Goddess Kaleidoscope

The moment his soul was invaded, Terlin's body trembled uncontrollably, as if he were having an epileptic seizure. The two death slaves guarding the side immediately stepped forward to hold him down, to prevent him from escaping the magic circle's range.

Dick was also being as careful as possible. Trin was not a magician and had not specifically studied meditation to enhance his mental strength, so his soul was just as fragile as that of most ordinary people.

It's true that it's easy to hack, but it can easily break down if you're not careful. Therefore, before he can find the information he wants, he has to make sure that Trilling isn't ruined.

Thanks to the fact that Trin himself is still alive, his soul is not a fragment but retains all his memories completely. However, this also makes the amount of information enormous, and it takes a long time and effort to search through.

For necromancers, the simplest way to steal a person's unspoken secret is to use a dead slave to enter a dream. However, the images in dreams are exaggerated and deviate significantly from reality. It is more accurate to directly extract the memory from the soul.

However, since the soul is a sacred realm that even gods cannot easily access, Dick can invade Trin's soul and look at everything at will. But once the two souls are separated, he cannot extract any information from the other's soul. This seems to be some kind of self-protection mechanism of the soul.

Therefore, Dick had to "cut" the part of the memory he wanted directly from Trilling's soul and make it his own.

That is why the act of stripping away one's soul must be done with caution. Only cut off the part that you need, and the less the better. Cutting off too much will cause an irreversible "pollution" to your soul.

He had made a similar mistake once before, this time with a wealthy businessman. Dick only wanted to know where the man's secret vault was, but he accidentally went a little too far and also took the man's obviously unusual penis. As a result, ever since then, he has often had sexual thoughts about older women.

The entire intrusion process would last a long time, during which Dick could not be disturbed. Therefore, the secret room alone could not reassure him, so he also released the dead slaves around him to keep watch.

Because undead creatures have no physical form, they can hide inside structures like walls and pillars, lurking in the shadows to spy on passing adventurers, and emerging when appropriate to scare away or lure away the living.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Navarro family's guards were hurrying through the maze-like corridors. Twenty minutes earlier, the local "saint" Lud had used divination to provide them with the approximate location of his young master, and indicated that Trin's current situation was precarious, seemingly trapped in some kind of danger.

So the captain immediately led his men off, and Lud, after learning that the enemy they might face was capable of commanding the undead, kindly lent them a magic lamp that could sense the presence of undead creatures.

The captain carried the old-fashioned oil lamp with its classic design. The dim yellow light flickered, but occasionally a bewitching blue light would appear.

Upon noticing the change in the lights, the captain's spirits lifted, indicating that there really were undead active nearby!

End of this chapter

The room containing the holy statue on the third floor of the labyrinth had been temporarily converted by Lud into a wounded shelter. Hume, who had gone out to scout ahead alone, had quietly returned to Lud's side and spoke in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

"Everything's arranged, what's next?"

"Do nothing, just watch the show."

The stage and the actors are all ready; all Lude has to do now is wait for the result.

Based on the intelligence obtained from previous contacts, the Black Hand Brotherhood, which worships the fake god of thieves, has multiple factions that are constantly at odds with each other, but the conflicts have always been kept under wraps and have not been brought into the open.

What Ludd needed to do was to ignite a fire within the Brotherhood, completely exacerbating their internal conflicts and forcing them to overturn the table and actually start a fight.

So it doesn't matter who wins or loses between Trillion and Dick; what matters most is that they actually fight! And the impact after the fight must be huge, ideally so that everyone in the kingdom, both the legitimate and criminal worlds, knows about it, making it impossible for those faction leaders to suppress the news or even try to bury it.

This is similar to how some internet celebrities' "fans" enthusiastically help their idols fight against the whole world; the basic tactics are pretty much the same.

All Lude has to do now is wait for the outcome.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Navarro family guards were getting closer and closer to the secret chamber where the necromancer Dick was. The captain's magic lamp had turned a completely eerie blue, indicating that the undead were nearby. The captain immediately signaled his men to halt, and they all pulled out holy water to buff their weapons. Some experienced veterans even held a mouthful of holy water in their mouths so they could spit it in the undead's face if they launched a surprise attack.

"Be careful, everyone. Undead have no physical form; they can hide inside floors and walls and launch surprise attacks from unexpected places. If you don't want to die without knowing why, you'd better be smart!"

A dozen guards led an equal number of adventurers. Under the captain's orders, the group formed groups of three to five and cautiously made their way forward.

Despite his seemingly calm and collected demeanor, the captain was actually quite nervous inside. He knew of the necromancer Dick's reputation; Dick was a high-ranking member of the Black Hand Brotherhood, a high-ranking officer second only to the elders, and certainly no ordinary person.

This guy's signature ability is to control the dead, so it's true that the other party is "one person," but no one knows how many ghosts are following him.

Soon, the group arrived at the area where the secret chamber was located. The seemingly endless corridor created a subtle sense of oppression, making them hesitant to proceed. In the end, the captain directly called upon two of his weakest subordinates to go ahead and scout the way.

As the group entered the corridor, they immediately sensed a change in atmosphere. The temperature in the corridor had dropped below freezing, and they could hear whispers that were hard to hear, making them feel uneasy.

"Watch out! It's the whispers of the dead! Be alert!"

Whispers of the dead are a form of harassing mental attack. The longer one is affected, the worse one's mental state becomes. In the short term, they can impair judgment, while in the long term, they can drive one into madness. They are particularly effective against those with weak wills.

Just then, a scream suddenly came from the very back of the group. A mercenary, who had walked too close to the wall, was scratched by a ghostly hand that suddenly appeared. The wound didn't seem deep, but it was visibly festering and oozing pus. He screamed in agony, clutching his injured leg and rolling on the ground.

The attacks from the undead continued to harass the team, and members were hit and injured one after another. Although none of the injuries were fatal, the shrill screams of the wounded and the strange wounds seriously affected the morale of the others, and fear unconsciously showed in the eyes of many people.

"Don't panic! Use holy water to treat the wounded. All of you, stay alert! Don't be afraid, the more afraid you are, the stronger those demons and monsters will become!"

Seeing the devastating blow the undead raid was inflicting on their morale, the captain knew that if things continued this way, the entire army would collapse. Not only would they fail to rescue the young master, but he and his brothers would also perish. So he reached into the waist pouch on his back, where he found several "weapons of mass destruction" that they had commissioned to be custom-made for the necromancer Dick.

"Everyone, move towards me!"

With a roar, the captain pulled a milky-white crystal ball from his waist pouch and slammed it to the ground. The moment the crystal ball shattered, a burst of intense, almost tangible, holy white light erupted out, instantly engulfing most of the corridor.

The intense light temporarily blinded everyone present, but the whispers that had been lingering in their ears disappeared, replaced by a horrific wail that was completely inhuman.

The Holy Hand Grenade is a wide-area magical artifact created by the Holy Church of Light specifically for purifying the undead. It is a rare item that money alone cannot guarantee you can buy. The Navarro family specifically used their connections to obtain one in order to deal with the necromancer.

If Terlin had carried one of these with him when he went down into the maze, he might not have been caught by the enemy.

The holy light lasted for a long time. When the intense light dissipated, everyone present was surprised to find that, with the disappearance of the undead, all the festering, oozing wounds on the wounded had also disappeared. They didn't know whether the holy light had healed them or whether everything they had seen before was just an illusion created by the undead.

However, before everyone could start cheering and celebrating, the howls of ghosts came from the front of the corridor again, and this time the momentum was extremely strong. Although it was still unclear what was rushing towards them, it gave people the feeling of a huge army.

The captain knew in his heart that what had just happened was merely an appetizer, and what was charging towards them now was the main event.

"Prepare for battle!"

Soon, the enemy rushing from the other end of the corridor appeared before them. It was an army of hundreds of monsters. Everywhere they looked, there were bizarre and grotesque demons and monsters, each with a hideous face that made them want to vomit just by looking at them.

Amidst howls and roars, humans and ghosts fought side by side.

To everyone's surprise, although the weapons coated with holy water still had an obvious restraining effect, the demons and monsters they fought were not undead without a physical body, but humanoid monsters with flesh and blood, some of which even held swords in their hands.

The two sides clashed in the narrow corridor. The humans had an individual advantage in combat, but the monsters outnumbered them by more than three times and were incredibly difficult to kill. Weapons coated with holy water could have sliced ​​the monsters to pieces like butter with a hot knife, but they would quickly regenerate.

Faced with such a formidable and unreasonable opponent, humanity was forced into a bitter struggle.

End of this chapter

Faced with an almost endless army of monsters, the adventurers were blocked in the corridor, unable to advance even a single step. Furthermore, as time passed, the human forces, due to exhaustion and the increasing number of wounded, were slowly showing signs of weakness.

However, at that moment, a wail suddenly came from behind the army of ghosts. Then, hundreds of ghosts seemed to be frozen in place, their movements stopped abruptly, and then, to everyone's astonishment, they turned into ashes like Spider-Man.

It was only then that the captain of the guard noticed that each of the ghosts was connected to a wrinkled tube, like an umbilical cord, extending into the shadows at the back of the corridor. He then realized that the ghostly things they were fighting were not the real undead.

After the ghost army disappeared, the survivors breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, a thin figure emerged from the shadows. The captain looked closely and realized that it was the old butler, Sajin, who had entered the maze with the young master.

The captain knew that the old man was a peerless master, and that his identity as a butler was just a cover, making him a guest of honor in the Navarro family.

However, this expert looked extremely disheveled, as if he had just experienced a fierce battle. His body was tattered and he leaned against the wall, looking exhausted.

Seeing this, the captain quickly took out the high-end recovery medicine they had bought from the local church and handed it to the old steward to take.

"Sir, where is the young master?"

"We've been captured! The necromancer ambushed us. I was careless and didn't have time to escape..."

The old butler took the medicine from the captain and drank it all in one gulp. He immediately felt much better, but he was far from fully recovered.

Realizing his physical condition, the old man understood that it wasn't the medicine that was ineffective, but rather that his body was nearing its limit. At his age and in his current physical state, he was no longer suited to participate in high-intensity battles like he had in his youth, and the recovery medicine could only help him to this extent.

After successfully reuniting with the captain of the guard, the old butler briefly explained their previous encounter: the necromancer had ambushed them, and the old butler had been dragged into a non-buoyant pool by several undead slaves. He tricked his opponents by holding his breath and pretending to be dead, and then climbed up the pool wall from underwater.

Based on the old butler's judgment, the necromancer kidnapped Trin because he wanted to extract the secrets of the Navarro family from his mind. Therefore, at least for the time being, the young master should be safe, but if it dragged on for too long, things might change.

Years ago, before the relationship between the Navarro family and the necromancer Dick deteriorated to its current state, the two sides had cooperated. Therefore, the old butler had witnessed the other party's methods and knew that there were techniques in necromancy that could directly extract memories from the souls of the living, and those whose memories were extracted would invariably become idiots afterward.

If the young master really turned into that, he might as well be dead!

Fortunately, the old butler had a backup plan. In order to deal with unexpected situations such as "the young master going missing after visiting a prostitute", the old butler had secretly made a "mark" on Terlin beforehand - a colorless and odorless tracking potion.

This potion was made from a type of wild bee queen, which humans couldn't detect any odor from, but it could attract drones of the same species. Fortunately, the old steward had the insect-rearing jar containing live drones in his backpack when he was attacked, which prevented it from falling into the water with him.

The old butler, who had climbed out of the pool, first released a drone to guide him, leading him to the corridor where he discovered a fat, swollen, obese dead slave. This monster could spit out hundreds of smaller monsters to fight, but each monster was connected to its mother.

So the old steward, who had crept up quietly, launched a sneak attack from behind the fat monster, instantly killing the dead slave with a dagger coated in holy water, thus relieving the guards from their predicament.

Meanwhile, inside the secret chamber, the necromancer Dick sensed the deaths of two high-ranking undead slaves. With his spell at a crucial stage, he couldn't help but feel a little panicked.

The two high-ranking undead slaves who were killed, one named Wraith and the other Devourer, were assigned by Dick to guard both ends of the corridor. The former's abilities were demonic sound interference and phantom pain, while the latter could devour other undead and turn them into part of himself for combat.

Normally, with just those two guys' abilities and their presence on the perimeter, ordinary adventurers would be virtually helpless against them. But what they couldn't withstand was the Navarro family's guards and the still-alive old butler coming to their door. The vengeful fly was blasted to ashes by the holy grenade, and the Devourer was also defeated by the old butler.

Dick now only has four high-ranking death slaves guarding him. Although he is not without the ability to fight, he no longer has an absolute advantage.

After much deliberation, Dick realized that the most important thing right now was to buy time so he could complete the spell and break free from this confinement. Therefore, a relatively safe approach was to send his remaining four high-ranking undead slaves out to fight one by one, stalling for as much time as possible.

The reason Dick chose this seemingly irrational piecemeal tactic instead of sending all four Death Slaves out at once for a desperate gamble was mainly because the holy light impact of the previous wave of Holy Grenades made him hesitant to act rashly. He didn't know that the enemy didn't have a second one, and if they did, and he sent all four high-level Death Slaves out at once, then everything would be over.

Left with no other choice, Dick had to settle for second best.

High-ranking undead slaves are all undead with special abilities; only one in hundreds of undead can be captured. Dick has been digging up graves for over a decade and has only managed to capture seven. Including "Big Head," who was defeated and went missing on the second level, Dick has already lost three in the maze, and he's heartbroken!

"Siren, you go first and keep them out of the door."

At Dick's command, a ghost that was clearly a drowned ghoul crawled out of the chamber like a mudflat crocodile. Of the remaining four dead slaves, it was the weakest, so he sent it out first.

The siren was a drowned female sorceress whose power was to "drag people into the water." As long as there was a puddle under your feet, even if it was only shallow and less than a centimeter deep, the siren could grab your ankle and drag you in to drown.

This ability to ambush and launch surprise attacks is very strong, but the siren herself is very weak and extremely afraid of fire, so her actual combat strength is not as strong as the other three.

Outside the secret room, using the drones' tracking abilities, the old butler and the captain of the guards had discovered that there might be a secret room in the corridor. They were carefully examining the walls on both sides, looking for traces of mechanisms.

Just then, a scream suddenly came from not far away. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw an unbelievable scene.

End of this chapter

The environment on the third level of the maze was not only cold, but also very damp. There was water on the ground in many areas, but it was mostly shallow puddles that would only wet the soles of your shoes if you stepped in.

But just now, everyone present witnessed a guard suddenly sink into a puddle without warning as he stepped across it.

The guard's scream was cut short, barely audible.

Everyone who witnessed this scene was utterly astonished. Several adventurers who were relatively close cautiously poked at the small puddle, which was less than half a square meter in size and less than a centimeter deep, with their weapons. Yet, a living person sank into it and disappeared without a trace.

The old steward frowned, knowing that this must be the work of a high-ranking dead slave, while the captain of the guard looked solemnly at the magic lamp hanging on his waist, which had not reacted at all when the attack occurred.

"Attention everyone! Stay away from puddles!"

Hearing the captain's loud reminder, the group, still in shock, snapped out of their daze and quickly moved away from all the waterlogged areas around them.