Atus West, Dosa.
At noon, somewhere in Dosa, within a hidden spacious room, Naifnis, dressed in a traditional Adus robe, sat upright. She leaned forward, holding a handful of white animal bone powder, and slowly released it. The bone powder sprinkled from Naifnis's hands onto the ground. As Naifnis moved her arm in the air, the scattered bone powder gradually drew a magic circle on the ground.
After a while, a pale magic circle with a closed-eye symbol at its core appeared on the ground. After drawing the magic circle, Naifnis put the remaining bone powder back into the jar beside her. Then, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and began to chant the incantation.
Mysterious incantations echoed softly in the space. Amidst the chanting, a distorted phantom gradually appeared at the center of the magic circle. When the phantom stabilized and became clear, it revealed a translucent feline spirit in the shape of a wildcat, familiar to Naifnis. After licking its paw, the feline spirit floated to the edge of the magic circle, puffed out its chest, raised its small head, and looked at Naifnis proudly. Seeing this, Neff immediately took out two iron coins and respectfully placed them in front of the feline spirit.
Upon seeing the iron coins, the feline spirit's eyes lit up. It floated around Naifnis in a circle as if cheering, then returned to the iron coins, immediately lowered its head, and extended its tongue to lick the iron coins. After licking for a while, it raised its head again and looked at Naifnis with a proud posture, nodding in satisfaction. Naifnis also immediately leaned forward and spoke to the feline spirit using the silent language of the Soul Xu, a skill only mastered by Extraordinary of the "Silent" path.
After listening to Naifnis's narration, the feline spirit floated in the air for a while, then nodded again. It then turned around and plunged downwards, piercing through the ground, seemingly entering the earth.
After seeing the feline spirit disappear, Naifnis silently stood up. She slowly walked to the window of the room, gazing out at the city bathed in sunlight, and looking towards the area outside the city where the Adus Revolutionary Army was stationed.
...
On the other side, outside Dosa City, numerous soldiers stood in neat formation on a wide open space. On the high platform in front of the soldier formation, Commander Adan was still giving a speech. Hearing that they might face the legendary terrifying undead, every soldier in the formation couldn't help but show signs of nervousness and fear in their eyes.
No matter how much Adan claimed that the undead were weak and could be defeated with courage, the shadows in the soldiers' hearts were not so easily dispelled under those terrifying rumors. Everyone in the upcoming probing attack felt a hint of timidity for a while.
On the high platform, Adan was loudly giving his final mobilization speech. Just as he was about to announce that everyone should set off together, a military officer suddenly ran up from one side of the high platform and whispered something into Adan's ear. Adan's expression changed upon hearing the officer's words. After a brief pause, he spoke to the many soldiers in front of him.
"Everyone, due to some other circumstances, our operation needs to be temporarily delayed until tomorrow morning!" Adan announced this to the soldiers in front of him. Hearing Adan's words, many soldiers who were worried about the probing attack couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and their tension temporarily eased a little. At the same time, many people were also speculating what had happened to cause the planned probing attack to be suddenly canceled.
Shortly after, the soldier formation that had been ordered to stop the operation was disbanded on the spot. The soldiers and officers dispersed and returned to the military camp. Among them, a lower-ranking officer with dark skin, a North Wu appearance, and a beard glanced at the high platform as he retreated. He saw Commander Adan discussing something with Ney, the consultant who had arrived in Dosa the day before. After looking for a couple of seconds, the lower-ranking officer adjusted the military cap on his head, lowered his head, and silently blended into the crowd, walking away.
The military officer did not go directly to the military camp. Instead, he left the crowd at an appropriate moment and walked towards Dosa City. After entering the city, he went directly into a hotel. When he came out shortly after, his military uniform had been replaced by a simple North Wu male robe.
Wearing the robe, the military officer continued to move through Dosa City. He sometimes crossed main streets, sometimes walked through small alleys, constantly taking detours and looking back. After a long winding path, he arrived at the poor residential area in Dosa City with low houses and a dirty environment. Here, he turned into an empty alley and walked all the way to the deepest part of the alley.
Here, the military officer turned around and faced a small wooden door on one side of the alley. After he knocked on the door with a rhythmic pattern, a series of unlocking sounds came from behind the small wooden door. After the unlocking sounds ended, the wooden door opened, revealing a young man wearing a North Wu robe but with the face of a Main Continent white person. After looking at the military officer, he stepped aside to let him into the house.
Upon seeing the wooden door open, the military officer immediately walked into the house. The house was covered with carpets and had some simple furniture. Two other figures, also wearing robes, were sitting on the carpet. Upon seeing the officer enter, the man who had opened the door immediately closed it tightly. After locking several locks in a row, he turned and looked at the military officer.
"What intelligence do you have this time? Why are you here now..."
The young white man asked the military officer. The officer sat down on the carpet inside the house, took a sip of tea, and then spoke.
"Adan has made a new move. I don't know if he's following the advice of that new consultant, but he has decided to organize troops for a probing attack on the undead alert zone, to have the soldiers kill a few undead to boost their courage and restore morale."
"Probing attack..." The young man pondered for a moment, listening to the military officer's words, then continued to speak.
"Hmph... It seems the undead have dealt a significant blow to Adan's soldiers, requiring Adan to resort to such actions to boost morale... When exactly are they going to act?"
"Tomorrow morning. It was originally planned for this morning, but something happened. After Adan received a message at the last minute, he directly changed the time, pushing the whole plan back by a day. You should use your ritual now, Captain Shahabu, and have him get ready." The military officer continued to tell the young man. Listening to the officer's words, the young man nodded thoughtfully in response.
"If we set up an ambush beforehand and wipe out this wave of probing troops, not only will Adan's plan to boost morale fail completely, but the morale of the entire Dosa might suffer an even more severe blow... I understand. I will immediately inform Kanak of this intelligence. You should also try to find out what caused Adan to suddenly postpone the attack."
"I know that without you telling me."
Just like that, after briefly relaying the intelligence he had obtained, the military officer quickly left through another secret door in the house. After seeing the officer off, the young man returned to the house, pulled back the carpet on the ground, revealing a trapdoor. Opening the trapdoor, he saw a staircase leading directly to the basement.
Then, the young man descended the stairs and entered the basement. In the small, cramped basement, a gas lamp hanging on the wall illuminated the surrounding gloomy environment. On the floor of the basement, there was a magic circle drawn with animal bone powder, with a closed-eye symbol at its core.
Looking at the magic circle before him, the young man reached into his robe. After fumbling for a while, he pulled out a bone fragment. After shaking the bone fragment, a strange, translucent object was released from it, floating in the air and quickly deforming and expanding. After a while, it formed a human shape. It was a male Ghost with a scar on his face, a fierce expression, and wearing a North Wu robe.
Looking at the Ghost in front of him, the young man opened his mouth and told him the intelligence information he had just heard using the language of the Soul Xu. After completely hearing this intelligence information, the Ghost floating above the magic circle bowed to the young man, then floated downwards, and drilled into the magic circle.
...
Below Dosa, inside the boundary wall, one of the reverse side, the Netherworld.
A boundless void space, enveloped in an endless darkness. In every direction, as far as the eye could see, there was infinite darkness. Above the darkness, there were gray-white mists covering the entire sky, like clouds. Occasionally, one could see eerie green Soul Xu falling from the white mist, rapidly descending downwards. Below the darkness was a huge, wide river woven and gathered from eerie green light systems. The river flowed through the void, winding and circling downwards, extending to the distant horizon. Those Soul Xu that occasionally fell from the white mist above would descend all the way into that river.
In the dark space beneath the white mist, a small figure was currently suspended. The Wilderness Spirit Soul Xu, in the form of a wildcat, was floating boredly in the void. One moment it would lick its paws, the next it would stretch. From its appearance, it seemed to be waiting for something.
Suddenly, the bored Soul Xu stiffened all over. Its ears pricked up and its whiskers twitched slightly. Then, as if it had sensed something, it looked around. After looking around several times, it immediately jumped up and rushed towards one direction at high speed, moving extremely quickly.
Stepping through the void, the Soul Xu galloped forward. After a long period of rapid movement, in the eyes of the Soul Xu, a Soul Xu was also moving at high speed in the void beneath the white mist ahead. Unlike the Soul Xu that kept falling downwards into the Nether River, the Soul Xu in the Soul Xu's eyes was moving horizontally forward, not vertically downwards.
That Soul Xu moved very quickly. The flame tail of the Soul Xu trailed long behind it, rushing forward at high speed like a meteor.
Upon seeing that Soul Xu, the Soul Xu's brow furrowed. Then, it also transformed into a ball of Soul Xu, trailing a longer tail flame, and chased directly after the Soul Xu ahead. After a while, it caught up with that ball of Soul Xu.
After catching up, the Soul Xu immediately transformed back into the appearance of a feline spirit, then clawed at the Soul Xu. The Soul Xu immediately dispersed and also transformed into a spirit form. It was a male spirit wearing a North Wu robe, and there was a scar on the spirit's face.
The Soul Xu's posture was interrupted, and the spirit let out a silent cry of pain. Facing the feline spirit in front of it, the human-shaped spirit attempted to counterattack. However, its speed was far from as fast as the Soul Xu's. After nimbly dodging the human-shaped spirit's counterattack punch, the Soul Xu's entire body quickly expanded, growing to the size of a leopard. Then, the Soul Xu swung its sharp claws again, tearing a large gash in the human-shaped spirit with one claw. The human-shaped spirit began to twist in pain.
Seeing the spirit in front of it twisted out of shape, the enlarged Soul Xu opened its large mouth without hesitation and pounced fiercely at the spirit.
...
Dusk, Dosa City.
The sunlight of the setting sun scattered over the city, dressing the entire city in a yellow coat. Inside the secret stronghold hidden in a corner of Dosa's streets, the young man stood in the basement, looking at the magic circle drawn with white bone powder before him. Anxious expression appeared on his face.
"What's going on... why hasn't it returned yet..."
Staring at the magic circle in front of him, the man muttered anxiously. It had been several hours since he instructed his Ghost to send the message at noon. During these hours, he had been waiting here, waiting for the Soul Xu to bring back a reply from Kanak. But until now, he had not seen any sign of his Ghost.
Logically, by traveling through the Netherworld, a Ghost should not take more than an hour to travel between Dosa and Kanak. In the past, when the young man communicated with Kanak, the other party would respond very quickly. But now, an entire afternoon had passed, and the young man had not seen the Ghost with the reply, which made him very uneasy.
In his unease, the young man paced back and forth in the basement. His anxious heart gradually became more and more nervous. He urgently wanted to know what had happened to his Ghost, and whether Kanak had received his message.
Finally, the young man could no longer contain his anxious heart. He turned around, walked up the stairs out of the basement, and went all the way into the small room of the stronghold. After glancing at the other two subordinates in the room, he spoke directly.
"Get ready. After dark, immediately set up the radio. We need to send an emergency telegram to Kanak!"
...
Under the setting sun, the wind howled atop a tall tower somewhere in Dosa City. Dorothy was currently at the top of the tower, the strong wind from the height buffeting her robe. Amidst the whistling of her clothes, she overlooked this not-so-large North Wu city.
Overlooking every corner of the city, Dorothy's expression was fixed. With the mobilization of her Spirituality, her ability as a Summoning Thunder Master spread out. With the enhancement of the precise ability calculation model from another world, this ability was attached to Dorothy's senses.
At this moment, Dorothy was like a receiver, sensing the electromagnetic waves propagating over Dosa.