Chapter 2: The Ninth Circle Warlock

  The scenes that emerged in his mind were interrupted by the sound of wolfing down food.

  Following the sound of wolf-like devouring, Luo Wei found that the five civilians who were originally standing still had all knelt down and were gnawing at the intestines of the deceased spirit sorcerer's apprentice like beasts.

  Having lost control of the lich's apprentice, the civilian zombies were left with only their ravenous stomachs and the instinct to choose their prey.

  And smelling the bloody smell that came rushing, and looking at those intestines caught in the hands of the civilian zombies, Luo Wei's first reaction was not disgust, but... delicious! I want to eat!

  "Hoo-ah! Hoo... Aargh!"

  Ruo Wei let out a strange cry, although he originally wanted to say: "Get lost! All of you get lost!"

  Perhaps they understood the corpse's rebuke, or perhaps they feared that Luo Wei was a stronger undead mage than themselves. The four civilian zombies retreated to the side with bloodstains on their hands and faces.

  Finally, the strong zombie stood up but didn't retreat. It loomed over the corpse of the necromancer's apprentice, letting out a low, menacing growl towards Rove.

  As the undead apprentice of a necromancer who had been killed to death said, zombies below the lord class are actually "brainless fools" by human standards, but even brainless fools have strengths and weaknesses, as well as classes.

  So this sturdy commoner zombie apparently didn't think it should obey Rovy's will.

  A fierce anger suddenly ignited in Luo Wei's heart, because of this provocative demonstration, he absolutely - could not accept!

  Rovin's eyes glowed with a faint dark green light due to his anger, and he raised his right hand, spreading his five fingers towards the sturdy civilian zombie.

  The next moment, the sturdy civilian zombie's body shook violently and fell straight onto the lich wizard apprentice's body. A small cluster of dark green gas was forcibly pulled out from its seven orifices, then floated straight into Lovi's right hand as if being pulled by an invisible force.

  Soul Fire!

  This is a soul fire more delicious than flesh and blood!

  Almost before he could react, Luo Wei opened his mouth and bit down on that ball of soul fire!

  With a sucking sound, the dark green soul fire was all sucked into his belly.

  The tongue's desire had reached its maximum satisfaction, a feeling of fullness that arose from the deepest part of his soul, making Luo Wei feel so comfortable he almost let out a moan.

  The intense pleasure finally passed, and Luo Wei suddenly woke up with a start - damn it! What the hell did I just do?

  Luoyi was terrified, for since he smelled the scent of flesh and blood, what dominated his actions was no longer his own will, but instinct - the zombie's strong preying on the weak instinct! The zombie's devouring the living instinct!

  Accepting the transformation into a zombie doesn't mean Luo Wei will be like ordinary zombies, driven by instinct to prey on the flesh and blood of the living!

  Luo Wei fell silent, he didn't want to be a cannibal zombie that everyone shouted at, but also wanted to have the power of self-preservation.

  What is the source of zombie's power?

  It's very simple: the power of zombies comes from two paths - either devouring the flesh and blood of the living, or swallowing the soul fire of their fellow undead.

  It was a difficult choice, and either option would make one feel queasy, but Luo Wei knew he had to make a decision, otherwise his fate would be sealed the moment he encountered another necromancer apprentice - he would either become an undead servant or a sacrificial offering.

  So in the end, Luo Wei made a decision that wasn't too difficult, he decided to hunt down and devour the soul fire of his zombie peers until he became the Zombie Overlord.

  Zombies above the rank of Zombie Lord have no problem with speaking or eating cooked food, and as long as they don't encounter those Demon-Slaying Divine Warriors, they can blend in with the human world without being discovered by ordinary people, provided they are smart enough.

  This "help tip" naturally does not belong to Luo Wei himself, but is a residual memory of the zombie body.

  And this also made Luo Wei feel more and more that the zombie body he was occupying must have been an undead warlock in life, rather than an ice elemental affinity.

  But this inference was only a faint bubble in Rowling's soul, and it was thrown into the deep Mariana Trench on the far side of the bit, because he now has more important things to deal with.

  "At least, hunting down zombie-like creatures for their soul fire isn't as nauseating as feeding on the flesh and blood of the living."

  Looking down at the overlapping corpses of wizard apprentices and sturdy civilian zombies, Luo Wei said to himself with a sneer.

  Actually, Luo Wei didn't mention another important reason for making this decision: the feeling of devouring the soul fire was really... very cool!

  Having made up his mind, Luo Wei no longer lingered in front of the two corpses stacked together, but instead took a hesitant step towards one side of the cemetery.

  As Luo Wei walked away, the four civilian zombies who had been forced to stop eating due to Luo Wei's rebuke earlier rushed back to the "food" that was about to cool down at the fastest speed.

  The sound of wolves howling and swallowing each other rose again.

  After the four civilian zombies finished eating one after another, the corpse of the lich apprentice had already been reduced to half, while the originally rotten bodies of the four civilian zombies had all recovered more or less. However, the new growths on their bodies - those knotted clusters of greyish-white rotting flesh - were truly shocking at first sight.

  At this time, in the process of eating by ordinary zombies, Luo Wei came back far away. He let out a low growl with a snort towards the four full-bellied ordinary zombies.

  Four civilian zombies turned northwest in unison, then walked out of the cemetery with a swaying gait, one foot high and one foot low. They could not resist Luo Wei's low growl command, because Luo Wei used the undead spell - Dark Law on them.

  Yes, Luo Wei just now was intentionally walking away, he didn't want to see the disgusting scene of zombies eating flesh and blood.

  But during this time, Luo Wei didn't idle around doing nothing. Instead, he carefully studied the generous gift from the Lich Apprentice - the Lich's Notebook.

  Ruo Wei originally wanted to focus on studying corpse refinement, but in the end, what attracted most of his attention was the ghost offering.

  "Just send the seven undead creatures under new control into the sacrificial magic array and sacrifice them all to the Lord of Decay, then you will definitely get various 'rewards' bestowed by the Lord of Decay. The sacrificer may even directly possess the power of a 9-ring lich wizard that can challenge the gods due to the rewards!"

  The apprentice of the necromancer wrote this in his notes, saying it with certainty.

  Luo Wei was very excited, but he couldn't carry out the Spirit Sacrifice now because the little magic in his body had almost been consumed.

  So at this moment, Luo Wei could only rely on the newly learned "Darkness Command" that consumed little magic power to drive out four ordinary civilian zombies from the tomb area. He needed to find a safer hiding place.

  ……

  About half an hour after the Lich drove out of the graveyard, four night walkers wearing black cloaks walked into the graveyard from the direction of the mountain and easily found the corpse of the devoured undead apprentice wizard and the strong civilian zombie corpse that had been knocked over beside it.

  "He's a necromancer apprentice, looks like he was trying to sneakily summon spirits in the graveyard, but it seems he got... ambushed. So, after struggling to kill this zombie next to him, he got devoured by the other zombies that swarmed him."

  A slender figure with pointed ears protruding from the sides of its hood, a nightwalker carefully examined the scene before speaking in a clear voice.

  "Looks like another undead wizard has attacked his fellow... This is going to be tough, I'm just a shield warrior who's good at close combat..."

  Another deep male voice sounded, and judging from his tone, the speaker shouldn't be that old.

  "Let's just give up on this task!" A third voice rose, a somewhat unsteady duck-like quack: "See, I told you so! I said it from the start. The Undead Plague never breaks out on its own, there must be an Undead Sorcerer hiding in that mine. And we're all just newbies on our first mission, I don't want to die in some godforsaken rural mine and end up as a filthy, stinking zombie."

  "Don't worry, Harg. What you're worried about won't happen at all. So, Ophina, just hurry up and continue the investigation! Have you guys forgotten? I'm a Second Circle Holy Light Mage who specializes in taking down undead!"

  The last night walker also spoke up, but it was a young female voice full of masculine energy.

  "Although it's said that... well, dawn is approaching, why don't we go investigate around the mining village and then make further plans at noon? I've heard that spirits are weakest at noon."

  The partially changed voice of Gander Haggard spoke again and suggested.

  "I agree, anyway those undead can't run away, let's wait until we're well-prepared and then go kill them, it'll be more reassuring."

  A deep male voice responded at the first time.

  "Alright then, let's head to the village and rest until noon, then we'll make a concerted effort to charge into that Nefrayer Mine and wipe out all those zombies!"

  That young female voice full of masculinity finally chose to accept her companions' opinions.

  "Hey guys, I think you should come take a look at this tombstone."

  That nocturnal traveler named Ophina crouched in front of a fragmentary tombstone, saying to her companions without looking back.

  "Even if everyone else has abandoned you, at least here someone still remembers that you once were... our pride. Grey Month Calendar 2733 - Grey Month Calendar 2770... why is there no name on the tomb?"

  The faded words on the tombstone caught the eyes of the night walkers, so Gudok the Great loudly read out.

  "The epitaph in front doesn't matter, the important thing is behind." Ophina, who had already moved to the back of the tombstone, stroked the nine-layered snake-shaped ring with a coiled snake pattern on the upper right side, which was difficult to notice if not touched by hand, and said: "Here, a deceased spirit sorcerer of the ninth rank is buried!"

  "Impossible! The 9th rank undead necromancer is a big shot who can summon bone dragons, and any country's king must personally welcome him wherever he goes. How could he possibly be sleeping in this rural graveyard? This is a joke, an absolutely terrible joke! Hmm... even if it really was the 9th rank undead necromancer, over 30 years would have been enough time for him to rot into bone dust!"

  Gong Ya's Hag suddenly took a cold breath and then let out a string of exclamations.

  "Unfortunately, Harg, the 9th circle lich has even become a powerful... 9th circle skull mage after being revived." Fiona said, standing up and pointing at the empty grave behind the tombstone, revealing the investigation information that none of the four mercenaries wanted to hear.

  So, after a long silence, the young woman's voice filled with masculinity finally spoke up: "Whether it's a joke or not, our original plan must be terminated and we must return to Bannaham immediately. Hopefully, there is a top-tier mercenary who can kill the 9-ring lich wizard and take on this task to let this desecrated corpse of the 9-ring undead wizard rest in peace forever."

  "Even if someone takes over, it will be at least seven days later, so I especially dislike the isolated mountainous areas far away from the city."

  The duck's quacking Hag seems to like picking up the conversation.