Necromancer, What the Hell Is That 055 You Summoned? Section 40

Whenever Chen Mo showed interest in a magical beast they killed along the way, Peiwen had the soldiers bring it along.

At Chen Mo's request, Peiwen even sent scouts to gather plants found nowhere outside the forest.

This drew some resentful looks from the soldiers. They had even thrown away the equipment they needed to defend themselves, yet they kept losing time over the preferences of someone whose origins were unknown.

In the end, though, they dared neither get angry nor speak out.

Not only had the young commandery princess clearly shown favoritism toward Chen Mo, but there was also Captain Peiwen's attitude.

Peiwen's choice was simple: Chen Mo had contributed a Skylark to the group.

It had gathered dust in Chen Mo's possession for a long time without ever being put to use. Now that he had brought it out, it was a dimensionality reduction strike.

The first time Swordsman Peiwen saw a clear image of the ground several kilometers ahead on the handheld platform, he nearly fell to his knees in excitement.

What was this? It was a mage's "Eye of Detection" with an incredibly long range, and it could move on its own.

As a soldier, Peiwen knew all too well how important reconnaissance was. With this "super scout," his confidence in returning safely to the Emerald Duchy soared.

For the next four days, the group struggled through the depths of the Dark Forest.

Ancient trees blotted out the sky. Flecks of light struggled through the thick canopy and fell on ground covered in rotting leaves and slippery moss. The air was thick and damp, filled with the mingled smells of earth, decaying wood, and a faint trace of blood.

The guards marched in silence. Every ambush by low-tier magical beasts brought short shouts, the sound of weapons cutting through the air, and the dying howls of beasts.

Like a sharp blade, the group carved a scarlet path through the dark curtain that had lain silent for untold years.

After four days of arduous travel, they were nearing the exit of the Bloodred Corridor.

Then Captain Peiwen's face darkened at the sight of what appeared on the Skylark's platform.

The Bloodred Corridor's exit lay at the Green Luo Mountain Pass in the Green Pine Kingdom. A whole year would often pass without anyone traveling this road, so there was no need for a supply camp.

Wangshan City, which administered this area for the Green Pine Kingdom, had previously stationed only a tiny outpost here, with a few soldiers to keep watch.

When someone passed through, they would ask where the traveler came from, so that powerful people would not cross the border without their knowledge.

But now, the Skylark's high-definition camera showed rows of thick wooden stakes erected in front of the checkpoint, enclosing a sizable temporary military camp. Six tents stood inside, and guards carrying spears patrolled back and forth.

Tall watchtowers stood on either side of the exit. Archers with bows and arrows on their backs leaned lazily against the railings at the top, occasionally sweeping their gazes over the quiet forest.

As the Skylark drew closer on its reconnaissance flight, an archer at the front of a watchtower looked up and alertly raised his bow.

The Skylark swerved, climbed rapidly, and sped backward at the same time.

The sentry in the watchtower on the other side of the road looked around, saw nothing unusual, and called out, "What is it?"

"There's a strange bird. Its shape doesn't look quite right."

"Why the hell are you so nervous over a bird? Those long-ears keep all kinds of strange things. What's there to be afraid of? They won't come out anyway."

"I keep feeling uneasy, like there's something in this forest watching me..."

"Ha! What a coincidence!" The sentry across the way laughed. "Every time I go back to the city, don't all those young ladies and married women sneak peeks at me from around the corners too? You'll get used to it, you'll get used to it!"

Back in the Dark Forest, the leaders of Cloudmist Territory and Chen Mo, their unaffiliated guest elder, crowded together, heads close, as they watched Chen Mo repeatedly enlarge the image on the gimbal's screen until the emblem on a sentry's chest was reasonably clear.

"It's the Green Pine Kingdom's regular army. That little shield emblem hanging below it means they're probably troops from Wangshan City."

Peiwen once again gave the Skylark drone sitting quietly on the ground a complicated look.

Not only could it scout in real time, but it could also record and replay footage, freeze frames, and enlarge them. Using it for military campaigns was simply outrageous.

"By my estimate, there are at least enough for an infantry company, around 120 men." Peiwen quickly assessed the enemy situation. "Under Green Pine's military system, a company commander is generally a second-tier professional. We can fight them."

He pointed to the narrow mountain-pass route on the screen, guarded by the two watchtowers. "But the terrain is the problem! They hold an absolutely advantageous position, and they have lookouts to warn them."

"There's no cover in that open stretch in the middle! I can take the hits, but the brothers behind me..." Peiwen shook his head. "Absolutely not."

"So I'll charge in alone first. If I can throw their defenses into disarray, have the guards follow immediately."

The Cloudmist leaders' expressions grew somewhat solemn at his words.

Looking at the fortifications on the screen, Chen Mo couldn't help speaking up. "Is there no room to negotiate? Maybe we could try... paying for passage?"

Old Locke coughed heavily beside him and took over. "The lord of Wangshan City is an enfeoffed lord of the Zircon Family."

All right, no point talking then.

"Uh, I've been meaning to ask. Didn't you say Commandery Princess Liushuang... Your Highness, has an elven elder? Are they in this Dark Forest? Could we go there and hide for a while?"

Captain Peiwen shook his head helplessly. "It's difficult. When elves discover outsiders entering the Dark Forest, they generally kill first and look afterward. They often use magical beasts and those strange plants to attack, so begging for mercy is useless."

"The only way to enter elven territory safely is to submit an application at the elven outpost in the Redwood Highlands and explain why you're there. Only after the Elven Council of Elders grants permission can you enter the Dark Forest along the route they designate."

Chen Mo rubbed his temples and asked one final question.

"If-I mean, if you can't break through, what happens? What do we do afterward?"

Peiwen gave a bitter smile. "If I can't break through, that means they have high-tier professionals in their ranks too. So I don't know whether I'll be able to come back."

"If I can come back, we'll find another chance and think of something. If... if I can't come back..."

"Return to Creek Moon immediately. The terrain there isn't as dangerous, so you may still have a chance to scatter and escape."

"When the time comes, each of us will have to leave it to fate."

Chapter 66: A Brand-New Version of the Summoning Ritual

The mood was a little gloomy.

Chen Mo had a feeling that the people from Cloudmist Territory seemed very pessimistic.

Ultimately, he still lacked an understanding of the continent's overall situation. Names that were thunderously familiar to the locals were to him merely like NPCs in a story.

The truth was that, apart from him and the inexperienced Commandery Princess Liushuang, the other Cloudmist Territory leaders, and even some of the soldiers, all had some sense of it.

In this war, the odds were against the Emerald Duchy.

At its peak, the Moonrest Dynasty had more than a dozen vassal states under its rule. They varied in size and strength, but no matter how their borders changed, the general rule was that kingdoms were larger than duchies, and duchies larger than commanderies.

Among the major powers in this region, the Emerald Duchy was noticeably a level below the Green Pine Kingdom and the Creek Moon Federation in territory, population, economy, and military strength alike.

It had been able to occupy the heart of the Emerald Great Plain partly because its forebears were good fighters and partly because it had backing.

Now, facing the combined forces of two major powers, it would probably struggle to hold out without timely outside help.

The bigger problem was that the conflict among the four southern states was really just one manifestation of a struggle between superpowers. Behind it lay the ideological struggle between the Moonrest Dynasty and the Mist Moon Divine Court, between secular monarchy and the union of church and state.

Given the Mist Moon Divine Court's increasingly forceful conduct in recent years, it was unclear how long it would take the Emerald Duchy to receive outside support.

Under these circumstances, if they returned too late, the duchy might already have been defeated. That was also the main reason Peiwen was burning with anxiety and desperate to get back.

After thinking it over for a while, Chen Mo decided to offer whatever help he could to the group with which he now shared a common fate.

"In another two days, I'll be able to use my Summoning Altar skill again!"

"How about we wait a little and let me see whether I can get some new support from the great existence in that distant world?"

The Cloudmist Territory leaders' eyes lit up at once.

Over the next two days, Chen Mo prepared himself and rested his mind while directing the group to pack up the various beasts, plants, and supplies, actively preparing for another Bloodline Sacrifice.

This time, because he had completed Psionic Enlightenment and opened his Elemental Pool, Chen Mo could draw on some external psionic energy to assist with the altar's transportation. As a result, the efficiency of his summoning and transportation would change dramatically.

He could summon a strong zombie.

Or transport hundreds of kilograms of supplies from home in one go.

Of course, unless Chen Mo had water in his brain, that zombie probably wouldn't get to make an appearance. In fact, throughout Necromancer Chen Mo's entire life, zombies probably wouldn't get a chance to appear at all.

On the day of the summoning, Chen Mo solemnly washed his hands and changed his clothes. The four big shots of Cloudmist Territory watched from outside the perimeter, while the guards went on the highest alert.

Chen Mo cobbled together everything he could remember from his previous life about religious rites, Mass, and shamanic rituals.

He burned incense and formed hand seals, murmured incantations, circled the altar three times forward and three times backward, then composed himself and muttered at each of the four cardinal directions before scattering some inexplicable magic powder...

When he judged that the time was about right, Chen Mo threw down some magical material that could produce a light mist and began the final summoning ritual.

He hadn't been idle these past two days; he'd spent them thinking it all over.

"Great Cyber King, Mechanical Emperor!"

"Eternal Lord of Lightning, Fearless Sovereign of Steel!"

"Leader of Silicon-Based Intelligence, Great Prophet of Quantum Technology!"

"Commander of Nuclear Fusion and Fission, Cthulhu God of Industry!"

"Your devout child praises your great name here and prays for your response!"

"Please grant me the will of truth, and let the light of glory shine upon this shore!"

The magical model Chen Mo had constructed began to rotate slowly. In the void unseen by the others, a pale blue spacetime passage gradually opened, and a vortex-deep torrent of spacetime swallowed the offerings in the ritual space one by one.

The ritual complete, Chen Mo sat on the ground with "exhaustion written all over his face" and accepted the waterskin the young commandery princess handed him. He took a long drink, then waved "weakly" at the concerned onlookers. "I'm fine. The summoning ritual succeeded. We need to wait for the supreme existence to respond, and that will take some time."

Commandery Princess Liushuang looked at him expectantly. "Chen Mo, you're amazing! Do you think the great lord on the other side might like you so much that he'll send you a bone dragon?"

Chen Mo: "..."

You really like bones, don't you?

Lady-in-waiting Linda gently tugged the commandery princess's sleeve. These people knew a little about necromancers, and even if this Mr. Chen's family might have some connection to the great existence on the other side, that existence was unlikely to disregard the altar's summoning rules so flagrantly as to send over a bone dragon.

The little apprentice mage wouldn't be able to withstand it either.

If they could just get a few more of those "hand grenades" from last time, Peiwen would have a seventy percent chance of getting through.

As for what came after that, they could worry about it later.

As expected, Chen Mo's letter caused a huge uproar within the Eastern Xia Central Authority.

Until then, Eastern Xia had kept the news within an extremely small circle. Now, it seemed there was no way to keep it from the military's upper ranks.

After some "difficult" communication, Longxiang Zhenyue, supreme commander of the Eastern Xia military, pointed a trembling finger at the other two big shots. Several times he held back the curses that nearly burst from his lips, until finally all he could do was stamp his foot in anger and turn to leave.

An emergency meeting of the senior leadership of the Eastern Xia General Staff Headquarters was promptly convened.

At the meeting, the commanders and staff officers present could plainly sense the fury filling their chief, and the room was completely silent.

"Today we're conducting a war game. Its contents are top secret. Once you walk out that door, if a single word leaks to anyone outside, you'll go straight to a court-martial!"

Old Marshal Longxiang straightened his collar and rapped heavily on the table. "Also, beyond what I assign you, no questions. I don't care how absurd or outrageous the task is, you will do your utmost to complete it!"

"Is that understood?!"