Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 278 Oil Painting

"Venom spit!!"

The vengeful spirit spat out venom once more, the pale blue, foul-smelling liquid covering the entire area. After being attacked by the venom again, the five evil spirits were noticeably weakened, both in appearance and in terms of their mental energy fluctuations.

It was clear that he was seriously injured by the venomous spit of the vengeful spirit twice in a row.

But this is still not the end.

Don't forget! The vengeful spirit also has a poison sac near its esophagus.

So, when the third venom spit began, Richard actually saw fear in the eyes of these evil spirits, which made him smile slightly.

Two of the five evil spirits actually turned around and hid.

Richard reacted immediately upon seeing this, determined not to let them have their way.

Richard's subsequent mental shock and death ray instantly created two thin mounds of evil spirit dust on the ground, a rare alchemical raw material.

At this point in the battle, it had essentially become a garbage time.

Richard quickly acquired five standard portions of Evil Dust.

At this moment, the thin membrane that had separated Stephena and Richard suddenly disappeared, and Stephena found that she could now go up to the second floor.

As soon as they got upstairs, Stephanie clung tightly to Richard's arm, looking anxious, and said:

"Master! You were in great danger just now. There were five evil spirits involved."

After saying that, Stephania carefully examined her master again.

If any other level one wizard, or even a top level one wizard, had been in that situation, they might have been instantly defeated!

Because the innate sorcery of five evil spirits simultaneously unleashing the Roar of Evil Spirits can almost instantly kill 90% of level one wizards.

Furthermore, the eerie magic array here completely extinguished any remaining curiosity or desire for exploration that Stephanie might have had.

Now, she wanted to leave this place with Richard as soon as possible, although she knew it was unlikely, because this place might be related to her master's chance of advancing to the second level of Grand Wizard.

Richard smiled and patted Stephanie's head, saying, "Don't worry, now that we're on the second floor, we should at least see what's going on."

Only then did Richard have time to quickly survey the environment on the second floor.

He and Stephanie were now in a space resembling a living room, with a square wooden table and three chairs in the corner, covered in dust and cobwebs, looking like it hadn't been cleaned in a long time.

There is a closed door directly in front of the living room. According to the normal structure of this two-story wooden house, the door should lead to the bedroom.

After confirming that there was nothing else there, Richard recovered slightly and decided to open the bedroom door.

If I'm not mistaken, the thing that summoned him, or rather attracted him, should be in this bedroom.

"Click!"

Richard opened the door, and the instant it opened, he sent the vengeful spirit, Abomination, forward to enter the room ahead of time.

One second!

Two seconds!

Richard and Stephanie exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.

Surprisingly, nothing happened behind the door!

However, Richard and Stephanie remained very vigilant, as the ambush by the five evil spirits they had just encountered was similar, appearing suddenly without warning and catching them off guard.

This time, Stephanie followed closely behind Richard, her hands gripping Richard's wizard robes tightly, her whole body almost pressed against him.

The two stepped into the bedroom and found that it was a large room with a large bed, two wooden bedside tables, and a wardrobe. That was it.

No, there's more!

Richard was surprised to find an oil painting on the left wall.

Upon seeing the oil painting for the first time, Richard felt a strange stirring in his heart, as if the painting was the source that had summoned him to this place.

When Stephania saw her master staring blankly at the oil painting on the wall, she couldn't help but follow Richard's gaze.

The oil painting looked as if it had just been painted; there was absolutely no trace of dust on its surface.

The painting is unusual in its subject matter, depicting a black-robed figure wielding a bone staff, commanding various undead creatures and enemies in battle.

The man in the black robe had his back to them, so he had no face.

But when Stephania looked closely at the lifelike undead creatures, her heart skipped a beat.

By sheer coincidence, she was very familiar with these undead creatures!

Undead knights riding white bone horses, towering skeletons wielding giant axes or swords, undead far exceeding normal size, abominations, and wandering evil spirits.

She had just seen all of these things downstairs!

The next second, the black-robed figure in the painting suddenly turned around and looked at Richard and Stephena.

The people in the oil painting actually move?!

The black-robed figure's face, hidden beneath his hood, was a skeleton. The deep green ghostly fire seemed to possess an invisible power, completely captivating Richard and Stephanie's attention.

Suddenly, the two of them felt dizzy!

When the two looked around again, they found themselves no longer in the bedroom, but in a strange place.

The entire sky seemed to be shrouded in a thick layer of black smoke, making it impossible to see whether there was a moon or stars. A hundred meters away, there seemed to be a tower of white bones.

The tower is about ten meters tall and is made entirely of piled-up white bones. At the very top are a pair of giant arm bones placed in an X shape and a huge skull.

Judging from the size of the skull, this humanoid creature was probably seven or eight meters or even ten meters tall before it died, and was undoubtedly some kind of giant.

At this moment, where Richard and Stephena stood, there was a narrow cobblestone path leading to the tower of bones that shimmered with an intermittent light.

On both sides of the path are stone coffins that have been dug out. Some of the coffins are open and empty, while others are still tightly closed.

The fluctuations of dark elemental energy particles here far exceed those outside, reaching nearly 100%. Moreover, as Richard approaches the Bone Tower, he can sense that the activity level of these particles is further increasing.

"Master, look!" Stephania said, her gaze fixed on the direction of the Bone Tower as she tightly gripped Richard's hand.

Richard followed Stephena's gaze and saw many swaying figures around the distant bone tower. He looked closely and realized they were all kinds of undead creatures.

And the abomination they had wounded was there too.

Because of the swirling black smoke, it was difficult to see clearly even though the distance was only a hundred meters or so. However, judging from the other party's movements, they were fluid and natural, and it seemed that the damage Richard had caused to the other party earlier had no effect at all.

Does it absorb death energy and heal itself?

Seeing this, and recalling the strange environment he was in, Richard thought of an ancient term that had been passed down among necromancers.

"The Necromancer's Conversion Field!"

The Undead Conversion Field includes a dark canopy, a bone tower, and a tomb. Within its influence, all dead creatures can be converted into undead. The specific strength of the converted undead creature is determined by the level of the bone tower.

But judging from what Richard has seen so far, the bone tower here seems to be quite advanced, at least it can transform second-order creatures without any problem.

The technology related to the Necropolis, especially the construction technology of the Bone Tower, has long been lost. I never expected to see it here.

"Master, I feel like I've seen this scene in some ancient book before, but I can't quite remember it." Stephania frowned slightly, seemingly lost in thought, but quickly shook her head and said.

"If I'm not mistaken, this should be a necromancy conversion field," Richard said in a deep voice.

"What! That's right, the scene here is exactly like the description of the necromancy field." Stephania's beautiful eyes widened at first, but she understood the next second. This was exactly what the necromancy field built by the powerful necromancer in ancient times looked like.

"Master, could it be that this place was built by the legendary necromancer Rodrigo? But why would he build the necromancy conversion field here?" Stephania thought for a moment and then turned to ask.

Richard shook his head; he didn't know how to answer that question either.

"Click!"

Along the narrow cobblestone path, a stone coffin in a tomb suddenly shifted, and a skeletal hand emerged from the crack. Then, the coffin lid was pushed aside with great force, and a tall skeleton wielding a greatsword crawled out.

Richard immediately shielded Stephanie behind him, while simultaneously preparing for battle.

When it saw Richard and Stephena, the ghostly fire in its empty eye sockets flickered for a moment.

Then it strode forward and attacked the two of them.

"Death Ray!"

A black beam of light, as thick as a fist, shot out from the tip of Richard's right index finger, shattering all ten or so ribs on the greatsword skeleton's chest. The remaining black beam continued to shoot into the distance.

Unfortunately, the direction Richard's gaze was directed was precisely towards the location of the Bone Tower. The next second, the aftershocks of Richard's death ray caused a stir among the undead horde.

When did my death ray become so powerful?

Richard stared in disbelief at his fingers. Instantly, he realized that it was the extremely high concentration of dark elemental energy particles here that caused all his necromancy spells to be amplified.

"Oh no, Master, those undead creatures are coming!" Stephania, with her sharp eyes, spotted many undead creatures that had been near the Bone Tower. They noticed the commotion and began to approach.

"Not only that, look behind you!" Richard's face darkened. Having recovered from the powerful sorcery, he realized that he and Stephanie had been unknowingly surrounded by a number of undead creatures.

Although the numbers are small, the more commotion there is over time, the more undead creatures it will attract.

At this moment, in front of them were three greatsword skeletons and an abomination, while behind them were two evil spirits and a bone knight.

However, Richard and Stephanie were not flustered. Although this was the home ground of these undead creatures, it was also the home ground of them, the necromancers who mainly cultivated dark energy.

With his magical power greatly enhanced, Richard was confident he could handle the undead creatures before him.

"Slow spell!"

"Weakening Spell!"

"Shadow Grip!"

"Mental shock!"

"Death Ray!"

"."

Richard and Stephanie worked together, with Stephanie casting level-zero debuff spells, applying control spells such as Slow and Weakness to the undead creatures one by one.

At this moment, Richard was like a Gatling gun, firing death rays at an extremely high frequency.

The death ray, originally as thick as a thumb, became as thick as a fist, multiplying its damage to these undead creatures, essentially killing them in one shot!

Even the most formidable Bone Knight could only be unwillingly shattered into a pile of bones under three death rays!

In less than a minute, Richard had wiped out all eight or nine undead creatures in this batch.

"Gulp, gulp!"

As soon as the battle ended, Richard quickly downed a bottle of mental energy recovery potion.

"Here you go, Stephania! Have one too. Make sure you're in top form!"

Richard also handed Stephanie a bottle.

Judging from the rapid rise and fall of Stephania's breasts and the slight sheen of sweat on her forehead, it was clear that even as a support, her job was not as easy as one might imagine.

After all, casting so many spells would be a heavy mental burden for a level one wizard.

Clearly, if the two wanted to get closer to the Bone Tower, there was still a large number of undead creatures ahead that needed to be dealt with, and scattered undead creatures would occasionally appear behind them.

This is a protracted war!

Moreover, Richard had already guessed that the strange occurrences in the Silent Forest were likely caused by the leakage of energy from this necromantic conversion field.

Although the exact reason is still unclear, the necromancy conversion plant built within the oil painting secret realm leaked for some reason, causing a massive amount of dark elemental energy to seep out, resulting in a dark elemental energy concentration in the Silent Forest area that is much higher than in other areas.

Moreover, if this leakage is not contained, the affected area will become increasingly wider.

This is why the Wolf Tribe said that the previous forbidden area was not this wide.

But now, evil spirits have begun to appear sporadically along the banks of the River Lenne, and there is a continued trend of them spreading further outwards.

As for how these undead creatures, which should have been inside the undead conversion field, escaped, it's probably due to the same reason as the conversion field leak.

As for the reason?

Richard shook his head and stopped thinking about the question.

He still finds it difficult to comprehend the principles behind the power of the ancient necromancer. The mere fact that the entire undead conversion field could be embedded or transformed into a secret realm is beyond his comprehension.

As for where or why the leak occurred, he had no idea.

Richard led Stephena forward. To avoid being ambushed, Stephena summoned hundreds of Shadow Spiders to form a circle around herself and Richard.

Spider-Man in the Shadows is weak in combat, but he is very suitable as an informant.

With the warning from Spider-Man, the two of them immediately felt much more relaxed.

Besides serving as a warning system, Richard also had Stephena control these spiders to lure monsters.

After several attempts, the two became increasingly coordinated.

Gradually, the two of them cleaned up almost all the undead creatures near the Bone Tower.

At this point, the two were very close to the Tower of Bones.

A tall knight, whose body was clearly much larger than that of a typical bone knight, and whose skeletal warhorse itself was covered in black iron armor, was patrolling around the bone tower.

"Master, this seems to be an advanced version of the Black Knight and the Bone Knight. It's definitely a second-tier undead summon. We are probably no match for it," Stephania stated her assessment.

Just now, through the vision of the little spider in the shadow world, the mere sight of the other person made her heart pound with fear.

(End of this chapter)