Eric glanced instinctively at the swaying mud—in the dark brown mud in the center of the tribal village, he saw several white things.
"This is……"
He was speechless for a moment.
human bones.
A twisted and deformed skull, an incomplete femur, and scattered ribs.
A vast quantity of bones was buried beneath the central land of this tribe—beneath the heart of Terasque. And it was definitely not just enough for one or two people. Dozens, hundreds… all of these bones emerged from the earth in response to the magic of the demi-humans.
This isn't a village square, it's a cemetery.
Like molten steel being poured into an invisible mold, these bones shaped themselves in the air, eventually coalescing into a definite form, even causing Eric to gasp in astonishment.
Before him stood a giant skeletal ape, a being comparable to the giant wolf Hayden had transformed into!
Admittedly, this giant skeletal ape was not made from the bones of a real ape god, but rather composed of the bones of hundreds of subhumans. However, it undoubtedly exudes the aura of the land god—the beast god!
Necromantic magic?
Hayden rubbed his chin with his wolf paw, lost in thought.
"...It doesn't seem like it."
Eric was even more bewildered than Hayden. He had thought he was going to fight the demi-human chieftain, but who would have expected his opponent to conjure up such a skeletal gorilla? He had been far too overconfident, not even bothering to take out his hammer beforehand!
Fortunately, this person always had the character to face difficulties head-on. In desperation, he gathered his spirit and mustered all his strength: "Alright! Then let's fight!"
A surge of willpower coursed through him, and lightning crackled across his body. In an instant, twelve iron runes, drawn by electromagnetic force, flew from Eric's black coat, swirling around him and converging on his raised right fist!
"This is a set of twelve lightning-forged runes, crafted under my master's guidance, capable of freely transforming and combining! Let's see if you, skeleton, can withstand the first blow!"
Twelve lightning-forged runes formed a massive iron fist on Eric's right hand. Without a word, he unleashed a punch!
The scene was like a mosquito flying towards a human. Yet, when Eric unleashed his thunderous fist, it was as if the mosquito had scattered the human, shattering the giant gorilla skeleton, which was several stories tall, into countless dust and bone fragments with a single punch!
"Huh? So easily defeated?"
Despite being unprepared, Eric still poured immense power into this attack. In his past mercenary work, he had used this lightning-forged rune to destroy houses with a single blow, its power akin to cannon fire; human bones would certainly be no match for it.
However, even though Eric didn't think this demi-human's magic was that powerful to begin with, seeing that it couldn't even withstand one of his attacks was still somewhat unexpected.
Even if these primitive people weren't anything special, they should at least have had the ability to capture Terasquith. How could they be so easily defeated?
Hayden, who was watching the battle from the back, raised his eyebrows and said calmly, "Eric, don't underestimate these people who have struggled and barely survived in the wilderness—this spell has only just begun."
what?
Upon hearing this, Eric immediately turned his head and saw that the scattered bone fragments had risen from the ground, dragging countless specks of dust, and that was not all.
"With our blood, flesh, and bones, we will construct the body of our divine ancestor!"
The demi-human chieftain pulled out a bone knife and, without saying a word, chopped off his own right hand!
This was completely unexpected for Hayden. He only realized what the chief was going to do at the last second, and there was no time to stop him—Hayden didn't want to eat the livers of the demi-humans, but he didn't expect that these demi-humans would chop off their own hands and mutilate themselves just for casually demonstrating magic!
The chief's severed right hand fell to the ground with a thud, its flesh and bones scattering onto the giant gorilla skeleton made of bones and dust.
Thus, the magical ritual of blood sacrifice was finally completed.
A plume of white steam rose from the bones, dust, and flesh. This white haze did not obscure Hayden and Eric's vision. Through the mist, they saw, almost horrified, flesh and fur rapidly growing from the massive gorilla skeleton…
—To form a living, towering chimpanzee beast god.
"Gaa ...
As the giant gorilla roared, the chief, who had chopped off his right hand, gritted his teeth and raised his left fist, waving it at Eric from a distance.
As soon as he made that move, the giant ape beast god immediately followed suit, also extending its left hand and clenching its fist, this time actually throwing a punch at Eric!
Eric quickly changed tactics, using his supernatural powers to defend himself, transforming the twelve lightning-forged runes from his gauntlets into a steel shield—however, this shield was shattered by the Beast God's punch!
He was, after all, a level-two enhanced human skilled in combat, and had even received guidance from Hayden. Hayden had taught him how to create those twelve lightning-forged runes. If this were ancient times, Eric would be a mythical hero with divine blood and the teachings of a sage, capable of slaying dragons, serpents, and monsters.
However, the beast god summoned by this demi-human chieftain through blood sacrifice was able to break through Eric's defenses built with runes in one blow!
Although Eric was not injured after barely blocking the blow, he was still terrified!
Hayden was equally stunned, never expecting such a sight.
Regardless, these demi-humans truly stole Terasque from the wasteland themselves, defeated it, and retrieved it. Therefore, Hayden knew they definitely had a powerful trump card—however, Hayden never expected it to be this!
"Resurrection spell!?"
That's just how crazy things are right now.
Meanwhile, the demi-human chieftain's situation was not so optimistic, and not only because he had chopped off his right hand. As the skeleton grew flesh and fur, transforming into a resurrected ape god, the chieftain's body rapidly deteriorated.
Not only did his face become withered, but as he made a fist-throwing gesture with his left hand, and the gorilla beast god followed suit, the chieftain's left arm immediately withered away. His once robust left arm now resembled a shriveled, dry twig, as if all the muscle had evaporated into thin air.
Hayden immediately realized that this was clearly a sacrifice as well—just to get this gorilla beast god to throw a punch, an arm had to be offered as a sacrifice! And that didn't even include the chief's right hand, which he had chopped off at the beginning!
"The life of the Divine Ancestor is in our lives! The flesh and blood of the Divine Ancestor is our flesh and blood!"
But the chief still shouted loudly, as if in prayer or a proclamation.
"Therefore, when we offer our blood, flesh, bones and lives, we can awaken the life of our divine ancestors!"
"Great Wolf God! You wish to witness our magic. This is the greatest magic we can show you, the greatest gift from our divine ancestors!"
Hayden practically wanted to cover his face with his wolf paws: "I saw it, it's really powerful. I'll act as an intermediary for you to the God of Purification, you better stop this spell right now."
This battle was originally just to show Hayden the value of these demi-humans' unique magic. Now, there was no need to continue—the gorilla had exhausted the chieftain's left-hand muscles with just one punch; if they continued, the chieftain would likely burn away his own flesh first. This was not the outcome Hayden desired.
However, as the demi-human chieftain released the spell, the ape-beast god's body easily shattered and scattered in the next instant. Large amounts of dust and bones fell back to the ground, while the flesh and fur that had appeared out of thin air gradually dissipated.
This is not a true resurrection spell.
But Hayden was genuinely taken aback. These demi-humans had indeed produced something that surprised him.
True resurrection magic does not exist; at least, no one has figured it out yet. As mentioned before, any living being with a soul will have its soul vanish into thin air the moment it dies, and no one knows where it goes.
In other words, unless the soul is preserved and uploaded to another medium before death, resurrection magic is impossible. This is because no one currently knows how to retrieve a soul that has completely vanished.
So far, even the resurrection magic used by the Protoss requires the prior uploading and preservation of the soul before it can be used.
But today, these demi-humans showed Hayden a strange and unconventional trick.
"What do you think?"
He looked down and asked Eric, who had retreated from the square with his head down after finishing the round.
Eric frowned and honestly lowered his head to answer, "I underestimated the magic of these primitive people. If I had been caught off guard in actual combat, it would have been the Earth God's full-force attack that hit me just now. Even just one hit would have killed me."
"I heard that the necromancy of Smoke Mirror Company can summon undead creatures that are weaker than when they were alive, and that have some of their former personalities. I never thought that these primitive people could come up with something like this."
After Eric finished speaking, Hayden shook his head: "No. This isn't necromancy, although it does look very much like it. This is a much stranger form of primitive witchcraft."
"These demi-humans devoured the flesh and blood of the Great Ape Beast God, voluntarily inheriting its life, power, and memories within their flesh and blood. When necessary, they would sacrifice their own flesh and blood and life, allowing the inherited Beast God to reappear through their own flesh and bones... This is a very valuable form of witchcraft."
Although only a madman would want to copy such insane witchcraft, it still has considerable reference value. The ingenious ideas it contains even fascinated Hayden.
In ancient times, cannibalism and the practice of eating gods were common, yet probably no one ever ate a god in order to "resurrect" him. While pharaohs did eat gods, they were themselves the old god-kings; it was merely a form of nourishment. The worshippers of the Canaanite god Baal-Hada also ate gods, but only to share in their blessings. Ancient Indian ascetics ate people, but for the purpose of enlightenment.
However, no one in the world has ever eaten God in order to sacrifice their own flesh and temporarily "resurrect" the dead God, right?
Despite the heavy cost and low cost-effectiveness in practice—the "resurrected" gorilla almost killed the chief with a single punch, even though the chief had said that the knowledge and power contained in his flesh and blood were already at their most intense—this was not entirely a technical problem, but more a problem of imagination.
Who would have thought of doing this?!
"Master, this is not resurrection."
Angela, who was standing next to Hayden, then blurted out something peculiar.
"The gorilla they summoned only possessed a consciousness that ended at the moment of its own death. It was a discontinuous self, not truly alive. Its soul was no longer there."
Hayden nodded in understanding: "But this spell is still very interesting. I want them to give me the complete spell. Perhaps after enough research, there will be ways to improve the flaws. There might be new, ethical methods that can work."
Angela turned to look at Hayden, her emerald eyes reflecting more curiosity than question: "Master, what do you want to do with this spell?"
“There’s so much more that can be done.”
Hayden shook the wolf's head.
"For example, I currently have the soul of a land god that is imprisoned and stagnant in my bag. If I can analyze and improve upon these demi-humans' fake 'resurrection' techniques, could I use a similar method to project his consciousness through some medium?"
There are some things Hayden has never forgotten.
For example, almost a year ago, when Alastor was merging with the spirit of the ley lines and his self-awareness was about to dissipate, Hayden sealed him inside the Dragon Ball using the Soul Binding Technique.
To this day, he has not found a way to "revive" Alastor.
117: Radio Waves from Karen
"Alright. I will act as an intermediary between you and the Daughter of the Goddess, the Goddess of Purification, and I will plead on your behalf. Don't worry too much, she is not the kind of cruel god."
Hearing Hayden say this, the demi-humans finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.
After all, the gods don't have a very good reputation. In the eyes of the demi-people, they are beings who scatter curses and calamities upon the earth, and who even banished their ancestors. Tragically, this view is probably not wrong.
However, these demi-humans did not hate the gods, for hating the gods was meaningless. They were merely afraid. The gods, as laws, ravaged them; as truth, they were invincible. They could neither resist nor hate them; they could only tremble and beg for forgiveness from them.
Just as they are now desperately trying to please Hayden, hoping that this giant wolf god can vouch for them to the gods, allowing them to escape the gods' wrath and have a chance to live.
“Angela, treat that chief.”
Regardless of the reason, Hayden cannot afford to let this demi-human chieftain die now.
Angela nodded knowingly, walked over, and gently blew a breath on the chief, whose hand was severed and whose body was withered. An incredible sight immediately appeared—Angela's breath did not cause the chief's severed right hand to grow back, nor did it restore his withered muscles. Instead, with a "snap," it transformed the chief back to the state he was in before the ritual sacrifice.
It was as if "nothing had happened." Like erasing a pencil drawing with an eraser and then redrawing it.
No matter how many times you watch it, Angela's power remains astonishing, almost terrifying. The more knowledgeable a spellcaster is about modern magic, the more they realize that this power represents a bizarre realm that modern magic has yet to reach.
The demi-humans, however, did not understand this. They had almost no concept of what modern magic could actually achieve. No matter how bizarre Angela's power was, the demi-humans saw it merely as proof of the great power of the gods, and were therefore overjoyed. Having witnessed a "miracle," the demi-humans naturally had even greater faith in the White Wolf God's promise to plead for them and in the goddess's protection.
Strike while the iron is hot. Hayden turned to Eric and said, "I need to contact Karen right away. Can you cover for me, just in case?"
Eric was taken aback by this: "Protect? Are you going to cast a spell? But can't you just contact Ms. Karen by phone?"
"This is a serious matter and we must be careful. What if our phone is used to communicate via the internet and gets overheard?"
Hayden shook his head and said,
"Anyway, Karen and I already have a way to communicate without going through the StarNet. We haven't used it unless necessary, but we might as well give it a try this time."
Eric wasn't exactly a learned, traditional magician, so he was rather confused by Hayden's explanation. But of course, a disciple must obey his master's orders.
So Hayden found a quiet place where no one would disturb him, deactivated his giant wolf transformation, returned to human form, crossed his legs into a lotus position, placed the backs of his hands near his knees, adjusted his posture, straightened his back, and quietly closed his eyes.
Exhale slowly, inhale gently, blocking out all distractions from sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Eliminate all extraneous thoughts, delve deep into your mind, and focus your spirit on the single, unchanging goal. Be completely absorbed, thinking only of the person you are searching for.
"Karen."
Deep within his heart, in a state of thoughtlessness, Hayden called out with his consciousness.
And so a response came.
[...Hayden?]
Deep within Hayden's heart, a symbolic green lotus suddenly appeared, radiating a hazy, warm, and gentle light.
"...No way? Are you praying to me?!"
"You should be glad I've studied the techniques of prayer."
Hayden immediately retorted with a sarcastic remark.
"And you've made great progress. Although we already had a strong sympathetic connection, being able to respond to prayers proves that you've improved as a god."
Prayer is also a skill. It's not simply about constantly pleading with God. Overall, prayer is an act based on a state of mental awareness.
Clear your mind of distractions, eliminate all worries, and gain a sense beyond perception—thereby connecting with God.
This is the traditional practice of classical magic. One needs to be in the right mental state to perform the correct prayer.
Incidentally, techniques for inducing a state of mental blankness, thoughtlessness, or egolessness through hypnosis or drugs have existed since ancient times for the purpose of prayer, and modern arcane arts are no exception. However, to date, these techniques are not very mature; one could only say that modern techniques are slightly better than those of ancient times.
Modern arcane magic has established the StarNet, a communionial magical network that theoretically connects the minds of all beings. But the minds of intelligent beings remain a vast black box, with many mysteries yet to be solved.
But that's a bit of a tangent, and not something we're going to talk about right now.
The key point is that, just as prayer requires skill, the ability of deities to directly respond to believers' prayers through the heart is also a kind of skill. Previously, Karen could only vaguely sense prayers and lend Hayden her power in a daze, unable to truly exchange information. Now, however, it's like progressing from "only being able to send signals" to "being able to make a phone call," a significant leap forward for Karen.
However, it's also possible that this is simply because Hayden and Karen have a good relationship and a strong sympathetic connection.