Witch Troupe and the Undead

The only way is to remove the barrier and then use wind to disperse the fog. However, this is an option that cannot be chosen. Regardless of the purpose of the person or being that created the fog, if it is something the other party wants to do, then it is best not to do it according to their wishes.

"What about toxicity?"

"There is a slight reaction to life magic, the presence of tiny life forms, which may lead to lung or respiratory system infections." Because of the existence of a legitimate Church of Death and autopsies, this world's understanding of human organs and the circulatory system is similar to that of modern Earth. The Church of Death disposes of some of the deceased's internal organs through special rituals to prevent the body from resurrecting (similar to Egyptian mummification).

Of course, their understanding of diseases and medicine is another matter entirely. After all, the Egyptians, who were also accustomed to removing the internal organs of corpses for rituals, did not develop any particularly brilliant medical achievements. Compared to the bizarre situation of Europeans at the same time, who believed that human lungs had five lobes and were like a dog's, they at least knew what lungs and the respiratory system were.

"So that means it has a slight toxicity?"

“More like the miasma of the Great Swamp,” Elena said hesitantly. This conclusion was not rigorous, after all, she did not know what those tiny life forms were. Life-type mages could sense faint life force reactions in empty water and air through modern improved rituals, which meant that there were some tiny life forms that were invisible to the naked eye.

However, what exactly it is remains unknown. The only thing known so far is that symptoms such as fever and ulceration are related to these tiny lives. But we don’t know what to do about it, since the “purest” “clean space” created by the life system laboratory can still absorb life magic when the intensity of the ritual is increased.

Of course, this is good news for the occultists of life, as it means they can cast spells even in deserts, barren mountains, and underground through ritual modifications, only with slower and less magical energy gathering.

However, for a witch like Elena, this meant a major failure of her research, especially since she couldn't understand why traces of life magic could still be detected in a place that had been cleansed with death magic several times. This meant that tiny life forms that even death magic couldn't kill existed.

"So, there's a possibility of it triggering a plague?" Marcus automatically filtered out Elena's technical terms and went straight to the point.

“If this continues, there is a high probability of it happening.” Elena nodded. “As for a solution, I don’t have one here. I don’t know which master has completed the ‘Life Vacuum’ project yet, so it’s impossible to safely expel these tiny life forms.”

"Even the magic of death won't work?"

"No, even if you infuse a sealed container with death magic, there will still be tiny traces of life, and it will quickly return to normal as soon as it is connected to the outside world." A completely sterile space is almost impossible on Earth, just like a complete vacuum.

"Moreover, it's actually a good thing that this is just a plague..." With such strong hellish magical properties, not a single demon appeared, only this miasma and fog that seemed like the prelude to a plague. Who would believe that this was just an ordinary plague event in the end?

Although the plague was a nightmare for a city with a permanent population of over 20, it seemed rather childish compared to the traces of this hellish magic.

"Be vigilant. The capital cannot be permanently closed." Although the city has enough food reserves to sustain a siege for more than a year, that is only for the soldiers defending the city, not for everyone to have food.

In reality, the academy only provided temporary shelter and cooking stoves for the nearby citizens who fled into the academy; no food was provided, and they ate the food they brought themselves. The east wing of the academy dormitories, which students were not allowed to enter, was the residence of the professors. The refugee citizens did not venture into the central courtyard; most of them concentrated in the foreground yard and the underground experimental area.

"These are signs of a rift in hell. The other side has borrowed the power of a hellish demon god, attempting to tear open a rift leading to a certain level of hell," Old Ma said solemnly. "I don't know how mortals got involved with demon gods, but even the faintest attention from a demon god is enough to tear apart the barrier between the mortal realm and hell."

Hellish demons can freely tear apart the barriers of the mortal realm to interfere with reality, depending on whether they want to do so. However, most of the time, hellish demons have little interest in reality and will certainly not tear apart barriers.

For them, who are in the "incubation" stage, every bit of power they consume represents the stability of their future divine throne. Unless there is a great enough benefit or advantage, the Hell Gods are the most stingy beings in the world.

"As false gods and near-gods, their power is infinitely close to that of true gods, but they do not have the characteristic of true gods that their power is self-contained and does not actually consume."

Of course, the power of true gods is not actually consumed, which means that they cannot really distribute their power to believers at will like demon gods or great demons. So-called divine grace is just the power of faith processed by divine power, not true divine power. True divine power is something that mortals simply cannot withstand.

Even the so-called "saints" and "favored ones" only possess the power to invoke divine power on behalf of others, rather than actually having extraordinary divine power infused into their bodies.

“Most typically, true gods have their own divine kingdoms in which they possess the power to create, while neither the chosen ones nor the saints have a domain that belongs solely to them, nor can they create anything that truly and permanently exists.” Old Ma explained the difference between the two and the essence of the so-called divine power, in order to explain why it is almost impossible for the demon gods of hell to expend their own power to do such a thing.

"But regardless, there are indeed demons tearing open the rift and expending their own power in the process?"

"That's why I can't understand!" Tearing apart the barrier of reality isn't difficult for a demon god, but that doesn't mean the process consumes little power. In fact, the consumption is enormous for a demon god, unless it no longer wants to ascend to the throne...

"It means it has something it's determined to get, and that thing is enough to make up for all the losses..." So, everyone looked at the little witch. What did that short guy Yagami call her back then? The Immature One?

"Then, if a being that is also close to a god, like a demon god, were to be devoured, would that mean..."

"You mean the young lady's situation?" Old Ma also fell silent. Livia's special magic did indeed seem very similar to true divine power.

The most typical example is that the beings she activates with soul fragments will exist and grow for a long time, which is very similar to the process of gods creating things. Of course, it is only similar. Those things do not have complete independent souls. As long as the little witch wants, they will immediately return to a dead state.

If it is a creation of a true god, even the god who created this race cannot reverse this outcome, nor can he cause the entire race to perish instantly. Otherwise, the Night Clan should have been wiped out when the Night God was trapped.

"It's possible..." Old Ma couldn't deny that such a possibility existed, and the possibility was even quite high. As for why the Hell Demon God could sense Livia, it wasn't surprising.

It's possible that a follower of his faith conveyed some kind of message, or it could simply be that during the summoning ritual, some traces of the past were leaked from this place. Even if it's faint, it's enough for these pseudo-god-level beings to determine where it came from and what kind of being it is.

"However, the other party cannot enter in person. Not to mention that the gods of the present world still exist, the Holy Lord's cathedral alone could serve as a place for some kind of incarnation. Demon gods are extremely cunning and cautious beings. They seek the throne and creation power of the new world, but if the losses far outweigh the gains, they will give up."

"So, this was a test?"

"Yes, it's a test. I estimate it won't tear open the deep hellish rifts, but rather the shallow ones, allowing those free hellish creatures (not demons) to scout ahead. It will only provide a little power to strengthen these creatures or to direct the greater demons of the shallow realm. This is more cost-effective than tearing it open itself."

Although it also requires a permanent drain on power, it is much cheaper than personally tearing the veil and sending those beings from the future divine realm and divine kingdom structure within one's own domain. It is perfectly sufficient as a mere test.

"So, this demon god's purpose is to test the strength of the real world's defenses? And Livia's condition?" Roach concluded.

“Yes, the first thing is to determine the reaction speed of the gods here, and what kind of gods are coming. This shouldn’t be a big problem for us…” Black Horse looked at the divine artifact that Roach had placed on the weapon rack. The other party’s choice to cautiously probe was probably also due to this reason.

Although Roach and Livia showed little respect for the Goddess of Night, daring to call her a flat-chested dwarf, they weren't killed on the spot by the goddess, which shows that the Goddess of Night's "all-encompassing" domain power is truly genuine—if it were someone with a narrow mind, like the God of Sky and Storms, divine punishment would probably have been the end of the story.

However, the Goddess of Night is truly one of the most powerful among the gods. Just look at the style of her chosen ones and saints; they don't even need weapons, they can beat people to death with their fists alone. This shows what kind of style or combat power this goddess has among the righteous gods.

"Among the gods, at least two will respond." One is the Holy Lord. That big ball of light is also very powerful, but its power is different from that of the Night God. The latter is powerful on its own, while the former has very powerful subordinates. What do you think those thousands of battle angels in the Holy Land of Light are for?

If the Goddess of Night is like an assassin or warrior, then the Lord of Light is the commander. Whether he can fight or not is not important; the key is whether you can defeat the angel legion he commands.

"Even in the worst-case scenario, if this demon god dares to take action himself, he'll be ganged up on by two other gods?"

"Yes, so it will absolutely not take action itself..." These two are definitely not ordinary hellish demons that can defeat them. Even if they could... as long as their divine throne doesn't waver, they'll go back and return in a hundred years or so. And you? Did you see the foundation you built, painstakingly fought your way down from the layers of hell over tens or even hundreds of thousands of years? Snap! It's gone!

As for whether you still have a chance to return to the position of Demon God, Old Ma said the chances are slim, because those who have fallen from the position of Demon God are a perfect feast for those Great Demon Lords, especially those Great Demon Lords who want to go further!

"At the very least, the Dream Lady of the Dream Realm is a lord who is very eager to improve." This means that as long as this demon god is defeated and sent to or above the Dream Realm, then... there's no need to worry about him making a comeback; he won't be able to get past the Dream Lady.

"The second is to determine whether the young lady or something it is interested in is here, and whether it is under the protection of the gods."

"If not, then we can command those great demons and shallow demons to come over. If it succeeds, everyone will be happy. If it fails, we will only lose some power. There will be a loss, but it won't be a huge loss, at least not if we don't use our own domain structure and familiars."

"Then why does this Hell Rift have the aura of a demon god?" Alessina asked. Since the other party didn't want to intervene directly, why would there be the aura of a demon god on it? "It's simple... Once the rift opens, all the demons and monsters of Hell will come. If a lord like Lady Meng, who hopes to make progress, discovers the young lady... then it might not be able to get its hands on her."

"Old Ma said that this aura is a mark, meaning that this matter was planned by the demon god from the deep realm. If other demon lords do not want to die, it is best not to get involved casually. At the same time, it is also a signal to those demons driven by the demon god, so that they will not go to the wrong place by going through the wrong rift.

Meanwhile, deep within the sewers, flesh and blood spread along the waterways, frantically swallowing the pervasive mist and then exhaling even more mist, like chimneys made of flesh and blood. And deep within the thick smoke, scarlet flesh and blood hung down little by little from the vaulted ceiling of the sewers, with countless fleshy pods suspended from them.

"Snap!" One of the pods shattered, and a bloody, mangled mess fell to the ground. It looked like a pea pod with legs, its body completely encased in a pinkish membrane, with only its legs protruding. (Reference: Classic Silent Hill monster form)

However, the membrane was quickly torn off, and the blood-covered man coughed as he ripped the remaining membrane off his body. "What happened to me..." His memory stopped when he was drunk and found a leather coat by the river.

A cold wind blew, and the mist swirled and dispersed. In his eyes, a long wooden table appeared before him, on which were placed three weapons and a piece of clothing. A blurry-faced statue of a god watched him from the end of the table.

"I...I want to leave here." The man staggered toward the door, ignoring the weapons and clothes, but after only a few steps he heard a muffled whisper, like the indistinct voice of some kind of monster.

He pushed open the door, and three creatures covered in fleshy growths stood in a corner of the tunnel. A horrifying, putrid liquid flowed through the tunnel. The creatures seemed to have noticed him and rushed towards him frantically, holding some kind of spike aloft.

"Bang!" The man slammed the door shut. Hearing the sound of the other party hitting the door, he breathed a slight sigh of relief. Then he looked at the weapons on the table, decisively picked up a longsword, and wrapped the leather jacket that seemed to offer some protection around his body.

"Bang!" The door was smashed open, and the monster let out a sharp scream before fleeing backward, seemingly frightened by the huge statue inside the room. The man then lowered his weapon, but soon, more monsters surged into the room. He found no other way out; it seemed he could only fight his way through these monsters.

The obsession with "going home" filled his mind, leaving him no time to pay attention to those bizarre details. However, having willpower is a good thing, but it doesn't mean he has the fighting ability. After he cut down a monster, he was pierced by it and then ignited by a fireball it threw.

When she awoke once again from the intense agony of being burned to death, she was back in the room where she had started, with a withered flower bud in the spot where she had appeared.

Some time later, the Royal Guard received a report from a squad that had gone to the sewers to clear out any monsters that might be present and to investigate. They encountered an unusual enemy down there.

"That thing was like a person, wrapped in some kind of robe made of human skin, holding a weapon made of flesh and bone. It killed Pete as soon as it came, but luckily our mage burned it to death."

"Is it human?"

"At least from the facial features and head, it is human, but the rest of the body..." That's too bizarre. The clothes are made of flesh and human skin, with distorted faces on them. The person is holding a one-handed sword, but it is made of the spine of some kind of creature. The handguard is even shaped like the jawbone of a young child. The blade is covered with a large number of writhing blood vessels and chunks of flesh. Just looking at it is terrifying.

The only saving grace was that the opponent seemed to have no combat skills and was simply swinging his sword. After the initial fear, he was blocked by the spear, and then the mage burned him to ashes with a fireball.

"Moreover, the room was completely filled with a mixture of flesh and blood, and there were also a lot of pod-like things... However, I didn't see any trace of demons."

“No, that flesh and blood itself is a demon…” the priest who had been listening nearby said in a deep voice, “A demonic construct, we’re in big trouble…”

"Simulated Demon?"

"If you've heard of the 'Bloody Night' that happened in the city-state of Bray on the northern continent, the spoofing demon absorbs humans and other intelligent beings as templates to create countless replicas. Each replica believes itself to be unique, and when a replica dies, it reclaims the replica's memories and injects them into the next replica."

For the being being copied, it's like constantly dying and being reborn. The priest's expression was extremely serious, even bordering on fear.

"The replicas' senses are completely distorted. The spoofing demon implants certain suggestions into them, further confusing their perception, thus creating a cult that worships itself, providing it with more flesh sacrifices and replica samples. The replicas created by the spoofing demon believe they are worshipping a true god, an being with the miraculous power of resurrection." "Then, that city-state in the end…"

"In the end, it was destroyed. Almost every local believed it was some kind of miracle, a miracle of resurrection. Then the entire city-state fell into a vortex of craving flesh and blood and hunting normal people who were monsters in their eyes... But the simulacrum did this not for fun. After obtaining enough samples and flesh, it would recycle these replicas, eventually turning them into a huge mountain of flesh."

The final solution was the conventional one: the Earth Goddess's priest sealed it deep underground at a great cost.

"Even now, the earth has not completely digested that lump of stuff. What is growing on the ground now are completely mutated flesh and blood structures." It is also a place on the continent that is on the same level as the living forest - the perilous "Flesh and Blood Plain".

The ground is covered with trees made of flesh and bones, and the blood-red weeds stretch as far as the eye can see. The creatures that eat these things are twisted and mutated into monsters. Unlike other dangerous places, these fleshy structures will expand outwards without stopping, posing a continuous threat to the nearby city-states.

However, according to the priest's understanding, this process is actually the Earth Goddess gradually eliminating the simulated demons. She uses plants and the earth to absorb their magic and mutated flesh, transforming them into these demons, which are then killed and burned by humans, gradually becoming harmless. It's just that how long this process will take is hard to say.

"Although the simulated demon itself is not a powerful demon, once it grows to its limit... it becomes a kind of existence that even the gods would find difficult to deal with."

"The church..." The pastor finally heard the words he had been waiting for, "However, fortunately or unfortunately, the Holy Lord is the only effective remedy for this kind of thing!"

Putting aside the effects of the Holy Flame Special Attack, the fact that this kind of legion-to-legion bombardment is what the Holy Lord excels at is that he can use the Divine Descent Technique to summon a battle angel and a projection of the Holy Legion from the Sanctuary, and wipe out the simulated demons and clones in no time.

However, such matters also require a certain rate of return. The cathedral can use divine intervention, but the cost is very high, so... naturally, the royal family or the empire needs to make some kind of promise or concession.

This does not affect their divine grace and doctrine. After all, it is perfectly reasonable and normal to discuss the issues of food and supplies, as well as the command of the war zone, when it comes to legions.

Chapter 363 We can only talk about five yuan.

The descent of the gods is an extremely complex and massive ritual that requires genuine communication with the divine to create physical bodies in the mortal realm for beings from various divine realms, including angels. Therefore, it is also known as the "incarnation ritual."

In ancient times, so-called saints and saints were specially selected and cultivated as mediums for divine descent, creating physical bodies to support these supernatural spirits. In modern times, alchemy has been able to create substitutes to a certain extent.

However, this alternative can currently only serve as a medium for the descent of some lower-ranking divine messengers. Therefore, if one wants to summon the angel legion, one must prepare a body that can accommodate a battle angel, as well as a large number of synthetic bodies that serve as lower-ranking units of the angel legion.

Moreover, the situation needs to be urgent enough to attract the arrival of such a combat force. After all, it's not like you can call for a combined arms brigade's cannon fodder to provide emergency support just because you've encountered a bunch of petty thieves.

“Until the great demons of Hell directly intervene or the simulated demons reach a certain threshold, even performing a divine descent ritual will be of no use and will only waste our only chance to seek help.” Unlike the priests of the Holy City, the priests of the Horse-Headed Sect did not speak in riddles, but directly and honestly explained the requirements of the divine descent ritual. “Therefore, the Church can only provide normal level of reinforcements, and suitable holy vessels are not so easy to find.”

"So, in other words, at present, we can only rely on the power of mortals to deal with this crisis?" The emperor stroked his chin, not surprised at all, and even felt relieved. Gods, as the ultimate protector of all calamities, can give people a lot of confidence, but it is difficult for a secular ruler to accept that gods and these charlatans who claim to be gods' agents and servants should be involved in everything.

"How is the Knights' Order and the Adventurers' Guild making progress on cleaning the sewers?"

"We have cut off several sewer access areas in the noble district, and the academy has also cut off its own sewer area. The current condition of these areas is relatively ideal, and no signs of artificial demons have been found. However, the situation in other areas, especially the southern city, is very bad."

According to the adventurers' reports, the underground is completely covered in flesh and blood. They burn it once, and it will soon regenerate. There is currently almost no good way to deal with it. What's worse, the adventurers have observed a large number of flesh pods filled with living people appearing in this flesh and blood.

"The academy is closest to the simulated demon, and the situation there may not be optimistic..."

"Oh?"

"The academy's barrier does not include the underground sewers, and it shelters a large number of residents. To put it bluntly, the academy provides a large amount of 'food' and 'raw materials' for the monstrous beings. Furthermore, the academy is primarily composed of spellcasters and lacks sufficient warriors."

Although the students from the academy performed well in the previous sewer cleanup, clearing out monsters and cultists is a completely different matter from fighting a real legion of hellish demons.

"Moreover, based on the level of demonic aura detected by the Stargazing Tower, the simulated demons may not be the only demons that have been teleported here. There may be other great demons observing from behind the scenes. If we deploy too many troops, it is very likely to attract those great demons."

"Even if the divine descent is ready by then..." What the palace minister didn't say was that if a legion of battle angels and a legion of great demons wreaked havoc in the capital, the empire would have to consider relocating the capital, and the entire city would definitely be reduced to ruins.

"Sigh~" The emperor felt a headache coming on. However, in his eyes, this was a pure natural disaster. He couldn't get angry or blame anyone for his headache. He could only try his best to mobilize the power at his disposal to weaken the simulated demon as much as possible.

The academy's underground experimental area, now abandoned. This location is situated at the junction of the academy's underground experiments and underground labyrinth, and is also the biggest weak point in the entire academy's defense system.

“The underground labyrinth area existed before the academy was established. You should know that this building wasn’t originally used by the magic academy, right?” Ms. Elena held up a torch, illuminating the ancient and mottled stone walls around her. The huge door was tightly closed in front of her, and the chains on it were almost completely rusted.

Beyond the main gate lies the abandoned section of the underground experimental area, which used to be some of the academy's research sites. After these experimental sites were moved outside the city, they were abandoned and are now used as a refugee camp and a place to store spare equipment and supplies.

"This is the entrance to the old labyrinth. No one knows who built it or what their purpose was, but one thing is certain: the upper level of the labyrinth is connected to the capital's sewer network and the academy's sewer system."

Many cities in this world were built on layers of ancient ruins and facilities, so it's perfectly normal for ruins and labyrinths to exist underground.

"So?" Livia touched the relief on the gate and looked at Elena with some curiosity. The latter said helplessly, "Fighting in such a narrow place is not suitable for me, and the academy can't just leave this place unattended. So, I can only ask you for help here, Miss Livia."

"Seal?" The little witch pondered for a few seconds before rejecting the idea. The artificial demon was not something she could seal, or rather, she was not good at sealing magic, at least not as good as other spells.

“Besides the simulated demons, the underground labyrinth itself is also a very dangerous thing. Therefore, the monsters inside may provide enough growth materials for the simulated demons…” Elena’s meaning was obviously not just sealing them away, but that they needed to go in and clear out the monsters to prevent the simulated demons from obtaining enough materials. If they encountered any parts that connected to the underground waterways, they should seal them off.

"Don't worry, you won't have to do the work yourself. You just need to mark these locations, and the academy's engineering mage team will take care of setting up the barriers."

"This kind of work is usually done by adventurers on a regular basis, but now... However, there are also some retired adventurers among those seeking refuge. If you need anything..."

"Let's forget it. Miss isn't very good at dealing with strangers," Roach said, indicating there was no need for it. Besides, Livia seemed somewhat interested in this job, since there was an unfamiliar maze down there. Not only was Livia interested in mazes, but Roach was also quite interested.

"It's best not to be too reckless. Just mark the areas connecting the pipe networks. The academy doesn't have detailed information about what's deep in the lower levels of the labyrinth," Elena cautioned. Using a witch and her guard for this task would be a waste of talent if it weren't for the threat of the simulated demons, but sending a witch into the lower levels of the labyrinth is a completely risky undertaking.

“We’re not that reckless, and besides…” Roach glanced at the little witch’s thin arms and legs, who was already eager to try, “the young lady’s physical abilities probably don’t support her grand plan.”

"Thump!" The staff struck Roach hard on the back of the head, seemingly very dissatisfied with his assessment.

"If there are any other needs..."

“Call a group of students down to guard the area around the gate and gradually establish an advance camp. This will benefit them. Besides, we can’t clear out all the monsters in the maze on our own.”

"That's what I was thinking too." The witch led the way to explore, then marked safe areas. Students and combat-capable citizens then entered to establish camps, using these nodes as the core to clear out nearby monsters and repair and block maze paths to prevent the tentacles of the simulated demons from reaching into the academy's barrier from these places.

However, since the experts all need to be concentrated in the magic towers on the surface to maintain the barrier of the entire capital, there are not many people available. Otherwise, Elena would not have set her sights on Livia and the others.

“However, there’s no need to rush this. We need to make some preparations. In fact, everyone needs to make some preparations.” Roach glanced at the abandoned section of space. As a professional gravedigger, he knew that these things couldn’t be rushed. Equipment and logistics had to be prepared in advance.

Soon, the blacksmiths and other craftsmen who served the academy arrived at an abandoned experimental hall inside the abandoned section and began to set up various equipment and necessary facilities. These included alchemy mixing workbenches, forging furnaces, arcane furnaces, and enchanting workbenches for making various magical items, as well as a field kitchen for producing dry rations and necessary food supplies.