Chapter 044 – Southern Four of the Cataclysmic Cult
...
The significance of the outpost was fully demonstrated in this encounter.
Matthew had never thought of fighting against the three major evil organizations on his own, so after the failed assassination, his tactics immediately shifted to focus on delay and probing.
And Ella did not disappoint.
Amidst the sound of hooves, a total of eight knights arrived smoothly in front of Matthew to provide support.
Leading them was the fully armed Blade and the casually dressed Zeller, while the remaining six knights were also armed to the teeth. Matthew knew that they were not members of the guard unit, but rather part of the lord's guard.
"The lord already knows, he ordered me to come first, and the reinforcements are already on their way."
Zeller dismounted and stood shoulder to shoulder with Matthew.
The knights slowly advanced, holding their long spears.
Under the cover of night.
The nearly three-meter-long spear gave off a great sense of oppression.
This was a genuine military weapon!
Even the arrogant Edson no longer dared to be reckless. He did not continue to chase, but hastily retreated towards the entrance of the mine.
Blade and the others were about to pursue.
Matthew quickly reminded, "Be careful, those wooden boxes are suspicious!"
The knights quickly tightened their reins upon hearing this.
Moonlight spilled onto the barren land ahead.
Near the scattered goblin corpses, there were dozens of wooden boxes, some of which had already been knocked open and appeared empty.
However, Matthew's nerves were jumping intensely.
"Be careful!"
"Is there any revealing powder for the Molting Gel?"
He saw the information prompt.
He knew that the monsters in the wooden boxes had stealthily approached under the cover of night and their unique forms.
Without hesitation, Zeller smashed a glass bottle towards the empty space ahead. With a loud bang, the bottle shattered, and a faint purple smoke spread out. Wherever the smoke went, some Molting Gel that was originally difficult to discern with the naked eye was instantly dyed with a thick layer of purple!
This was revealing powder, a powerful tool for low-level adventurers to deal with stealth units. The downside was that it was expensive, and someone like Matthew couldn't afford it.
The fastest Molting Gel had already approached the group.
The horse at the front suddenly reared up in fright and let out a long neigh.
The knight barely maintained his balance and pulled the reins to the side.
Blade acted quickly and thrust his spear forward.
The iron spear easily pierced through the gelatinous body of the Molting Gel, but it was only pinned to the ground and unable to move, seemingly not dead.
"We can't kill them like this, we need fire or lightning, or simply dry up the moisture in their bodies."
As a mage, Matthew's basic skills were passable. The Molting Gel was a type of mud golem monster, with a transparent or semi-transparent jelly-like form.
They didn't move fast, but they were extremely easy to overlook.
Once a living creature accidentally touched the Molting Gel, it would rapidly expand and quickly wrap and devour the living creature, causing the person wrapped in the Molting Gel to endure immense pain for 72 hours. They couldn't escape or struggle, only able to witness the arrival of death.
Their flesh, organs, and even bones would be easily digested by the Molting Gel, leaving behind only a few strands of hair and a complete piece of skin.
After digesting everything, the Molting Gel would spit out the skin and hair, leaving them behind and setting off to find the next prey.
It was precisely because of this characteristic that some evil spellcasters or organizations would raise Molting Gel, using them to skin others. Of course, there were also many examples in history of those who accidentally swallowed themselves while raising Molting Gel.
This thing was far from being as clumsy and harmless as it appeared.
After receiving Matthew's reminder, everyone began to clean up the nearby Molting Gel.
Zeller also carefully counted the number of wooden boxes to prevent any Molting Gel from getting lost and causing harm to the residents nearby.
Meanwhile, Matthew took the opportunity to use the Necromancy Summoning spell on the pile of goblin corpses!
...
"Prompt: The Necromancy Summoning spell was successfully cast, and you have obtained 30 Silver Moon Goblin Zombies (average level LV6).
You have obtained 3 Goblin Skeleton Soldiers (average level LV4)."
...
After the round of summoning, Matthew had used up most of his mana.
The goblins who were just charging towards the side of the Cataclysmic Cult instantly turned into undead and turned against them.
Except for three of them whose bodies were too damaged by Eli and could only summon skeletons, the remaining goblins were all transformed into Silver Moon Zombies.
Compared to the Silver Moon Zombies transformed from humans, they were smaller in size and lower in level, but they also inherited characteristics such as "Barkskin", "Moonlight Power", and "Divine Moon Armor".
Apart from a decrease in agility, they were stronger than their living selves in all other aspects!
This was the first time Matthew had controlled so many undead creatures at once.But he didn't feel flustered.
Instead, he felt like he was playing an RTS game—
In his mind, he drew a box and ordered the kobolds to attack, defend, or stay put. The latter commands were usually executed smoothly, but it was difficult to give more detailed instructions.
If Matthew wanted to perform more detailed micro-management, he had to learn the super magic skills related to "group control".
With the help of the kobold zombies, the pressure on the knights was greatly reduced.
They began to focus their attention on the entrance of the mine.
At this moment.
The people at the entrance were also engaged in a fierce dispute with Edson.
"We have been discovered by the Rolling Stone Town authorities. That evil necromancer doesn't look easy to deal with. We don't have weapons and lack manpower. It's time to admit that this operation has failed."
A one-eyed man said this and walked into the mine without looking back.
Although the others did not explicitly say it, they all agreed with him.
Only Edson's eyes were gloomy, burning with anger, but he showed no intention of retreating.
Kuna and Leon exchanged glances, both sensing something suspicious.
But there were several knights outside the cave who had already bypassed the remaining molting gel and were chasing after them. Their eyes revealed signs of retreat.
For members of an evil organization, admitting failure and knowing how to protect oneself wisely was the highest principle of survival.
If Edson and the Cataclysmic Cult could really tear open the wound of Rolling Stone Town through the initiation ceremony, causing panic among the people here, then they wouldn't mind adding fuel to the fire and joining forces with the Cataclysmic Cult to have a wicked celebration in Rolling Stone Town.
But the current situation was not like that.
Rolling Stone Town was more difficult to deal with than they had imagined.
So, it was better to leave.
That was the best strategy.
More and more people began to retreat into the cave.
However, not long after.
The people who had left earlier involuntarily retreated back.
"Make way!"
A rough voice came from deep inside the cave.
Several peripheral members of the Silver Frost Brotherhood failed to dodge in time and were hammered into the stone wall by a tremendous force!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The entire mine trembled violently.
The crowd, filled with suspicion and uncertainty, was forced to retreat towards the entrance of the cave.
Another soft voice sounded:
"How many times have I told you, don't hammer people into the wall? The soil here is loose, and if you're not careful, you'll bury yourself."
Along with the voice, a slender, dark-skinned female Agile Warrior walked out of the shadows.
She was barely clothed, only barely protecting her vital areas. Besides her hot figure, what attracted everyone's attention the most were the curved blades hanging on both sides of her long thighs.
The blades had a large curvature, and the edges shimmered with specks of silver light.
There was no doubt that she was a formidable Agile Warrior (Note: Dark Elf).
Behind her.
A dark blue-skinned Ogre, whose head almost touched the top of the cave, lazily walked out.
Compared to a normal Ogre, the most special thing about this Ogre was that he was extremely fat!
He almost filled the entire mine tunnel by himself.
It was obvious that this Ogre was responsible for knocking those lackeys into the air just now.
"Hey, girl, how many times have you told Sinwalk!?"
The Ogre complained to the Agile Warrior:
"Sinwalk's memory lasts for only 17 seconds. It's useless to tell him these things!"
The Agile Warrior rolled her eyes.
She couldn't be bothered to argue with this idiot.
At this moment, everyone was forced to exit the cave. They watched as the obese Ogre struggled to squeeze his body out of the cave entrance, and then simply fell to the side—
Boom!
The ground trembled slightly.
The Ogre lay on the ground, letting out a comfortable groan.
"Sinwalk, you are the most self-aware Ogre I have ever seen, but next time, please let me know in advance when you lie down. I have a fear of earthquakes."
Two more people walked out from behind the Ogre.
The one who spoke was a boar-headed man wielding a huge battle axe.
And the warrior beside him was even more eye-catching—
He was not tall, with a circle of fine scales on his forehead and a small horn.
He had a long tail on his back, and the scales on the tail were dark blue, emitting a strange luster in the night.
Combining his deep vertical pupils, the identity of this warrior was naturally revealed.
Half-Dragon.
...
"Warning: You have encountered the Southern Four of the Cataclysmic Cult—
Leila the Huntress (Agile Warrior/LV15);
Sinwalk the Furious Mountain (Ogre/LV14);
Mehedis the Slayer of a Hundred Men (Half-Dragon Spellblade/LV14);
Banwen the Deep Howler Butcher (Boar-headed Warrior/LV14);
..."You have encountered the underground coalition from the Dark Region (Gnolls, Kobolds, Imps, Lesser Demons, etc.), numbering over 300!"
...
Looking at the lines of information, Matthew's eyelids twitched.
He had guessed that the Scourge Cult wouldn't just send Ed alone.
But he hadn't expected the enemy's reinforcements to be so fierce, coming from the Dark Region!
"This is probably not a plundering ceremony at all, the Scourge Cult is planning to attack Rolling Stone Town!"
Zeller's expression was very serious:
"We may have misjudged the enemy's real purpose!"
Matthew was also on high alert.
He looked far into the direction of the cave entrance, countless Gnolls and Kobolds were pouring out, they were still distributing weapons to the Silver Frost Brotherhood and the Withered Cult!
At this critical moment, the other two organizations had no choice but to join the Scourge Cult.
War.
At least a small-scale battle was inevitable!
"We may need to retreat first."
Zeller suggested.
"Wait a bit."
After Matthew said this, he stared intently at the direction of the cave entrance.
Zeller followed his gaze.
He saw Ed, the Warlock, cursing at his subordinates!
"Attack."
Matthew suddenly whispered.
The air around Ed twisted, and several half-broken bottles hit him and the ground around him. The next second, flames suddenly ignited on the Gnoll's forehead, back, and chest!
"Who?!"
The Gnoll roared, swinging his Nail Hammer, but hit nothing.
Peggy, who had stealthily approached and struck, ran away quickly.
The people around Ed hadn't reacted yet, and the Minotaur skull ran far away.
Only the others were left, hastily trying to put out the fire.
However, what Peggy threw were the "Fire Gel" and "Burning Bottle" that Matthew had obtained from the Arsonist.
Once the fire was ignited, it was unstoppable.
Moreover, Ed's fur served as the best kindling.
In just a few seconds.
During Ed's frantic jumping around, his black fur was completely burned off.
The eerie blood mist emerged again.
The resurrection power bestowed by the Midnight God could save the Gnoll's life and possibly allow his fur to regrow quickly, but the most important pieces of fur were gone!
...
"Prompt: Peggy used Fire Gel to burn off the Gnoll's fur (including the two 'Exile Documents' in his chest fur)"
...
"So there were two more hidden, what a scheming plan."
Matthew smiled in relief.
The next second.
Just as Ed was furiously ordering his men to charge into the oak forest.
A bright halo flashed over the open ground in front.
A mountain-like skeleton appeared out of thin air.
It turned its head, staring in the direction of the cave entrance, the soul fire in its skull was as terrifying as the lamp of the Grim Reaper.
At that moment.
Everyone had a feeling as if the world was about to collapse!
...