Chapter 38: The Task Begins

  "Dong...... Dong...... Dong........"

  This is the bell ringing.

  The low, muffled tolling of the bell echoed through the dimly lit space, yet seemed to strike deep within one's heart. Rod stood up, vigilantly gazing around while clutching his cards tightly in hand.

  "Lily."

  "Ah, yes!"

  "Do you still remember what we did in that small town?"

  "I remember!"

  Lilith, who had been restless, immediately jumped up at Rod's command, wasting no time. Soon, a ball of soft light appeared in the girl's hand, radiating a warm glow. As this sacred light emerged, the surroundings seemed to be stimulated by something, and a strong gust of dark wind blew through, even causing the blazing bonfire to shake and sway.

  "Mr. Lode, is it something like that town?"

  "Essentially no different."

  “…………”

  When Licia heard Rod's nonchalant reply, her heart finally put down half of its guard. If it were the past her, she would probably still be restless. However, after the battle in Mist Town, Licia was pleasantly surprised to discover that as a spirit master, she also possessed combat abilities and could even gain the upper hand when fighting against those terrifying undead monsters. This gave the girl an unprecedented sense of confidence. In the past, she could only stand behind and watch her companions fight while being unable to help. But now it's different; in specific situations, she can actually take part in battles without needing others' protection all the time. This filled Licia with self-assurance, and the fear she had for that haunted house decreased significantly after hearing Rod's reply.

  Since Rode can say it out loud, then he must have a way!

  Unconsciously, Lijie had already begun to trust and rely on this young man who hadn't known her for long.

  The battle has begun.

  Rode heightened his vigilance, warily scanning the surroundings as his right hand flipped over. In an instant, the Star Scar flashed across the darkness once more and reappeared in Rode's hand. Next, Rode suddenly brandished his longsword, a blazing red lotus flame shooting out from the sword and rolling about on the ground before coalescing into the figure of a jet-black hound.

  Inferno Assassin

  The hound, surrounded by flames, appeared suddenly and immediately showed high tension and sensitivity. It lowered its body, grasping the ground tightly, arched its back, and faced the darkness in front of it with vigilance, letting out a low growl from its throat. Obviously, as an elemental spirit with keen senses, it had already sensed the danger here.

  "Lijie, put on your shield, remember, if you encounter any danger, use the healing spell first... you know what to do."

  "Alright, sir."

  After getting a clear answer, Liche quickly calmed down, just as Rod observed. The girl could almost reach perfection in details, but on the contrary, if she didn't have a specific goal, she would immediately become bewildered and at a loss. Now, after giving Liche an order, Rod saw that the girl who had been here for a whole day, seemingly experiencing a thrilling adventure like a haunted house, finally revealed her usual calmness.

  "Come with me."

  As he spoke, Roder turned around and walked out of the hall.

  The corridor outside was quiet.

  The tattered window swayed back and forth in the cold wind, opening and closing again, with a series of crashing sounds echoing through the quiet mansion.

  At first glance, this seems no different from before.

  But some things have already begun to change quietly.

  Rod noticed that in the corner of the wall, a faint dark shadow was slowly flowing, hiding in the corners, and the black hound became more and more excited. It opened its big mouth, revealing snow-white sharp teeth, and sparks flew out from between the black hound's teeth, carrying a hint of ferocity.

  When the two of them reached the end of the stairs, there was still no strange situation. However, Rode's face became more and more solemn, looking at the stairs in front of him, he made a gesture, indicating Lijie to follow closely behind him, then he stepped up.

  "Ah!!"

  At this moment, a half-body sculpture originally placed in the hall seemed to be heavily pushed by something and rolled towards Luo De.

  Here!

  Facing the incoming attack, Luo De immediately swung his long sword and struck at the statue in front of him.

  "Boom!"

  The sculpture came crashing down and disintegrated, and at the same time, Lige also felt a chill behind her back.

  She almost subconsciously turned her head around and then saw several blue human-like figures slowly emerging from the ground at the bottom of the stairs.

  "Evil spirit!"

  Unlike the Yougui, which are "specific products of specific circumstances", evil spirits are a well-known and widespread malevolent entity across the entire continent. They are the pitiful souls of those who have been infected by an evil power after death and cannot leave this world, with nothing but hatred and despair towards the living. Their presence can be felt in many places, and as a spiritualist, Lijie naturally has extensive knowledge about them.

  If it were the past, Lijie might not have known what to do, but after the battle in Misty Town, she had her own mind. Facing the emerging evil spirit, she raised her hand without hesitation.

  Just then, Rode stretched out a hand and pressed it on Lijie's shoulder.

  "Mr. Luo De?"

  Noticing Rod's strange behavior, Lizzie turned around with some surprise and astonishment.

  "You can try a better way."

  Facing Lijie's questioning gaze, Rode's expression remained calm and collected. He then lowered his head and whispered something in Lijie's ear. Upon hearing Rode's suggestion, Lijie's face first showed a hint of surprise, followed by astonishment, curiosity, and finally determination.

  "I'll try my best, Mr. Lord."

  "Alright, I'll take care of it from here."

  At this moment, a dozen or so evil spirits appeared from both above and below, their bodies swaying, with strange spiritual trajectories floating in mid-air, stretching out their hands, emitting ear-piercing screams that could stun people's hearts, pouncing on the living beings in front of them. They wanted to thoroughly tear apart these living flesh, making them become their own companions.

  However, the evil spirits did not achieve their goal.

  It was not Rod who made the first move.

  With a loud whistle, the black hunting dog that had been building up its strength jumped high into the air, opening its ferocious and terrifying big mouth. And in the next instant, a fierce flame shot out from within, blasting towards the evil spirit.

  The undead monsters have two fears: positive energy and flames. Now that Rod has both cards in his hand, this is why he dares to challenge this special task. If it were just himself, he wouldn't even come here to take advantage of the situation - 500 gold coins aren't enough to buy his own life.

  Under the fierce flames, the evil spirits screamed and retreated. Their illusory bodies didn't need to fear ordinary swords, but in the face of magic-filled attacks, they were meaningless. Soon, two or three evil spirits were covered by the jetting flames, wailing as they turned into nothingness. The surrounding furniture decorations, which had long since rotted and decayed, also burst into flames at this moment.

  The formation of the evil spirits became loose, and at this moment, Rode's Shadow Flash was activated once again.

  Under the tremendous momentum, he leapt over the stairs like a swift and agile swallow, carrying a faint shadow through the fiery barrier. The evil spirits had not yet reacted to what was happening when they saw the white sword blade emerge from the ground at an angle, heading straight for them. In no time, one of the evil spirits that stood in the way of the attack was split in two by the sharp blade as easily as cutting through butter, and vanished into thin air. The remaining evil spirits, seeing that things were not going their way, quickly retreated backwards and merged into the wall, disappearing from view.

  The stairs started shaking.

  The dusty, rusty armor creaked as it walked towards the rack, slowly raising the long sword in its hand and striking down at Rode, who was facing away from it.

  But the sword had not yet fallen, and the black hound roared as it pounced, pinning the armor-clad figure firmly beneath its body, opening its bloody maw once more to spew forth a blast of scorching flames.

  Not enough.

  Roder glanced at the system prompt, and the experience gain was not fast, compared to the time in the Twilight Forest it was almost heaven and earth. But this is also understandable, after all, this is not an instance, these evil spirits are not elite monsters, he can easily take down a dozen, naturally, he won't get too much experience value... ...But for Roder, there were more important things to focus on than experience value right now.

  He turned around and looked at the girl standing on the stairs.

  The wail of the evil spirit grew clearer.

  Looking at the figure rushing towards her, filled with cold and deadly aura, Lijie raised her right hand, and in her mind, she once again recalled what Rode had said before.

  "The healing light is not just for treating wounds, Lijie. Remember, condense, overlap, compress and then release it. I believe you can do it."

  Solidification...

  Lilith could feel the sacred power gathering under her will, soon reaching its limit. Following the original flow, she only needed to turn her mind and she would be able to cast the healing light. But now, Lilith didn't do so.

  Overlap...

  The divine power continues to condense, transmitting unstable fluctuations, just like a person's hand can only hold a bowl of water steadily, but it's as if another bowl has been added, gradually giving a feeling of being overwhelmed.

  Compression...

  Two sacred powers began to interact and merge, but at this moment Lijie's spirit had almost reached its limit, her palms slightly trembling, as if she was about to collapse.

  Just then, the wailing evil spirit pounced on her side.

  In the moment Lijie came to, what she saw was the evil spirit's face filled with anger and pain, causing her to unconsciously take a step back. The energy in her hand that had been on the verge of collapse also dissipated due to this fright. However, before Lijie could react, a shining sword light flew over from behind her, piercing through the evil spirits while also momentarily halting their attack. At the same time, Rode's voice rang out.

  "Once again."

  "Yes."

  Lilith bit her lower lip again, raised her hand once more, and with the experience she had gained earlier, the holy power quickly condensed in her hand. Then, gazing at the evil spirit in the distance, Lilith gritted her teeth and stretched out her hand forward.

  "Whoosh!"

  A beam of light suddenly appeared, like a thick pillar smashing down fiercely. The evil spirit below had no time to react and was completely annihilated in this one blow, like fragile glass shattering into pieces.

  "Huh?"

  Lijie withdrew her hand, gazing at everything before her with a mixture of three parts surprise and seven parts amazement. She naturally knew that the Healing Light had a great damaging effect on undead creatures, but she hadn't expected it to be this severe. Holy soul's protection, in terms of power, this had already completely surpassed the range of healing magic, let alone the Judgment Mallet of the Temple Master, which might not even compare to this.

  The girl hadn't had time to express her joy when Rode's calm voice pulled her back into reality once again.

  "Keep going, this is just the beginning."

  PS: Regarding the adjustment of this chapter, I'd like to explain to readers. At first, I didn't release Chapter 37, but I had finished writing it and thought it was released... This is a tragedy. Then, another tragedy occurred when I woke up today and found out something was wrong. I modified the original Chapter 38 to become Chapter 37, and you all saw that... The title changed, but the content didn't, and what's even more bizarre is that in the author's backend, the content had been modified... Under these circumstances, I had no choice but to delete these two chapters and re-release them in order. This has never happened before, what's going on these past two days... Tragedy