055 Heroes: Xignos (1)

Green still felt shaken, secretly congratulating himself for reacting in time and summoning three Iron-Skinned Zombies in succession.

The first was instantly killed, but the energy of that high-frequency sonic wave rapidly weakened because of it. By the time it struck the second Iron-Skinned Zombie, it no longer packed the same power and merely injured it before dissipating completely. However, Rota immediately wilted after releasing the sonic wave, like a deflated balloon. She wanted to flee again, but had no strength left and was sucked into the Ghost Eye.

Green was secretly delighted. Originally, he had never expected to quickly gather six Xignos Banshees, but unexpectedly, he had already collected four in the blink of an eye. Only two remained before he could assemble all six.

This stirred a faint impulse in his heart. No matter what, he could not let the remaining two Banshees escape. Perhaps he really had a chance to fuse them into the Spirit of Xignos!

The problem was, where were the remaining two Banshees? Wilson Castle was neither especially large nor especially small, and finding two incorporeal spirits hiding within it would be like searching for a needle in the ocean.

At the same time, the commotion over at the city hall grew louder and louder. There were even booming sounds like cannons firing.

Green followed the sound with his eyes. In the white flash of lightning splitting down from the sky, he could vaguely see a translucent dome of light over the city hall. Floating above it was a black figure twenty or thirty meters tall, like a deity unleashing bolt after bolt of lightning and relentlessly attacking the light barrier below.

Green clicked his tongue in astonishment. He had never expected a being of such power to appear in Landon City!

That black figure was not corporeal. It should have been summoned by some kind of magic or supernatural ability. Its strength was impossible to estimate; it had far surpassed his current understanding of supernatural power. Perhaps it was an Advanced Formal Mage, or possibly even an Archmage.

Just then, Rolt—the deputy captain of the castle patrol and Vincent's chief guard—heard the commotion from the battle and rushed over with a ten-man squad carrying torches and kerosene lamps.

When Green saw them arrive, he felt no joy. Instead, his heart sank slightly, and he shouted, "Rolt, don't come over!~~~"

Rolt froze and immediately raised his hand, stopping in place. He was just about to ask what was happening when his brows suddenly lifted. He abruptly rolled forward, drew his combat short sword, and without even turning his head, swept it toward the rear.

With a clang, metal rang against metal. Rolt's sword was blocked by one of the patrolmen behind him. That patrolman's face was deathly pale, veins bulging across his forehead and cheeks. His expression was agonized and his features twisted, as if he had been possessed by a devil!

"Not good! Ghost possession!" Rolt had seen his share of strange things. The instant he saw what was happening, he reacted. While shouting for everyone to scatter, he drew the enchanted pistol from its holster, aimed it at the patrolman, and pulled the trigger. With a sharp crack, he decisively blew the man's head apart.

Green greatly admired Rolt's decisiveness in opening fire. As expected of a veteran who had served on the battlefield, he was not only powerful but possessed keen combat instincts. When it came to killing, he showed no mercy whatsoever.

The patrolman had been shot. The bullet fired by the powerful enchanted pistol had nearly blown apart his entire head, yet his body did not fall. It continued making muffled sounds as he stretched out both hands and staggered forward step by step, like a Zombie.

The patrolmen watching were all frightened pale, each of them gaping as if they had seen a ghost.

Rolt's expression was ugly as well. Even though he had fought on battlefields and crawled out of heaps of corpses, he still felt a trace of fear at that moment and instinctively took a step backward.

"Hmph! Playing at gods and ghosts." Green sneered. He had originally been worried that he would not find the remaining two Xignos Banshees, but one had actually delivered itself right to his doorstep. As he spoke, a barrage of gunfire erupted. More than ten Skeleton Soldiers fired together, concentrating their fire on the headless corpse.

This time, the headless corpse finally could not withstand it. It was blasted backward again and again, its body riddled with holes, until it finally collapsed. Then a white shadow flew out of the battered corpse and flashed toward the ground, trying to escape underground, only to be pierced straight through by a spike coming head-on.

The white shadow immediately let out a shriek and transformed into something resembling a human. It tore itself free from the spike created by Bone Spikes and tried to flee to the side, but it was surrounded on all sides. Evil Spirit Maxim, Holly, and several ordinary Ghosts formed a ring around it, trapping the white shadow until it had no strength left to escape.

Green made his entrance once more. Without any suspense, he collected the spirit. At this point, he had obtained five of the six Xignos Banshees. Only the last one remained before he could gather them all.

Meanwhile, inside the castle, in the ice cellar where the back kitchen stored its ingredients, a white shadow lay lazily sprawled across half a pig carcass. It seemed to be dozing, making gentle snoring sounds like a languid, oversized cat.

As the sole survivor among the six Xignos Banshees, Talaga did not yet know that her five sisters had all been captured. She was still hiding in the ice cellar and lazing around. If nothing unexpected happened, Green could search until the end of time and still never find her here.

Yet at that moment, footsteps suddenly came from outside!

Before long, a furtive figure entered the ice cellar and went to a corner piled with frozen meat. He began moving things aside, revealing ice bricks underneath.

Ice cellars in ordinary noble households were built from ice bricks specially made by mages. Unlike ancient times in Green's previous life, when people could only store ice in winter because they had no magic, the ice bricks used in this cellar beneath Wilson Castle were exceptionally pure and highly transparent, almost like glass. Once the man moved the objects aside, a pitch-black hole immediately appeared beneath the ice bricks. There was actually a tunnel beneath the castle!

Looking closer, the man was a middle-aged male servant with a fanatical expression. He seemed extremely excited as he traced a symbol across his chest—the sign used by followers of the Tower of Yin Spirits when praying.

Several seconds later, the middle-aged servant laboriously pried open the ice bricks, revealing the entrance below, then knocked on them with a crowbar.

Soon, a rustling sound came from inside the tunnel, and four people emerged—three men and one woman, all fully armed. After whispering with the middle-aged servant, they each drew their weapons and quickly headed out of the ice cellar.

Talaga witnessed the entire process from the side and was jolted awake as well. No longer in the mood to continue dozing, she chose the sharp-eared half-elf walking at the rear, whose ears were hidden beneath her hair. Talaga flashed forward, transformed into a white shadow, and slipped into the female half-elf's body.

This female half-elf had originally been an Advanced Sword Spirit Apprentice. Her strength was not weak, but she had not been on guard and never expected to be ambushed and sabotaged here.

Sword Spirits were a profession unique to the elf race. They were somewhat similar to swordsmen but more well-rounded—a profession somewhere between a swordsman and a ranger. They excelled at close-combat assassination, jungle infiltration, reconnaissance, and spying. Besides pistols, they were especially skilled with rapiers and long daggers.

Unfortunately, before this female half-elf Sword Spirit could display her strength, Talaga ambushed and possessed her. She sensed that something was wrong and tried to struggle and call for help, but Talaga's powerful mental strength suppressed her completely. In merely three breaths, her consciousness sank into darkness and she fell unconscious.