301: Chapter 236: The Shaman Chief

The complete annihilation of the Wolf Riders in the night raid was like a resounding slap across the face of the Orc commander. The Orc camp fell into a deathly silence before a storm, even the bonfires seemed to dim a little. But this silence was more unsettling than the wild clamor before. Lin Zhou knew that this was by no means a retreat, but rather the brewing of a fiercer, more lethal retaliation.

The next day, when the eternally dim "sky light" at the edge of the Shattered Star Domain brightened again (which was merely the faint change of distant starlight filtering through dust), everyone felt an unusual, oppressive atmosphere permeating the air. The Orc camp did not become restless early as it had the day before, but was exceptionally quiet.

Lin Zhou's squad used this brief interval to intensify repairs to fortifications, treat the wounded, and restore Divine Power. A tense and busy atmosphere filled the tower. Li Mo directed the dwarves and goblins to repair some damaged "Honeycomb" armor and the Ballista cooling System in the passage. The Literary Heart Elves diligently maintained the Radiant Virtue Domain, dispelling the lingering chill and cursed Aura of the night. Wang Meng and the Behemoth Warriors seized the time to rest, tending to their various wounds.

However, everyone's nerves were taut, and their gaze involuntarily turned towards the silent Orc camp in the distance.

Mid-morning, an unexpected change occurred.

In the center of the Orc camp, the largest tent, adorned with the most beast bones and ferocious totems, was suddenly thrown open! A figure slowly emerged.

It was an extremely old and gaunt Orc, his skin as wrinkled as dried tree bark, exhibiting an unhealthy grayish-green hue. He wore a heavy robe made of countless different creature feathers, scales, and bones, and held a twisted bone staff topped with a large, dark red gem, within which liquid seemed to flow. On his head, he wore a crown filled with various feathers and tiny skulls, and his face was painted with complex and sinister oils. Unlike other Orcs, his eyes held no ferocity, only a cold and cruel wisdom accumulated over countless years, and an indifference that looked down upon ants.

With his appearance, the entire Orc camp, whether ordinary warriors, frenzied Berserkers, or Shaman Apprentices, all knelt down in awe, heads bowed, not daring to even breathe.

"Chieftain... it's Chieftain Skullcrusher Mogrosh!" A surviving Shaman Apprentice whispered tremblingly to the Warlord beside him, his voice filled with fear and reverence.

Skullcrusher Mogrosh, one of the Blackrock Clan's oldest and most powerful Shamans, at Rank LV180 (equivalent to a high-tier Lesser Divinity, close to Peak), was the true Soul and trump card of this Orc force. He rarely acted personally, but every time he did, it signified destruction and sacrifice.

Chieftain Mogrosh did not look at his kneeling tribesmen. His murky eyes, which seemed capable of seeing through Souls, directly spanned several kilometers of the Void Realm, landing on the scarred Watchtower No. 7. Where his gaze fell, Lin Zhou even felt his Divine Spark tremble slightly, as if licked by something cold and slimy.

"Interesting little bugs... with the disgusting taste of Order and... Civilization." The old, hoarse voice resonated directly in Lin Zhou's, and even all squad members', hearts, full of mockery and killing intent. "You are worthy of becoming... superior sacrifices to the Ancestral Spirits."

Before his voice faded, Chieftain Mogrosh slowly raised the Ancestral Staff in his hand. The dark red gem at the staff's tip burst forth with dazzling blood-red light! Simultaneously, a deep, grand collective chant, seemingly from ancient wilderness, echoed from the Orc camp behind him! All Orc Shamans and apprentices, and even some elite warriors, began to chant along, their voices converging into a massive and chaotic torrent of faith, pouring into the staff.

The Void Realm began to tremble! Centered on Chieftain Mogrosh, a gigantic blood-red magic array, ten times larger and a hundred times more complex than the one used to summon the Wolf Riders last night, rapidly materialized in the air! In the center of the array, space violently twisted like water, and a massive, blurry phantom, emanating endless resentment, Battle Intent, and ancient Aura, was slowly coalescing!

"Stop him! Don't let him complete the summoning!" Lin Zhou roared, alarm bells ringing in his heart. The pressure this old Shaman exerted on him far surpassed any previous enemy!

"Red Dragons! Full power attack that old guy!" Zhao Hao gritted his teeth, disregarding the Red Dragons' unhealed injuries, and ordered the two young Red Dragons to charge with full force, their Dragon Breath and Dragon claws heading straight for Mogrosh, who was casting his Spell.

"Ballista array! Maximum power! Cover fire on the core of the magic array!" Li Mo also reacted. Six Ballistae in the passage roared in unison, a rain of armor-piercing arrows pouring towards the blood-red magic array and the Chieftain's position.

Arrows from the Wenxin Elven archers also shot out like meteors.

However, facing this full-strength ranged attack, Chieftain Mogrosh merely bared a toothless, bone-chilling grin. He didn't even move, only gently tapped the Ancestral Staff in his hand.

"Buzz!"

A dark red, translucent energy shield instantly unfolded around him, enveloping the entire core area of the Orcs. The Red Dragon's Dragon Breath sprayed onto the shield, merely creating ripples. The torrential Ballista arrows struck the shield with dense "thudding" sounds, but could not penetrate, most being repelled or stuck on the shield's surface. The Elven arrows were like hitting an iron wall.

[Ancestral Protection Barrier]

Caster: Skullcrusher Mogrosh (LV180)

Effect: A powerful defensive barrier formed by condensing ancestral faith and Shaman Divine Power, with extremely high resistance to both physical and energy attacks.

Current Strength: Sufficient to withstand the full-power attack of a mid-tier Lesser Divinity (around LV250) for several minutes.

"Useless... the struggles of bugs." Chieftain Mogrosh's hoarse voice sounded again, the blood-red light at the staff's tip growing even more intense.

In just a dozen seconds, the phantom in the center of the blood-red magic array finally coalesced!

It was a colossal ghost, fifty meters tall! It vaguely retained the outline of some giant beast in life, with a thick trunk and long nose similar to a mammoth, but its body was entirely composed of churning, translucent dark green smoke. Twisted Orc faces and battlefield illusions constantly emerged within the smoke, emitting silent wails and roars. Two eyes, formed of pure negative energy, burned with cold Soul fire. It had no substantial limbs, moving like a phantom, but wherever it passed, the Void Realm seemed to freeze from the bone-chilling coldness and death Aura it emitted.

[Summoned Unit: Ancestral Spirit - Soul of Wrath (Elite)]

Rank: LV150 (Summoned creature, enhanced by summoner's Divine Power).

Life Form: Semi-corporeal ghost (high-concentration negative energy and ancestral remnant aggregate).

Core Attributes:

Health: Extremely High (Ghost 특성 + Chieftain buff).

Attack Power: Extremely Strong (mixed physical impact and Soul erosion).

Defensive Characteristics:

Physical Immunity: Immune to 80% of pure physical damage (including arrows, swords, blunt weapons, most kinetic attacks). General resistance to energy attacks (Spells, Dragon Breath, etc.).

Mental Resistance: Relatively weak. As it is itself an aggregate of chaotic spirits and resentment, its structure is unstable, and it has low resistance to high-intensity, orderly, purifying mental/Soul attacks, and may even suffer additional damage.

Skills:

[Ghost Impact]: Swings giant arm or long nose made of smoke, performing a ranged physical/energy mixed attack, with a Soul tremor effect (chance to interrupt casting or skills).

[Negative Energy Breath]: Exhales a cone-shaped stream of dark green negative energy from its giant mouth or long nose, causing continuous life corrosion and Soul frostbite.

[Wailing Domain]: Passive, within a certain range around it, all non-Orc units continuously suffer from weak mental interference and fear judgment.

Weakness: Extremely dependent on the summoner for maintenance. If the summoner is injured or Divine Power maintenance is interrupted, the ghost will rapidly weaken and dissipate.

"Go, my Ancestral Spirit... crush those unsightly creations, devour their Souls!" Chieftain Mogrosh pointed his staff at Watchtower No. 7.

"Roar—!!!"

The Soul of Wrath let out a silent yet Soul-piercing roar, its massive ghostly body charging towards the Watchtower like a landslide! Its speed seemed not fast, but each step (drift) covered tens of meters, carrying an Aura of crushing everything!

"All firepower! Concentrate attack on that ghost! It fears energy and mental attacks!" Lin Zhou roared, simultaneously his own Divine Power surged wildly, the Net of Law fully unfurling again, attempting to bind and interfere with the ghost using rules, and the Radiant Virtue Domain also shone brightly, resisting the fear effect of the Wailing Domain.

Zhao Hao's Red Dragons changed direction, their Dragon Breath spraying at the ghost with full force. Li Mo's Ballista array also replaced some enchanted arrows (with faint holy or flame runes), but the effect of physical arrows was negligible. The Literary Heart Elves' arrows were imbued with Vast Righteous Qi, causing some damage to the ghost, but compared to its enormous body, it was like a drop in the bucket.

Most critically, Chieftain Mogrosh did not stop after summoning the Ancestral Spirit. He raised his staff again, this time pointing it at the upper level of the Watchtower—Li Mo's meticulously arranged Ballista array control nodes and some exposed arrow towers!

"Ancestral wrath, descend!"

A wisp of blood-red light from the staff's tip, like a living venomous snake, instantly crossed the Void Realm and struck three relatively protruding alloy arrow towers on the outer wall of the tower, used for automatic rapid-fire cannons and sensors!

There was no earth-shattering explosion. The moment the blood-red light touched the arrow towers, the metal on their surfaces rusted, embrittled, and disintegrated at a visible speed! Along with the internal precision instruments and energy lines, they all turned into dark red rust dust scattered everywhere! The entire process took less than three seconds, and three expensive arrow towers, which played an important role in daytime defense, along with their internal equipment, were completely annihilated!

"Damn it!" Li Mo watched the three areas on the monitoring screen instantly turn gray, his eyes splitting with rage. This was not just the loss of fortifications, but a trampling of his painstaking effort.

And at this moment, the Soul of Wrath had already rushed to the front of the tower! Its smoke-formed long nose rose high, carrying destructive negative energy, and smashed down fiercely towards the area near the lower entrance of the tower, where Wang Meng's Behemoth Warriors were holding fast—and the two [Rapid-fire Automatic Ballistae] nearby!

"Behemoths! Hold the line!" Wang Meng roared, five Behemoth Warriors raised their shields with all their might, the shields glowing with earthy yellow defensive light.

"Boom—!!!!"

The moment the ghost's long nose collided with the shields, what erupted was not the sound of metal clashing, but a muffled energy roar and a Soul-level shriek! Violent negative energy mixed with physical impact swept out!

"Puff!" Five Behemoth Warriors were struck heavily, spitting blood and flying backward in unison. The surface of their sturdy shields was covered with ice-like cracks, and the arms holding the shields emitted the sound of bones shattering! Two affected Ballista platforms were instantly corroded by negative energy, their outer shells rapidly rusted, internal runes extinguished, and completely scrapped!

Just one blow! The most resilient stronghold of the front line—the Behemoth squad—suffered heavy losses, losing more than half of its combat power! Two Ballista platforms were destroyed!

The Ancestral Spirit floated in front of the tower, its cold Soul fire scanning the scarred defense line, as if choosing its next target. Behind it, Chieftain Mogrosh let out a low laugh within the [Ancestral Protection Barrier], and his staff glowed again with ominous blood-red light.

Watchtower No. 7, its defenses hanging by a thread.

The intervention of a true Divine-Grade combat force instantly turned this previously evenly matched offense and defense into a desperate crushing.

Lin Zhou looked at the fallen Behemoth Warriors, the destroyed Ballistae, the sneering Shaman Chieftain in the distance, and the massive ghost before him, his fists clenched, knuckles white. He had little Divine Power left, and conventional methods seemed unable to deal with this terrifying physically immune ghost and the cunning old Chieftain.

Could it be that he was truly being pushed to a dead end?