Picking Up a Ghost, Guys

After the Night Parade Knights left, almost all of them were covered in a thin layer of frost, except for Iver was completely clean and had nothing on him.

This was because, as a priest, his abundant pool of light and Fire Attribute easily dispelled the chill brought by the Dark Attribute energy. And after leaving that eerie cold wave, the little life force he had lost was replenished at a visible rate.

With a forceful movement, Hai Na shattered the thin layer of frost on her body, her expression unchanged—she even seemed to enjoy it. It was like playing with a stress-relieving toy.

After all, she has thick skin and a strong vitality.

To Iver's surprise, Lily didn't react at all. She casually peeled off the thin layer of frost covering her body, and her face wasn't even pale or red from the cold.

It's important to understand that the resistance to Path of Adaptation is not strong. Both Hunter and assassins are fragile, unable to withstand damage or control effects.

The Path of Love, however, has good resistance...

Only little Sherlock was now pale with cold and shivering all over. Iver couldn't help but feel fortunate that he had performed the initiation ceremony for Sherlock first... Although Sherlock had not yet officially become Mitra Worshiper, it had at least slightly strengthened his vitality.

Otherwise, he might have lost his temper and yelled out loud just now.

"But it's okay even if you scream it out..."

Iver sighed, placing his hand on little Sherlock's chest. Warm light flowed into his body, dispelling the chill. "The Wild Hunt King isn't at work today. They won't kill you; they'll just scare you for fun—of course, if you get scared and attack them, they'll take you away."

Hai Na was taken aback by the precise wording. "Mr. Iver also knows about them?"

She thought city people didn't understand these things!

"Of course, I am a priest. The wandering ghost army, the Night Parade Knights who have signed a pact with Weizhe... the intersection of Weizhe and the power of amber."

Iver replied, "Move forth with the sound of thunder, and systematically sweep away the wandering souls of the dead."

In a sense, the Night Parade Knights are actually beneficial to the world.

They are like vultures or hyenas, First Ring in the food chain.

Those wandering spirits—anyone who isn't "saved" through a funeral performed by a priest—may be transformed into a ghost or undead on a night when the Twilight Power is strong.

Mass graves often teem with all sorts of undead, including adventurers who died in the wild, soldiers whose remains were never collected, and the Earthbound Spirit that Iver encountered before.

These wandering spirits can easily harm people.

The reason why we don't usually see the dead is quite simple.

If it's in the city, it's thanks to the priests' usual blessings and exorcisms; but if it's in the wild or in a village, it's because the wild hunt in the surrounding area is taking place.

On stormy nights, the Wild Hunt King leads his minions on a roaming spree, sweeping away every wild undead they encounter. Skeletons crumble, zombies fall, their souls stolen by the Wild Hunt King.

"Strictly speaking, they belong to the regular army. In a sense, they can also be considered temporary apostles of the Pillar God..."

"They just kill ruthlessly; sometimes they kill normal people they shouldn't have."

"It's like 360 is sweeping through the market, "Iver added to himself.

If living people attack them, or run around and make a lot of noise on the Wild Hunt's march, they are likely to be attacked, killed, and taken away by them.

"... Those who died but whose remains were stripped of four realms, those who died but whose souls remained were stripped of six realms, and those who died but whose souls did not remain were stripped of eight realms. These Night Parade Knight who joined the Wild Hunt were merely ghosts, but they received an additional blessing from the Great Sage, freeing them from this bondage. This allowed them to possess wisdom and the ability to think even without bones."

"Similarly, they also accepted Weizhe's treaty. They could not attack or enter any room with the lights on and the door closed, nor could they enter any area near a church where a bishop resided, nor could they attack the sick, pregnant women, or the disabled."

"These Wild Hunt Legion almost exclusively sweep across the wilderness on rainy nights. If it's not raining and thundering, and the Wild Hunt King isn't around, then they're just out there having a blast. After all, they can only appear at night, and once they stop, they begin to dissipate, so they can't stop moving."

"If you are attacked by undead in the wilderness at night, you'd better pray that Night Parade Knight sees you and comes to your rescue... Even though the Wild Hunt King isn't here, if he sees undead while passing by, he'll take them away."

Iver explained to Sherlock and Lily.

The reason Children in the village are warned by their parents not to go out on stormy nights is because of this.

However, Eagle Cape Village is clearly their spawn point, so you can encounter them every night after dark...

"... There is such a thing as a real existence."

Sherlock frowned. "I've heard of it before, that some people disappear without a trace on stormy nights, only to have their bodies found far away. So this is the origin of that legend..."

"This means that was the end of the Wild Hunt's march. Their souls must have already been taken by the Wild Hunt King when they met."

Iver shrugged. "The spirits in the city are usually dispelled by priests, so you've definitely never seen one like this, Sherlock. Churches are basically everywhere in the city... and in slightly larger cities, there will be multiple churches."

"There are too many villages, and the church doesn't have enough bishops to send out, but they can at least help with funerals and let the dead rest in peace. As for the spirits... we can only ask the Wild Hunt nearby to help clean them up."

"The average villager might not encounter a wild hunt even once every few years or decades... After all, not many idiots would rush out of their homes on a stormy night."

"Anyway, there's an easy way to survive—if you see the Wild Hunt move, just lie down on the spot with your head covered, and you'll be fine. If you stand up, you might accidentally get so scared that your legs go weak and you bump into someone, which would be bad."

"How did you know that?"

Sherlock countered, "You haven't left Glass Island either, have you?"

Iver smiled, "I am a priest, my great detective."

"The scale of these Wild Hunts will eventually grow larger and larger... When the scale of the Wild Hunt in an area becomes too high, bishops will be sent to hold large-scale intercessory prayer ceremonies during the day to bury the nearby dead and weaken the scale of the Wild Hunt. This is the truth behind the so-called 'ritual'."

"After all, these Night Parade Knight are essentially unfree ghosts. Only by being purified can they be freed from endless wandering and work."

Of course, if the body can be found, even the lowest-ranking officiant can perform the ritual to help the deceased pass on.

The problem is, who knows where these knights joined this legion from! Their bodies could be anywhere. They might even have decomposed or been eaten by wild animals by the roadside.

If their bodies cannot be found, the only option is to mobilize the masses and set up multiple blessing zones in the area—placing the items blessed by the bishop in specific places, such as on windows.

When the Wild Hunt Legion passes by and touches these blessed items, a white flame will ignite and be dispelled.

Because they are not evil spirits, they are easy to dispel.

In the game, this translates to having both Holy Vulnerability and Dispel Vulnerability. If a Priest dispels it, it will deal four times the damage of a regular dispel. Furthermore, Law Mage or Watchers can use Light Attribute skills to inflict effective damage.

Furthermore, these undead will not change their course for any reason—meaning that if you run fast enough, you can take down a few undead and immediately retreat to the side of the road. Only knights with ranged attack capabilities will launch symbolic attacks.

So Hellerchein was here...

Iver was somewhat tempted.

—If he remembers correctly, Sir Hellerchein was an elven knight and a renowned hero.

At that time, the island was still the territory of the giants, and Arthur's Round Table Knights were far from being formed. Arthur himself was still only the Crowned Angel, not yet descended to Human World ...

Hellerchein was the first leader to stand up and unite humans and elves against the giants—he was not a nobleman, nor even human. But because of his bravery, he was posthumously knighted by the Herasul Empire.

Of course, the final result was failure.

He and his men were never found—those who died in battle were spared, their bodies simply cooked and eaten; those captured alive endured inhuman torture. The execution site is now haunted by the mournful cries of wronged souls that have lingered for centuries.

... Now it seems that Eagle Cape Village must have been the unknown execution site back then.

Although he failed, his actions as the first rebel were of special significance—which is why Wei Zhe chose him as the Wild Hunt King.

The war aura that Hellerchein carries is an extremely powerful area-of-effect buff.

The equivalent "Source War Song" is an explosive spell that can only be mastered at the Sixth Level the Path of Beauty.

Not to mention his own combat prowess.

As a spirit blessed by amber, Hellerchein possesses a strong Earth Attribute —somewhat counterintuitively, spirits in this world typically have earth as their primary attribute rather than darkness.

Because the Earth Attribute includes properties such as solidification, stagnation, silence, and sealing, it is closely related to amber. Only evil spirits that hate the living or have killed living people possess the Dark Attribute.

Iver just happens to be missing an Earth Attribute Phantom.

If we miss Hellerchein... then we'll have to go to the Iris area to catch a Child of the Moon of the Illusion Demon level. And even Child of the Moon of the Seventh Level is definitely not as strong as Hellerchein. He's not the strongest Wild Hunt King, but he's definitely the Wild Hunt King with the best aura.

—We've found a ghost, folks! He wants to come home with me!

... The only problem is that Iver can't capture him right now.

If Iver his way over to take a look, it might have turned into Hellerchein's "picking up a person, then a ghost" scenario.

His true level is unknown, but in the level 60 version, he was able to be balanced to level 60 as Greater Phantom Demon with overflowing level, which means that he was at least higher than level 60.

His level has now been balanced to level 50, which is the Sixth Level —the same level as the Eternal Pope.

Iver is invincible. Even if you bring Ligeia over, you still can't beat him.

If he could win over the Pope, restraint wouldn't be a problem. After all, Hellerchein wasn't particularly aggressive; he was holding back—you could tell from the reward he gave that Hellerchein wasn't really serious. This was because he consistently maintained goodwill towards humans and elves.

But how could he possibly bring the esteemed Pope to a place like this...?

Iver shook his head repeatedly, dismissing the absurd idea.

Even if you can't catch it, you've managed to find a fixed spawn point for a rare monster... so you should at least memorize the location.

From another perspective...

Since this was the execution ground where giants used to punish criminals... then Grandfather's choice of this place to retire was probably not a random one.

There's probably something else here.

Update complete!

Today happens to be Hai Na's birthday! Happy birthday, Hai Na!