When A Mage Revolts

The house was a structure of white bones, and looked quite similar to a simple thatched shack. The roof was made out of revenant remains, not unlike the skin of humans and beasts. The house had two entrances, but they were not structured like doors at all. Apparently, the civilization here was not advanced enough to develop the notion of privacy and personal space.

The walls of the house were not completely sealed up, therefore they were able to see the figure of the intelligent revenant from the outside looking in.

He sat in the middle of a table made out of corpses, motionless in its strange post. A few clumps of ashen white flames floated around him, looking evil and mysterious.

For some unknown reason, the mages, who were creeping closer, were immediately reminded of how they looked during their meditations.

"...The revenant might be meditating. This is a good opportunity." The male mage lowered his voice, muttering, "In such a state, its defense will be the most lax."

Miles did not respond, and only took out his dagger without a change in expression.

Their plan was simple. Miles was to dive in and attack the undead creature, killing it in one blow. If this revenant had thick skin and flesh, like some of the strange combinations of corpses they had met before, then the mages waiting outside would strike and blast it to death by using magic.

Basically, they were extremely confident in themselves. They somewhat believed that this fighting band comprising of the best dark mages and a legendary mercenary would still be a formidable force to reckon with, even if faced with the pope.

"The thirty fourth collection of revenant material… Begins!"

And so, with a string of quiet words, the mages hid behind a huge rock and used their spiritual energy to conjure up runes, preparing to strike at any time.

At the same time, Miles disappeared in a flash from everyone's view.

In the next second, he appeared inexplicably inside the white bone house.

Although the mages had fought shoulder to shoulder with him for a long time and were familiar with such a sight, but they still could not help but marvel in their hearts whenever they see it happen.

"How does he do it? If he wanted to kill any mage, he would be able to do it with barely any effort, wouldn't he?" The male mage thought in his heart.

He watched as Miles raised his dagger up high behind the revenant; the operation this time would surely come to an end here.

However…

Roar!

A low growl came out of nowhere, as an unknown energy spread through the entire forest, turning the atmosphere darker and stranger. In the white bone house, the unmoving revenant had suddenly disappeared from the table.

Miles' dagger plunged into nothing.

"...En?" He hurriedly pulled his dagger back and crouched down low, looking around with a confused and cautious expression as he tried to find out where the revenant was.

However, the entire house was now empty. Miles, and even the few mages outside with the wider view were unable to see where the revenant was.

Their hearts jumped at the same time.

Damn…

"Quickly, all of you, defense!"

As though remembering something, Miles, still in the house, suddenly turned his head and yelled. The mages immediately came back to their senses and realized the danger they were in. In the blink of an eye, flickering runes appeared within their pupils, and layers of colorful and different shields were soon erected by them.

The moment the shields were up, a few clumps of ashen white flames appeared and shot towards the mages!

With muffles clashes, the flames were blocked by the shields. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

The revenant, which had disappeared so suddenly, walked out from the shadows. Its rotting left hand was clutching on to a strange bone staff, and two blue flames were burning within the empty eye sockets, "staring" coldly at the mages who were hiding behind the giant rock. It was extremely horrific.

"It… It knew we were here all along?"

Seeing this, the male mage gulped, speaking in disbelief as his Adam's apple moved up and down.

"Obviously." Miles rushed out of the house at this moment, and came to the mages' side. "Be careful. We need to fight fast and end this fast. We cannot attract the other revenants here."

The second he had finished speaking, he rushed over once more, with his dagger raised.

Whoosh!

With a soft sound, the flashing dagger finally found its mark this time. Miles seemed to be moving beyond the limits of speed; the only thing everyone felt was a blur before their eyes, and there he was, having moved right in front of the revenant and plunging the dagger into the revenant's glabella.

There was a crack; the revenant's glabella, left with only bone, was broken through as the dagger disappeared completely into the white bone.

Everything around them seemed to fall silent.

"...Is it dead?" The male mage asked subconsciously, anxious and doubtful.

"No, not yet." However, a mage nearby suddenly came back to his senses, and pointed towards their shields, "Look… Even the fire has not been extinguished."

Stunned, the male mage turned his gaze towards the direction his companion was pointing at. He could see that although the few clumps of ashen white flames were being blocked by the elemental shields, but it seemed… There was no sign at all of the flames going out. Instead, they seemed to be burning brighter.

The mage inside the shield was visibly turning white.

"No, not good… It is burning my elements, the elements cannot stop them, it's becoming their fuel!" Very soon, he was exclaiming in shock.

As for Miles… The jawbone of the revenant, with a dagger stuck inside its glabella, suddenly began to move, emitting a strange, cackling laughter.

At that moment, Miles' expression changed, and instantly tried to pull the dagger out with force. However, the dagger seemed to have been sucked in by something. Even the superhuman strength supplied by the magic potions was not enough to pull it out!

Miles shifted his gaze to see the pair of flames in the revenant's eye sockets, about half a meter away from him, staring coldly at him in their own way. Every inch of the rotting skin and flesh on the revenant was clearly visible, and the stench of the corpse hit him directly in the face. He could even see the maggots worming in and out.

Nevertheless, these were the least of Miles' concerns.

"...What do you mean?"

He stared into the pair of flames inside the revenant's eye sockets, and spoke suddenly in a somewhat uncertain tone.

For some unknown reason, although he was completely unable to see any facial expressions or discern anything resembling an "emotion" within those flames, he had surprisingly felt some sort of emotion the moment he and the revenant made eye contact.

A surge of scornful, yet pitiful, emotion, was coming from the revenant.

Sensing danger instinctively, Miles suddenly loosened his grip and let go of the dagger, flashing away swiftly from the revenant and landed over ten meters away. In the next second, countless rotten vines suddenly emerged out from the surface of the ground, violently lashing about. The spot where they had surged out from was exactly the same spot Miles had just been standing on.