"Why are they not teleporting?" Lin Li was puzzled. The strength of the two sides was not at the same level at all. Even a blind man could see that there was no chance for them; so, what were the fellows thinking? Did they think that continuing the trial mission was more important than their own lives?

"They were probably scared silly," Mason mumbled softly.

"Idiot, would you still recite a spell if you're scared silly?"

Mason was rendered speechless at Orrin's chide, but this fellow had a thick skin. Even if he knew he was in the wrong, he still had to say something. "Maybe they are gifted!"

"Go and die…"

The two guys were bickering when situation of the battle ahead suddenly changed.

The long-haired youngster began to recite a long spell under the protection of the Spell of Frost. The power of this magic spell far exceeded that of those he had used previously. The surrounding magical elements seemed to surge in an instant. Even the three guys who were peeping in the distance could clearly feel the power of this spell.

"He's going to give it his all…" Lin Li shook his head. The more powerful this spell was, the more mana it consumed. Even if the long-haired youngster had reached the strength of a level-nine mage, his mana would inevitably be exhausted following the release of the spell.

"Say… Shall we help him?" Mason was slightly hesitant.

"We must help," Lin Li said with certainty; the smile on his face was rather weird. "But we have to choose the right time."

The reason why Lin Li made such a decision had nothing to do with helping a lame dog over a stile. This fellow was used to being selfish; even if he had decided to help at this time, it was almost entirely out of selfishness.

From Lin Li's point of view, the Hell Ghoul had to be destroyed sooner or later. Otherwise, if it was allowed to wander around in the vicinity, it would only be a matter of time before the cave they were hiding in was exposed. It'd be better to take advantage of the fact that someone was stalling it now; they could finish it off with one strike when the time came, or they'd have to confront the enemy and deal with the Skeletal Warriors it summoned at the same time—it'd be too much trouble instead then.

However… they'd have to look at the situation before showing their hands; it was definitely not the right time at present. Numerous Skeletal Warriors were crammed there; It was enough trouble just to blast a way through with a spell. Furthermore, they'd have to deal with the other undead creatures that it constantly summoned. They'd have to wait…

"When's the right time?"

"Of course it'll be at the most crucial time!"

"…"

Just as they were talking, the spell recitation of the long-haired youngster was drawing to a close. The surging magical elements burst into full swing; a bone-biting chill filled the surrounding air as countless snowflakes drifted down from the sky. A cold wave swept wildly through the group of Skeletal Warriors, freezing at least a dozen of them in an instant.

After the Snowstorm, the mana of the long-haired youngster was completely exhausted. Lin Li could clearly feel that the magical wave from him was even weaker than the other two.

In fact, this was a good opportunity to kill the Hell Ghoul. Most of the Skeletal Warriors had been frozen, and the summoning of the Hell Ghoul had just come to an end. If the long-haired youngster had the strength to spare, a few instantaneous spells would do the job. Even if it couldn't kill the Hell Ghoul, it could probably deal a heavy blow to it.

Unfortunately…

After barely releasing a Snowstorm, the long-haired youngster could not even lift his hands, let alone release any magic spells.

He could only watch helplessly as the opportunity slipped from his hands…

"Now's the crucial time!" As soon as Lin Li uttered the words, the fireball in his hands had been fired with a blast.

"Boom!"

When the huge fireball hit the Hell Ghoul, the dull reverberation seemed to shake the earth…

The three of them had cooperated for so long that they had fostered enough tacit understanding long ago. Before Lin Li's fireball was fired, his two teammates had already began their recitations. When the fireball burst open, and the splendid flames spattered, the two guys had finished their spell recitations consecutively.

In an instant, countless blazes rose up. These two fellows had chosen the Flaming Storm without prior agreement. But, after all, Mason was only a level-nine mage. His casting speed was far slower than Orrin, a level-11 Magic Shooter. Although they had started reciting at the same time, the release of his Flaming Storm was more than a second later than Orrin.

"F*ck…" Mason also knew that this short second signified a huge disparity. The fellow had cursed in anger as soon as the Flaming Storm was released.

This fellow did have some indignation; he thought that he could be considered the cream of the crop with his level-nine strength, but didn't expect to meet his two teammates—one a powerful level-11 Magic Shooter, and another a freak through and through. He could not even make out the truth about the latter's strength…

He was lucky not to be driven out of his mind under such harsh survival conditions.

The long-haired youngster had frozen almost all the Skeletal Warriors with his Snowstorm. For a while, there was no summoned creature to share the damage with the Hell Ghoul. The Hell Ghoul was blown to pieces after a round of bombardment by the three guys. Innumerable sparks shot up at once, and scattered bones fell all over the ground. The magical crystal on the Skeleton Staff fell, and rolled over several times on the ground…

This sudden turn of events frightened the trial team. The three of them stared at the bone fragments with a glazed expression on their faces. The scene before them was too bizarre—it was like a rape case in which the victim struggled desperately but was still stripped of her clothes; as she was ready to close her eyes for enjoyment, she suddenly found out that someone had castrated the rapist…

All three of them looked at Lin Li at the same time. They wondered who had castrated the rapist— cough, who had killed the Hell Ghoul?

Lin Li paid no heed to these doubtful looks. He was currently busier than anyone else.

Undead creatures carried magical crystals as well, but these magical crystals often possessed powerful Death Energy. Ordinary mages could not use them at all; only Lin Li, who was well-versed in all five series, could make the magical crystal of the undead creatures become the same—or even more powerful—as that of a magical beast through a special treatment!

"Damn! Why does it not have it?" Lin Li searched around the area where the Hell Ghoul exploded, but he never found the magical crystal he had imagined.

It was almost impossible. An undead creature like the Hell Ghoul—which had reached the strength of level-ten—should leave behind a magical crystal after being killed in any case.

"Eh?"

Lin Li was looking around when he found something strange.

It was a wisp of black mist, clearly visible in the bright light of the fire. The pale black mist was rising from the place where the Hell Ghoul had exploded. It was like a black ribbon, winding around in the night sky, then finally surging forth to himself like a stream of water…

The place where the black mist went was the pocket with the crystal.

For a moment, Lin Li felt an inexplicable puzzlement.

He was almost driven mad by this crystal In the last two days. Ever since he had gotten this crystal, weird things had been happening one after another. First, it had devoured the Shapeshifter in the Nightmare Mountains; now, it was absorbing black mist in the Shadowglen. He did not know what the black mist was, but he could vividly feel a strong death aura from it…

The peculiar aura specific to the undead creatures made Lin Li feel uncomfortable. He wanted to know what the hell this crystal was!

Snip… While Lin Li was wondering, there was a sudden whisper in his ear, followed by a scream.

"Be careful!"

Lin Li was a little stunned at first; then, he suddenly remembered that he had just looked for the magical crystal of the Hell Ghoul, but had no time to clean up the Skeletal Warriors that were frozen by the Snowstorm.

However, it was not too late to clean up now…

Lin Li cast a Hastening Spell on himself, and withdrew promptly. He had retreated a dozen steps before he began his recitation, all the while keeping an eye behind him.

Dozens of Skeletal Warriors had been freed from their shackles, and were approaching Lin Li with their machetes amongst the shattered ice. But now that Lin Li had discovered their existence, how could he possibly give them the chance to approach him? As he turned around, a shot of Infernal Flare exploded among the Skeletal Warriors.

Orrin, who was behind him, did not hesitate to release an Air Bomb.

Mason's recitation was swift; without waiting for Orrin's Air Bomb to explode, he had already laid a Spell of Swamp under his feet. In an instant, air bubbles surfaced, and the wet and slippery land turned into a swamp.

The Skeletal Warriors were really stupid; so big a swamp was in front of them, but they had just stepped into it without even looking. The swamp had become crowded in a little while—a large group of Skeletal Warriors fell into the mud, waving their machetes as they struggled clumsily and slowly.

This was simply a natural target; furthermore, it was a fixed target, which couldn't even move…

Lin Li had earned much experience hitting targets like this with his Hunter background. It took less than five minutes and a dozen bombardment of spells to blow the Skeletal Warriors off the swamp. Orrin was not idle at all at the side; while Lin Li stood there, hitting the fixed targets, he was hitting the moving targets right beside. Because of the limited space, the Skeletal Warriors that had no chance to fall into the swamp had all fallen victim to him instead.