This necromancer is going to seduce the beautiful girls who are already dead.

"I won't drink! Get out!" Larry was so scared he jumped up and down.

David didn't speak, but judging from his furrowed brows and pale lips, he probably wasn't very interested in tasting the drinking water from this novice couple.

At that moment, a figure broke through the air and arrived; it was Gleinick, who had gone to investigate the situation.

"Finally back! That dawdling pointy-eared fellow!" Bono, who was sitting on the ground waiting for the antidote, saw the figure, breathed a sigh of relief, and cursed.

To everyone's surprise, Greinek returned with no smile on his face. Before he even landed, he shouted at the three necromancers below, "No! Their leader must be a high-level shadow demon with incredible stealth abilities! I can't find it at all! Retreat! We'll just have to be punished!"

"Damn it!" Davidz finally couldn't hold back and cursed.

If they retreat this time, not only will they gain no merit, but they will also face punishment from the Council of Elders for failing to fulfill their responsibilities. This high-level exchange is no ordinary facility; the items inside are extremely valuable. If it is destroyed by the Shadow Demons, the compensation they will have to pay will likely leave them starving for a long time.

"Wait! Master!" Abis suddenly shouted, "I have a way!"

"What can you do!" Bono roared. "Give your polluted water to the Shadow Demons to drink?"

Larry immediately retorted, "Shadow Demons can drink contaminated water, don't you even have that basic common sense..."

"Shut up, Larry! There's no other way anyway, let's hear what these two youngsters have to say!" Gleinick stopped Larry's foul mouth in time.

Davidz turned to look at Abis and Sofia, wondering what these two idiots, who couldn't even tell the difference between water and water, were up to.

“We have studied the habits of the Shadow Demons! The leader who commands them must be hiding among them—look, isn’t that swarm of demons forming a vortex shape? The leader is usually at the edge of this vortex, and based on our research over the past few days, it must be hiding near the crack in the sky!” Abyss said calmly, pointing at the swarm of Shadow Demons.

“Vortex…” Gleinick paused for a moment.

“I don’t trust them!” Bono said coldly.

"No! I think we can give it a try!" Gleinick said, then stepped off on his bone spear. "You three hold on a little longer! I'm going to check on things!"

Chapter 298 Operation Success

Gleinick wasn't blindly trusting Abyss's deduction; rather, he had already noticed the vortex of shadow demons while observing them.

It is well known that lower-level Shadow Demons are commanded by higher-level Shadow Demons. Therefore, when a large group of Shadow Demons charges simultaneously, they do not blindly rush forward like frightened wild beasts—on the contrary, these monsters are orderly and under the absolute command of the higher-level Shadow Demons. In some recorded large-scale battles, the Council of the Dead has also observed that these monsters even have a certain formation when attacking, and can greatly amplify their aggression by relying on a reasonable formation.

The large vortex had puzzled Gleinick before. He focused his attention on the center of the vortex, only to find that the shadow demons at the center were just ordinary low-level shadow demons. He couldn't find the guy who was commanding these minions at all.

Abyss's words reminded Glenik of a place he had previously overlooked—the edge of the vortex.

He naturally looked towards the center, since in his mind, the boss should stand in the middle, surrounded by subordinates. Even if this boss was a little timid, he should still stand at the back of the group.

However, these shadow demons are not creatures of this world, and their behavior cannot be understood using existing logic.

Gleinik didn't become the Sorcerer Supreme through sheer stubbornness. The moment the Abyss reminded him, he immediately realized that a high-ranking shadow demon might indeed be lurking there.

With that thought in mind, Gleinick had already flown from the location of the exchange to the vicinity of the Shadow Demons.

Some flying shadow demons flew over to attack him, but he instantly froze them with powerful ice magic, then dispatched them with a magical shockwave. After dealing with these disruptive forces, Grenique turned his attention back to the vortex mentioned by the Abyss.

The rift in the heavens was now in the northwest, so Gleinich looked toward the edge of the vortex in the northwest.

"There really is one!?" He had just searched inside and saw a shadow demon that looked different from the others.

It was quite short, only about two meters tall, which was easily overlooked among the shadow demons that averaged three or four meters in height. Agilely dodging the iron hooves of other shadow demons, it was covered in exquisitely crafted black mud armor, and its eyes gleamed with a cunning light. Glein had flown over as cautiously as possible, but the moment he saw the high-ranking shadow demon, the creature also turned its gaze upon him.

It was discovered!

It was probably too late for Gleinick to find a way to hide again, as the Shadow Demon's eyesight was far superior to his.

So, he gritted his teeth and launched a direct attack on the high-level shadow demon.

Grenique is a necromancer of the Bone School, but as a Sorcerer Supreme, he naturally possesses unique strengths. While proficient in bone magic, he is also quite familiar with elemental magic.

He chanted an incantation, and a large number of bone spears materialized around him, each wreathed in dazzling lightning. This was a special spell he treasured.

"go with!"

With a shout, the bone spears surrounding him shot out, each one aimed straight at the high-level shadow demon.

Several enormous shadow demons, covered in hard shells, immediately stood in front of the high-level shadow demon, protecting it behind them.

"Hmph, you think I'm joking with you? Underestimating my magic?" Gleinick narrowed his eyes, a smile appearing on his lips.

Swish swish!

The bone spear easily pierced the bodies of the large shadow demons blocking its path, and the lightning swirling around it did not explode under Grenique's control.

Then, almost simultaneously, the bone spear struck the high-level shadow demon.

"burst!"

Gleinick clenched his fist suddenly.

Rumble!

The bone spear, containing a massive amount of magical power, exploded under his remote control, and lightning bolts as thick as an adult's waist scattered in all directions, illuminating the entire area.

The raging magic instantly tore apart all the shadow demons within a radius of several dozen meters. Hundreds of low-level shadow demons didn't even have time to utter a mournful cry before turning to dust and merging into the ground. The high-level shadow demon was also killed in this attack.

Grenique's attack was swift enough, and he dared to instantly deplete his magic power, disregarding the few seconds of weakness that would follow. The attack was extremely effective; the high-level shadow demon, who had intended to flee, was instantly pulverized by the blow.

With their leader gone, the other shadow demons panicked. Their simple thought processes told them the mission had failed and they should retreat.

All the shadow demons turned back at the same time, fleeing in several directions.

……

"I'm exhausted!" Bono plopped down on the ground.

After drinking the contaminated water Sophia offered, Bono's stomach ached for a while, but the pain gradually subsided after drinking the potion, and he returned to the battle. Hearing Graynick suggest giving it a try, he and his three colleagues tried their best to hold on for a while longer, which left them all exhausted and weak.

"It actually worked..." Davits was so exhausted that he sat down, panting and wiping the sweat from his forehead, staring in disbelief at the fleeing shadow demons.

"We actually succeeded!" Gleinick flew back joyfully from the Shadow Demon's side. "The two juniors deserve a lot of credit!"

"The main credit should still go to us, right?" Larry, already exhausted, still managed a couple of sarcastic remarks. "If we hadn't been holding things up here, we wouldn't have had this opportunity."

"It's all thanks to the three masters, we won't take it," Sophia immediately said with a fawning smile and a wave of her hand.

“We’ve only done a small part of the work,” Abis nodded.

Larry was in a good mood after Sophia and Abis agreed with him: "...But I have to admit, your theories did have a little bit of an effect. Well done, well done."

"The Council of Elders should give us credit this time, right?" Bono's anger, which had been building up because of drinking the contaminated water, vanished without a trace. "I'm one step closer to joining the Council of Elders. Repelling such a large tide of Shadow Demons is definitely a feat worth boasting about."

"What are your names, you two?" Glein asked at this moment. "I remember that a member of the Intermediate Council was recently expelled for causing trouble, and I was planning to recommend one of you to join. You've done a really good job, and your research on the theory of Shadow Demons has been truly useful."

Chapter 299 Abyss's Provocation

As a senior councilor, Gleinike was qualified to recommend peripheral mages to the intermediate council. As long as the person he recommended was strong enough and possessed some commendable skills, there would be no problem. Currently, the intermediate council had a vacancy due to Macon's recent disturbance, so all of this was perfectly logical.

It's exactly the same as the Abyss plan.

Back in the junior exchange, Abyss had already been observing the necromancers of the Council of the Dead. Why was that ordinary staff member responsible for selling slaves, who wasn't intimidated by a mid-level councilor, so bold? It was because his master was a high-ranking councilor. His master had placed him in the exchange, in charge of the highest-paying yet least strenuous slave trade.

At the same time, this staff member did not shy away from revealing his backing, which fully proves that not all necromancers in the Council of the Dead are socially awkward shut-ins. Some of them are very willing to cultivate their own factions, and the Council of the Dead does not prohibit such behavior.

Therefore, the Abyss's plan came about: first, to trigger an attack by the Shadow Demons, and then to make the high-ranking councilors here struggle to hold on (he was not worried that the Shadow Demons would be unable to defeat the high-ranking councilors, because there were few people in the world who could easily stop such a large-scale attack). When they could no longer bear it, he would present his theory and let these people use his theory to break the deadlock, thus gaining their trust.

As for the Abyss's theory? Of course, it's false; it was all pre-arranged. The high-level Shadow Demons' positions within the battle formation are actually random in every attack. They don't care where they are; they only care about achieving their objective.

But as long as the Abyss can communicate with the Shadow Demon, he can temporarily make this theory a reality.

Having encountered someone as capable as Abis, these senior councilors wouldn't hesitate to write a letter of recommendation. Abis had also expressed a desire to join the intermediate council, so taking this opportunity to recruit a promising newcomer into their ranks, while claiming the lion's share of the credit, seemed like a win-win situation.

“Hey, I’ll write this letter of recommendation,” Bono said from the side. “Don’t you dislike communicating with humans? Writing and submitting letters of recommendation is such a hassle.”

Unlike the elves, Greinike lacked ambition. He decisively shook his head and said, "No, no, no, I also want to take this opportunity to improve my social skills. Bono, we've known each other for years, you wouldn't deny me this one chance, would you?"

“What are you arguing about? If you two are going to fight over this, I’ll just give it to you,” Davidz said.

Larry didn't try to compete for Abyss and Sophia, because he really was the kind of introverted guy who wasn't good at socializing. But he still kept talking: "How do you know these two youngsters are willing to follow you?"

“Then you two tell me, who do you want to be with? Once you’ve made your choice, we can write a letter of recommendation so that one of you can become a mid-level councilor,” Gleinike said, turning to Abis and Sophia.

This was not part of Abyss's plan. He hadn't expected that the three necromancers, unable to settle their differences, would simply pass this potentially offensive task to them.

Sofia wasn't very good at communicating with men to begin with, and she was already doing her best to keep up the act without giving herself away. After hearing what Gleinike said, she was even more at a loss for words.

"Abyss, what should we do? Who should we choose so as not to offend anyone? I don't know what to say!"

Abis glanced at Sophia and comforted her through their shared thoughts: "Don't worry, I'll handle it."

As he spoke, he turned to the three necromancers who seemed familiar with him but weren't actually particularly close, whom he wanted to recruit: "Masters, this is the first time we've met you three, and we don't know exactly how strong you are. For us, any letter of recommendation would be best—however, our necromancy school reveres power, so... I would like to take the liberty of requesting the strongest among you to write a letter of recommendation."

"You little brat, aren't you trying to sow discord between us?" Larry immediately sensed something was wrong.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal—what do you mean by sowing discord? Do we have to be afraid of that?” Bono interrupted Larry, who was always combative and naturally thought he was the strongest of the four. “Then I’ll reluctantly write this letter of recommendation for you. I can also protect you if anything happens in the future.”

“Your magic level is indeed the highest, but these two juniors are research talents. Is it a bit inappropriate to entrust them to you?” Davidz spoke up from the side. “When it comes to magical research, I am the strongest among us. If I were to protect them in the future, their achievements would be limitless.”

“You two certainly have your merits, but don’t forget there’s an elven mage here, you short-lived fools. I’ve lived much longer than you, and my experience is the real strength,” Greinek said slowly from the side.

“Oh, so now that we all have strengths to be proud of, who should take the strongest position?” Bono’s words were laced with hostility.

"Do you think we can separate today?" Davidz glanced at Bono indifferently, but his tone wasn't very happy.

All three were Supreme Masters, and each harbored a certain arrogance. Now, suddenly forced to compare themselves, none of them were willing to concede to the others. However, all three were highly skilled, and it was unlikely that they would come to blows over this matter.

“Since we can’t tell the difference, then forget it,” Gleinick said. “How about the three of us write a joint letter of recommendation, and see which of these two juniors chooses as their backer? How about that? Fair enough?”

"What about me?" Larry seemed a little unhappy about being excluded.

“Didn’t you never intend to write them recommendation letters in the first place?” Bono rolled his eyes at him.

"How do you know I don't want to write a letter of recommendation?" Larry sneered.

“Then the four of us can write it together, it makes no difference.” Glein shrugged.

The four necromancers got right to work. Davyz pulled out a piece of paper, and the four of them huddled together to discuss how to write the letter of recommendation.

“I thought they were going to fight,” Sophia said to Abis, watching them with a hint of regret.

Abis smiled slightly: "There's nothing to regret. I didn't do this to make them fight. I actually had another plan in mind..."

Chapter 300 Successful Advancement