Dead Eagle Valley, within the ceremonial chamber of the Lakheman Royal Tomb.
In the dim, cold, narrow tomb chamber, Dorothy, clad in a long robe, was sitting cross-legged in a corner. She had been closing her eyes and focusing her mind, but now she slowly opened them. She had just completed a remote communication using the consultation channel, obtaining some crucial information about the soul Shamans from Kapak and Uta in the New World.
'The Shaman's Path, the Path of Spirit Guidance. So that's it, this is the basic form of the "Silent" Extraordinaries in the New World...'
Opening her eyes, Dorothy stroked her chin, thinking reflectively. According to Uta, the Shaman's Path that their native Shamans had followed for generations was also known as the Path of Spirit Guidance, an Extraordinary branch focused on communicating with, pacifying, guiding, and burying spirits.
Extraordinaries of the Spirit Guidance branch are Beacons of the soul. Compared to Extraordinaries of other "Silent" branches, they have a stronger attraction and control over souls, able to easily pacify violent vengeful spirits and control large numbers of souls. They can guide souls to the Netherworld; while other "Silent" Extraordinaries can only slowly summon spirits, they possess a more efficient form of mediumship. They have a natural affinity for special spiritual entities like Wilderness Spirits, and their soul language is more powerful, allowing them to easily communicate with various spiritual entities. They are messengers who guide souls; in terms of control over spiritual entities alone, they are significantly stronger than other "Silent" branches.
Most Extraordinaries of the Spirit Guidance branch are Shamans from the native tribes of the New World. These Shamans lead the tribes across the New World, maintaining their legacy through master-disciple relationships. All Shamans together form an alliance much looser than the White Stone Craftsmen's Guild. This alliance is so loose that there is no specific name among the Shamans themselves; only some Extraordinary scholars who have studied the New World natives have named this alliance the Shaman Teachings.
Although the status of Shamans within this alliance varies, as long as they are not in the same tribe, they are independent of each other and only show mutual respect. Shamans do not have clear hierarchical relationships, and higher-ranking Shamans have no right to compel lower-ranking Shamans to do anything. The only governing body for Shamans is an assembly called the "Wilderness Sacrifice." Periodically, Shamans from different regions of the New World gather in their respective areas to hold ceremonies, offering sacrifices to the powerful Wilderness Spirits of the locality while also discussing and making decisions that affect the development and survival of the local tribes. These Wilderness Sacrifices occur approximately every five years, and in contrast, there is also a "Great Wilderness Sacrifice," attended by Shaman representatives jointly selected from each region. This is a grand assembly gathering representatives from all parts of the entire New World, occurring only once every hundred years. The long intervals between these assemblies indicate how low the organizational level of the Shaman Teachings is.
Although the Shaman Teachings are extremely loose, they strictly adhere to a unified ancient teaching called the Path of the Spiritual Road, which legend says was taught by the great soul. This ancient teaching regulates how Shamans use their abilities and shapes the traditions and taboos of the Shaman Teachings.
In the ancient teaching, the Shaman Teachings believe that all souls are part of the great soul, and thus all souls are sacred. Except for Wilderness Spirits with special missions and their subordinate essences, the souls of any life should return to the Netherworld, to the great soul, after death. And even for Wilderness Spirits and essences, when they tire of their duties or are willing to return to peace, they need to accept the call of the great soul and leave. The most qualified essences will inherit the position of the Wilderness Spirit.
Under the philosophical view of the Shaman Teachings, any soul other than Wilderness Spirits and essences should not linger in the present world. Shamans have the duty to guide them to the Netherworld. Because souls are sacred, any act of forcibly controlling souls using Extraordinary power for one's own use is taboo and a great prohibition within the Shaman Teachings.
It can be said that the Shaman Teachings are an organization that advocates for pacifying and burying spirits. Any undead creatures and spirits are seen by the Shaman Teachings as things that violate the normal path of souls and should not exist; they should be guided to their end. And Extraordinaries who deliberately capture and create undead creatures and use their power are evil individuals who should be eliminated.
Under this theory, basically all other "Silent" Extraordinaries on the Main Continent are evil, especially the Netherworld Coffin Society. They not only enslave and control souls, creating undead creatures, but also refine and extract souls into Spirituality, which is considered an unforgivable act in the eyes of the Shaman Teachings. Therefore, the Netherworld Coffin Society is called the Spirit Defilers by the Shaman Teachings. With the increasing colonial activities of the Main Continent nations in the New World in recent years, the Netherworld Coffin Society's encroachment on the abundant soul resources of the New World has become increasingly severe. Consequently, the Shamans throughout the New World are quite hostile towards the Netherworld Coffin Society. The Shaman Teachings oppose the Netherworld Coffin Society, but are also influenced by it.
Because the Shaman Teachings lack organizational structure and are too loose, they lack countermeasures when influenced by the Netherworld Coffin Society. As a result, in recent decades, a large number of Shamans have abandoned the ancient teaching under the influence of the Netherworld Coffin Society, accepting the Netherworld Coffin Society's idea of fully utilizing souls.
These betrayers of the Shaman teachings regard themselves as masters of souls, easily enslaving souls and creating undead creatures through their control over souls, and even devouring souls through their attraction to them. Having lost their reverence for souls, they no longer respect and help Wilderness Spirits in a reciprocal contractual manner, but directly control and enslave them. The essences in the wilderness have also become materials for their cultivation. Their actions severely deviate from traditional Shaman teachings, so they have independently separated themselves and call themselves the Wizard Spirit Teachings. The current Wizard Spirit Teachings are essentially a subordinate faction of the Netherworld Coffin Society.
For Extraordinaries of the Path of Spirit Guidance, the names from Black Earth to Scarlet are very simple within the Shaman Teachings: Shaman Apprentice, Shaman, and Great Shaman. In the hidden world of the Main Continent, they are called Spirit Comforters, Spirit Summoners, and Spirit Tamer Venerables. Kapak officially became a Shaman Apprentice in a recent ritual, Uta is a Shaman, and the one currently blocking Miss Dorothy and the others is clearly a Great Shaman.
A Great Shaman possesses powerful control over souls, able to easily control large numbers of spiritual entities and banish the spiritual entities of enemies. They can also attract and devour souls, instantly summoning Wilderness Spirits and other special spiritual entities without needing to set up a magic circle beforehand. They can use their own Spirituality to strengthen the souls they control. The more powerful souls they control, the stronger their combat power becomes. If Extraordinaries of the Body Reliance branch strengthen themselves with collected souls, then Extraordinaries of the Path of Spirit Guidance strengthen the collected souls with themselves, and their combat style is closer to that of a summoner... In Dorothy's view, "Silent" Extraordinaries are more or less like Pokémon trainers.
Sitting cross-legged by the wall, Dorothy carefully pondered the information she had just received from Kapak, thinking about countermeasures against the Great Shaman outside the door. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that the opponent was difficult to deal with.
'The two Wilderness Spirits controlled by that Great Shaman have dual-layered suppression in both the physical and soul aspects. The Sand Giant Lizard on the physical level not only has strong offensive capabilities and can control the terrain, but crucially, it also ensures that the Shaman himself is not threatened by physical damage... As of now, the only means I have to threaten the Shaman's main body, besides the three-stage Unloading Force, is the electromagnetic cannon. However, the three-stage Unloading Force risks collapsing the entire underground palace. The problem with the electromagnetic cannon is that while it can penetrate the Sand Giant Lizard, I cannot be sure where the core of that guy's body is located within the Sand Giant Lizard. His core body is the Sand Giant Lizard's weak point; simply penetrating the Sand Giant Lizard without hitting the weak point is useless.
'And more importantly, he has another Wilderness Spirit that can broadly deter souls. Once that thing cries out, it's simply impossible to defend against. Once deterred by it, one can only allow their soul to be attracted and devoured. We've been in this ceremonial chamber for so long, his soul chicken that deters souls must be ready by now. As soon as we go out later, it will cry out. There's no way to dodge this...'
Stroking her chin, Dorothy fell into a grave silence, deep in thought. Not far away, Neff watched Dorothy with a worried expression, concerned about whether Dorothy could come up with a suitable plan.
In the silence, Dorothy began to twist her head and scan her surroundings, looking at the environment for any inspiration. And when she saw the worried Neff not far away, a flash of inspiration struck Dorothy, and a rather bold but very dangerous plan surfaced in her mind.
'Hiss... it seems... I can do it this way... but if I do this, won't the risk be too great? No, I need to consult again...'
Thinking this, Dorothy closed her eyes again and began a new round of consultation. After consulting with Uta and Sa Zhuoya, two experienced "Silent" Extraordinaries, she obtained the answers she wanted. When she opened her eyes again, a playful expression appeared on her face. She looked at Neff, who was sitting not far away, with a strange gaze. After being stared at by her for a while, Neff couldn't help but shiver.
"Um... Miss Dorothy, have you thought of a countermeasure?"
Looking at Dorothy, who was examining her, Naifnis couldn't help but ask weakly, while Dorothy nodded and spoke.
"Yes... I have some ideas now. I think as long as Senior Nefelnis cooperates well with me later, we should be able to severely wound that guy in one fell swoop."
"Ah... You have a way? No problem, I will definitely cooperate well! What exactly is the method you mentioned, Miss Dorothy?" Hearing that Dorothy now had a countermeasure, Naifnis asked somewhat excitedly, and Dorothy continued to respond.
"As for the plan, I'll tell you later. Right now, I need to confirm some things and make some preliminary arrangements."
Saying that, Dorothy closed her eyes once more, and then began to silently pray in her heart.
"Great Aka... I want to consult with Mr. Grego. Where is he now? Does he have time? If he is still in Tivian and has time, I would like to have a real-time conversation with him."
...
Inside the underground palace of the Lakheman Royal Tomb, outside the ceremonial chamber, behind the altar before the long stone steps, Chabakunka was sitting cross-legged, resting with his eyes closed under the guard of two Wilderness Spirits on his left and right.
After closing his eyes for an unknown period, Chabakunka opened them and looked at the row of bronze lamps on the altar. Of the original six burning bronze lamps, only one still had a flame at this moment. Seeing the flickering light that seemed ready to go out at any moment, Chabakunka slowly stood up and then looked towards the front of the steps, at the towering black stone door.
"The time has come..."
Whispering softly, the Lizard Spirit beside Chabakunka stretched its body and roared silently. Along with the Lizard Spirit's actions, the large amounts of sand and soil scattered and piled up throughout the underground palace began to stir. Under the control of an invisible force, this sand and soil began to automatically float up and rapidly converge towards Chabakunka, quickly enveloping him entirely. As more and more sand gathered, Chabakunka's body also grew larger, and his form gradually changed. Soon after, a Sand Giant Lizard about ten meters long appeared in the underground palace space. Chabakunka and his spiritual body were wrapped within the thick layer of sand, his hollow eyes silently watching the closed stone door.
As time passed, the last of the six bronze lamps flickered and went out. The stone door began to slowly open, and just as a gap appeared, a swift shadow shot out from within. Chabakunka looked closely and saw that it was precisely the flying carpet-type Extraordinary item he had seen before.
"Trying to escape?"
Seeing the flying carpet shooting out, Chabakunka immediately had the Sand Giant Lizard control the surrounding sand and soil, raising huge sand snakes from the piled-up sand in the underground palace to pounce towards the Extraordinary item. Correspondingly, small cylindrical objects also flew out from the flying carpet, which were clearly sticks of dynamite tied with iron pieces.
"Boom boom boom!!"
As the dynamite exploded around the flying carpet, the attacking sand snakes were blown apart one by one. The flying carpet flew through the swirling sand and dust towards the exit of the underground palace, seemingly about to reach the exit soon.
"Beak cry... call..."
Facing the enemy attempting to escape, Chabakunka calmly gave orders directly to his Wilderness Spirit. Then, beside Chabakunka, the chicken-shaped Wilderness Spirit opened its mouth and let out a soul-piercing scream. The piercing sound of the soul instantly spread throughout the entire underground palace. The occupants of the flying carpet, as if affected by the scream, slowly landed unsteadily and fell onto the sand.
After the scream ended, seeing the fallen flying carpet in the distance, a smile appeared on Chabakunka's lips. Then he shouted in the language of the soul.
"I am the Beacon, your Beacon, the Beacon of souls. Souls, come to me..."
As Chabakunka's words spread, at the place where the flying carpet fell, a female spiritual body with a graceful figure slowly rose and floated towards Chabakunka. In the process, she transformed into a faint green soul fire. When she floated in front of Chabakunka, he opened his mouth and swallowed the ball of soul fire into his body.
After devouring the soul of an enemy he had been entangled with, Chabakunka was satisfied, but also felt a trace of confusion. In his impression, there were two enemies, but only one soul floated towards him. Where was the other soul?
Just as Chabakunka was confused, inside the underground palace ceremonial chamber, by the side of the stone door, Dorothy was huddled in a corner formed by three sides of Netherworld Cold Stone, covering her head, suppressing her somewhat muddled consciousness and the tremors in her soul. Most of the fluctuations from Chabakunka's soul scream were absorbed by the Netherworld Cold Stones around Dorothy. Under the protection of the Netherworld Cold Stones, her soul was not completely shaken.
Dorothy had not gone out on the flying carpet just now. On the flying carpet, there was only Neff. Only Neff's soul was shaken by Chabakunka, and only her soul was absorbed by Chabakunka. And Dorothy would not ignore this.
'Hunter... it's time!'
Relying on the information channel, Dorothy transmitted her words directly to the distant Prit.
At this time, in Tivian, the capital of Prit, in the secluded basement beneath a large mansion recently secretly purchased by Boyle, a Golden Bird Scepter stood there. Beneath the scepter was a "enlightenment" and "Lamp" magic array that had just been drawn. Beside the magic array were two people: Nu Nuo Te, the solemn-faced butler of Boyle, and the young Hunter Grego, who was sitting in front of the magic array with a focused expression.
After hearing the voice in his mind, Grego immediately activated the magic array in front of him. By consuming three "Lamp" reserves and the "enlightenment" Spirituality within the Golden Scepter, he completed several divinations in one go. As the magic array activated, the radiance on the Golden Scepter began to slightly dim.
On the other side, Chabakunka, who was wondering where the other soul was at this moment, slowly controlled the Sand Giant Lizard to turn its head and look towards the still open ceremonial chamber door. Just as he was about to walk over and check inside, the surrounding environment suddenly changed.
Whispers, dense whispers, sounded out of thin air in the space of the underground palace and quickly spread. Chabakunka suddenly felt as if people were whispering and secretly plotting everywhere in the underground palace, but when he looked around, he saw nothing.
What is going on? What happened?
Greater confusion lingered in Chabakunka's mind, and accompanying this confusion was a deep sense of foreboding. Unbeknownst to him, the already dim space in the underground palace became even darker. A chilling cold permeated the surroundings, and an inexplicable fear surged in Chabakunka's heart. His intuition told him that something was coming.
"Who is it! Who is there!"
Chabakunka frowned and shouted around him in the language of the soul, but what responded to him was a strange sound.
"Slap, slap, slap!"
Amidst the continuous strange light sounds, black handprints appeared out of thin air on the walls and pillars of the underground palace, becoming denser and denser, seemingly about to fill the entire underground palace. Along with the appearance of these strange handprints, a cold, hoarse laugh sounded out of thin air within the underground palace.
"Heh... heh... heh... heh heh heh... Boyle... Boyle... I didn't expect you would dare to set foot on this land again someday..."
Amidst that hoarse laughter, a mummified face, almost as large as the entire Sand Giant Lizard and thin as a skeleton, appeared out of thin air. With faint green flames burning in its eyes, it stared intently at the Sand Giant Lizard, staring at Chabakunka inside it.
"Ha, we meet again, little Boyle! Don't think any barrier can protect you! There is nowhere for you to escape on this land! It doesn't matter what you hide in! Pay the price!"