Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

Chapter 89 Soul Howl Lord

The Seed of Origin's next target points to another area shown in the image—an ancient ruin filled with withered plants.

The closer you get to this ruin, the thicker the deathly aura in the air becomes, even taking on a strange "withered" quality.

The bone fragments beneath their feet were gradually covered by a grayish-white moss that seemed to have lost all life.

At the edge of the horizon, the outline of a half-collapsed ruin built of huge black boulders gradually became clear.

The ruins are ancient and eerie in style, covered with distorted reliefs, mostly depicting scenes of death and sacrifice.

The surrounding area was filled with a deathly aura so thick it almost formed a tangible fog.

Kate maximized her stealth ability, becoming like a true shadow, silently climbing a massive broken stone pillar and peering down from the shadows.

The square in front of the ruins was in a mess.

The remains of dozens of undead creatures of various shapes were scattered everywhere, most of them crushed or charred by the powerful energy impact.

The mastermind behind all of this was none other than the three wizard apprentices in the center of the square!

They wore dark gray thorn garden apprentice robes, the hems embroidered with twisted vine patterns, and their faces bore expressions of cruelty and arrogance.

The leader was a tall, gloomy-looking young man who held a long whip burning with dark red flames.

Beside him was a short, stout apprentice who was constantly splashing potions onto the dead.

The last one was a pale, tall, thin man who held a bone staff inlaid with a skull and was controlling several skeleton warriors enhanced by death energy to attack the remaining undead.

"Boss Harold, the undead in this place just keep coming, we can't seem to kill them all!"

The short, stout apprentice complained and then splashed out another bottle of corrosive potion emitting green smoke, which melted several ghouls that rushed up at him with a sizzling sound.

"Fool! The necromantic energy here is so rich, it'll provide perfect nourishment for our Soul-Devouring Vines!"

The sinister young man named Harold grinned maliciously, and with a sudden flick of his flaming whip, he shattered the head of a skeleton warrior that was trying to approach, the dark red flames instantly burning its remains to ashes.

"It's good that that good-for-nothing Smick is dead; he's saved us from getting in the way. It's a pity his body was swept away by the spatial turbulence somewhere; he had some good stuff on him. The spoils here are enough for the three of us to impress Lord Black Vine! Be careful, don't miss any valuable soulfire cores!"

"Yes, boss!" the tall, thin apprentice replied obsequiously. With a flick of his bone staff, several skeleton warriors under his control charged even more fiercely at the few remaining undead guards.

Kate's eyes instantly turned icy cold.

Thorn Garden! Harold! The "Smick" they're talking about is very likely the corpse they found in the spatial rift zone.

Moreover, judging from their tone, they showed no pity for their fellow disciples' deaths, and even gloated over them.

The Seed of Origin operated silently, analyzing the strength of the three individuals and their surroundings:

[Target: Harold (Bracken Garden Apprentice)]

[Level: Peak Level 4 (Possibly a fusion of Fire and Dark elements)]

[Threat: High. Violent energy fluctuations; weapon (flaming bone whip) appears to be a magical artifact; attacks inflict burning and soul-whipping effects.]

[Target: Fatty (Thorn Garden Apprentice)]

[Level: Early Stage 4]

[Threat: Medium. Proficient in using poisons and corrosives; strong area-of-effect damage, weak single-target defense.]

[Target: Tall, thin guy (Bracken Garden Apprentice)]

[Level: Mid-Tier 4]

[Threat: Medium. Suspected to be necromancer or necromancer-like; can control low-level undead; the physical body is relatively fragile.]

[Environment: Surrounding area of ​​withered ruins, death gas concentration: extremely high.]

A powerful undead reaction was detected inside the ruins (Level: Peak 4 → Critical Point for Formal Wizard? Energy Attribute: Highly Condensed Death Essence + Weak Soul Screaming Fluctuation), indicating that the site is in a state of slumber/dormancy.

A faint "withering" force field exists around the ruins, continuously eroding life energy, but having little effect on the undead.

A plan instantly took shape in Kate's mind.

The rules of the trial prevented him from directly killing these Thorn Garden apprentices, so he let the "master" of the place do it for him!

Kate's gaze was fixed on the massive, cracked stone door of the ruins, which was half-open.

Behind the door, the aura of death, as deep as an abyss, was like a dormant volcano.

The analysis of the Seed of Origin convinced him that there must be an extremely powerful undead lord inside, most likely a "Soul Howl Lord" or "Undead General" who was about to break through the boundaries of a formal wizard.

What he needed to do was precisely "awaken" it and direct its anger precisely at Harold and the other two!

Kate carefully moved to a relatively secluded spot on the side of the ruins, a good distance from the main gate and Harold and the others.

He needed to avoid both the senses that might exist within the ruins and the gaze of the three people in the square.

"The Seed of Origin calculates the optimal interference point and energy transfer path. Objective: To accurately deliver a powerful mental shock to the core area of ​​the ruins at minimal cost, simulating an active attack and triggering a counterattack from the Guardian Lord."

[Command Reception – Environmental Scan – Energy Path Simulation –]

[Optimal interference point: The shadow of the black crystal pillar to the right front.]

[Transmission Path: Utilizing the "Death Echo" property of the relic's stone walls, using the Spirit Pivot Seed as a carrier, superimposed with the weak frequency of a soul's shriek, and projected in a targeted manner.]

[Risk: Minor. The fluctuations of the Spiritual Pivot Seed can be disguised as naturally dissipated spiritual energy.]

Kate moved silently to the designated location.

He took out three specially made Spirit Pivot Seeds. After these seeds were fused with the death energy of the Eternal Desolation, their mental interference properties carried a faint "Undead Scream" resonance.

"Seed of the Spiritual Pivot - Mimicry - The Scream of the Dead!"

Kate concentrated her mental energy and carefully injected it into the three Spirit Core Seeds, mimicking the frequency characteristics of the wailing of the dead from her memory.

The seed's surface was instantly enveloped in a layer of deathly gray aura, and the internal mental fluctuations became extremely sharp and filled with malice.

He took a deep breath, maximizing the analytical force field of the Seed of Origin, and aimed at the deepest dark area inside the gate of the ruins.

"go!"

Three Spiritual Pivot Seeds shot out silently!

They did not fly in a straight line, but drew extremely stealthy arcs, cleverly avoiding the airspace above the fierce battle area in the square, and accurately crashed into a stone wall inside the gate of the ruins, which was covered with complex death runes.

boom! boom! boom!

The faint cracking sounds were almost drowned out by the sounds of fighting in the square.

However, what exploded was not a powerful mental shockwave, but three highly mimicking beams of mental energy with frequencies precisely matching the shrieks of the dead, full of provocation and malice.

This energy beam, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, was instantly captured, amplified, and transmitted to the deepest part of the ruins by the "death echo" property of the ruins themselves the moment it came into contact with the stone wall runes.

"Ugh—!!!"

A deep, muffled roar, seemingly emanating from the deepest depths of hell, filled with boundless rage and majesty, suddenly erupted from the depths of the ruins.

This roar far surpassed the Soul Impact of the previous Undead Knight leader, carrying a terrifying power that could tear apart souls and freeze minds.

The entire withered ruins seemed to tremble, and the thick deathly aura in the square boiled over!

"What's going on?!"

Harold abruptly stopped swinging his bone whip and looked in horror at the gate of the ruins.

The fat man and the tall, thin man also turned pale. The skeleton warriors they were controlling instantly lost control and collapsed to the ground.

Boom!

The massive, half-closed stone gate of the ruins was violently blasted open by an invisible force!

A figure, three meters tall, draped in a gray-black cloak woven from countless wailing soul fragments, and wielding a massive bone scythe, slowly stepped out from the shadows within the door!

It had no physical form, only two points of soul fire burning with a ghastly white flame beneath its cloak! Those soul fires were filled with a furious rage that had been disturbed!

[Target: Guardian of the Withered Relics - Soul Howl Lord (Pseudo-Formal Wizard Level)]

[characteristic:

1. Spiritual form: Immune to physical attacks (extremely high), resistant to energy attacks (strong).

2. Soul Scream: An area-of-effect soul attack with extremely high intensity, ignoring conventional physical defense.

3. Death Harvest (Bone Scythe): The attack has an instant death effect (there is a chance to directly annihilate the soul of a target whose soul strength is lower than your own).

4. Death Qi Domination: Can manipulate dense death qi within a range to form a binding force, attack, or enhance oneself.

5. Environmental Assimilation: Highly bound to the core area of ​​the ruins, possessing a continuous source of energy, making it difficult to completely eliminate.

The Soul Howl Lord's pale soul fire instantly locked onto Harold and his two companions, whose energy fluctuations were most conspicuous in the square and who had just been "showing off their power."

The raging fire, guided and amplified by the "Seed of the Spiritual Pivot," seemed to have found an outlet.

"You lowly ants—how dare you—blaspheme—your slumber!"

A dry, cold thought, resounding directly at the soul level, surged forth.

"run!"

Harold was terrified and instantly realized they had become scapegoats.

He frantically activated the defensive magical artifacts on his body, and a layer of dark red flame shield lit up. At the same time, he turned around and fled!

The fat man and the tall, thin man were so terrified that they scrambled and fled in panic.

However, it was all too late.

The Soul Howl Lord raised his massive bone scythe high, its pale soul fire burning to its fullest extent.

"die-!!!"

The terrifying soul shriek was no longer the previous low roar, but transformed into a visible, gray-white fan-shaped shockwave that distorted the air, carrying the will to annihilate everything, sweeping across the entire square like a tsunami.

Their speed and range far exceeded Harold and his men's escape speed!

"No--!"

Harold only had time to let out a desperate roar before his fire shield shattered like a bubble.

His body suddenly stiffened, blood instantly flowed from his seven orifices, and the light in his eyes quickly dimmed, filled with endless pain and fear.

The fat man and the tall, thin man couldn't even let out a scream. Their bodies went limp as if their bones had been removed, their pupils dilated, and their life force instantly ceased.

Their souls, like flickering candles in the wind, were easily extinguished and annihilated by this terrifying shriek!

The recorder's protection mechanism only activated at the last moment before their souls were annihilated, but it merely marked the death information and was powerless to reverse the situation.

[Trial participant death detected: Harold (Thorn Garden)]

[Trial participant's death detected: —]

The grayish-white shockwave slowly dissipated, leaving only three corpses on the square, rapidly consumed by death energy and devoid of all life.

The Soul Howl Lord hovered in the air, its pale soul fire sweeping across the empty plaza. Confirming the death of the "Desecrator," it let out a low growl filled with rage, and its massive figure slowly retreated into the depths of the ruins. The heavy stone gate slammed shut under an invisible force.

Kate, lying in the shadow of the crystal pillar, witnessed the whole thing, her heart racing slightly.

The plan to use someone else to do the dirty work has been perfectly executed. The threat to the Thorn Garden is temporarily averted.

He showed no mercy; in a place like the Trial Tower, being merciful to the enemy was being cruel to oneself.

He was preparing to quietly leave this place of trouble when the jade beacon in his arms suddenly emitted an extremely faint...

But the warmth was unmistakable.

At the same time, the dark purple spatial crystal fragment in his dimensional bag also vibrated slightly, seemingly resonating with a strange entity deep within the ruins.

Kate's gaze sharpened instantly as she looked at the now tightly closed gate of the ruins.

Deep within the ruins—there seems to be an even greater secret hidden, and it is very likely related to the dark purple crystal he just obtained.

Kate didn't hesitate. He already had some experience and insights into dealing with this pseudo-wizard level undead creature when he participated in killing the Corrupted Lord.

These pseudo-official wizard-level monsters are actually only at the level of a peak level 4 wizard apprentice. For him now, they are just a waste of energy and time.

For Kate, who can kill low-level undead creatures and absorb malevolent energy to replenish her own consumption at any time, the difficulty lies only in whether she can sever the connection between the undead creature and the energy point. In other words, the key is not the battle, but finding the Soul Howl Lord's energy connection point and using the spatial attributes of the Time-Space Nursery to sever and kill it.

Of course, this level of creature should be the same as the previous Corrupted Lord. Their killing of it only put this pseudo-official wizard-level undead creature into a temporary slumber. Afterwards, with the continuous supply of energy, it will still awaken and continue its duty as a guardian, but it will just be a more powerful earthbound spirit.

With that in mind, Kate quickly assessed her own condition, as well as the general situation of the puppet, potion, and materials, and began to take action.

Kate's figure sped across the gray and desolate wasteland. The Thorn Speed ​​Mode granted him speed far exceeding that of his peers. The gust of wind he generated stirred up fine bone dust from the ground, forming a brief and blurry trail that was quickly swallowed up by the omnipresent death aura.

Following the route planned by the Seed of Origin, he avoided areas with abnormal energy fluctuations and sped toward the core area of ​​that ancient ruin—the heavy stone door that had just been closed.

Upon arriving at the stone gate, the heavy door seemed to sense the approach of a living being, and slowly opened before him, releasing an even stronger aura of death from the cracks in the opening.

Kate's thorny armor passively shimmered with a faint dark gold luster, and the defensive field constructed by the Life Resonance Aura, the Alliance Charm, and the Emerald Beacon was operating at full capacity, resisting this all-pervasive erosion.

The Bloodthirsty Vine on its right arm stirred restlessly within the Cage of Order; the pure death energy was both a deadly poison and an irresistible temptation to it.

As the stone gate opened completely, the view before us suddenly became breathtaking.