Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 114 First Servant

"Dibu, simply raising our guard isn't enough. If we can't dispel the doubts in our people's hearts, the blood sacrifices we catch will dwindle. Then, the three-headed serpent god Kumaila's protection of our tribe will vanish! And that will be when the Black Tide arrives."

"Fingart said in his distinctive husky voice."

"Hiss!" The expressions of the mid-to-high-level murloc warriors changed drastically upon hearing this.

This situation never occurred when the old murloc prophet was alive, but with the tribe's strength greatly diminished this time, there is now a shortage of blood food.

"Then what do you suggest we do, Fingart!" Faced with Fingart's blatant sabotage, Dib suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice.

"We can't just talk the talk! Tomorrow, I will lead the tribe's warriors to search for the missing squad of tribesmen. We must find them alive or dead! Eliminating the fear of our people is the most important thing!"

-

Meanwhile, Richard was pondering a problem: the fishmen fighting amongst themselves seemed like a good opportunity.

The merman prophet speaks Akkadian, a wizarding language widely spoken in ancient times. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that the two prophet disciples, Dib and Fingart, must also speak Akkadian to some extent.

Is it possible for me to cooperate with one of them?

Richard paced back and forth inside the cave, arms crossed, as he pondered the situation.

Richard pondered the specific plan in his mind, constantly analyzing it. After a while, he had roughly come up with a plan, but the details still needed to be carefully considered.

-

The next morning, Richard, who had just completed a cycle of Rodrigo's meditation, received a warning from the Soul-Eating Spider in his mind, saying that a large number of merman warriors had begun searching the area around the merman camp.

Richard was overjoyed upon hearing this; it was exactly what he had hoped for.

Such a large-scale operation by the murloc tribe must have a commander, especially if the commander happens to be one of the two disciples of the old murloc prophet.

Clearly, the whereabouts of the high-level magic stones will most likely be known soon.

This was also part of Richard's plan last night; the best-case scenario was to capture or kill the Murloc Prophet's disciple alive.

Of course, Richard also considered that if that didn't work, high-level merman warriors would also be an option, but there would be more steps involved and the whole process would be more complicated.

Richard immediately left the cave, intending to find out who the commander of the other side was.

With a wave of the Bone Summoning Staff, a pale green light appeared on the ground, and two skeleton archers and a skeleton berserker crawled out of the inverted pentagram magic circle. Richard, along with the skeleton guardians guarding the cave entrance, and the group of five immediately headed towards the Soul-Eating Spider.

As they approached the merfolk, Richard arranged for a skeleton archer to hide in an extremely large dragon fern tree. The tree trunk was tens of meters high, with intertwined branches and large leaves. If the merfolk warriors below the tree did not look up with full concentration, they would not be able to find the skeleton archer hiding there.

After settling in, Richard kept a safe distance from the fishmen's search.

Before long, a large number of murloc warriors scattered throughout the area. Richard quickly used the level-zero sorcery Necrovision, borrowing the vision of the skeleton archer on the treetop, to locate a gray-robed murloc who appeared to be a disciple of the murloc prophet.

This delighted Richard. He had thought that this operation would most likely be led by a high-ranking merman warrior, but he never expected that even the only two disciples of the prophet would be dispatched.

This made Richard's plan directly more optimal!

Now, the question is whether it's Dib or Fingart?

Richard continued to observe through the spectral realm, and as the gray-robed fishman drew closer, his face gradually became clearer.

To be honest, most fish-men are difficult to distinguish from humans, which is probably just as difficult for fish-men to distinguish from humans.

However, comparing the differences in attire between the two Prophet's disciples in the Dual-Blade Fishman's previous memories, Richard could basically conclude that the gray-robed fishman in front of him should be Fingart, not Dieter.

One of Dieter's signature features is a fishbone staff that is remarkably similar to that of the Murloc Prophet.

Fingart was holding a short staff, and the grey-robed fishman in front of him was also holding a short staff.

Now that the target has been identified, the question facing Richard is how to capture or kill the target.

There were nearly thirty or forty merman warriors in front of him. They were numerous and powerful. If Richard were to fight them head-on, he could not be said to have no chance, but the risks and losses would be relatively high.

Richard quickly came up with a general idea.

They quickly arrived at a nearby valley, where Richard buried a bundle of Fire Dance Stars and Silver Moon Dust in the bushes at the valley entrance and carefully concealed it.

This location is the only way to enter this valley.

Richard then tied two tubes of Fire Dance Stars to the arrows of the two skeleton archers, and then had them hide on the high slopes on either side of the valley.

He himself, accompanied by skeleton berserkers and skeleton guardians, waited in a secluded spot several hundred meters away from the valley.

Once everything was arranged, Richard ordered the Soul-Eating Spider to control the octopus on its back, quickly kill an ordinary fishman warrior, and drag its corpse slowly into the valley.

Before long, the fishman warriors discovered that someone was missing and quickly followed the trail of the shelled octopus to the entrance of the valley.

After a brief exchange, several dual-wielding murlocs led the way, followed by dozens of ordinary murlocs, and charged into the valley with great momentum. The gray-robed murloc and another high-ranking murloc warrior brought up the rear.

At this moment, many merman warriors had discovered the shelled octopus that had killed their brethren and were fighting a fierce battle with the shelled octopus controlled by the Soul-Eating Spider. The thick-skinned shelled octopus was not afraid of the attacks of these ordinary merman warriors at all.

Whether it's arrows or swords, when they strike its thick hide, they are all deflected by its tough outer layer.

If the dual-wielding merman manages to land a slash, it might scratch the skin, but it's far from causing serious injury.

Meanwhile, the merfolk warriors, relying on their superior numbers, fearlessly besieged the shelled octopus, probably thinking that once the prophet's disciple and the high-ranking warriors arrived, they could quickly kill the "culprit" in front of them.

"It seems this must be the culprit behind the disappearance of that tribesman team the day before yesterday. However, these shelled octopuses usually only come out to hunt at night, so it's strange that this one is out during the day." Fingart said to the high-ranking merman warrior beside him.

"Gru, it seems we'll have to rely on you. I'll cast a spell on this shelled octopus to lower its defenses. After that, it's up to you," Fingart said encouragingly, looking at Gru.

"Yes, sir, Lord Fingart!" Gru patted his chest heavily.

Having said that, Gru, a tall man carrying a large sword, strode out!

The ordinary murloc warriors who were besieging the shelled octopus immediately parted the middle to make way for the high-ranking murloc warrior named Gru to join the battle.

Richard's eyes lit up; the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Suddenly, on a high slope on one side of the valley, a skeleton archer abruptly stood up and fired an extremely accurate arrow at Fingart, who was casting some kind of sorcery to reduce the defense of the octopus with its shell. The tip of the arrow was faintly red.

Fingart immediately noticed the arrow, stopped casting the spell, and a huge water sphere instantly appeared around him, enveloping him.

"Boom!" A loud explosion rang out!

The sudden explosion came from behind, causing many murloc warriors in the battle ahead to hurriedly turn around to look. They saw their prophet disciple, Fingart, calmly emerge from the water sphere, his robes completely undamaged. They were immediately relieved.

"Over there!" Without Fingart's command, a dual-wielding murloc led several ordinary murloc warriors towards the skeleton archer who had just fired the arrow.

Suddenly, a sharp whooshing sound came from the other side. This time, a look of panic flashed in Fingart's eyes, and he rushed forward in a somewhat disheveled manner.

He had just used up the defensive magic that came with the short staff.

"Boom!" Another violent explosion caused the high-ranking merman warrior named Gru to stop swinging his greatsword. He had no time to pay attention to the octopus on its back and turned his head in surprise to look at Fingart.

This time, Fingart was no longer as composed as before; his hair was covered in turf, and his gray robe was splattered with mud.

Richard, who was observing from the sidelines, felt a sense of relief, thinking to himself, "This is it? A level three wizard apprentice? They don't even seem to have two magic tools!"

These two arrows were a test, to see just how strong the Prophet's disciple was, so that a plan could be formulated for the future. But clearly, the opponent's strength was weaker than Richard had anticipated.

The two explosions brought back a small portion of the merman warriors who had been fighting the octopus at the front. They closely guarded the prophet's disciple, Fingart, and their gathering point happened to be near the bombs planted by Richard.

Now, it's Richard's turn to appear!

"Whoosh!" A sharp sound of something cutting through the air rang out. Just as the fishmen present were watching the steel arrow, which had clearly missed its mark and hit the bushes, they breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Available in the next second.

"Boom!!!" An explosion even more violent than before rang out, and where dozens of fishmen had stood, only a huge crater several meters deep and more than ten meters in diameter remained.

Most of the merman warriors guarding Fingart were blown to bits, and a few with severed limbs were still groaning in agony.

Even though Fingart possessed defensive magic and had numerous merman warriors to block the shockwave of the explosion, he still collapsed to the side, vomiting blood.

This explosion caused great anxiety among Gru, the high-ranking murloc warrior, and the other murloc warriors who were fighting the shelled octopus at the front.

On one hand, his own prophet disciple Fingart was attacked, and on the other hand, a giant monster was fighting him, making it impossible for him to break free.

Richard then ordered the Skeleton Berserkers and Skeleton Guardians to charge straight at the enemy's high-ranking murloc warrior, Gru.

Meanwhile, he used the Possess Skeleton skill, switching between the two skeleton archers and employing the Archery Master's skill to pick off the scattered murloc warriors.

Gru, a high-level murloc warrior who could barely hold his own against the octopus, had his murloc underlings killed one by one. Soon after, he too was strangled to death by the octopus's thick tentacles!

At this moment, Richard emerged from the bushes and casually walked towards Fingart, who was lying on the ground.

However, to avoid any accidents, Richard still cautiously summoned all four undead creatures to his side.

"You should be able to understand what I'm saying, right?" Richard said, enunciating each word clearly in Akkadian, the wizarding language commonly used in ancient times.

"I can understand!" Fingart stared in shock at the human who had suddenly appeared before him, his fish-like lips moving as he spoke.

"Good that you understand. If you want to live, hand over a wisp of your soul essence so I can plant a soul imprint on you," Richard said calmly.

"That's absolutely impossible. I'd rather die!" Fingart said with unwavering determination.

"Oh, you'd rather die than be the prophet of your tribe? If you agree to let me implant my soul mark, I have a way to put you on the throne of the prophet, how about it?" Richard tempted.

"How...how did you know about this?" Fingart's already bulging fish eyes became even more prominent with surprise!

"You don't need to know how I know. Whether you agree or disagree!"

"No, this is betrayal!"

"Really unwilling? What a pity. Actually, I can achieve my goals even if you don't cooperate with me, it's just a little more troublesome." Richard smiled slightly.

At this moment, Gru, the high-ranking merman warrior who had been killed by the shelled octopus, walked step by step toward Fingart.

"I...I know, you are a necromancer among humans, an extremely evil necromancer!" Fingart was extremely flustered at this moment, as he remembered the terrifying rumors about human necromancers.

He mistakenly believed that Gru, who was controlled by the Soul-Eating Spider, had been transformed into a zombie by Richard.

That gave up Fingert, and he immediately agreed!

"I agree, I submit! Humble Fingart, I am willing to be your servant!"

He knew that even if he didn't cooperate, the necromancer in front of him might extract his soul for soul-searching, and his body would be turned into a zombie.

Rather than doing that, you might as well just obey!

Richard hadn't expected that Fingart would agree so easily after seeing Gru being controlled by the Soul Eater Spider.

After Fingart surrendered a sliver of his soul essence, Richard quickly planted a soul imprint on him.

It should be understood that after surrendering a wisp of his soul essence and having his soul imprinted, Fingart had essentially become Richard's servant.

With just a thought, Richard could obliterate Fingart's soul through the soul imprint.

It could be said that the other party's life or death rested in Richard's hands.

Legend has it that only extremely rare soul-splitting sorcery, or certain long-extinct sorcery, can counteract or weaken the effect of the soul imprint, but in general, it will also severely damage the soul.

Clearly, Fingart, a disciple of a mere murloc tribe, would not possess such a secret technique.

"Master!" Seeing Fingart standing respectfully to the side, Li realized that he could perhaps be a little bolder and change his plans.

(End of this chapter)