Chapter 268: Feign Death and the High Priest

The chaos deep underground intensified.

The four necromancers saw that Ansu and his companion were actually releasing the prisoners on a large scale, and they couldn't control the situation for a moment, making them panic.

"Quick! Get them back immediately!"

"Otherwise, when Teacher sees this, he won't forgive us!!"

One of them urgently waved his staff and chanted a spell.

【Mass Fear】

Invisible mental fluctuations spread like a plague, and those affected instantly had their pupils dilate, clutching their heads and letting out heart-piercing screams.

Some cried and convulsed, while others collapsed directly to the ground, unable to move at all.

But even so, they could not control the massive plaza.

Gunshots rang out, bone cages were smashed one after another, and more and more prisoners escaped.

Ansu watched the crowd fleeing outward.

He saw Freya turn her head with effort to look back at him before being swallowed by the surging crowd and disappearing into the tunnel.

Ansu thought back to the words he had just said and felt strangely... like he had raised quite a few flags before the little Holy Maiden left?

It reminded him of the trip to the ancient ruins and the "last words" he had said to the witch...

Even his subsequent actions were exactly the same.

Ansu gave a helpless twitch of his lips, used Shadow Stealth amid the chaos, and his figure vanished.

He then found a pile of corpses, picked a good spot for himself, lay down on it, and closed his eyes.

【Feign Death (3rd Circle necromancy magic)】

【Puts the target into a state of feigned death.】

【Any physical examination or magical detection will show the target as dead. The target is blinded and incapacitated during this period, lasting for 12 hours.】

Ansu's heart stopped beating, and all vital signs vanished.

But his consciousness remained. He felt as if his soul had been pulled from his body, floating in mid-air, quietly sensing everything around him.

For this reason, his field of vision was unexpectedly broad.

Ansu saw the four necromancers searching through the crowd in frustration, and he saw undead creatures dragging wailing prisoners back...

He just lay there, silently observing.

About fifteen minutes later.

A ring of eerie blue light lit up beside the altar.

In the glow of Teleportation, the wolfgar high priest rushed back.

The moment he saw the high priest appear, Ansu was incredibly surprised.

It wasn't because of the other party's identity, but because he couldn't see that face clearly at all.

The face seemed to be shrouded in a layer of invisible mist, leaving him with only a few simple characteristics: the person was very old, had a hunched figure, held a twisted bone staff, and held the title of 'high priest'...

This feeling of not being able to see clearly... reminded him of Leo.

To this day, he couldn't recall Leo's specific appearance, only remembering that he had short hair, was a swordsman, was sincere, and had a bright smile—all conceptual 'labels'...

Suppressing the various wonders in his heart, Ansu continued to observe.

The four necromancers immediately went to meet the newcomer, bowing their heads respectfully.

"Teacher."

The high priest scanned the messy plaza gloomily, his voice raspy and piercing. "What happened?"

The students reported tremblingly, but before they could finish, they were met with a torrent of verbal abuse.

"Useless! A bunch of useless fools! What use are you?"

The bone staff slammed heavily onto the ground, causing gravel to fly.

"Get them back immediately! Or else I'll turn you into materials as well!" The high priest's voice was cold like a venomous snake. "Don't forget the fate of your two senior brothers!"

The students turned pale and nodded repeatedly. "Yes! Yes!"

Over the next while.

Many of the escaped prisoners were captured and brought back by the undead creatures on the plaza, with screams and cries echoing one after another.

The high priest scanned the corpses scattered around with a gloomy gaze, his eyes passing over the pile of corpses where Ansu lay, but he didn't stop.

A moment later, his eyes flashed, and he turned toward the alchemy table.

A giant magic crystal ball flickered with eerie light, and an image suddenly appeared.

A deep voice came through, questioning him: "Gulzan, what's going on on your end? Scouts found many escaped prisoners!"

The high priest said calmly, "It's nothing. Two troublemakers got in. It's a bit of a hassle, but they won't escape."

"Are you sure?" The image on the crystal ball shook constantly, and a large number of wolf cavalry and 【Underworld Bone Puppet】 units could be seen conquering territory amidst soaring flames.

"Have you forgotten where this is?" The high priest sneered. "Until everything is finished, no one can leave."

The person on the other end of the crystal ball seemed to be the leader of the wolfgar tribe. He fell silent for a moment before asking again,

"I received intelligence that the mana in the 'boundary' area has been very unstable with huge fluctuations. This indicates that someone from the outside has been trying to force their way in..."

"Is that a problem? Gulzan, will this affect the battle?"

The high priest curled his lips into a smirk, his tone filled with arrogant confidence. "Don't worry. Unless the opponent has reached the demigod realm, no one can break into my..."

He paused, then said slowly with a smile,

"My divine realm."

Hearing this, Ansu's thoughts were slightly shaken.

Divine realm?

You want to become a god too?

The high priest continued, "Just go and fight. No outsiders will interfere with you. As I said, in this special domain, no one leaves, and no one enters."

"I know that..." The leader on the other end nodded, not delving into the high priest's term 'divine realm', or perhaps he didn't know the principle of this special domain.

"Thanks to this shielding, there's no interference from those human lords in the northern border, allowing me to pick off the weak targets among the Talin demihuman tribes one by one..."

"But..."

He thought for a moment, his tone carrying a hint of hesitation.

"Gulzan, I'm finding what you're doing harder and harder to understand."

"Why have you repeatedly spared those Stayas? With the undead army under your command, you could have flattened Elvin Village that night."

The high priest said calmly, "That is not for you to worry about."

"But that Chosen is also in there. It's said he's quite capable and shouldn't be underestimated..."

"I know." The high priest interrupted him. "You need not worry; everything is under control."

The other end of the crystal ball went silent again for a moment.

"Fine..."

Before disconnecting, the wolfgar leader's voice became serious. "But I hope you remember, if this matter is botched, Barcas will not let either of us go!"

With those words, the light of the giant crystal ball gradually faded.

The high priest narrowed his eyes slightly and snorted coldly.

"Barcas? Hmph!"

He turned around and looked at his busy students.

"When the plan succeeds, and when my divine realm truly descends! Even Barcas will have to kneel and submit to me!"

The students all had strong survival instincts and immediately stopped what they were doing, putting on flattering smiles and fawning over their teacher.

The high priest smiled faintly. Then, his gaze on the crystal ball became exceptionally focused.

The crystal ball began to flicker again.

Ansu observed closely and was surprised to find that the images flashing in the crystal ball were from many different perspectives.

There were militia squads on the road, fleeing crowds, and civilians crying in the ruins...

And they were all in the first-person perspective.

The high priest was using their eyes to search continuously...

One perspective was looking down at Leo from a close distance. Judging by the height, it should be the warrior Agger from the hero party.

All of their conversations were incredibly clear.

The high priest watched for a while and suddenly asked, "By the way, have those two, Isera's daughter and the mage Morris, been caught?"

Several students answered,

"Teacher... not yet."

"Useless!" The high priest looked at the crystal ball in annoyance again. "Do I have to do it myself?"

Subsequently, the next perspective in the crystal ball switched to the team member at the rear.

The one after that was likely an ordinary Staya civilian in the migration group.

One after another, countless perspectives flowed rapidly before the high priest's eyes... their dialogues, actions, and everything they saw and heard were captured and filtered by him.

Ansu suddenly realized—

If this truly was the high priest's "divine realm," then every perspective here belonged to a "believer."

Every believer would become his eyes.

Finally, the perspective reached the area southwest of the cave entrance. Freya led the escaped demihumans out of the cave and met up with Archbishop Paul and the others.

"Found one."

The high priest sneered and continued searching.

The perspectives of the demihumans who had scrambled to escape switched one by one, and the images could even be traced back to see the source of the chaos ten minutes ago.

From their eyes, he saw the chaotic plaza and the smashed bone cages...

In the perspective of the last demihuman, he saw Ansu's figure disappear into the shadows.

Then, a "new corpse" appeared in the pile of bodies.

The high priest's movements stopped.

The image in the crystal ball froze on a young male corpse lying in a pile of bodies, covered in blood, not much different from the other corpses.

But the high priest's gaze was locked onto that corpse.

His lips slowly curled into a bizarre smile.

"Found you..."

It turned out that the mage Morris was hiding right near him.

"Come out!"