Unas jumped up. "Where is that Lich? When will he come to rescue him?"
Bessarius said, "I don't know about that. His memories of Gunsel are very vague; it seems he was protected by magic, and the most likely person to do that is Gunsel himself."
Do you have a way to remove this shielding?
"I had no problem before, but in my current state, I need your help."
Unas looked troubled. "Does this mean we have to offer another sacrifice?"
"That's essential. You don't need to worry about the offerings; a simple ceremony is all it takes to transfer my offerings to you."
"Your sacrifices? Are you referring to your men who were captured after the defeat at Lordamere Lake?"
"Of course, they are not only my subordinates, but also my sacrifices. As long as my mark remains on them, they will forever be my slaves."
Unas asked, "Then how do I remove your mark?"
My mark cannot be erased, it can only be replaced.
"He's just fooling the devil again, "Unas, not expecting a real answer from the demon. He snorted and said nothing more.
Seeing this, Bessarius continued, "Aren't you worried that he might suddenly turn against you and cause trouble? There's a way to solve this once and for all. I can teach you Necromancy to completely control his soul and make him your most loyal henchman."
"A demon's mind is probably filled with nothing but enslavement and destruction," Unas asked in surprise. "I also have the aptitude to learn Necromancy?"
"As long as you offer enough sacrifices to my Lord, all your wishes will be fulfilled."
The Dreadlord was up to his old tricks again. Unas, not wanting to listen anymore, replied dismissively, "Your ideas are all good. Give me some time to think about them."
He directly closed the gap in the Holy Power Vortex, re-isolating the demon within his body. Using Fel was too risky, Unas didn't necessarily have to take this path. Natasha should appear within a few days, and he could ask her for a solution then. Shadow Priests should also be experts in spiritual matters.
Unas put the Undead Mage's head into a cloth bag. The Dreadlord helped clarify at least one thing: before the Lich named Gunsel came to rescue the Undead Mage, he should have been obedient, just as he had said before, that he was surviving in order to live longer.
Nothing happened that night, and the team set off for the return journey early the next morning. When they passed through the Plaguewood, Unas ordered the Undead Mage to gather the dismissed Undead cannon fodder. More than two hundred Skeletons Zombies lined up to be killed by him.
Unas devoured all the experience points at a rate of one per second, not only leveling up to level 27 but also reaching 78% experience. He just needs to find a few more monsters to kill to level up again. Fighting is indeed the greatest shortcut to leveling up.
All attributes have improved, Unas considered the skill points he gained and chose a retributive skill: Corrosive Seal (Holy energy infuses the Paladin's entire body for 30 minutes, causing each of his melee attacks to have a Holy Corruption effect, dealing extra damage, stacking up to five times.)
This corrosive effect involves injecting destructive Holy Light into the enemy's body, which then explodes after accumulating to a certain level. It is particularly effective against enemies with high external defense.
Unas was motivated to learn this skill because of his sense of powerlessness when facing Abominations. With the Corrosive Seal, he would no longer be helpless when dealing with such tough enemies.
Unas also planned to use the skill points he had saved up, because saving them was a bit of a waste. He decided to enhance his strength instead. After considering various options, he finally chose a buff skill: Blessing of Might (blesses a friendly target, increasing their Strength attribute by 10% for 10 minutes).
This is a result of considering the team's interests. After all, he has now moved beyond the stage of fighting alone, Blessing of Might is currently one of the most cost-effective team skills.
Around noon, the group finally returned safely to the base. Unas returned to his tent and only managed to get some peace and quiet after finally getting rid of a few sycophants who came to flatter him.
This minor victory eliminated a potential threat, but it wasn't anything to boast about. Surprisingly, a new nickname for him circulated among the soldiers— the Undead Executioner—probably because he enjoyed personally executing the Undead. However, only the elite squad knew that, not only the Undead, the new Warden seemed to want to kill any enemy with his own hands. Several of them privately called Unas the Executioner Paladin.
Unas didn't care about these things. Both "executioner" and "executioner" were frightening titles, and being able to instill fear in others was an advantage in itself.
The rest of the day was spent resting. Unas took the opportunity to inspect the excavation work at the Mushroom Farm. All four independent caves had been connected and expanded considerably. According to Stonebrow, if this efficiency continued, the first layer could be dug in less than half a month, at which point the first batch of mushrooms could be planted.
Master Oakleaf and Beryl are busy teaching a mushroom cultivation training course to 40 people, and the progress is going smoothly. This makes Unas happy, but it also puts some pressure on him. It seems he must set off to retrieve the Black Soil as soon as possible.
After touring the stronghold, he went to the Crystal Mine Cave. Blood Elf rangers took turns guarding and transporting there, so safety wasn't an issue for the time being. However, mining through the natural fissures in the cave wasn't very efficient, which made Perella a little anxious. The Gnomes also complained about their sudden change from engineers to miners. Unas could only reassure them that this was only temporary and things would improve soon.
But this situation would actually continue for some time, so Unas brushed them off and quickly left the Crystal Mine Cave, heading to another cave outside the stronghold.
The Troll Priest, Undead Mage, and Overlord Spider were hiding in a cave not far from the stronghold. They weren't allowed to return to avoid frightening the people in the stronghold. Unas ordered Haikesi to ride the Overlord Spider around the stronghold whenever he had free time to search for traces of the cross-border Poison Spiders. In one afternoon, they located two more, and according to the Troll, these two were the last cross-border spiders.
Upon learning this news, Unas immediately returned to the stronghold to assemble an elite squad and eliminated the two of them, making the logging operation much safer.
The Troll's disguise as the Overlord Spider was very successful. In both battles, the Poison Spiders that crossed the line did not realize that the Overlord Spider was a corpse. They were so frightened that they only knew how to run away. The elite team easily dealt with the panicked enemies who fell into the encirclement.
The existence of the Overlord Spider gave everyone a lot of confidence, and they all urged Unas to take them to the Swamp quickly. However, Unas was not so optimistic. He would not act rashly before he had completely mastered the Undead Mage.