Wizards: Starting with Synthetic Gems

Chapter 23 The Bone Cult
Suddenly, Raun Guerrero shouted to Locke, "Locke, behind you!"

"careful!"

By then, the zombie horde had completely separated the wizarding prodigies on the wizard ship. Most of the prodigies had spent all their time studying, so they didn't have much practical experience.

Only dark wizards cultivate their protégés' actual combat abilities from the very beginning, rather than starting with learning ancient languages.

Just then, Locke turned around and saw a zombie with bluish skin and only whites of its eyes lunging at him, crashing into his chest. The enormous impact slammed him from one side to the other, threatening to knock him off the deck of the wizard ship and into the sea.

"Klass~" At the critical moment, Locke forcibly chanted the incantation, activating the Vine Hand. The five branches of the Mandela vine that were wrapped around his right hand emerged from the sleeve of his coat like vine pythons.

Two branches were inserted into the deck of the wizard's ship, securing their shape.

Three branches, following his arm, wrapped around the zombie that was holding him, slightly separating the zombie from himself. Then, they wrapped around its head, and with a 'snap', the zombie's head was separated from its body.

Locke hadn't even had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw that the headless zombie was still capable of moving, its right hand reaching towards his neck like an iron clamp.

'I'm such an idiot,' Locke finally realized. 'This thing was already a corpse controlled by necromancy; what good was just removing its head?'

Locke glanced at the dark blue gold ring with three dark blue beads on his right thumb, index finger, and middle finger. With these beads, he had 30 more points of magic power than a typical third-class wizard apprentice.

Now is a dangerous time, so naturally we cannot cherish our magical power.

Locke chanted the incantation twice in quick succession, using the Vine Hand twice in a very short time. The Mandrake vines, as the medium of the spell, were thus able to gain the power of the Vine Hand twice in a very short period of time.

This can temporarily enhance the mandragora's mobility.

The five branches of the mandragora vine transformed into a giant hand, which grabbed the body of the zombie in front of it, then separated it from itself and created distance between them.

Then, with a 'crack', the zombie's entire body was grabbed by the mandrake vines, and its body suffered some fractures.

The limbs and spine were twisted and fractured, resulting in loss of mobility.

Locke breathed a slight sigh of relief, only to find the deck swarming with zombies, who were attacking the wizard prodigies.

They didn't kill him.

However, many promising wizards have already been pushed into the sea by the zombies and abducted by the dark wizards in the black mist above.

Now, more blue-skinned zombies are rushing towards him; there are at least five in sight.

Sweat beaded on Locke's forehead. 'These zombies were all sent down by those dark wizards, and maybe even by legitimate wizards.'

'They are numerous, their bodies are stiff yet impervious to blades and spears, and each one is incredibly strong; it takes me a lot of effort to deal with just one.'

The zombie that was attacking Locke was held by Raun Guerrero. His silver cross sword struck the zombie in the back, and the zombie screamed in agony as its back began to melt rapidly.

Raun Guerrero wielded his two-handed cross sword like a spinning whirlwind, striking the back of the zombie blocking his way more than a dozen times. Soon, the zombie fell to the ground, and the runes on its body gradually melted away.

Raun Guerrero arrived beside Locke and said, "In this situation, it's hard for one person to protect themselves. Let's go together."

Locke stood back-to-back with him, facing the remaining four zombies together. "That makes sense."

"Laun, thank you."

Locke glanced at the silver cross sword gleaming in Lauen's hand. This sword must be the enchanted item mentioned in the book.

A masterpiece of the alchemical school, it is a treasure that can greatly enhance the combat power of wizard apprentices before they become full wizards.

Every enchanted item is a product of alchemy.

However, there wasn't a single enchanted item on Corfu. Locke first encountered such a thing on Laun Guerrero, a prince from Schleswig.

It seems that, despite both being mortal worlds, Corfu and Schleswig still have significant differences.

With the enchanted items in his hands and his great knight's physique, Raun fought the two zombies to a standstill. Locke, with a total amount of magic power exceeding that of an ordinary wizard apprentice, commanded the Vine Hand, turning the Mandrake vines into giant vine hands that continuously hammered the two zombies, preventing them from getting close to him.

Locke glanced at the glowing silver sword in Laun's hand. "Laun, the sword in your hand is very effective against zombies."

With a single stroke, Lauen cleaved a gash in the chest of a zombie, and the wound immediately began to rot, rapidly disintegrating under the silver light of the cross-shaped sword.

Laun quickly told Locke, "Yes, my sword is an enchanted item with an enchanting spell called [Lesser Necromantic Resistant Barrier], which is specifically designed to counter undead creatures and negative energy spells, which is why it works so well."

"Unfortunately, there are too many of them, and they are strong and fast. Even with this sword, it will be difficult to get rid of them."

Locke suddenly knelt down on one knee, crouching on the deck floor, ignoring the two zombies charging towards him, as well as a newly joined zombie. "Let's change our approach, and we'll find the optimal solution."

He chanted a spell and slammed his right fist into the ground. Instantly, five branches of the mandrake vine burrowed into the wooden floor and then suddenly emerged from the surrounding wooden floor, binding themselves to the left legs of five nearby zombies.

The five zombies were immediately held in place by the vines, and no matter how they jumped, they could not break free from Locke's mandala vines.

During the battle, Locke became increasingly adept and skilled at using the Vine Hands trick.

Locke said to Laun, "Now, Laun, kill them."

After a moment of stunned silence, Laun burst into laughter. "Alright, that makes things much simpler. I'll take them down one by one with my sword."

He raised his silver sword and plunged it directly into the chest of a zombie that was being controlled by vines, causing the zombie to let out a beast-like roar.

Then, the runes on the zombie's body quickly faded one by one, and it lost its ability to move.

After killing five zombies, Lawn smiled. "Locke, if that's the case, then you and my two wizard apprentices working together won't have to be afraid of these zombies."

"I think the wizard mentor on the ship will come to our rescue soon."

When Lawn turned around, he saw Locke's extremely serious expression and was taken aback. "Locke, what's wrong?"

Locke pointed ahead and said, "Look around..."

At that time, Locke and Laun were surrounded by at least thirty zombies.

This is a difference in absolute numbers!

The sheer number of them was enough to make most third-class wizard apprentices lose all will to resist.

Laun swallowed hard. "This..."

A black mist descended from the sky, crashing onto the deck of the wizard's ship like a meteor. Emerging from the mist was a witch wearing black leather high heels, a black robe, and a whole fox fur draped over her shoulders.

The witch wore a pentagram badge on her chest, inside which was a white skeleton, and in the skeleton's two eye sockets were two more pentagrams.

That badge was very strange.

The witch Barbara laughed and said, "My two little ones, the Bone Order has taken a liking to you. One of you has a wealth of practical experience, and the other is growing rapidly with decisive judgment. You are exactly the kind of people the Bone Order needs."

"Therefore, I... Barbara Wayne the Witch, hereby invite you to give up your resistance and join our [Bone Order]. You two, if you follow those hypocrites, you will achieve nothing; the dark world is the final destination for all of you."

(End of this chapter)