Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Puppet in Human Skin

It was dark within the pit.

Roger relied on his night vision and strode forward.

There was a large sinking of the terrain ahead.

A flight of stairs appeared in front of Roger.

At the end of the steps, there was a scalp-numbing horror scene——

One after another, bloody, mutilated corpses were piled on top of one another, left to rot.

The dried, dark red bloodstains mixed with the lumps of corpse pieces, like a large pile of jumbled velvet curtains.

Roger observed for a long time before he determined that all these corpses belonged to humans.

“Where are their skins?”

Intense rage surged in his heart, followed by heightened vigilance.

He walked quickly down the steps and observed the corpses closely.

“They were all stripped away entirely.”

“And the technique seems very skilled!”

Roger’s face blackened, which was very rare for him.

The owner of this pit was so evil and hateful.

It was not difficult to see from the traces left on the body that he was an expert in skinning.

Perhaps the act of skinning was as simple as eating and breathing to him.

Such an enemy…

Was it the Corpse Demon himself?

With this thought, Roger walked around the corpse pile and moved on.

…

This was a tunnel-like cave.

Roger was cautious, using the skill [hiding] after every five steps.

He rounded a narrow bend, and the light in front was dim.

He focused to take a better look.

That was a very wide underground space, with many tables and instruments.

It seemed like a laboratory.

He saw the back of a short man in a bright red robe, bending over the table wielding his pen on the paper.

In the laboratory, various kinds of human organs and limbs were scattered everywhere.

Roger tried to calm his breath.

Ever since he had teleported, this was the first time it had been this difficult for him to suppress his anger!

…

[Blood Mage Apprentice LV9, HP 45, Defense 5, Human/Undead]

[Magic Field: Curse]

…

It really was a half-human and half-dead monster.

Roger had read the information about the Corpse Demon.

Before this monster was deformed, he was once a famous mage in Gem City. At that time, he declared that he had successfully become an undead.

And the magic field he studied was [Curse].

The information was exactly the same.

To be honest, [Curse] was a very evil field of magic.

Only people who had completely annihilated their humanity could embark on this path.

Even if this guy was not the Corpse Demon himself, he was also a running dog of the Corpse Demon.

Roger was preparing to launch a raid attack and stab him to death.

Suddenly, he felt a wave of chilling wind on top of his head.

Roger did not have time to raise his head, and he hurriedly jumped back with his head lowered, avoiding the knife’s sneak attack.

Hoo!

The blade cut across above his head and brushed against his hair.

Roger knew that he had been exposed and was too lazy to pretend any longer.

Holding the Green Beetle Sword, he suddenly attacked the bloated strange man.

The [Cloud Mist Footwork] was activated.

After five short strikes.

The tip of the Green Beetle Sword with the remaining holy water successfully pierced the fat body of the sword-bearer in front of him.

With a “tss” sound, clouds of black mists poured out from the attacker’s wound.

He himself collapsed like a balloon.

After the black mist had all dissipated, what was left was only a piece of human skin on the ground that was vaguely smiling.

…

[Human Skin Puppet LV9, HP 26, Defense 1, Weakness Lightning/Fire/Sharp Items]

[Enchantment: Humanoid Curse]

[Humanoid Curse: Create a guard in human skin, with some attributes from his previous life]

…

“Wow wow wow.”

“A very energetic young man, quick response.”

The short mage put down his pen and turned to look at Roger.

His skin was very white, as if he had applied a dozen layers of powder.

His chin was raised very high, making his arrogance clear, and his tone was condescending, “You just broke my puppet. Are you planning to replace him as my guard?”

Roger, without saying another word, drew out his sword!

He had nothing to talk about with this kind of evil practitioner.

The short mage stood up abruptly. He grabbed a bottle of dark green jelly in his left hand and quickly opened the bottle.

The chanting of a curse sounded incessantly.

In the time of one breath, six rays of green lights emerged from his chest, shooting directly at the menacing Roger!

…

[Powerful Acid Arrow: 1st Circle Spell, able to summon 4~6 Sulfuric Acid Arrows to attack the enemy, causing 10 points damage/arrow; once the Sulphuric Acid Arrow hits the target and causes damage, it will apply a “corrosion” effect to the target.]

[Corrosion: The target is corroded with an acidity power of 9, and the HP is deducted depending on the corroded part (skin: 2 points/minute)]

…

In this world polluted by high-level magic, the power of magic spells was significantly higher than other types of moves with the same number of circles.

Such as this Powerful Acid Arrow.

In this relatively narrow space, this thing was simply a nightmare for a melee profession.

If he did not manage to escape, only death would follow.

But Roger completely ignored this.

He had a sword in his hand and fire in his heart.

So he just ran into it head-on!

“Hiss~”

The short mage sucked in a mouthful of cold air in surprise, and then complained to himself, “What a waste of a good piece of skin…”

But before he completed the sentence, he saw Roger colliding with the spell and rushing over to him!

The sulfuric acid arrow only caused some damage to his clothes.

He himself was completely unscathed!

“Ah! How can this be…”

The short mage jumped up in a panic.

He hastily started chanting the second spell.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Roger knew it clearly.

Every time a 1st circle magician casted a spell, there would be a [cooldown period].

It would take at least ten seconds before he could use another spell.

But ten seconds was enough for Roger to stab him eighty to a hundred times.

Puu puu puu!

The Green Beetle Sword seemed like a dragonfly touching lightly on water, instantly penetrating a few vital points of the short mage.

After a few breaths, the short mage collapsed onto the ground like slushy mud, with his eyes staring wide open and his mouth tilted.

…

[You have killed the blood mage apprentice]

[You’ve received 5 XP]

[You’ve gained 16 chivalry points]

…

Seeing these 16 chivalry points, Roger was not at all happy.

Because he knew what it meant.

Calming down, Roger quickly searched the laboratory.

From the remains, Roger sorted out a lot of useful information——

This short mage was called Moss.

He came from another planet.

Six months ago, because of the order of his instructor, he specially came to help under the Corpse Demon.

This laboratory had been established by the Corpse Demon specially for him, to facilitate Moss to study evil spells.

But correspondingly, Moss must make a “perfect human skin” for the Corpse Demon.

From Moss’s experiment log, it was not too difficult to know that in the past six months, the Corpse Demon’s demand for human skins had increased sharply.

Moss had complained more than once about cramps in his hands.

In just half a year, Moss had handed over three hundred human skins.

But the Corpse Demon still seemed unsatisfied, and he had constantly urged Moss to work overtime.

In order to ensure the supply of the humans, the Corpse Demon himself had led the skeleton soldiers to go south along the Avenue of Knights, looting a large number of people along the way!

What was even more hateful was that Moss demanded that these people had to be alive when he skinned them; sometimes after the skins were removed, the people were still alive, in agony.

Although this creature had a human soul, it was no longer any different from a monster.

“Corpse Demon…Damn it!”

Closing the experiment log silently, Roger took a few deep breaths for dozens of seconds before turning his gaze on another thin book.

“Mystra Common Magic Spells”.

He opened the book, checked the catalog, and found what he wanted.

After a moment.

…

[You have mastered the Ninth Spell of Mystra]

…