Nobody moved an inch for a moment due to the sudden betrayal and stood rooted in shock!
On the other hand, Abium cast [Blink] spell again and reappeared behind another hooded necromancer. At the same time, he placed his forefinger behind his nape and cast the [Fire Ball] spell.
A heartbeat later, a half-meter radius scorching fireball appeared at the area where that necromancer was standing and began to expand like a balloon while completely blinding everyone's eyes.
"Be careful, everyone! He is a mage." Neil screamed and hurriedly summoned a bone wyvern skeleton from his spatial ring. At the same time, the balloon-like fireball exploded and spread in all directions.
When the other necromancers saw the fireball exploding, they activated their defensive artifacts and braced them for the impact. A massive explosion echoed inside the woods, sending shockwaves in every direction. All of them, including Neil, was thrown off due to the shockwave and crashed onto the ground.
'Damn it; we got duped!'
Neil got deeply startled and warned everyone.
"He is a Spatial Mage. Be careful of any sudden ambush."
But soon, he frowned as he realized something was wrong.
Without delay, he turned around and soon saw two bodies lying motionlessly on the grassy ground. At that moment, he also noticed stab wounds on both chests and grew more anxious.
'Sh*t! He killed two official Necromancers like cabbages!'
Meanwhile, Leonard and the other necromancer stood up hastily with gloomy faces and checked the two deceased necromancers' bodies using the 'Dark eye' spell. It was a death spell that could help a necromancer see and communicate with the recently deceased souls.
"Their souls are gone!" Leonard muttered slowly in shock.
Meanwhile, Abium stood behind a nearby tree and stared at Leonard with cold eyes.
But as he was about to cast [Blink] spell and attack Leonard, he suddenly felt a dangerous sensation.
It was due to the 'Seer's Intuition' spell.
Abium got startled and soon noticed Neil was pointing his finger in his direction.
'No good.'
Without any hesitation, he blinked away three times and reappeared 60 meters away from the group.
Another heartbeat later, a purple-colored mist began to spread in every direction from Neil's hand and wholly covered everywhere. But what shocked Abium was that he couldn't pinpoint which direction where Neil and others escaped to!
At the same time, Neil, Leonard, and another remaining blonde-haired necromancer gathered together and stared at the surroundings cautiously.
"It seems there is a mole in our organization. Otherwise, how could this spatial Mage kill Baxter and take his place without raising suspicion?" Leonard massaged his temple in frustration and said gravely.
"I have a bad feeling about the upcoming mission. But we have to kill this fake Baxter here and now. Otherwise, he might leak some important information to the Academic Mages and ruin our whole plan." A blonde-haired necromancer said in an icy voice.
"But what if he had already done that and is now trying to reduce our numbers?" Neil interjected.
"Possible." The blonde-haired necromancer nodded his head and continued after some deliberation.
"We need to inform Master Rilos and Lady Yalya about this guy. The longer we delay, the more serious it will get."
Nodding his head in approval, Leonard stared at the purple mist and turned towards the black-haired Neil.
"Neil, how long can you maintain this spell?" He asked.
"Only two more minutes." Neil's words were short and cold.
"Let me see where he is now."
Saying so, he closed his eyes and soon noticed Baxter (Abium) was standing 50 meters from where they were.
A cold smile appeared on his face. The next instant, he conjured a small bone and tossed it into the mist.
Meanwhile, Abium glanced at the surrounding mist and furrowed his brows.
'I can feel dense nether energy gathering in the atmosphere. Hmm, I feel like I have returned to the undead plane.' But what annoyed him was that the scanning range had diminished due to this strange nether power in the atmosphere.
'No, it's due to the lesser amount of mana in the surrounding areas. It seems this purple mist can transform the pure mana into nether energy.' That was the best possible explanation that came to his mind.
Suddenly, he noticed a change in the surrounding purple mist.
"Who are you?" A cold voice came out from the purple mist on his left side, causing him to raise his eyebrows a little.
A moment later, a part of the purple mist formed into a humanoid skeleton-shaped figure and stared at him coldly. Two deep blue eyes flickered in that skeleton's sockets, giving off a cold aura to the surroundings.
But Abium wasn't affected much by the smoke's intimidation and snorted. He didn't waste his time and conjured another fireball before throwing it at the purple humanoid skeleton figure.
The next instant, a groaning sound echoed from his left side, which made Abium's lips curl upward.
'So, they are hiding over there, huh?'
He didn't dare to delay any longer and ran in that direction.
In the meantime, Neil opened his eyes and shouted.
"He is coming!"
"Damn it! battling the spatial Mage will be a pain in the *ss." Leonard cursed loudly and began to summon all his undead skeletons from his spatial ring. But for some strange reason, he couldn't summon his trump card.
'Hmm, what is my trump card?' Puzzlement appeared on his face, and soon he realized that he couldn't think properly.
At that moment, he stood there with a dazed expression on his face and soon saw a human shadow appear behind him.
"Watch out!" Both Neil and the blonde-haired necromancer screamed to warm him.
But too bad, their scream fell on deaf ears as Abium's mind freeze spell took effect.
At the same time, Abium appeared behind Leonard and directly plunged his short sword toward his chest area. Although a transparent invisible shield appeared and tried to block his short sword, Abium's advanced-level sword aura tore through the shield and directly stabbed into his heart.
A painful scream echoed in the woods, followed by an eerie silence.
Once Abium confirmed that Leonard was dead, he stepped back and disappeared into the purple mist.
Upon seeing Leonard's strange death, Neil couldn't help but get fearful.
"How did he kill Leonard?!" He asked in a trembling voice.
Meanwhile, the blonde-haired necromancer furrowed his brows and quickly cast the 'death's guard' spell.
It was a unique first-tier necromancy spell!
A second later, a dark smoke conjured around their body and formed into a black ball like a shield.
"Don't leave my side." The blonde-haired necromancer warned Niel.
Meanwhile, Abium was startled by the strange smoke's appearance and reappeared in front of it. After that, he raised his sword above his head and slashed it while imbuing it with an advanced red sword aura. But to his shock, the 'Death's guard' spell completely blocked his sword attack like it was nothing.
Utilizing this opportunity, Neil opened his mouth and began to mutter a chant in Nether Language.
"Spirit of the dead, hear my call.
Kill the betrayer by knife, chop his torso in half
Make a brutal death, dismember his body.
I summon you here to kill, sever, hack and chop.
I want to hear his scream and see his broken soul.
Destroy him with the knife, cut his flesh into pieces
Use vicious attacks to murder and maim
Use the blood and the innards for supper.
Boil his fingers and toes to make soup,
Chomp his arms, devour his flesh
I want to see his dead body twitching, missing his head.
Leave only a pile of bones, skin still attached.
....
Upon hearing the strange chant, Abium grew anxious and quickly backed away.
'Azolla, any idea about what he is doing?' He asked while studying the [Death's Guard] spell.
'He is going to summon an undead from the underworld, lad. It will most likely be a Level 1 Ghoul.' Azolla said calmly.
'Level 1 Ghoul?' Abium got puzzled as he had heard of it for the first time.
'Yes, same as mages and magical beasts, Ghouls can also cast necromancy magic spells. A Level 1 Ghoul has the same power as the first-tier mages. But they can also borrow divine power from the god of Death like Light priests and casts divine spells.' Azolla's words shocked him.
At the same time, Abium felt a strong nether power gathering in front of Neil.
...
The cause of all the pain
The cause of all the suffering
Mangled by the blade
Sacrifice to my rage."
Finally, Neil made a snap using his fingers and finished his chanting.