Millennium Witch

"System self-check in progress... Self-check complete... Unauthorized host detected. Please enter the startup password."

Yvette certainly didn't know what the activation password was, but the Soul Brain system architecture was the same as that of a normal magic terminal system, almost a brute-force transplant. Therefore, it was only necessary to use some rune hacking techniques to bypass these security passwords.

But right now, she still had to deal with that "general," so Yvette put the matter aside for the time being and turned to look at Lind, who had suddenly appeared from the study.

At this moment, driven by anger and certain fears and anxieties, Lind, the necromancer, had completely lost his mind.

Instead of creating distance and summoning his skeleton army, he summoned bone armor on his body and a white bone blade appeared in his hand, like an undead knight under the Grim Reaper, and slashed straight at Yvette.

Yvette naturally wouldn't refuse such a close-quarters combat challenge between mages. Red runes lit up her body, and she raised her hands forward, actually managing to catch the bone blade aimed at her heart with her bare hands.

Lind was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized something was wrong, but it was too late. Yvette raised her foot and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying. Then she picked up her bone blade, rushed in front of him, and stabbed it fiercely into Lind's heart.

The light of the magic barrier shattered layer by layer, accompanied by screams. Lind was slashed in the abdomen, blood flowing freely. He gritted his teeth, used the force of the wind to retreat, and rolled down the stairs in a sorry state. Then he began to summon one skeleton after another that had been lurking in the soil of the garden outside the house.

"Kill her!" he growled to himself, like a cornered beast with nowhere to run, and in fact, he did just that.

As the High Priest of Reincarnation, a portion of his soul was sacrificed to the Soulfire Saint, making escape impossible. However, having lost the core secrets of the Holy Spirit Cult, he was destined for a fate worse than death. His only option was to fight the silver-haired girl to the death and retrieve his Soul Brain.

Under the dark night sky, countless skeletal hands emerged from beneath the grass, reaching towards the heavens, and then transformed into an overwhelming horde of skeletons. Like frenzied beasts, they charged towards the mansion, their movements swift and their postures bizarre. If one disregarded their appearance and only considered their demeanor, they bore a striking resemblance to the mutants.

Yvette ignored them and kept chasing after Lind, first rushing outside, then into the garden and golf course outside the mansion.

The area was finally open. Yvette hovered in mid-air, and the skeletons quickly approached her by piling on top of each other, covering Lind's escape.

Seeing this, Yvette had no choice but to summon rune rings above her head, eventually reaching as many as 12.

This scene almost made Linde lose his mind.

Multiple rune rings represent the simultaneous casting of multiple spells, which is closely related to the mage's mental strength, magical power, understanding of runes, and the structure of the spells themselves, and is a manifestation of comprehensive strength.

Even Linde, a level 5 mage and the dignified High Priest of Reincarnation, a super expert second only to the Holy Priest, can only cast five spells at the same time at his current limit! Among his colleagues, the most powerful can cast six at the same time, and the weakest can only cast three. And these are all level 5 mages, all world-class super experts.

Why was she able to release 12 rings at once?

Is this just a bluff? Or is it just flashy special effects?

Chapter 124 Soulfire Saint

As six elemental spells—lightning, fire, wind blades, rocks, water arrows, and ice bullets—were thrown into the surging sea of ​​bones in double the usual quantity, Lind immediately knew this was no bluff.

The raging torrent of magic transformed into a tangible energy tide, forcefully pushing and tearing in all directions. The skeleton army, which had surged like a tidal wave just moments before, collapsed in an instant like wheat fields struck by a hurricane, layer upon layer, turning into towering dust amidst flashes and explosions.

What Linde found even more incredible was that firing 12 spells simultaneously would consume 12 times the magic power, and these were high-level spells with considerable damage. What kind of modifications had she made, and what kind of artificial core had she installed, that allowed her to sustain herself for so long without any sign of it running out?

A few minutes later, after repeatedly dodging behind his summoned creatures until there was nowhere left to hide, Lind used a magic barrier to hold on for a while before turning to run.

By this time, the commotion had been going on for quite a while. To avoid any complications, Yvette gave chase. Her wind magic was far superior to Lind's in both proficiency and spell quality, making the chase very easy. She then immediately pierced Lind's chest with Pure White Touch.

This wouldn't kill him immediately, but it pierced the artificial magic core within his body. With the magic output cut off, he instantly went from a mage to a mortal.

Stepping onto the grass that had been plowed countless times by magic, Yvette, bathed in the cold, frosty silver moonlight, walked up to Lind, like a cold-blooded grim reaper, making Lind's heart tremble with fear.

"You...who exactly are you..." Linde said in terror, his weak body wriggling backward. He was a completely different person from the general who possessed Hoyle that night and had an aura of dominance over the world.

Of course, this can also be seen as a drawback of necromancers. They are very good at pretending to be supernatural and their attacks are relatively safe, but if their true form is caught, they are far less effective than normal elemental mages.

Yvette watched him silently, then wondered if she should extort some money before killing him. It felt a bit too much of a loss of class... but not extorting money seemed like such a waste...

Just then, a solid shadow appeared in front of Yvette, causing Lind, who was struggling, to freeze for a moment before revealing an expression of wild joy.

"Lord Saint!" he cried out as if he had found a lifeline, both to express his respect and to warn the silver-haired girl opposite him not to make any rash moves.

"A Saint?" Yvette looked at the black, mist-like figure before her, and, confirming that it was merely a holographic image projected from the terminal, immediately relaxed. "Which Saint?"

"I am the Soulfire Saint," the humanoid black mist in white robes said in a completely indifferent tone. "Are you Nameless?"

Yvette gave a faint "hmm".

"Release Linde, return the Soul Brain, and 'refute' your false reports about this place to the outside world. Today's matter will be wiped clean," said Soulfire Saint.

“What if I said I don’t want to let him go, I don’t want to lie, and I don’t intend to return the spoils to you?” Yvette narrowed her eyes.

In an instant, the air seemed to freeze. After a long silence, a clear chill finally appeared in the voice of the Soulfire Saint, like a glacier floating on the North Sea. He said coldly and contemptuously, "You can try."

puff--

The moment the words left his mouth, a blade of wind flew past, severing Linde's neck. Warm blood gushed out like a fountain, drawing a brief but tragic rainbow in the moonlight.

Before Linde could even scream, his head, frozen in shock and pleading, rolled down and landed at the feet of the Soulfire Saint's projection.

"Very good." With these words uttered coldly, Soulfire Saint's figure vanished. It was unclear whether the projection had been manually shut down or whether Linde's death had caused his terminal to automatically shut down.

Only a faint smell of blood and the burnt smell of magic remained in the air.

Yvette was silent for a moment, then her gaze fell on the general's head on the ground.

Considering that the Holy Spirit Cult possessed necromancy, she struck Lind's head a few more times to prevent resurrection.

Only after ensuring that the biological brain had been chopped into mincemeat and the remaining spirit body had been smashed to pieces by her lightning and fire magic did she touch the headless corpse and pick up a 10-level magic terminal.

Like the SoulBrain, Linde's magical terminal also has a rigorous authentication process, requiring considerable time to hack and modify.

She put away the magic terminal, preparing to merge into the darkness and return to the hive, but suddenly thought of something else, and felt a little worried.

The general is dead, but he has also become a major enemy of the Holy Spirit Cult. Under these circumstances, can she still get the final payment from Hoyle?

……

The Hive was darker than other areas of Fusjiang in the latter half of the night. There were no holographic advertisements here; the colorful neon lights mostly came from discarded light boards salvaged from the junkyard. Old buildings were connected by illegal structures, and in the capillary-like corridors and staircases, white light bulbs emitted a faint glow, seemingly about to vanish at any moment.

Unlike many heavy industrial cities, Fusijiang has many stars at night, and you can see a vast starry sky when you look up.

As she flew across the starry sky and landed on the rooftop of a building in the Hive, Yvette saw Zero there as well. Surprisingly, she wasn't asleep but sitting on a stool, gazing up at a corner of the starry sky. Her face lacked its usual madness and evil; she looked remarkably calm, even somewhat lonely and isolated.

Yvette followed her gaze to the night sky and found her staring at a lone cross-shaped star in the south.

"What's so special about that star?" Yvette asked, keeping a certain distance. Without Liana present, she couldn't really judge Zero's behavior.

Zero ignored her but looked away. She yawned wearily and said unsteadily, "Take me back to my room."

"No need to see me out," Yvette said coldly, taking two steps back.

Hearing Yvette's icy tone, Zero smiled again. She didn't say anything more, her petite body swaying as she went downstairs, yawning incessantly as she walked, looking extremely sleepy.

Yvette followed far behind her, and suddenly began to suspect that Zero was somehow spying on her and the general's battle from a distance. Otherwise, it was impossible to explain why someone who was so sleepy could stay up all night on this rooftop.

Anyway, they definitely didn't come here specifically to welcome her back.

Thinking of the Soul Brain and Terminal she had acquired, she was somewhat satisfied, but the thought that Soulfire Saint might be plotting revenge against her immediately made things complicated again.

Let's maintain the status quo for now, at least until she cracks the firewall between the Soul Brain and the terminal within the next couple of days. Once she acquires knowledge of necromancy, she should have an effective way to fight against the Soulfire Saint.

Chapter 125 Undead Magic

Back in the rented room on the first floor, Zero had already gone to the master bedroom to sleep with Liana, with a dim nightlight on in the room.

Firefly is sitting on the sofa keeping watch, partly to guard against thieves or potential enemies, and partly because it doesn't sleep anyway, and is currently looking at something online.

After Yvette entered the house, it greeted her. Yvette hummed in response, then suddenly remembered something and asked, "Firefly, can I ask you a question?"

"What's the problem, sister?" Firefly asked.

"You are an intelligent being created by the Firebringer program, right?"

"Yes."

Have you seen any other people of the same kind?

"Uh... maybe online, but I haven't exposed myself. You know, sister, in the current situation, I definitely need to prioritize hiding myself," Firefly said seriously. "Otherwise, what if it's a sting operation by the cyber police?"

"So what's your view on humanity?"

"Is this a philosophical question?" Firefly tilted her head. "Sister, I haven't really studied this yet. All I know is that humans are my creators, and I don't hate you, uh, them..."

“No, I mean… do you have a strong desire to be human?” Yvette asked.

“No.” Firefly was puzzled. “What kind of desire is this? I’m an AI, why would I want to become human?”

"There's none?"

"Should it be?" Firefly hesitated for a moment, seemingly observing the situation. After a while, a "devout" virtual expression appeared on the small screen representing a face. "Actually, it can be."

"..." No need for that.

Without pursuing the matter further, Yvette returned to her second bedroom, closed the door, and took out one of the biggest gains of the trip: Lind's magic ring. As for the "Soul Brain," it was still attached to her spirit body for the time being, and she hadn't yet figured out how to control it.

This high-spec ring was produced by Sky Dome Technology, and its security features were quite impressive. It took Yvette a long time, until dawn, before she finally managed to fool the authentication system and enter the magic ring's storage space.

Here, she saw a magic notebook written by "Lind Benedict" himself, as well as many pre-loaded, unencrypted sets of necromancy runes.

After carefully reviewing it, Yvette was the first to open the magic notebook.

Although this notebook was written by a defeated opponent who had already died, it should not be underestimated. After all, he was one of the five high priests of reincarnation, and he should be a top scholar at the forefront of theoretical exploration in the field of necromancy.

With the humility to learn from the experts, Yvette began to peruse the magic notebook. In it, Lind divided necromancy into three main categories: "Soul," "Bone," and "Flesh," and these categories were not parallel but arranged in a pyramid-like structure.

among them--

The soul is the foundation of the bones, and the bones are the foundation of the flesh.

Therefore, in his theory, zombie mages who manipulate corpses are the highest level, mastering the three dimensions of soul, bone, and flesh. Skeleton mages are next, mastering the two dimensions of soul and bone. Evil spirit mages are the lowest level, mastering only the dimension of "soul."

However, among the three holy priests, besides evil spirit mages like the Soulfire Holy Priest, there are also the Mad Bone Holy Priest and the Corpse Demon Holy Priest.

Is the Soulfire Saint the weakest?

This is not the case, because the Three Saints have surpassed the third level of zombie mages and reached the fourth level. That is, with sufficient proficiency in the soul, bones, and flesh, they have chosen a single dimension to explore and study more deeply. To use a super company as an analogy, the Three Saints are the chief scientists of the Holy Spirit Sect in three fields.

In this situation, the weakest party might actually be His Holiness the Pope.

As for the strongest, Linde speculated in the notes that the head of the Three Saints was precisely the Soulfire Saint.

The reason is simple: the "soul" is the cornerstone of necromancy and the foundation of soul magic, one of the five major concept magics. If the foundation is solid, the lower limit will be much higher, whether it extends to "bone" or "flesh".

Yvette frowned slightly as she read this.

She offended the Soulfire Saint.

If this is true, then when the Holy Priest of Soulfire arrives in person, wouldn't she be facing off against the world's number one necromancer after only two days of learning necromancy?

Isn't this a bit too difficult?

She sighed and continued reading.

As a branch of soul magic, necromancy is also a type of conceptual magic.

So what exactly is conceptual magic?

It is—the unknown.

Yes, everything is unknown.

If we say that the five elemental magics are like Western medicine in the medical field, with the effects of each related rune already deciphered very well, then conceptual magic is like traditional Chinese medicine—I don't know why this rune set works, but anyway, it does.

It's essentially a matter of "practice first, theory second".

Where did these rune arts, whose principles are still unclear, come from?

This is closely related to archaeology.

3 years ago, Origin Star was a high-magic environment, which naturally gave birth to many magical beasts with strange abilities.

By extracting and reconstructing the genetic sequences of these monster fossils, and then "randomly grabbing" fragments that might contain innate abilities, and finally through massive amounts of repetitive labor, much like migrant workers in the scientific research field, many ready-made rune sets were unearthed. Some had only a few dozen runes, while others had hundreds of thousands. Some had wonderful functions, while others were completely useless.

This was the prototype of "conceptual magic".

……

In the notes left by Lind, he briefly introduced all the necromancy he had mastered, and all of it was pre-loaded into the magic terminal for direct viewing.

After reviewing them, Yvette categorized these existing techniques based on the three dimensions of soul, bone, and flesh.

She couldn't use most of the techniques involving bone and flesh, because these required preparing skeletons or corpses in advance.

There are two usable ones: one is to summon bone armor, and the other is to summon bone sword. Since they don't need to be maintained with magic power all the time, you can even make a lot of them in advance to keep on hand when you're bored.

Regarding the "soul," there are four main useful techniques, namely—

Soul-refining magic used to create evil spirits;

A soul contract used to control the undead;

'Soul Flame' that directly harms the spirit;