Chapter 110: Red Level Mission
The members summoned by the Bai Wu Xie Club this time were all current apprentices. Members who had already left the school, like David-Berg, were not included in the invitation list for this meeting.
"Since everyone is here, let's begin."
Carefully avoiding the active magic plants in the classroom, Richard-Eva walked to the podium and began to preside over the meeting.
"Hugh, come up and tell us about it. After all, your team was the first to discover this matter."
Hearing this, a male apprentice dressed as a mercenary nodded, declined Richard-Eva's invitation to come up, and just sat in his seat and said, "You can't say I discovered this first. After all, it has already spread throughout the Black Bone Forest Academy." The person speaking was Hugh-Stone, a Second-level Wizard Apprentice. Jia Na had a strong impression of him, as he would persistently invite Jia Na to join his mercenary team every time they ate.
"According to the news from the Black Bone Forest, the Dark Sun Church has recently become active again—"
Hearing this, everyone present couldn't help but look serious, and the atmosphere in the meeting room became heavy.
"A week ago, several first-level apprentices disappeared in the Black Bone Forest. Later, their charred skeletons were found on a very hidden Dark Sun Church altar—"
The Dark Sun Church is a faith organization established by a group of dark sun worshippers. Although the church members are all mortals without extraordinary abilities, under the divine power transformation of the Dark Sun Apostle, some followers with extreme faith have gained extremely powerful 'Undying Power' and 'Pollution Characteristics'.
'Undying Power' is different from the eternal and indestructible 【Undying Characteristic】 of undead creatures; it is a more extreme 'resurrection from death' and 'indestructible flesh'.
Followers with devout faith, supported by strong belief, as long as they complete a soul sacrifice before death, they will continuously resurrect in areas covered by the dark sun.
However, this 'resurrection' also has significant side effects. Every time they 'resurrect', the follower's lifespan, youth, and health will rapidly decline. Moreover, the incompleteness of their souls causes them to lose basic sanity, constantly remain in a state of madness, and turn into unthinking living corpses.
At the same time, the physical bodies of Dark Sun Cultists after 'resurrection from death' also possess powerful recovery abilities comparable to bloodline Wizard Apprentices.
Wounds heal, severed limbs regenerate, heads are rebuilt... Unless they are completely purified, or utterly crushed by powerful elemental magic, it is difficult to truly eliminate them by ordinary means.
In addition, the 'Pollution Characteristics' granted to them by the dark sun are even more inhumane.
Using their bodies as vessels, every Dark Sun Cultist carries a large amount of radioactive pollution and plague Curses. Not only do they pollute the environment after death, but while alive, they also bring plague Curses to the living. However, this characteristic is only directed at extraordinary beings in the Wizard World; for mortals, they instead play the role of 'saviors'.
"【Praise suffering, reject pleasure.】"
In the Dark Sun Church's doctrine, everyone is born with a defiled body. Only by experiencing the most extreme suffering in this life can they achieve true transcendence in the next.
They preach that everything in the world is created by the dark sun, that the dark sun is the creator, the benevolent father.
The dark sun deeply loves pure souls and detests false thoughts and greed. Only souls that dedicate everything to the dark sun can enter the divine kingdom after death and enjoy eternal bliss; the greedy will only fall into hellfire and never be reborn.
And Wizards, in the Dark Sun Church's doctrine, are the most greedy and the most unforgivable blasphemers."
"It can now be confirmed that those apprentices died in the Dark Sun Church's blood sacrifice ritual. Although the Black Bone Forest Academy has quickly dispatched people to suppress and eliminate them, there are still a few dark sun remnants hiding in the shadows who have not been completely cleared out and have fled until now..."
"But fortunately, these dark sun remnants are severely injured and not very strong, so they won't have much impact on us. However, I heard that the reason the Dark Sun Church risked holding the blood sacrifice ritual this time is because another Dark Sun Apostle descended into the Wizard World through the ritual—and one of the Black Wizard Apprentices was the vessel for this Dark Sun Apostle's descent."
Hearing Hugh-Stone's successive explosive news, the people who had felt somewhat relieved because most of the Dark Sun Cultists had been eliminated by the Black Bone Forest's actions, felt the atmosphere in the classroom drop to freezing point again upon hearing that a Dark Sun Apostle might be mixed among the remaining cultists who had fled.
"Ding—"
Just as Jia Na was silently processing this information, a familiar mission trigger notification sound rang out in her mind.
"【Long-term Mission: Find and eliminate the remnants of the Dark Sun Church:
Mission Reward: 1000 Talent Experience, 3000 Skill Experience, three random rewards;
Mission Time: Unlimited.】"
Looking at the striking red font on the mission panel and the doubled mission rewards, Jia Na was secretly startled but also constantly forced herself to calm down.
"Is this mission serious?"
The Dark Sun Cultists who have been able to escape the pursuit of the Black Bone Forest until now must possess extremely advanced stealth techniques.
Moreover, there is no lack of Formal Wizards in the Black Bone Forest. For people whom even Formal Wizards could not find, the difficulty of finding them for Jia Na, a Second-level Wizard Apprentice who only recently broke through, could be said to be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Not to mention, there is also a Dark Sun Apostle hidden among them, whose depth is unknown. Even if the opponent is in a weakened state after the divine descent, it is hard to guarantee they don't have some life-saving means. If Jia Na were to rush in recklessly, it would be no different from seeking death.
"No wonder it's a Red Level Mission, even the difficulty has risen to an absurd level."
Thump thump
Just as Jia Na was still distracted looking at the mission, Richard-Eva, who was standing in front of the podium, tapped the podium, breaking the silence in the classroom.
"Everyone, although the news Hugh shared seems very serious, it's not actually that pessimistic—after all, all those dark sun remnants are injured. Even if they can recover from external wounds, the Curses and negative states cannot be completely eradicated for a while—."
Speaking of this, Richard-Eva and Hugh-Stone exchanged a look. Hugh-Stone, understanding perfectly, continued Richard-Eva's words:
"Richard is right, and as far as I know, the current state of that Dark Sun Apostle is extremely poor, unable to exert even one ten-thousandth of their strength. However, because that Dark Sun Apostle's hiding methods are extremely advanced, the Wizards of the Black Bone Forest have been slow to eliminate them."
Precisely because of this, in three days, the Black Bone Forest will officially issue a wanted mission to our academy and the Mist Tower, and the mission reward is a top-tier apprentice Wizard tool."