Dark Wizard: Rise! My undead army!

Wailing Rift gets its name from the Wailing Banshees of the Rift, where a large number of Wailing Banshees once lived in a large settlement.

Even before approaching the Wailing Rift, mournful songs began to echo in the air, mixed with a disturbing power.

The two tasks assigned by the academy had drastically different difficulty levels and awarded different contribution values.

Killing the Howling Banshee is on the Hard level and rewards 200 contribution points, while collecting materials is on the Easy level and rewards 50 contribution points. The choice is up to the apprentice.

An ordinary apprentice attempting to kill a Howling Banshee near a settlement would be tantamount to suicide.

Even if you happen to encounter a lone banshee, a single wailing from the banshee will summon a massive horde of banshees to overwhelm you.

Of course, the academy wouldn't assign missions that were purely suicide missions.

The Wailing Banshee is not only found in settlements; it can be found throughout the Wailing Rift and other areas.

If you wait patiently, you'll eventually encounter a lone banshee.

Lynn's decisive choice to kill the Howling Banshee was not for the extra contribution points, but because he had enough confidence in his own strength.

Collecting materials is pointless and a waste of time; it's better to witness the biodiversity of the dead in this eternal graveyard.

Come and see for yourself how this thing differs from the legendary harpy, and see what this settlement, which has stood for so many years, is all about.

Of course, he wouldn't be so reckless as to charge directly into the enemy's main camp, which would be tantamount to suicide.

When they were ten kilometers away from the settlement, Lynn stopped early to avoid being discovered by the enemy, jumped off the bone horse, and retrieved the Death Knight.

"Two of the bone crows split off and conducted high-altitude reconnaissance towards the gathering place."

Lynn gave the order through their mental connection.

"Maintain an altitude of over 1,000 meters to prioritize observation of terrain and ethnic distribution."

At Lynn's command, the two bone crows flapped their grayish-white bone wings and flew into the depths of the rift valley.

Lynn found a secluded crevice in the rocks, used [Corpse Disguise] to lie in wait, and connected to the Bone Raven's vision through visual sharing.

The closer they got to the settlement, the clearer the wails became, and gradually, small patrols of banshees began to appear.

After sensing the penetrating mental fluctuations within the wailing, the level 1 Bone Raven's soul flame trembled continuously, as if it had been subjected to constant damage.

If it were a wild beast like a bone crow, it would probably be rolling as far away as possible right now.

But under Lynn's strong suppression, the two bone crows still managed to tremble and avoid the banshee patrol, flying towards their target.

A moment later, the bone crows flew to a point about a kilometer above the gathering place to observe the situation below.

Looking down from above, Lynn finally understood why this place was called "Rift Valley".

This is not a canyon at all, but a vast network of deep, crisscrossing fissures.

The rock face is covered with a dense network of caves, like a honeycomb.

And within these caves, on the rock walls, and even in mid-air...

"hiss--"

Even with Lynn's composure, she couldn't help but gasp.

They were all densely packed with female demons!

The grayish-white, semi-transparent humanoid figures floated in the air, so numerous that they almost obscured the rift valley below.

A rough estimate suggests that there are at least three thousand banshees within the field of vision! There may be many more in the deeper blind spots.

These wailing banshees have the upper bodies of human women, but instead of legs, their lower bodies are composed of constantly flowing, misty structures.

They have no wings, yet they can hover and fly, much like ghosts, but the air currents beneath them allow them to fly faster and higher.

Unlike the harpy's physical form, the howling banshee is a semi-spirit, so physical attacks have limited effect on them, but the howls they emit can tear the soul apart.

Such a large number of female demons are unlikely to be the original undead of the "Eternal Graveyard," but are most likely transformed from a large number of life forms from the Prime Material Plane.

Although the undead do not need food, water, or other substances required by living beings to sustain life, such a terrifying number of pure psychic wailing banshees must require a considerable amount of soulfire or death energy to survive.

Although these wailing banshees sometimes go out to "hunt" low-level undead, it is only a small number and nothing compared to the huge population.

There must be a key point within the settlement that sustains the survival of the Howling Banshee!

Lynn guessed that this place should be a "resource point" in the demiplane "Eternal Graveyard" that spews primordial soulfire or death energy.

The entire Banshee race is probably one of the "air force cannon fodder" prepared by the academy!

Just as Lynn was pondering, something unexpected happened!

The two bone crows' brazen spying on their home caught the attention of the howling banshee.

Hundreds of meters below the bone crow, five figures suddenly flew out of what appeared to be an ordinary rock cave.

They are five small but incredibly fast female banshees!

Seeing the banshee rushing towards him, Lynn made a quick decision, ordering the bone crows to take off while fleeing in another direction away from him.

He dared not accept the bone crow, otherwise he might be besieged by the howling banshees.

The two jays separated and fled, frantically flapping their wings in two different directions.

Their flight speed is naturally outstanding among level 1, but it is far inferior to this group of level 3 Banshee Sentinels.

The five sentinel banshees split into two groups and chased after them, quickly closing the distance and opening their delicate little mouths.

"ah--!!"

That was a high-frequency wail that was beyond the bone crow's hearing range; Lynn could feel the impact through their mental connection!

"Gah—!"

The two bone crows trembled violently, the soul fire in their eye sockets shook violently, and their bodies involuntarily fell downwards.

They tried to gain altitude to escape, but the Sentinel Banshees were too fast and caught up with them almost instantly.

The next second, five gray shadows flashed past.

The Bone Raven's wings were severed by an invisible spiritual blade, its bones shattered, and it plummeted straight down from the sky.

In the final moments of his fall, Lynn saw through the Bone Raven's perspective that hundreds of banshees on the rock wall below simultaneously raised their heads, their eyes fixed on the Bone Raven's soul fire.

Then the screen went black.

The connection has been lost.

Lynn suddenly opened his eyes, a hint of seriousness flashing in them.

The fact that hundreds of female demons raised their heads at the same time signifies that the entire group has a high degree of coordination and is definitely not fighting individually.

Above them, there is probably an extremely terrifying wailing banshee queen ruling over this group of banshees.

Not to be provoked!

Lynn stood up and decisively retreated to a position 20 kilometers away, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

It's better to be a coward than to die!

"Since we can't enter the settlement, let's wait for them to come out."

The remaining bone crows were dispatched to establish a ring-shaped reconnaissance network within a radius of 15 to 20 kilometers around the settlement, with a focus on monitoring the banshees flying out of the settlement.

Two hourglasses later, news finally came back.

The Bone Crow transmitted a video showing a squad of five banshees flying at low altitude eight kilometers to the southeast.